Sandwich with lampredotto and green sauce 

Sandwich with lampredotto: you can't pass through Florence without tasting it. It is the most famous and ancient Florentine street food there is. Lampredotto is a very poor dish (even today, for just 4.50 euros you can make a full meal): a real must for meat lovers.

But what is lampredotto? It is the meat of the abomasum, one of the four sections of the stomach of cattle, which is part of the so-called fifth quarter, everything that is normally discarded of the animal, but which can be, very greedily, recovered. Florence is full of stalls serving loaves soaked in broth and filled with strips of lampredotto cut on the spot, you just have to look. To make a good sandwich with lampredotto you need several components, you need crispy bread and fresh lampredotto, prepared every morning. And then the good oil and the green sauce with all the vegetables, I don't put capers or anchovies or egg in it. Some even need a little spiciness, but I think it kills the flavors. The only variations allowed, here by Porcellino, are the loaf with lampredotto in zimino, with chard and spinach; the one with leeks; or the puttanesca one, with olives, sun-dried tomatoes and capers. But what time do you eat lampredotto? By 9 a.m. Not just sandwiches in the stalls on the street. Lampredotto, in Florence, can also be enjoyed comfortably seated in a restaurant, and prepared in many unusual ways. There are variations to the classic meat sandwich (for example, you can add caramelized onions, artichokes in oil or green truffle sauce), but tradition remains the protagonist. For those who want to taste other specialties, there are the loafs with the tongue and the liver with croutons.

Keeping this tradition alive while living on Roman soil is very difficult but... Not impossible. The semelle doesn't really exist here but... The rosette can be a viable alternative. Every now and then I can find the Lampredotto, at the butcher's counter (already cleaned and seared) and... immediately at work to make the best and most succulent Florentine sandwich in existence...

Ingredients

To prepare the lampredotto

1 pack of lampredotto, already cleaned and scalded

1 carrot

1 white onion

1 red onion

2 sticks of celery

2 ripe red tomatoes

1 bunch of basil

a few stalks of parsley

2 bay leaves

a few grains of whole black pepper

1 teaspoon tomato paste

salt

For the green sauce

a generous bunch of fresh and well-cleaned parsley

1 clove of garlic

1 hard-boiled egg

6 anchovy fillets

2 tbsp pickled capers

a small piece of breadcrumbs

salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp milk

For the composition of the sandwich

2 Florentine rosettes

chili pepper

Procedure

Quickly wash the lampredotto under running water (even if it is already pre-cooked) and place it in a large pot together with the vegetables. Add the tomato paste and peppercorns. Salt and cover with plenty of cold water (you must exceed the lampredotto by at least 2-3 cm. Cover the pot and put on the heat. Bring the water to a boil then lower the heat and cook over low heat for about 1 hour. You need to get a dark, reddish-hued, full-bodied broth. Make the salsa verde. Put parsley, garlic, anchovies, capers, hard-boiled egg, and pepper in the blender. Add a little extra virgin olive oil and start blending (you can also use the immersion blender). Continue to add the oil in a trickle. You need to get a very green and homogeneous cream, smooth and shiny, not too thick. Add the breadcrumbs soaked in milk and vinegar and squeezed well. Blend again and, if necessary, add more oil. Taste and season with salt. Store the sauce in the refrigerator until ready to use, covered with plastic wrap to prevent the parsley from oxidizing. To compose the sandwich, first drain the lampredotto from the cooking broth. Place it on a cutting board and cut it into fairly thin strips, season with salt and pepper. Divide each sandwich in half. Spread the lampredotto on the bases of the two buns and season with a dollop of green sauce and a pinch of chilli pepper (you can also use chilli oil). Take the top caps of the bananas and soak them lightly in the meat broth. You need to sink them at least 1 cm. and take them out immediately, to prevent them from becoming too soggy. Reassemble the bun and serve immediately, otherwise the buns will become too soggy and lose their characteristic texture.