copyright 2011 art of living, PrimaMedia,Inc/Maria Liberati

Sundays at my grandparents house were filled with pasta and Opera –a squeaky record playing on the stereo or someone breaking  out into song. Spaghetti Norma, named after the famous Opera Norma that was composed by Vincenzo Bellini in the 1800’s is definitely not as tragic as the Opera was meant to be…combining eggplant with tomatoes (fresh is best) this simple dish will inspire someone to spontaneously break out into an aria..and if not, a recorded version will have to do. In fact, an opera aria or two is the perfect combination for Spaghetti Norma….

Although Bellini is a famously named cocktail, it was named after the artist Giovanni Bellini and one of his paintings that resembled the colors of mixing fresh white peach juice with sparkling Prosecco wine, not after this Vincenzo Bellini. But if you want to mix your Norma’s with your Bellini-try the Bellini cocktail before or after this dish.

Serve Spaghetti Norma with a dry red Chianti

Spaghetti Norma

1 pound of spaghetti

1 ½ pounds of red ripe plum tomatoes- preferably fresh

3 small fresh eggplants

2 cloves of garlic-chopped finely

1 handful of fresh basil- washed, dried and chopped

4 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsps olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash the eggplants, slice into thin slices and place soak them in a bowl of cold water with a tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 tbsp of gross salt for about two hours.

Peel the tomatoes and take out the seeds. Then cut tomatoes into small pieces. Place 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan, add in the garlic and place over low heat until oil starts to bubble.

Remove from heat and add in tomatoes and chopped basil.. Add in a pinch of salt and pepper. Place over low to medium heat and cook for 15 minutes.

Boil spaghetti and cook till al dente, While spaghetti is cooking- drain and rinse eggplant slices and then dry. Fry eggplant slices in 2 tbsps of olive oil (not extra virgin) till golden brown and then place on absorbent paper to soak up any oil.

Drain pasta. Place in a serving bowl. Cover with sauce that has been prepared, add in eggplant slices and toss. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

For more great recipes, get your copy of the award winning book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition.

Book Signings & On Stage Cooking Appearances:

Saturday, April 30 –Sunday, May 1st- Reston, Virginia-Gourmet Live at Great Grapes Wine Festival. Held on the grounds of the Reston Towne Center.The Basic Art of Italian Cooking demos will be on Sat,4/30-3:30PM and Sunday, 5/1 at 4:30 PM.Book signings will be held throughout the weekend, For more info,email: events@marialiberati.com

Saturday,May 14th, from 1- 3 PM Book signing at Fante’s Kitchenware Store , 9th street in Philadelphia’s Italian market. The Italian festival will be taking place all that weekend.

copyright 2010 art of living, PrimaMedia, Inc.

I love having a kitchen full of people to cook for, but every now and again I love to relax..and cook for one..Me! I can create something just for me! Today was one of those days, and a frittata is one of my favorite things to make for one…fun, easy and not too many utensils needed..only a bowl for the eggs, one cutting board for veggies, one pan.

The 8″ saute pan from Beka Cookware (one of our 2010 Annual Holiday Guide Picks) has become one of my favorites in the kiitchen. I keep it in close proximity to the range. It’s a stylish piece to add to the kitchen but also is the first 100% ‘green’ cookware. No chemicals are used in the manufacturing of  the pan-so no one is harmed when producing the pan or cooking with it. And since it is coated with a patented ceramic coating and non-stick- my frittata comes out of  the pan..picture perfect. And it can also safely be put into the oven to finish that frittata.

Here is my ‘cooking for one’ (or maybe two) frittata:

Frittata Dell’Orto (Garden Style Frittata)

*2 fresh eggs

1 zucchini sliced

1/2 small eggplant cubed

1 small potato cubed

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove

1 shallot chopped finely

pinch of rosemary

1 tsp of fresh parsley chopped

pinch of salt and pepper

Peel potato and boil in boiling water for 5 minutes, remove ,cool, cut into cubes.  Place 1 tablespoon of  extra virgin olive oil in Beka 8″ saute pan, place in finely chopped shallot and whole garlic clove. Saute for 2 minutes. Place in cubed eggplant, sliced zucchini,,cubed potatoes. Saute for 5 minutes over medium heat, remove garlic clove.  Break eggs into bowl and whisk with wire whisk. Pour over vegetables, sprinkle in rosemary, parsley, pinch of salt and pepper. Saute till edges are firm and middle is firm. Toss onto another plate or place in oven preheated to 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Remove from pan. This is a generous portion for on, and could be enough for an unexpected guest!

For more recipes, get your coy of the book selected as the Best Italian Cuisine Book in the USA

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holiday & Special Occasions-2nd edition now with an added chapter on the Feast of the Seven Fishes

copyright, 2008, Maria Liberati

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking  Kitchen has been getting in the Holiday mood quite early  this year.  We have had endless meetings to discuss the hundreds of products that have been submitted for consideration in our upcoming Holiday Guide.

The ones that meet the criteria for the Holiday Guide will be the ones that we ultimately select, but they also have to be products that will make the Holiday Season enjoyable and fun for our readers and excite them just as much as they have excited us! Products that make you want to run into your kitchen just to use them! 

 Most importantly they have to enhance The Basic Art of Italian Cooking experience!

In The Basic Art of Italian Cooking Kitchen.. one of our favorite products (you will hear about  some others in posts to come) has been The Rosetta Stone language programs. We have been testing out the basic Italian and French programs..and a laptop has been set up in a section of the kitchen with the programs installed. Most of our intern chefs don’t know a word of Italian or French.

This makes a great gift for the culinary enthusiast or traveler on your list..

In The Basic Art of Italian Cooking  kitchen we always stress the importance of knowing at  least the basics of other languages, especially if you want to experience the culinary arts of another country to any of the chefs or chef interns that work with us.

The Rosetta Stone programs are entertaining but also the one thing that we think you will find amazing is that with these programs a microphone can be hooked up to the computer and when you pronounce the words you are told whether or not it is correct, so it is almost like having a live teacher!  Some of our chef interns have used the programs and after a few days are already able to communicate in basic Italian…So kudos to The Rosetta Stone for making the world just a little bit smaller. 

By the way, there are also other languages that are really important to have some basic knowledge of, who knows next year maybe we will try Japanese, Chinese, Russian.. with the Rosetta Stone it should be easy..

 Here is an easy expression that is used at the dinner table, before you eat your meal in Italy everyone says..”Buon Appetito” ( Pronounced: Bwone-ah-peh-tee-toe)

After you have mastered that expression, you can enjoy eating this recipe:

Ratatouille of Zucchini and Eggplant

*2 medium fresh eggplants

*3 medium size zucchini

*5 fresh plum tomatoes

*2 cloves of garlic

*3 tblsps of olive oil

*1 slice of  fresh onion chopped

*pinch of salt

*4 ounces of fresh mozzarella cut into cubes

*3 tblsps freshly grated  parmigiana-reggiano cheese

Wash eggplant and zucchini. Cut zucchini into 1/4 inch slices. Cut eggplant into 1/4 inch cubes. Wash tomatoes. Fillet them by removing inside liquid and seeds. Slice into thin slices.

In large saute pan, heat olive oil. Saute whole garlic cloves, chopped onions till golden. place in cut eggplants and zucchini and 1/2 cup dry white wine, 1/2 cup water. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring. Add in tomatoes, stirring and saute for another 10 minutes or until eggplant and zucchini are tender. If at any time liquid is needed add in a little water.

When done remove from heat and add in cubed mozzarella and  freshly grated parmigiana-reggiano cheese. Stir, mozzarella cheese will become stringy. Serve warm or cool. In the winter it is great hot or warm, in the summer cool. Serve with crusty bread  and  dry white wine.

Buon Appetito!

 Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria
For more recipes get your copy of the bestselling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

and/or http://stores.lulu.com/marialiberati

(Photo credits : http://www.mets-de-provence.fr)

Have you ever had a ‘voglio’? A voglio is the way Italians express a strong desire for something- someone that you love, a food, a dish,  an experience. One way to say I love you is ‘te voglio bene’- which literally translated means I desire you very much. Or as the students text  the abbreviation t.v.b.(te voglio bene) to each other.

Well enough for our Italian lesson.

Today I had a strong ‘voglio’ for eggplants. There are eggplants everywhere you go since this is their season for the next few weeks and they are grown everywhere. The farm markets are filled with them.

The dish I selected to make for ‘pranzo’ (lunch) was Ratatouille of eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes. But to be worthy of a ‘voglio’ thsi dish must be made with the freshest and best ingredients. There are only a few ingredients in this dish and each one is important.

Let’s start with the tomatoes. I used fresh San Marzano tomatoes (by the way these tomatoes deserve a t.v.b.all  to themselves. They are as sweet as candy and if you ever need a reason to visit Italy- one of those would be to taste a fresh San Marzano tomato grown in Italy-nothing like it.) However if  you can’t get fresh San Marzano tomatoes use a fresh plum tomato that is red and ripe. If you must use canned, use only a high quality canned tomato (but only as a last resort).

Olive oil- use a good quality extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil from Italy. If  you use anything less this dish will not be a success.

Mozzarella cheese- usea freshly made mozzarella

Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese-use only parmigiano-reggiano cheese-don’t use anything that is called anything else- parmesan is not real parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

Fresh zucchini, eggplant, onion- these vegetables should be very fresh, eggplants and zucchini should be firm. Buy your produce locally from a local farm is possible to insure freshness.

Ratatouille of Zucchini and Eggplant

*2 medium fresh eggplants

*3 medium size zucchini

*5 fresh plum tomatoes

*2 cloves of garlic

*3 tblsps of olive oil

*1 slice of  fresh onion chopped

*pinch of salt

* 1/2 cup dry white wine

*4 ounces of fresh mozzarella

*3 tblsps parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Wash eggplant and zucchini. Cut zucchini into 1/4 inch slices. Cut eggplant into 1/4 inch cubes. Wash tomatoes. Filet them by removing inside liquid and seeds. Slice into thin slices.

In large saute pan, heat olive oil. Saute whole garlic cloves, chopped onions till golden. place in cut eggplants and zucchini and 1/2 cup dry white wine, 1/2 cup water. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring. Add in tomatoes, stirring and saute for another 10 minutes or until eggplant and zucchini are tender. If at any time liquid is needed add in a little water.

When done remove from heat and add in cubed mozzarella and grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Stir, mozzarella cheese will become stringy. Serve warm or cool. Either way this is a delicious dish for a summer day. Serve with grissini sticks and  dry white wine. We had some Falenghina (one of my favorite white wines) with this dish.

Buon Appetito!
For more recipes get your copy of the bestselling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com