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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/28/2007 8:44:04 AM | Just a little north of "you": my paternal grandfather's family was from Naples, and my paternal grandmother - well, though her family lived in Naples it was said that they had roots elsewhere in Italy. The evidence was my grandmother's flaming red hair; some members of the family reputedly used to call her "The Viking"... (which I found funny when my dad told me recently, because I'd never heard it). My maternal grandfather's family was just a jog north of Naples, in Campobasso. My maternal grandmother? Her family was from County Cork!
BTW - yes, my "Napolitan" grandfather gave me fair warning about you Calabrese girls! "All they wanna do is argue! They'll make your life miserable..."
Yeah, okay gramps...
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/28/2007 8:59:26 AM | heyyy...well, in my family, when my grandfather got mad at someone he would tell them VA NAPOLI...which of course leads me to believe he thought it was a not so nice place...lmao...  | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/28/2007 9:19:12 AM | Yeah, something tells me I've heard that one...
I hope you don't think I put any stock in what my grandfather had to say on this subject! In the interest of total disclosure, I did adopt some "New World" biases for a time: it was not always easy for this Noo Yawka to adjust to life in the south. I am still not big on country music and I don't know that I'll ever be (some crossover stuff is okay), and while I still can't get with "grits"... here, well, try this out:
"MMMmmmm MMMMmmm! I can eat me some biscuits and gravy!"
I've even learned that I like what the Carrabba's have done with Italian food (given it a bit of a Texas twang)... | |
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Posted: 7/28/2007 9:55:31 AM | i have a sister and brother in florida, and i have gone to carrabas...it is actually quite good...
have you ever watched "lidia's table" on cable?...her cooking resembles the way my family always cooked...she has a great recipe for chicken and potatoes...i believe she has a restaurant in nyc...anyway, she cooks the chicken in some garlic and oil and little bacon rolls, then tops it with fresh rosemary...fries up in about an hour...in separate pan, she puts potato chunks in some oil....after they have cooked for a bit, she adds the chickn to them...have tried it a few times....soooooo good | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/28/2007 1:48:45 PM | Yeah, I moved down here to FL in '95 and I love it. I don't think I could ever endure another northern winter! I'm about 1½-2 hours southeast of Orlando, so I can drive up to Disney World practically on a whim. There's a restaurant in the Disney/MGM Studios park called "Mama Melrose's" and of course, their whole shtick is California-style Italian food: wood-fired pizzas, veggie-laden dishes, etc. Similar to Carrabba's, but different enough to warrant a stop-in. Start with the calamari - the light, tempura-like batter is phenomenal. Then, for a salad, try the Field Greens; the raspberry vinaigrette is vivid but applied so lightly there's not a drop on your plate when you're finished! For steak lovers, the Charred Sirloin with Asparagus and Red Pepper Polenta defies description. Prefer pizza (or steak not in your budget)? Try the Four Cheese Individual Pizza. (I can vouch for that one; it's durn good.) They used to have a great panini sandwich, and a delightful zabaglione for dessert, on the menu, but I think they might not be available anymore... 
I have not seen "lidia's table" (there's no cable running to my room, so I have to rely on DVDs and tapes), but I just looked her up and saw the companion book on Amazon. It looks intriguing. (Meaning to say I may have to add it to my too-large-already collection of cookbooks...) (Is anybody else afflicted with this?) My sister gave me a book, last Christmas, called "Italian Immigrant Cooking" by Elodia Rigante. It seems to feature most of the foodstuffs we've discussed in this thread. The "pizza grana" recipe I was talking about is (I think) in, what is, in my opinion, the best pizza book ever written, called, coincidentally, "The Pizza Book", by Evelyne Slomon. (Was that a remarkable number of commas for one sentence or what?) Anyway, whether that recipe is in there or not, if you want to make pizza, this is the book to find... | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/28/2007 7:18:47 PM | These two pages are fascinating. Am definitely going to make the fried chicken thingy,,,albeit am not too sure what bacon rolls are,,,,but I will manage I guess with plain bacon. Good bed-time reading and now I go to bed,,,,dreaming of Italian cooks, and regional differences. Am not even remotely Italian either. LOL
Please keep this up,,,,,let's go to 10 pages, eh? | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/28/2007 9:03:58 PM | diva-bacon rollups are slices of bacon rolled up with a toothpick thru them...i usually just cut the slices in half and then take them and tie in a knot...works just as well... | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/29/2007 5:02:32 PM | | Although I am not Italian, I love good food of any ethnic origin! I love these recipes!Keep 'em coming! How about a recipe for Rolled steaks? | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/29/2007 5:09:45 PM | The one I hope DOESN"T catch on, is that maggot filled cheese - Casu marzu. 
Casu marzu (also called casu modde, casu cundhídu, or in Italian formaggio marcio) is a cheese found in Sardinia, Italy, notable for being riddled with live insect larvae. Casu marzu means "rotten cheese" in Sardinian and is known colloquially as maggot cheese.
The larvae themselves appear as translucent white worms, about 8 mm (1/3 inch) long. When disturbed, the larvae can jump for distances up to 15 cm (6 inches), prompting recommendations of eye protection for those eating the cheese. Some people clear the larvae from the cheese before consuming; others do not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_Marzu
Any food that comes with a recommendation that you wear eye protection while eating it is OFF my list. 
Placed against the exceptional refinement of the wide range of Italian food, which I love deeply, this ones certainly a head scratcher. 
Another one I love, which isn't as common in non-Italian homes as it should be is, apaghetti with olive oil and garlic. I always thought that that would be rather plain to the pallet, until I had it in this great Italian restaurant.
Then, " I got it". | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/29/2007 5:20:49 PM | Pasta with Olive Oil and garlic seems that it is Italian food in it's purist state!
I agree on the maggot cheese! So afterwards, do fully formed flies escape out of your mouth? | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/29/2007 7:48:59 PM | Ah, yes... "Spaghetti Aglia e Olio" or simply "Aglia Olio" (pronounced like "al-ya ol-ya") is always a treat, and SO easy to prepare. When that is what you're in the mood for, elaborately made pastas and sauces just won't do! Give it a light sprinkle of crushed red pepper... MMMmmmMMMmmm.....
Thanks, Montreal Guy, for the reminder of that cheese. Yeah, I've heard of it but never tried it (or even seen it tried)... I'd try fugu (potentially-deadly puffer fish sashimi) first! My grandfather used to eat wild mushrooms though, and he never bothered to clean the worms out of them. My mom said it made her sick... | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/29/2007 8:36:44 PM | Our legacy foods in Northern Italy are quite different from the regional dishes down south. Climate being what it is...
Risotto for lunch every Sunday after Mass, with "ficcadini"... (don't ask...) (Butter is used widely in the North but not garlic, and olive oil, garlic & peppers to the south, so I guess that's why we got our risotto in Venice and southerners got "puttanesca" sauce...)
Pepperonata when/if eggplant could be found in the small northern B.C. town where I grew up.
Homemade tortellini "in brodo" which would probably STILL make me puke if you forced me to eat it, like my mom did. (I became a master at swallowing food whole... can't have been any good for my digestive system, but it saved me many a time from retching...)
Radicchio was pretty common in our salads, especially the "Trevisano" variety, as well as dandelion greens which were not bought but "found".
Mushrooms of all kinds. Scary proposition, but my mamma would put a silver quarter in the pan when stewing them: if it turned black? Throw that batch OUT!!!
Polenta in the winter was a staple, along with moose stew. That, my friends, was a northern Canadian Legacy Food, not Italian, but all the wop hunters adapted very well to the change in game.
Pheasant & Quail & Duck we had quite often. I can still see my poor mother hunched over a newspaper, plucking... One never quite forgets the smell of singed bird feathers (the naked bird is held over the roaring fire in the requisite Italian fireplace to burn off any remaining bits of down/feathers off the skin...)
That's the sort of food I grew up with, and I still make a mean Risotto al'onda as well as many other dishes from other regions. (*I'm a foodie, and not prejudiced about food OR people from "the south" just because my dad called them "Marocchini"... At age 5, I had no clue, but now I get it... lol! Southern Italians aren't the only prejudiced ones. ALL Italians are...)
RE: That Neopolitan Easter grain pie? You can buy jars of the pre-soaked wheat in any Italian Deli worth it's salt. In Canada, at any rate. (saves you the work of finding the whole kernal wheat & soaking time... Most elderly Italian "nonna's" from the "old country" do it that way too, believe it or not!)
Let me know if anyone wants a recipe or two. I'm someone who can cook, and I do it from scratch every single day. No Kraft Mac & Cheese in THIS house! | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/29/2007 9:04:15 PM | yes, I do have an Easter Pie recipe around here somewhere. (I'll have to look for it.) In my family, there were always two types of Easter pies made, the one with meat, and the one grandma called a "grain pie". My grandma definitely did use a crust though...
are you referring to "Torta Pascualino" that contains spinach, onions, hard boiled eggs, parmesan etc, etc??
I quickly scanned the posts- so didn't catch if they fond the recpe or not.
if not let me know.
Q | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/30/2007 4:46:51 AM | | questa...the easter pie we were referring to was one using eggs, ricotta, pepperoni, ham...meetaman posted a great recipe above... | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/30/2007 2:44:44 PM | Thanks for your posting, "Message In a Bottle..." VERY informative - and quite illustrative of the regional differences. There were very few of those foods served at our "southern" table, I'm sorry to say. (We didn't even have tortellini when I was a kid - how deprived is THAT?) Again, I have caught up with several of these foods in the intervening years, though "pepperonata" is still unfamiliar to me. I am guessing from the name - and the primary ingredient - that it is similar to "caponata"? Also, radicchio is very popular these days in the bagged salad blends at the supermarket, so its presence in the general populace continues to grow...
Yeah, my granddad ate wild mushrooms (I remember the silver quarter thing!) and dandelion greens in his salad. Like the mulberries - of which there were many trees in my neighborhood - these foods were FREE... so naturally they were hard to turn down! | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/30/2007 5:05:22 PM | oh boy, there's that dandelion word... my mom cooked them with cannellini beans...not good
meet, did your family do spaghetti amd lentils?....cuz that is still one of my favorite things to eat... | |
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Posted: 7/30/2007 5:36:05 PM | "Pasta with Olive Oil and garlic seems that it is Italian food in it's purist state!"
It's called a "White Pizza"
Try Olive oil as base, then smother the top w/ thin sliced plum tomato's, sprinkle w/ chopped fresh Basil then top lightly (or heavy) w/ Parmesan or Asagio grated cheese. Yummy!!
This is better as a thick crust pizza, very filling. | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/30/2007 6:54:49 PM | i dunno what these are called...my dad called'em ravioli...i guess they are a form of them...besides...dads word was always the gospel when i was a kid..
you basically make a chicken soup broth...i always use the less desirable pieces of chicken (thighs...drumsticks...etc etc)...cuz they just get boiled and then ground later...
boil the chicken till the meat is tender and comes off the bone easy...you can add whatever you like to the broth...i usually add onion, celery, garlic, bay leaves, salt and pepper, poultry seasoning, sage, chicken soup mix...the pieces of veggies can be kept on the large side cuz you wanna fish them out after...
ok...once the chicken is done...pull it out and let it cool...while its cooling pour the broth thru a sieve so that you have only clear broth left...discard the veggies...(or feed them to your dog)...now pull the skin off the chicken...remove meat from the bones...then if you have one of those old table mounted hand crank food grinders...chop the meat up...you can add various things to the meat at this stage if you like but lately i been finding that simple is better...salt, pepper...granulated garlic and an egg to bind the mixture...
now...mix up some dough...a simple egg type dough works or plain perogy dough will do...roll the dough as you would for perogies...(in fact think of this as a meat filled perogy if you will)...i use a round cookie cutter for shaping these things...roll up a tbsp of your meat mixture into the dough as for perogies and seal tightly...
by this time your broth should be cool enough that you can skim off any excess chicken fat...
bring the broth to a low boil and drop your psuedo ravioli in ...after they start to float...boil a few more minutes and yer done...i eat this with fresh home made italian bread and butter..it is one of my ultimate comfort foods...good times and full bellies are always associated with this for me...
i guess calling them ravioli is not far from wrong as they are a meat filled pasta...
this is also a good dish to cook for one as you can bag 6 or so together with some broth and freeze them for later use...
playsnice...try this one some time... | |
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Posted: 7/30/2007 8:57:30 PM | i absolutely will fist...
and btw...i did polenta over the weekend using your directions and was pleased with the results...thanks again  | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/30/2007 9:35:27 PM | | ...polenta ?? i cook a lot of Italian ...here's my polenta : cook the cornmeal in salted water , when thick enough add as much Parm cheese as you like , add salted butter /butter a glass dish then layer (as you would lasagna) with freshly cooked bacon bits , more Parm cheese , sauteed mushrooms, Mozzarella Cheese //bake for 1/2 hr . Enjoy ! ( for singles , cut portions , wrap in Saran wrap and freeze , it keeps well ) Cheers , ileana | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/31/2007 8:02:55 AM | Three words: Mellanzanes alla Parmigiana.
If I misspelled "eggplant" in Italian, I guess you'll need to sue me. BE the eggplant!
I've got the recipe (even though my roots are Turkish-Spanish, and since Turks grow about an encyclopedia-full of eggplant varieties, I figure I'm entitled to announce it). | |
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| Italian-American 'Legacy' Foods
Posted: 7/31/2007 8:28:53 AM | | Nope, but I'm familiar with it, have savored it...and will be right over! How about a nice Pinot Grigio to accompany it? ;) | |
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