What’s better than chicken? chicken with chicken! The wild mushrooms have started popping up and we couldn’t be happier. Chicken of the Woods is one of our favorite wild mushrooms and easy to spot with its shades of bright orange. You can often find them nestled at the base of an oak tree. We noticed the first one last week while walking Dexter, spotting it in a neighbors yard… unfortunately it was behind a fence! Do they know what yumminess is growing in their backyard we thought? Maybe we should write them a note and leave it in their mailbox… wait, then they’ll start hunting them too, which will mean less for us. So, we sacrificed that one and painfully watch as it grows out of it’s tender stage each day as we walk by… but the search is officially ON! It wasn’t long before we found another one in a local park. Wild Chicken for dinner!
Photo Credit: Christine4nier’s on Flickr
Chicken of the Woods (AKA: Sulpher shelf or Nassa in our family) has a great meaty texture. This mushroom is delicious but you need to know how to cook it. I’ve read on many websites and blogs that Chicken of the Woods is just ok… which to me means 2 things.
They didn’t know how to cook it
They’re CrAzY!
You do need to harvest Chicken of the Woods when it’s tender, otherwise it can be really tough and awful but if you’re lucky enough to find it in its early stages it’s wonderful.
Here’s how we cooked ours the other night. What you’ll need:
Chicken of the Woods
Chicken (cut into pieces or cubes)
garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
chicken broth
splash of heavy cream or half/half
splash of white wine
salt & pepper
Clean your mushroom thoroughly and tear the most tender parts into pieces. Add your extra virgin olive oil to your pan with some minced garlic. Let the garlic and olive oil smell fill the room (che buono!)… then add your Chicken of the Woods and let it saute for a few minutes. You’ll notice the brilliant color of the mushroom as it cooks… really beautiful. Add your chicken and let it cook until almost completely cooked through. Then add your chicken broth, splash of wine and heavy cream, salt and pepper. Serve over rice. Enjoy and Buon Appetito!
For another wild mushroom post, head over to Ciao Chow Linda where Linda’s brother Frank breaks it down nicely including Chicken of the Woods and other wild favorites.
Little shops like the one in the photo Jady sent me below have a romantic feel to them don’t they? It makes me smile to see all the colors, fresh (probably local) products and down to earth owners that live in the community and care about their business and customers. There’s also a beauty in the tradition of closing at noon/1pm and reopening again at 4pm after a hearty lunch and well deserved afternoon nap. The mom & pop shop has long been a part of Italian life and culture. When I was a child, I also remember the mobile fish salesman and other mobile salesman that would drive from town to town and shout out what they had as they slowly drove to the main piazza. People would walk out of their homes to buy products that were fresh from the docks or orchards and it was delicious.
On my last visit to Calabria this past April, I was sad to see that a large shopping mall had opened between Lamezia Terme and Catanzaro called “Centro Commerciale Due Mari” and I noticed that many of the small mom & pop shops in the towns near my grandparents’ home had closed. As always there are pros and cons. The Centro Commerciale has created jobs and it’s slightly cheaper to buy groceries at the mega grocery store they have there but in my opinion, they have lost so much more! When you lose the mom & pop shops you also lose people and when there are no shops and no people, you lose “la passeggiata”… which as many of you know is the “walk” usually down the main strip to people watch and see friends and eat a gelato. So go to your shopping mall and walk around in circles on several levels… that’s just as fun right? It seems to me that here in the US we are trending away from shopping malls and back towards small and local. I hope that’s true and if it is, I couldn’t be happier. At the end of the day, we may save a few dollars at the mall or Walmart but look at what we’re giving up? DOWN WITH SHOPPING MALLS!
Thanks to Jady at Cucina Panzano for this Fantastic Photo taken in Siena. What a beautiful little shop! Wish it were around the corner from my house. Thanks Jady!
Italians like crusty bread and the end piece of a good loaf of bread. There is always a battle for the end piece (la tozza) in my house. I used to laugh when I would hear “PB and J with the crust cut off” … cut the crust off? why would you do that? I actually dig out the doughy center!
My years living in Bologna gave me many great memories and one of them is the quality of the food… if you have never been to Bologna you need to make a trip! In the major tourist cities (Venice, Roma, Firenze, etc.) you need to get off the beaten track to find really good restaurants… in Bologna, you trip over them. One of my favorite pastas that was introduced to me when I was there and is typical of the Emilia Romagna region is Garganelli. They are not easily found here in the US unless you venture to a specialty store, so when I saw them recently at a local deli I had to buy them. The brand is Delverde and the price on the box was $3.99 which is a little steep and when I took a closer look… it’s only 8.8 oz (250g) holy $h!t Batman!! That’s close to $8 a pound for dry pasta!! Of course I bought them.
We made them last night and sort of improvised with the ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need. (how much ingredients you ask?… a bit, a pinch and a splash. All I can say is: feel the Garganelli… be the Garganelli!!)
Garganelli con piselli e maiale
Garganelli pasta
extra virgin olive oil
1/4 chopped onion
1 garlic clove diced
a handful of diced sopressata (you can substitute with speck, prosciutto, pancetta or pork salt)
pork meat chopped into small pieces
tomato sauce (We use tomato sauce that we jar ourselves and it’s usually a little thicker then canned sauce. You might want to add tomato past but that’s up to you.)
salt & fresh ground pepper
frozen peas
a splash of chicken broth
a splash of dry red wine
a splash of heavy cream or half/half (live a little!)
Add the olive oil, onion, garlic and sopressata to your sauce pan and let it simmer for a few minutes. {Take a second to enjoy the smell… close your eyes and pretend you live in a villa somewhere in the Italian countryside… ok back to reality before you burn the garlic.} Add the pork and continue simmering until the pork is almost cooked through. Then add your tomato sauce and chicken broth and let it simmer for a few minutes before adding the peas, salt, pepper and red wine. This is usually when I drop the pasta (takes about 7 minutes for the Garganelli.) When the pasta is about half way cooked, add a splash of heavy cream or half/half to your sauce and let it simmer until the pasta is done. There you have it… quick, easy and delicious. enjoy and buon appetito!
If there’s one thing that Italians have a lot of it’s proverbs… one pops up in pretty much every conversation I have with my parents or any other relative in my family. We all have our favorites and here are a few of mine:
When my mother makes a salad she’ll say (in Calabrese of course): “na ensalata vuo bella oliata, de sale na pizzicata e de nu pazzu riminata” which basically means: a good salad needs plenty of oil, a pinch of salt and tossed by a mad man.
Photo Credit: Amanda Woodward on Flickr
My father on the other hand loves to say (again in Calabrese): “puru i pulici tenuna tussa” in proper Italian it would be “anche i pulci hanno la tosse” - which literally translates to: Even the fleas have a cough. The basic meaning: Everyone has something to say.
Another one of my favorites Calabrese proverbs is: “u lupu perde lu pilu non lu vizzu” which translates to “a wolf loses its fur not its habits”
Have any favorite Italian proverbs? I would love to hear them!
I’m sure many of you have noticed that Maryann at Finding La Dolce Vita’s blog has been missing recently. I just wanted to update you all and let you know that Maryann has decided to move on and work on new projects in her life and is saying goodbye to Finding La Dolce Vita… I like to think she found it.
I’m sure all of you who knew Maryann through her blog will agree that the passion & beauty she displayed at Finding La Dolce Vita will help make any new endeavors a huge success.
At first I thought to myself, “She just stopped? cold turkey? no goodbyes?” but that’s what makes it beautiful and very Maryann. There’s no looking back… only moving forward! I must admit though, I am a bit sad. I think that Morgan Freeman says it best in the Movie Shawshank Redemption:
“Sometimes it makes me sad, though, Andy (Maryann) being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged, that’s all. Their feathers are just too bright… and when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice… but still, the place you live is that much more drab and empty that they’re gone. I guess I just miss my friend.”
Maryann asked me to include this on her behalf:
“I’ve met so many beautiful people through Finding La Dolce Vita and will forever be grateful for the friendships my blog brought to me. Although it was hard to make the final decision to shut down the blog, and good-byes are hard, changes can also be good- opening up new doors and opportunities. Who knows! I may come back to you in a new form! Like a butterfly! LOL
My life is changing and new projects are on the horizon. All is fine. Not to worry. Thanks so much to everyone for being a friend and constant support. I will continue to read your wonderful blogs.You are welcome to keep in touch and write me anytime.
(findingladolcevita (at) gmail (dot) com)
A big Italian hug and kiss, Maryann xox “
My friends often ask me to teach them “cool Italian words” or “romantic Italian phrases” that usually get them or me in trouble (but could also cause some unsuspecting victim to fall in love with you… so be careful!) I enjoy just hearing them give it a try… it reminds me of my Italian-American “friend” Joey Tribbiani’s experience trying to learn French (Joey gave me the inspiration to submit my entry to World Nutella Day this year) check it out.
So, if you’re looking for a few romantic Italian phrases here are few easy and tame ones to help you get started. (I’m not a certified translator, so this is “more or less”)
Sei una ragazza/donna fantastica = you’re a fantastic women
Stiamo bene insiemi = we’re good together
ti voglio un mondo di bene = You mean the world to me/ I care about you a great deal
Quanto sei figa! = You’re a hotty (using the word “figa” could get you in trouble as it has several meanings, which I won’t explain here.)
ti amo = I love you (this one is world renown but it never gets old!)
mi fido di te = I trust you
What are some of your favorite romantic Italian phrases?
As I mentioned in my recent post about Italian food, some of the best recipes come from Italian creativity when times are tough (la cucina povera) in southern Italy that was pretty much all the time… well, times are tough everywhere! but don’t let that stop you from making delicious Italian food. Pasta Pie or pizza di macaroni is a great way to make leftover pasta into a great new recipe. This recipe was created for exactly that reason… as you may know, Italians don’t cook the “correct amount” of anything. It goes something like this at my house, “how many people are we?… 6? we’ll need 3 pounds of pasta.” So when there’s a pound of pasta left over, what do you with it? (Yes frat boy, you could eat it cold.) make Pasta Pie!
There’s no reason to wait until you have leftover pasta though… Pasta Pie is a great treat anytime! especially in the summer. Check out this monster my brother-in-law made this past weekend. This is 4 pounds of pasta deliciousness. Everyone has their own recipe, amounts, types of pasta, etc. I don’t have the exact recipe (hint: there is no exact recipes in Italian cooking, the sooner you realize that, the happier we will all be) but here’s the basics of how he makes his… which was delicious!
He uses different types of long pasta (spaghetti, bucatini, etc.) if you use short cut pasta it tends to crumble easily. The different pasta types also help make it less dense. Cook your pasta and let it cool and drain well. Then beat 12 eggs per pound of pasta (no, that isn’t a misprint… 12 eggs per pound of pasta, I never said my brother-in-law wasn’t cRaZy) apparently my sister only had 24 eggs to add to the 4 pounds of pasta so it didn’t come out exactly how it should have (so 48 eggs would be the correct amount here?… C-r-A-z-Y!) Add the eggs, grated parmigiana, salt and pepper to the pasta and mix well. In a humongous frying pan (obviously) add olive oil and let the pasta mixture cook until golden brown (the trick is to move the pasta around so that it forms in the pan) then take the lid of the pan and flip the pasta. Let both sides get golden brown and you have yourself a Pasta Pie. I wouldn’t recommend starting with a 4 pounder… you might want to make a 1 pounder first. You can also add other ingredients as well… sopressata, ham or whatever your creative Italian soul is feeling. So have yourself a slice of Pasta Pie, a fresh summer salad and a glass of wine. Enjoy and buon appetito!
P.S. Here are some other great tips for a tough economy from my friend Maryann at Finding la Dolce Vita: 10 Frugal Tips for Tough Times
On a clear day as the sun sets into the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west coast of Calabria…. you get a truly beautiful sunset and a great look at the volcano - Stromboli. Stromboli is still very active and had it’s last major eruption August 2, 2008 (according to wikipedia) but is said to be in a constant state of eruption. That doesn’t stop people from living on the island or visiting Stromboli (Stromboli is one of the most visited volcanoes on the planet… as apposed to the ones on Mars??) These photos were taken from the balcony of my Uncle’s house during my last trip in March.
