Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

Naples, Go to Give

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Ron Martin (upper left) with IVHQ volunteers.

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.

Peach Sorbetto

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peach sorbettoFarm to table sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

Take the peach sorbetto pictured above. It started at an orchard and ended up on my table.

I bought perfect peaches from Hausman’s Fruit Farm at the Emmaus Farmers’ Market on a recent fine Sunday morning. I froze a tray of peeled and sliced ripe fruit (click here for directions) then pureed the frozen slices in a food processor with simple syrup and lemon juice.

Easy peasey. And easily, the best peach sorbetto ever.

But to make those peaches, ah, not so easy.

For the peach grower, patience, skill, and luck are essential.

Patience is needed to nurture the tree for three to four years before it can produce blossoms that grow into fruit.

Skill is needed in feeding the tree, watering the tree, protecting the tree from pests and diseases, and harvesting the delicate fruit.

Luck is needed when Nature’s dealing out her early frosts, hail storms, wind gusts, and droughts.

As a fortunate peach eater, I thank the farmers for making it so (seem) easy to make this divine peach sorbetto.

Peach Sorbetto
Print
Recipe type: dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Author:
Serves: 2 cups
This frosty fruit sorbet is guaranteed to take the steam heat out of August.
Ingredients
  • 1 pound frozen, peeled sliced peaches
  • 6 tablespoons cold simple syrup (see Note)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
  1. Remove the peaches from the freezer and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse to chop coarsely.
  2. Run the machine, scraping down the sides of the bowl, for about 3 minutes, adding the syrup and lemon juice through the feed tube. Process until the mixture is smooth.
  3. Serve right away or ripen in the freezer for 30 minutes.
  4. Note: Make simple syrup by boiling 1 cup water with 1 cup granulated sugar until sugar is dissolved. Cool and transfer to a jar. Store in the refrigerator.

 

Risotto with Asparagus and Shrimp

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11709415_10153362464781357_5099074015839789754_n (1)We were atop a ridge in eastern Pennsylvania but felt as if we were in northern Lombardy or Alto Adige. The 360-degree view of trellised grape vines and distant forests from Galen Glen Winery‘s tasting room is stunning.

Last weekend, the folks at the award-winning Andreas, Pa., winery hosted a cookbook signing and tasting of SimpleItaly’s Risotto with Asparagus and Shrimp paired with its crisp Grüner Veltliner 2014 Stone Cellar Dry White wine. The wine’s notes of grapefruit, mandarin orange, and honeysuckle embraced and softened the grassiness of the asparagus. What a match.

Owned by Galen Troxell (the grape grower) and Sarah Troxell (the wine maker who was awarded “Best Woman Winemaker” in 2014’s International Women’s Wine Competition in California ), Galen Glen was recently named the Best Winery in Pennsylvania in the New York International Wine Competition.

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Galen and Sarah Troxell (right) of Galen Glen Winery. On the left are Galen’s forbears who originally farmed the land in Andreas, Pa.

Philadelphia food writer, Craig LaBan, wrote, “they have pioneered the growth in this region of aromatic Northern European grapes — edgy Austrian Grünner Veltliner, exotic Alsatian Gewürztraminer, minerally Riesling — well-suited to the cold climate, and well-drained, stony soils.”

Family-owned, dedicated to excellence from the earth . . . Galen Glen may not be in Italy but it sure feels like it is.

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Grillo White Wine From Sicily

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P1090982Browsing in my local wine shop, a bottle of white caught my eye.

It came from Tenuta Regaleali, a name I recognized as the much lauded estate and cooking school in Sicily. It was founded by the late Anna Tasca Lanza, who did so much to bring Sicilian country cooking to wide acclaim. Tasca Lanza’s daughter Fabrizia has taken over the school. (This is off topic, but David Lebovitz published this gorgeous post about the estate.)

I also had never encountered the varietal Grillo, which means cricket in Italian, so I was doubly intrigued.

Golden in color, this vino is aromatic with hints of citrus. It’s a sumptuous dry Italian white for summer times.

I learned the back story of this indigenous Sicilian grape on The Wine Hub blog. Once the primary varietal used to produce fortified Marsala wine, it has largely been replaced by the higher yielding Catarratto. Happily, it’s being revived by modern vintners.

Cin Cin!

Tenuta Regaleali
Grillo
Cavallo Delle Fate
Sicilia DOC 2013

$13.99 for 750 ml. bottle in Pennsylvania Wine & Spirits Store

Do you know of an Italian white that veers from the standard pours list? Share it here!

Travel and Adventure Show

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amalfiview

Imagine yourself in a thousand magnificent destinations at a Travel and Adventure Show.

By Walter Sanders

John Golicz is the ring master of the nationwide Travel and Adventure Show series in seven U.S. markets. When the circus gets to your town, take advantage of it.

travelshowsAt the recent show in the Philadelphia Convention Center, all our senses were dazzled. Scrumptious aromas wafted across the exhibit floor as chefs prepared their specialties at the Taste of Travel Stage. We touched the brocaded robes of a tour operator from Nepal. We heard joyful music from Saint Lucia. And everywhere we looked was the colorful tapestry of global travel. You saw visitors trying out a Segway, and others scaling a rock wall.

Experts shared their wisdom at the Destination Theater. We sat in on the hour-long “Insider’s Italy” session featuring nostri amici Kathy McCabe—publisher of Dream of Italy and host of the upcoming Dream of Italy on PBS—and Italian authority and writer Susan Van Allen.

the-bookWe enjoyed speaking with the engaging Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. She is like the Pied Piper of travel. We would follow her anywhere.

We spent some time with John Golicz to get a sense of how he shapes up the 2015 travel scene.

“What will be the hot international travel destination this year?” we asked John.

“Now’s the time to go to Europe. The dollar is strong versus the Euro—about 23 percent stronger than last year—and many analysts predict parity by 2016,” said John. “While the US economy is gaining strength, there’s softness in many European countries. That means better deals at hotels and restaurants as these vendors compete for tourist spending. Plus, with more transoceanic air competition, it is very likely that European airfares will drop as carriers have more seats to fill.”

“SimpleItaly fans would enjoy hearing about your Italian experiences. Anything you’d like to share?”

“We love Italy. We’re very fortunate to share multi-generational family trips with my parents and my children. One of our favorite trips was to Italy when the kids were younger. We started in Rome, then settled into a villa in Greve, right in the heart of the Chianti zone,” said John.

John Golicz

John Golicz

“The food and wine were exceptional, as usual. The kids enjoyed the pool, the hill towns of Tuscany. In Florence, we were smart enough to hire a guide who made the city and its art come alive. In the Uffizi, the guide told the back stories of some of the paintings and that really engaged the kids. They still enjoy visiting museums because they realize every work of art has a human story.”

The Golicz family does more than travel together. Son Jon is the mastermind of 1,000 Travel Tips a travel resource for the best tips, trend information and expert advice for any travel situation you can imagine. SimpleItaly looks forward to becoming a contributor.

The shows 2016 schedule is out, visiting seven cities between January and March. Whet your travel appetite by attending the show in your market.

Lasagna alla Bolognese

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Lasagne alla Bolognese

By Sharon Sanders

Lasagne alla Bolognese (Bolognese-style lasagna) is a dish that embodies the allure of slow food. It has only four components but each deserves attention.

Little language lesson:

Lasagna (singular) is one sheet of pasta.

Lasagne (plural) is more than one sheet of pasta.

The Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is the ingredient that takes the most time to produce—an average of two years. Luckily for us, the fine cheese makers of the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano-Reggiano shoulder that task.

The salsa besciamella (béchamel) can be whipped up on the stovetop in 10 minutes. I enrich my besciamella with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (salsa alla Parmigiana) which makes it technically a Mornay sauce.

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