Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

Pizza Aglio e Olio Recipe

Posted by 5 Comments

Slivered garlic, olive oil and oregano create a wonderful change from the classic tomato sauced pizza.

Pizza with garlic and olive oil is kitchen magic.

When the cupboard seems bare, you can whip up this satisfying supper or snack with basic foodstuffs—olive oil, garlic, oregano, flour, and dry yeast—that most likely are in your pantry.

This pizza is a fine accompaniment to insalata caprese, fresh mozzarella and tomatoes.

If you’re the advance-planning type, you can pull a pre-made crust out of your freezer.

Pizza Aglio e Olio Recipe

Makes one 14-to-16-inch pizza

Basic Pizza Dough Recipe
1 tablespoon semolina or cornmeal
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup thinly-sliced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
Pepper

Prepare the Basic Pizza Dough and set aside to rise. Coat a 14-to-16-inch round pizza pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle semolina or cornmeal evenly over the pan surface.

Punch down the dough and place on a lightly floured work surface and let stand for 5 minutes. With lightly floured hands or rolling pin, pat or roll from the center outward into a 14- or 16-inch circle. Transfer to the prepared pan. Fold the edges to make a rounded border. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for about 15 minutes, or until slightly risen.

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over the crust. Spread with the back of a spoon. Evenly scatter the garlic, oregano, and salt over the crust. Season to taste with pepper. Drizzle on the remaining 1 tablespoon oil.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Remove and let stand for 5 minutes. Brush any pooled oil over the border of the crust.

Basic Pizza Dough Recipe

Posted by 4 Comments

The shaped crust--ready for topping and baking--takes only minutes of hands-on preparation and can be frozen for convenience..

Pizza is happy food that’s fun to make. Sure, carryout pizza is convenient, but are you ever really happy with the inevitable soggy crust?

In just a bit more time than you’d spend waiting for home delivery, you can create your own crusty pie heaped with your favorite toppings. This recipe for a crust baked in a pan is the one to start with when you’re starting to make pizza.

This article is the first in our pizza series to show how easy it is to turn your kitchen into a pizzeria.

[Read more…]

Max, Wally and Lampredotto

Posted by 2 Comments

C’era una volta. . . once upon a time. . . Max (Massimo Melani) met Wally (Walter Sanders) in Firenze. Here’s the story in their own words.

The Basilica of Santa Croce holds priceless artistic and historic treasures.

Massimo
First, a few words about the Leather School: Workshop, Laboratory and Show Room of the finest leather goods situated in the old Franciscan monastery of the Santa Croce Basilica in Florence. It was a marvelous place, as were the splendid people working there.

It all started with the Patron Marcello Gori, the owner and director of the Leather School.

Those years in the early 1970s were characterized by a kind of elite tourism. And the Leather School attracted many of these well-traveled, wealthy tourists from around the world. Marcello Gori ensured that his sales and service personnel were first class as well. The staff was multilingual, elegantly dressed, rather good looking and with long experience abroad. I was one of those.

One day in 1972, the owner presented us a colleague, an American boy from Chicago—a certain Wally Sanders, very smiling person, who looked like a survivor from Woodstock or San Francisco–absolutely the first foreigner who was going to work with us.

[Read more…]

A Voce

Posted by 4 Comments

Primavera on a plate. The spring green ortica (nettle) colors hand-made noodles.

I arrived at a Theatre District hotel a day early for the recent International Association of Culinary Professionals conference in NYC but the anticipated tour of the Italian stores on Arthur Avenue was cancelled. My Inner Italian was primed for action, however. Since I wasn’t up for navigating public trans to the Bronx, I consulted The Platt 101 in New York magazine, a list of the top eateries in town. [Read more…]

IACP Culinary Expo

Posted by 4 Comments

At the recent International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Expo in Manhattan, I journeyed vicariously to some choice Italian destinations.

Sonia Di Centa (left) engaged attendees with information about the culinary program at the Dante Alighieri language school in Siena, Tuscany.

First stop was at Arte & Cucina, la scuola di cucina italiana in Siena, affiliated with the Dante Alighieri language school. Representative Sonia Di Centa welcomed me to sit and chat about the programs.

She shared photos of the spacious modern teaching kitchen, housed in a historic palazzo in the center of the lovely medieval city where the famous Palio horse race is held. The hands-on classes, taught in English, range from a single session to a four-month program. The curriculum in Tuscan and other Italian regional cooking styles emphasizes fresh seasonal ingredients. Several programs such as Siena Magnifica and Internships combine cooking and Italian language lessons.

The gentleman slicing the prosciutto was born in Palermo and has lived in the U.S. for 30 years.

The images of the food preparation and finished plates had me swooning and wondering if I could apply for a scholarship. As interested visitors crowded the table for information, I bid Sonia arrivederci and headed for a snack of prosciutto di Parma. The representatives of the Consorzio—a conference sponsor—offered samples of 18-month-aged ham and 36-month aged ham. The elder prosciutto was so delicate it had to be sliced by hand.

Elizabeth Wholey (left) promotes her culinary tourism business.

Next, I visited Elizabeth Wholey, a transplanted Californian who has lived and worked in Umbria for 18 years. After a career in art and graphics, she visited Italy and never looked back. She renovated the home in which she now lives and manages Altabella, a cluster of casa colonica guest villas on the border of Tuscany and Umbria. Elizabeth also teaches cooking classes and caters for Altabella guests through her Amore Sapore venture.
I continued my passeggiata and arrived at the illy coffee display. Illy was a conference sponsor and their pop-up caffés  seemed to be everywhere throughout the sessions which suited me just fine. At the Expo, the barista worked two sexy red Francis Francis espresso machines.

As I sampled a caffé made from Ethiopian beans, I noticed the sign that summed up my afternoon.

Leeks

Posted by 3 Comments

Soil clinging to the leeks' exterior is easy to see. Not visible is the grit between each thin layer.

Leeks—porri in Italian—are coming to market now. Their sweet flavor, tender texture, and lively green color practically sing spring. But, boy, are they dirty!

If you rinse a leek as you would a scallion, you’ll have a finished dish seasoned with grit.

Leeks contain dirt inside their layers, not only on the outside skin, according to Vegetable a Month.com. “Leeks grow layer upon layer, so any dirt surrounding a layer, gets trapped inside as the leek grows outward. It doesn’t help when wind blows or rain splashes more dirt inside the layers.”

[Read more…]