|
For Customer Service &
Phone Orders :
|
Tel/Fax : 07 54498581
Int : 61 7 54498581
|
|
Write to us :
|
OzeVillage
P O Box 1494
Noosaville DC
Qld 4566
|
|
|
 |
|
Issue 6 - Learning Italian |
 |
 |
Living in Italy is one way to add to your love of a cuisine that is fresh and lively, which utilises each season to its fullest and where even shopping in a supermarket is a joy. But it is in the markets where a food lover goes crazy. Being there in Spring when the artichokes are tiny and the broad beans can be eaten raw, when the strawberries are huge and the tomatoes divine is awe-inspiring stuff.
Learning Italian
One of the joys of life, if you are interested in food and if you can travel, is the opportunity to try new cuisines and to reinforce your love for the ones you know.
Living in Italy is one way to add to your love of a cuisine that is fresh and lively, which utilises each season to its fullest and where even shopping in a supermarket is a joy. But it is in the markets where a food lover goes crazy. Being there in Spring when the artichokes are tiny and the broad beans can be eaten raw, when the strawberries are huge and the tomatoes divine is awe-inspiring stuff. We did however, have to learn to be Italian in our buying and not purchase armfuls of wonderful produce as tempting as it all was. Italians only purchase what they need on the day so that everything is perfectly fresh - this is part of the culinary way of life brought about by the great abundance on offer and also by, I suspect, the small refrigerators and kitchens in many homes especially in the cities. The problem with this sort of shopping however is that you may see something one day in the market, plan a menu and go back to buy it a few days later and not see it again - so very seasonal is the produce on offer. Never mind, you have to learn to be flexible and there was always something else that caught the eye and changed our ideas.
Whilst it was not truffle hunting season in the part of Italy where we lived, they were readily available and not so very expensive - which was an unexpected pleasure.
Staying in a cottage in the grounds of a beautiful garden in Umbria, we were close to the heart of black truffle country whose epicentre is a small town called Norcia over which hangs the rather mouldy, subterranean smell of tartufo ( truffles). It was in Norcia, also famous for its use of the pig, that we saw Truffle Pizza for $6.00 a slice!
Our hosts, who were great cooks, upon hearing that we had never used truffles before, invited us to dinner so that we could cook with them and see the way they used what looked like black volcanic stones. Out of the freezer came a large plastic bag, filled with these stone like fungi, which must have been worth thousands of dollars! Grated and cooked with a little olive oil and made into a light sauce to pour over strangozzi, the local pasta, was a true delight.
Thereafter it seemed that no matter where we ate in Umbria, tartufo was on the menu and we made the most of it. Whilst there is a fledgling truffle industry starting up in Tasmania it will be a long time before we will be cooking with them in the same light hearted fashion. .
Spring in Italy is also the season for blood oranges grown all over Sicily and exported in vast quantities to the mainland. Not only are they available fresh they are freshly squeezed in bars and can be bought as bottled juice in supermarkets. As an Australian who sees blood oranges in season for a few weeks and at a high price this is breathtaking stuff. To say one revels in it is an understatement.
There is something absolutely inspiring about the way Italians love their food and the joy they find in cooking and sharing it.
Two incidents stand out in my mind.
In Umbria, the young broadbeans called fava are often eaten raw as an appetiser and served with bowls of salt and the local pecorino cheese. On entering a tiny local restaurant up in the hills behind our house, we see a table of about 10 young men with great white platters of fava beans still in their pods, set up in front of them.
I exclaim at the sight and the next thing one of the men asks the owner for a clean platter and places on it a pile of their beans and brings it over to our table with a bowl of salt and some cheese. 'Buono signora' he says with a smile as he goes back to his dining companions.
A week later we moved to Tuscany staying again in a house but this time in a small hill town. Shopping for dinner we go to the local fresh pasta shop and in the window is a handwritten note advertising the special 'Ravioli Ortica'. What is ortica? It is not in my phrase book but we must try it so in we go to wait our turn to be served. Finally my curiosity gets the better of me. What is it I ask. No one spoke English and my Italian is not good, but by signs and one of the customers acting out scratching his arms, I remembered that in early spring the Italians use the young nettle plants as a vegetable. Here they were used as a filling for ravioli. Within a minute, once they realised that I understood what was in the ravioli, the customers plus the man who made the pasta were telling me how to cook it, what sauce to use with it and were swapping recipes amongst themselves.
It is this joy in the food of the regions that we will remember. And the sharing of it with strangers. It does not matter either whether you have money or not - it is the one item that unites everyone. Expensive cars and little three wheel apes are parked along the verges of the road at this time of year as people look for wild asparagus (thin and stringy and very disappointing), bitter greens, fennel, nettles.
Learning Italian is not only learning a language but a way of life that encompasses a joy of living and a joy in family occasions. Young and old seem to share a respect for each other which we seem to have forgotten.
And even when we moved on to the larger cities like Florence and Rome we found this same vibrancy.
We are very fortunate that we have in Australia a strong Italian culture. When they first arrived here the immigrants from that part of the world brought with them their coffee culture, their love of pasta, the use of olive oil and a variety of vegetables and herbs that had never been grown in this country before.
Now we take all this for granted but it is not until you visit Italy that you realise how converted we have become and how much of the food on offer there is what we can now buy in Australia.
We have all learnt a little Italian and it has enriched our lives enormously.
The Happy Gourmet
|
|
|
|
|
|
Membership Bonus Points
Gourmet Shopper offers all members 1 bonus point for every $1 spent on all merchandise.
The more points you earn, the less your next order with Gourmet Shopper will cost you.
Click here to read more.
|
|
|
