If there is one thing you must know when you travel throughout Italy, it’s this: you don’t eat “Italian food”, you eat “regional Italian food”. Of course in big cities, you’ll find slightly more variety, but if you head to the Italian countryside, expect to find traditional recipes that are specific to that region, and even sometimes specific to that town. In Italy you can easily find different “traditional regional recipes” made within a 5km radius, or sometimes they even have completely different names for the same dish. There are 20 regions in Italy, but today we will be talking about Emilia-Romagna, the so-called “food valley” ::“valle del cibo.”
Never heard of Emilia-Romagna? No worries, neither had I before moving here in 2009. Emilia-Romagna is the region directly north of Tuscany :: Toscana. Although, you may still need to look at the map, you’re probably already quite familiar with some of its most famous products: Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, Parma Prosciutto and Balsamic Vinegar from Modena.
Emilia-Romagna isn’t nicknamed “the food valley” for no reason. Beyond the legendary products listed above, there are the celebrated recipes that you may have already tried, and if you haven’t, put them on your list:
Spinach or Pumpkin Tortelli: Homemade pasta stuffed with spinach or pumpkin.
Oh, the list could go on…. The only way to really get a good idea of the food world in Emilia-Romagna is to come to the region and do 3 things:
1. Head to a trattoria, which is an informal restaurant (often family owned) where the prices are cheap and the recipes are traditional, like what you will find cooked in homes nearby.
3. Get your hands in the flour and take some Italian cooking courses :: corsi di cucina.
If you’re not able to catch the next flight for the “bella paese”, use this blog and other online sources to find recipes from Emilia-Romagna that you can make in your own home. The beauty of food is that your taste buds ::le papille gustative can travel without leaving home.
If you are able to make it here someday, and would like to enhance your knowledge on how Parmigiano Reggiano, Parma prosciutto, balsamic vinegarand traditional regional recipes are made, I suggest that you contact Reggio Lingua, a language school in Reggio Emilia that organizes Italian language classes, home stays, unique agriturismo accommodations, cooking classes and cultural activities like visits to cheese and balsamic vinegar factories or city tours.
*This post is not sponsored by Reggio Lingua. I attended their Italian language classes for 3 years and highly recommend their language and cultural services.
Food boxes that you buy online and are shipped to your home have been around for awhile. I was skeptical at first, I mean, I go to the grocery store two or three time a week, so why would I need to order something online? Putting my curiosity to the test, I decided to give it a try with this new AuGusto Italian Food.My experience was excellent. What I discovered was that I was able to find a variety of high quality artisanal Italian products in one place. And trust me, these are real Italian products! Even in Italian supermarkets, the shelves are often littered with industrial products making it hard to understand what the “healthy” products are.
Unlike shopping at a supermarket, I can instantly understand all the details of producers, the list of ingredients and raw materials and the method of production while shopping online. Reading the minuscule back labels of products when I am standing in the crowded and stuffy supermarket aisle is burdensome and inefficient. On the internet, however, I can easily get all the information I need to make informative choices on what I should feed my body to keep it feeling good (and who to give my money).
Because my experience was exceptional, I decided that I wanted to be part of promoting these artisanal products in Italy and abroad. One of things I hate the most is going back home to America where it’s hard to find high quality Italian ingredients. Often times what I find aren’t truly Italian products, or I find them hidden away in some obscure specialty store. Therefore, I decided to accept the challenge with AuGusto Italian Food. The company is run by an awesome and down-to-earth group of guys that share my same values. Over the course of the next few months I’ll be creating original recipes with products that I like and that you can find in their food boxes. You’ll be able to find these recipes on my blog and a hardcopy inside their box. You can also check out the video recipes to easily see how the recipes are put together in a matter of minutes to create a simple wholesome Italian meal. Here is the trailer to the first one for Spaghettoni with Red Wine Tomato Sauce. (It’s in Italian but you can follow along with the pictures. I promise my on camera Italian speaking skills will get better with practice!)
I love this project and the idea of helping to promote small Italian artisans who are so passionate about the products they make. AuGusto Italian Food loves my support and help in developing these recipes and therefore, I was able to get a discount for my followers! If you are interested in trying a food box out, go toaugustoitalianfood.com and just put ITALICANAKITCHEN as the promocode at checkout…you’ll receive 10% off! Buon appetito! (Currently only Europe shipping is available.)
Note: This post is not paid by augusto italian food. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
For those of you who may not know, I had the most amazing opportunity to participate on La Prova del Cuoco, one of Italy’s most famous national cooking shows, hosted by Antonella Clerici,on RAI UNO. (Sorry in advance for the horrible photo quality! I had to take pictures of the computer screen!)
Just being given the opportunity to be a part of the week-long show, was already the biggest satisfaction for me—winning the competition was icing on the cake and being publicly invited back on the show by Antonella was the cherry on top.
Then there were two interviews published last week that were the brightly colored sprinkles making the whole thing deliciously sweet. One article was published on the online website uploadyourtalent.com{in italian} and the other was published on the front cover (!) of the food section in The Spokesman-Review, the largest news and information provider in the Inland Northwest, as well as on their website.
Have I mentioned all of the talented chefs I met on the show? On Monday, I cooked with Cesare Marretti from Tuscany who is as gifted as he is crazy. (In a fun way; his naked pictureswith just a fish are a testament to this.)
On Tuesday, I was paired with Giam Piero Fava from Rome, a superb chef who’s made quite a name in Italy at such a young age.
Then I had the pleasure to cook alongside Ivano Ricchebono from Genoa, owner of the one-star Michelin restaurant, The Cook.
On Thursday, I was with Diego Bongiovanni,a creative and rock’n’roll chef who lit up the kitchen.
And, on Friday, I cooked with Natale Giunta: from Sicily, owner of Castello a Mare and a 7-year veteran on La Prova del Cuoco.
And, of course, not to forget my competitor, Nicola Delle Donne, a kind man and fantastic cook.
I also had the honor of being judged by and meeting Paola Ricas, an extraordinary woman who started off as a journalist and later was the Director for over 30 years of one of Italy’s top culinary magazines, La Cucina Italiana. Unlike most participants on La Prova del Cuoco, I was given a lot of freedom and independence with proposing my American/international recipes and preparing them from start to finish. I was happy that Paola noticed and rewarded me for this effort as it was not at all easy to prepare an entire recipe shot live on national t.v. while also trying to speak in fluent Italian. (Talk about being nervous!)
Last but not least, it was amazing to meet Antonella who is an amazing presenter and an icon in Italy. I am grateful that both Paola and Antonellaappreciated a taste of my “italicana kitchen” and I can’t wait to go back on the show to present more international dishes.
The greatest thing I learned from this experience, which I would like to pass on to you is this: don’t be afraid of setting BIG goals. Many of us (me included!) often times set smaller goals because we believe that we could never achieve the big ones. We block ourselves from even trying because we have that little voice in our head telling us that we will never succeed. Ignore it. With a lot of hard work, persistence and a bit of luck, we all have the ability to live out our dreams. It won’t be easy. At times you will have to claw and fight your way to continue on your path. But if you walk with a fiery of passion, unwavering aim, and you never give up, every step you take is one closer to realizing your dreams.
Thank you to everyone who supported me and left encouraging comments throughout the week. You gave me the boost in morale to give it my all 100% of the time. THANK YOU! Sending a big hug!
When you start planning a trip to Italy most people automatically put Rome, Venice, Milan and Florence on their itinerary, creating a travel package filled with history :: storia, romance, shopping and art. Is that enough for you? What about adventure and sport? What about nature and Italy’s renowned agriculture? There is so much more to discover in Italy than the well-beaten tourist route. If you crave a holiday that is active, then you won’t want to miss one of my favorite spots in Italy: Riva del Garda on Lake Garda.
Riva del Garda is nestled between the Dolomite mountains on the northern most tip of Lake Garda in the region of Trentino. It is paradise for outdoors enthusiasts and foodies. You can pass your day: hiking on ridges overlooking the lake with views that will take your breath away, mountain biking through the rugged :: aspro terrain, or take part in one of the many lake sports like kite surfing, wind surfing or sailing. After working up an appetite you can head to one of the numerous restaurants along the lake front or for a more unique experience bike or drive five minutes to the agriturismo, Madonna delle Vittorie, for an outdoor lunch surrounded by vineyards and olive groves.
The word “agriturismo” is a combination of the words “agriculture” and “tourism” in Italian (agricoltura and turismo). It is a style of vacationing in Italy where you have the opportunity to stay in accommodation on farms. Madonna delle Vittorie offers spacious vacation apartments amidst nature :: natura where you can relax in a peaceful setting. Their restaurant serves traditional recipes using high quality local ingredients as well as their own production of wine and extra virgin olive oil.
I had the wonderful opportunity to pass the day with Fiorindo Bonora, owner of Madonna delle Vittorie. After a delicious lunch (see photos above… um, yum!) he gave me a private tour of his oil mill :: frantoio where he explained the process of pressing their Garda Trentino olives and how they extract only the superior quality extra virgin olive oil, like Olio Extra Vergine di Oliva Garda Trentino DOPand the most prestigious, Olio Extra Vergine di Oliva Denocciolato.
He also let me in on the three main reasons why Lake Garda extra virgin olive oils are among Italy’s best:
1) Variety in the soil.
2) Mild climate.
3) Local air.
Wind is important to the production of wine and olive oil as it helps prevents mold and disease from infecting the vineyards and olive groves ::oliveti.
We then headed to the winery where Trentino DOC red and white wines are produced as well as sparkling wines before touring his vineyards and olive groves that stretched out across the valley floor and crawled up the mountain side throughout Arco, Riva del Garda and Nago-Torbole. By reservation you can also organize a guided tour through the oil mill and winery :: cantina including, of course, tastings of their high quality wines and olive oils.
Due to passion and attention to detail by Fiorindo, his family and staff, it is no wonder that Madonna delle Vittorie has a ranking of 4.5 out of 5 on Trip Advisor.
While in Riva del Garda, don’t miss out also on a unique dining experience at La Berlera, a restaurant inside of a cave! They also use Madonna delle Vittorie products in their restaurant.
Note: This post is not paid by Riva del Garda tourism or Madonna delle Vittorie. I just thought you would be interested in discovering one of my favorite locations and an agriturismo that is worth the visit here in Italy.
In Moglia, a small town in the region of Lombardia, Italy, lives an adorable woman name Adriana who owns Con Gusto, a small shop :: negozio where she sells homemade pasta. She invited me to visit her sunlit laboratory where she passes her day preparing a variety of pastas, including one of my favorites: tortelli di zucca, which is filled with pumpkin and is similar to ravioli. Italian recipes are usually passed down throughout generations. Each family has its own way of making tortelli di zucca, which is a traditional dish from Mantova. Whereas other recipes include mostarda (pickled fruit) in the filling, Adriana’s only calls for: nutmeg ::noce moscato, ground amaretti cookies, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and cooked pumpkin purée. Once you have prepared the filling :: ripieno, then it’s time to make the pasta dough, which is simply made from 100g of all purpose flour for every egg. Italian farm fresh eggs resemble orange garnet stones, they have such a magnificent color so don’t be surprised if your pasta dough doesn’t have such deep shades of yellow. You can roll the pasta dough by hand, or use a pasta rolling machine. After which, the pasta sheet is cut into tiny squares using a frilled edge pastry cutter. Adriana has one with multiple blades to get the job done quicker, but you can also find single cutters as well. The next part is my favorite task: forming the pasta into the tortelli shape. I find this part quite therapeutic and relaxing. Your hands nimbly work at forming little round balls of orange filling and enclosing them with the pasta square so that it makes a triangle ::triangolo. Then you squeeze the pasta together around the center to push out all of the air :: aria that is around the filling and turn the ends in to form a little hat like Robin Hood wears. Repeat. Repeat. And, repeat, some more. It’s quite a long process, but totally worth it for the yumminess that you’ll soon be putting into your mouth.
Adriana was so kind to send me home with a big tray ::vassoio to cook for Mr. Italicano and myself, but before I left she showed me some of the other pasta she previously made. Then she quickly showed me how she makes her maccheroni al pettine, which is literally translated to “comb maccheroni” because she uses a small comb-like utensil to create the line indentions. She starts out with the pasta dough and cuts it into squares :: quadratini, like she did for the tortelli di zucca. However, this time she rolls a square onto a little wooden stick, then moves it across the comb-like utensil. Then she just pops the piece of pasta off the little wooden stick. And, that’s how quickly you can make handmade maccheroni al pettine. Oh, how I adore Italian cooks and their homemade pastas. I don’t have the exact proportions for Adriana’s tortelli di zucca but if the picture below has tantalized your taste buds and you are dying to make these, try out this similar recipe and simply omit the mostarda so it is more like Adriana’s. Don’t forget to try out my friend Elena’s tortelli verdi (spinach tortelli) recipe as well. Enjoy! If you happen to be near Mantova, you can find Adriana’s shop at the address below:
Con Gusto
P.zza Libertà, 69
46024, Moglia MN
Italy
Note: This post is not sponsored or paid by Con Gusto. I promote companies whose products I like and think you will enjoy.
I’ve always enjoyed being on stage. I remember when I was 5 years old dressed in a violet leotard and tutu tap dancing to the music streaming through the speakers, mouth wide with a toothless grin as I scanned the audience to spot my dad’s checkered shirt and my mom’s 1980’s permed hair. Then something remarkable happened; my silk purple shoe lace that held my patent tap shoes in place came untied. As the song came to a close, I shot up my hands and kicked my right heel to the ground for the final pose and found my shoe flying off of my foot and landing on the stage a few feet in front of me. The crowd burst into laughter; all eyes were on me. I smiled even wider and soaked in the attention. Now 26 years later, I found myself with over 20,000 people’s eyes on me as I strolled across the stage to accept a prize for winning a cooking contest hosted by La Strana Coppia of Radio Bruno sponsored by Coop Estense. What an awesome adrenalin rush!
That’s me on the stage in the orange dress staring out at over 20,000 people!
Thanks to Mr. Italicano who forwarded me a flyer about participating in the cooking show, I applied and was accepted. I spent the morning hanging out with Enrico Gualdi and Sandro Damura from La Strana Coppia, laughing hysterically as they cracked jokes and imitated how I speak Italian with a thick American accent.
My competitor and I were paired with chefs from Coop Estense and the competition began.
Two judges were picked from the crowd, and the dish my chef and I had prepared took home the maximum votes among all of the different competitors during the show.
Giulia, a contest winner from a previous show, and I were invited to accept our prize on stage at the Radio Bruno Summer Concert event. I had never been to one of the shows, so little did I know this was a huge event with famous Italian singers like: Modà, Francesco Renga, Noemi, Annalisa, Michele Bravi, and Senhit, just to name a few.
I was expecting hundreds, maybe even a thousand people, so you can imagine my shock to find out that there were more than 20,000 people filling Italy’s third largest square.
Look! Half of my head is on the big screen:-)
I am working my hardest to turn this blog into a successful career. Who knows if I will succeed, but it’s already bringing me places that I would never have imagined and for this I am truly grateful. I recently got a call back to audition for one of Italy’s largest cooking shows, La Prova del Cuoco, hosted by AntonellaClerici so i’ll keep you all updated if I get selected. I am also auditioning for Donnavventura, an Italian travel/adventure television show (think National Geographic, not a reality show!). Voting closes June 18th so check out my audition video and rate the video by selecting the number of stars or if you are daring enough to figure out how to sign up, you can also vote for my video (everything is written in Italian). In any case, thank YOU for reading this blog, supporting me and leaving kind and thoughtful comments here and on my social media pages. Without all of YOU non of this would be possible!
Emilia-Romagna isn’t nicknamed “the food valley” for no reason. Beyond the legendary products listed above, there are the celebrated recipes that you may have already tried, and if you haven’t, put them on your list:
Pumpkin Tortelli :: Tortelli di Zucca 
If you are able to make it here someday, and would like to enhance your knowledge on how Parmigiano Reggiano, Parma prosciutto, balsamic vinegar and traditional regional recipes are made, I suggest that you contact Reggio Lingua, a language school in Reggio Emilia that organizes Italian language classes, home stays, unique agriturismo accommodations, cooking classes and cultural activities like visits to cheese and balsamic vinegar factories or city tours.
Unlike shopping at a supermarket, I can instantly understand all the details of producers, the list of ingredients and raw materials and the method of production while shopping online. Reading the minuscule back labels of products when I am standing in the crowded and stuffy supermarket aisle is burdensome and inefficient. On the internet, however, I can easily get all the information I need to make informative choices on what I should feed my body to keep it feeling good (and who to give my money).
Because my experience was exceptional, I decided that I wanted to be part of promoting these artisanal products in Italy and abroad. One of things I hate the most is going back home to America where it’s hard to find high quality Italian ingredients. Often times what I find aren’t truly Italian products, or I find them hidden away in some obscure specialty store. Therefore, I decided to accept the challenge with AuGusto Italian Food. The company is run by an awesome and down-to-earth group of guys that share my same values. Over the course of the next few months I’ll be creating original recipes with products that I like and that you can find in their food boxes. You’ll be able to find these recipes on my blog and a hardcopy inside their box. You can also check out the video recipes to easily see how the recipes are put together in a matter of minutes to create a simple wholesome Italian meal. Here is the trailer to the first one for Spaghettoni with Red Wine Tomato Sauce. (It’s in Italian but you can follow along with the pictures. I promise my on camera Italian speaking skills will get better with practice!)
