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Food, Friends, Family

The greatest benefit we enjoy in returning to Cortona year after year is the friends we have made. Many are local and others are repeaters who love the town and its people as much as we do. Being small in size, it’s nearly impossible to walk down the street and not see familiar faces. Friends here become extended family, and spending time with them is a favorite pastime.

Last night, 25 of us gathered for a traditional Italian celebration of friendship. When we arrived, the setting welcomed us with open arms:

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As did three generations of the family:

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The beautiful table would soon be filled with food and lots of conversation, and the bbq in the back let us know that grilled meats were part of the dinner.

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The challenge, of course, is pacing oneself.

First up, Aperitivo, almost a meal in itself. Everything is freshly cut and sliced. I’ve yet to be in an Italian kitchen that doesn’t have a deli sized meat slicer! This course is generally served with Prosecco, and soon the corks were popping.

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For Primo, we enjoyed homemade lasagna, both meat and vegetarian styles,

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Followed by melanzana, (eggplant parmigiana).

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For someone like me, who generally feels that pasta è basta, (pasta is enough), sticking to smaller portions is essential.

Next up, time for grilling. First the steaks…

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cooked to perfection.

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followed by sausages…

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and served with salad.

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At this point, almost all are leaning back in their chairs, taking a deep breath, and thinking they have reached the end…until…

Time for dessert!

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Fresh fig and fresh apple/pistachio tortes served with gelato, caramelized figs, and moscato, a sparkling white wine.

Una bellissima serrata, as we say here…a beautiful night… filled with great food, great friends, and lots of love. We also had a surprise visitor during Aperitivo. Our dear friend Ted (who is looking terrific!), joined us via FaceTime. After everyone said their hellos, we raised our glasses and saluted him and his health with a rowdy round of Brindisino!

To you, Ted, from your Cortona family, buona salute!

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And many thanks to our hosts and dear friends for sharing their Italian traditions with us.

Ciao,
Judy

Comments 22 Comments
Categories Cortona, Grilling in Italy, Italian Food, Italian Hospitality, Italy, My Blog about Italy, Tuscany

Amatrice Donations and Recipes

28 Aug

As a follow-up to my last post, many have written asking me where they might donate and also for an Amatriciana recipe. Here are some thoughts on both.

Donations:
After the earthquake, I talked to some local friends about ways to contribute. Some suggested a few sites, and at the same time, urged a bit of cautious research. Unfortunately, we are all too aware of the scammers who pounce after tragic events and how challenging it can be to get funds to the intended. Because of this and especially being unfamiliar with Italian relief agencies, I’ll leave it to others to do their own research. As a starting point, however, many here suggest visiting the websites of Croce Rossa Italiana (Red Cross) and NIAF (National Italian American Relief).

Recipes:
Locals are never short on family recipes and were happy to share their own for Amatriciana. Being that they are Italian, and also the way I cook, there are no measurements included.

Recipe 1. Ingredients: Guanciale*, oil, garlic, salt, black or chili pepper, fresh or canned tomatoes (if fresh not in season), pecorino romano, parmigiano.

Recipe 2. Ingredients: Guanciale*, oil, chopped San Marzano tomatoes, pecorino romano, parmigiano.

*Guanciale is an Italian cured meat or salami product prepared from pork jowl or cheeks. If not available, use speck.

Directions: In both cases, dice and cook the meat in a frying pan until crisp, then set aside. Add the tomatoes (and spices if Recipe #1) and allow to saute in the fat from the meat for about 15 minutes, or until it thickens. In the meantime, cook pasta, often bucatini or spaghetti, until al dente. When the pasta is done, add it and the meat to the tomatoes and toss. Add the pecorino as you mix thoroughly, top with parmigiano and serve.

LPLT / Wikimedia Commons

You can find numerous variations online, all easily prepared in a short time.

Ciao,
Judy

Comments 3 Comments
Categories Italian countryside, Italian Food, Italian History, Italy, My Blog about Italy

Amatrice

25 Aug

Amatrice is a remote town along a mountainous stretch in northern Lazio, Italy. If you look at a map, it seems to sit right in the middle of the country.

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Their website carries this banner:

City of Amatrice, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy

As we all know now, yesterday, at about 3:30 am, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake shook the region. “The town is no more,” Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi told CNN affiliate Rai of the village, which has a population of around 2,000 people. (CNN)

Before social media and news channels carried the devastating photos, you may have thought you had never heard of Amatrice. Include me in that list, even though we had travelled near that region last year. And then, after reading about the town, I quickly realized that it is home to a favorite pasta dish, Amatriciana, (or pasta alla matriciana), a traditional pasta sauce based on guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino cheese, and tomatoes. The recipe dates back to the 1700’s.

This weekend was to be the 50th annual celebration of the town’s Spaghetti all’ Amatriciana Festival.

Instead, hundreds have lost their lives and most that survived cannot return home.

In honor and memory of the town and its people, I plan to make Amatriciana in the next few days. As with all recipes, there are slight variations, so I’ll ask local friends, who are all great cooks, what recipe has been handed down to them over the years.

As we prepare and enjoy this dish, we will toast to the memory of what was and keep the survivors and responders in our thoughts and prayers.

And someday, hopefully, with the strength and fortitude of the locals, there will be another celebration of the town’s Spaghetti Amatriciana Festival.

Ciao,
Judy

Tags: Amatrice

Comments 22 Comments
Categories Food, Italian countryside, Italian Food, Italian History, Italy

Just Picked

18 Aug

The time has finally come for our tasting – will the vegetables we planted in the spring taste as good as they look? Let’s start with the tomatoes.

And the verdict is?

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Pop in my mouth delicious!

And the zucchini?

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Affirmative again!

Our onions did well, and not so much the peppers, but those tomatoes – they just keep giving and giving! This was our pick for the day, not including those we ate as we picked.

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Getting ready for dinner, Carlo cut some sunflowers for our table,

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while Fernanda worked her magic in the kitchen. Appertivo included hot from the frying pan amazing zucchini flowers:

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and stuffed zucchini flowers, before going in the oven.

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We built our own caprese and enjoyed grilled zucchini, fresh pecorino with homemade plum and orange marmellata, and of course, prosecco.

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Pasta was served with a light sugo (sauce) made from our fresh tomatoes and onions. The breeze was light, the temperature comfortable, and the proud smiles abundant.

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Thinking back to last April, I can’t remember that we had grand expectations for our garden when it looked like this:

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In fact, we felt we planted a bit too early as the garden had to endure several hail storms and lots of heavy rain. But neighboring farmers have commented that their tomatoes aren’t nearly as tall or productive as ours, and that we did well to get the plants in the ground when we did. As it turns out, some of them had to plant a bit later than planned due to the soaked soil.

And while planting a garden is certainly not an Olympic event, in keeping with the times, here’s to our gold medal zucchini and tomatoes,

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And the sense of accomplishment it bought to a bunch of Italian and American city folks working together. Auguri!

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Ciao,
Judy

Comments 22 Comments
Categories Cortona, Food, Italian Cooking with Friends, Italian countryside, Italian Food, Italian Hospitality, Italy, My Blog about Italy, Tuscany

Ferragosto

15 Aug

Ferragosto is an Italian holiday celebrated on August 15 and coincides with the major Catholic feast of the Assumption of Mary. For many Italians, it is their summer vacation period and a time when many places of business also close their doors for vacation.

The Feriae Augusti, from which Ferragosto takes its name, comes from the “Festivals or Holiday of the Emperor Augustus” which was introduced in 18 BC. The Feriae Augusti linked the various August festivals to provide a longer period of rest, called Augustali, which was felt necessary after the hard labour of the previous summer weeks.

Crowds flock to Cortona for this holiday, as they can enjoy live bands in the piazzas, various exhibits, and most of all, the Sagra della Bistecca held in the public gardens. This year numbers 57.

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Large open grills, built for the occasion, become the center of attraction in the public gardens. Those tending to the grills are seasoned veterans, and know just when to turn the bistecca. Seared on the outside, very rare in the middle.

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For 28 euro, you get a bistecca, potatoes, choice of beans or tomatoes, a peach, and some vino.

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Family and friends come together at long canopied tables to celebrate the holiday and share stories and laughter.

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Like every festival, there is music, even if just one man and his many accouterments.

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After dinner, many walk through town to marvel at the ancient city’s beauty.

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And if your family is like mine, and a peach doesn’t quite qualify as dessert, it’s time for gelato.

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Even the weather contributed to the weekend’s success – bright blue skies, hot sun, and low humidity.

If you are thinking of Italy next summer, remember Cortona and Ferragosto.

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And if rare bistecca isn’t your thing, coming next weekend: the porcini festival!

Ciao,
Judy

Comments 11 Comments
Categories Cortona, Food, Grilling in Italy, Italian Festival, Italian Food, Italian History, Italian Hospitality, Italy, My Blog about Italy, Piazza Life, Tuscany

Bragging Rights

4 Aug

Let’s begin with this amazing photo:

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This is one tomato from our orto, one of hundreds I might add, in a garden that might be about 12 feet wide and 60-70 feet long. I’ll measure next time as I am curious myself!

As you might recall, we built cane trellises for the much-anticipated tomato plant growth, but who would ever have guessed that Carlo would eventually have to add an overhead cane trellis?

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The garden has done incredibly well under the watchful eyes of Carlo and Fernanda, but in truth, the true bragging rights belong to the Italian soil!

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There is much advice available on how to plant a garden in Italy, including testing the soil and adding nutrients, but we did none of these other than till the land well. Luckily for us, our soil type and pH must be near perfect, but then this is Tuscany.

Len recalls that we bought 12 tomato plants total, of 3-4 different types. After we left a local family nursery, however, we realized that we didn’t have any idea which was which, as they don’t put those nice little white tags on each plant. So watching our garden grow had extra elements of daily surprise. And grow it did – more so than we had ever imagined.

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Now grant you, size and quantity alone do not spell success. And thus far, I’ve had to rely on the smiles and photos from our friends who have eaten from our (ok, their) garden. But I suspect, from our conversations and the photos, that the taste will actually surpass my expectations.

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Other than the soil composition, the only added products have been patience, sunshine, water and love. Talk about organic!

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Stay tuned for my upcoming taste test results. And Memo to Me: wear a dark shirt as I already visualize a delicious burst of tomato seeds when I bite my first pomodoro ciliegino (cherry tomato!).

Ciao,
Judy

Comments 8 Comments
Categories Cortona, Food, Italian Cooking with Friends, Italian countryside, Italian Food, Italian History, Italian Hospitality, Italy, My Blog about Italy, Tuscany

Orto Update

24 Jul

Just over three months ago, we planted an orto, or vegetable garden, in our friend’s yard in Tuscany. https://blogginginitaly.com/2016/04/22/planting-an-orto/

We decided on zucchini, peppers, onions, and of course, tomatoes. And just to be sure our tomatoes would grow, we built cane trellises for them. No slouches here. Last April 22, the orto looked like this:

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Despite several spring hail storms, and thanks to the watchful coaxing of Fernanda and Carlo, the plants flourished in the fertile Tuscan soil. Each week, we anxiously awaited our photo progress reports.

Tomatoes and onions

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Peppers

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Carlo adding another row of cane

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And just three months later, here are some of the amazing fruits of our labor.

Large and small tomatoes over six feet tall!

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And bright zucchini blossoms loving the sunshine.

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The beautiful yard is also full of fruit trees, especially susine or plum trees, perfect for making marmellata di susine or plum jam.

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Needless to say, lots of serious picking going on these days…

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and of course, lots of delicious eating…

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and an assurance from our friends that there will still be much to pick and eat when we return.

Ciao,
Judy

Comments 8 Comments
Categories Cortona, Food, Italian Cooking with Friends, Italian Food, Italian Hospitality, Italy, My Blog about Italy, Tuscany

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta!

8 Jul

If you wait long enough, many of the “avoid” foods seem to return, and not only return, but be included in a healthy diet. Eggs, dark chocolate, nuts, olive and coconut oil, and Himalayan salt are just a few examples. But this week, it was a surprising bonus to read that pasta can be added to that list.

According to an Italian study published in ‘Nutrition and Diabetes‘ this month, based on the dietary habits of over 23,000 adults of varying ages, there seems to be a positive connection between pasta consumption and weight. To be more precise, the study found that there appears to be a link between the amount of pasta one consumes and how likely one is to be slim. Amazing.

But how can this be? Part of the answer lies in the fact that pasta is a staple of the Mediterranean diet, usually adding beneficial ingredients such as garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, and vegetables.

On the national news, they attributed this to the fact that Italians only eat pasta as a small side dish. Must have been a nutritionist behind that story who has never, ever been to Italy.

This got me to thinking about our diet, here and there. When we are in Italy, we eat pasta nearly every day of the week, either for lunch or dinner, yet significant weight gain has never been an issue. If we do gain a few pounds, it is more likely the result of a morning cornetto (aka croissant or sweet roll ) or a bit too much bread. We often say that for us, pasta è basta, meaning a pasta dish followed by a salad is a perfect meal. Yet when we are home, we tend to eat pasta once or twice a week. Age old wives tales stuck in our heads, I guess, but now a thing to happily move to the past.

Today I bought a new basil plant and plan to make some fresh pesto for Sunday’s dinner.

And last night, it was pasta with olive oil, garlic, red onion, fresh tomatoes, wine and peas, and a dollop of ricotta and grated pecorino to top it off.

If you are curious or doubtful, click on the link ‘Nutrition and Diabetes‘ and decide for yourself. As for me, they got me at hello.

Ciao,
Judy

Tags: Pasta

Comments 7 Comments
Categories Food, Italian Food, Italian History, Italian Recipe, My Blog about Italy

Un Buon Lavoro!

28 May

Translated, the title means A Good Job, and in this case, several good jobs were accomplished at our friend’s home in the country. It all started with adding some cane to the iron fence for added privacy.

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After that, we planted the garden or orto, which despite two bouts of hail, is doing quite well…tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and onions.

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When Len asked, “What else?” Fernanda said the next job was too big, but alas, off we went in search of the best wooden sheds. And soon, the building process began.

Using extra bricks from the garden…

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And some pallets …

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ingenuity set in and the foundations began to emerge.

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Oh, did I mention she bought TWO sheds?

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Neighbors Bruna and Loreno heard the noise and wanted to be sure we had food for lunch, so they generously donated “supplies” from their very large garden and healthy hens.

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Shortly after, Loreno added his expertise to the construction team. As Carlo would say, Len was the design engineer,

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Loreno was the boss of the workers, and Carlo was the worker and translator.

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It was so interesting for me to observe the communication. Loreno speaks no English; Len, just a little Italian; and when Carlo needed to run to the store for more supplies, Len and Loreno’s hand gestures, smiles, frowns, grunts, eye movements and laughter worked well.

Since Fernanda was at work, my job was to be sure the team had espresso and biscotti breaks often, and also make them lunch, which in Italy, always includes pasta.

By the time Fernanda came home from work, the first shed was nearly complete and the team was tired but satisfied.

A few days later, work commenced on the second shed. Understanding the construction better, the work went smoothly,

and roofing shingles were added for extra protection.

Mission accomplished – two wooden sheds and a big smile from Fernanda.

Fernanda planned a BBQ dinner celebration to thank everyone involved, and as you might expect, it was quite a dinner. She and Bruna headed to the butcher for the meat: ribs, sausages and steaks.

Bruna brought supplies from her garden.

Loreno was in charge of the grill – his hand-made steel grill which he brought over from his yard.

Len and I brought lots and lots of wine. And then the eating began.

Afterward, Barbara surprised us with her homemade desserts.

It was a wonderful evening filled with great food and lots of laughter.

Before the sun set, there was one more thing to do…

The three “artists” each signed a door as a happy reminder of their effort. Un buon lavoro – A job well done, for sure!

Next up? Time to return to Chicago for some rest!

Ciao,
Judy

Tags: Buidling a Shed, Case di Legne, Helping friends

Comments 14 Comments
Categories Cortona, Grilling in Italy, Italian Cooking with Friends, Italian Food, Italian Hospitality, Italy, My Blog about Italy

A Beautiful Italian Birthday!

23 May

44 years ago, I celebrated my 21st birthday at Gino’s restaurant in Rome with a wonderful group of friends/fellow students. Shortly after, I would return to the US with my badge of honor – a driver’s license showing I was 21.

Yesterday, I celebrated my birthday, (you can do the math!), with a wonderful group of friends at Tuscher Cafe in Cortona. Soon, I will return to the US with another badge of honor – a red, white and blue Medicare card!

Yesterday was the kind of day one would order – sunny, warm, and filled with blue skies and wonderful greetings from family and friends, near and far, including this:

Len decided we should start the day at Tuscher with brunch and a prosecco toast – sounded good to me.

Afterward, we went for a long walk and enjoyed vistas that never get old.

Time for lunch – back to Tuscher for Edoardo’s new fish sandwich with fries… we split one, and enjoyed people watching as we sipped some vino.

Feeling the need for another walk, the antique fair in town was the perfect venue. Finally, we headed home for a rest before dinner.

At 8pm, we arrived at Tuscher, (yes, it was definitely a Tuscher kind of day!) to a beautiful table and waited for our guests to arrive.

Massimo and Niccolo took care of us as Dani and Edo worked their magic in the kitchen.

Although the invitation said no gifts please, our guests claimed to not understand English!

Len had already given me a relaxing day at the local spa, and Benita surprised me with family tickets to see James Taylor at Wrigley Field this summer.

Dinner began with Champaign and appertivo.

Often interrupted for photos and toasts…

I brought hand-made honey candles for each guest and created a bit of a game around their choice.

First course – spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and basil…delicious!

Second course – beef filet cooked to order, roasted rosemary potatoes and sautéed artichokes. Perfect!

Sometime after dinner and singing and stories, and feeling we couldn’t eat another thing, the lights went out…

And Dani and Massimo entered with this incredible wine cake with whipped cream and strawberries. Wow!

After all other customer were gone, Dani, Massimo, Niccolo and Edo were finally able to close the doors and join us. Applause! Applause!

Many thanks to all, either with me or in my heart, who made my day so special, and a very, very special thanks to Len. A perfect ending to a perfect day!

Molte grazie a tutti, sia con me o nel mio cuore, che ha reso il mio giorno così speciale, e un grazie molto, molto speciale a Len. Una conclusione perfetta di una giornata perfetta!

Ciao,
Judy

Tags: Celebrating a Birthday in Cortona, Cortona, Italian cuisine, Tuscher Caffe

Comments 32 Comments
Categories Cortona, Cortona Market, Cortona Restaurant, Family, Food, Italian Cooking with Friends, Italian Food, Italian Hospitality, Italy, My Blog about Italy, Renting in Cortona, Tuscany

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