Life...Italian Style

A Simple Thanksgiving for 50

Choosing which holiday to spend in which country can be difficult, but after 3 years, I've got it down:

Christmas: USA - Umbria is so lacking in Christmas spirit that it makes me almost miss the commercialism of America, plus, you can't beat shopping the Christmas sales when you are buying with the Euro! 

New Years: Italy - I love the big multi-multi-multi course end of the year dinner! (skip the cotechino though....)

Easter: could go either way - I can definitely live without Easter breakfast in Umbria - a hard boiled egg, salami, lamb-innard stew (which I like, but not first thing in the morning), and the dry dry dry Pizza di Pasqua, which looks like a delicious cheese brioche, but its the driest, worst bread in the world.  Lunch/dinner is another story - whole baby lamb or goat roasted over the fire, fried artichokes, more innard stew, and lots of other good stuff! However, I do like a good honey baked ham, easter baskets, and all things easter bunny!

4th of July:  another either way - obviously the spirit lies in America, but its fun to try to recreate here in Itay - plus it gives Italians a chance to eat a real burger, not the weird gross little patty things they have here.  (and of course the burgers are good - Americans only know how to cook and eat hamburgers anyway, right? McDonalds, right???)

Halloween:  USA - its a new holiday here - and there are no mini-Snickers.

Thanksgiving is one of the holidays that I don't mind spending abroad, because I've found that Italians get just as excited about it as we do.  Who doesn't love the sight of a giant stuffed turkey???  This year at Trattoria Basilikó we even had a turkey carving race!

Here's what you need to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for 50 in Italy:

• 45 pounds of turkey
• 2 old hens for broth
• 10 pounds of butter (unheard of in olive oil-only umbria)
• 12 liters of heavy cream
• 3 loaves of Pugliese style bread - the saltless bread of umbria will not work for stuffing
• 13 pounds of cippollini from Cannara for creamed onions
• 25 pounds of potatoes for mash (actually, more - Italians eat mashed potatoes like they are going out of style)
• 11 pounds of brussel sprouts - special request item
• 10 pounds of sweet potatoes, or "American Potatoes"  - another special request item - and they only have the white kind
• 20 pounds of whatever root vegetables you can find - difficult because everything has the same name - rape (RA-pay)
• cranberry sauce - sent from USA - enough for personal use only - the thought of eating any kind of jelly with meat makes Italians absolutely sick!
• 6 cans of pumpkin puree - also sent from USA - there is no differentiating between different kinds of squash here in umbria - every type is called zucca - trying to ask for butternut or delicata or kabocha is futile - don't even try for sugar pie pumpkins - if they exist here, they exist only to be carved on halloween!
• a good egg nog recipe - the Italians were so-so about the egg nog, some liked it, some just didn't get it - the only person who loved it (and finished off everone's glass at her table) was a tall, thin, model-like girl from Romania - you never know!

La Nostra Vacanza....

Our Vacation through Abruzzo, Puglia, and Basilicata:

12 days / giorni
c.  2000 kilometers
1 itinerary / programma
300+ photos/foto
2 motorcycles/ motociclette
4 stomachs / pancie
3 regions/ regioni
c. 20 towns / paesi
4 campsites / campeggi
2 UNESCO sites / siti UNESCO
1 kilo penne pasta (never eaten)
5 tins tuna / scatole tonno (mai mangiato)
2 boats / barche
1 Trip
1 Panz
100 arrosticini
267 cows / mucche
354 sheep / pecore
89 goats / capre
1 Marcello
1 poisonous sea anemone / anemone velenoso
2 poisonous mushroom / funghi velenosi
1 lake / lago
1 river / fiume
1 waterfall / cascata
6 beaches / spiaggi
1 farting donkey / asino scoreggiante
a few aperitifs / un paio di aperitivi
1 or 20 bottles of wine / bottiglie di vino

24+ food experiences / esperienze gastronomiche

photos arriving slowly but surely to flickr

Is it Spring yet???

enough for dinner, originally uploaded by jennifer mcilvaine.

It was raining all last week, and now it will rain again for the next 3 days, but yesterday was really nice (until 8:00 when it started raining..)  so I went into the hills to try to find some wild asparagus.  Last year people were finding asparagus in February, but this year the seasons are respecting themselves, and February was wintery, March came in like a lamb, and went out like a  lion, and April is at least starting with the showers.  Great for the environment, but bad for those of us who are impatient for warm weather and spring veggies...
Here in Umbria wild asparagus (and the wild fennel) are always the first true sign of spring, because they don't pop up until the ground starts to thaw.  The best place to find them is in the unkempt olive groves covering the hills, the more natural and "weedy" they are, the better.   In fact the spiny weed that drives you nuts when harvesting olives (because it catches and tears the nets) is the signal for exactly where to find the asparagus.  Besides in the hollows of the olives trees, this weed, or herbaccia, likes to grow out of rock groupings, always on the steepest part of the hills.  While this makes it easier to find the asparagus, its also a little more dangerous because the rocks are home to vipers and bats.  If you ever see a viper, run like hell, because from what I hear, they bite without hesitation.   Other warnings......don't leave your stuff around....I left my jacket hanging on a tree because it was hot, and luckily I came back to it just in time as an old woman was about to carry it away.   She talked my ear off for 20 minutes about everything that had ever been stolen from every person she knows, and how she wouldn't want that to happen to happen to her because everything comes back to you....I guess with the story she earned the change she nabbed out of my pocket...poveraccia......

2 Events this Week at Basilikó!

L’Orto Bio Logico Ariel e la Trattoria Basilikò presentano

DALL’ORTO ALLA TAVOLA
Una serata BIO-LOGICA
alla scoperta dei sapori provenienti dalla nostra terra

protagonista: il CAVOLO NERO

insalata di cavolo nero con caprino del pastore
involtino di cavolo nero
“caldo verde” zuppa portoguese
gratìn di cavolo nero

€ 30 (compreso vino, cibo, discorsi, tutto!)
Mercoledì 25 febbraio
Ore 20:30

********************************
La Trattoria Basilikò in collaborazione con Bengodi
E La Cantina Zaccagnini presentano

“La Montanara”
Alla scoperta dell’ Appennino Abruzzese
   
Ventricina del Vastese
Pecorino di Farindola
Crostini alla Chietina
Pallotte Cace e Ove
Pizz’ e Fojie
Pecora al Cotturo
I Bocconotti
*******
€ 30 a persona
Tutto incluso

Venerdì 27 febbraio
Ore 20:30

Prenotazione Obbligatoria!

could the white house go green???

From the New York Times:
Well: Alice Waters and Obama’s ‘Kitchen’ Cabinet

The first “kitchen cabinet” was President Andrew Jackson’s team of close but unofficial advisers. Now the chef Alice Waters is leading a campaign to persuade President-elect Barack Obama to create a literal kitchen cabinet.

In a letter to the president-elect, Ms. Waters — joined by Ruth Reichl, the editor of Gourmet, and the New York restaurateur Danny Meyer — urged Barack and Michelle Obama to set an example for the nation on culinary issues like the naming of a White House chef and growing organic vegetables in the White House garden...... 

Turkey Day at Basilikó this year!

When planning a 4th of July party...

...or any other American holiday, it helps to remember the items that don't exist in Italy - or at least, are really hard to find...

• brown sugar
• vanilla extract
• celery seeds
• american beer other than Bud
• and the good ziplocs

Can't wait for the "great american cranberry hunt" this november!

But will there be a Turkey???

ahhhh...the burning question these days.....

I am planning to have a 4th of July party at Basilikó this year just for fun, and because lots of our customers are curious to try "real American food."  However, 90% of Italians that I have spoken with seem to think that no American holiday is complete without that mythical "Thanksgiving Day Turkey" - its the stuff dreams are made of  - and they all want to try it.

Now that I have a pretty good grasp on the language here, once people discover that I am american, they love to shower me with every possible stereotype that they know of, to show just how much they know about american culture and history.  Just to be clear, these are people who have never set foot in the United States, let alone have left Umbria.  Some of the most popluar, and my favorites:

1. the streets really are paved with gold!  they think all americans are rich - I constantly have to explain that most American tourists who visit Italy represent a very small part of the population, and are, in fact, a little better off than everbody else.
2. stickin' with that gold theme - the golden arches of McDonalds - my customers can't even imagine how I learned how to cook so well having only been in Italy for 1 1/2 years, and having grown up only eating "fast food" my whole life.  When I say that I have been cooking in restaurants for 10 years, and that the food in america can be really good, I get a confused look...
3. we have a great healthcare system in america just like in italy.  I don't have time here to comment
4. America is roughly the same size as Italy - they can't fathom that their country is about the same size as California, one of 50 other states - look at a map!!!
5. this one is great - over heard by my partner Cristiana in a pizzeria:  instead of water faucets, Americans now have Strawberry Coca-Cola faucets in their homes...cherry coke, maybe...but strawberry - does it even exist??? ;-)
6. America is a place of constant change for the good of everyone - a true democracy.  I'm not going to argue that things happen in America a lot faster than they happen in Italy, but we have had a monkey accompanied by the devil reincarnate in office for the past 8 years, and have managed to create another war without end or sense...seems like we are moving backwards.  Here in italy, the government wasn't working, so they just ended it and changed - no endless waiting like us (whether its good or not is subjective, of course, but its at least change).
7. and the giant turkey its on everybodys table, every holiday.  If I have Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant, there is sure to be a line out the door.  And there are going to be a lot of disappointed faces this turkey-less 4th of July...

2 Sundays...2 Big Dinners...2 Much Wine...

  Officina della Bistecca 
  Originally uploaded by jennifer mcilvaine

Two weeks ago I made my way up to Verona for the annual VinItaly fair to do some wine tasting for the restaurant.  Last year I went for 3 days, and ate 3 crappy to mediocre dinners.  This year, I went just for 1 day, and had 1 excellent dinner.  We went to Trattoria Giovanni Rana , a historic restaurant in the center of Verona, famous for its pasta.  The antipasti were great:  fried baccalá with sweet marinated anchovies, and beef carpaccio with a hop shoot cream.  But, its the pasta that's amazing -we ordered only 2 pastas, but I could have easily skipped the entrees in exchange for more pasts.  Federico had the classic tortellini with butter and sage made with a whole egg pasta.  I had the cappelletti which were made just with egg yolks, and it was the thinnest pasta I have ever seen - it was like yellow cellophane, but still with texture, and held the filling (white asparagus cream).  All this was accompanied by Dal Forno Romano 2001 Valpolicella Superiore, which was more than superior...  and to put the cherry on top, one of the best grappas ever:  Grappa di Dolcetto, distilled in 1976, bottled in 2001.  The grappa of grappas....

Last Sunday I managed to drag Federico up into the forbidden land known as Tuscany.  Joel had been working with the famous butcher Dario Cecchini, and invited us to one of his all-steak luncheons.  More than anything it was an amazing lesson in business and marketing - half the people there were there only to make contacts.   The  unfortunate aspect of the lunch is that Dario is no longer using the Italian Chianina beef that made him so famous - he now uses imported Spanish meat.  In fact, Salvatore was furious when I told him that we were going to eat there, and told me not to go because of the fact that Dario is no longer using the Chianina.  But the lunch was pretty incredible - a giant communal table (remarkably rare in Italy) filled with pinzimonio (raw veggies), bread, pizze, Dario's olive oil, Dario's salt, and Dario's bottomless fiasco's of Chianti.  Then comes the meat  - a tartare-like ball seared on the outside, followed by 3 different kinds of steak:  Costata della Fiorentina, Bistecca Panzanese, and Bistecca alla Fiorentina.   Also, cannellini beans, roasted potatoes and onions, fresh lard (the "butter" of Chianti)...and I think there was some dessert, and amari too... 3 solid hours of eating...  If you ever go to one of these lunches, don't even think about eating dinner afterwards, or lunch the next day.  It took 2 days to digest all of that meat.  The diet before the wedding officially starts now!!!

Is Nothing Sacred?

This article from the New York Times talks about the chemical contamination of the mozzarella di bufalo here in Italy - they didn't even touch on the fact that much of it is made from milk powder from Argentinian cows...boo to the moo....