Black Trumpets that is… found these delicious little guys in a secret place near some trees by a road in the woods around the way.  You didn’t think I was going to really tell you where I found them did you?  If you haven’t eaten black trumpet mushrooms (AKA: horn of plenty mushrooms) you don’t know what your missing!  I’m the first to admit that they don’t exactly look all that appetizing but once you start to cook them and get the first aroma from these mushrooms, you’ll be hooked.  They are on the top of the list for many mushroom hunters and chefs alike and have a wonderful aromatic, buttery and nutty flavor that goes very well with pasta dishes.  Perfect for me since I LOVE mushrooms and I LOVE pasta!

The beauty of the black trumpet is that it doesn’t have any poisonous look alikes,  which is great for first time mushroom hunters (but as always, if you don’t feel comfortable with what you find, don’t eat it!)

Here’s a delicious black trumpet pasta recipe if you’re lucky enough to find these little treasures.

What you’ll need:

• Fresh Black Trumpet Mushrooms chopped
• Pasta ( I used gramigna)
• 2-3 fresh cloves of minced garlic
• 1/2 of a small onion diced
• ground sausage meat (1/2 pound more or less)
• 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup of half&half or heavy cream
• salt & pepper
• grated parmigiano cheese

What you’ll need to do:

Start by simmering your garlic (which I got from my garlic supplier, Chef Chuck thanks Chuck!) and onions in some olive oil until the onions start becoming transparent.  Then add your sausage meat.  I used the meat from 4 sausage links that I had left over from a bbq and simply removed the meat from the casings.  Break the sausage meat into small pieces as you stir and let it cook until the sausage is almost completely cooked through.   Then add your black trumpets and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes.  When you’re ready to drop your pasta into the water (in a separate pot of course) add the half&half and salt & pepper to the sausage and black trumpets.  Let it simmer until your pasta is done cooking.  Drain your pasta and combine.  Top with grated parmigiano. Enjoy and buon appetito!

The weather is steadily getting colder here in New England and with Thanksgiving around the corner there are different foods showing up at the grocery store.  The summer fruits and veggies are gone and have made room for autumn foods and for me that means castagne (chestnuts.)  In Calabria they still have plenty of chestnut orchards and when we were there this past summer the chestnuts from last year still littered the ground as we foraged for wild mushrooms.

Chestnut trees here in the US used to be plentiful once but many were decimated by a chestnut blight over the last 100 years… I always wondered why there wasn’t a single chestnut tree on  “Chestnut Street” here in town.

I have fond memories of the castagne vendors this time of year in Italy.  They roast the chestnuts right on the street and the wonderful smell combined with the shop-lined cobblestone streets is a page out of a Charles Dickens book.  For 3000 lire (which I’m sure has become 3 Euro) you could get a mini paper bag with 10 warm chestnuts and eat them as you walk.

Most of the chestnuts in our local grocery stores come from Italy and E and I usually make them a few times a week… did I mention they go GREAT with wine?  Many of my non-Italian friends have never had chestnuts… which makes me wonder who’s eating all the “chestnuts roasting by an open fire” during the holidays??? Italians? (Bingo Crosbino?)

If your looking to impress your holiday guests this year… pick-up some chestnuts.  They are easy to make and delicious! This is what you need to do:

• pre-heat your oven at 350-375 degrees
• put a slit in each chestnut with a knife (otherwise they will explode in the oven)
• place the chestnuts on a baking sheet or pan and cook them for 40-50 minutes
• Serve with wine by a fire

In Calabrese we also call roasted chestnuts – ruselle

When you’re making pasta… please, please, please make sure to mix your pasta sauce (not gravy… you turkey) with your pasta before serving it!  Don’t serve pasta with sauce just plopped on top.

Italians don't do this... mix your sauce with your pasta!

Do you ever have those days where you think: What are we going to cook for dinner?  You need to go grocery shopping, you didn’t take anything out of the freezer and you really don’t want to make anything that takes too much effort.  Spaghetti alla Carbonara is the perfect dish for such an occasion!

I haven’t made Spaghetti alla Carbonara in a long time but a few weeks ago I was visiting Chef Chuck and noticed the great new videos on his blog.  I watched him cook a Carbonara and told myself I had to make it again soon, so last night – I did.  It’s a great tasting, easy to cook recipe that the whole family will love!

Here’s what you need (serves 2):

• 1/2 pound of spaghetti (I like Spaghetti #12 because it’s a bit thicker)
• 1 onion
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• diced sopressata, bacon or pancetta
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup of grated parmigiano or romano cheese
• salt and pepper

Here’s what you need to do:

• Add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to a large saucepan and simmer your onions, garlic and sopressata for 10-15 minutes over low heat until your onions are caramelized.
• Beat your egg and grated parmigiano cheese together in a bowl and set it aside.
• Cook your spaghetti separately and then add it to the saucepan with your onions, garlic and sopressata.
• Pour the egg and parmigiano over your spaghetti and mix it all together. The hot spaghetti will cook the egg as you mix it all together.  If it’s too thick you can add a splash of pasta water (the water you cooked the past in.)
• Add salt and pepper to taste… remember that the sopressata (bacon or pancetta) is already pretty salty, so you probably won’t need to add much salt.

Pretty simple right?  Make sure to visit Chef Chuck and see him cook it on video.

Oh, did I mention that the Sopressata is ready?? We won first prize AGAIN! Do you want to try it? I’m giving one away so this is what you have to do to participate.  Comment on this post by Friday at 5pm EST and retweet this post by clicking on the retweet button in the upper right hand corner (you’re not on twitter?!!? Get it together! you’ll need to sing-up now won’t you?)  I’ll choose a winner at random… for US participants only (sorry but sending meats internationally isn’t easy or cheap!)

PS – Chuck gets a sopressata for the inspiration. Thanks Chef!

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!

In March I was in Calabria visiting my family and did a little wild asparagus hunting with my cousin… if you’ve read some of my posts, you know I like to forage for “wild things” so yesterday when E and I were out on a hike with Dexter (our Italian Labrador…. you mean you didn’t know about Italian Labradors??!) We decided to gather some dandelions for lunch and while I was picking and E was taking pictures, the conversation went something like this:

E: how about some asparagus?

Me: What?… did you say asparagus?  You must be mistaken.

E: No, these are asparagus.

Me: I don’t think so, there’s no asparagus around here.

E: I know what asparagus look like.

Me: HOLY S*&%!!

If you’ve seen the video and the photos of the wild asparagus we found in Calabria you can see the difference.  These asparagus look like the ones you would find in the supermarket.  I remember going asparagus hunting with my father when I was young.  He told me that there used to be an asparagus farm in the fields where we would find them, so the asparagus were thick.  There’s a neighborhood in that field now but I assume that there might be a similar story behind these since it was an old farm that has since been donated as a wilderness reserve…  whatever the story, it’s A-OK with E and me because we’re having asparagus for dinner!

I’ve made lots of friends through sopressata… I really have.  My father has been offered money, a friend wants to feature it in a future restaurant he is opening and one of my Irish buddies has somehow gotten “in” and now chips in financially and helps make them in order to get a share… in turn, he has friends that work on his motorcycle in exchange for a sopressata!  It’s comedy but it’s also delicious and one of southern Italy’s culinary delights. (Click here for more details on the process)

My father is a sopressata connoisseur of sorts.  In his own way, he studies the art of making it.  He tries different techniques, tinkers with the process, adds new ingredients/levels of ingredients and over the years it seems to have worked out well as we have managed to take home First Place at the “World Sopressata Championship” for the last 5 years running! (I’m kidding.. there’s no such thing.)

My brother and I have our own opinions on how and how much of course, so they have also been getting more and more “piccante” (spicy hot!) over the years.  This year we have a very controversial NEW process that the professore introduced : dry packing them instead of sotto olio (submerged/preserved in oil) Go figure?!  So far so good… they are ready to eat and the verdict is in: FIRST PRIZE once again!!

If you’re a regular reader of Italyville, you know that I’m passionate about true Italian brands and products.  One of those products is ITALIAN extra virgin olive oil.  I’m not talking about extra virgin olive oil that is brought into Italy from other countries to be mixed with Italian oil or simply bottled in Italy and labeled Italian.  I mean extra virgin olive oil made from olives grown in Italy, oil processed in Italy and oil bottled in Italy without being mixed with oil from other countries.  Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against extra virgin olive oil from Spain or Greece or California or any other place that produces a quality product… which they do.  However, my passion for Italian extra virgin olive oil runs deep and is rooted in my families livelihood in Calabria.  Like many southern Italian families, my family has a large olive plantation and my uncle owns an Oleificio (where they make oil.)  So they live or die by the success of the crop and the market price of olive oil.

Italian extra virgin olive oil like many Italian food products has appeal and is perceived as being of high quality (which is true in many cases.)  Unfortunately for that same reason, there are many products of lesser quality that have taken advantage of the reputation of Italian extra virgin olive oil and are profiting by using an Italian name, or purchasing cheaper oil from other countries that are mixed with Italian oil and bottling it in Italy.  The oil itself regardless of its origin may be of high quality but the fact is, it comes down to branding….. and labeling a bottle “Italian extra virgin olive oil” helps sell.  What does all this do?  Bringing oil into Italy from other countries increases supply and it drives the price of Italian olive oil down, which in turn affects local farmers.  Some Italian companies are among the culprits.  This article sheds a little more light on the situation. All this talk about olive oil leads me to this article that I read this week in our local newspaper regarding olive oil standards in the state of Connecticut. There are companies that are passing non-olive oil as extra virgin!! Apparently the state of Connecticut is the first state to pass quality standards for olive oil.

**If you’re in need of some high quality Italian extra virgin olive oil in Calabria or need an Oleificio to process your olives, visit my zio Mario.  He is one of the most genuine, honest people I have ever known and a regular comedian…. and that’s not just because he’s my uncle.

]]> http://italyville.com/2008/11/brand-italy-extra-virgin/feed/ 8 http://italyville.com/2008/10/the-city-that-never-sleeps/ http://italyville.com/2008/10/the-city-that-never-sleeps/#comments Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:01:00 +0000 Joe http://italyville.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/the-city-that-never-sleeps/ Buongiorno! I was in the city that never sleeps all last week for work, so I didn’t get a chance to post. I’m a country boy mostly but what I like about New York City is that there’s always something new to discover. A new street, a little shop, an off the wall concept, [...]]]>

Buongiorno! I was in the city that never sleeps all last week for work, so I didn’t get a chance to post. I’m a country boy mostly but what I like about New York City is that there’s always something new to discover. A new street, a little shop, an off the wall concept, a cRaZy outfit and if you can think of it, it’s probably waiting to be found in some little corner of the city. I had a great meal at my friend’s restaurant “Forge” so a big thanks to Chef Marc Forgione and partner Chris Blumlo. The menu is always changing but if you get a chance to head down there soon, try the pumpkin creme brulee… it’s delicious!

I also got a chance to have lunch at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city, Bar Pitti. The food is authentic and very good. The owners and staff are all Italian and many of the customers are Italian as well. I sat near a group that was from Veneto (their accent gave them away) and had “Rigatoni Pitti” cooked perfectly al dente. If you’re in New York, check them out but bring cash… cause that’s all they take.

PS – I have gotten feedback that people are having trouble viewing posts on Italyville… wondering if anyone else is having difficulty viewing posts.