Italy is art, history, stunning landscape, warm and welcoming people – and food. An integral part of lifestyles here, as varied as the terrain and the hill towns, the culinary wonders of Italy vary region to region – and even town to town.
Ingredients: 5 or 6 bell peppers garlic cloves, 2 or q.b. (quanto basta or “as much as is needed”) wine vinegar, 1 c. or q.b. extra-virgin olive oil salt very ripe tomatoes (in the summer) or 1 large can of tomatoes Wash 5 or 6 bell peppers. Slice into strips about 2 inches wide. Cover…
Variations on this wonderful eggplant dish, la caponata, are enjoyed from Sicily north to Naples! Enjoy this version of a Neapolitan friend. Ingredients: 3 large eggplants 1 onion 1 stalk of celery handful of pitted black olives a handful of capers (under salt, if possible) 6 – 8 very ripe Roma tomatoes salt wine vinegar 1…
Ingredients: 3 lb small, flat yellow onions (or smallish white) 2 T good quality wine vinegar, approximately salt, q.b. freshly ground pepper 6-7 cloves Boil 5 pts or so of water and drop in the onions, then drain af- ter counting to 15. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, pull off the…
Ingredients: 8 medium-sized eggplants (or fewer if very large…..try for smaller ones!) 10-12 very ripe cherry tomatoes olive oil, q. b. (“quanto basta” or “as much as you need”) garlic, 4- 5 cloves fresh basil (if possible) – or parsley salt, q.b. Dice the eggplants and fry until brown in hot olive oil. Remove. Add garlic…
(Garliced Orange Squash) about 8 servings recipe thanks to Signora Giovanna, Ristorante da Umberto, Ustica – province of Palermo Ingredients (as is typical of any good cook, Giovanna has never used a recipe so her instructions to me were very “approximate” – therefore, do experiment!) : orange squash (I often use butternut), enough to slice…
Ingredients: zucchini, 6 or 8 or … (as many as you want – use more mint and garlic, olive oil and vinegar if making this dish with more zucchini), small-to-medium- sized but NOT large (too much pulp inside and less flavor) red or white wine vinegar, q.b = quanto basta or “as much as is…
Ingredients for 4 persons: about 1 lb of nearly stale good homemade bread (or if purchasing, Italian or French-style breads) 4 ripe tomatopes 6 leaves of basil 1 large purple onion 1 stalk celery 1 medium-sized cucumber extra-virgin olive oil (accept no substitutes and get the BEST you can) salt, pepper wine vinegar optional: variety…
Crostini agli Spinaci Ingredients: slices of good, crusty bread (best if a couple days old) spinach cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil (ideally, just back from the mill!) cheese pepper salt optional: lemon juice Toast bread slices. Steam spinach. Drain any water. Toss with olive oil and a bit of lemon juice if desired. Add salt, pepper…
Ingredients: broccoli slices of good, crusty bread (best if a couple days old) cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil (ideally, just back from the mill!) garlic clove chili pepper salt Cook broccoli in salted boiling water, drain and then heat in hot olive oil (with garlic clove and chili pepper). Toast bread slices, then rub each one…
Ingredients: slices of good, crusty bread (best if a couple days old) garlic clove salt cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil (ideally, just back from the mill!) Toast bread on both sides. Rub one side of each slice with garlic clove. Drizzle olive oil over, be generous! Sprinkle it with salt. Variations are endless: Top with diced…