photo credit: Maggie Hoffman
Cioppino with Italian rustic bread is a meal fit for a king! I remember the first time I had it. We were literally sitting in the Pacific Ocean off of San Luis Obispo, California. We had to drive our car out onto the pier and park. The meal was one of the best I’ve ever had – especially with their homemade crusty San Francisco sourdough bread.
photo credit: Barbara L. Hanson
A traditional Italian celebration occurs every March 19th and it is called St. Joseph’s Day. It is customary to eat Sfingi – also known as zeppole – on this day.
There are many types of sfingi. One type is much like fried bits of sweetened bread dough dusted with sugar. However, the traditional Italian “sfingi di San Giuseppe” is often made with ricotta cheese. They are delicious served warm, but they can also be cooled and filled with cream or whatever you like.
We can most likely thank the Genoans for Pesto. This quick Italian green mixture will brighten up any dish. The name actually derives from the Latin word “pesta” – meaning to crush or pound. Of course, the key ingredient in Pesto is basil. Basil thrived throughout the region near Genoa, so it was widely used. Pesto is basically pounded basil, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and pine nuts. Basil also thrived beautifully in the region of Provence, France. They make a similar sauce, but pine nuts – or pignoli – are not used in the French version.
One Italian specialty food that is a real treat and not too hard to make is Veal Saltimbocca. The word Saltimbocca means “jumps in the mouth” because it is so good it almost jumps in your mouth!
This dish is made with either veal, chicken or pork. The dish was invented in Italy in the 1800’s, but it is also quite popular in Greece, Spain and Switzerland. The dish is one of meat, sage, cheese and prosciutto and some type of wine. The dish begins with the pounding of the meat to make it soft and thin. This part of the process is extremely important since the thin meat readily absorbs all of flavors of the dish and renders it extremely tender. This dish is served with its own drippings to give it full flavor.
