Recently in Italian Culture Category

Wild fennel, or Finocchietto Selvatico, can be found throughout most parts of southern Italy and is part of the staple diet for many Calabrians, Sicilians, etc.  My father tells romantic stories of foraging for wild fennel in the Calabrian countryside just southeast of Pellegrina.  Wild fennel, unlike domesticated fennel, doesn't contain a white bulb and is prized mostly for the fronds it produces in the springtime along with the edible seeds.  Wild fennel fronds can be chopped and used in minestra or as a flavoring agent for a pasta dish made with pork sausage, for example.

(photo: fish salad made with octopus, shrimp, squid, scungilli, and scallops; choose just a few fish for a good fish salad)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday and spent quality time with their friends and family!  We cooked a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner and wanted to share our photos with you, including pictures of our dinner antipasto and main courses. The final dishes included:

(photo: final dish: Zucchini & Summer Squash Risotto with Roasted Pork Chops)

Whenever I meet folks and I tell them I'm interested in food and cooking the inevitable question follows: "so, what do you cook?"  Before I answer I often pause and aim to think of luxurious ingredients and extraordinary dishes, but I always end up describing some variation of a pasta, soup, and/or risotto dish.  I qualify my answer by blurting out I also cook lots of fish, eggs, vegetables, and the occasional piece of meat.  When I'm feeling particular social and wordy I'll explain the concept of piattini or small plates of food, including salumi, cheese, tomatoes, canned high quality fish, pickled vegetables, et. al.  Yet, I always feel as though I've disappointed the person who has asked the question; as if my answer should have included some variation of Beef Bourguignon (popularized by the highly over-hyped Julia Child; if you ask me the typical Italian grandmother has done more for food in this country than the high pitched Child) or an experiment out of the ridiculous culinary discipline of molecular gastronomy.  

Saffron (or Zafferano) has always had a special place in my heart; more specifically, it's had a special place in my memory.  I associate saffron with my childhood and the yellow arborio rice my mother prepared for me on special occasions (viz., any time I asked for it and we happened to have some "saffron dust" busta <or envelope> in the house).  The variety of saffron my mother used to prepare risotto was packaged in a small yellow and red envelope and was supplied by Zia Teresa shop from Calabria.  And while I enjoyed the wonderful flavor that saffron gave my mother's risotto what I really enjoyed seeing was how the saffron dust would infuse a yellow/red color to the cooking liquid.  

With the above in mind, Pamela Sheldon Johns reminds us that there may, in fact, be some similarities in how we live in both the United States and Italy.  Pamela, through her new cookbook Cucina Povera - Tuscan Peasant Cooking, recounts her mother's days on a Midwest farm during the Great Depression, using everything around her and not wasting a single fruit or leftover.  Pam also describes the same tendencies in Tuscan women, having moved to to Tuscany to establish culinary workshops and write countless cookbooks.  So, maybe there's more in common between the two countries than we think!

There's a certain comfort in all things deemed old: Old homes, old devices, old parts, old countries, old texts, old people, old trees, old clothes, old friends, etc.  The old can be defined as something not made or experienced recently and having a history (or story) or emotive quality.  An old friend can bring you back to your old childhood street and memories of running free while absorbed in a simple game of hide and seek.  And an old, weathered, home can bring joy and gratification knowing it's history, how it was made, and a sense of it's parts as a joyous collective.

(photo: pastries are art in Italy and each ingredient is specially selected to make the given item blow your mind!)

One of the biggest fallacies in the Italian culinary world is centered on the idea that Italians do not eat dessert.  Italians do, in fact, enjoy dessert and the items consumed range from creamy gelato to luxurious cakes and icy granita to mind blowing cookies.  Here are some irresistible photos, including gelato, pastries, cookies, and granita.    

(photo: no exotic flavors in this gelateria in Scilla, just great local flavors)

(photo: the famous espresso granita, especially popular and well made in Calabria; shaved ice, great espresso, and fresh whipped cream)

(photo: Typical Durum wheat bread from Calabria, produced by Giovanna Latella and Terresa Zagari at the Latella Panificio in Pellegrina, Calabria)

(photo: marinated anchovies in lemon juice, sea salt, garlic, black pepper, red pepper flake, and parsley).

Walk down any street in the seacoast town of Bagnara Calabra during the summer months and you'll encounter women dressed in black screaming their lungs out!  No, the ladies aren't auditioning for a new Jean-Paul Sartre play about existential angst, rather they're selling fish.  The ladies set up shop early in the morning, usually during outdoor "market day" on Tuesday and hold court over passers-by with screeching annunciations such as" "pesce fresche" (fresh fish), "alici" (anchovies), "anguilla" (eel).  

Click here for all of our fish recipes.

(photo: an ancient olive tree on the family olive orchard)

Driving on the A3 autostrada from the Reggio Calabria airport to the village of Pellegrina (a tiny Comune di Bagnara Calabra) my mood changes instantly.  I'm greeted by a penetrating sun, flowing sea breezes, and intoxicating smells of earth.  The greeting has come courtesy of Calabria, the terra of my parents and the very foundation of my soul.   

(photo: beautiful bread is a work of art and our reader Dr. K is a maestro!  photo courtesy of Dr. K.)

I have to admit that I get very jealous of folks who bake with great success as I've been slow to experiment with baking bread, for example.   And it's also why I'm incredibly thankful for skilled Scordo readers like Dr. K. who specialize in whole wheat bread baking and other, from scratch, food products and homemade goods (Dr. K., for example, makes his own yogurt, roasts his own coffee beans, produces his own goat cheese, and whips up homemade Nutella)

(photo: Sangaspano extra virgin olive oil from Messina, Sicilia)

On the morning of December 28th, 1908 a massive earthquake and associated tsunami hit the western province of Calabria and moved across the Stretto di Messina into Sicilia destroying city after city (including Reggio Calabria and Messina).  In Messina alone 60,000 people were killed and in Calabria our family lost many people, including small children.  In total, over 100,000 people were killed in 1908 making it the deadliest earthquake in European history.    

If I haven't mentioned it here on Scordo.com my father is a dyed-in-the-wool grappa fanatic.  In fact, he's grown so found of the elixir made from sugar and grape stems he produces a limited quantity batch for his immediate family and select friends.  So, it wasn't with great surprise when I brought over a bottle of Amaro Nonino Quintessentia on a recent weekend that my father proclaimed it to be the best amaro on the planet!

Growing up as an Italian America boy on the periphery of New York City iced espresso was a rite of passage, at least for the Italian natives on our New Jersey block.  My mother, specifically, would prepare a large carafe of sugary espresso and place it in the freezer to develop a slushy consistency.  Thereafter, the fancy glasses would come out and with 2-3 violent shakes my mother would pour rich and perfectly cold espresso for her guests.  The iced espresso was refreshing and a great pick me up during the hot and humid months from June through August.  

(photo: Columbus Artisan hot sopressata sliced by hand)
If there's one food item that the southern province of Calabria is famous for it would be peperoncini (or red chili peppers). Peperoncini are used in pasta dishes (Penne all'Arrabbiata, for example), cured meats and vegetables (including the trendy salumi spread, 'Nduja), soups, and an eggplant stew dish called ciambotta.  

(photo: Averna on the rocks with a slice of orange)

Averna, the amaro and aperitif/digestif from, and still produced in, Sicilia, is a bona fide rock-star.   Yes, like Bono, Freddie Mercury, or Roger Waters, Averna makes you tingle all over and has you wondering how anything can be (taste) so damn good.  

Carnevale, which means "farewell to meat", is celebrated throughout the world including in the United States (known as Mardi Gras) and Italy.  Carnevale usually takes place 40 days prior to Easter and in Italy the celebration includes food, parties, music, various entertainment, masquerade balls, and wild pranks!  This year the Italians began celebrating officially on March 8th (today), but unofficial festivities began in February!  

(photo: beaches in Scilla, with its castle overlooking the Sicilian coas, Piero Morello)

Our friend and avid home cook Dr. K. continues his mastery of all things Italian with a terrific homemade bread from Sicilia; namely, Durum Pane Siciliano - a bread shaped in the form of the Occhi di Santa Lucia (i.e., a pair of eyeglasses in homage to Santa Lucia, the patron saint of vision).

Dr. K. utilized a recipe from Carol Field's, The Italian Baker (however he doubled it yielding four loaves and also used freshly milled 100% whole wheat <instead of store-bought bread flour> and durum flours, with middlings, bran, and all).  Moreover, he used more water, and slightly less flour, given that the dough would be too dense and wouldn't pass the windowpane test for a strong gluten network (yielding a brick).  He also added a touch of vital wheat gluten and lets the dough rest for five minutes after mixing and prior to kneading. 

Here's the recipe (using commercial flour).

We've never been much of a dessert type of site here at Scordo.com - holding the view that sugar and chocolate can't compete with salt and fat!  So, when we had the opportunity to try a traditional Italian dessert we were a bit skeptical given our countless posts on pastas, salumi, crocchette, eggplant parmigiana, and fried, whole, sardines.  

Panforte is a an Italian dessert and is the equivalent of a Tuscan fruitcake (specifically made in the city of Siena).  Panforte (literally translated as "strong bread") is a flat, dense, round cake made with honey, hazelnuts, almonds, candied citron, citrus peel and spices.  The Nero version (as shown in the photos) includes cocoa powder and differs from panforte fiorito (which includes a layer of marzipan).  

I'm a big believer in chasing happiness in life and not the 30 minute kind that's associated with a new car, electronic device, or a bigger house (sorry all you hedge fund managers and Goldman employees).  Happiness, after all (and there's empirical evidence for this) is derived from things like time with family, meaningful friendships, social outings, and travel.  I'd also equate eating well with happiness as time with family and most meaningful social interactions inevitably include food and drink.  

One food type that brings great joy to both my taste buds and mental state is cured meat.  Cured meat, when done well, is one of the greatest representations of food on the planet (and also one of the most primitive).  Curing (and smoking) meat dates back to the Ancients and in the United States Native Americans smoked meat by way of hanging it on their teepees (the smoke from their fire would do the preserving).  My own family in Calabria has been curing whole muscle pork and salame for a couple of hundred years and it's a food product that I grew up with and continue to enjoy fiendishly.

Historical fun facts about food provide great joy for me; I can't explain the phenomena but I enjoy the epistemological randomness that, for example, yogurt prior to the mid and late 19th century was used primary as a cleaning agent (that's right, including as a body wash and shampoo)!  In the early 20th century a Greek named Isaac Carasso started a small business called Danone and began mass producing yogurt.  In Europe, yogurt consumption took off as a popular milk product around the same time Danone began selling his product and the trend quickly spread to the United States 10-20 years later.

(photo: locally produced bacon from a nearby butcher)

News break: if you're Italian, you can have cookies for breakfast.  Seriously, cake is a traditional breakfast food in Italy and so are other sweets including cookies, brioche, pastries, croissants,etc.  Coffee is consumed as well and it's usually a quick espresso or a cappuccino (please don't order a cappuccino after 10:00 AM in Italy or just after your dinner, you'll be officially deported).  If you're consuming your breakfast at home then you'll most likely make espresso via a stove top machine and add a bit of milk for a cafe latte and maybe eat a cookie or two before heading out the door.

(photo: Making pasta; illustration from the 15th century edition of Tacuinum Sanitatis, a Latin translation of the Arabic work Taqwīm al-sihha by Ibn Butlan.)

The Italian People and Pasta

Just in case you were having sleepless nights concerning the birthplace of pasta, the esteemed food critic, Oretta Zanini de Vita confirms that there were records of pasta in Italy 500 years before Marco Polo returned from China; so pasta was, in fact, invented in Italy.  I'm glad we cleared the air on this bit of trivia so we can get to the important stuff!