An Italian Autumn Feast

Autumn is finally here and all I can think about is the bountiful autumn harvest. Images of cornucopia overflowing with pumpkins and squash fill my mind. Here in America, we have a tendency to think of the autumn harvest more as decoration. We think of the Indian Corn that we hang on our doors or the little pumpkins and gourds that we place on our desks. In Italy, however, the autumn harvest means the return of fantastic seasonal foods that are only available this time of year.

I’ve put together a special menu for you to try that incorporates traditional, seasonal foods. For the best flavor and most rewarding shopping experience, try to purchase as many of the ingredients as you can at a local farmers market or specialty shop. The quality of locally grown produce typically surpasses what is grown on corporate farms and can make a huge difference in any meal.

CAROTA MARINATA
We’re going to start with a traditional rustic dish known as Carota Marinata (Kah-Ro-Tah Mah-Ree-Nah-Tah). Carota Marinata means marinated carrots and is a common dish found in the countryside of Italy, but not typically in the cities. This particular version is popular around the Campagna region.

You start by filling a pot with water, covering it and turning on the flame to high. While the water reaches a boil, take a bag of carrots, chop off the tips and the ends and peal what’s left. Once your carrots are all peeled, dice them into bite sized pieces. When your water comes to a boil, salt the water and add the carrots, letting them cook for about 10 minutes, until the carrots are tender but not mushy.

While the carrots are cooking, you can make the marinade. Combine 2 sliced cloves of garlic, ½ tsp of salt, ½ tsp of black pepper, 1 tsp of oregano, 2 tbsp of white wine and ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil into a sealable plastic bag.

When the carrots are done, drain them, rinse them with cool water and add them to the plastic bag. Give the bag a good shake and refrigerate if for at least 12 hours. This gives the carrots the opportunity to absorb the flavor of the marinade.

When you’re ready to eat your Carota Marinata, simply pour them into a bowl, provide a serving spoon and your antipasto is served.

PASTA E PATATE
Macaroni and potatoes may sound a bit too filling to American ears, but to Italians, ‘Pasta e Patate’ (Pah-Stah Ay Pah-Tah-Tay) is quintessential comfort food. And like all comfort food, it is easy to make.

Start with a sauté pan and about a quarter of a cup of extra virgin olive oil. Warm the oil at about medium heat then toss in 1/2 pound of diced pancetta. While the pancetta cooks, dice a medium sized Spanish onion and about a half cup of scallions. Once the pancetta begins to turn a nice golden color, add the onion and scallions to the pan.

While the onions and scallions sauté together with the pancetta, combine ¼ tsp of red seed pepper, 4 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of oregano. When the onions turn a translucent color, add the seasoning and give the pan a nice toss and set back over the flame for about two minutes.

Now, dice up about 3 pounds of potatoes into bite sized pieces. Don’t worry about making them perfect, a little imperfection adds to the charm of such a rustic dish. Add the potatoes into the sauté pan with about 2 cups of water. For a little extra flavor, and to add to the rustic nature of the dish, add a few cheese rinds, preferably from a sharp, sheep’s milk cheese. Let this simmer together for about twenty minutes.

In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil. When it is boiling, add a little salt then cook a pound of macaroni until al dente. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauté pan, stirring the whole mix together for about two minutes. Pull out the cheese rinds and serve.

CANNOLI DI ZUCCA
No meal would be complete without dessert and no autumn feast would be complete without pumpkin. To cap off your autumn feast, try this seasonal variation on the traditional cannoli. Cannoli di Zucca (Cah-No-Lee Dee Zoo-Kah) is a dessert whose success rests almost entirely on the quality of the ingredients used. Fresh, locally grown pumpkin and fresh, hand-made ricotta are essential.

To make Cannoli di Zucca, you’re going to first need to make a puree of pumpkin. To do so, set your oven to 350 and cut a large pumpkin in half, separating the top from the bottom. Scoop out the seeds and the fibrous strings from both halves and place, cut side down, in a baking pan with about a cup of water. Bake the pumpkin for about 90 minutes.

While the pumpkin bakes, add about 2 cups of freshly made ricotta cheese to a mixing bowl. Stir in 4 tsp of confectionary sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon, ½ tsp of ginger and ¼ tsp of nutmeg. Stir until the seasoning is completely mixed with the ricotta. Break up about ¼ cup of honey roasted pecans and stir them into the ricotta cream.

When the pumpkin is finished, scoop out the flesh of the pumpkin and blend it into a food processor. Add about 2 cups of the processed pumpkin puree to the ricotta mixture and stir them together. This is the filling for your Cannoli di Zucca.

You can buy good quality cannoli shells at most Italian specialty shops or even from your local pasticceria. However, some of the best homemade cannoli I’ve ever had were made with pizzelle that were rolled into a cannoli shell while still warm. Some people have even served this pumpkin ricotta mixture as a pudding with a ginger cookie tossed in as garnish. You can be as creative as you want, because your pumpkin ricotta mixture is going to taste fantastic on practically anything.

Remember, always try to shop fresh and local and never be afraid to experiment. I hope you enjoy your autumn feast and look forward to writing my next seasonal menu for you. Ciao!

It's More Than Just Italian Ice Cream

When the scorching summer sun comes to town, Philadelphians have traditionally reached for an ice-cold cup of water ice to cool off. And while water ice continues to be a popular summertime treat, there is a new summer specialty in town and its name is gelato.

The name may sound familiar to you. In our region, alternating layers of water ice and soft serve ice cream have been sold as “gelati” for years. This “gelati” bears little resemblance to the true Italian gelato that is slowly establishing itself as one of Philly’s favorite foods.

True Italian gelato is like ice cream, with a few major differences. First, gelato is never served frozen solid the way ice cream is. When you eat a spoon full of frozen ice cream, the first thing you taste is cold. Only after the ice cream melts in your mouth do you get to appreciate the flavor. With gelato, it is always served a little melted so that you taste the flavor of the gelato the moment it touches your tongue.

Second, unlike ice cream, no air is infused into gelato. Ice cream is made with up to 40% air, making the cream lighter but also diluting the flavor. Gelato is made without the infusion of air, making a denser, more flavorful dessert.

Despite being denser, gelato is much lower in fat than ice cream. This may seem hard to believe, but it is true. Gelato has less fat than ice cream! Even still, gelato is a very heavy treat, which is why it is traditionally served with tiny plastic shovels and not big spoons. Gelato is not to be eaten in mass quantities like a glutton but enjoyed slowly like a connoisseur.

In order to enjoy good gelato, you must find a good gelateria, which is the Italian name for a store that specializes in selling gelato. A good gelateria makes their own gelato, using only the highest quality and freshest ingredients. In Philadelphia, we are lucky to have two gelato masters among us, in addition to a handful of very good gelaterias.

The gelato masters are Stephanie Reitano of Capogiro and Pietro D’Abbraccio of Café Toscano. Both Reitano and D’Abbraccio learned their craft back in Italy and offer Philadelphians true Italian gelato. By using top quality, fresh ingredients, both Reitano and D’Abbraccio create a cold, creamy treat that is simply stunning.

Stephanie Reitano of Capogiro is the current darling of the Philadelphia food world. Not only is she a true artisan but whenever possible she uses locally grown ingredients in her gelato, bringing well deserved respect to our locally grown fruits and vegetables. In addition, her husband John runs the Capogiro business with the style and vision of a major corporation. Their two locations in Philadelphia offer visitors a stylish retreat from the bustle of the busy day while serving up one of the most deliciously cool treats in town.

Over at Café Toscano, Pietro D’Abbraccio makes more traditional flavors such as Baba Rum and Panna Cotta and sells them to tourists just around the corner from the Liberty Bell. Unfortunately, many Philadelphians deliberately avoid the traffic and congestion near the Liberty Bell, which means they miss out on D'Abbraccio's hand crafted gelato. With any luck, D'Abbraccio will be opening a new location in South Philadelphia, making his gelato available to those who live in Philadelphia, not just to those who visit.

Both Capogiro and Café Toscano are huge additions to Philadelphia’s food scene, but they aren’t the only places in town where gelato is sold. Traditional cafes such as Café Varallo and Anthony’s Italian Coffee House make gelato available in the summer months, as do the DiBruno Brothers in Center City. Across the region, other gelaterias keep opening up and every year brings new artisans to the scene.

If you are unfamiliar with gelato or haven’t tasted it since your last trip to Italy, stop by Capogiro or Café Toscano or one of the city’s other gelaterias. Savor the fresh, creamy flavors. Appreciate the skill that went into making each batch. But most of all enjoy a unique and delicious treat that we’re lucky to have in our area.

The Italian Easter Table

In Italy, there is a popular expression about Easter that goes “Natale con i suoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi”, which means “Christmas with your family, Easter with whoever you want”. But while the Italian people may celebrate Easter with whomever they want, they can’t eat whatever they want. Tradition dominates the Italian Easter feast, making that meal the most symbolic of all Italian feasts.

Tradition dictates that eggs play a major role in the Italian Easter feast. Why? For Catholics, eggs represent the tomb of Christ. And just as a chick breaks through the to egg to have life, so did Christ emerge from His tomb to give us all life.

To recognize the symbolic meaning of the egg, the Italians have incorporated this ingredient into almost every dish they serve at Easter, starting with the soup. The most popular Italian Easter soup is Stracciatella, a sort of Italian egg drop soup. In Italian, “stracciare” means “to tear apart”. When Stracciatella is made, an egg mixture is slowly stirred into a simmering chicken broth creating shredded strands of egg, which give the soup its name.

Two other popular egg dishes found on the Italian Easter table are “Pizza Chiena” and “Pastiera di Pasqua”. Pizza Chiena, pronounced in America as Pee-Tza-Geen, means stuffed pizza, although it is not a pizza at all. More like a casserole, Pizza Chiena has a flaky, egg-based crust filled with ricotta, mozzarella and Italian meats. Pastiera di Pasqua, or “wheat pie”, is a similar dish but includes wheat for a more hearty, rustic treat.

Leaving eggs behind for a moment, the Italian Easter table features two other ingredients prominently. One is the artichoke. From Sicily to Genoa, a variety of artichoke dishes are served on Easter Sunday because artichokes come from the Holy Land. We have no way of knowing what Jesus ate, but it is likely that He ate artichokes and so the Italians include them with every Easter celebration. Popular ways to serve them are fried (Naples), grilled (Sicily), alla Judea (Rome) or stuffed (everywhere).

The other common ingredient on the Italian Easter table is lamb. In ancient times, lambs were commonly sacrificed during religious rituals. Catholics believe that Jesus of Nazareth made the ultimate sacrifice when He was put to the cross in order to save the world from its sin. For this reason, He is called the Lamb of God and Italians remember His sacrifice by serving lamb every Easter. Lamb also makes a popular Sicilian dessert. Not real lambs, but small cakes shaped like lambs and decorated with white icing to look like thick lamb fur.

Returning our attention to the egg, no Italian Easter table is complete without two of the most popular sweets served throughout the year. Easter Bread, made throughout Italy, is a light and flaky sweet bread coated in a sugary sweet glaze and baked with whole eggs pressed into the dough. The dough is often shaped in rings or crosses or even in the shape of a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. Easter Bread is one of the most loved Italian sweets but is only made during Easter season.

The Italians don’t decorate Easter eggs or make big chocolate bunny rabbits the way Americans do. Instead they fill their tables with L’Uova di Pasqua, hollow chocolate eggs with a toy inside. Wrapped in brightly colored metallic paper, L’Uovo di Pasqua are made in a variety of sizes from small to extremely large and are sold at almost any specialty shop in Italy or Italian America around Easter. They make a fun, festive and delicious addition to any Easter table.

As delicious as it is meaningful, the Italian Easter table is one of the most anticipated feasts of the year. And although the expression states that you can celebrate Easter with whomever you want, most Italians still choose to celebrate Easter with their family. And that may be the most symbolic of all the choices you’ll make this Easter.