The beautiful purple eggplant is one of Italy’s most popular vegetables. Next to endless varieties of tomatoes, eggplants are to be found piled high on market stalls from Parma to Palermo. I often make “melanzane alla parmigiana” for dinner and dream of Italy.
Category Archives: Authentic Italian
Slow cooked tomato sauce
Cupboard essentials are made up of the tried and true combinations that may or may not be written in a diary or cooking journal. They are the constant factors that stock the pantry, making it possible to prepare a wholesome meal. Cupboard essentials often go unnoticed because of their apparent simplicity. Yet these are often the recipes that define the personality of a cook. Slowly stewed tomato sauce is a main ingredient in my kitchen.
Fennel frittata with wild spinach salad
A frittata is like a pancake filled with vegetables or a quiche without the crust. I make frittata when pressed for time on a busy weeknight, using up the vegetables available in my kitchen at the same time. On just one of those kinds of days, I discovered that oven-baked fennel frittata topped with wild spinach salad makes a straightforward and satisfying dinner
Risotto with porcini mushrooms
In the Veneto, a bowl of risotto for lunch is more common than a plate of pasta. I learned how to make it inadvertently, sitting at the kitchen table reading books as a teenager, while my mother and her best friend Melia prepared Sunday “pranzo”. The preparation of a good risotto is intuitive in this part of Italy. It comes with the territory, like Palladian villas and purple mountains framing the northern horizon.
Golden chanterelle and portobello salad
Early autumn slips quietly past late summer, announcing itself by the appearance of baskets of chanterelle mushrooms arranged on marketplace tables. The chanterelle is decidedly my favorite mushroom, not only for its golden color, but for its graceful shape and velvet texture. Its bright citrus-like flavor blends well with the earthy portobello in an almost effortless salad.
Figs caramelized with orange
The plump, dark purple figs of late, late September prove that dessert has neither to be complicated nor particularly sweet. As inevitable autumn settles in with its daily morning mist — the last ripe figs lay neatly arranged in fruit crates at vegetable stalls for the taking. Take them home by the armful if you stumble upon them at your local market.
Peperonata with pan-grilled cherry tomatoes
As a child living in the idyllic village of Caldogno, I had no idea how much work it was to fill the cupboard with jars of peperonata.. In the last part of September my mother would take a trip to the local market to buy the best sweet peppers the late summer had to offer. Coming home from school, I would enter the kitchen, only to find it absolutely filled with wooden crates of yellow and red peppers The countertops were covered with glass jars, while cast-iron skillets of sliced yellow and red peppers simmered in olive oil and garlic. A day or so later the crates were emptied and the glass jars were filled with colorful stewed peppers. My mother intended the efforts of her labor to keep for a while. But her jars of peperonata simply didn’t last that long. Everyone in my family loved them.
A post scriptum on the artichoke
The artichoke is such a versatile and inspiring vegetable, I feel compelled to write an additional note on how further to prepare it. As a post scriptum to the recipe for globe artichokes with flat leaf parsley and garlic, consider bringing the artichokes to the table stuffed with an aromatic soffritto, made of a lightly sautéed mixture of shallots, celery, carrots and rosemary.
Globe artichoke with flat leaf parsley and garlic
The beauty of the artichoke is seemingly never-ending. It may vary in color from honeydew to olive tinged with violet and mulberry. Its shape fluctuates from that of a cone to a perfectly round globe. The first artichokes of the spring is often bound into bunches, still attached to its stem with long languid leaves. This vegetable makes for a perfect table setting when put in a glass jar or rustic vase. Given some time, it will eventually blossom only to reveal an intensely magenta thistle.
The best thing about the artichoke are its leaves, particularly when steamed with lemon and served warm in a bowl accompanied by extra virgin olive oil.
Rigatoni con pomodoro e capperi
Early morning is filled with the perfume of cooking along the streets of Naples. The smell of garlic lightly frying in olive oil travels freely through open kitchen windows. The aroma of slowly cooking tomatoes follow. The sun warms as the scent of rosemary makes its journey across the terraces and balconies of this lively southern Italian city.
The trinity formed by tomato, rosemary and garlic inevitably remind me of the many bowls of pasta shared with friends in their garden near Pozzuoli. The addition of capers and basil serve as a reminder of time spent in Giovanna’s kitchen. The following recipe is a perfect example of shared family tradition and simply prepared food authentic to its origin.
Beautiful Food Stories 