Making gnocchi is easy to do; making great gnocchi is hard. There are many factors that could make your 4 ingredient recipe go awry. Luckily I have some tips and tricks straight from my Italian mother-in-law, Patrizia, that will make your gnocchi melt in your mouth every time.
A Brussels sprout side dish is usually a staple on the holiday table, but have you tried them tossed with pasta and other roasted vegetables :: verdure arrostite? If not, you are in for a treat. And, no, these aren’t boiled and mushy, but delectable crunchy slivers of goodness.
In Italy, usually no family Sunday lunch or holiday meal is served without a bowl of pasta as a first course. In fact, Sunday lunches and holiday meals are a CONTINUE READING
Fava beans, or broad beans, are in season :: in stagione in Italy, and I just can’t get enough of them! You can add them to vegetable stews like this Scafata recipe, you can puree the heck out of them to make a delicious fava bean and avocado dip or you can give them a short twirl in the blender and create a healthy chunky pesto that you can eat with crackers, toss it into a pasta dish or do like Mr. Italicano and gobble down spoonfuls straight from the jar.
In some recipes I keep the fava bean skins :: le bucce on to add texture, in this recipe I shucked them so that the creaminess of the fava beans had a moment in the spotlight. Oh, boy did they shine. Straight out of Mr. Italicano’s mouth came the words, “This is so f$&*@!*$ buona.” This time, I didn’t scold him for cursing and instead beamed him a smile, happy to receive his mixed Italian/English compliment.
Homemade pasta is really easy to make, especially if you have a stand mixer :: un’impastatrice. It may seem daunting or difficult, but it’s not. It takes just a few minutes in the stand mixer, 1/2 hour rest time in the fridge and 15 minutes to roll it out and cut the desired shape. Unlike dried pastas where the cooking time is often from 10-18 minutes, fresh pastas only need a few minutes in a pot of boiling salty water. It’s probably quicker to make your own at home than battle the traffic and check out counter lines to buy a bag of dried pasta and a sauce filled with preservatives. Bam. You can impress someone with homemade fresh pasta and a delicious healthy pesto even on a weeknight.
(For those of you who simply can’t be bothered to make the pasta, use the store bought kind, but at least try making the fava bean pesto below…trust me, it’s dynamite! You can also easily make this into a vegetarian pasta dish by omitting the shrimp.)
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.
Spinach Tortelli :: Tortelli Verdi
Pumpkin Tortelli :: Tortelli di Zucca
Erbazzone: A delicious savory pie made with swiss chard :: bietole and eaten for breakfast or as an appetizer.
Piadina: A soft flat bread, similar to a tortilla and typical of Romagna.
Tagliatelle: egg noodles usually accompanied by a meat sauce (ragù alla Bolognese) or a variety of vegetable sauces.
Homemade Kale and Truffle Whole Wheat Tagliatelle
Tagliatelle with Asparagus and Peas
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.
2. Take tours of food producers like traditional balsamic vinegar or Parmigiano Reggiano.
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 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.
*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.
Last week I talked about the beauty of food boxes and without further ado here is the full video-recipe for Spaghettoni with Red Wine Tomato Sauce made with delicious high quality Italian artisanal products.
P.S. If you want to support small Italian artisans who have outstanding quality products head over to augustoitalianfood.com . Just for italicana kitchen followers you can get a 10% discount at checkout by entering in ITALICANAKITCHEN. Buon appetito!
Note: This post is not paid by augusto italian food. All thoughts and opinions are my own.