Celebrating Your Inner Italian
Dante would be proud.
The great Florentine poet who authored The Divine Comedy–and is widely credited with fathering the modern standard Italian language–has many bilingual offspring in Northern California.
As Patricia Yollin reports in this San Francisco Chronicle article, the Bay Area is nurturing many little Inner Italians who are learning to speak la lingua piu bella del mondo.
I was born and grew up in the shadow of the Duomo in Florence until, at the age of 30, I was imported to Wisconsin as a souvenir by my American wife, who was living in Florence. I remember seeing her one day crossing Piazza Santa Croce and thinking she was the cutest girl ever–and I still do. So here I am in Milwaukee. Next year will mark my 30th in the U.S. which means I’ve had three decades of training and working on the “bella vita.”
La vita é bella? Yes of course la vita é sempre bella, but one needs to work at it and make sure that every day there are reasons to feel that the “…vita é veramante bella…” I think one needs to know how to pause (. . . in your head at least if you cannot otherwise) and appreciate the small things that bring Italy closer. Things which remind me I am not that far anyway, things which allow me to detach, disengage, slow down. It can be a caffé at the right time, a quick call to a friend, reading the news or listening to radio from Italy. Working at a university, travel is something which happens and I make sure it happens enough so I can visit Italy and reset my system. The most important things are not things at all, but rather a state of mind.
Q: Living “Italian”. . . Is it a good lifestyle or the best lifestyle?
A: I do not think it is a good life style (living “Italian” in Italy is stressful.) I do not think it is the best one (I am sure there are healthier ones.) I think it is the only one.
Q: Why?
A: Because to vivere “Italian” implies (as for other Mediterranean societies) many social interactions during the day. These casual extemporaneous connections–some good, some bad–are the condiments that add some spice to life. Even superficial chats with strangers at the bus stop, at the newsstand, or at the market are opportunities to give an “emotional valence” to what would be otherwise routine. Sharing personal stories and family problems with friends, colleagues, and neighbors is a way of lessening the burden. After all, the word privacy in Italian does not exist.
Q: What does “living Italian” in the U.S. mean to you?
A: Being able to switch. Switching from living the U.S. life in the U.S. to the Italian life in the U.S. and to the Italian life in Italy. Accepting that change is inevitable after so many years in the U.S. Switching can last seconds or days. The secret is to switch without becoming schizophrenic. Feeling out of place or misplaced sometimes is okay.
Q: What nurtures your Inner Italian?
A: Being able to talk on subjects with Italian friends without being considered critical, offensive, politically incorrect, crude, rude, or insensitive because of the different cultural values.
Q: What Italian movie, or movie set in Italy, do you most like? Why?
A: Tea with Mussolini. Possibly not a great film, but my mother had a small part in it at 82 years of age. The plot was reminiscent of her life in many ways.
Q: If you could live in one place in Italy for the rest of your life, where would it be and why?
A: Anywhere where olive trees grow.
Q: Last Italian meal. . .what would it be?
A: The company would be the most important ingredient of the meal. The setting would be the second. The food would be the third. And if I could do the cooking with my friends, I would be in heaven already.
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How do you nurture your Inner Italian? Share your comments.
Ciceri e tria, chickpeas with both fresh and fried tagliatelle, is a specialty from Lecce in Puglia.
Ciceri are chickpeas. Tria are tagliatelle, in the dialect of Puglia. Combined, they make Ciceri e tria a distinctive dish from the baroque city of Lecce.
Like the ‘Ncapriata in Two Cooks in Puglia, this recipe comes from Cinzia and Marika Rascazzo, sisters and proprietors of the Stile Mediterraneo cooking program.
“The recipes are the real traditional ones from Lecce,” Cinzia says in a recent e-mail. “We inherited them from my nonna and we teach them at our school.” Nonna ‘Nzina, short for Vincenza turned 95 in May, looks like she’s 70, and cooks every day.
“She is super well,” says Cinzia. “For her, the most important thing is food. She gets mad if my mother does not buy her the best ingredients. She spends the whole day cooking-maybe just four hours for a minestrone!”
Cinzia, who holds an MBA from Harvard University and Marika, a practicing cardiologist, are passionate about passing on their nonna’s culinary legacy and the culture that it represents. “Our cooking is based on which town you are in, which season it is, and peoples’ taste. In general, we never cover ingredients’ flavors,” Cinzia says.
Dried chickpeas soak overnight before being simmered with aromatics.
In preparing Ciceri e tria, the first ingredient required is time. Dried chickpeas are soaked overnight and then simmered until tender with aromatic vegetables. The tagliatelle noodles are prepared from scratch by combining water and salt into golden durum wheat, the hardest type of wheat, which is also high in gluten. Durum is a major agricultural product of the Tavoliere plain in northern Puglia.
After the noodles are rolled and cut, a portion, about one-quarter, of them are deep-fried in olive oil. (These fried noodles make an irresistible pre-dinner nosh sprinkled with salt and Parmesan cheese!)
The remaining tagliatelle are cooked with the chickpeas. (When I tested the recipe, my first batch of tagliatelle turned gummy when I added them to the chickpeas. I had better luck boiling the noodles separately and then draining them before adding them to the chickpeas but this is NOT Nonna “Nzina’s method.) The three elements are stirred together just before serving and garnished with fresh parsley and hot red pepper to taste.
Sharon (center) with Rosalba De Carlo (left) and Cinzia Rascazzo at Alle due Corti ristorante in Lecce.
In the baroque town of Lecce, Walter and I meet two dynamic women who are fighting for their lives. Not literally for physical survival-although it may come to that-but for the endurance of their culinary tradition. They may be of different generations but their focus is the same: To preserve the traditions of Pugliese cooking.
If you think this sounds melodramtic, consider this: A McDonald’s sits in the historic Piazza San Oronzo in Lecce, a town that up until a few decades ago was a relatively remote outpost in southern Italy. The food of this area was the now much-lauded ‘Mediterranean diet.’ But, back to our heroines. . .
Thirty-something Cinzia Rascazzo, with her sister Marika Rascazzo, operates Stile Mediterraneo, a custom tour business that focuses on Pugliese culture, cooking, olive oil and wine.
Rosalba De Carlo is a generation older. She’s the proprietor of the esteemed Alle due Corti ristorante where we are lunching with Cinzia on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. We are honored to be eating here and meeting Rosalba. In 2008, she was recognized as an exemplar of the gastronomic culture of Salento, the southern tip of the Italian “heel” during an Economic Sustainability Conference in conjunction with UNESCO and ISNART (the national institute of tourism research).
Seated in the cozy backroom, we ask Cinzia to choose dishes for us. She explains that we will be eating mostly vegetables because Lecce sits inland, away from the coast. (I smile to myself because the distance to the Adriatic Sea is probably no more than 10 miles, practically beachfront property by U.S. standards.) “There is a Spanish influence, similar to Catalan, here in Lecce,” Cinzia says.
Dishes are served in locally crafted terra cotta plates. The peperoni agrodolce are slowly cooked in olive oil and a bit of sugar until they almost melt. Vinegar and bread crumbs complete the preparation. “The Pugliese put breadcrumbs on everthing,” Cinzia explains, laughing. And with good reason. Pugliese bread is renowned because it is made with the superior hard durum wheat that is cultivated in the northern part of the region.
Local pastas are also made from durum wheat mixed with water. We sample orecchiette (shaped like little ears) in a green vegetable puree and strascinate (ragged curled strands) in a tomato sauce.
Polpettone (balls) prepared from eggplant were a revelation. So light, so flavorful. The eggplant is peeled and cooked then passed through a food mill. It’s mixed with grated aged pecorino cheese, breadcrumbs, and egg, shaped into balls and deep fried in olive oil. (Full disclosure: After returning home, I asked Cinzia to share a recipe via e-mail. I tried but I couldn’t replicate the taste and texture. Some dishes must be eaten in their place of origin and I think this is one of them.)
Probably the most amazing tasting that day was ‘ncapriata. Made from only three ingredients-fava beans, chicory and extra-virgin olive oil-this is the poster child of Puglia’s cucina povera. Just beans, greens, and oil but when the base ingredients are so distinctive, and the cooks know how work magic, the results are spectacular.
Cinzia shares her recipe and gives this advice for enjoying ‘ncapriata. “The chicory and fava beans are meant to be eaten together! You can also serve them with small pieces of traditional durum wheat bread. You can add more extra virgin olive oil at the table.”
‘Ncapriata (fava bean puree and wild chicory)
Makes 5 servings
1 pound dried peeled fava beans
Salt
2 pounds wild chicory or cooking greens such as dandelion, mustard or curly endive
1 whole garlic clove
Red pepper flakes
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for garnish
Place the beans in a large bowl and cover generously with cold water. Soak for at least 8 hours.
Drain and rinse the beans. Place them in a large heavy pot and cover with fresh water. Place over low heat. When the water starts boiling, skim the foam from the surface with a spoon. Discard the foam. Continue skimming and discarding the foam as long as it appears. Cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat for about 2 hours. The beans will gradually dissolve into a puree. If the mixture is too thick, add water from time to time if needed.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash the greens. Chop them coarsely. Add to the boiling water. Stir and cover. Cook for about 5 minutes or until al dente. Drain the greens.
Return the same cooking pot to medium-low heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil, the garlic and pepper flakes to taste. Cook over low heat for about two minutes. Add the greens, stir and cover. Cook on low heat for 5-10 minutes, or until tender. Season to taste with salt. Remove the garlic and discard.
When the fava beans are completely dissolved, remove from the heat and add 3 tablespoons of oil (or more if you like) while stirring with a wooden spoon. Season to taste with salt. Thin with some water if needed to create a very thick puree.
Ladle the fava puree into one side of a pasta bowl. Place some greens next to the puree. Drizzle with a bit more oil at the table if desired.
Coming next: More about Stile Mediterraneo plus a recipe for ciceri e tria (chickpeas with tagliatelle).
The great Roman poet Ovid was born in 43 B.C. in the outskirts of Sulmona and the town proudly claims him as its native son. A bronze statue of him commands the Piazza XX Septembre.
Ovid likely wrote his poems about love and life on wax tablets or rolls of papyrus.
These days, it’s microprocessors and LCD screens that facilitate communication in Sulmona and beyond. Through this miraculous technology, we “visited” the Albergo Stella on venere.com, just one of many accommodations middlemen. Turns out we paid $97.82 for a small but spotless room with bath, free parking, and continental breakfast in the morning.
Roberto Bono, co-owner of Albergo Stella in Sulmona.
Albergo Stella is owned by the Bono brothers, Roberto and Giuseppe. Roberto operates the hotel and the Caffé Bono. Giuseppe, the wine guy, maintains the impressive enoteca adjacent to the Caffé. These enthusiastic entrepreneurs even have plans to open another Caffé on the other side of town despite the current economic downturn which has increased unemployment in town.
Roberto noticed that we booked our room online and volunteered that, next time, we should make the reservation directly. “I’ll give you a great room rate and save the 15 percent commission I pay the booking service.”
He also asked if we were set with lodging reservations for the rest of our trip. We explained that we were going to wing it and re-create the good old days when we first met and fell in love in Florence and traveled all over Europe by the seat of our pants.
“Just in case,” he said, “remember www.booking.com. It has a great selection of European hotels and B & B establishments.”
We thanked Roberto but secretly thought to ourselves, “We don’t need that. Now that we’re back in Italy, our old radar will kick in.” Less than 48 hours later, we were humbled into logging onto booking.com. The night after we left the Stella, we had to settle for a Best Western in the seaside resort of Barletta. Arriving as sun set, and dealing with traffic from hell, our dreams of winging it took flight for the night.
By Walter Sanders
Lining the main streets of Sulmona are shop after shop selling confetti, the confectionary for which the town is famous. It sounds simple: start with almonds, pistachios or hazelnuts and coat them with multiple layers of molten sugar cane syrup.
This dessert artistry has been evolving since Roman times when almonds were coated with honey. The results are magnificent. They are edible mosaics, work so detailed, artistic and well-executed that they fool your eye. Of course these are real flowers . . . no, they are confetti.
Confetti Pelino, which dates form 1783, operates a museum of the craft at their factory at Via Stazione Introdacqua 53-55.