Cotechino in crust with spinach is an easy, economical, and tasty main course suitable for Christmas holidays and even for New Year’s Eve dinner, perhaps served with lentils that are considered lucky charms!

I used a precooked cotechino, but if you prefer to use the fresh one, keep in mind that the cooking increases to about 2 hours, very long times to consider, hehe!

During this holiday season and New Year’s Eve, many types of salami are used in our kitchens, such as:
– zampone, typical from Modena, is stuffed in the deboned leg of the pig. Before cooking, it needs to be pierced with a knife tip because the skin is very hard, and it generally cooks in about 3 hours;
– salama da sugo, originating from Ferrara, has a very strong taste and should be cooked hanging on a slanted wooden spoon set across the pot for about 5/6 hours;
– bondiola, very common in Veneto and Emilia, is a round version of cotechino and cooks in 2/3 hours;
– cappello del prete, a close relative of zampone, also needs to be pierced and cooks in about 3 hours;
– salame da pentola, typical of Lombardy, made with lean pork meat without rind, then stuffed in cow intestine, cooks in 20/40 minutes;
– cotechino, which gets its name from the word ‘cotica’ and is very popular in Northern Italy.

The cotechino, or rather the use of preserving pork meat in casings made of cotica or rind, dates back to ancient times, although the first official citation of cotechino is much later in a Modenese decree in 1700 that also indicated its price.
Since 1999, Cotechino Modena has obtained PGI status, and it’s important to note how over time the recipe has been lightened, reducing fat and salt content, and since 2017, the addition of milk derivatives and glutamate is prohibited.
Stuffed in pork or artificial casings, this salami is generally sold already precooked and vacuum-packed.

Consumption is associated with the winter period and end-of-year festivities and is often paired with lentils, mashed potatoes, spinach, and polenta.

HOW TO MAKE COTECHINO IN CRUST?
Instead of using spinach and puff pastry, we can make cotechino in a potato crust, or rather in a mashed potato crust boiled, seasoned, and wrapped around the salami, or we can make the recipe for cotechino in mustard crust and puff pastry but also a nice cotechino in cabbage crust and fake puff pastry, even homemade with cream cheese. Cotechino in crust can also be made by wrapping the salami with a roll of pizza dough, and if you want to create a recipe with a nice balance of flavors, you can peel and core one apple per person and then, after chopping it into cubes, put it in a pan with cinnamon powder, a touch of butter, and a little bit of brown sugar to make a creamy sauce that will cut the fat of the cotechino and make this Christmas dish or 31st December dinner dish a real delight, don’t you think, with this cotechino in crust with apple sauce?

P.S. For the record, the decoration was made of mistletoe leaves with relative berries… I specify this because as you can see… nothing can be seen anymore, my God!

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COTECHINO IN CRUST WITH SPINACH
The kitchen of ASI