Insalata - Salad, Italian Style

Panzanella Salad, Osteria Cantine Bernardini, Lucca

Salads in Italy come in many varieties, including simple insalata verde (green salad, just a big bowl of lettuce), insalata mista (mixed salad of lettuce, carrots, tomato, perhaps some fennel), and meal-size insalatone (big salads filled with cheeses, meats, seafood, fruits, nuts). There are also delicious specialty salads such as caprese (tomato, fresh mozzarella with basil), panzanella (tomato, cucumber, red onion, basil and crumbled bread with olive oil and vinegar), and carciofi (fresh shaved artichokes with Parmesan and olive oil). All are delicious, especially when made with local fresh ingredients and eaten somewhere in Italy!

I enjoy each of these types of salads but, secondo me (in my opinion), the absolute best salad in Italy is an insalata di bresaola. Bresaola is not well known in the U.S. (at least not outside of cities with big Italian communities like Boston, New York, and San Francisco), especially compared to the more familiar Italian salumi (cold cut) products like prosciutto, salami, and mortadella. I first tasted bresaola on a trip to Rome many years ago and it's always one of the first things I want to eat when I return to Italy. And, because it is low-fat and low-carb, it is one Italian food that I never feel guilty about eating. 

Thinly sliced bresaola, with just a hint of marbeling.  

Bresaola is a beef cold cut, made from what we in the U.S. would call the top round cut. It is a specialty of the Valtellina, an alpine valley in northern Italy. Like prosciutto, bresaola is produced through a process of salting and drying. But, unlike prosciutto, the beef is trimmed of all visible fat before being rubbed with a salt and spice mixture. Also, the aging process is shorter, usually two to three months. The final product is deep red in color, soft (never leathery), delicate in texture, and fragrant. It's served very thinly sliced and is so very delicious. 

Bresaola is typically served as an antipasto, often as a salad with peppery arugula (but also good on crisp lettuce). It is topped with shaved Parmesan and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. I can easily make a  meal out of this salad, especially if I have some focaccia on the side. 

Bresaola filled with ricotta and mint ( Lucca Italian School, Speak and Cook Italian class) 

There are other ways to use bresaola as well. In a cooking class (at Lucca Italian School), I learned to fix it as an antipasto in which round slices were topped with a mixture of fresh ricotta mixed with chopped mint, folded over into half moon shapes, and drizzled with thick balsamic glaze. Heavenly!  Bresaola also goes well with a variety of meats and cheeses on an antipasto platter and makes a great panini (sandwich) on salty focaccia with some tomato and a soft cheese. Or just pick up a slice and eat it in your hand as a quick snack. It's hard for me to find at home, so I always eat plenty of it while I'm in Italy.

-post by JMB

Contacts:  

Lucca Italian School     Via dei Bacchettoni 25, 55100 Lucca, Italy.            Lucca Italian School.com

Santa Cristina Enoteca.  Via XX Settembre 10, 55100 Lucca, Italy   Santacristina.enoteca@gmail.com

Osteria Cantine Bernardini Via del Suffragio 7,  55100. Lucca, Italy.  Cantinebernardini.com

Mercato Sant'Ambrogio, Florence

Visiting a market in Italy always makes me long for a kitchen, a stove, and a reason to cook. This is particularly true in Florence, especially since I discovered the Mercato Sant'Ambrogio, which according to a local is the "mercato delle mamme" (mamma's market). 

No doubt the Mercato Centrale is larger and better known, especially to tourists. It has shops and food stalls downstairs and restaurants on its upper floor, along with an Eataly market and demonstration kitchen. It was renovated several years ago and now feels upscale; it's a Florentine hot spot. However, I prefer the smaller, lower key, and much less touristy Sant'Ambrogio market in the Santa Croce neighborhood. Serving this neighborhood since 1873, the Mercato Sant'Ambrogio has the look and feel of a classic Italian market, inside and out. Shoppers here are largely Italian speakers, which for me is a big part of the draw as it means I have the chance to shop and practice my Italian. Perfetto!

A vibrant selection of vegetables in the mercato.

An artistic arrangement of peppers.

Outside of the main market building is a covered area with a variety of food vendors  - fruits, vegetables, porcini, flowers, breads, fresh eggs, and local honey fill the bench tops. The displays are artful and everything is colorful and fragrant. This is fresh food at its best.

Fresh porcini at the Sant'Ambrogio market.

Inside the mercato, salami and proscuitto fill the shops of the salumiere. The macellerie (butchers) sell thick Tuscan steaks along with pork, fowl, and beef trimmed and ready to cook, and the pescivendoli (fishmongers) display the day's catch on ice.  

Salumi

There are cheese shops with rounds of gorgonzola dolce, balls of fresh mozzarella and burata, logs of goat cheese, wedges of taleggio, tubs of fresh ricotta, and wedges of hard cheeses like pecorino, Parmigiano, and grana padano. In short, if you love cheese this is bliss!

Perhaps my favorite shop is the one selling pasta fresca. The display is a pasta lover's dream (and a carb-phobic's nightmare). Here you'll find fresh pasta in every size, shape, and color; simple pastas, filled pastas, gnocchi, gnudi. You name it, they have along with sauces to make the dish complete. If only I could find pasta like this closer to home!

 A morning of shopping at the mercato calls for a coffee or lunch break (maybe both). No problem - in the middle of the mercato is a typical bar serving coffee as well as wine and other drinks - make like a local and have yours standing at the bar. There is also a trattoria where you can sit and have a tasty, market fresh lunch.

The Mercato Sant'Ambrogio is a feast for the senses and I easily spend whole mornings here. I confess that on one short stay in Florence I skipped the Duomo and headed for the mercato instead. After a happy morning shopping, and a mid-morning cappuccino, I left with a treasure trove of goodies - cinghiale salami, pecorino cheese, bread, apples, and pears, which made for a tasty picnic for my group of friends as we left Florence the following morning on a train. But the next time I visit, I really want that kitchen!     -post by JB

A Late Summer Grower's Market

The Sunday grower's market in Corrales, NM

Is there a better place to be on an August morning than outdoors at a grower’s market? This is especially true when the sky is blue, the temperature mild, and you are itching to fire up the grill and roast some veggies.

Whether I am at home in New Mexico or somewhere in Europe, I know that the August market will be bursting with the colors, flavors, and scents of the late summer harvest. This is the peak time for melons, peaches, tomatoes, corn, peppers, squash – all of which provide great inspiration for adventures in the kitchen.

Green chile roasting - the scent of late summer in New Mexico

In New Mexico, August is also the time of the chile harvest  – and if you’ve never smelled roasting green chile, tumbling in a basket over an open flame, then you have really missed out! For me, that pungent scent signals two things – that I am definitely home in New Mexico and that fall is just around the corner.

I’m enjoying my last two weeks of summer at home before I head back to Italy for most of September and October. So, for the next two weeks, I’m all about the local markets in New Mexico, including the one I visited last Sunday in the small village of Corrales, not far from my home in Albuquerque.

I did my market shopping to the delightful  sound of live music, in this case a marimba and a steel drum. The chile was roasting, the vendors were cutting slices of peaches and melon for tasting (yum!), and the growers were exclaiming about crops just picked that morning (including some fresh-as-could be purple okra, which I couldn't resist), as well as what the harvest would bring in the upcoming weeks. Shoppers wandered around with colorful market baskets, filling them with even more colorful produce. The atmosphere was festive as the locals enjoyed a mild morning with just the first hint of fall in the air.

variegated purple beans

tiny carrots are so flavorful

multicolored peppers

It’s hard to believe that in a couple of weeks I’ll be wandering the market in Lucca, filling my basket with the fabulous fruits and vegetables of the end-of summer harvest in Italy. Stay tuned – I’ll be posting in real time from Italy in a few weeks and I bet there will be some markets, some festivals, and some adventures in the coming posts.                                                   -post by JB

The Seven Churches of Santo Stefano

Church of the Crucifix, Basilica of Santo Stefano, Bologna.

I'm drawn to churches in Italy. There is something peaceful and spiritual about them. The coolness, the quiet, the dim light, the candles - all invoke a sense of calm and of one's place in the greater universe. I've probably lit 1,000 candles in churches big and small all across Italy - a nod to my Catholic upbringing - somehow those small flames seem to guide hopes and prayers on their way.

And then there is the art. I love the fading frescoes, the sculptures, the biblical stories told in paintings, the carved crucifixes, the Madonnas. And while I don't consider myself particularly religious, I find all of these tremendously meaningful.

Museum, Santo Stefano, Bologna

Fresco, Santo Stefano, Bologna

Chapel, Santo Stefano, Bologna

Intricate brickwork in the Pilate's Courtyard, between two of the churches in the Santo Stefano complex.

Perhaps the most amazing church I've visited in Italy isn't a single church at all but rather the Sette Chiese (Seven Churches) of the Basilica of Santo Stefano in Bologna. Parts of this series of interconnected chapels date to the 5th century and were likely built on the site of a fresh water spring and over a former temple to the Goddess Isis. Originally seven churches, changes throughout the centuries have resulted in the current four churches: Church of the Crucifix (the largest in the complex), Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Church of Saints Vitale & Agricola (local martyrs), and Church of the Trinity (or Martyrium).

Along with the four churches there are smaller chapels, the Pilate's courtyard with its intricate brickwork, a cloister with a central well and arcaded second story logia, and a small museum/gift shop.

Cloister Courtyard, Santo Stefano, Bologna

The whole series of churches is fascinating and each one is unique, but it was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (the oldest part of the complex) that most intrigued me. It is a dark space, small and round yet quite tall with rising columns, arched windows high up in the cylindrical walls, and a domed brick ceiling. In the center is a carved stone structure that is part tomb (intended for the now absent Saint Petronio), part altar, part spiral staircase, all topped with a simple crucifix. There are beautiful stone carvings and a small opening into the tomb space itself (I actually watched a tourist climb into the tomb opening but I decided not to follow!). This space is mystical and somewhat eerie - the air just feels different in here, filled with a presence that is not quite visible. Perhaps it is the distant echos of those early worshipers. 

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The Basilica of Santo Stefano is about a 10-minute walk from Piazza Maggiore and sits on a lovely triangular piazza at the end of Via Santo Stefano. It offers a unique experience, different from some of the more famous churches in Italy which get considerably more visitors. Its a worthwhile stop on any visit to Bologna.                                                                                -post by JB

Fresh Herbs and Brunch on the Patio

My small herb garden

It’s the height of summer and I’m home in New Mexico anticipating my return to Italy in just a few weeks. In the meantime, I’m enjoying my herb garden, my small backyard, cooking some of my favorite summer dishes, and entertaining friends and family.

Last week I had two friends over for brunch and some trip planning. I made a favorite brunch dish – herb-baked eggs with toast. I used fresh herbs from the garden, set a pretty table on the patio, and spent a lovely morning talking travel with friends.

My version of herb-baked eggs is adapted from an Ina Garten recipe. This is more of a French-inspired dish than an Italian one, but hey, I can’t serve frittata every time I have brunch company, can I? You can find Ina's original recipe in her Barefoot in Paris cookbook or just follow this link: https://barefootcontessa.com

The table is set for brunch on the patio.

Fresh herbs for the eggs

I make a few changes to the original recipe, including substituting finely chopped chives (1/2 teaspoon) for the rosemary. I prefer the chive flavor and I find little bits of rosemary too tough for my taste. I increase the fresh thyme to ½ teaspoon and decrease the parsley to 1 teaspoon (too much parsley tastes like grass to me). I also find that the three eggs in the original recipe is too large a serving size, so I use just two eggs in each baking dish. One thing I don’t change – I always use the ½ tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream called for in the original recipe. A touch decadent I know, but oh the flavor is worth it! Because I’m eating low carb these days, I also substitute a high-fiber whole wheat bread for the brioche (though in a perfect world I’d go for the brioche!).

Here the eggs are added to the bubbly cream and butter mixture, sprinkled with the herbs and cheese, and are ready for the broiler.

The key to success with this recipe (which is really quite easy) is having all the ingredients prepped before beginning to cook the eggs. It’s especially important to have the eggs cracked and in a dish ready to pour into the hot cream/butter mixture. You definitely don’t want to be breaking eggs at the last minute and you don’t want to use any broken yolks! Also be sure to chop those herbs really finely and use a good sea salt and fresh pepper.

The herbs make the finished dish smell as good as it tastes!

Trust me, your friends will rave about this dish. So invite some friends, fix brunch, and maybe plan a trip of your own.  I’ll be in Lucca in September and October and Judy will join me in mid-October. Want to meet us there?   Two Parts Italy has some Lucca events scheduled: a journaling workshop, a garden walk, and even some help settling into a rental apartment. We'd love to see you in Lucca!

For more information about traveling with us go to:     https://www.twopartsitaly.com/travel-with-us/                                                           -post by JB