Today will be another day in the US, but for most children in Italy it marks the last day of the Christmas Holidays. The day the good witch known as ‘La Befana’(taken from the word Epiphania or Epiphany) leaves caramelle (candies) and toys in their stockings if they were good,if they were bad they can be sure to receive a stocking full of ‘carbone’ or coal.

Although, in the US the Christmas trees have been put away and decorations are just a memory, in Italy they still linger ,Christmas music is sitll playing ,stores still offer  Christmas wrapping and plenty of Holiday treats still abound in mnay homes.. at least for one more day ..today, January 6th, the Epiphany.

But for me here it is a day trying to decide which celebration to go to..for instance in Venice there is always the La Befana Regatta..The men dress up in La befana costumes-complete with red lipstick and wigs- and compete in their small boats. after the race, they hand out little candies to the crowds of people and hot wine and sweets are served ,there is usually a concert by a local choir..

Then in Rome, Piazza Navona concludes it’s final day of the Christmas market.  Both ‘La Befana’ and Santa Claus are walking around and available for photo taking. Stockings filled with candies and  toys can be purchased as well as nativity scenes, la befana dolls, flying  la befana’s  (on a broomstick),candies, roasted nuts and more..

In the small towns nearby the piazzas all have their own little celebrations…

I have already attended many a La Befana Regatta in Venice and Christmas market in Piazza Navona in Rome.. I think this year I will opt for something quieter since both of those events have grown into ‘touristy’ attractions. 

I am opting to do a dinner .. since we have many  recipes we have been working on at The Basic Art of Italian Cooking Kitchen here in Abruzzo.Here are some recipes you can try also and no matter what age you are you can still have your own La Befana Celebration at home with some of these recipes for dinner, a Prosecco to accompany dinner or even a sparkiling red wine that is festive -Bracchetto D’Acqui.

Here is more info on La Befana Celebrations

http://marialiberati.com/blog2/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/17784/la_befana_italys_good_witch_rules_italian.html

Some Special Recipes we have been working on at The Basic Art of Italian Cooking kitchen:

Mille Feuilles & Sapori

*3 cups Grana Padano cheese

*1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

*2 cups fresh or frozen peas

*2 potatoes (cut into small cubes)

*2 tsps Sempre Sapori spice blend (Tuscan picnic flavor)

*1 scallion minced

*1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock

*1 clove garlic

*extra virgin olive oil

Place dried mushrooms in a small bowl and pour 1 cup of water on top. Let sit for 30 minutes.In center of non-stick, hot pan, melt a tablespoon of grated grana padano cheese over low heat. As cheese melts it becomes a wafer. Before it browns, transfer to flat plate and allow to cool. Repeaat and make 16 wafers. Place 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in saute pan, warm and place in chopped scallion and cubed potatoes. Saute till till golden. Add in broth and fresh or frozen peas. When mixture begins to boil, remove from heat. Place in food processor. Transfer t omixing bowl and fold in Sapori spice blend.

Place 1 tblsp of extra virgin olive oil in saute pan and warm, place in whole garlic clove and drained mushrooms. Add a pinch of salt. Saute for 5 minutes abd remnove from heat.

Prepare dish by alternating layers of cheese wafers with mushrooms and puree. Top with puree. Decorate plate with sprig of fresh rosemary.

Walnut, Pomegranate ,Gruyere salad

*4 handfuls mixed salad greens (arugula, romaine,baby spinach)

*1 lb gruyere cheese

*2 hard boiled eggs

*3 tblsps extra virgin oilve oil

*4 tblsps shelled walnuts

*2 tsps Sempre Sapori spice blend (Tuscan Picnic flavor)

*2 tblsps pomegranate seeds

Wash, dry salad greeens. Slice cheese int overy thin,transparent slices. Boil eggs for 8 minutes, peel and chop. Fold cheese, eggs, walnuts,pomegranate seeds into salad in a large bowl.

In small bowl whisk together lemon juice, 3 tblsps extra virgin olive oil, Sapori. Pour over salad, toss and serve.

Buona La befana!
Stay tuned for our video blogs and recipes from my upcoming visits to parts of Umbria Italy..Borgo Fontanile and La Veranda farm  resorts there as well as some sights from some medieval cities there!

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

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene

Maria

copyright, 2008, Maria Liberati

Editor-Michaela Pompeo 

It only figures that the Italians would invent a Holiday to honor their most revered of foods..PASTA..So one of my favorite Holidays has become World Pasta Day. This year it is on October 25th. In honor of this  being one of my favorite holidays and a day set aside to worship one of my favorite foods I will be highlighting some facts from some of the Pasta conferences (yes that is right conferences on pasta!!) that I have attended in Italy and of course some recipes too!

If you have ever been to Venice or want to experience Venice in your own kitchen, here is a local pasta recipe that originated in Venice, it is interesting and certainly different than the regular pasta with a tomato and parmigiano cheese topping. Try this and  get a taste of Venice in your own kitchen.  Oh.. and by the way if you can’t find  Bigoli pasta- although some gourmet stores may carry them, try a perciatelli or thicker spaghetti instead.

As everybody knows, there are many different types of pasta, enough to allow a great variety to Italian daily meals.

Bigoli, (in Venetian dialect they are called bigoi), is one of them: they look like spaghetti, long and thin, but they are empty inside. Their diameter is 2-3 millimetres and they are about 20-25 millimetres long. There is a special machine that makes a long ‘hole’ inside them. They are typical of the whole Veneto region and they are especially eaten with a fish-based sauce (in salsa as the name of the recipe says) during the period of Lent. For Catholics, to keep Lent meant in the past to fast every Friday. Nowadays, it means not to eat any kind of meat on Fridays. That’s why fish is used instead. And no wonder that, since Veneto looks on to the sea (let alone Venice!), fish is something always present in its cuisine.

Apart from the traditional in salsa they can be served with many kinds of sauces. The ones prepared in Vicenza, for example, in duck sauce (bigoi co l’arna= bigoli con sugo d’anatra), are very famous. The dough is made with flour, butter, eggs and milk. These last two ingredients have been added quite recently to make the dough softer; of course in the past, when milk and eggs were expensive, they made it with only flour and some butter.

A variety of bigoli is the ‘black one’ (bigoi neri). To give them their black colour there are two ways: either you use whole wheat flour in the preparation of the dough (in this case the colour is really brownish, rather than black) or you add nero di sepia (= sepia): black indeed!!!!

So, if you want to prepare delicious bigoi in salsa, this is what you have to do (first you’ll have to buy a packet of them! Impossible to make them at home because you would need a special tool to make the hole inside them!):

Ingredients:

1 onion

1 clover of garlic

4 or 5 salted anchovies

2 or 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

pepper to taste.

Chop the onion and garlic very finely. Put the oil in a frying pan and when it starts boiling throw the chopped onion and garlic and immediately lower the heat. On a very gentle heat let them cook for about half an hour, so that they can soften without burning. In the meantime, bone the anchovies and rinse them thoroughly under running water so that they will lose most of their ‘too salty’ taste. Add them to the onion and garlic in the frying pan and, with the help of a fork, press them till they almost ‘melt’ into the sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes: the sauce should look brownish in colour and its taste should be a balanced mixture of salty (from the anchovies) and sweet (from the onion).

Cook bigoli in abundant salty boiling water and strain them. Add the sauce, some pepper and serve very hot.

“Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene”

Maria

For more great recipes get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com or now available as an ebook at http://http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3101829

I am going to be hosting a culinary cruise throughout the Mediterranean in April ’09- leaving from Venice on April 26th and traveling to Dubrovnik, Greece, Istanbul and Bari, Italy.  Before the cruise departs, I will be hosting a luncheon and wine tasting at one of my favorite restaurants in Venice (name to be announced) for cruise attendees.

 In anticipation of this event I am going to give you a taste of some of the traditonal recipes from Venice.  We will be making some of these recipes on baord during the culinary lessons.

The first traditional tase of Venice I would like to leave you with is a dish known as Rise e Bisi or Rice and Peas. This recipe is the traditional recipe to come out of Venice. I prefer to make mine with a lighter,vegetable broth.

Oh.. and while you are making this recipe if you are thinking about coming on the culinary cruise with me for more culinary lessons and wine tastings, send us an email to:
events@marialiberati.com

and we will email you all the info.Hope to see you there!!

Risi e Bisi

copyright, 2008. Maria Liberati

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm

Editor: Michela Pompeo

It’s difficult to define what kind of dish this is: is it minestra (= kind of soup) or risotto (= rice dish)? Probably a mixture of the two. What is certain is that since the 16^th century ‘Risi e bisi’ has become a typical Venetian dish, especially prepared for 25^th April, day of St Mark, patron saint of Venice.

The preparation is rather long because in order to cook rice, you’ll have to make meat broth before, and this takes a while.

Ingredients (for the meat broth):

1 lb beef

1 lb veal

1 lb chicken

1 onion

1 carrot

a stick of celery

1 tomato

some cloves

1 bay leaf

salt

pepper

Put the meat in a pot filled with abundant cold water and add a generous pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat and when water stats boiling add the onion (into which you will have inserted some cloves), carrot, celery, tomato, bay leaf, pepper. Boil moderately for about an hour and a half skimming regularly with a slotted spoon. Take then the meat out and filter the broth. When it is cold and it has formed a layer of fat on the surface, take it away with a wooden paddle.

Now that you have the broth you can prepare risi e bisi:

Ingredients:

1 lb  rice ( arborio or carnaroli)

1 lb very fine and small peas

2 ounces bacon cut into small cubes

1 onion finely chopped

1 tblsp butter

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (grated)

salt to taste

a handful of chopped parsley

meat broth (it’s impossible to give exact quantities here, but you’ll need a liter of broth, more or less; it depends on the quality of the rice you use: meaning how much liquid the rice will absorb…)

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

Ciao for now,

Maria

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Buon Ferragosto Picnic (Second Part)

copyright, 2008, Maria Liberati,

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm

Editor: Michela Pompeo

Here is the second part of the recipes for a great Ferragosto, or August 15^th Picnic. You don’t have to be in Italy or in Nice, France to watch the fireworks on the beach to celebrate. Make your own August 15^th celebration wherever you are. Bring along some of the dishes suggested here and in part 1 of the article.

The beaches and the lakes are beautiful with the Italian sun shining down. I wanted to also leave you with this photo of a town called Limone sul Garda which is a popular spot also for Ferragosto. (see photo above) 

Number three is Vitello tonnato, the main course. Buy 2 poundsof veal in one piece. Put a large pan filled with water, salt, a carrot, an onion and a stick of celery (everything cut into three or four big pieces) on the stove. When the water boils, throw in the meat and let it cook for about 1 hour (or more, if the piece of meat is very thick). Take it out and leave it till cold: two or three hours should be sufficient. Then with a sharp knife, cut thin slices and place them on a dish in such a manner that they do not overlap. Prepare a purée with: 4 ounces tuna fish (canned is ok), some mayonnaise, some capers; mix all together in the mixer till you obtain the purée with which you will cover every single slice of veal. Decorate with capers. Keep it in the fridge and take it with you to the picnic; it is to be served cold.

nutmeg,

oil to fry

Boil potatoes in abundant salted water, drain, peel and smash them. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1 whole egg + a yolk, and Parmigiano. Stir carefully. Make small round disks and flour them. Then fry in hot vegetable oil (sunflower oil is all right). Dry them on kitchen paper. Do not put them in the fridge. They can be served the following day at the picnic!

Now, it’s time for fruit. Here the thing is very simple: in Italy everybody eats watermelon in August, but especially during picnics. You can prepare it the day before by cutting the two ends of a watermelon; then, keeping it upright make slices, cut the red pulp into pieces, put them into a suitable container, keep it in the fridge and then put in the cool bag till the moment of eating it.

Vai a: Navigazione, cerca

Finally, your perfect picnic should finish with a small glass of Sgroppino. This is a kind of dialect term and the nearest translation is ‘sorbet lemon’ just to give you an idea of what it is. We usually buy it (it comes in bottles) already frozen, we keep it in the freezer till a couple of hours before of drinking it. If you want to take it to the picnic, put it in the cool bag until the moment you need it. It will have melted a bit, but it will still retain its cold, creamy thickness, which would be a pleasure to drink. (if you can get some lemons from Sorrento to garnish this- it will be even better)!!

Of course you can do it at home, because it is very easy. For 4 people you need:

12 ounces lemon ice-cream

2 glasses of Prosecco wine (sparkling)

2 small glasses Vodka lemon

Mix everything in the mixer for some minutes, pour into a bottle and, if you want to use it for the picnic, freeze it; if not, you can directly drink it, served in flutes.

Enjoy your picnic!

Buon Ferragosto

For more recipes and tips get your copy of the best selling book- The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

Stay tuned next week for part two of my visit to Umbria. and my memoirs from a farmhouse in Umbria. You will get a special sneek peak into recipes from my first cooking tour in Umbria, the farmhouse, the feast , the beautiful feast eaten under the shooting stars for the feast of San Lorenzo, the cooking class we did  with Velia and  Gian Luca the Champagneria in Orvieto and my beautiful farmhouse with photos and of course we will include recipes as well!! The food was wonderful as well. Special thanks to Domenico and Paola at  www.borgofontanile.com

 We are now planning the second cooking tour to Orvieto, the farmhouse and the Champagneria, the lodging will be at the beautiful farmhouse in Orvieto where we cook with the fruits and vegetables, herbs, picked there that morning.. Stay tuned for more info on the cooking tour.

Ciao for now and an ‘abraccio forte’ to all my new friends in Orvieto, Baschi, Todi ….

 I have taken some of the staff and editors of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm to my office in Italy and  some are traveling around  Italy as well,  capturing interesting stories ,places ,faces and more,..In honor of the culinary cruise I will be doing in Venice this winter, here is an interesting bit of info for those of you wanting to visit Venezia.