Buon giorno, una bella giornata.
Continuing from where I left off in my last post, on an introduction to Italian Cuisine, I had stopped after mentioning the elaborate food of the Renaissance period.
The poor, of course, continued to subsist on the simple foods they had always eaten, but the wealthier middle classes developed a taste for fine foods and created their own bourgeois dishes. The finer features of Italian cooking even reached the French, when Catherine de’ Medici went to Paris to marry the future Henri II, taking fifty of her own cooks with her. They introduced new ingredients and cooking techniques to France and in return learnt the art of French cuisine. In those regions of Italy which border France, you can still find reciprocal influences of French classical cooking, but generally speaking, Italians do not like elaborately sauced dishes, preferring to let the natural flavours of their raw ingredients speak for themselves.
The essence of Italian cooking today is simplicity. The Italian way of cooking fish is a good example of this. In coastal areas, freshly caught fish is most often simply chargrilled over hot coals, then served with nothing more than a splash of extra virgin olive oil, a wedge of lemon and freshly ground black pepper. Recipes like carpaccio di tonno, in which the fish is so delicious raw that cooking seems unnecessary, and branzino al forno, where the delicate flavour of fennel is used to compliment rather than obscure the fresh taste of the fish, are typically simple, as is grigliata di calamari, squid chargrilled with chillies to reflect its robust character.
Italians learn to appreciate good food when they are young children, and eating is one of the major pleasures of the day, no matter what the day of the week or time of the year. Witness an Italian family gathered around the Sunday lunch table in a local restaurant, and consider how the Italian menu of antipasto followed by pasta, rice of gnocchi, then fish, meat and vegetables served in sequence is devised so that each can be savoured separately – both the food and the occasion are to be enjoyed as long as possible. The first course, or antipasto, is a unique feature. In restaurants, this can be a vast array of different dishes, both hot and cold, from which diners can choose as few or as many as they wish. At home with the family, it is more likely to be a slice or two of salami or prosciutto crudo with fresh figs or melon if these are in season. But no matter how humble or grand the setting or the occasion, the antipasto is always visually tempting. Dishes like bruschetta casalinga and pepperoni arrostiti con pesto, which look so attractive, are typical in this way.
The variety and diversity of the Italian ingredients available in our supermarkets and delicatessens will surely inspire you to concoct any number of delicious meals, from a simple dish of pasta to a full-blown four-course dinner. A plate of antipasto followed by pasta or risotto flavoured with seasonal ingredients, then simply-cooked meat or fish and finally a local cheese and fruit make a veritable feast. You could prepare a different meal along these lines every day of the year and almost never repeat the same combination. If, and when, you visit Italy, avail yourself of the wonderful local ingredients to prepare a menu full of the flavours of the region. Every area has its own special delights that make cooking and eating a real pleasure.
But in the meantime, use the wonderful local ingredients we have here in South Africa, follow the guidelines above, and you are on your way to living the “sweet life”.
Buon Appetito
Cheers… and salute
Love Italy, love life.
Buon giorno, una bella giornata.
As mentioned in an early post on why Italian lifestyle is good for us, I made the first point of how we can duplicate this dolce vita, but looking at the Italian food. I wrote: To the Italians, food is life and as such, they honour it using the freshest ingredients. All the senses are evoked during purchasing, growing, preparing or eating food. Every meal is to be enjoyed to the fullest.
There’s an old Italian proverb:
“A tavola non s'invecchi mai”. It means you never grow old at the table.
So, to continue with this important topic, which as I am sure you will understand, will be a major part of this blog, I have written an introduction to the Italian cuisine, and this is Part 1.
Italian cookery reflects the fact that the country was unified only in 1861. Until then, each region produced its own characteristic cuisine, relying exclusively on ingredients that could be gathered, cultivated or reared locally. Nowadays, of course, regional produce can be easily transported all over the country – all over the world, but Italians still prefer to base their cooking on local ingredients, because they regard quality and freshness as more important than diversity and innovation. (Can we say the same of ourselves?)
So the most flavoursome sun-ripened tomatoes, aubergines and peppers are still found in the south of the country, the freshest seafood is on offer along the coast, the finest hams come from the area where the pigs are raised, and so on. “La cucina italiana” remains distinctly regional; northern Italian cooking, for example, incorporates ingredients that are simply never found in the recipes of Sicily and Naples to the south, and vice-versa. In the dairy-farming north, butter is used in place of the olive oil so prevalent in the south; bread and polenta are eaten instead of pasta. The only unifying feature is the insistence on high quality ingredients.
Good food has always been essential to the Italian way of life. (I will do further posts in the not too distant future on the various regional cuisines.)
“La cucina italiana” is one of the oldest cooking cultures in the world, dating back to the ancient Greeks and perhaps even earlier. The Romans adored food and often ate and drank to excess; it was they who really laid the foundations of Italian and European cuisine. The early Romans were peasant farmers who ate only the simple, rustic foods they could produce, like grain, cheeses and olives. For them, meat was an unheard-of-luxury; animals were bred to work in the fields, and to provide milk, wool etc. and were too precious to eat. Trading links with other parts of the world, however, encouraged Roman farmers to cultivate new vegetables and fruits and, of course, vines, while their trade in salt and exotic spices enabled them to preserve and pickle all kinds of meat, game and fish.
Food became a near-obsession and ever more elaborate dishes were devised to be served at the decadent and orgiastic banquets for which the Romans were famed. The decline and fall of the Roman Empire led inevitably to a deterioration in the quality of cooking and a return to simple, basic foods. For centuries, regional cuisine reverted to its original uncomplicated style. With the Renaissance, however, came great wealth and a new interest in elaborate food. Once again, rich families strove to outdo each other with lavish banquets where courses of rich, extravagant foods were served – truffles, song-birds, game, desserts dripping with honey and spices – all washed down with quantities of wine.
To be continued in the next posting.
Buon Appetito
Cheers… and salute
Love Italy, love life.
Buon giorno, una bella giornata.
Liz Gilbert is unhappy with her life. In a moment of self-realisation, the thirty-something American woman picks herself up off the bathroom floor and decides to divorce her husband. She later embarks on a journey around the world to rediscover the good things in life and find her true self.
The recently released film Eat, Pray, Love, starring Julia Roberts as the leading lady, may have its self-indulgent aspects, but for anyone with a travel bent, the stunning scenery along the way makes the feet more than a little itchy.
Based on the bestseller novel written by Gilbert herself, this is a story about reconnecting; with both the outside and the inside world.
As they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. And as Gilbert knows, one of the things Italians do best is food. Spending four months in the country that gave the world pizza, pasta and gelato, she experiences the true pleasure of nourishment by embarking on what she calls a ‘no carbs left behind’ quest.
From slurping on spaghetti on the streets of Rome to sampling countless flavours of gelato in Naples, Gilbert rediscovers the simple pleasure of good food.
For an indigestion expedition through Italy, I would suggest that you start in Rome, where you can sample one of the country’s most famous dishes — pasta. In the region of Lazio, surrounding Rome, you can expect to taste some of the best spaghetti carbonara on offer.
To enjoy quality olive oil poured over lightly salted, fresh baked bread and coupled with a glass of local red, head to the hills of Umbria, where olive oil estates abound. Or if it’s the traditional slice of heaven that you are after, I would then advise you to visit Naples, where great pizzerias are plentiful.
Anyone following in Gilbert’s footsteps is bound to discover two things: that eating in this manner will end in the acquisition of generous love handles, and that there’s something truly satisfying about the sumptuous yet simplistic lifestyle the Italians lead. It’s known as il dolce far niente, translated as ‘the sweetness of doing nothing’. Gilbert discovers that the Italians know quite a lot about taking time out to enjoy the good things in life.
While it may be frustrating for some visitors, there is definitely something to be said for the concept of ‘Italian time’, which is best summed up by the idea that things will get done when they get done. Locals don’t waste energy worrying about being late or meeting deadlines. Trains arrive when they do, meals arrive when they’re made, and somehow everything still functions.
To appreciate the simplicity, all you need to do is sit at a café in one of the many piazzas dotted around Italy and watch as the old men play cards and drink espresso, lovers share a meal and young children run about chasing each other. And it is this enjoyment of life that is not only the best reason to plan a trip to Italy, but more importantly, to create your own dolce vita lifestyle here in South Africa.
I made spaghetti last night with a Tuscan meat ragu, eaten with some crusty panini and simple red wine. I did not want the meal to end – I was living the dolce vita. Wake up and taste the sweet life – live the sweet life – you can do it.
By the way, I can highly recommend the book which you should find in all book shops, and you should read it first, before seeing the film.
Buon Appetito
Cheers… and salute
Love Italy, love life.
Buon giorno, una bella giornata.
It is a wonderful day here in Cape Town with the temperature at lunch-time reaching 29 C, so decided to have a light lunch outside on the patio next to the pool – now that is the “sweet life”. Made the pasta dish below, some chilled dry Rose wine, the birds were singing, the sun was out, had a swim before serving and the company was great.
I hope you enjoyed your White Bean Pasta e Fagioli which I posted last time, and here is the second of the promised two recipes, which is what I made today for lunch.
Don’t worry, I will be spending a lot more time writing about pasta, and posting many Italian recipes. Hope you enjoy this one.
Farfalle with Chicken and Chard
Ingredients
Preparation
Serves 4-6
Buon Appetito
Cheers… and salute
Love Italy, love life.
Buon giorno, una bella giornata.
To all those celebrating Thanksgiving, here’s wishing a wonderful and joyous day and happy feasting.
Buon Appetito
Cheers… and salute
Love Italy, love life.
Buon giorno, una bella giornata.
Anyone who has travelled in Italy knows that the Italian lifestyle is defined by a love of good food, a passion for flavour, and a vibrant lifestyle. But you don't have to vacation in Rome to live "la dolce vita" - eating and living Italian style is a way of life that can be enjoyed anywhere, all year around.
Though Italian culture emphasizes eating for enjoyment (notice you don't meet many Italians on fad diets?), the Italian diet also happens to be one of the healthiest in the world; incorporating fresh, wholesome foods that are rich in nutrients and low in unhealthy fats.
To help guide people on how to eat and live like an Italian, Barilla - the Italian food brand - partnered with a team of nutritionists to create a new model that demonstrates the Italian way of eating as well as the various components that go into creating a perfectly balanced pasta meal. It's also worth noting that this model of eating fits well within the parameters of the new dietary guidelines that have been emphasised over the last few years, and the My Pyramid Food Guidance system, so anyone who considers Italian to be their favourite cuisine, can feel good about eating the Italian way while benefiting from a healthy diet and lifestyle.
Sure, there are still people who think of pasta as fettuccine smothered in fat-laden cream sauce. But traditional pasta meals are fresh, light, and easy to put together with nutritious, seasonal ingredients. Pasta is a perfect delivery system to get many healthy foods in your diet - such as a variety of colourful vegetables, tomato sauce, olive oil, fish and lean cuts of poultry. And pasta is low in sodium and cholesterol-free, as well as a good source of thiamine, folic acid, iron, riboflavin and niacin.
Pasta also ranks among children's favourite foods - especially when they can help prepare the meal. "Cooking pasta together is an easy way to get your family eating and communicating better," says Lynn Fredericks, author of Cooking Time is Family Time. "Let kids choose the pasta shape, help chop vegetables, set the table - cooking is a lot more fun when everyone pitches in."
Start experimenting with different variations on pasta meals to keep dinnertime interesting and healthy. For starters, try the two pasta recipes for typical Italian dishes that offer exceptional taste and nutrition, that will be my next two posts.
For many more authentic pasta meal recipes as well as tips on eating, cooking and living the Italian way, visit the new Barilla America website at www.barillaus.com. This is a site I can highly recommend, as well as the pasta which you can find in some shops and delicatessens in Cape Town – in which case, they must also be available in other centres as well.
Cheers… and salute
Love Italy, love life.
Read this very interesting article, which once again points to the health benefits of an Italian diet. :)
The Mediterranean diet is now part of the UNESCO "intangible cultural heritage", as requested by Italy, Spain, Greece and Morocco, due to the important role it plays for health, local traditions and biodiversity.
Click on the link below to read the full article published yesterday.
Green Med Journal - The Mediterranean Fresh Produce Magazine
