Today I think what I want to do is --
I thought I'd make you my favorite dish of all time.
♪♪
[Indistinct conversations]
♪♪
Okay, I'm gonna make saltimbocca alla romana,
which is, as I've probably said a thousand times
to everyone who knows me --
it's my favorite dish in the world.
It's really, really simple.
It takes more time buying the ingredients than preparing.
Somebody asked me if it's a Roman dish,
and the answer is -- of course it is.
It's called saltimbocca alla romana,
which means "made the Roman way."
I live in Rome,
in the Campo de' Fiori neighborhood.
I've been here for -- I don't know -- I feel like forever.
Everybody knows Campo de' Fiori as this market
and this very touristy place,
and we'll probably see tons of tour groups
as we walk through here.
Everybody knows each other.
We see each other every day. We say hi.
So, it's kind of like this hidden neighborhood
underneath this very busy, busy,
well-trafficked, kind of touristy area.
Buon giorno!
-Buon giorno. -Buon giorno.
So, this is my friend Massimo and his wife, Cristina.
-Buon giorno.
-So, we come here every single day.
Massimo gives me advice on my husband.
You give me advice on my husband.
[Laughs]
-No, I don't. -You do!
-[Speaking Italian]
-I have a little bit of an edge
in the sense that I have been coming to Cristina and Massimo
for over 10 years.
So we know each other really well.
I know what they're gonna bring.
They'll put stuff aside for me.
They'll tell me when not to buy stuff --
because that's the key to a Roman market, in my opinion.
It's all about relationships.
What's the difference between a Roman market
and any other market in the world?
It's the people.
And it's how they talk to you and how you talk to them.
Grazie!
[Conversing in Italian]
Alright, next stop, number two -- the alimentari.
Let's go inside.
This is the Ruggeri Alimentari.
And it's over 100 years old.
Giorno!
-Giorno.
-Ciao, Daniele.
Can I get a half kilogram of San Daniele?
♪♪
So, this is the local alimentari,
which, as I mentioned before, is a deli,
and it has everything.
It has all the cheese,
all the meats, like the salami.
They even have some salsiccia.
[Conversations in Italian]
And you can taste everything that you want,
you know, just, like, ask for a little l'assagio.
Grazie.
I'm gonna eat it all. [Chuckles]
I knew it was gonna be good.
♪♪
Okay, the last stop is for the most important ingredient --
the veal, vitello.
And we're gonna get it from my macellaio di fiducia.
♪♪
[Speaking Italian]
-Grazie. -Grazie.
Ciao!
Grazie!
Alright, let's get to it.
Okay, so, we got our veal.
And these are gonna be our dish.
Fundamental to all of that
is the width or the thinness
of your vitello, of your veal.
So, I asked the butcher to hit it, to beat it,
because I don't have the batticarné.
I don't have the mallet with me anymore.
I don't even know if I ever had it.
I think I just used a bottle.
Okay, so, we're gonna put fresh sage leaves.
My mom, in the past, has also taken sage powder
and just kind of matted it down on the slices of vitello.
And I'm gonna put a piece of proscuitto.
A lot of people are fans
of cutting the grasso, the fat, off of proscuitto.
And I say no because that's really what gives it the taste.
♪♪
The key thing,
whether you're gonna make them rolled or flat --
toothpicks.
They're like a life-saver.
We're gonna put a little bit of flour underneath these guys.
♪♪
Okay. Now we're gonna cook them.
♪♪
We're gonna put it on a medium heat.
Honestly, I think everybody has their own way of doing it,
but one of the things that I love about saltimbocca
is that you first put in a little butter,
which I think is kind of funny
because normally you don't see that a lot in Roman cuisine.
So, you pop them down. You place them down.
You don't want to flip them over.
It takes just a few minutes.
You're gonna watch the sides brown a little bit.
Then you're gonna add the key ingredient -- white wine.
And I pour it on top of those.
Yes. [Meat sizzling]
That's the sound and smell
that you want to find.
And then you just wait a few more minutes.
It's gonna cook.
I'm gonna tap these down just a little
to make sure I'm getting the pinkness out of the vitello
'cause I don't want it too pink.
♪♪
That's what my family likes,
is the succhi.
♪♪
Why is this my favorite dish? I don't know.
It reminds me of every Sunday
at my parents' and my grandparents' house.
We'd always have saltimbocca.
It was, like, my favorite day of the week.
Mmm.
I did a good job.
♪♪