attheitaliantable.com

August 14, 2011 by Gina Stipo

Mosaics of Byzantium in Ravenna

As a side trip to the salt flats of Cervia a few weeks ago, we drove north along the Adriatic coast to the town of Ravenna to see its famous mosaics and eat some fabulous pasta from that region. Now a quiet city in Emilia-Romagna, in the 400’s Ravenna was the capitol of the Western Roman Empire, and from the mid 500’s to late 700’s it was the seat of the Byzantine government in Italy. It is one old city and the Byzantine mosaics that remain to adorn the churches and basilicas are simply breathtaking.

(*All of the images in this blog are mosaic, not paintings)

Mosaics are pictures or images done with small pieces of colored tile, glass or stone and were widely used to adorn floors, churches and homes in the ancient world. They date from as early as 1500 BC and excellent examples can still be found in Roman ruins throughout Europe and Asia.

During the Renaissance mosaic work took a back seat to frescoes, but the 1800’s brought a renewed interest in mosaic art. The Vatican in Rome has long had a museum and workshop. I remember visiting it when I was a little girl and being astounded even then at the detail the artists could achieve with little pieces of colored tiles. From far away many mosaics look like beautiful paintings and it’s only when you get up close that you see the artist has used thousands of tiny tiles to “paint” the picture.

The chapel at Castello Brolio has some amazing examples on either sides of the altar.

If you are lucky enough to be in Emilia Romagna, don’t forget to order whatever homemade pasta is on the menu and plan a day to see the incredible mosaics of this once important city.

August 12, 2011 by Gina Stipo

Summer Capers

Summer is the time in Tuscany for picking and brining capers. Traveling around Tuscany in the summer, you see the bushes growing wild on the old walls of cities, towns and ancient buildings. They’re free for the picking, provided you have a ladder tall enough. Capers are widely used in Tuscan cuisine to give a bright flavor to simple dishes like baked chicken or salsa verde, and the preserved caper berries, with their long stems, are excellent with aperitivi at the end of the day.

Capers are actually the buds of the flower of the caper bush and are picked before they can open.

If left alone to grow, the flower will open and then fall off, leaving a caper berry that grows in its turn on a long stem. If you look closely at a single branch of the caper bush, it’s possible to see all stages of the caper’s growth: small, new capers on the end of the branch, the flowers blooming in the middle and the caper berries from old flowers hanging on their stems farther up the branch.

Another excellent example of the hidden health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, capers are a good source of the mineral selenium and have a high concentration of the antioxidants rutin and quercetin.

Typically in Tuscany we brine, or pickle, the capers and their berries with salt and vinegar, but in Sicily they are cured by covering them in sea salt from Trapani. These are usually smaller and have a finer flavor, so if you ever see them in the store or on your travels, buy them, and be sure to rinse them well before using.

Most white meats such as veal, chicken or turkey go beautifully with capers, but I like them best in the summer with fish. “Piccata” is a typical Italian dish featuring capers as a main component in a lemon butter sauce and can be used with skate as well as chicken. It’s light and easy to cook, quick and fresh at the end of a long hot day. Capers are a key ingredient in Napolitano pasta puttanesca and are paired frequently with salted anchovies. Mixing capers with sun dried tomatoes and parsley is very fresh and summery and makes a flavorful salsa that goes great with any fatty fish like tuna or halibut or little fried fresh anchovies. It’s the heart and soul of Italy in the hot summer sun!

Salsa Mediterraneo

½ cup capers, drained
½ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil
¼ cup chopped purple onion
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Extra virgin olive oil
zest of lemon or orange
Mix together and serve at room temperature with grilled or pan-fried tuna or halibut. Or dredge some fresh anchovies or sardines in flour and salt, fry them quickly in hot oil and top with this amazing salsa. Buon Appetito!

August 7, 2011 by Gina Stipo Leave a Comment

Making Limoncello!!

One of the liquors that is most popular with visitors to Italy is limoncello, a delightful after dinner drink that originated on the Sorrento coast, where the landscape is abundant with olive and lemon trees and the cuisine relies heavily on fish and seafood from surrounding waters. At best it refreshes the palate and leaves a bright lemony taste in your mouth, while warming you all the way to your toes. At worst it is often an industrial product packed with artificial coloring and flavoring, tasting heavily of alcohol.

I recently returned from a trip to Naples and came back with the car loaded with lemons. We have a saying in Tuscany: “The best fruit is stolen fruit” and while I didn’t steal the lemons for this particular batch of limoncello, I have to say that the two best batches I ever made I had stolen the fruit from a tree in some garden. It’s important that the lemons you get aren’t treated so either grow your own or get organic. Or…

Most of the stuff you buy in the stores is mass produced with lots of sugar syrup and artificial lemon flavoring. But if you can get your hands on the right lemons, making up a batch is quick and easy. It does need to age for a few months, so this is not something you’re going to whip up for dinner next Saturday night.

There are only four ingredients: lemons, alcohol, water and sugar, the most important ingredient being obviously the lemons. In Napoli and the Sorrento coast, as well as the northern region of Liguria, there is a particular variety of lemon that is double the size of a normal fruit with a thick skin that has large pockets of oil. Only the peel is used and it is very important the fruit hasn’t been treated with anything.

First the lemons: wash the fruit, lightly brushing any dirt away. Next take a paring knife and remove the peel, putting as many peels as will fit in a large jar covered completely with alcohol. I use 4 large lemons to one liter of alcohol. Leave the lemon peel soaking in the alcohol for 4-7 days.

Second the alcohol: in Italy they sell 95% alcohol in the grocery store for making liquors. Get a 100% grain alcohol rather than a vodka as there is no flavor to affect the final result.

Then the sugar syrup: make a simple syrup of 1:1 sugar to water (ie. 4 cups sugar to 4 cups water). Combine both in a pan and bring to a boil, boil the mixture for one minute then turn off, remove from heat and allow to completely cool.

Strain the lemon/alcohol mix into a container large enough to hold twice the amount of liquid. Add an equal amount of the simple syrup, mix together and place into bottles with secure tops. Leave the limoncello to age for at least 3 months, the longer it ages in the bottle the smoother it becomes.
Chill the limoncello before serving and enjoy! This stuff goes down easy, a little too easy, and it is high alcohol so beware!

August 2, 2011 by Gina Stipo

What do I do with all these Zucchini??!!

Well I’ll tell you, gets to be August and that zucchini patch you planted is going great guns and you’ve already eaten so many zucchinis, you hope you’ll never have to eat another one and it seems like that’s all there is on the menu. Or you go to the local farmer’s market and they’re practically giving them away and you’re wondering how you can get the family to eat yet another zucchini, you’re plum out of ideas.

You know it’s summer when that happens, and there are so many great ways to fix them but we get stuck. Below is a good list to help you get unstuck, see if any of these are recipes you haven’t tried before. The zucchini blossom is great to eat too, so add those to any of these dishes for a nice splash of orange.
The zucchini plant bears both male and female flowers. The male flower has a stem and the female flower grows a zucchini where the stem should be. You only need one male flower for every two plants to pollinate the female blossoms, so the males get fried and eaten. In Italy they will frequently leave the flower on the zucchini so you can see how fresh the vegetable is, as in the picture above. Pick the flowers first thing in the morning when they’re open so they’re easier to clean. Don’t wash them, just brush the dirt and ants off and add them to any of the following recipes!

Zucchini pancakes: grate the zucchini, mix it with chopped scallions, egg, parmigiano, basil, parsley and a little flour, drop them into patties in hot olive oil and fry till browned.

Zucchini pasta sauce: chop or slice zucchini, sauté with onion and garlic in olive oil, add fresh chopped basil and parsley and toss with the pasta of your choice. Top with parmigiano

Zucchini frittata: make the above sauce but instead of tossing it with pasta, cool it down and mix in some eggs, about 7 or 8, and parmigiano, then heat some butter and oil in a non-stick pan, put the mix in the pan and cook it till it’s browned on the bottom. Flip it by upending it on a flat pan lid, slide it back into the pan and brown the other side. Or you can put it under the broiler! (chicken)

Zucchini torta salata: follow the directions above but instead of frying it omelet style, put the mix in a pie crust and bake it like a quiche.

Zucchini risotto: same thing as for pasta sauce but follow a basic recipe for making risotto. Or cook up long grain or basmati rice, or quinoa, and toss it with the sautéed zucchini.

Zucchini ripieno, or stuffed: scoop out the inside of the zucchini, mix it with onion, ground beef or lamb, fresh bread crumbs, garlic, tomatoes or tomato sauce, oregano, basil, mint, parsley, and parmigiano and stuff the zucchini shells. Put them in a baking dish, drizzle well with olive oil and bake till nice and golden brown.

Giambotta, or ratattouille: Saute them in lots of good olive oil with onion, garlic, bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, basil and parsley. Serve it with Italian sausages and baguettes spread with herbed butter.

Roasted summer vegetables: mix zucchini with eggplant, onion, bell pepper and tomatoes on a large sheet pan and roast them at 400-450, dry with nothing on them, stirring once or twice. When they’re nice and cooked take them out and toss them with salt, olive oil and chopped fresh herbs like basil, parsley, mint, tarragon and chives.

Fried zucchini: make a light batter of flour, salt and white wine, whisking the wine into the flour until you get a thin pancake batter. Slice the zucchini, put it in the batter and fry in really hot peanut oil.

A word about zucchini blossoms: they’re edible! If you’re lucky enough to find them, take the stamen out, pull off the spikey things at the bottom of the flowers, dip them in a light batter and fry them in really hot peanut oil. I have a great recipe for them stuffed with goat cheese and baked in the oven. And in Greece in the summer they use them to stuff instead of grape leaves. Write if you want that recipe!

I don’t know about you all but I’m getting hungry! Hope this helps give you some ideas about what to do with all that zucchini. If anyone has any other recipes, feel free to share! Happy summer everybody!