Life in Italia: Buon appetito!

Ciao friends!  I figured it was time to do another little installment of "Life in Italia", and dip into Italian cuisine.  Nothing better to talk about in the middle of swimsuit season than pasta and pizza, right? 

Let's time travel back to a year ago when we first arrived in The Boot.  We were living in a hotel, having to eat out every single night, and to be honest, I was not impressed with any of my meals.  I mean, they weren't bad....but I was expecting some guy to come out tossing pizza dough and singing "It's Amore" at every meal, and some little Italian woman to love me so much she would want to give me her secret family recipe for lasagna.  Didn't happen. 

Then, I altered my expectations (maybe it wasn't reasonable for me to expect Luigi to make the world's best pizza for me every night), we moved downtown and started trying new places.  And our food experiences got better and better.  We learned that the "good stuff" would be the seasonal dishes.  We learned to look at other people's plates and if everyone else in the place was eating it, we probably should be too.  We learned how to eat like Italians.  Different regions are famous for different things and once we figured this out, we started to enjoy every meal. 

I like to explain our experience like this:  You can't come to America and expect all "American" food to be awesome.  You can go to Applebee's, or you can go to a local place that makes their menu based off what they could find at the farmers market that morning.  It's the same way here.  You can't come to Italy and expect all Italian food to knock your socks off.  You just have to find out what's good.

So, what are some things I'm going to take away from Italia in terms of cooking and eating?  Where do I start?

-Less is more. 

Some of my favorite things to eat here have less than three ingredients.  I could (and often do) make a meal out of prosciutto and melon.  Caprese salads are also a staple of mine--just fresh mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes.  Their sauces are simple (pizza sauce is really just fresh tomato sauce).  Cooking doesn't have to be tons of seasonings and marinades.  Just take something good and make it the star of the show. 

-Fresh is better. 

The other day, I was recreating our wedding cake for our fake anniversary and I needed strawberries.  It's summer, so I assumed you could find strawberries anywhere.  John Ralph was going out for something, so I asked him to pick some up for me.  He had to walk all over creation to find some bottom of the barrel strawberries for me because they weren't in season anymore.  Fresh is better. 

Like I said earlier, the really good dishes are going to be made with seasonal ingredients.  That little Italian mama I wanted a lasagna recipe from?...her best dishes come from ingredients she picked from her back yard.  And when those ingredients are gone, she doesn't cook that dish anymore.  It's really that simple:  Cook what you grow. 

-Enjoy.

You don't just run out and grab something for dinner here.  You sit down, enjoy the weather, enjoy a drink, enjoy your company, enjoy your food, enjoy some dolce, enjoy a cafe, and then enjoy your company some more.  Everything is a little slower.  I do have to remind myself to slow down a little.  We should learn a little from the Italians and really enjoy. 


So, there you have it.  Italian food from my perspective.  I think I'll go enjoy some gnocchi.  Ciao for now!