CHIAVARI, Italy - Along
with sun filled days, the ever blue Mediterranean Sea cools the soft breezes that
float through my apartment. Life is easy, it’s summer in Italy.
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| Sfusati Amalfitano |
On my kitchen table
there’s a big basket stacked with lemons that I bought at the market this week.
Some of the lemons are picture perfect, smooth, bright yellow ovals from
Sicily. The others are twice as big, knobby and have thick mottled yellow
skins. The knobby ones are called sfusati Amalfitano as they come from the
Amalfi Coast.
The perfect, smooth lemons
from Sicily were brought to the island by the Arabs sometime around the year
948, when Hassan al-Kalbi was the Emir of Sicily. The sfusati Amalfitano, on
the other hand, have a different story, a story that starts in the 11th
and 12th centuries when the Maritime Republic of Amalfi was a Mediterranean
naval power to be reckoned with.
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| Roadside Stand |
Of Italy’s four major Maritime
Republics, Amalfi, Genoa, Pisa and Venice, tiny Amalfi was the most powerful.
It was an economic powerhouse, trading textiles,
spices, precious stones and fruit with countries of Africa and the Middle East.
One of the fruits they imported from India were small, round and yellow and called
lemoncello de India.
Local Almafitani farmers
began to cross pollinate the lemoncello de India with cetrangoli, the bitter oranges that grew
along the Amalfitano coast. Over time, centuries actually, this cross
pollination resulted in the knobby yellow sfusati of Amalfi sitting in
the basket on my kitchen table right now.
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| Lemons, Citron and Limoncello |
The sfusati grow on
the steep terraced hills along the Tyrrhenaian Sea from Positano to Vietri sul
Mare, a territory of no more than 700 acres. With their exceptional aroma and
flavor, they are widely used in the local cuisine. The house specialties at Ristorante
Donna Rosa in Positano include an antipasto of raw artichokes with lemon, caramelle
of fresh pasta filled with lobster and lemon, and ravioli with lemon
and ricotta.
And it’s not just the
lemon juice and pulp that is used. At Albergo Ristorante Bacco in
Furore, they still follow the ancient tradition of cooking food in lemon
leaves. Some of the dishes they offer are grilled smoked provola wrapped
in lemon leaves, rabbit roasted in lemon leaves and home-made tagliolini in
lemon sauce.
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| Limoncello Starts Like This |
But other than being a
principle ingredient in the kitchen, sfusato
Amalfitano are also the basic
ingredient of that delicious, sweet liqueur, limoncello that is enjoyed
after dinner during the warm summer months.
In surfing the web this
week I found a video of Miami chef John DiRicco making limoncello in his
kitchen. I liked his straight forward approach and thought you might like it
too. My only point of contention with Chef DiRicco is that here in Italy small
glasses of limoncello are sipped and savored after dinner, not thrown back as
he does on the video but, to each his own.
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| Homemade Limoncello |
And this easy to follow Limoncello recipe:
LIMONCELLO
Total
time: 30 minutes, plus at least 3 weeks infusing
time
Servings:
about 74 (makes 9 1/4 cups limoncello)
12
lemons
2
(750-ml) bottles 100-proof vodka, divided
2 cups water
2
cups sugar
1. Remove the yellow part of
the lemon peel with a sharp peeler or fine grater, carefully avoiding the
bitter white pith. If any pith remains on the back of a strip of peel, scrape
it off.
2. Put the yellow peels in
a jar or bottle, add 1 bottle vodka and seal tightly. Leave the bottle to steep
in a dark and dry place until the peels lose their color, at least 2 weeks.
3. Put the water and
sugar in a saucepan and boil until it turns clear. Let the syrup cool.
4. Strain the vodka from the peels and mix it with the
remaining bottle of vodka and the syrup. Put the liqueur in bottles, seal
tightly and let the components marry for at least 1 week before using. For drinking
straight, store the limoncello in the freezer. Don’t fill the bottles to the
top though, the limoncello needs room to expand when it’s cold.
And here’s a recipe for
Lemon Risotto with Sautéed Shrimp I found at: http://www.cooksrecipes.com/seafood/lemon_risotto_with_sauteed_shrimp_recipe.html
The link doesn't work but you can copy and paste to go to the page.
The link doesn't work but you can copy and paste to go to the page.
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| Lemon Risotto with Sauteed Shrimp |
LEMON
RISOTTO WITH SAUTEED SHRIMP
1/4
cup, divided use2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4
cup finely chopped onion
1
tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
1
1/2 cups uncooked Arborio rice or other short-grain white rice
4
cups warm water
2
tablespoons dry white wine
1
tablespoon lemon juice
3
teaspoons vegetable base or instant bouillon granules
1/4
teaspoon ground black pepper
2
tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
8
ounces medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1
teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1
teaspoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1
teaspoon grated lemon peel
1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium saucepan. Add oil, onion and lemon peel; cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in rice; cook for 1 minute. Stir in water, wine, lemon juice, bouillon and pepper. Cover; cook gently over medium-low heat for 30 to 35 minutes. Stir in cheese; stirring occasionally.
2. Melt remaining butter
in medium skillet. Cook shrimp over medium-high heat for 3 to 4 minutes or
until pink. Serve shrimp over risotto; sprinkle with Gremolata.
3. For Gremolata: Combine
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley and 1
teaspoon grated lemon peel in small bowl. Mix and serve.
Makes 4 servings.
Picking lemons on the Amalfi Coast 
