(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

 Contributed by Alexis Popov

Copyright 2008, Maria Liberati, http://www.marialiberati.com/  http://www.marialilberati.com/blog2

            As I danced around my Uncle Donny’s basement as a child, I was told to stay away from the long hot peppers that were strung together to dry over the boiler, because both the boiler and the peppers were too hot for my small person to touch.  I would watch intently as Uncle Donny used a thick sewing needle to thread together the peppers, attaching them all just below the base of the stem, so that they could dry either by the heat of the boiler in the winter or by the warmth of the sun- kissed bricks in the summer.  Once the peppers dried and hardened, the stems are broken off and the seeds removed, before they are placed in extremely hot olive oil to fry for three to six seconds until they are golden and crispy.  After he finishes frying, Uncle Donny places the peppers and the oil into a glass container atop the stove so that they are easily accessible, as they are used often and for many different things.  The fried peppers get crushed up and mixed into various pasta dishes, my personal favorite being pasta with fresh ricotta, while the olive oil gets used in everything from potatoes  and eggs to a midnight snack of dipping with a loaf of fresh Italian bread, for its rich, nutty, tangy favors tastes good on just about everything.  My favorite part, however, is the delicious smell that escapes as the peppers fry in the hot olive oil.  The aroma of the sizzling olive oil and crunchy peppers fuses together to make such a wonderful smell that as a kid I would routinely bring all my sweatshirts down into the kitchen as my mother fried, so that my clothing would become infused with the scent and I could retain it long after the stove had been turned off.   On my last visit to see Uncle Donny, he sat me down at the kitchen table, and with a threaded needle in one hand and a long hot pepper in the other, he demonstrated the first step of the process that has earned him the role of master fryer in my family, a role passed onto him by my great grandmother, Nana.  Nana taught Uncle Donny how to string, dry, and fry these fantastic long hot peppers, and in turn, he taught me.

            Why go through all the hassle of making your own ravioli when they come prepackaged and stress free in the supermarket?  Because making something yourself is not only rewarding, it’s fun.  I recently discovered that making ravioli from scratch is not nearly as difficult and time consuming as most people perceive it to be.  Although mixing the dough, rolling it out, and filling the ravioli is not something that I would recommend for a Monday night after work and before soccer practice, making dinner with your daughter or girlfriend on a lazy Saturday afternoon sounds like a perfect opportunity to experiment with something new in the kitchen.  Instead of using the traditional ricotta filling, try adding spinach to the mix or substituting for fresh mozzarella. Cream sauces compliment ravioli very nicely, so bust out the heavy cream and make the sauce your own by adding an ingredient that makes your mouth water like cognac or tomatoes.  So next time you’re feeling like shaking it up in the kitchen throw on some Sinatra, pour a glass of wine, and bust out the big rolling pin for homemade ravioli.

For more recipes get your copy of the bestselling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at: http://www.marialiberati.com and receive $5 off retail price