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My Nonna is Back |
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Ciao a tutti!
I'd like to welcome you to a very special week here at Cooking with Nonna. My very own Nonna Romana returns to teach us one of the most coveted recipes in all of Italian cooking: Foccacia Barese! The delicate preparation of this often imitated and almost never duplicated (until now, that is!) sentinel of the dinner table will finally be revealed so that this wonderful staple can grace everyone's table.
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Foccacia comes in many shapes, sizes and tastes. As with anything involved with Italian culture, the styles and flavors not only vary region to region, but town to town. Foccacia Barese gets its individual charm from the traditional topping: tomatoes. Often in the North, for example, one finds that the very sight of anything other than herbs atop their crispy bread vulgar and offensive, while others recoil at the notion of the absence of some sort of vegetable. Common items you will find in wide use are onions, olives and peppers, while others use various types of cheeses to accompany the herbs. As always, we encourage our viewers to experiment, and if you find that magical combination of ingredients to adorn your foccacia, stick with it!
The streets of Foccacia-ville have been littered with the unsuccessful attempts at taming the wild beast. Too dry, too salty, too oily are the signposts that mark the resting places of those that have come before. Dear friends, it's time to depart from the past once and for all. With these simple instructions, some moxie, and the actual ingredients, you can sleep soundly knowing that you've reached one of the most coveted plateaus in the world of Italian cuisine. Thanks again to Nonna Romana and her recipe, which has now spanned two centuries (and will traverse many more, I'm sure!)
Tanti Baci,
Rossella
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Welcome Back Nonna Yolanda Agostino |
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Ciao a tutti!
I hope everyone had a wonderfully (and ironically) relaxing Labor Day! Now that all of our white clothing is safely tucked away for the winter, soon the leaves will be dropping off of the trees, and the gentle sound of children slipping on them and falling will be echoing throughout the republic. Once they are healed and back on their way, it's time to get back into the swing of all things culinary! Nonna Yolanda is back in front of the burners this
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week, and this time she's bringing something totally unique with her - Tonno alla Evelina (Evelina's Tuna)!
This recipe comes to us from Nonna Yolanda's mother, who made various changes to an older recipe for Tuna. A recipe born in the piping hot cauldron that is Calabrese cooking, this very special tuna dish will very easily become a favorite of yours, as it has mine. The richness of the thick tuna steaks is taken advantage of through the blending of the flavor elements from our secondary ingredients. Salty notes from the pancetta, the piquant sour touch of the capers, and, lest we forget, the token Calabrese hot peppers famous the world over for their inferno-like qualities. And let's not forget the naturally occurring omega-3 oil released by the tuna, just to make sure everything stays healthy!
A word to the wise: We've discussed here before the many wonders found within the walls of a Calabrese kitchen, and the, shall we say, pronounced heat of their ingredients is lost only on the very dim, the noticeably thick, or those hard of tasting. That said, no matter what any Calabrese nonna says, their peppers are not candy. Repeat: not candy in any way, shape or form. I've been around a few blocks before and never has a piece of candy caused me to drink so much water in one sitting. So enjoy the Tonna alla Evelina while I take the rest of the week to rehabilitate my taste buds. Thank you, Nonna Yolanda, for sharing your mother's wonderful recipe with us!
Tanti Baci,
Rossella
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