AUNTIE PASTA: The Truth About August

CHIAVARI, Italy – After starting my Italian life on the sunny Riviera where things are popping in the summertime, you can imagine my surprise to find that in other parts of Italy, life in the summer is quite different. For example: when I moved to Milan I found myself living in a concrete jungle that was bustling and busy in July, but in August it was as empty as a dried out bee hive.  

 

The Galleria, Milan, Italy

I woke up one morning and Milan had been evacuated. Every business around my apartment had closed and “Chiuso per Ferie” (Closed for Vacation) signs had suddenly sprouted up everywhere. After a few days, I started to worry. The cupboard was getting dangerously bare and there was not a sighting of anyone selling food anywhere.

What to do? I took to the quiet, traffic free streets and began wandering up one and down another, dragging my empty grocery cart foraging for food like a Neanderthal housewife. There wasn’t even a bar open in my neighborhood where I could get a sandwich. I was starting to question the wisdom of moving to Milan. The plummy job offer I had received wasn’t going to do me much good if I starved to death over the summer, now was it.

 

 Chiuso per Ferie - Closed for Vacation

I was down to my last can of tuna when I discovered that as a public service, the Corriere della Sera, the local newspaper, published lists of the grocery stores in Milan that were open in August. There were only a handful of them, mostly in remote neighborhoods I had never heard of. And I’m not talking mega-super marts, I talking mom and pop shops that were so small they only had room for 5 cartons of milk and half a dozen loaves of bread. In other words, get there early.

To be honest, that was at the end of the 90’s, and things did improve with time. But not much. So, in the name of the Freedom of Information Act – which doesn’t actually apply here in Italy, here’s a list of bars in Milan that make it a point to be open in August travelers who think mid-August is a good time to visit the city. Like the Corriere della Sera’s list of grocery stores that were open in August, it’s a short list and    not in any particular order.  I’m just thrilled to have a list. For certain there are other places that are open, you’ll just have to pretend you are on a city safari and seek them out.

Pattini Buenos Aires

Pattini Buenos Aires

Corso Buenos Aires 55, Milano
Tel. 02.29516010

They would like you to think all the shops along busy Corso Buenos Aires are "open all year", but they are not. However, Pattini is. This bakery/bar offers bread, foccacia, cakes of all types – which you can also buy by the slice, and of course that cornerstone of Italian breakfast, that bit of uber-deliciousness the French call croissants, our one and only Italian brioche/cornetti. You know the ones I mean. Those horn shaped pastries that come with a shot og custard or marmalade indifr. Or sometimes, if they are whole wheat brioche, they are filled with honey. Or just plain. Who can resist?  

 Princi Cafe

Princi Cafe

Piazza XXV Aprile 5, Milano
Tel. 02.29060832
princi.it

In Piazza XXV Aprile, Princi is always open. The baker is always baking, the bar man is always doing what bar men do. On offer, along with bread, foccacia and fancy cakes you can have a coffee or a nice cup of tea or even snack or an aperitif. The cocktails are summery and pretty with lots of fresh fruit. You can sit out on the terrace and enjoy the quiet of summer in the city in August. As they say in Italian, “si sta bene”.  

Bistro Elettrauto Cadore

Elettrauto Cadore

Via Giacomo Pinaroli, 3, 20135 Milano
Tel. 02.55191781
facebook.com/pages/LElettrauto

Elletrauto Cadore, as the name implies, was once a garage. Now it is a cool place where you can have a cocktail, light lunch or a cup of coffee. The happy hour buffet, along with the usual pieces of foccacia, salami and cheese, offers something new  – something new for Milan at any rate -  chicken wings.  When the weather is nice, you can sit outside under the umbrellas. If you have a good imagination, you can pretend you are on vacation.

QC Terme Milano

QC Terme Milano

Piazzale Medaglie d’Oro 2, angolo Via Filippetti, Milano
Tel. 02.55199367
termemilano.com/it

Aperiterme is QC Terme’s name for their happy hour. It’s held in the garden and afterwards you can sit in the sun and work on your tan in the large outdoor area, or have a facial, the new one that gives light and energy to tired skin (their words, not mine). Or, it might be the neck massage that gives the light and energy, and with all that new energy you can take a dip in the pool which is open until 12:30 AM or, head for the sauna. At any rate you’ll surely be transported to faraway places by the scent of garden flowers and lavender, and who knows, you just might forget that you are even still in Milan.

LIFE: Back to Nature

SARONNO,  Italy - Once, on a very hot day in July, Guilianna called and asked if I wanted to have lunch in Como. “I know a great place,” she said, “a baita up in the hills behind Cernobbio. It should be cooler up there.”

Italian/Swiss Alps

Desperate to escape the heat I jumped on the invitation and it wasn’t long before we were on the road. We drove to Como and continued until we got to Cernobbio where she made a turn up a narrow two lane road that wound upward behind the highway. 

For the next half hour or so we followed that winding road, climbing higher with every turn.  At one point we entered a very large pine forest and under the deep shade of the trees the air was deliciously cool and fresh. But as we continued to climb upward, cool and fresh became too cool and fresh to keep the windows open.

Onward and Upward Through the Dense Pine Forest We Went

The pine forest was immense, thick with trees so tall you could hardly see the tops of them. I remember thinking we had entered another world, one that was far from civilization, not realizing just how far from civilization we had yet to go. We had not seen another car since we left the highway in Cernobbio about an hour before, and I, with my limited (actually no) outdoorsy camping experience was starting to get a little nervous. If something happened to the car, who would find us? We could be stranded in this forest forever trying to survive on twigs and leaves. There are times in a city girl’s life when even a mugger is a welcomed sight, and this was one of those times, especially if the mugger had a car we could hijack.

The Baita Looked Something Like This

The baita turned out to be a large wood and stone chalet set on the edge of the forest. We had driven not to the top of the mountain, but almost, and as we walked up to the door of the baita Guilianna turned to me and said, “that’s Switzerland over there.”  She was pointing to a spot about half a block from where we were standing. We had driven to the uppermost border between Italy and Switzerland and I remember thinking how easy it would be to smuggle something or someone, or a lot of somethings and someones across that border.

The air was was again cool and fresh, a breeze was blowing across the massive stone peaks  and in the middle of one of the hottest days of the year, Guilianna and I sat and ate steaming plates of polenta with sausages for lunch.

An Alpine Dairy Farm

While we were eating lunch a young girl came in. She was a big, strong girl, dressed in a warm jacket and sweater, leather hiking boots and carrying a walking stick. With her long blonde braids, and ruddy cheeks, I figured it had to be Heidi all grown up.  Of course she wasn’t my storybook Heidi, or even Swiss as it turned out, she was actually from Norway or Sweden, I don’t remember which. She said she had a summer job working at one of the local dairy farms. Her job was to milk the cows twice a day, muck out the barn and do other similar farm related duties.Today was her day off so she decided to hike here from the other side of the mountain, Mount Grona, and have lunch.

At the time, I wondered why such a pretty girl would want to spend an entire summer stuck on a farm in the middle of nowhere, but lately I’ve come to realize that more and more young Europeans, especially Italians, are starting to look at life in a different way. Instead of focusing on technology and getting ahead at all costs, many are turning to a more simple life, the life of their great-grandparents. Life as it used to be before the wars, when Europe was still an agricultural based society.

Matteo Moretto

Since that chance encounter with Heidi’s look alike up in the mountains behind Como, I’ve met others who have taken up a more self-reliant style of living. Remember Matteo Moretto the goat farmer and cheesemaker? (If not, check out that blog at: http://thisitalianlife.blogspot.it/2011/06/auntie-pasta-farmers-market-saronno.html) He’s another feet on the ground, head square on his shoulders type of guy who chose to reconnect with the earth and live a more balanced and harmonious lifestyle.

Maybe it’s the global recession that’s driving young people back to their roots, and maybe that’s a good thing. Farming has changed, animal husbandry has changed, just about everything about living a sustainable lifestyle has changed from when their great-grandparents were giving it a go. It’s a lot easier now, there is more information available at the click of a mouse. And the beauty of it is that it really isn’t all that far from the fields to the future these days so you can have the best of both worlds. And maybe that makes a little baita on the mountainside the best place to be after all. 

I thought you might like this very short video called 'Walking in Italy Monte Grona', which I found on YouTube. Mount Grona is the mountain behind Como and in the video you can see both Lake Como, which is in Italy and Lake Lugano in Switzerland, and pretty much the area where Giulliana and I were that day.

As always, your feedback and comments on what's posted on thisitalianlife blog is much appreciated.  

AUNTIE PASTA: Viva la Pappa

SARONNO, Italy - Sometimes you just can’t keep a promise. In this case the promise was to post a blog about summer food in Italy this week. I was all set to write about butterfly pasta with zucchini and saffron, veal in tuna sauce and Tuscany’s classic tomato soup, pappa col pomodoro. 

Pappa col Pomodoro

But when I was checking the internet to compare my recipe for pappa with some of the recipes on the Italian cooking sites, I found the fantastic step-by-step photos you see below. Their recipe is a little different than mine, but the end results are pretty much the same.

Interestingly the site is managed by a company that sells saffron, and there is no saffron in this simple, but delicious Tuscan favorite. You can check out the website  @http://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Pappa-col-pomodoro.html

Pappa col pomodoro originated in Tuscany, specifically in the town of Sienna, and has been a Tuscan favorite since the Middle Ages. It was originally devised to make use of left over bread and the abundance of red, ripe tomatoes you find in Tuscany in the summer.  The dish became popular throughout Italy  after singer Rita Pavone recorded her hit song, Viva la Pappa col Pomodoro. The catchy tune  was an instant hit and is still one of the most popular songs ever recorded in Italian history. I doubt there is an Italian who doesn’t know the words.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqIKVEh9BPI  

While Italian food is fairly easy to prepare, most Italian recipes tend to utilize fresh ingredients rather than take shortcuts. I, on the otherhand, do - take shortcuts that is. In my humble, albit lazy opinion there really is no need to go to the bother of peeling, chopping and pressing fresh tomatoes  through a passavedura, as the recipe calls for, when I can just open a can of good quality already peeled Italian tomatoes and get excellent results.

If you are wondering what “pappa” is, it is any kind of food that is mushed up, most generally for babies but it can also be food for the infirmed and old folks who don’t have any teeth. On that appetizing note, here are the recipes.

Pappa col Pomodoro

500 g (about 1lb) of fresh ripe tomatoes

Half a round loaf of unsalted Tuscan bread or firm, rustic bread, slightly stale.

3 heads of garlic, peeled  

Bunch of fresh basil – washed, dried and torn into small pieces

About 4 cups of vegetable broth, preferably homemade

Extra virgin Italian olive oil

Salt and pepper QB ("quanto basta" is Italian for "to taste")

1/2 teaspoon sugar

 

(1)Cut the bread into slices and lightly toast. Let cool and then rub each slice with a piece of peeled garlic. (2) Dip the tomatoes into boiling water for one minute;

 

(3) Peel them and (4) push them through a passavedura. (5) Collect the juice and mashed pulp from the tomatoes in a container. (6) Layer the bread slices in a terra cotta or non-stick pot;

 

(7) Ladle the tomatoes over the bread slices, (8) add the vegetable broth to cover, add salt, pepper and sugar, (9) cook over low flame for 40-50 minutes, mixing the bread and tomatoes occasionally to break up the bread;

 

(10) When cooked, taste and add more salt if needed, and pepper to taste, (11) add the shredded basil and (12) pour into serving dishes and top with a drizzle of good quality olive oil. Serve at room temperature.  

My version of this recipe is just a little different. Besides using canned tomatoes I cut the bread into slices and then into 1/2 inch cubes and set them aside. In a terra cotta pot I lightly brown 2 cloves of garlic (which I have smashed with the side of my knife) in olive oil, and then add the torn up pieces of basil. 

Let the garlic cook for about 2 minutes then add the bread cubes, mix and let cook for a couple more minutes. Then add the tomatoes straight from the can and mix thoroughly. At this point, add the broth and salt and pepper to taste. (Prepared broth can be very salty, so be sure to taste it before adding additional salt.) 

Keep in mind that regardless of which recipe you use, tomato pappa should be very thick, not liquid. The key to making this great summer dish is the quality of the bread and tomatoes you use. If they are good, the pappa will be good, and you won't believe how delicious this simple dish will be.

Serve in soup bowls with a little olive oil drizzled over the top. This dish tastes even better if refrigerated it overnight and served the next day. Buon Appetito.

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Life Sunday Preview: Here Comes the Bride

AUNTIE PASTA: Yum, Gelato

SARONNO, Italy – It’s five o’clock on a warm, spring Saturday afternoon in Saronno. The sidewalk cafes are crowded with young mothers fashionably dressed in the latest Dolce and Gabbana, spoon feeding gelato to their cooing, round-faced babies. 

The older kids, juggling their own ice cream cones, are gathered around the dads who are clutching handfuls of wrinkled paper napkins and ice cream cones of their own. The dads are doing their best to keep the kids from getting gelato all over themselves, but it doesn’t always work. The gelato always wins.

 Tre Gusti

If you have ever been to Italy you know that the gelato shops, gelaterie, are a force of nature. With showcases filled with tub after tub of creamy gelato in more colors and flavors than any one human could possible come up with. First they lure you in for a better look, and once in - you are hooked. Then you have to make some decisions: cup or cone? Two scoops or three? And what flavors do you want. Ahhh yes, which flavors. Now that’s the hard part. 

In a town like Saronno, where tourists are as rare as ghost orchids, the clerks are used to customers knowing what they want on their three scoop cones. Everyone has their favorites, and even before kids reach teenage-hood, they are masters of combining flavors that complement each other. I’m not so good at that, and often feel intimidated when some 12 year old steps up and orders coconut, chocolate and pistachio faster than I can say, “just crema please.” 

 Which one do I want? Which one do I want?

I remember a large group of American students in Santa Margherita Ligure who had a clever plan. They each bought a different flavor of gelato in a cup, and then they passed the cups around so everyone got a taste of all the flavors. Their goal was to taste every flavor of gelato in that gelateria before they went home. It was going to take a few days, but no one seemed to mind.

Here are 42 of the more common gelato flavors that you will  find in any good gelateria. It is by no means a complete list for every area has its own specialty flavors, and those may vary throughout the summer.  If you are planning a trip to Italy this summer, you just might want to print this list out and put it in your suitcase.

The Flavors

cioccolato fondente (cho-koh-LAH-toh fawn-DEN-teh) – Dark chocolate.

cioccolato al latte (cho-koh-LAH-toh fawn den-teh) Milk chocolate

cioccolato bianco (cho-koh-LAH-toh BEE-ahn-koh) White Chocolate

bacio (BAH-cho) – hazelnut and chocolate. Named for the famous chocolate candies from Perugia

gianduja or gianduia (jahn-DOO-yah) –Milk chocolate and hazelnuts. Named for the famous chocolate candies from Turin  

cioccolato all’arancia (cho-koh-LAH-toh ahl-ah-RAHN-cha) – chocolate orange with either an orange flavor or candied bits of orange peel

Nutella (nu-TELL-ah) named for that fabulous Italian chocolate and hazelnut spread  

pistacchio (pee-STAHK-yoh) – Pistachio  

mandorla (MAHN-door-lah) – Almond

nocciola (noh-CHO-lah) – Hazelnut with no chocolate

fior di latte (fyor dee LAH-tay) – Literally milk’s flower. Kind of like cream, kind of like vanilla, but not either one 

crema (KREH-mah) –  Sweet cream,  vanilla

zabaione (zah-bah-YOH-nay) – Frozen version of zabaglione

caffè (kah-FAY) –  Coffee

crem caramel (crem-CARA-mel) cream with swirls of caramel

panna cotta – (pah-nah-KAW-tah) – literally cooked cream – frozen version of Italian dessert

Yogurt (sometimes spelled jogurt) – yogurt

cocco (KOH-koh) – Coconut

amarena (ah-mah-RAY-nah) –  Cherries in fior di latte 

fragola (FRAH-go-lah) – Strawberry  

lampone (lahm-POH-nay) – Raspberry  

limone (lee-MOH-nay) – Lemon  

mandarino (mahn-dah-REE-noh) – Mandarin orange

melone (meh-LOH-nay) – Melon (usually cantaloupe)

albicocca (al-bee-KOH-kah) – Apricot

anguria –(an GUR-ri-ah) watermelon

fico (FEE-koh) – Fig

frutti di bosco (FROO-tee dee BOHS-koh) –  “forest fruits” like blueberries and blackberries.

mela (MEH-lah) – Apple (also look for mela verde (MEH-lah VEHR-day), or green apple)

pera (PEH-rah) – Pear

pesca (PEHS-kah) – Peach

kiwi – same as in English

menta – (men-TAH) mint

zuppa inglese (TSOO-pah een-GLAY-zay)  “English soup,” frozen version of English trifle 

tiramisu – (TEE- rah-mee sue) Frozen version of famous Italian dessert

cassata – (kah-SAH-tah) Frozen version of famous Sicilian dessert

riso (REE-zoh) – Rice, kind of like rice pudding  

malaga (MAH-lah-gah) – Rum raisin

stracciatella (strah-cha-TEL-lah) – Fior di latte with chocolate bits 

liquirizia (lee-kwee-REE-tzee-ah) – Licorice 

cannella (kah-NEL-lah) – Cinnamon

maron glace’ (mah-rhon GLA-say) – cream with candied chestnuts

puffo (POOF-foh) – Literally “Smurf” – blue ice cream that may taste like licorice or bubble gum, depending on the shop 

The words: Produzione Propria, Nostra Produzione, mean homemade and Produzione Artigianale means “not mass produced in a big factory”.

Cono – (Koh-noh – plural coni - Koh-nee) cone

Coppa –(KOH-pah) cup

Gusto – (GOO-stoh – (plural – GOO-stee) – scoop or flavor

Panna – (PAH–nah) whipped cream

Granite (grah-NEE-teh, flavored iced), Frappe (frahp-PEH, a type of milkshake) and Semifreddo (semi-FRAY-doh - soft ice cream) may also be on the menu.

From an Italian ad for gelato

 → A Word of Warning – Before you buy check the price list that by law must be posted in all Italian gelaterie and ice cream stands on the street. Some unsuspecting tourists recently paid $38 for two regular size ice cream cones at a stand on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. The prices were listed, it was all legal.

Auntie Pasta Preview- Next Week: The secrets of making Semifreddo at home.

 

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