Events

From the time of the Ancient Romans and Etruscans…

Do you like history?

Pasta. “All’uovo”, dry, long shape, short shape, stuffed one. Done with wheat, rice, barley, buckwheat, rye, maize, as well as chestnut and chickpea flours. It is well known all over the world and eaten almost everywhere. But there is some debate on who invented it. Were the Chinese, Italians or even the Arabs? Marco Polo for sure brought noodles to Italy in 1295 and described it, using terms already familiar to him, when he reported his adventures and experience in Katai (China) on his famous “Il Milione”. But many food historians say that a kind of pasta was already known in Italy for a long time ago. Etruscan tombs (VII century B.C.) and their inscriptions show they used tools significantly similar to the ones used nowadays to make pasta. Furthermore the inhabitants of Rome in the III century and the Roman poet Horace in the I century B.C. refer to “lagana” (lasagne) and other kind of noodles. Apicius as well, the famous Roman gastronome, described dished baked in the oven.

In a cookbook of the XIII century, published in Italy shortly before the return of Marco Polo from China, there are recipes for making different types of pasta, including “ravioli”, “vermicelli” and “tortelli”. So, in one way or another, pasta existed in Italy long before Marco Polo, and Pasta Museum in Rome –very interesting, when in Rome pay a visit there too!- has several manuscripts, paintings and etchings to prove it (http://www.museodellapasta.it/). In its archives and exhibition you have the opportunity of reading important documents dating as far back as 1154, which demonstrate without a shadow of doubt that the method of producing and preserving pasta had been discovered back in the XII century in as many as four different regions of Italy. A very important historical piece of information relating to pasta is a document dating from 1154, in which we read of a settlement with “several mills” by the name of Trabìa (in Sicily) and of the production and trading of pasta, which was transported by ship to “Moslem and Christian” countries.

Collective imagination refers pasta to Italy, and especially to one city: Naples. Nothing can be truer than this. The creativity of the Neapolitans, the humble and cheap price of flour, combined with the soil and climate, adapt for the cultivation of Tricum Durum (“durum wheat”, a particularly gluten rich wheat) and the drying of pasta, as well as the growing of tomatoes, with the best olive oil in the world from the near region of Puglia, made possible the unbelievable tasty marriage of these different ingredients.

Already during the “Renaissance” (XV-XVI century), Italian pasta appeared often on the daily menu. The rich Florentine accompanied it with sugar and expensive spices, but the poor had to make do eat pasta alone or with humble ingredients, such as garlic, vegetables and cheese. At that time the pasta was simple, fresh and homemade (a far cry from the many types and flavours of dried pasta that are on the market today), the invention of which must be recognized to the Neapolitans. It turned out that the Neapolitan fertile soil of the area was the ideal for the cultivation of durum wheat, which is the best flour for pasta produced on a large scale, and that the unique combination of sun and wind in this area of southern Italy was perfect for drying pasta (“pasta secca”). This was an innovation which allows it to be preserved in perfect condition for months and even for years.

The pulp mills multiplied around the city of Naples and at the end of the XVIII century the consumption of pasta in Italy was off. “Macaroni”, “spaghetti”, “tagliatelle” were among the first types of pasta to be produced on a large scale, made only of flour and water. It is to be noted that the idea of using tomato sauce to give pasta its flavour was revolutionary since it was originally eaten plain. It was eaten with the hands as only the wealthy could afford eating utensils.

At that time the pasta was considered as poor food and was usually served with tomato sauce. In the south, the tomatoes grew well as the whole wheat flour and this gave rise to this highly successful marriage. To the north the Italians preferred the “pasta all’uovo” (dough with egg). It was fresh hand-made pasta, usually with the sauce or stuffed with meat, and it was just the rich to eat it. It was only in the XX century that the development of food industry equipment allowed the large-scale industrial production of pasta the same way as with dry pasta. With Italian emigration “pasta secca” and “all’uovo”, served hot or cold, has now widespread all over the world.

Ingredients of pasta

Since the time of Cato, basic pasta dough has been made mostly of wheat flour or semolina, with durum wheat used predominantly in the South of Italy and soft wheat in the North. Regionally other grains have been used, including those from barley, buckwheat, rye, rice and maize, as well as chestnut and chickpea flours. In modern times to meet the demands of both health conscious and coeliac sufferers the use of rice, maize and whole durum wheat has become commercially significant. Grain flours may also be supplemented with cooked potatoes. Beyond hens’ eggs and water, liquids have included duck eggs, milk or cream, olive or walnut oil, wine, ink from octopus, squid or cuttlefish, and even pigs’ blood. Other additions to the basic flour-liquid mixture may include vegetables purees such as spinach or tomato, mushrooms, cheeses, herbs, spices and other seasonings. While pastas are, most typically, made from unleavened dough, the use of yeast-raised dough is also known for at least nine different pasta forms.

Typically pasta is made from an unleavened dough of a durum wheat flour mixed with water and formed into sheets or various shapes, then cooked and served in any number of dishes. It can be made with flour from other cereals or grains, and eggs (for the pasta all’uovo) may be used instead of water. Chicken eggs frequently dominate as the source of the liquid component in fresh pasta. Therefore common pasta is made by flour, salt, water or eggs, and these simple elements make the difference.

Limestone water from south of Italy appear to give minerals and link to the dough as well as during ebullition as the pasta doesn’t release important nutrients in the saturated water.

The ideal grain for flour used in pasta is the “durum wheat” (Triticum durum). This summer wheat (which is produced in southern Italy and imported from North America, the best areas in the world, for the production of Italian pasta) produces a flour rich in gluten, which yields a soft and easy dough to work with. The whole wheat flour, semolina, produces a high quality pasta which can keep the shape it has been given. If cooked “al dente” (just right), it is soft while maintaining a pleasant fragrance to the bite. It is always good to choose 100% durum wheat pasta rather than soft wheat (grano tenero) or percentages of that, because this kind of dough tends to stick during cooking and is often mellow and soft. The addition of the egg in the dough tends to strengthen the dough helping, especially for stuffed pasta, keep the filling into the dough.

The durum wheat flours are slightly yellowish color, more “grainy” to the touch and best for making dry pasta and some kind of bread. The soft wheat flours (in Italy they are selected according to the “ash”: 0.50% is 00flour high gluten type, for pizza or fresh pasta; 0.80% is 0flour type; 1.40% is wholegrain flour type) are white in color, have a consistency almost “dusty” and are more suitable for the preparation of confectionery and bakery.

The most important substances that make up the flour, depending on the wheat, are enzymes, sugars, proteins, mineral salts. The enzymes are divided into amylase and protease. The first attack the starch of the flour and produce the fundamental food for the yeast (especially for pizza, bread and bakery). The second one instead attacks the gluten, making it more elastic. The most important proteins are of two types: soluble and insoluble. The most important from the gastronomy point of view are the “gliandine” and “gluteine”, which form the gluten. Finally, it is important to know that there is also a W value that expresses the “strength” of the flour. The more “tall’ the value W (170W to over 350W), the more these flours must absorb water. The more is the amount of proteins in the flour, the more the “strength” of the flour and the percentage of water required.

The eggs must be fresh and kept at ambient temperature. They add nutritional value of amino acids and proteins. If stored in the fridge, take them out 1hour before preparation.

Nutritional and health value

Rich in proteins, vitamins, fibres and minerals, pasta is composed by complex carbohydrates. It gives the same energy of a steak but with almost no fat. Pasta contains six of the eight essential amino acids for making a complete protein; therefore if you add a bit of cheese, egg, meat or fish (the traditional ingredients you serve with pasta) you can have a complete meal. An average 100gr of dried pasta contain 300kcal, 12.5gr proteins, 1.5gr total fat, 71.7gr carbohydrates (3.5gr sugars), 3gr of fibres and 2mg sodium. The carbohydrates have a low “glycaemic index” for long lasting energy. Pasta cooked “just right” has a glycaemic index of 40, compared to rice, which is 110!

In Italy the incidence of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease is one of the lowest in the world and doctors, nutritionists and scientists agree that Italian cuisine and “Mediterranean diet” plays an essential role, with pasta and its sauce, made from extra virgin virgin olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, onions, olives, red pepper and parsley, fresh fish, vegetables and leaves of salad, fruit, vegetables and lemon juice.

Pasta is economic, fast and easy to cook and incredibly versatile. It is the perfect food “semipronto”: the time it takes to boil water and cook the pasta is enough to prepare most of the sauces. Pasta is especially nutritious and suitable for children. And is also the perfect food for athletes because it gives a lot of energy, is easy to digest and fully satisfying.

The secret to eating well is to eat the pasta as we Italians do, with only a small amount of extra ingredient, served as a first course. Accompanied by a little sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese, nothing can’ be more ‘balanced and healthy from a nutritional standpoint. Therefore, the pasta should be included in the diet daily. For whom is under a calorie-controlled regime a portion of pasta of 75gr, accompanied by a light sauce, can contain only 200 calories.

Therefore, please try these easy recipes fused with some Asian simple spices and herbs and invite your friends for a yummy pasta enjoyment!

1. SPAGHETTI WITH CLAMS (“Spaghetti alle Vongole”)

Serves 4 Prep 10 min Cook 30 min

EASY

Easy to prepare, yet flavourful and with some tips regarding spices and final Asian fusion.

300 g Italian pasta (better spaghetti for their long shape form, matching with the sauce and clams)

250 g clams (can be frozen, if fresh and in shells, wash them carefully)

4 chili padi (better Italian “peperoncino secco”, from South of Italy; its flavour is hot, yet not burning your mouth)

2 roots of Chinese celery (coriander)

4 gloves of garlic (chopped)

Olive Extra Virgin Oil

Salt, Water for boiling pasta

White wine, ground black pepper (optional)

1. Prepare 300 g spaghetti, or other long shape pasta. Spaghetti usually need 8 to 10 minutes for boiling. If you want them just right, just take them out one minute before it. Choose Italian pasta, you will taste the difference.

2. Wash the clams carefully, especially if in shells. After washing, put them in a small bowl and cover them with water and one full tablespoon of salt. Keep for 10 minutes. This will disinfect and enhance the sea-taste.

3. Put one pot with 3-4 litres of water at high fire.

4. Fry the chopped garlic at medium fire on a pan with olive extra virgin oil. Don’t fry at high temperature. Clean it from seeds, which are unhealthy, and add the chopped chili padi. Be careful, use gloves and don’t touch your lips or eyes after chopping the chili padi!

5. Add the clams with some of the salty water and keep frying. Add white wine and black pepper.

6. When water is boiling, add half tablespoon of salt and then the spaghetti. Reduce the fire heat and stir regularly. If the sauce is getting too dry, add one scoop of water from the pot of the boiling pasta. Check the cooking temperature written on the box and take it out one minute before that.

7. Keep some water from the boiled pasta apart, then filter pasta from water and put inside the pan with the clams, together with the water you kept apart.

8. Cook them for one minute and mix. Turn off the fire and serve with chopped Chinese celery on top.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

2. Penne with mushrooms and tomatoes (“Penne ai funghi e pomodoro”)

Serves 4 Prep 15 min Cook 30 min

EASY

Just to show you how to make it a delicious delicate vegetarian dish from the simplest natural ingredients.

300 g Italian pasta (better penne for their short shape form, matching with the sauce and the vegetables)

250 g mushrooms (white button will be perfect)

5 fresh tomatoes

2 roots of Chinese celery (coriander)

4 gloves of garlic (chopped)

Olive Extra Virgin Oil

Salt, Water for boiling pasta

Ground black pepper, dried basil or Italian herbs (optional)

1. Prepare 300 g penne, or other short shape pasta. Penne usually need 10 minutes for boiling. If you want them just right, just take them out one minute before it. Choose Italian pasta, you will taste the difference.

2. Wash the tomatoes for 10 minutes soaked in water. Wash the mushrooms. Chop them. If you chop them in small pieces the sauce will be a balance mix of flavours, if you prefer in bigger pieces it will enhance more the taste of the single pieces.

3. Put one pot with 3-4 litres of water at high fire.

4. Fry the chopped garlic at medium fire on a pan with olive extra virgin oil. Don’t fry at high temperature. Add then the mushrooms first and keep them frying for 10 minutes. Add then the tomatoes and keep frying for another 10 minutes. Add then black pepper.

5. When water is boiling, add half tablespoon of salt and then the penne. Reduce the fire heat and stir regularly. If the sauce is getting too dry, add one scoop of water from the pot of the boiling pasta. Check the cooking temperature written on the box and take it out one minute before that.

6. Keep some water –a couple of scoops- from the boiled pasta apart, then filter pasta from water and put inside the pan with the sauce of mushrooms and tomatoes, together with the water you kept apart.

7. Cook them for one minute and mix. Turn off the fire and serve with chopped Chinese celery on top.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

3. Spaghetti “alla Carbonara” (Roman original recipe)

Serves 4 Prep 10 min Cook 30 min

EASY

One of the best and most imitated, yet wrongly made Italian pasta in the world! Avoid amateurs’ mistakes like

cream, wrong type of cheese and pasta, select the right options and make this Roman wonderfully indulgent dish your best culinary choice!

300 g Italian pasta (better spaghetti)

200 g streaked bacon (the best would be the original Roman “guanciale”)

50 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano (the original Italian cheese)

50 g grated Pecorino Romano (the original Italian cheese)

4 gloves of garlic (chopped)

Olive Extra Virgin Oil

2 eggs, room temperature

White or Red wine, according to the personal liking

Salt, Water for boiling pasta

Ground black pepper

1. Prepare 300 g spaghetti. Spaghetti usually need 8 minutes for boiling. If you want them just right, just take them out one minute before it. Choose Italian pasta, you will taste the difference.

2. Put one pot with 3-4 litres of water at high fire. Prepare two eggs in a bowl and mix the yolks and albumens. You can add 2 tablespoons of water.

3. Fry the chopped garlic at medium fire on a pan with olive extra virgin oil. Don’t fry at high temperature. Add then the bacon and keep frying for 10 minutes. Add wine.

4. When the water is boiling, add half tablespoon of salt and then the spaghetti. Reduce the fire heat and stir regularly. Check the cooking temperature written on the box and take it out one minute before that.

5. Filter pasta from water and put inside the pan with the bacon and cook for one more minute.

6. Turn off the fire. Add the eggs sauce and mix fast, being careful that the eggs form a film cover on spaghetti and not an omelette!

7. Add back pepper, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino, stir and serve warm. Fantastic!

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

Fabrizio Righi is an Italian manager who settled down in Singapore and worked for International Organization Caritas Network in Humanitarian Emergency Field in Eastern Europe for many years in the Emergency, Social, Health (including Nutrition), Education, and Development fields. He worked 16 years all over Europe and knows 9 languages and the cuisines of his Continent. His favourite forte is Italian Cuisine, which he learned from his grandmother Maria Stella and which loves to share with his Community, enriched by the sound and deep background of European culinary traditions where he worked abroad and by the Asian spices and herbs from the region where he settled down last. He is also a passionate of ancient recipes from the Ancient Romans and Greeks, and of cultural gastronomy with a lot of information that you will hardly find everywhere else. He participated in the “Singapore Culinary Journey” 2013. You can find Fabrizio with his languages, culture and cuisine posts on https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/124257721050152/

Different kinds of pasta

Pastas may be divided into two broad categories, dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca). It can be divided also in durum wheat flour or pasta all’uovo which does not expand in size after cooking and is faster to cook. In contrast to fresh pasta, dried pasta needs to be dried at a low temperature for several days to evaporate all the moisture allowing it to be stored for a longer period. Once it is cooked, the dried pasta will usually increase in size by double of its original proportion.

Both dried and fresh pasta come in a number of shapes and varieties, with 310 specific forms known variably by over 1300 names having been recently documented in Italy. In Italy the names of specific pasta shapes or types often vary with locale. For example the form “cavatelli” is known by 28 different names depending on region and town. Common forms of pasta include long shapes, short shapes, tubes, flat shapes and sheets, miniature soup shapes, filled or stuffed, and specialty or decorative shapes. There are also many regional shapes.

The long shape, whose lenght and width may vary, includes the famous spaghetti, bavette, bucatini, capelli d’angelo, chitarra, fusilli lunghi, lasagnette, linguine, maccheroni, tagliatelle, vermicelli, ziti, fettuccine, pappardelle, trenette, etc…. The best sauces are the soft and light ones, with ingredients chopped in small size. It matches perfectly with olive oil, butter, cream, eggs, grated cheese, and fresh aromas.

The short shape, which is easier to cook and to eat than the long one, matches with all of the sauces. Its shapes might vary from mm –for the ones used in the soups- to some cm. The most famous forms are the benfatti, chifferini, conchiglie, eliche, farfalle, fusilli, lumache, maccheroni, penne, pipe, rigatoni, rotelle, orecchiette, gnocchetti, etc… as regarding the little size, mostly for soups, there are alfabetini, risoni, tubettini, quadretti, anellini, stelline, farfalline, ditalini, funghetti, etc…

The puff pastry, or flat shapes and sheets, include the lasagne, festonelle, pantacce, etc… they are mostly used for layers of pasta and other ingredients.

The stuffed pasta is flat sheets which contain different fillings, cut and shaped in many forms, like dumplings. The pasta is usually all’uovo, as it retains the filling much better than the dry pasta. The most famous are tortellini, ravioli, agnolotti, cappelletti and can match both with sauces and soups and meat broth. The filling can be meat, fish, seafood, vegetables, spices, cheese.

The pasta al forno are those kinds of pasta which match better incorporated into a dish that is subsequently baked. It usually includes the above lasagne, cannelloni, but also many other kinds.

The phantasy pasta like “pasta tricolore” (three different kinds of colours, red, white and green like the Italian flag, mostly given by tomato, grain and spinach) is the above pasta with dough containing pepper, chili pepper, asparagus, spinach, salmon, beans, squid ink, tomatoes, chestnuts, mushrooms, garlic, aromatic herbs, etc… Better match it with simple light sauces. There is no limit to the possibility of different kinds of pasta, therefore if you can make pasta your own, you and your stomach will feel very satisfied by your skills and creativity!

Storage and keeping

Usually pasta is already packed in plastic or cardboard packages, which protect the product from humidity. The storage of pasta depends on how far along it is processed. If you buy fresh pasta in a pasta store, especially egg pasta, use it in the same day or two and keep it in the fridge. Uncooked pasta is kept dry and can sit in the cupboard for a year. The dry pasta must be airtight and stored in a dry area. Make sure it is kept in a cool dry place. Cooked pasta is stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of five days in an airtight container. Adding a couple teaspoons of oil helps keep the food from sticking to each other and the container. If the cooked pasta is not used in the five days it may be frozen for up to two or three months. The pasta will start to dry after a period of time, but it varies with the type of pasta. Should the pasta be dried completely, place it back into the cupboard.

Warm Memories: The Italian Family Reunion Dinner

Thousands and thousands of books have been written about Italian cuisine (and the healthiest Mediterranean Diet, suggested by many nutritionists). It is considered one of the best in the world and, of course, if you might ask any Italian, he will answer that for him the Italian gastronomy does, is really the best. While this last opinion is debatable, as everybody more or less would consider his hometown cuisine the best, by the way what renders Italian cuisine world spread is the dedication, time, feeling, pleasure, creativity and art that Italians put in it. This makes the difference. We are speaking about cultural values, passion, love for art and tradition, and not about food anymore. But why is it like that?

One important factor is its variety, and its unique historical, geographical, cultural, climate, weather conditions which develop an incredible gamma of products from wine to wheat, olive oil, tomatoes, fruits, vegetables, fish and many others. But the social behaviour and relations, which enhance the artistic creativity and combination of food, are a value added which people often underestimate. One of the moments when we can realize this perfect concoction of “transversal ingredients” is during the Family Reunion Dinner. In it, the seasonal ingredients, the festivity period, the family gathering all together give a good idea of the power of fantasy and ability of the Italian gastronomy.

I always keep a warm memory of my childhood, when my grandma Maria Stella, her sister, my mother, my auntie, my siblings and a 8 year-old-me worked together for hours and days in the kitchen, preparing the dough for tortellini, the filling for them, the broth, and other food. It was all the family working together in preparation of the Christmas Dinner and this fact gave the food a sacred taste. We children were initiated to the real meaning of Italian Cuisine this way.

Christmas Dinner, as the words say, is the sum of Christmas and Dinner! Christmas is an important event, almost magical, for Italian families. At Christmas we conventionally celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God for Christians, born in Bethlehem in a manger. After a preparatory period of prayer and reflection (Advent, 5 Sundays before Christmas, and the Novena, the nine days before), about midnight the believers go to church for the night vigil the night before. [This serves as a transit to the mystery of the birth of the God who became man and enters the history of mankind. Therefore, after people give the finishing touches to the crib, we are preparing for the midnight mass in a wait that aims to incarnate the present and real miracle of Jesus’s birth].

Dinner in Italy is the most typical celebration of aggregation for the family, since most members have already returned home from work, and this meeting after a hard day’s work is often expressed in rich dinners, or Cenoni (big dinners) as on this occasion. The evening of December 24 is therefore a very important moment for Italian families, because it’s a moment to be together. We will meet for dinner on Christmas Eve.

Days before the Christmas Eve you will arrange appointment with relatives, siblings and friends to meet for the special moment and preparing gifts for all members as a thought for everyone. In short, the Christmas dinner is the time when the whole family, from grandparents to grandchildren and far-away-relatives, tries to meet each other fully, at least once a year to celebrate, eat, talk and play together.

In Italy -in contrast to other European countries and North American Christians who follow the custom of most Eve dinner- you can celebrate on the evening of 24 Dec or lunch on 25 Dec, depending on the areas and regions.

[In addition, in some areas of Southern Italy and South Tyrol, Midnight between 24 and 25 December is a custom to play at home, a procession opened by a candle followed by the smallest of the family bearing the statue of the Child Jesus and the rest of the family singing Christmas Carrols like “Tu scendi dalle Stelle” (You come down from the stars), “Astro del Ciel” (Silent Night) or “Venite Fedeli” (Come here, believers); which procession ends with the arrival at the crib, kiss the little boy and the repositioning of the same over the crib of the Nativity].

Christmas therefore is not just a religious and traditional festival felt much by the faithful. Family- and modern-feast values, perceived by non-believers, added to its original value, making it a consumerism event characterized by a rich dinner and the exchange of gifts at midnight.

[There are many Christmas traditions, largely shared with and by the rest of the world: Santa Claus, La Befana, Epiphany, socks with sugar or coal, “cotechino or zampone” (knuckle sausage), cakes, panettone, nougat, champagne, the exchange of gifts, greetings each other, kissing under the mistletoe, the use of decorations, fireworks, Nativity crib statues, the game of bingo and Italian cards. These are some of the customs that are prepared before the Carnival and the subsequent period of Lent].

In Rome, my hometown, it is a characteristic to go to the charming Piazza Navona, full of markets selling everything, in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Mass and visit the Nativity, real works of art in which the Neapolitans are the undisputed masters, in churches and museums. In Italy and especially in Rome, Christmas has a unique atmosphere.

Italian cuisine has hundreds of regional dishes according to the tradition in the festivities of Christmas and New Year’s Eve, quite different one from the other, with someone emphasizing on fish, others on vegetables, and others on meat or pasta courses.

Unlike the UK cuisine, where the culinary traditions feature bright on the traditional Italian Christmas dinner platter, there’s no set meal for Christmas in Italy. Rather, each region in the country has evolved its own set of Italian Christmas dinner recipes according to its geographic position and cultural influence, and there is a lot of similarity in the nature of the dishes and the meal size in the traditional Italian Christmas dinner.

The various Italian Christmas dinner recipes include all the staple ingredients like olives, meatballs, pasta and vinegar. On the Christmas Eve or the Vigilia di Natale, the traditional Italian Christmas dinner comprises meat free meals and all kinds of fish delicacies. Some of the most popularly cooked items include roast sea bass, baccala, ravioli or tortellini di magro and bruschetta. These dishes hold the main attraction of the traditional Italian Christmas dinner, especially in Southern Italy and Sicily. On the Christmas Day or Natale, salami, Parma ham, prosecco sparkling wine, agnolotti, panettone and pandolce are popularly eaten as a part of the traditional Italian Christmas dinner. On the next day or the Boxing Day, stuffed tortelloni, meat pasta and dishes made of lentils make up a major portion of the traditional Italian Christmas dinner menu.

Each region has its own culinary characteristics and some, especially in the south, have a duty of 13 (tredici!) courses, but the only feature common to almost all regional recipes is the presence of fish (also because ‘Italy is for its ¾ a peninsula surrounded by the sea and is rich in the great products of the Mediterranean, an especially salty sea): the evening before the eel (capitone) is found on many Italian tables, particularly in Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Campania.

Therefore I would need to write a book, and not an article, about Italian Family Reunion Dinner! Stay calm & behave like an Italian to fully enjoy my Standard Family Reunion recipes and train on them for one year before the next Eve, and get ready for an Italian Christmas Dinner! In case if I am not with my family in Italy, please invite me…

1. TORTELLINI/RAVIOLI IN BRODO (Italian stuffed dumplings with broth)

Serves 4 Prep 60 min (including preparation of tortellini or ravioli) Cook 45 min

EASY

The warmth and health of home-prepared food. The broth is the simplest and most typical main course of the families during winter time.

2 litres of water (add more if needed during evaporation)

2 carrots, washed

2 American celery sticks, washed

1 tomato, washed

1 onion, peeled

½ tsp salt

1 potato, rosemary, marjoram, juniper, thyme, olive oil, chicken bones (optional)

1 package of Tortellini or ravioli, minced meat flavour

100 gr Grilled Parmigiano Reggiano

If you want to prepare tortellini or ravioli you need for dough:

300g flour

3 eggs

5g salt

Herbs and spices (optional)

Filling:

1 egg

100g of minced chicken meat

100g of minced beef or pork meat

50g grated Italian parmigiano

Black pepper, marjoram (optional)

1. For the Broth: wash the vegetables, peel the onion prepare a pot with two litres of water inside, put all the vegetables and boil at average temperature. In order to enhance the flavour you can fry the vegetables in olive oil first and add other herbs like rosemary, marjoram, juniper, thyme. You can add potatoes; anyway they give a turbid colour to the broth. You can add chicken bones in order to give it the chicken flavour.

2. Boil it 30 minutes, till the onion becomes transparent.

3. For tortellini or ravioli, you can buy them at any good gastronomy shop or prepare by yourself buying a rolled dough sheet or preparing with ingredients at ambient temperature. This way you can enhance the flavour of the dough with herbs and spices. Same way you can enhance the filling in them. It can be done with simple ingredients (one or two) till more complex ones of the traditional recipes.

4. If you want to prepare the filling by yourself, mix minced chicken meat and pork (or beef) together with one egg and spices.

5. Alternative filling can be with: meat (usually a mix of different meat like pork, chicken, beef, turkey, parmigiano, egg, spices and herbs); spinach, parmigiano and ricotta; crab, mascarpone, lemon, parsley and chili paddy; cheese and marjoram; herbs, ricotta, parmigiano and garlic; pumpkin cream, ham, mozzarella and parsley; many others.

6. Prepare the sheets of dough and pour the filling with your hands or a teaspoon on the left side at intervals one from each other, at imaginary squares. Leave some space from the border and in order to cover it with the right side of the dough.

7. Brush the empty space around the filling with some water.

8. Turn the right side over the left one and cover the filling. Cut with a knife and stick the faces with a fork.

9. When pour tortellini into the boiling broth, remember they require just a few minutes to be just right.

10. Serve with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

2. Zampone or Cotechino with Lentils

Serves 6 Prep 30 min Cook 90 min

EASY

Zampone is ground pork stuffed in the skin of a pig’s leg. It represents the purse, while lentils represent the coins. Cotechino, differently from Zampone, is ground pork stuffed in the intestine of the pig.

300 g lentils

2 American celery sticks, washed

1 onion, cut in two halves

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

30g butter

4tsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

Black pepper, rosemary, nutmeg

Zampone or Cotechino, package

1. For the Broth: prepare the broth as in the recipe of the tortellini. Use half onion. Take away the vegetables.

2. Pour the lentils in broth, add rosemary and garlic, keep cooking and stir at average temperature for 30 minutes.

3. Fry with butter the other half onion in a pan.

4. Pour the lentils and the broth in a casserole with the fried onion, butter and olive oil.

5. Put in the oven at 160C and keep for 45’/60’. The lentils must absorb the broth but leave some liquid. Control it time by time.

6. Put the Zampone metal bag into a recipient pot, covered by water.

7. Cook it at average temperature according to the instruction on the box (usually 45’)

8. When the lentils are ready take the casserole out; you can add some black pepper and nutmeg, then stir.

9. Take the Zampone bag, bring it to the sink, cut one edge and pour out the liquid (you might use this liquid to enhance the flavour of the lentils as well but check the content of salt on the box).

10. Cut the zampone in thin slices and pour on the bed of lentils on the casserole.

11. Serve warm and with some leaves of rosemary.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

3. Strufoli, ”Italian Honey Balls”

Serves 8 Prep 30 min Cook 30 min

EASY

Children love strufoli and families used to cook them and present to their friends when they paid visit to them!

3 cups all purpose flour

4 eggs, beaten

¼ cup butter

½ cup white sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp lemon zest (organic)

1 ½ cups honey

¾ cup pine nuts (or almonds)

2 ¼ punces colored candy sprinkles

Sunflower seeds oil

1. Melt the butter or margarine over low heat.
2. Mix together in a large bowl 2-1/2 cups of the flour. Add sugar, baking powder, lemon rind and salt. Make a depression in the middle. Drop into it the eggs and the melted butter or margarine. Mix with a wooden spoon and then with the hands until dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Add remaining 1/2 cup of flour as needed. Knead dough on floured surface until it isn’t sticky anymore.
3. Break off pieces of dough and roll into ropes about the size of a pencil. Cut into pieces 1/4 inch long. Roll these pieces into little balls and set aside.
4. In deep frying pan, heat oil about 2 inches deep. Fry balls until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
5. In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring 1-1/2 cups of pure honey to a boil. Let honey boil gently for about 3 minutes before adding little dough balls, stirring gently with wooden spoon until they are well-coated.
6. Remove balls from honey with a slotted spoon and place in a deep dish or mound them on a platter. Sprinkle surface evenly with nuts and multi-coloured sprinkles. Cool.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

Fabrizio Righi is an Italian manager who settled down in Singapore and worked for International Organization Caritas Network in Humanitarian Emergency Field in Eastern Europe for many years in the Emergency, Social, Health (including Nutrition), Education, and Development fields. He worked 16 years all over Europe and knows 9 languages and the cuisines of his Continent. His favourite forte is Italian Cuisine, which he learned from his grandmother Maria Stella and which loves to share with his Community, enriched by the sound and deep background of European culinary traditions where he worked abroad and by the Asian spices and herbs from the region where he settled down last. He is also a passionate of ancient recipes from the Ancient Romans and Greeks, and of cultural gastronomy with a lot of information that you will hardly find everywhere else. He participated in the “Singapore Culinary Journey” 2013. You can find Fabrizio with his languages, culture and cuisine posts on https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/124257721050152/

FINGER FOOD

Sometimes I am so surprised that in Singapore, the melting pot of food coming from all over the world, I don’t find this food: the Italian Rice Balls, which in my city –Rome- and region take their name as Suppli’ (their probable etymology is from the word “sorpresa”, which means “surprise”) and in Sicily are famous as Arancini or Arancine (depending on the area, it means “little oranges”). Even a famous Italian writer, the Sicilian Andrea Camilleri, named his tales about the Police Detective Commissario Montalbano – which character became famous in the Italian culture thanks to the novels and the series dedicated to him on RAI, RAdiotelevisione Italiana – after this marvelous finger food. Sicily, which gave a big tribute to the whole Italian Cuisine, is also at the origin of many of Italian starters. In the South Asian subcontinent, food is traditionally always eaten with hands. Foods considered street foods are frequently, though not exclusively, finger foods.

This time in fact I introduce some Italian finger food. In Italy (as well as in Spain with tapas, “montados” or “montaditos” and France with “vol au vents”) you can find them so easily in “rosticcerie” or in the “bar”, as well as in restaurants, trattorie and osterie. We use to define it “antipasti” (starters, appetizers or entrée/main course items), by the way, the word itself explains it in English, finger food is whatever you can take with your hand without the need of any cutlery (fork, knife, or spoon), therefore it is just a part of this big Italian family of “antipasti”. And its taste is salty and not sweet, otherwise it would end in the category of pastry.

Nevertheless, finger food is an important part of everyday-life in Italy. You can go to a pizzeria and order the fantastic “olive ascolane”, or “fiori di zucca” (fried pumpkin flower with a refill of hot mozzarella and anchovies), as well as “mozzarelline”, bruschetta, and much other. At the bakery you can choose among scores of pizzette, flavoured toasts, “rustici”, and other flour-based products. In the bar and rosticceria you get crazy with calzone, toasts, grilled vegetables and other food balls (not football, which drives Italian crazy as well)!

There can be different types of finger food; however you can categorize them mostly in five branches. The first one is the raw or treated food itself, like fresh mozzarelline, slices of ham, cheese, cherry tomatoes, fried chips, etc… You eat it as it is. The second type is by using wooden or plastic sticks (“spiedini”) to penetrate through different food such as barbequed meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits. A very simple one is the sequence of sausage, cheese, capsicum and pineapple on a simple stick, or little pieces of meat -like Italian arrosticini of Abruzzi- or squid. Others can be ready cooked food, such as chicken drumsticks or wings, spring rolls, fried vegetables, rice balls, panzerotti, schiacciate, crispelle, cartocciate, panelle, croquettes, food nuggets, calzoni, and are often filled with marvelous mozzarella, spinach, ricotta, ham and sauces: therefore the food might be contained also inside some dough, around or rolling on it, or even by leaves, like vine leaves in the Greek dolma. The last two groups share something in common: both have an edible base on which you put the main ingredients or some other combination of food and ready to be served. However, the difference is the base: one group can be done with fresh or raw vegetables/fruits/other (for example pieces of melon with ham on it, or green lettuce or Italian radicchio with mayonnaise and some other topping); while the last group is a cooked/ baked base with some topping on it (example: bruschetta) and can be covered by another “base” (like sandwich or Italian “panino”).

This last one in my opinion is the biggest family of the finger food, without lacking of consideration about all the others I mentioned above. In my Country creativeness spreads from pizzette bases, to bread, tarts, “cialde”, focacce, tortini with “pasta sfoglia” or “pasta brisee”, crackers, salty biscuits, crostini (croutons), piadine, etc…

And of course fantasy goes on with the toppings on these bases: vegetable purees/pastes/dips, like truffles, mushrooms, eggplants, zucchini, tomatoes, olives, etc.. ; or pickles or vegetables in oil; fresh vegetables with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, like in most of bruschetta; herbs (sage, rosemary, oregano, chili paddy, pepper, nutmeg, etc…), creamy cheese; sauces and dressings, like mayonnaise, tuna, fish, or meat sauces, combined with caviar, pâté, shrimps, artichokes, capers, olives, etc… The choice is almost a never ending one, as well as for the shape variety. The imprinting of my Country is given by some ingredients: tomato, olive oil, mozzarella, cheese: they will always be among the main ingredients also in the preparation of finger food. Therefore let’s delight with some recipes from Italy containing these ingredients: Italian Rice Balls, Mozzarelle in Carrozza and… Bruschetta!

Italian Rice Balls – Roman Supplì (Supplì al telefono – The sight of the strings dangling from somebody’s half-eaten supplì made someone think of phone lines, and hence the name). There are many versions; some of them propose to cook rice apart with water, butter and some tablespoons of tomato sauce; others to prepare the ingredients as a filling and not as a base for the fried tomato sauce. I present the one in which risotto is cooked into the tomato sauce, yet a simplified version. All of the ingredients are shown as “optional” for a more yummy result.

Serves 4 – Preparation 15 minutes – cooking 45 minutes –frying 20 minutes – A LITTLE EFFORT

300 grams of Italian rice (Avorio, or Arborio or Vialone)

1 litre of water

80 grams of butter and/or Olive oil

1/2 onion (finely chopped)

1 rib of celery (grated)

1 carrot (grated)

125 grams of minced meat (beef)

300 gr of tomato sauce

100 g provatura romana, a buffalo milk cheese similar to mozzarella (mozzarella cheese will do too, cut into small cubes)

Breadcrumbs

Oil for frying the rice balls

Salt, flour

180 g tomatoes (peeled and chopped), 50 g of peas, 50 gr white button mushrooms (chopped) – optional

30 grams of grated parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, beaten – optional

60 g of minced ham, chicken livers, red wine and pepper – optional

Direction

Wash the vegetables. Prepare the sauce: fry the onion, celery, carrot (you can use 40 gr butter in order to increase the flavour) in olive oil at low fire; add the meat and the other optional ingredients (tomatoes, peas, minced ham, and chicken livers). Add the tomato sauce and keep frying for 20 minutes. Add salt, red wine and pepper (optional).

You can put in one plate part of the solid ingredients in order to put them later in the heart of the rice ball together with the mozzarella cheese (optional).

Add the rice and boil it for about 15 minutes, adding some salt, and drain it well. You may need to add some water. Risotto must be al dente. You can add the other optional 40 gr of butter, grits and eggs during the preparation. Cool it down and add some olive oil if necessary.

Make the rice balls: Take some rice and spread it over your left palm. Put in the middle of the ball a bit of the meat sauce (if you took it apart), and one and two cubes of mozzarella (depends on the size of the cube). Shape and cover the filling into the balls with your hands. Beat a couple of eggs into a bowl and prepare another bowl with the crumbled bread.

Coat the rice balls in the flour, and then dip them into the egg mixture and after that cover them with the crumbled bread in the other bowl.

Fry in a pan with hot oil. The crust must look crispy and golden. Wipe excess oil in a paper towel. Serve hot.

Tip: another technique for crumbling the supplì is this: you might prepare a bowl with water, egg, oil, flour, and salt; soak fast the rice ball inside before covering with the crumble bread.

Mozzarella in Carrozza – (Mozzarella in a carriage – The name might be because the mozzarella is somewhere contained between eggy bread and covered by the bread slices, or because in Campania it was shaped with circle bread slices, like wheels). There are many versions; from the simplest to others where the filling might include ham, anchovies, and other.

Serves 4 – Preparation 15 minutes – frying 20 minutes – EASY

8 slices sandwich bread (wholemeal flour better), crusts removed

100 gr mozzarella cheese (dried from liquid, if any), cut into ¼-inch-thick slices

¼ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup plain dry breadcrumbs

1 large egg, beaten

3 tablespoons whole milk

Salt, preferably kosher

Vegetable oil, for frying

2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, freshly ground black pepper, ham slices, anchovies, butter – optional

Direction

Remove the crusts from the bread. Cover 1 slice of the bread with the mozzarella slices, ham slices and/or anchovies (optional) and top with another slice of bread. Carefully slice the sandwiches in half diagonally. Press down around the edge (optional).

On a large piece of wax paper, place the flour on one side, and the breadcrumbs on the other.

In a shallow bowl, mix together the egg, Pecorino (optional), milk, and salt and pepper to taste.

Dredge the sandwich triangles in the flour, cover and shake off any excess. Then dip them into the egg mixture, making sure that the sides are dampened as well. Then coat them in the breadcrumbs, coating the sides too. Let the triangles rest for 5 to 10 minutes, to let the breadcrumbs adhere well.

Heat a medium-size frying pan (large enough to hold all the triangles) over medium-high heat. Add oil to a depth of ¼ to ½ inch. When the oil is hot, add the triangles and fry until the bread has browned, 1 to 1½ minutes. Turn to the other side and fry for another 1 to 1½ minutes (flip them just once in order to avoid the mozzarella to go out). Transfer to paper towels to drain. Serve immediately.

Tip: The bread slices are cut into smaller squares, layered with mozzarella, skewered, then fried—a process that makes a pretty loaf but that also has the problem of absorbing too much oil if not carefully tended. Wipe excess oil in a paper towel. Some versions put together 2 slices of bread instead of 1, thus making a single peace done with 4 slices of bread, and indulge in more ingredients like ham, pecorino, and spices. You can fry them in butter. I noted them all as optional. Loved by children and… adults.

Bruschetta – There are many versions of bruschetta as well, with olives and other vegetables, with pâté or dips. I give you the one I like most.

Serves 4 – Preparation 20 minutes– EASY

2 tomatoes

1 rib of celery

5 cloves of garlic

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt, pepper (optional)

Bread (baguette, whole meal); you can prepare your own loaf or focaccia, also supermarket croutons work

Oregano, garlic spread, capers (optional)

Direction

Cut the bread in slices of 1/1,2 cm. Put on a layer and in the stove at a 100C temperature for 8 minutes. Control that the slices become crusty, light golden according to the taste but avoid burning. You can do the same process on a grill pan, especially if you have “pane casareccio” or homemade loaf.

Wash the vegetables. Chop 4 cloves of garlic in very small pieces and put in a bowl with olive oil. Then chop the tomatoes in small pieces and the celery in very small pieces, add them with salt, pepper, oregano, capers (optional). Keep it for 30 minutes in order to strengthen the flavour.

Serve the bread and the vegetable mix bowl with a small plate with the garlic clove. Help yourself by taking a slice of crunchy bread, rub the remaining clove of garlic according to the liking and top some bruschetta sauce on it.

Tip: The recipe is very easy, therefore its result depends on the best ingredients such as extra virgin olive oil and Italian bread, if you can find or prepare it. If you don’t want to rub garlic on the bread, a garlic spread will work. The smaller you chop the ingredients, the more you will have a mixed flavour. If you prefer some ingredient to result, just chop them not too small. The best is if you can prepare the vegetables and keep them in a jar for some time.

Salads

At home it was never missing. I am not speaking of pasta, which, it is true, was always present. But the dish of vegetables which in various forms -from the green to the one with tomatoes and mozzarella, or others with potatoes or other combinations- always accompanied our meals at the centre of the table like a king. The salad. “L’insalata”.

I remember with a sad smile of regret, because he is not here anymore, my uncle Max, Massimo. Engineer, passionate about all the sciences, from astronomy to mineralogy, botany and many others, he was a walking encyclopaedia that I loved to listen to and spend time with. He took me around the grounds and gardens explaining me plants and flowers. And every now and then stopping he said to me, “…and this is a anethum graveolens (dill, quoting the classification in Latin from Linnaeus), from the family of Umbelliferae. It is growing wild but you can use for fish dishes, potato salads or soups. From the same family you have this other plant” and he pointed at a wild fennel; “this is a foeniculum vulgare, from the parsley branch. See its feathery leaves and yellow flowers. Its seeds have culinary use”. After theory he usually behaved more practical and we used to collect some plants and leaves that would be useful for preparing a meal. Therefore he took some bay leaves and wild chives, marsh mallows, valerian, chervils, which he took care that would not be confused with poisonous hemlock (!), and a lot of other greens.

With my imagination, when ancient Romans in Italy, and Celts all over Europe in the past used to walk the same fields, I thought my uncle could be a druid or some wise botanic scientist of that time. He was the one who, thanks to his wide culture and interests, made me feel always curious and try a wide range of greens for salads, from sprouts to leaves, grains, seeds, spices, vegetables, fruits and herbs in combination or without other ingredients and sauces.

.As I always like to combine my gastronomy topics with other hopefully useful cultural, sociological or anecdotical information, it is interesting to know that since man was born as a fruit-eating (frugivorous), and you can see also by the shape of its teeth, he used to eating mainly leaves, berries and seeds since prehistoric times. The arrival of the ice-age with the decrease of vegetables and the transition to the meat diet then changed many eating habits, which still cause problems to a digestive system still used mainly to vegetables.

Etymologically, the key ingredient of salad, and the reason for its getting its name, is the dressing, especially the salt. The Romans were enthusiastic eaters of salads, many of their differing hardly at all from present-day ones -a simple selection of raw vegetables- and they always used a dressing of some sort: oil, vinegar, and often brine. And hence the name salad, which comes from Vulgar Latin Herba salata, literally ‘salted herb’“, or standing for ‘salted things‘. The word turns up in Old French as salade and then in late 14th century English as salad or sallet.” As we can find in Oxford English Dictionary.

We have clear references to the use of raw herbs and leaves to make a dish together (generally defined as mixed greens with dressing) by various gastronomic Latin authors (Apicius, Columella, etc …) of Ancient Rome. The Mediterranean, with its warm, but also dry, climate allows the growth and a rich variety of plants, as well as keeping storage for a certain period of dishes with vegetables that in other parts of the globe, wetter and / or colder, was not possible, often making it necessary to cook the vegetables for health reasons, like in most of Asia, for instance. Olive oil, used as fuel for lamps at the beginning, then alimentary processed, salt, and vinegar, of which the Romans were crazy (much to drink it mixed with water, see the reference during the crucifixion of Jesus in the Bible), accompanied this dish, along with the spices that the rich could afford by Arab traders or from the Roman ships coming from Alexandria after trading with India.

Furthermore the medical practitioners suggested eating raw vegetables as an important support to daily diet and health. Hippocrates and Galen believed that raw vegetables easily slipped through the system and did not create obstructions for what followed; therefore they should be served first. Others reported that the vinegar in the dressing destroyed the taste of the wine; therefore they should be served last. This debate has continued ever since… But shows how much important the salad was for the daily diet of Ancient Romans.

As there didn’t exist a lot of vegetables yet, brought from Colombo after his travels in the Americas, especially tomatoes, greens and salads were generally accompanied by cheese and herbs.

With the fall of Rome, salads were less important in Western Europe, although raw vegetables and fruit were eaten on fast days and as medicinal correctives. They remained a feature of Byzantine cookery and re-entered the European menu via medieval Spain and Renaissance Italy.

So, even though at first the word “salade” later referred to fresh-cooked greens of raw vegetables prepared and pickled in the Roman manner in vinegar or salt, as time progressed, salads became more complicated. Recipes varied according to place and time. Dinner salads, as we know them today, were popular with Renaissance folks. Composed salads assembled with layers of ingredients were enjoyed in the 18th century.

Nowadays salad can be one of the simplest or most difficult dishes to be prepared. Especially as it needs creativity and fantasy in preparing or inventing it. Looking, dressing and even chopping is important, as a la julienne; smaller and bigger slices or pieces give a different texture to the dish. It can be an appetizer, a main dish, or a side dish accompanying the main one.

The most important salad dishes usually refer to green salad, which is mostly composed by different kind of lettuce (iceberg, the Roman cappuccina, ricciola, etc…) and tasteful leaves, like rocket and chicory. In Italy some species of vegetables have even obtained the protection of the European Union, the P.A.T. (traditional agro-alimentary Italian products) or the I.G.P. (geographical protected denomination) like the Cicoria di Catalogna Frastagliata of Gaeta, the one of Chioggia, the Radicchio Rosso of Treviso, or the Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco.

Mixed salads are still mainly green, but with tomatoes, carrots, celery, onions, olives, cucumber, radishes, capsicum and other vegetables, sprouts and even flowers, seeds or grains. From this “branch of salad we have the Balkan salads, which contain the most important cheese from the Country they take their name from, like Feta and Goat Yogurt for Greece, Kajmak for Serbia, or Mozzarella (Caprese salad) or Parmigiano for Italy. In Eastern Europe you can have plenty of turnips and beets as well.

Then there are other varieties like the potato ones (the one called in Italy “Russian Salad” and in Germany “Italian Salad”, with boiled potatoes, peas, carrots, French beans, mayonnaise, cappers, or just mayonnaise and potatoes in its easiest version), the pasta ones, very fresh and nice dish for Summer, together with the rice ones, which are a mix of the above carbohydrates with vegetables and cheese. Tuna salads and egg salads (like Nizzarda) complete this branch, known as “bound” salads as well.

Also cereals, pulses and beans salads are interesting mix of different vegetables with chickpeas, beans, broad beans, and lupins. You can also have the chicken (the Caesar salad for instance) salad or the seafood salad, while it is traditional to have the “Insalata di rinforzo”, or reinforcement salad with pickles, for Christmas in South of Italy.

Modern Vegan concept opens to a wide variety of natural raw ingredients, mostly including seeds, fruits (tomato itself is a fruit, did you know it?) and sprouts.

Whatever is your favourite, I would always suggest you to use the best fresh ingredients and extra virgin olive oil, wash it very well, not just on running water but also keeping for at least 10 minutes in a basin (as most of pesticides are water soluble and need to stay soaked under water), prepare it before serving –except for the ones which can stay in the fridge overnight, like rice, pasta, potatoes and pulses salads- and keep them in the fridge after eating. Salads waste easily and vinegar, salt and oil help keeping longer.

The salads go wonderfully well with all climates and seasons, but especially with warm weather and the summer, for the intake of all the vitamins and minerals (Phosphorus, Calcium) that give our diet. Therefore I think it will be nice if I can follow my article with some interesting recipes, one of them dedicated to Singapore with Mango taste!

And, just to remind you the sense of this, don’t forget this one among the many Italian proverbs referring to salad: “A ben condire l’insalata ci vuole un avaro per l’aceto, un giusto per il sale e uno strambo per l’olio”: in order to dress the salad at its best you need a miser for vinegar, a right for the salt and a weirdo for the oil. And I would make it even better with my personal adding: “E un pazzo per mescolare”! A crazy for mix it all!

SERBIAN SALAD

Serbian salad is a vegetable salad, usually served during summer with roast meat and other dishes. It is made from diced fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and grated feta, usually seasoned with olive oil, salt and commonly feferon – a local hot pepper similar to cayenne pepper. You can have different versions, like “Shopska”, with creamy kajmak and green leaves. It is so present in a Serbian cuisine, from early spring until late fall, that all the other salads in Serbian cuisine are unmatched with this one.

Serves 4 Prep 30 min – EASY

Ingredients:

500 g tomatoes,

150 g onions (young or mature)

200 g cucumbers,

1 hot pepper,

A bunch of parsley or onion springs

80 g extra virgin olive oil,

Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Clean and cut onions. If it is a mature onion, slice into strips, if the onion is young – cut into rings. Wash sliced mature onions. If necessary, to remove the bitterness.
2. Take cucumbers: wash, peel and cut into rings or half rings. Wash tomatoes (choose only healthy, hard ones) and cut into pieces that are suitable for a fork prick. Cut peppers into thin strips.
3. Combine all with onions, add salt to taste and pour oil. Stir carefully to keep the whole tomato pieces.
4. Pour into a salad bowl and sprinkle finely chopped parsley or onion springs.
   

   Tips:

   For some variants you might prepare one day in advance a dressing with 2/3 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 5 garlic cloves, quartered, ½ teaspoon dried basil, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, ½ teaspoon dried marjoram, fresh ground black pepper. When preparing the salad, remove the garlic from dressing and discard. Let the flavours meld with the tomatoes, pepper, onions and cucumber for at least one hour with the sauce.

   With Shopska you can add lettuce (chopped in small parts) and creamy kajmak instead of feta, then mix all together.

   If you do not like hot peppers, you can substitute it with a regular sweet pepper. also cut into thin strips.

   Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

   2. TZATZIKI SALAD

      Even though this recipe is mostly under the sauce version and cannot be defined as a salad, you can increase cucumbers and make it a fresh dish to accompany your meat or first meal. Tzatziki is made of strained yogurt (usually from sheep or goat milk) mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, and sometimes lemon juice, and dill or mint or parsley. It is always served cold. While in Greece and Turkey the dish is usually served as an accompaniment, in other places tzatziki is often served with bread (loaf or pita) as part of the first course of a meal. The etymology is Turkish, but is renowned as a plate of Greek gastronomy.

      Serves 4 Prep 20 min – EASY

      Ingredients:

      1 cucumber (2 if more like salad version)

      5-8 garlic cloves (according to the grade of spiciness)

      500 gr yogurt (better if goat yogurt)

      10 leaves of mint

      Extra Virgin Olive Oil

      Salt to taste

      Directions:

      1. Clean and cut the cucumbers. You can discard the skin and seeds, or keep them, as I do, according to your liking. Do the same with the garlic. Wash the mint leaves.

      2. Put it all in a blender with the yogurt (if you want a more liquid one, otherwise blend them apart then mix to the yogurt and stir)

      3. Serve fresh with some olive oil on the top.

         Tips:

         You can have a more liquid or more solid recipe. Just blend yogurt and the other ingredients all together, or stir apart and add one more sliced cucumber, without seeds, if more consistent.

         You can add lemon juice, dill, parsley as optional together with the mint, or as a topping.

         Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

         2. VEGAN SINGAPORE SALAD

            This is a recipe which I could improve once I settled down in Singapore. The taste of mango and avocado, accompanied by the texture of red cabbage and broccoli, mixed together with olive oil and kiwi, in my opinion make it a flavour of the fusion between South East Asia and Europe. You must try it.

            Serves 4 Prep 30 min – EASY

            Ingredients:

            ¼ red cabbage/lettuce

            1 broccoli brunch

            2 kiwis

            1 avocado

            1 mango

            Extra Virgin Olive Oil

            Salt to taste, black pepper

            Directions:

            1. Wash the vegetables. Cut the broccoli and separate the flowers from the brunch-parts. Clean and peel kiwis and avocado and chop in small pieces. Chop red cabbage and broccoli flowers in small pieces. Peel the mango.

            2. Blend the mango with a bit of water and the chopped brunches of the broccoli into a sauce.

            3. Put together in a bowl the chopped broccoli leaves, red cabbage, kiwis and avocado and mix with the mango-broccoli sauce.

            4. Add salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil according to your taste.

               Tips:

               You must wash all the vegetables, especially broccoli, with care. Broccoli -due to the persistence of pesticides- have better be washed three times. Keep all the raw vegetables for 10 minutes in a basin with water, and then clean under running water.

               It is not necessary to put together broccoli and red cabbage, although these vegetables give a better consistency and contrast to the sauce and the fruits. You can use one of them, increasing its quantity.

               Don’t exceed with black pepper. It is difficult for our liver to metabolize it.

               Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

               2. ITALIAN PASTA SALAD

                  The pasta salad is a fresh summer dish, easy to prepare in advance and is particularly suitable for picnic, or buffet dinners on the beach. The ingredients vary according to taste, although almost always include tomatoes or mozzarella. The pasta salad is therefore suitable to all tastes.

                  Serves 4 Prep 30 min – EASY

                  Ingredients:

                  400 gr. pasta (farfalle or butterflies, and fusilli or penne match perfectly)

                  250 gr. di cherry tomatoes

                  200 gr. tuna

                  200 gr. mozzarella

                  40 gr. olives

                  Basil, pepper

                  Extra Virgin Olive Oil

                  Directions:

                  1. Boil and cook pasta in salty water, and take it out just right.

                  2. Wash cherry tomatoes and cut in small pieces. Cut the olives in small circles. Chop basil.

                  3. Take away water from mozzarella and slice in little cubes. Dry tuna and put in a bowl, pressing it lightly with a fork and make it smoother.

                  4. Put chopped cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and olives to the tuna, then add a bit of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, if you like.

                  5. Combine all with pasta and stir, making cool to taste before serving.

                     Tips:

                     The best pasta for pasta salad is pasta corta (short types), like farfalle or butterflies, fusilli, penne.

                     Leave a few whole leaves of basil for garnishing the dish.

                     Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

                     Fabrizio Righi is an Italian manager who settled down in Singapore and worked for International Organization Caritas Network in Humanitarian Emergency Field in Eastern Europe for many years in the Emergency, Social, Health (including Nutrition), Education, and Development fields. He worked 16 years all over Europe and knows 9 languages and the cuisines of his Continent. His favourite forte is Italian Cuisine, which he learned from his grandmother Maria Stella and which loves to share with his Community, enriched by the sound and deep background of European culinary traditions where he worked abroad and by the Asian spices and herbs from the region where he settled down last. He is also a passionate of ancient recipes from the Ancient Romans and Greeks, and of cultural gastronomy with a lot of information that you will hardly find everywhere else. He participated in the “Singapore Culinary Journey” 2013. You can find Fabrizio with his languages, culture and cuisine posts on https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/124257721050152/

The Balsamic Vinegar

September 2007. I was in Belgrade. The temperature had suddenly fallen from over 35C to a bit above zero. I had never experienced something like that in summer and surely this weather brought something else bad. In fact in a couple of days later Italians had to suffer for the loss of the most famous of them around the world, Luciano Pavarotti. Luciano was not only a great singer of Opera and “tenore”, but a true expression of the best values of Italian lifestyle: playful, friendly, filial and strongly related to his family, smiling, always nice, generous, creative, a great artist, and a lover of food.

He was a great gourmet indeed, and the reason is because he was born in Modena, in one of the best Italian traditional regions for food: Emilia Romagna. My father was from the same area as well, therefore I personally experienced how this region is famous not only for its tortellini, ravioli, lasagne, ragu’, prosciutto and salami, but for grapes and wine as well, a sparking sweet red wine called “Lambrusco”, which youths love to drink.

This area is famous for its long life elisir too: the Balsamic Vinegar. Emilian vineyard cultivators had the great idea of cooking the grape must matured by a long and slow vinegarization process through natural fermentation followed by progressive concentration by aging in a series of casks made from different types of wood and without the addition of any other spices or flavourishing.

Therefore balsamic vinegar is produced, unlike ordinary vinegar which has its origins in an alcoholic liquid, directly form grape juice. Grapes (Trebbiano, white and sugary one, and Trebbiano of Spain, in the area of Nonantola), harvested -as late as possible so as to take the utmost advantage of every last touch of the warmth that the generous nature provides there- in the Modena region in which balsamic vinegar is produced, are crushed and their liquid, the “must”, taking care it never starts its fermentation process and the sugar is transformed into alcoholo, is then filtered and boiled in an open vat over a fire, where it will be brought to a slow noil and then allow to simmer gently until the desired level of concentration is reached (30 to 70% depending on the quality of vintage, sugar level, the practice of the vinegar maker). After filtered and cooling, this liquid is then placed in high quality wooden barrels in which through an oxidation process, it is transformed into vinegar. The barrels are kept in a vinegar loft (“acataia”) where over a number of years the precious liquid inside is lovingly cared for through a special technique involving transfers and topping up. Over many years microbiotic and enzymatic modifications unite to achieve an exceptional balance in fragrance and flavour.

Italy and the Consortium of Producers of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena have a very strict quality control for this DOC (Controlled Origin Denomination) product in order to ensure the consistency and the continuation of certain traditions, with the help of expert tasters, seals, rules, regulations, and procedures. There are many imitations throughout the world, adding caramel to the must, and this is quite a fake or, let’s say a very young and commercial product which cannot add the “traditional” to the label. Two types of vinegars, based on the aging period, are marketed: Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (aged minimum 12 years), and Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena Extra Vecchio (extra old, which is aged minimum 25 years). Usually producers set a different gamma of colours, from green, to blue, to Bordeaux (usually aged less than 3 years), to green seal, blue seal, Bordeaux seal (matured more than 3 years), till gold and platinum, which reach and can go over 25 years.

|traditional Balsamic Vinegar has a dark brown colour, full of warm light; is dense, with a fluid and syruplike consistency (this is why cheap vinegar add caramel inside); his fragrance is distinct, complex, sharp and unmistakeably but pleasantly acid; the flavour is traditional and inimitable sweet and sour, in perfect proportion. To the tastebuds it will offer a full and rich flavour with a variety of shadings and eveolving bursts of new expressions as the mood of carrier changes.

You can try Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena, just in drops, on cheese (mozzarella, parmigiano) or on fresh, grilled, steamed or boiled vegetables, as a last refining touch to meat and fish whether they be baked, boiled, broiled, or grilled, and in Saucest Cooks throughout the world achieve remarkable culinary successes through the many creative uses of this extraordinary condiment.

I might add so much more detailed information, but it is now time to eat. I accept the suggestion of my “Big Luciano” (as Pavarotti was called worldwide) and I propose his receipt of Piccantina, together with a salad of the other great Opera composer Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868). Luciano used to say that “It is always the same instrument that produces pleasure and art in song and in food: the mouth”. And Rossini stated that “eating, loving, singing and digesting are the four acts of the comedy which is life”. As so many Italian artists in music loved food, may it mean that for meticulous Italians eating is like playing or singing a celestial symphony with outstanding instruments like Balsamic Vinegar, in this case?

Insalata alla Rossini

Simple – 15 minutes preparation

Ingredients: mustard, lemon, pepper, salt, e.v. olive oil, vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar, truffle (white or black), lettuce. Quantity according to the taste.

Wash the lettuce and slice the truffle. Pour them in a bowl, then add salt, pepper, lemon and mix; add Balsamic Vinegar, e.v. olive oil and mustard, mix it and serve.

Piccatina alla Pavarotti

Simple – 1 hour

Ingredients: 800 g best end of veal sliced, 100 g butter, 60 g Modenese ham julienned, 25 g chopped parlsey, 1 tablespoon Modena’s Traditional Balsamic Vinegar, flour, salt, pepper as needed.

Flatten the slices of veal slightly, salt (you will use salty cured ham later, so do not exaggerate with the salt at this stage), pepper and flour them.

Heat 80 g of butter in a pan and brown the veal on both sides with a high flame. Drain off the excess butter and place the veal on a hot serving dish. Add the remaining butter to the frying pan and scrape off the cooking residue from the bottom and sides.

Add the julienne ham and cook it over a low flame for a few seconds and then add the balsamic vinegar, Allow the sauce to meld for a few moments and then pour it over the “piccantina”. Sprinkle it with the chopped parlsey and serve it hot.

Stuffed Mussels

Simple – 1 hour

Ingredients: 2 pax: 500g mussels; 1 cup olive oil; 1 cup bread crumbs; 3 teaspoon chopped garlic; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; 2 tablespoons Modena’s Traditional Balsamic Vinegar.

Heat the mussels in a pan until they are open. Allow them to cool and then remove from shells. Place in a container under olive oil.

Mix the bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Add the mussels and mix thoroughly.

Add the balsamic vinegar. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the lowest rack of the oven for 5 minutes at 180C.

Bread

One of the things which make me feel “home sweet home” is when I prepare home-made bread in the weekend. Keeping and refreshing my natural yeast, the mother dough done and fed with simple water and flour, makes me feel like keeping a tradition which started thousands and thousands years ago and passed hand by hand till today.

Starting from the first bakers of antiquity, the Egyptians, to the Romans who were masters in it, with corporations and emperors who used to keep their subjects calm with wide donations of wheat and bread to the population, the famous “panem et circenses”, bread has been the main dish in all of the European tables, especially for the poor. In Italian the term “companatico” means everything which is accompanying the bread during the meal, and bread terms accompany most of Italian vocabulary and idiomatic sentences. There can be literally thousands of different breads, for shape, flour, ingredients. And many variants as well, like focacce, crackers, pizze, and similar varieties.

Repeating the gestures, the care and the particular activities done in order to have artisanal bread, all this makes me feel more in contact with nature and its secrets. Despite its simple ingredients, the process is not easy at all and we must deeply know what is happening while we prepare our bread, from the combination of the proteins of glutenin and gliadin from the wheat which make the gluten, edible to the bacteria of the yeast which change the sugars inside the dough, to the enzyme amylase which creates the gas which will expand the dough and make it so flavourful.

There are so many variables (kind of flour, its strength, water, kind of yeast, etc…) but we must think in terms of fermentation process where the most important variables we should consider are time and temperature. The perfect balance of rising time, proofing time, dough temperature, ambient temperature, the correct amount of leavening, will allow the dough to grow and produce alcohol, acidity, esters and gas for the proper aroma, taste and texture. An excess of fermentation on the other side will make the bread last longer, but makes a cloying aftertaste which many people don’t like.

It is pointless to say that breading is an art, with bakers among which Italians and French are masters. Pre ferments, like Italian “Biga”, or Polish, the autolyse, the more the dough is hydrated, the complete bulk fermentation, the gentle handle of the dough, the proofing, the baking till the crust is dark brown are all single steps which require an expertise and know how gained after scores of repetitions of the process. The goal in baking any bread is to achieve maximum over spring, ideal flavours and texture of the crust with the complete baking of the interior.

We will need to use “grandmother” methods, like poke the loaves, just to see if the indentation springs back very slowly. And add some metal container with water, as the steam and humidity help the baking. Most home ovens aren’t well calibrated and a too hot oven will completely bake the crust before the middle is done, while a cool oven will make the crust thicker and less delicate. Therefore the process is very personal and skilful and the conditions might change from one place to another.

I normally need half a day to refresh my natural yeast, then another 12 hours to prepare the biga, and another half a day to prepare the dough which will go into crunchy aromatic bread. Time is working for me and I just need to take care of the proper steps. The result will be a fragrant loaf which I can cut and enjoy with a slice of Italian cheese, or to use for my “scarpetta”, cleaning the leftover of the tomato sauce, after a nice plate of spaghetti!

Crusty Loaf with Biga method

This is one of the possible thousands of recipes for preparing bread. If you simply change a bit the rate of the ingredients, the quantity of water, the timing, you will have a different bread. You can try it as well.

Serves 4 Prep 2 days (for fermentation; real preparation 1.5 hours) – EASY

Ingredients:

For Biga

50 g natural yeast, or 1 bag of industrial yeast

200 g flour 0 (or bread flour)

150 g water (temperature 32C),

For Dough for bread

180/190 g water

100 g flour 0 (or bread flour)

200 g flour 00 (or plain flour)

100 g wholemeal flour

½ table spoon honey

20 g salt

Directions:

Mix together the natural yeast (or the industrial, normally the industrial yeast needed is 1/3 of the weigh of the natural one) with 200 g flour 0 at ambient temperature, add the water and keep it under a wet cloth for 12 hours. It will form a sticky dough. This is a Biga. I can do it in the evening.
Next morning I add 180/190 g of water to the Biga, ½ table spoon of honey and whisk. Then I add 100 g bread flour, 200 g plain flour and 100 g of wholemeal flour with 20 g of salt.
I manipulate it for 15 minutes, put it on the layer which I will use for baking on a baking paper, and keep it proofing for at least 5 hours.
The dough is more than doubled. I put some water inside the oven and preheat at 180C. I can bake it at oven temperature of 180C for 15 min, then 170C for 45min. Once baked I take it out and let it rest before cutting.

Tips:

You can add extra virgin olive oil to the dough, as Tuscan bakers use to do. The best surface for manipulating the dough is a wooden surface.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

Mediterranean Focaccia

Very similar to bread, Focaccia is quite simpler and can have different content of water inside which will make the interior softer or thicker according to the personal taste.

Serves 4 Prep 1 day (for fermentation; real preparation 1.5 hours) – EASY

Ingredients:

1 kg bread flour

0.5 litres of water (till 0.7)

1 bag industrial yeast or 50 g natural yeast

20 ml extra virgin olive oil

50 g black/ green olives, finely chopped

Rosemary (chopped), oregano

20 g salt

Directions:

Mix flour with olives and chopped herbs. Add industrial yeast, water and mix well. Add olive oil and salt and pour on a rectangular thick layer (pour some olive oil on the surface of the layer; the dough will ferment, therefore the layer must contain the dough once doubled or tripled in size). Keep it for 12 hours under a wet cloth at room temperature.

Preheat the oven at 180C then put the layer for 1 hour at 100C. Control it time by time.

Serve it warm.

Tips:

You can have different height for focaccia, as well as different softness depending on the amount of water. Once you pour the dough in the layer don’t touch it anymore in order to keep the gas inside. Check the focaccia in the oven, as temperatures might vary from oven to oven. You can add more olive oil according to the personal liking.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg

Grissini with Ham

In this recipe we use the dough for bread, then give it the shape of the “grissini” the original Piedmont bread, done with different shapes. It is a dialectal term and means a long and thin bread, born in the XVI century probably at the Royal Court of Savoia. There are many varieties, from the finger shape, to the arm shape. Industrial “grissini” are an usual starter available in the Italian restaurants together with bread.

Serves 4 Prep 40 min – EASY

Ingredients:

500 g bread dough

30 slices of ham

2 table spoons of olive oil

1 egg

20 g flour

Directions:

Put the flour on the surface, then lay the dough in at the height of 1.5cm. Brush it with the egg.

Cut the dough in many stripes of 1.5 cm width, then take them and twist twice.

Put the “grissini” on a layer with olive oil, preheat the oven at 210C and bake them for 10/15 min till they are golden.

Take the “grissini” out, roll the slices of ham around them and serve.

Tips:

If you want your “grissini” to look better, before baking you can brush the part which will not be covered by the ham with a solution of water and oil. Therefore this will appear as a trans lucid hang.

Per Serving XXX kcals, protein XXXg, carbs XXXg, fat XXXg, sat fat XXXg, fiber XXXg, sugar XXXg, salt XXXg