Living abroad in Italy is exciting and exhilarating. I met Mr. Italicano here. I have made extraordinary friends here. I started my business while living here. I love the challenges and adventure that each new day brings while living in il bel paese. I am grateful and I am thankful each day, yet…I miss Thanksgiving!
I miss the smells from the kitchen mingling with the sweet candles burning. I miss the chaotic sounds that fill the house: the clinking and clanking in the kitchen, kids laughter in the play room and lively shouts coming from the living room after a touchdown.
One of my favorite Thanksgiving Day foods of all time is thisCONTINUE READING
On a side note, for all you Italian language learners out there, my title should really be “bruschette” because you change the “a” to an “e” to make it plural, yet I never know if it’s better to use the real word or the Americanized term so people get what I am talking about. Bruschetta=1,bruschette=more than one. Final note, the real way to pronounce bruschetta is like this: “brew—sket—ta”. Here’s a trick to remembering this pronunciation: “you are drinking a brew, when out jumps a skeleton from the closet who yells ta-da!” brew-sket-ta. Random, I know, but these little tricks help with remembering languages at the beginning, at least for me. 🙂
Back to those lovely little tomatoes I was telling you about. Italians are experts at growing and conserving tomatoes for the entire year. Some of the most popular ways to conserve tomatoes are CONTINUE READING
You might be wondering what that weird foreign word is in the title. It’s the variety of one of my favorite Italian olives and is pronounced taj-jas-kay. These small greenish-purplish-brownish olives are cultivated on the rocky mountain slopes ::pendenze of the Italian Riviera in Liguria.
Taggiasche olives have a meaty texture and a slightly tart salty flavor. They are perfect ground up in this pesto or just plopped into various salads or entrees, especially with white fish like rockfish :: loscorfano.
If there is one thing I beg of you, it’s to use a good rustic bread, not the store bought sliced kind. Mr. Italicano and I shot a video this weekend at our favorite bakery :: forno, Forno di Mario, located in Correggio. The video will be coming soon but in the meantime we took home a loaf of miracle bread made with natural yeast and antique grains. This bread was perfect for a light and crunchy bruschetta.
This appetizer :: antipasto is perfect for last minute guests as you can whip it together in just 5 minutes. It helps to have a jar of good quality taggiasche olives in the cupboard for occasions like this.
This appetizer is perfect for last minute guests as you can whip it together in just 5 minutes.
Serves: 10-12 bruschette
Ingredients
6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
12 ounces (340g) taggiasche olives, drained
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about half a lemon)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup (10g) loosely packed Italian flat leaf parsley
1 loaf of rustic bread, sliced
Crumbled feta, as needed
Instructions
Put the oil, olives, lemon juice, garlic, capers and parsley in a food processor or blender and mix until slightly chunky. Add more extra virgin olive oil if needed to arrive at the desired consistency.
Serve with toasted bread, some crumbled feta and parsley.
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Here’s some other great recipe to try with taggiasche olives:
Whenever I travel to a new country, I make it a rule to eat only local food. I see it as a chance for me to learn, discover and explore a culture through its gastronomy :: gastronomia. After all, I never know if I will be back. I fear that I might miss out on some spectacular dish or some new flavor sensation that will push my tastebuds to a new level.
Years ago, when I was traveling with my friend Suzanne in South East Asia, we stuck to this rule. From what I recall, we only cheated a few times: Mexican food in Vietnam (it was just too irresistable); and, maybe a Starbuck’s coffee in an airport or two. Apart from those few occasions, we spent six months together traveling to over nine countries, eating like locals. We shopped at rowdy markets, ate street food ::il cibo venduto per strada every chance we could, participated in cooking classes and arranged home stays so we could stay and dine in some local’s homes and get a real authentic experience of the culture.
For me, food is not just a way to nourish :: nutrire my body, but a way for me to satisfy my curiosity and, more importantly, a way for me to remember. A lot of my memories of a country are associated with food. That is just how my brain works. After month or even years have passed after a trip, I usually can never remember the historical sites or famous works of art in museums, but I can remember the memorable food that I ate.
These spring rolls bring back great memories of Thailand. I am on Railay Island. It is dark out, but Suzanne, Brian (another friend who was traveling with us for a few weeks) and I use our head lamps to keep from tripping on the dirt and stone path leading to an open air restaurant tucked a hundred yards inland. We walk up the stairs and find a table by a railing on the expansive porch. We sit on dark wooden stools and look out towards the Andaman Sea where we can faintly make out the waves crashing on the beach. Wafts of mosquito spray, sweet flowers and thai spices fill the air. Oh, that sticky air that makes your face shiny and your clothes cling to you. We order our food and shortly afterwards, our appetizer ::antipasto arrives: fresh spring rolls. I take a bite.
Now I find myself back in my kitchen. I am alone…no friends, sea or humid air; but, for a fleeting moment I was there. With a bite of these spring rolls :: involtini primavera I had been transported back in time to a country thousands of miles away. I had been sitting with my dear friends and enjoying an incredible meal in a foreign place. I never knew when I would have gone back to Thailand, but today for a moment, I did.
These spring rolls are a light and easy-to-prepare appetizer; perfect for spring and summer.
Ingredients
2 oz (100g) vermicelli noodles
2 carrots, cut into julienne
1 cucumber, cut into julienne
Avocado, cut into julienne
Basil, roughly chopped
12 rice papers
1 bowl warm water
Instructions
Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Put the vermicelli noodles in a large bowl. Once the water is boiling, pour it onto the noodles and let them soak for 4-5 minutes. Drain and let cool.
Set up your work station with the noodles, carrots, cucumber, avocado, basil and warm water. You’ll also need a cutting board to roll and cut each spring roll.
Soak one rice paper at a time for about 10 seconds then place it on the cutting board. It should be pliable but not too wet it tears. Load the rice paper with a small amount of rice noodles, carrots, cucumber, avocado and basil. Fold the sides in and then roll tightly. Cut in half. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Serve with soy sauce, peanut sauce or chili sauce.
This baked goat cheese with tomato and olives is ridiculously easy to prepare, looks fancy and is absolutely delicious. This is the perfect appetizer for when unexpected guests stop by or when you don’t have a lot of time (or desire) to cook an elaborate appetizer, but want to avoid using processed foods.
When I said that this baked goat cheese was easy to prepare, I wasn’t joking. All you need is 5 minutes to throw the ingredients in a baking dish then let the oven work away for 15 minutes. The result is creamy goat cheese that you can slather onto toasted artisanal Italian bread topped with mouthwatering roasted tomatoes and flavorful taggiasche olives.
For those of you interested in learning a few cooking words in Italian so you can read the menu on your next trip to Italy, here is a quick recap of the words seen in the video:
goat cheese :: formaggio di capra
tomatoes :: pomodori
parsley :: prezzemolo
olives :: olive
oregano :: origano
sea salt :: sale marino
black pepper :: pepe nero
extra virgin olive oil :: olio extra vergine di oliva
This baked goat cheese with tomato and olives is easy to prepare and the perfect appetizer for when unexpected guests stop by or when you don’t have a lot of time (or desire) to cook a elaborate appetizer, but want to avoid using processed foods.
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 goat cheese log (6 ounces/180g)
10 grape or datterini tomatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
¼ cup Taggiasche olives (or kalamata olives)
2 pinches of dried oregano
1 pinch of sea salt
A few cracks of black pepper
A good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Fresh artisanal Italian bread
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Cut the goat cheese in half and place it in a small baking dish. Top with tomatoes, parsley, olives, oregano, salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes.
In the meantime slice the bread and toast in the toaster or stick in the oven for a 1-2 minutes, flip the slices and bake for another minute or two.
Serve the baked goat cheese with the toasted bread. Buon appetito!
One of my favorite Thanksgiving Day foods of all time is this CONTINUE READING
