It’s sometimes difficult to keep on top of your Italian language skills when you’re away from Italy, your family and others that speak Italian.  I find that listening to music and reading are a big help… especially if you enjoy it.  Here’s a song from Alex Britti called “Piove” that I like.  Hope you enjoy it as well.

Gramigna, is often found on menus in Emilia Romagna but very difficult to find here in the US… let me restate that:  Gramigna is difficult to find outside of northern Italy and near impossible to find in the US.  So, when I came across it at Ocean State Job Lot (a closeout chain of stores here in New England) I was a bit surprised but very excited! and to top it all off, it was De Cecco!

Pasta for me is about texture… I can’t stand linguini but love spaghetti.  Odd? maybe.  Anyway, back to my love of Gramigna… it’s even fun to say: Gramigna!!  Ever since I left Bologna, I’ve been wanting to make Gramigna con Salsiccia (Gramigna with Sausage) one of my favorite primi but without Gramigna, all you have is salsiccia (and no one likes a sausage party.)

I didn’t follow a recipe but it came out really good if I do say so myself.  Here’s an easy recipe if you’re lucky enough to find some Gramigna.

What you’ll need:

• Gramigna
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion
• a few cloves of garlic
• about 2 tbls of butter
• ground sausage or ground pork
• heavy cream
• salt, pepper and other seasonings of your choice

Fry your chopped onion and garlic in some olive oil in a large sauce pan for a few minutes and then add your ground sausage.  Let the sausage cook for about 10 minutes until it’s almost thouroughly cooked, then add the butter and seasonings… We use Goya “Adobo” seasoning a lot along with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  Add some heavy cream and let it cook for a few more minutes.  Once your Gramigna is cooked to your preference… al dente for me, add it to the sauce pan and mix it up.  There you have it!  Simple, easy and delicious. 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!

These last few days have been in the 90s (30 C) here in New England… and it’s only April.  So since there has been a summer feeling around here, we’ve been cooking summer-like.  Fennel salad is refreshing and one of my favorite summer treats with a nice glass of Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon blanc.  My aunt would make this fennel salad recipe for us in Calabria (although she would just go and pick herself a fennel bulb in the garden.)  Here’s how I like to prepare it.

What You’ll Need:

• Fennel bulb
• Radicchio
• Lemon
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt, pepper and oregano

Chop your fennel bulb into chunks about the size of your pinkie finger.  A lot of people like to shave fennel for salad but I’m not a “shave” kind of guy… I like crunchy bite size pieces but feel free to make it the way you like it best.  Add a handful of chopped radicchio, season with olive oil, salt, pepper, a pinch of oregano and a squeeze of lemon.  It’s a wonderfully refreshing salad and great complement to any meal.

Enjoy and buon appetito!

Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil is like “French Wine” or “Swiss Chocolate” or “German Cars”… Italy isn’t the largest producer of Olive Oil (Spain is) but Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil is in its own class… not to take anything away from any other country as there is certainly high quality products elsewhere, possibly superior (let’s not get crazy) but we’re talking about marketing and image not facts.

In much of Italy, olive oil is produced from small family groves where they care for their own trees, pick their own olives and bring them to local mills to produce their oil.  Many families only produce enough olive oil for personal use but larger groves may also have additional oil to sell.

The small mills that are very common throughout the south (as I’m sure they are in other areas as well) press the olives for area farmers and in turn will take payment in cash or in oil.  Pretty straight forward right?

The mills that have accepted payment in oil now have a good amount of oil that they need to sell, so they call or are called upon by wholesalers.  The mills will watch the market price of oil and hold onto it if it is low, sell it if it is high (the market game.) Once they decide to sell, the wholesaler shows up with a truck, sucks up the oil and takes it away… simple right?  The problem is, there is only one “wholesaler” in our area of Calabria…. you would think there would be some competition wouldn’t you? NOPE.  Is it surprising? NOPE… but that’s another story.

This wholesaler is from another region of Italy, so after he sucks the “life” out of Calabria (or parts of it at least) he returns to his region where the company either sells it in bulk or bottles it or mixes it with seed oil or takes a bath in it… it doesn’t really matter at that point.  So the wonderful oil that is produced in Calabria and other areas of the south is taken away to other regions and sold as “their oil”… so in the eyes of the world, the best olive oil is made where? I would guess that most people would say Tuscany… not because the world has tasted Tuscany’s local oil (which is wonderful) but because the south, which is the leading producer of olive oil in Italy is supplying the company’s based in Tuscany with oil to sell to the world.  I would love to say that I’m upset that southern Italy isn’t getting recognized but to be honest I’d rather not have the world know because by the time they actually taste that bottle of olive oil it may be mixed with Spanish oil, Turkish oil, Greek oil, hazelnut oil or maybe even motor oil!

So the moral of the story is, no matter what region’s olive oil you prefer: buy local or buy from a small company that supports local farmers and you’ll taste a world of difference.

Have you ever seen one of these?  I remember them from when I was a little boy.  My grandmother had one and we would warm our feet on it in the winter.  I took the other photo on my recent trip.  There’s something romantic about it isn’t there?  We would sit around it and talk, maybe eat some castagne and keep our feet toasty.  So… what’s it called?  I’ll give you hint, in Italian it starts with a B or in dialect it could start with an F or V… haha! You have to love dialect.

San Michele – Calabria circa 1975

Calabria – 2009

My birth name is Peppino… so I fall under Giuseppe and get the phone calls wishing me a Happy San Giuseppe every year. For Italians, your saint day is like your birthday.  Zeppole are THE treat on San Giuseppe.  What’s better than Zeppole you may ask?  Chocolate covered Zeppole of course!!  Complements of my sis and brother-in-law at Giovanni’s.