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(Photo: Mary Ann Esposito, photo courtesy of NY Mag)

Every big idea or theory has an associated sound bite.  The French philosopher Rene Descartes is remembered for his famous line, "I think, therefore I am.", the chef Jacques Pepin loves to utter, "fast food my way", and the chef, turned uber capitalist Lidia Bastianich (see the mega Italian Mall, Eataly, just opened with Mario Batali and Lidia's son, Joe) loves to utter "Tutti a tavola a mangiare" (translated roughly as everyone come to the tables it's time to eat - kind of ordinary sounding in English!) after she prepares her TV meal.

If the Italian table had an associated sound bite it would be something like, "simple ingredients make outstanding food."  Give me a few days and I'll jazz up the tag line, but the idea of simple, great tasting, food made via fresh and seasonal ingredients is at the heart of what it means to eat or cook like an Italian. 

For PBS host and cookbook author Mary Ann Esposito she's taken the idea that the best Italian food is made via simple, and fresh, ingredients as a literal truth and just released her new cookbook, Ciao Italia: Five Ingredient Favorites.  Mary Ann's book includes recipes (from dinner to dessert) that are made with five ingredients or less (including salt and pepper).  Some of my favorites include pork chops with pistachio crust, Prosciutto di Parma and pine nut pizza, and chocolate, hazelnut and banana tartlets.


(Photo: Mushroom and celery salad from Ciao Italia Five ingredient Favorites by Mary Ann Esposito. St Martins Press, NY)

In honor of the new cookbook and the fact that I used to see Mary Ann Esposito on the campus of the University of New Hampshire (she tapped her PBS show Ciao Italia close to campus) during my undergraduate years (I never had the courage to introduce myself), I interviewed Mary Ann and asked her a series of questions about her Italian American experience and how she defines Italian cooking.



Moreover, Scordo.com has also partnered with Mary Ann to offer one lucky reader a chance to win a free copy of Ciao Italia: Five Ingredient Favorites!  Here's what you'll need to do to enter the contest:

- Become a fan (or encourage somone to fan) Scordo.com on Facebook and leave a comment on our wall on your favorite, simple, Italian recipe or food and 2. Become a fan of Mary Ann on Facebook.

- Only one entry per person please.

- The contest is open until 12 midnight on 9/9 and a single (1) random user will be picked via Random.org (sorry contest only open to folks from the US given shipping logistics).  The winner will be announced immediately on Twitter (so please follow me) and on Scordo.com by 8PM on Friday, 9/10.

- Please be sure to send me an email to let me know you've become a fan on Facebook (sorry, Facebook doesn't allow me to sort by new fans), email me at blog at scordo dot com

- Mary Ann's publisher will send out the book to a single contest winner during the week of 9/13.

Finally, here's my interview with Mary Ann, enjoy: 

Question One:
Tell us what it means to be an Italian-American and how you would best suggest to young Italian-Americans to keep our traditions alive and well (across food, lifestyle, and general living)?

Mary Ann's Answer:
"It means everything to me because the Italian culture has historically set the standard for so much of world achievements.  When you think of inventions, art, architecture, music, saints, science, religion, fashion, family and food, much of it has been attributed to the Italians. Young Italian Americans should involve themselves in organizations like the National Italian American Foundation, study Italian in school and on their own and above all talk to their family members about the history of the immigrants who made them who they are today. I try to do this through our web site ciaoitalia.com and Mary Ann Esposito Foundation which encourages would be chefs to study Italian regional cooking. You can learn more about the foundation on the web site."

Question Two:
What part of Italy did your family originate from?  What traditions do you (or your family) bring to the US from Italy?

Mary Ann's Answer:
My family is from the province of Avellino in the region of Campania and Caltanisetta in Sicily. My grandparents were very proud but poor people. First and foremost they brought strength and a fearless attitude. They brought strong religious faith. They brought their skills of tailoring and farming and olive culture. They made wine; we did the same. They cultivated gardens; we did the same. They made all their own food; we do the same. I try to emulate their traditions by recreating the foods I grew up via my books and my PBS series television, Ciao Italia now in its 21st year of broadcast. I also keep my family traditions alive through my blog.

Question Three:
How you define Italian cooking at home?

Mary Ann's Answer:
Fresh, in season ingredients, treated simply to keep the integrity of the food. All my cookbooks stress this.


(Photo: Pistachio pork chops from Ciao Italia Five Ingredient Favorites by Mary Ann Esposito. St Martins Press, NY)

Question Four:
You have a Masters Degree in history from the University of New Hampshire; has your knowledge of history impacted how you cook and see the world?

Mary Ann's Answer:
Absolutely. When I wrote my thesis on a Renaissance Italian cooking manuscript, I began my introduction by saying without food there is no history. Food and history are inseparable. Early foods like grains, legumes and puls allowed civilization to flourish and many wars were waged over whether there was food or not. In Italian culture, food is the cornerstone of everything. Take bread as an example. When I make it, I am reminded of how this simple staple from water and flour is still the staple food of third world and emerging nations. I see that waste not want not quality that my grandparents had who revered bread so much that not a bit was every wasted. To this day, I never throw away stale bread, using it instead for bread salads, as fillers for vegetables, to sprinkle over pasta dishes and as what has come to be very chic and in today, the bruschetta or crostino.

On Ciao Italia I give you not only a recipe but the story behind the recipe; where does it come from, why is it named so. The Mary Ann Esposito Foundation's goal is to keep the history and traditions surrounding Italian regional foods alive. I want the next generation of Italian Americans to take over where I leave off so we can preserve our heritage for generations to come.

Question Five:
What are some of your favorite recipes and food types outside of traditional pasta with tomato sauce, for example?

Mary Ann's Answer:
I love to make polenta and risotto as well as traditional breads and pizza. Once you start studying the regions of Italy and their local foods, you have a better understanding of why there really is no Italian food per se; there is only regional food. I love eels from the Veneto and from Sardinia; the bistecca of Florence and the porchetta of Umbria. Any eggplant dishes and rabbit stews are also favorites. I have so many that it would be impossible to mention them all here and that is why their importance has consumed me in my work.

Question Six:
What are the top five ingredients that you keep in your pantry at all times?

Mary Ann's Answer:
Extra virgin olive oils, imported semolina pastas, dried beans, arborio rice, San Marzano tomatoes. In fact my latest book is called Ciao Italia Five Ingredient Favorites and you would be surprised how much you can make with just 5 ingredients as opposed to a whole list!

Lazy, weekend, lunches are one of the small pleasure in life and I define a lazy lunch as a simple plate of food (with little to no manipulation), fresh, crunchy, bread, and a bottle of exquisite wine (psychologically, get an exquisite bottle of wine for under $20, there are fabulous wine deals out there if you stay away from California, northern Italy, Bordeaux, etc.).  The lunch should also be had outdoors and with someone you wouldn't mind spending your last waking hours with (just in case it's you last meal!).

This week's Scordo Pasta Challenge was special to me, you see the Scordo family canned tomatoes this past weekend and the penne lisce we consumed included the first tomato sauce made from 2010 tomatoes!

"Penne Lisce", or smooth penne, is essentially the standard penne you can find in any supermarket and on most menus at restaurants.  The second, standard, penne variant is "Penne rigate" or penne with ridges.  While the penne is common, it's trully a superstar pasta that can be tossed with a fresh tomato sauce, pesto, or baked in the oven with cheese (click here to learn how to cook like an Italian).    Penne is a well designed pasta because it holds the condiment or sauce very well and it's jagged edge can also scoop up sauce!  I like the taste sensation penne lisce provides because of it's smooth surface.

I've now consumed 18 pasta shapes for the Scordo Pasta Challenge and suddenly the 150+ shapes do not seem like a daunting task!

One of the first things I learned to make from scratch was salad dressing.  Our family, of course, always made a simple red wine, olive oil, salt/pepper salad dressing, but the proportions and blending of the simple ingredients remained a mystery to me for a very long period of time.  In fact, it wasn't until I moved away to attend college that I learned to make salad dressing that wasn't too oily or too acidic.  My salad dressing epiphany occurred when I learned that while olive oil is the predominant ingredient in a standard dressing, vinegar is the true star!

When I began to see the power of the acid in salad dressings they began to come together in a more natural fashion.  I'd first add the vinegar and then the freshly ground pepper and kosher salt and, thereafter, whisk the items (to allow the vinegar to dissolve the salt and distribute the pepper flavor more evenly).  Next, I'd slowly add olive oil and whisk until I reached an emulsified state. 

My salad dressing today comes more naturally and I stopped measuring ingredients a long time ago.  However, I do still recognize that the vinegar is king in a good salad dressing and, In turn, I was especially happy to try some outstanding vinegars this past month including the balsamic vinegar producer Acetaia Leonardi and the red and white vinegar producer Castello di Volpaia.  Let's start with the red wine vinegars!



Castello di Volpaia is produced in Siena and is actually home to a facility that is more famous for wine than vinegar!   In fact, by law, all vinegars made in Siena must be produced no less than 1 kilometer from the nearest wine cellar (in order to protect the wines from fermenting acids of the vinegar.  However, with the above said, both the red (aged 12 months) and the white (aged between 2-3 months) are some of the best aged wine vinegars I've ever tasted.  Volpaia's vinegars are made from Chianti wine and exhibit great floral notes (it has a wonderful aroma much like wine and unlike the mass market vinegars found in super markets).  The production process at Volpaia is fascinating I couldn't explain it better than the producer:

"After a great deal of research we decided to use a traditional artisan method to produce our vinegar. It's known as the "truciolo" or wood shavings system and it's great advantage is that it manages to maintain the original quality of the wine used.

Although only very good quality wine must be employed, an alcohol content of over 10% would interfere with the vinegar bacteria's action.

In order to preserve the wine's bouquet, for each new batch a specific bacterium has to be selected. Once chosen the bacteria are reproduced by gradually adding wine up to a maximum of 300 litres. This process takes from 20 to 30 days. At this point the vinegar is moved to a 2000 litre tank containing 3 stainless steel perforated baskets covered in freshly chopped shavings from well seasoned oak and chestnut.

A slowly rotating arm stirs the wine very slowly over the shavings where the vinegar bacteria develop. The wine percolates through the shavings and falls to the bottom of the tank. It is then pumped to the top to percolate again. This process is repeated until all the wine has fermented and turned into vinegar. The rate at which the transformation takes place is governed by the amount of air into which the bacteria come in contact and the temperature. The longer the process takes, the better the vinegar will be. And that is why we only allow very little air to enter the tank and keep the temperature constantly below 27°C. We take between 20 and 25 days to transform wine into vinegar, thus safeguarding both the original scent and that of the fermentation."

The red wine vinegar is terrific, of course, in salads, but my favorite use for red wine vinegar is as a condiment for fried fish such as sardines or smelts.  My vinegar fish sauce consists of fresh garlic and parsley that is heated through in a pan with the vinegar.  The white vinegar I sampled was a bit crisper than the red and was made from Trebbiano and Malvasia win.  I could see using the vinegar to wake up a sauce or maybe even in a marinade (but I preferred the red wine in my salad, for example).

Balsamic vinegar differs from standard red wine vinegar in that the former is aged for a longer period of time as well as made from the white, Trebbiano, grape.  Balsamic vinegars are generally more complex than their red wine vinegar counterparts and have a rich and sweet flavor component.  True balsamic vinegar must also be aged for 12+ months, with the world best aging as long as 90-100 years.  Cheaper, super market, balsamic vinegars are comprised of caramel and sugar as well as mixture of grape juice and standard vinegar.

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I tried both 3, 5, and 10 year old, Acetaia Leonardi, balsamics and they all varied drastically in flavor and application.  I used the 3 year old vinegar mostly for salads and it had a rich, true, caramel flavor with some suggestion of other fruit (maybe dried fig, for example). The 5 and 10 year old vinegars were light years ahead of the 3 year old, especially the 10 year old which approached the flavor components of a fine wine (with lots of oak and varying levels of flavor).  Where the 5 year old shined was on it's fruit flavor component; I consumed the balsamic with a salad of freshly roasted beats, walnuts, and feta and the match was perfect.    

I like to keep both a good bottle of red wine vinegar and 3-5 year old aged balsamic in the house at all times (especially for salads where alternating vinegar use is a nice way to keep salads appealing).  Click here to find the products online. 
 

 

The PBS star Mary Ann Esposito recently caused a little bit of controversy over at the Huffington Post when she published a recipe entitled, "The Real Eggplant Parmigiano."  Amongst the comments on the post, some readers accused Mary Ann of pushing an Italian-American version of Eggplant Parmigiano and using an inauthentic cooking oil, like peanut oil (to say the least, the recipe got under the skin of certain individuals; I'm actually wondering why the Huffington Post is publishing articles on food and recipes <talk about being off-brand>).  One reader went on to state that Eggplant Parmigiano probably didn't exist in parts of Italy (especially Southern Italy) until the late 1970's when Parmigiano Reggiano started becoming readily available.

I get the same reaction when I wax philosophically about the virtues of Capretto or baby goat; namely, that's gross!  I often explain how, as far as I can remember, eating baby goat was a staple of our Italian American Easter and Christmas dinners.  Nonna Rosa's Capretto recipe included simply roasting a whole baby goat (which was butchered at home or by the local Italian butcher) with canned tomato pieces, coarsely chopped onion, a bit of homemade red wine, garlic, dried oregano, pepper and kosher salt.  My mother's recipe included the same ingredients but differed in two ways:  1. the dish was pan simmered on the stove top and 2. the Capretto parts were quickly seared to develop a deep flavor and crust. Both recipes, however, had a secret ingredient which included marinating the Capretto pieces for several hours prior to cooking (marinating the goat in simple red wine yielded a tastier end product).

 

(photo: Jersey peaches in lemon juice)

I remember walking through the Calabrian countryside with my grandfather as a boy when he suddenly feel to his knees and plucked a few pieces of what I thought was simple green grass from the ground. I, of course, thought he was just being his usual pazzo (crazy) nonno, but what he found were dandelion greens, prized for their earthy, minerally, and zesty flavor.   

Think of Pappardelle as fettuccine on steroids (basically very broad fettuccine).  Pappardelle derives from the word "pappare" which means "to gobble up."  The pappardelle I consumed was egg based and made by Rustichella.  

 

Many personal finance gurus will tell you to head to your local food market with only certain items in mind and shop only by price.  Moreover, the penny pinching crowd would argue that the purpose of buying, and in turn consuming, food is to be as efficient and cost effective as possible.  

Risi e Bisi is basically a variant of risotto and while a good risotto is creamy in texture, a good bowl of risi e bisi is looser in composition.  

Orecchiette is the little pasta (or "little ear", literally translated) that could; that is to say, at first glance the pasta shape from Apulia seems unremarkable, but when paired with vegetables it springs to life!  

Nothing says special occasion like ravioli!  You see, as a young lad, standard dry pasta shapes like penne, linguine, and rigatoni, made their way to my mother's dinner table about 1-2x per week.  However, whenever the regal ravioli made an appearance for lunch we knew it was a special day.  

Ravioli were reserved for holidays or a special occasion such as a birthday or relative flying in from Italy.  My mother often purchased Ravioli from a mom and pop shop in town that specialized in pasta or, if we were in luck, our Genoese born neighbor Amelia would offer her famous, hand made, spinach ravioli stuffed with homemade ricotta.  

For many Italians, soup equals pasta (that is to say, a primo serving of soup in many Italian households includes some sort of pasta mixed in with Lentil, Peas, Chickpeas, etc.).  Adding a small amount of pasta to a soup increases the hardiness of any given soup dish and can also elevate soup to a meal in and of itself.

 

If you haven't noticed I've been consuming a ton of pasta lately given the Scordo Pasta Challenge.  I've had everything from bucatani with olive oil and parsley to tripoloni with tomato sauce.   However, I've also been consuming another starch with equivalent joy, namely the almighty arancini or rice ball (click here for my recipe)!  And while my love and devotion for pasta will continue given the aformentioend challenge I wanted to also pay homage to the rice ball.  

 

(photo: diced up and waiting for the pan!)

Paccheri is one of those shapes I wasn't aware of until I stumbled across it in the Rustichella catalog.  Paccheri is a super variant of rigatoni (without the ridges) and best prepared with chunky sauces (such as a ragu with rabbit, for example). 

(Little Tommaso says, "Dad, you can do it!"  Big Tommaso is a little more skeptical and says, "You're crazy!")