If I Can’t Be In Italy…

… I’ll take Eataly. I may be one of the last Italophiles in the US to visit this temple to the cuisine of Italy, but it was certainly worth the wait. You mention that you’ve been to NYC and friends ask “did you go to the Guggenheim or the Frick or the Met” and I all I want to say is “who has time for museums when there’s Eataly “.

It was everything I had hoped for-one big Italian food fest with culinary delights at every turn. We first did a walk through to get a lay of the land and then headed back to the coffee bar for a cappuccino to fortify ourselves for the day.

Yes. It was perfect, as if we were in Italy.

Off we went to explore the endless shelves stocked with every imaginable food product. It was sort of mind boggling. Pasta, rice, grains, olive oils, vinegars, olives, spreads, chocolates, coffee, jams, tomatoes, sauces and more. I was happy to find a caper spread from Pantelleria (island off of Sicily known for its gorgeous capers) that I’ve been searching for since I first tasted it about 7 years ago.

In addition to the amazing number of grocery products there was cheese, salumi, freshly baked bread and pasta.

The agnolotti al plin that I bought transported me right back to a memorable afternoon in Serralunga (in Piemonte). Little puffs of pasta filled with meat and vegetables that just melt in your mouth.

And of course there were pastries. Although they were beautiful, I was sort of disappointed as I had been expecting pasticcini, the bite size confections found in the pasticceria (pastry shops) all over Italy. These were much larger and most were priced at $5.

There are a variety of restaurants where you can sit and order a meal, but we opted for a selection of panini that we devoured standing up at one of the bar-like tables located around the building. They were all delectable and after a cup of gelato we left quite happy, laden with our purchases.

Eataly
200 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10010

I Married A Pizzaiolo!

There’s no doubt around here that I’m the person in charge of all the activities taking place in the kitchen. I plan the meals, do the shopping and prepare the meals. I suppose you might say I’m a bit territorial about anything that’s related to food in our house. Call me crazy, but if I’m not around to actually make a meal, I’m curious to find out what J. may have eaten in my absence! Usually it’s something that does not take a lot of actual “cooking”.

Although we’ve sort of gotten off of our weekly “pizza night” schedule, we have been out for pizza a few times to the famed Pizzeria Mozza. Little did I realize but sitting at the bar with a bird’s eye view of the pizza making operation was just the push that J. needed to get in the kitchen and become the pizzaiolo in our house. Yes, I still made the dough and prepped the toppings, but J. was the one to actually work the dough and form it in to a pizza. No rolling pin for him. It’s hand stretched and with the quintessential thin crust. Grazie J.! What’s up next?

Top photo courtesy of Sunset magazine.

A Taste Of Calitri

Although it’s been quite a while since my last attempt, I have not given up the hope of recreating my grandmother’s cingul’, the handmade pasta that is the specialty of her home town-Calitri. I’m not sure what spurred me on, but a few days a go I was all set to boil up some dried angel hair pasta for dinner, when I decided to get in the kitchen and give cingul’ another go.

I dug through my recipes and pulled out the little scrap of paper where I had written what my mother had told me about my grandmother’s pasta. It read “2 cups flour, 1 cup water, 1 egg (yolk only if for cingul’). I also found an old Bon Appetit article featuring a well known chef from a town not far from Calitri and there I discovered a step by step photo guide of forming the pasta. I was on my way!

Chef Pisaniello’s recipe did not include the egg, but did add a little bit of olive oil. I did a combination of both recipes, and used both the egg yolk and the olive oil. The dough was soft and silky and felt much lighter than my previous attempts. The proof would be in the cooked pasta. I topped it with a simple sauce made with tomatoes from our garden that I roasted and then pureed. J. was my willing tester and I knew he would be honest and tell me if the finished product was light enough. Lo and behold he liked it and so did I!

The photos here were taken by Paolo, writer of the blog Paolo and Maria Elena’s Italian Adventures. They are Americans who own a home in Calitri and happened to be there once for the cingul’ festival. Our next visit to Calitri will definitely be timed to coincide with this event.

I’ll be making cingul’ again this week and will post my photos then. I figured it was better to show you the real deal, straight from Calitri. To me this pasta will always be known as jingles, what we called them as kids. If I had to choose my last meal, it would be a big bowlful of my grandmother’s jingles with gravy (otherwise known as tomato sauce).

Whirlaways!

For about a week now I’ve been I’ve been thinking about a cookie from my childhood. I wasn’t quite sure what was in it and definitely had no idea what it was called. I did remember that it was a refrigerator cookie and that the dough was rolled in something and I thought that oatmeal was involved at some point in the recipe. I had a vision of them nestled in the cupcake papers that my mother would use to fill red and green tins with her Christmas cookies to give as gifts.

So where would I go to find the recipe? Of course, my mother! Well, she wasn’t really sure what I was talking about until the end of our conversation when she mentioned that it sounded like a cookie named whirlaway and she swears she only made them once. Knowing my mother as I do, I figured she probably still had the recipe tucked away in her file box and she said she’d take a look. Yes indeed, she did find it and it was called whirlaway. I couldn’t wait to get in the kitchen and whip up a batch.

These cookies are simple to throw together. They are light and not terribly sweet and when I bit into one I was immediately transported back in time-just what I wanted…

Whirlaways

1 cup butter
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour, sifted
1 cup rolled oats
Chocolate sprinkles (which I grew up calling jimmies)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cream the butter, add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the vanilla, flour and oats. Do not over mix. Shape the dough into 2 logs, 1-1/2″ in diameter. Sprinkle chocolate “jimmies” on waxed paper or parchment and roll dough over to cover outside. Chill about 15-20 minutes. Slice into 1/4″ pieces and place on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake for 25 minutes. Cookies should not brown. Yield: 48 cookies

Happy, Happy Birthday!!!

I am dedicating this post to J.,my wonderful husband who is celebrating his birthday today (yes we started the partying last weekend in Paso Robles!). He is always there for me in every way-be it tasting whatever it is I’m cooking up or urging me on in my quest to share all that I love about Italy with the rest of you. Thank you J.-I couldn’t do any of it without you…

Next up Cooking With Panini Girl in Italy in Autumn.

The Italian Mamma

Having grown up with Italian grandparents, the highlight of the week was always Sunday afternoon lunch. The first word in Italian that I learned was “Mangia!” as my grandmother carried platters full of food to the dining room. I have very fond memories of hours spent around the table with the family, savoring every single bite that my grandmother had lovingly made for us.The food was stuff dreams were made of-huge loaves of homemade bread, pasta rolled and cut by hand, perfectly roasted chicken and potatoes-but it was more than that. It was the gathering of sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews joined together as a family.

I woke up today to a story in the Wall Street Journal that made me smile. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean. Here’s the tale of modern day Italian mammas taking care of their children across the miles. Don’t you wish that you had an Italian mamma cooking all your favorites, packing them up and sending it off to you for Sunday lunch?

Il Giorno Di San Valentino

I wish you all a very Happy Valentine’s Day. May you heart be filled with love and there be chocolate somewhere in your future. As for me, I think I’ll bake some mini flourless chocolate cakes, top them with whipped cream and share them with my wonderful husband!

* J. took this photo of these beautiful wreaths that were for sale at the Santa Barbara Farmers’ Market.

So You Want To Be Italian?

We came upon this statue as we wandered around Calitri (the birthplace of my grandparents) during our very brief visit there a few years back. It was built in honor of those from this small hilltop town in the Avellino province of Campania who left their hometown in search of a better life. Many of them were sent off on their own, without their parents, to join relatives that were already in the United States. I think my grandmother was fourteen years old when she left. Can you imagine putting a fourteen year old on a ship to a place you’ve never been and not knowing when or if you’d ever see her again? My grandfather was a few years older and went to join a brother who was living outside of New York City. My grandmother returned to Italy once, almost forty years later. I’m not sure my grandfather ever went back.

Although they kept Italian traditions alive, socialized with the other Calitrani relatives and friends in the area, they raised their children to be American and to speak English. When I question my mother about my grandparents lives before coming to the US, it seems like she really doesn’t know that much. My mother and aunt were both great cooks, but neither of them knew how to make a lot of my grandmother’s specialties. The food they cooked was more “American” than Italian. My mother and her siblings have never visited the place where their parents were born.

Enter the next generation-the grandchildren. If you follow this blog, you know I am fascinated by all things Italian. I cook Italian, have been learning the language and devour all sorts of information about this fascinating country. I hope to have the opportunity some day to spend a year there. There are a lot of us from the “second generation” who want to make a connection with the country of our ancestors, find those long lost relatives, and visit ancestral home towns. We want to know more about the lives left behind and yearn to be “Italian”. I wish I had taken the time to get to know my grandparents a little more, although now that I think about it, I’m not sure they would have told me much about their past.

Making A List…

If there’s a cook on your list, here are a few ideas for some things that they might like. I personally love to give food as gifts and can only hope that the recipients are as excited as I would be by any of these.

Extra-virgin olive oil-of course Italian olive oil is always high on my list but if you’re in California, two brands that I love are Pasolivo from the Paso Robles area and Stonehouse, whose groves are further north in the state.

Italian dried pasta-one of my all time favorites and what I always carry home from Italy-Campofilone from the Le Marche region. The best thing is that you can buy this brand from Amazon.com. It’s not cheap, but it is incredible!

Maldon Sea Salt-this salt hails from the UK. These flakes will brighten up whatever dish you sprinkle them on. One sure fire way to enjoy it is to put a tad on caramel sauce over vanilla ice cream.

Cheese-hand cut and wrapped from a cheese shop. Go and ask for a few samples and buy a variety of small pieces and give with crackers or a baguette.

Chocolate-to bake with I’m partial to Valrohna or Callebaut. I usually buy these when I visit the fantastic restaurant supply store-Surfas-in Los Angeles, but you can also order from there on line shop-Culinary District-where you’ll find all sorts of interesting food products and cooking supplies.

Two other great resources for food gifts are Zingermans and Penzeys Spices.

As for me, I’m to the kitchen to bake up some crackers to give as gifts. Hope you find a food gift under your tree, or in the fridge!.

What’s For Lunch On Your Birthday?

What would you eat for your birthday lunch if you were given a choice? Would you go to a fancy restaurant and order four or five courses? Would you spend time researching the best places in the town you’re visiting? Or would you make the decision to eat exactly what you love best, even if it’s not what moist would think of as “a birthday lunch”? Yes, that lovely panino is what I chose-prosciutto, mozzarella, roasted red peppers and lettuce on focaccia. Paired with a bag of potato chips and a bottle of Pellegrino and I was in heaven!