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Monday, April 16, 2012

Pasta e Broccoletti



            My favorite supermarket had rapini, also know as broccoli rabe, on sale again today, so I bought some. They are widly used in Southern Italy, in Rome they call them broccoletti (little broccoli). They are similar to broccoli, except they have a much thinner stalk and lots of leaves and a smaller flower at the top. TIP: Make sure the are bright green, crisp and firm. Don't buy them if there's any yellow leaves or wilted stems. It's very nutritious and contains cancer fighting phytochemicals. It's low in calories, and is high in vitamins C, A & K.
           When we lived in Rome back in the '80's, my neighbor Katia taught me how to make pasta e broccoletti, a typical Roman dish. Katia and her family lived right across the hall from us in Via Aurelia. The apartments were very small, a small one bedroom, so it was kind of an open door policy, always going back and forth. She taught me all kinds of dishes. Always coming over or dragging me to her place to show me what she had picked up from the market and how she prepared it. If ever I had a question about cooking, or really anything, I could ask Katia. I wonder where she is today. We lost contact after I left Rome. I learned so many things from her!
            Anyway, back to the pasta! This is how Katia taught me:
  • Wash a bunch of the broccoletti,(they shrink way down when you cook them) then cut them, leaves and all, in about 1-2 inch pieces.
  • Fill a pot with water and boil them at a medium boil for about 10 to15 minutes, just till the stems are half cooked. (not mushy)
  • In a frying pan, add a couple of tablespoons (maybe more) of olive oil (it's gotta be extra virgin) and a couple cloves of finely chopped garlic, 4 or 5 chopped sun dried tomatoes, and dry red pepper flakes. Set this pan on top of the pan of boiling broccoletti (my husbands technique), keep your eye on that garlic, you never, ever, want it to brown.

My hubbie's double boiler method .
  • Once the broccoletti is ready, move the frying pan to it's own burner, and with a slotted spoon move the broccoletti over to the frying pan. (it's ok if it's not drained completely)
  • DO NOT THROW OUT THE BROCCOLETTI WATER!
  • add a tablespoon of salt to the water turn it back up to high, when it starts boiling again, dump in your pasta. I like to use whole wheat pasta, in this case I used penne.
  • While the pasta is cooking, simmer the broccoletti together with the garlic/tomato/red pepper oil at low heat. If you need to you can alway add a ladle full of pasta water to the fry pan.
  • When the pasta is cooked to al dente, you can go ahead and strain the pasta and throw it in the pan with the broccoletti.
  • Toss this together on low heat, with another bit of olive oil till it's combined.
  • Serve it with grated pecorino romano on top and a nice glass of red wine. Enjoy.
  • Buon Appetito!

Oh yes, I ate all of that! Thanks, Katia!
P.S You can also just make the broccoletti as a side dish,without the pasta, it's delicious!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Bagnara Calabra, My Kind of Town


          One of my all time favorite places in southern Italy is Bagnara. It' a little town, situated in a  little bay on the tyrrhenian side of the Mediterranean, just north of Reggio. It's a very "down to earth" fishing town (nothing fancy-shmancy) and they are renowned for their skill in catching swordfish (pesce spada). The men do the fishing, but the woman are famous for running the economy there. They even have a statue in the main piazza honoring the bagnarese women. (You gotta love that girls.) They are also renowned for a special Christmas torrone (candy) they make called torroncini. My father-in-law, Salvatore, would take the train there every year to buy it. So now my husband is continuing the tradition and buys it each year, too.(Yum)
        They have a beautiful port for all the fishing boats, a main drag in town with all the shops and cafes, a long promenade along the water front, and tons of beaches. 
Statue of a woman selling a basket of fish.

The port in Bagnara
A view of Bagnara

Last summer at the Long finned tuna festival.
           We go there often when we're there for the summer. Lay on the beach during the day and then stay for the evening. They make great pizza and there's always a different festival going on in the evenings. The swordfish festival (La Festa del Pesce Spada), the long-finned tuna festival,  the fried fish festival, even the ice cream festival!(La Festa del Gelato)  They'll block off a street or a piazza, cook the food outside, and for a few bucks, you get a delicious authentic meal. There's usually traditional music and/or dancers, too.
Grilling the tuna.
The ceramic goblet we got with our wine.


Traditional dancers.


Woman selling and cleaning the fish, "La Spatola" on the promenade.


Fisherman bringing in a swordfish!
 Swordfish fishing is kind of sad. They say in Italy that they mate for life, so the fishermen know that if they catch the one the other won't leave the area without it's mate, and eventually it's caught too. (Another Italian romantic tragedy) They eat tons of it in southern Italy, even though it's very high in mercury and supplies are dwindling.
Our favorite beach cafe in Bagnara.
 They don't speak much English there, but the Bagnarese people are friendly and cordial and I always get a positive vibe there.( Must be cause the woman are in charge) Who knows? But for me it's definitely at the top of my list of places to retire one day!
Another beautiful sunset in Bagnara.


Friday, April 6, 2012

Sweet Dreams

Since coming back from Italy, I've been going through a little bit of withdrawal! So I started looking at some of my pictures of all the sweets. I wanted to share them with you. A feast for your eyes.
Buon appetitto!
 


Various pastries.

Huge Brioche


Profitorole
 Profitorole are little cream filled puff pastry balls, piled up & covered in a chocolate cream. YUM!

Cannolli

Chocolate cream puffs with a profitorole on top! OMG

More cannolli and a cappuccino, perfect!

More pastries.
Gelato (Italian ice cream)
 Gelato is way different than our ice cream, you can read all about it here:
Cookies and Biscuits

More pastries.


Brioche col gelato (an ice cream sandwich, Italian style)
Marzipan fruit

Easter display, with chocolate eggs & bunnies!

Ok, so now I'm really hungry!
HAPPY EASTER & BUONA PASQUA A TUTTI!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Pentedattilo: The Ghost Town

Pentedattilo
       My last Sunday, before coming back to the states, we went to see an old abandoned town called Pentedattilo. It was founded way B.C. by the Greeks. Then the Byzantines took over. In fact, the name derives from the Byzantine word Penteda'ktilos meaning five fingers, because of the rock formations.
A gated stairway leading to the old castle.
        It was raining when we first got there. Thank God there was no thunder because there is kind of a spooky and tragic story to the town. In the 1600's a very rich family built a huge castle up between the rocks. (It no longer exists, just a few walls, because of an earthquake in 1783.) This family was feuding with another rich family from one of the other hill towns nearby. Well, of course, the beautiful daughter from this family fell in the love with the son from that family and they wanted to marry, but her parents would not hear of it, they had already arranged a married for her with a Count from Naples.
        So, boyfriend and followers snuck into the castle on the night of April 16, 1686 and murdered the entire family by slitting their throats (except for the daughter).(Oh, and one of the sisters got away through a secret passageway.) Including servants and visiting guests! They took the daughter and, at this point, reluctantly, she was "convinced" to marry the boyfriend. It didn't last long, after a year of feeling guilty for killing her whole family (nag, nag, nag), he took off and joined the Turkish army and was killed. She ended up having his kid and living in a convent, but both she and the child died two years later.

Wildflowers growing all around.

Oh, yikes, it's just Nuccio!

The main drag.

Overgrown cactus below the rocky fingers.

Our friend Katherine, from one" Kat" to the other.
 After the earthquake ruined the castle, the towns people used the stones to build the town below. Our friend Katherine said that when she was teen, the community organized concert/festivals for the young people at night and it was all lite up with candles and lanterns. Very cool! While we were there a bus load of French high schoolers on their spring break came for a visit. We could hear them giggling and kidding around amongst the ruins.

Looking down at the town from above.
Inside one of the abandoned houses, made with stones from the demolished castle.
Looking up through the rafters.



Ah, yeah right, after you!
          It's been abandoned for years now because of the economy and the young moving away. But some say the spirits of the murdered still wander the empty streets.(Hope I don't run into any of them!) I took tons of pictures. Everywhere you turned was a photo opportunity. These are some of the better ones of the abandoned town. I need to get a better camera!










On our way back down to the parking lot.

A view of the other town across the way.
 As we were driving back down the mountain, a traffic cop made us pull over and wait for the procession to pass by.  They were carrying the Madonna and Child up the mountain to the church there for Easter. They'll carry her back down after. For the love of......now that's faith! Who knows where they started from!
         
The procession, walking the Madonna up to the church for Easter.


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