I remember scrambling up the mountains of Corfu to pick that pungent wild oregano when I spent an August there in the mid ’70’s. I took the ferry back to Brindisi (to catch the train to Rome, where I was teaching in those days..) with bunches of oregano tied to my backpack. And in our summer trips to Sicily, I remember that old man selling those garlic braids, yellow winter melons and bunches of oregano along the road out to San Vito Lo Capo where we’d head to swim. We’d stop at his stand on our way back to Palermo to load the car trunk with garlic, melons and the oregano for our trip home to Umbria.
Sicilian mountain oregano for sale – along the roadside
No oregano on the Umbrian mountains and in fact, farm friend Peppa scrunches up her nose at the pungent oregano bouquet (“che strano”) and finds the “strange” taste unappealing. Oregano stars in the cooking of southern Italy but not in tomato sauce for the pasta (all over Italy, basil is the tomato sauce herb): pizza is the main oregano showcase. Oregano adds a pungent theme to southern Italy fish and meat dishes, too as in poultry cooked “alla piazzaiola”, i.e., like pizza (with tomatoes, oregano, garlic). Ready for the recipe?
Oregano grows wild on Sicilian mountains
Turkey Breasts alla Pizzaiola
Ingredients:
turkey (or chicken) breast for each person
extra virgin olive oil (accept no substitutes!), q. b. (“quanto basta” or “as much as you need)
salt, q. b.
very ripe Roma tomatoes or other (enough to cover top of the meat)
garlic – 3 or 4 cloves
optional: a handful of black olives
Cover frying pan with olive oil and add garlic cloves when hot. When the cloves are golden, add the poultry, browning slices on both sides. Top with diced tomatoes, generous amounts of oregano and salt to taste. Simmer covered so that tomatoes cook down and then simmer uncovered so that the water of the tomatoes evaporates. Top with black olives, if you wish.
Buon appetito!
Simmer chopped garlic
Brown turkey breasts on both sides
Top meat with diced very ripe tomatoes
Nothing like that Siclian oregano on the pizzaiola!
Add a few black olives to the oregano/tomato mixture topping the meat
Now that looks absolutely fabulous! Thank you for sharing the recipe & a wonderful back story to go along with it. I know my local oregano won’t quite have the same flavor as Sicilian grown but I know it will still be delicious. Perhaps my olive oil from Spello will help!