Gardening

Naples, Go to Give

Posted November 19, 2015 by Sharon Leave a Comment

Ron Martin (upper left) with IVHQ volunteers in Naples.

Ron Martin is a community guy. He advocates for small businesses and his firm, RMG Insurance, hosts an annual Ladies Golf & Gourmet fundraiser to support the Freddy Awards for high school musical theater.

Ron Martin is also a guy who adores Italian food and culture. Always has. So when Martin pondered a recent trip to Italy, he embarked on a plan that satisfied both his Inner Italian and his community guy.

Martin volunteered for the month of October in an International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ) program. Working with the Piedi per la Terra nonprofit, Martin helped refurbish the Vigna di San Martino.

The 17-acre UNESCO world heritage site clings to the Vomero hillside in the heart of the city. Atop the hill is the former Charterhouse of San Martino, which is now a museum, and Castel Sant’Elmo.

In exchange for a $1,000 fee, Martin received hostel lodging, modest meals, and at age 51, the honor of being the senior volunteer in the group. Among his colleagues were Americans, Canadians, New Zealanders, and Australians.

Martin labored–clearing land of undergrowth, harvesting olives, and turning compost piles–but he also fell into the rhythm of southern Italian life. Rainy day naps, a weekend on the Amalfi coast, the famous pie at Antica Pizzeria Michele. Walking to and from work each day through a living tapestry of ancient street culture.

He summed up his experience on his parting Facebook post:

“Tonight I leave Napoli. I have spent a whole month here. I will miss it incredibly. I have lost two notches on my belt working in the vineyard. I have not watched TV at all. I have connected with its people and its rhythm. It’s not the prettiest city but the people here make it feel like home. My fellow volunteers are all awesome and deserve all of the praise in the world. Love them all! I’ll be back!”

Have you volunteered to work in Italy or are you considering it?

Share your thoughts with us.

Tomato September Song

Posted September 23, 2014 by Sharon Leave a Comment

Allow garden or farm tomatoes to ripen at room temperature to develop deep flavor.

The calendar says it’s the first day of autumn. This is indisputable science. The equinox, those brief few days when the daylight and the dark are “equal,” will soon tilt (as the Earth’s axis does) to bring days of less sunlight and more darkness.

But wait! I’m not giving up that easily. The sun is warm on my face today and the temperature is approaching 70 degrees. I still have plenty of locally grown tomatoes on the counter. I’ve chopped them and added extra-virgin olive oil, garden basil, and garlic.

After this heady mixture macerates for a few hours, I’ll toss it with cooked, drained rotini. The aroma will be like an intoxicating distillation of summer. The taste will be like sweet-tart sunshine.

Uncooked tomato sauce is macerated at room temperature before tossing it with hot pasta. Don't refrigerate the sauce. It would blunt the flavor.

Uncooked tomato sauce is macerated at room temperature before it’s tossed with drained cooked pasta. Don’t refrigerate the sauce. It would blunt the flavor.

The calendar says it’s the first day of autumn but, in my kitchen, it’s summer.

Rotini with Uncooked Tomato Basil Sauce

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Italian

Author: Sharon Sanders

Serves: 4 to 6

Use any short pasta--such as rotini, penne, baralotti, campanelle, or shells--to capture the rich tomato juice.

Ingredients

4 large or 8 medium very ripe tomatoes (about 4 pounds), cored and chopped
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup torn fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon salt
1 pound dried rotini
Ground black pepper

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, oil, basil, garlic, and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir to mix. Set aside for several hours at room temperature.
Set a covered large pot of water over high heat. When the water boils, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of salt and the rotini. Stir. Cover and return to the boil. Uncover and boil, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes, or until al dente.
Drain the rotini and return to the pot. Add the tomato mixture. Toss to mix. Set aside for for 5 minutes. Stir and serve.

Spring Blooms in Tuscany

Posted April 18, 2014 by Sharon 3 Comments

La rosa (rose) climbs a wall on the Montestigliano estate near Siena.

Time stops when you’re in Tuscany. I have proof.

Three weeks ago, Walter and I left Pennsylvania to host our tour program at Villa Pipistrelli on the Montestigliano estate. The temperature was chilly. Not a bud or bloom were to be seen.

I returned yesterday to an unchanged landscape.

Time does stop when you’re in Tuscany!

Okay, so I’m exaggerating a bit. I do see a few brave daffodils and maple buds shivering outside my window.

But for Eastertide, I prefer to pretend I’m still in Tuscany among all the lovely spring blooms.

Abruzzo Green Tomato Pasta

Posted October 24, 2013 by Sharon 5 Comments

Chopped green tomatoes are seasoned with parsley, hot pepper flakes, garlic, celery, and olive oil in this unusual pasta sauce.

Since I wrote about Miriam Rubin’s delightful cookbook Tomatoes back in May, I’ve been intending to try her recipe for Green Tomato Pasta Sauce from the region of Abruzzo. I was intrigued because I’d never eaten anything like it or even seen a recipe for an unripe tomato sauce.

I panicked recently when the weather forecast predicted an overnight frost. I hadn’t tried the green tomato dish and time was running out. Unlike Rubin, who is a dedicated home vegetable grower and pens the “Miriam’s Garden” column for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, I do not have a patch from which to pluck tomatoes. A generous gardening friend donated some green fruit to enable the test.

The sauce is easy to prepare. It’s a lively blending of tart fruit, hot pepper, rich olive oil, and plenty of garlic. I believe it would be a good recipe to use in the winter months with pale, firm supermarket tomatoes. I’m going to give that a try, too.

I’m curious if any SimpleItaly readers have relatives or friends who live in, or are from, Abruzzo who prepare a similar sauce. Please share a Comment if you do.

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Passato di Pomodoro

Posted September 26, 2013 by Sharon 1 Comment

In September, when you can buy 20 pounds of pomodori pelati (plum tomatoes) for $15, you’ll know what to do.

Simmer the pelati in a big non-aluminum pot until they fall apart. Pass the contents through a food mill which purees the fruit but screens out the skin and seeds.

Reduce the passato (puree) in a large pot until excess water evaporates and it thickens to just the right consistency to cling to strands of pasta.

Cool and freeze in 1 cup bags.

In January, you’ll say, I did the right thing.

Passato di Pomodoro

Cuisine: Italian

Author: Sharon Sanders

Serves: 12 cups

Adding some vodka to the passato brings out the sweetness of the fruit. The alcohol, which evaporates during cooking, dissolves certain flavor compounds that neither oil nor water can release. If using vodka, add ½ cup to the puree (step 4) as it reduces.

Ingredients

10 pounds very ripe plum tomatoes, cut in into lengthwise quarters

Instructions

Pack a large non-aluminum pot with as many tomatoes as will fit, pressing with clean hands or a large spoon to squash the tomatoes to release some juice. Set on medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tomatoes start to release more juice.
With the back of a large spoon, press the tomatoes. Gradually add the remaining tomatoes until they all fit in the pot. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 25 to 30 minutes or until tomatoes are very soft.
Set a food mill over a large non-aluminum pot. Working in batches, ladle the tomatoes and juice into the food mill. Pass the tomatoes through the mill to puree. With a silicone spatula, lift out and discard the skin and seeds after each batch.
Set the puree over high heat. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium and cook at a brisk simmer for 5 minutes. If the puree is too thin, continue to cook until it is reduced to the desired thickness. Skim and discard any light-colored foam that rises to the surface. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate for several hours to chill thoroughly.
To freeze, ladle into 1 cup containers. Store in the freezer for up to 6 months. To use the sauce, thaw the amount needed overnight in the refrigerator or microwave on the defrost setting for 10 minutes. Heat the sauce in the microwave for 6 to 8 minutes or transfer to a saucepan set over medium heat.

Giddy about Garlic

Posted August 30, 2013 by Sharon 4 Comments

What Happens Underground Doesn’t Stay Underground

Freshly harvest viola Francese garlic bulbs will dry in a shady spot for a few weeks.

Newly harvested viola Francese garlic bulbs will dry in a shady spot for a few weeks.

Last fall I blogged about my foray into planting garlic. My procrastination in ordering bulbs on the Seeds from Italy website resulted in missing out on the desired rossa di Sulmona variety. I settled for viola Francese.

I separated the bulbs into cloves, planted them, and mulched them as instructed. They pushed their green shoots out this spring (full disclosure–a few started growing last fall). We savored the garlic scapes in salads and sautés. So good.

Then the whirl of summer took over. A morning glory vine from a planter box adjacent to my garlic patch spilled a thick green leaf quilt over the garlic leaves which were wilting and turning brown according to nature’s plan.

Hmmmm. Out of sight. Out of mind. When was I supposed to dig up those garlic bulbs?

I consulted my trusty copy of Step-by-Step Gardening Techniques Illustrated (Storey Communications) which told me, “When most of the leaves have turned brown (in mid-July to early August, depending on your climate), gently pull or dig up the bulbs, being careful not to bruise them. Don’t leave them in the ground too long, or they may begin to separate and will not store well.”

It’s the end of August! Carefully retrieving the bulbs with a trowel, I can see that although most of the bulbs are intact, the center stem connected to the root has died back, leaving the individual cloves more prone to separate from the bulb.

I don’t care. I’m still giddy about my bumper crop. Now that I can see the bounty, I promise myself to watch the calendar more closely next season.