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When In Rome–Enjoy Their Festivals

August 24, 2010 in Espresso, Gelato, Italian heritage, culture by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | No comments

Modern day festivals in Rome are a series of outdoor events known as Roman Summer.  The tradition of celebrations dates back to the time when Rome dominated the world.

Early Roman Celebrations

In the early Roman culture, the people loved celebrations.  This was a pagan society which worshiped many gods. The gods were jealous of each other and were always warring with one another.  In order to appease the different gods, the Romans held separate festivals to honor each god.  It was party time.  The parties consisted of many excesses in food, drink and sexual activity.  They loved games and we are familiar with the gladiators who fought each other and wild beasts as well.  Saturnalia was a feast to honor the god, Saturn.  The nobles dressed and acted like slaves and the slaves “became” noblemen. A good time was had by all.

Dark Ages

After the fall of Rome and the rise of the Papacy, the festivals were banned.  Mysteries or religious dramas became the form of entertainment.  This period was originally thought of as the Dark Ages, in contrast to the light of classical Greek and Roman antiquity that came before.  It was a time of economic and cultural deterioration and there was not much to celebrate.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance there was a return to festivals.  The Roman Carnival became famous and people came from all over the world to participate.  The celebration inspired many artists and musicians, including Berlioz and Resipghi.  There was even horse racing down the main street in Rome.

Modern Times

Today, Roman Summer or L’estate Romana, is a festival that lasts from June to September.  It is a series of open air performances.  There are many sites in the city where music, dancing and theater are offered.  At the Baths of Caracalla and the Castle of St. Angelo ballets and operas are performed in the open air.  There are many piazzas or squares where visitors and locals alike enjoy sitting and enjoying a gelato or sipping an espresso while watching the crowds go by.

Celebrations, parties and festivals are a natural way to express our love and enthusiasm for life.  Let the good times roll.

Stephanie
Italian Nonna

Simple Italian Cooking

History of the Italian Kitchen

July 20, 2010 in Italian heritage by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | No comments

How has the Italian Kitchen evolved over time?

When I think of an Italian kitchen (la cucina), I think of a comfortable room where everyone tends to gravitate.  La cucina is a place where food, wine and conversation flow.

It wasn’t always like that however.  In medieval times, only the rich had a separate room for a kitchen.  And it was usually on the top floor of the house.

The poorer people only had a fireplace in the corner of a room.  This was used to make soups and to reheat food.  There was a public oven for the people of the town to use for baking, for a fee, of course.

The end of 18th century saw the rise of the middle class. La cucina now held a table as well as a fireplace. The kitchens were small, not nearly as large as the rich people had.  Nevertheless, this was the beginning of socialization in the kitchen.

In the early 20th century, after World War I, more women began to work outside the home.  Kitchens design began to utilize space more efficiently and  different utensils and appliances were introduced to reduce preparation time.  Also, cooking fumes and odors were vented to the outside.

After World War II, the kitchen became more than just a place to prepare meals.  It was now a place to decorate.  Many began to display their beautiful hand painted pasta bowls.  The kitchen was now a place for visiting, doing homework or just talking.

In the Sixties, there was a real explosion of innovation in the kitchen.  There was a marriage of form and function, beauty and efficiency.  Now la cucina, was truly the center of the house.

This was the entertainment hub, a place where both men, women and children felt comfortable to visit with one another.  They would linger after dinner, talking and enjoying an espresso made from  their very own stove top espresso maker.  Maybe they would even have some home made gelato prepared in their gelato maker.

La cucina has truly evolved since medieval times.  I wonder what it will be like 100 years from now!

Stephanie
Italian Nonna

SimpleItalianCooking

4 Tips to Help Make Meal Planning Easier

May 14, 2010 in Cooking together, Family, cooking, planning by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | No comments

Today I got a call from my sister and we were talking about food and we got on the topic of planning our meals and how hard it is to do.

It is hard to plan meals – it doesn’t always come easy.  How many times do you find yourself hungry and wondering what you’ll make for dinner – and it is already dinner time?

I wish I had the magic answer.  I don’t.  But I do have some ideas to make it easier and help you not feel so overwhelmed.

1. Think in Groups.  If you want to create an official calendar style schedule, and find yourself staring blankly at an empty sheet of paper – think in groups.

Think:  poultry, meat, vegetarian, leftovers, pasta, fish, and yes… pizza.  That is 7 days right there.  So all you have to do for the full year is come up with 48 poultry dishes, 48other meat dishes, 48non-meat dishes, 48 pasta dishes, etc. etc. 

48 sounds like a lot, but don’t forget about repeats.  So say for example 1 of your recipes is whole roasted chicken.   You could have that once a month.  Same with everything else.  I offer two recipes which give suggestions on how to season and roast a chicken in my recipe list. 

And so in the end, it’s not that much.

Breaking it down makes it feel so much more manageable.  You just have to take the time to do it.

Here is another tip under this category.  If it calls for an ingredient you don’t normally have on hand – flag the recipe with a red marker or a star.  So when you check your calender before shopping, you will be clued in that you need to take special interest in that recipe.

2. Clean out the Fridge.  I cannot count the number of times I’ve found something shoved way in the back that had I remembered it, would have gladly eaten it for a meal.  By taking regular inventory of what you already have, you just might be surprised how many times you forget what is there.

3. Write it Out.  If you don’t have a recipe box already, I recommend buying one.  Only put in it recipes which were a success.  If you love a recipe no one else likes, keep it in another place.  Use the recipe box for ideas when you or others in your house are feeling a bit undecided.  You know, “What do you want tonight for dinner?”  Answer:   “I don’t know.”

By having a supply of only true and tested recipes - you will always come out a winner.

4. Schedule it In – Make it Fun with Kids.   I can tell you right now – you will not be overwhelmed with a desire to plan all your meals.   I’m not saying you won’t do it, but it would be rare for someone to actively look forward to planning meals for a month or even a year.

That can change though.   I’m a big supporter of teaching kids to cook while they are young.  It is such a valuable tool that they will be able to use when they go off on their own -whether when they go to college or when they get married or find a place of their own.

Turn it into a monthly activity or a weekly one with your children.  Plan the meals together.  They will love having their opinions appreciated and respected.  Actually, they’ll probably just enjoy telling you what to do.

Getting kids involved in the cooking process and serving process as well, will help round out the experience.

I do hope you have found these tips useful.   Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t follow your plans to the “T”, sometimes we are just too tired to cook, no matter how many easy recipes we know.

It happens to everyone!

Liz
Easy Italian Recipes

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms

May 9, 2010 in Family by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | No comments

I would like to wish every mother out there a special Happy Mother’s Day.

Whether you are the mother of one child or more, my wish for you is that you will proudly reflect on your amazing contribution to the lives of your children, family and friends.

I also hope you can take a break from your motherly “chores” for at least 24 hours until duty calls and you must take up the task again.

As Alice from The Honeymooners said in one episode, “A man works from dawn to dusk, but a woman’s work is never done.”

So on that note – Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful hardworking under-recognized moms out there!

For everyone else who is not a mom, don’t forget to call your own mom and wish her Happy Mother’s Day!

PS – Don’t worry Dads, your day is just around the corner…

Liz
www.simpleitaliancooking.com

The Italian Mother – Amazing Meals and Amazing Love

April 17, 2010 in Family, In-Laws, Italian heritage by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | 2 comments

The Italian Mother

The Italian mother has made quite a name for herself.

Not only has her kitchen become the number one place for neighborhood kids to visit for a good Italian dish before heading to their own homes, but she manages to cook and clean and dust and still sets the table making sure everyone gets there own individual pasta bowl loaded with spaghetti and meatballs at mealtime.

Marissa Carbone with a nice bowl of fresh pasta!

Don’t believe me?  Just look at the love in the eyes of my cousin in Italy, in the image to the right, who took me under her wing during my stay there.  This lady worked all the time never stopping, yet made the best meals I’ve ever tasted.

Italian Mother = Good Italian Food

There is a strong link found between Italian mothers and good Italian food.   It is almost as if one cannot exist without the other.

It doesn’t matter if she serves the pasta in plain white pasta bowls (as in the picture to the right), or in a high end pasta bowl- the taste always far outweighs the presentation.  With her recipes, she could easily put the Olive Garden out of business.

Italian Mother = Plenty of Food

She cooks enough so everyone and their brother can go back for seconds and thirds knowing there is still more if they want it.   She doesn’t slap your hand telling you that you are eating too much, or make you feel guilty if you grab the last slice of lasagna.

If anything she herself feels guilty there is no more to offer.

She’s Still Your Mother After all These Years

The Italian mother is priceless in the eyes of her family and friends.   And rightly so.

My mother and I. She not only married into an Italian family but became one herself.

Unfortunately, we don’t always have the opportunity to express our thoughts of gratitude towards these women in our lives.   Maybe we rely on dates like Mother’s Day or Christmas or Birthdays.  But what about all the days in between?

Mother’s regardless of nationality love to be loved.  A simple, “I love you”, or a kiss on the cheek or a hug that goes beyond a pat on the back.  These are the things that a mother hopes her children will do even when they venture out on their own and from under her tender care.

Don’t Wait for Mother’s Day Alone to Express Your Love.

Give her a call.  Write her a note.  Buy her a gift.  Send her flowers.

Tell her you haven’t forgotten her as your “mother”.

Liz

www.simpleitaliancooking.com
Easy Italian Recipes

Lamb a Suitable Choice for Italians at Easter

March 24, 2010 in Easter, Family, Holidays, Italian heritage by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | No comments

As is common with most Christians, the lamb is used for Resurrection Sunday, the day Christ was resurrected.  Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the lamb was used to be a sacrifice of our sins.   The lamb had to be without blemish.   The anticipated Messiah was to be the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sins, and bridge the gap that divides man from God, a state of the human condition which began with the first original sin.

Non-messianic Jews do not recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah, however Christians and Messianic Jews do.

When Christ died on the cross, he bore the sins of the world fulfilling the promise that God gave to the Jewish people saying he would send His son, as the ultimate sacrifice – like a lamb he would pay the price for our sins so we wouldn’t have to.  The price being separation from God.

This is why there is incredible symbolic respect and honor given to the meal on Easter Sunday – Resurrection Sunday – by using lamb as the main meat.

How to Prepare Lamb

There are many ways to prepare lamb, and the Italians have no shortage of ideas.  From basic lamb rubbed with olive oil to pieces of Romano cheese, garlic and parsley stuffed into the meat and then cooked, there are more ways than one to have lamb.

Lamb is also frequently seasoned with rosemary, and sometimes with mint.

The Italians are mostly a Catholic population and for that reason there are numerous traditions practiced starting even with Lent where you give up something you like for a short season.

From special Easter Pizzas to Italian Easter Bread, there are many ways to keep the celebration alive.  And of course with the love of food the Italian possess, there is no lack of ideas from creative pastas to soups and pizzas.

I’ll be posting a few Easter recipes along with my own Easter bread recipe given by my husband’s mother.   It is a simple recipe, but takes quite a while due to the slow baking and timing.   I made it my first time last year and am planning on making it again this year and next.

Buona Pasqua (Happy Easter),

Liz
www.simpleitaliancooking.com

It is Never Too Late to Experience the Joy of Cooking

March 19, 2010 in Family, cooking by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | 1 comment

Complete Dislike for Cooking

I used to despise cooking.  I also didn’t like to eat.  No, it wasn’t an eating disorder, I just didn’t like eating.  It was a chore.  Something that I had to do or else I’d die.

Perhaps I can trace it back to early childhood when my mother decided to go on an all natural whole wheat and grain diet with such force she could have knocked over a bull in a bull fight.

Fortunately over time that all passed, but some of her experimental concoctions we had to eat and drink must have pushed me over the line.  Maybe I was 5 or maybe 8, but all I know is somewhere along the way, I didn’t like to eat anymore.

What was the only type of food I really loved for dinner and holidays?  You got it, Italian spaghetti, lasagna, stuffed shells and anything else Italian.  My mother knew how to cook some down right amazing Italian meals.  Those were the only meals I didn’t mind eating.

Marriage and Cooking – the Turning Point

Like many people, I never learned how to cook until I got married.  In the beginning, it took so long to cook a basic meal, my husband would make sure to eat something when I started cooking.  He knew it could take hours until dinner was even near ready.  Many times he would end up cooking dinner while I was still looking through cookbooks.

Yes it was bad, and I cried over cookbooks more than once in frustration.

Then one day, something happened.  I made an Italian dish that was out of this world.   It was a white lasagna from a cookbook that took me 3 hours to make.   3 hours way too long.   But it tasted amazing!  The first major recipe I had made that turned out great in our first two years of marriage.

The joy of cooking had been born.  However, one problem still existed.  This was only one recipe and it took far too long to make.

Turning Lemons into Lemonade – or Chicken Piccata

With a serious drive and devotion I learned how to cook recipes which were suitable for my busy lifestyle, yet didn’t compromise flavor or my time.

Needless to say, I have changed a lot in my views since my childhood years.

Today I love to make, taste and eat great tasting food.  I call my creations words like beautiful and fantastico.  My life has changed, I found another source of joy.

Anyone Can Change

This is my story, and it can be yours too. If you do not like to cook, it may be you are cooking the wrong foods.  I tried Mexican, chinese, you name it.   Italian is what I love.

So take heart, if you are in any way like I was – you can still become one of those crazy people who have talk about such things as the joy of cooking!

Make sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter and I’ll send you cooking tips and recipes to help make your life easier in the kitchen!

Here’s to the joy!

Liz

www.simpleitaliancooking.com

Want Dessert? Do What the Italians Do – Eat Fruit

March 11, 2010 in Family, Italian heritage by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | No comments

Tiramisu may be an Italian dessert, but don’t think this is what they eat every time after dinner.   In fact, in my time over in Italy I never had any tiramisu or ice-cream/gelato as a dessert.  Instead we were given… drum roll please… apples!   As we all sat around the table, the apples were passed out and with a sharp knife we peeled the skin off the apples and then ate the apple as we cut it into slices.

I did not carry on the tradition when I returned to the States, until a few years ago when my husband and I started trying to eat healthier.   I guess it just happened accidentally when we decided to have some fruit after dinner.   And then I realized why the Italians eat fruit after a big meal.   It tastes good, tastes sweet, and doesn’t lay heavy.   Bingo – I think we have a winner!

La Pranza

il Pranzo

Dinner is Lunch and Lunch is Dinner?

Italians typically eat their main meal at what we consider lunchtime (between noon and 2:00).  They call it “il pranzo”.  The women work all morning preparing the big meal.   They usually have two courses, the first being pasta or rice, and the second a kind of meat or fish.   An example of a typical Italian pasta dish would be my eggplant and zucchini pasta recipe.  It incorporates fresh vegetables from the garden along with the long pasta, preferably linguine or fettuccine.  Let me tell you they don’t skimp on their courses.  You get a very full plate each time.  It took me a few days until I got used to the quantities served, and I’ll never forget the smile on their faces when I asked for seconds the first time.  I remember them talking about it to each other in Italian too! The picture to the right are of my cousins at lunchtime (1:30).

For their last meal of the day,  they have  a lighter meal – like what we would consider lunch.  It might even be just a large salad.  They do not eat their last meal early in the evening like we do, but rather later between 8PM and 10PM.

I don’t recommend switching your lunches with your dinners, however I have to say incorporating some fresh fruit as desert is something worth trying if you don’t already.  Take a lesson from the Italians in Italy, you just might be amazed at how much you enjoy it.

Liz

www.simpleitaliancooking.com

And I Thought He Didn’t Like Onions

March 8, 2010 in Family by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | No comments

The other night, my husband and I were talking to my father about food.   My father was telling me he “just doesn’t like onions”.  In his Italian style temperament, he was quite emphatic when he expressed his true feelings towards this vegetable.   It was the first time I had ever heard him say this, but I guess it had been brewing silently for quite some time inside.  I then stopped short of telling him about a new dish I saw on Lidia’s Italy, an Italian cooking show, which involved about 4 sliced onions, and sliced celery as the 2 main ingredients – I knew he would rule it out right away.

Now, if you are Italian or if you live with Italians, you know we never ask people if they want this or that.  Wait… let me clarify.  When an Italian offers you a dish, it is not an option for you to say no.  It really is not a question, we are not asking to find out if you want some or not, because if you say no, we will ask again and again- until you say yes.    Fast forward a few days when we made my parents chicken cacciatore for dinner, and I decided to make Lidia’s onion and celery recipe for a side dish.  Instead of doing the “Would You Like to Try This” dance, I just put some of onion/celery recipe on his plate right next to the chicken and potatoes, and never said a word as to what it was.  He ate every bit of it, said the dinner was excellent and it was then I chose not to tell him about the onions.  I just said it was easy to make and I was glad he liked it.   There was nothing to prove, our now empty plates said it all.

As a cook, it is more important to me that everyone likes the meal as they see fit to define it – even if that means not disclosing all the ingredients.  Perhaps it is the same with feeding kids or other family members- not to tell them all the good stuff inside.  Act confident and serve it without debate – you will have won more than half the battle!

Liz
www.simpleitaliancooking.com
Easy Italian Chicken Recipes

Simple Italian Cooking Actually Works!

January 29, 2010 in Cooking together, Family, Food, Meats by Simple Italian Cooking Blog | No comments

Last night I had the amazing opportunity to put my simple Italian cooking theme to the ultimate test.   My father decided to make dinner and give my mom a break who was busy getting some other things done.  My dad is great at making breakfasts and grilling, but regular cooking… hmm…. not so sure.  He already had chicken breasts out but didn’t know what to do with them.  He’s looking through his cookbook and just couldn’t decide where to start or what to do.  So I suggested my breaded chicken breasts recipe.   I’m of the philosophy to teach a man how to fish rather than give a man a fish, so I step by step told him what to do.  Within 15 minutes (hard to say as he got interrupted a few times), he had the chicken nicely coated and in the oven.   He followed all the instructions to the letter and 40 minutes later the chicken was ready to eat.   From what they said, it turned out great and now my dad knows how to make a new recipe.  I told him to sign up for my newsletters to I would send him a free recipe each week…

So yes, it was proven this week once again good Italian recipes do not have to be overly complex or laborious – just simple!

Liz
Simple Italian Cooking Recipes
www.simpleitaliancooking.com

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