Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

Italian Icon: La Trattoria

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Trattoria

Combine genuine home-style cooking, many of the amenities you’d find in a white-tablecloth restaurant, and the conviviality of a pub, and you begin to approximate the Italian social fixture la trattoria.

These inviting, affordable storefront restaurants are typically run by a family with Mamma at the stove, son and daughter-in-law waiting tables, and Papa pouring wine—when he’s not charming the clients—behind the case that displays the antipasti, salads, and desserts.

Italian Icon — a person, place, or thing that’s quintessentially Italian

Chicken Breasts Marsala

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Simmer Marsala wine with skillet juices from sauteed chicken to create an unctuous sauce. reduce

Simmer Marsala wine with skillet juices from sautéed chicken to create an unctuous sauce.

Marsala is a Sicilian wine that achieved international fame when it was discovered by British sea merchant John Woodhouse in the late 18th Century. It has become a pantry staple in Italian home and restaurant kitchens. Because it’s fortified with a bit of distilled alcohol, the wine won’t spoil after opening.

Dry, sweet, and aged (vergine) Marsala wines are produced in the area around the port of Marsala in western Sicily. For savory dishes like these chicken breasts with rich cheese and slightly salty prosciutto, choose the dry version. 

Chicken Breasts Marsala
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Recipe type: Main course
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients
  • 2½ to 3 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • Salt
Ground nutmeg
  • ½ cup flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 6 to 8 thin slices (4 to 5 ounces) cooked ham or prosciutto
  • 6 to 8 thin slices (4 to 5 ounces) Gruyère cheese
  • 1 cup dry Marsala wine
Instructions
  1. Lay the chicken breasts, smooth side down, on a work surface. Loosen the tenderloins and open them like a book. With the smooth side of a meat pounder or heavy skillet, flatten the breasts to ¾-inch thickness. Season both sides with salt and a dusting of nutmeg.
  2. Place the flour on a large sheet of waxed paper. Lay an empty sheet of waxed paper beside it. Dip the chicken in the flour to coat both sides. Shake off excess and place the chicken on the empty sheet.
  3. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the foam subsides. Add the chicken in a single layer. Cook for about 4 minutes each side, or until well browned. Top each chicken breast with a slice of ham and a slice of cheese. Add the Marsala to the pan. Bring to a brisk simmer. Cook, swirling occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until it no longer smells of alcohol. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink in the center. With a spatula, place the chicken breasts on dinner plates. Drizzle with the wine sauce.

 

Recipe from our e-book SimpleiItaly Loves Chicken, available for purchase online at the Barnes & Noble Nook store and the amazon Kindle store.

 

Pocket Coffee

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An ad from the ’70s says “drink real coffee even when there isn’t any.”

Last evening, our Italian language conversation group convened at a local restaurant to celebrate the season. At the head of the table was our native-born speaker Daniele with his wife Fanny and daughter Giuilana. Walter and I, along with Patrizia, Elena, and Davide laughed and conversed over an antipasto platter and a trio of pizzas, supported with a Placido Chianti.

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Italian Bounty in Brooklyn

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When in Bay Ridge, visit A.L.C. Italian Grocery & Alimentari.

Enroute to dropping the adorable Tess at her Brooklyn apartment on Sunday, we explored a bit of the Bay Ridge neighborhood. Walter wanted to check out the newly opened A.L.C. Italian Grocery & Alimentari he’d read about in Michele Scicolone’s post on i-Italy.

Louis Coluccio, who co-owns the shop with wife Alison, welcomed us warmly. As we sampled a seductive butternut squash and pancetta lasagna, we trolled the shelves for tempting items to purchase. Here’s what I selected:

Delitia buffalo milk butter
Les Moulins Mahjoub wild mountain capers in sea salt (as big as hazelnuts!)
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (for only $12/lb!)
Guanciale (cured pork cheek)
L’arte della Pasta fusilli col buco (spiral strands with a hole in the middle)
Il Caprino del Piemonte cremoso (goat’s milk cheese from Piedmont)
Agostino Recca colatura di alici (anchovy juice)

The shop’s Web site is under construction but here’s the contact info.

A. L. Coluccio
8613 Third Avenue (86th Street)
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NYC
718.836.3200

Growing Garlic

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Garlic bulbs imported by Seeds from Italy.

Back in September, I opened the Seeds from Italy promotional email in my Inbox. The company is the exclusive U.S. distributor for Franchi Seeds.

“Four garlic varieties have just arrived from Italy. Ready to plant now,” the copy proclaimed.

Since I had been savoring fresh garlic from the Farmers’ Market for weeks, I was intrigued with the concept that I could grow my own. Like daffodil bulbs tucked below ground in autumn to bloom seemingly like magic in spring, I could sow garlic cloves in September for a (practically) effortless flavor bonanza next spring and summer. My kind of gardening.

I knew right away that I wanted the Rossa di Sulmona with its plump bulbs wrapped in mauve tinged skin. I guessed that maybe this variety had been cultivated in Sulmona, a charming town in Abruzzo, which rendered it even more appealing. I made a mental note to order some.

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Biscotti Bambini

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Baby biscotti–ready for dunking.

In the grand American tradition of Bigger is Better, commercial biscottiare sometimes the size of Little League bats with a durable texture to match.

In Italy, biscotti are more diminutive—about the size of a fat thumb. Valued as “good keepers,” these crisp cookies can hang out for a long time in the larder. They stand ready to be plunked into a cup of cappuccino, tea or even a glass of wine. The dip moistens the biscotti and further flavors them.

Biscotti attain their crunchy demeanor by two sojourns in the oven. “Bis” means “twice” and “cotti” means cooked. I’ve found that home-baked biscotti, while still crumbly, are not the tooth breakers that the manufactured ones can be.

Because bite-sized foods are so charming, I recently prepared some biscotti bambini—biscottini—as a hostess gift. I love that you don’t have to make a career out of eating one. [Read more…]