Italian Favorites that my Nuni made

born and raised in Gallio, Italy

Her blonde hair is authentic.

Most of her family were light skin, blonde hair, blue eyes.

Northern Italian cuisine is characterized by a lesser use of olive oil, pasta and tomato sauce and a heavier reliance on butter (or lard), rice, corn (for polenta) and cheeses for cream sauces. ... Pasta in the north is by no means non-existent, but it does have to share time with delicious risotto and polenta.

Gallio, Vincenza, Italy

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Polenta

Ingredients

4 cups water

1 teaspoon fine salt

1 cup polenta

3 tablespoons butter, divided

½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for garnish

[She and my dad always used thread to cut it]

Directions

Step 1

Bring water and salt to a boil in a large saucepan; pour polenta slowly into boiling water, whisking constantly until all polenta is stirred in and there are no lumps.

Step 2

Reduce heat to low and simmer, whisking often, until polenta starts to thicken, about 5 minutes. Polenta mixture should still be slightly loose. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, whisking every 5 to 6 minutes. When polenta is too thick to whisk, stir with a wooden spoon. Polenta is done when texture is creamy and the individual grains are tender.

Step 3

Turn off heat and gently stir 2 tablespoons butter into polenta until butter partially melts; mix 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese into polenta until cheese has melted. Cover and let stand 5 minutes to thicken; stir and taste for salt before transferring to a serving bowl. Top polenta with remaining 1 tablespoon butter and about 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for garnish.

Baccala Mantecato Alla Venezia

Ingredients

1 pound dried salt cod

¾ cup heavy cream

3 cloves garlic finely minced

1 cup extra Virgin olive oil { you may need more}

2 bay leaves

Freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Prepare the codfish by soaking in a pan filled with cold water and changing the water every few hours. Do this for at least 24 hours - it may take longer depending how dried the cod is. Cut the cod into pieces and place in a pan and cover again with cold water and add the bay leaves and ½ cup cream.

Cover and bring to a boil with the lid slightly ajar. Cook at a steady boil for 20 minutes skimming any foam that comes to the top.

Once the cod is soft but still holds it shape remove from the water. Discard the bay leaves.

If the cod has skin and bones, now is the time remove them. Cut the cod into small pieces and put in a mixing bowl with the paddle or if you have an immersion had blender use it.*

Add the garlic and start the electric mixer at low speed to break up the fish. At medium speed start adding the olive oil. Keep mixing and add the remaining ¼ cup cream.

You may need extra olive oil depending on the cod. The baccala should be a light color and have a whipped, mousse-like texture.

Add freshly ground black pepper to taste. Salt if required. Garnish with Italian parsley.

Serve on grilled slices of polenta, fresh slices of baguette, crostini, crudites, or crackers.

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, diced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1⁄2 cup chopped carrot

1⁄2 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

48 ounces low sodium chicken broth

1 cup water

1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

fresh ground black pepper, to taste

salt, to taste

1 cup ditalini

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions

Heat olive oil over medium heat in large saucepan and saute chicken until lightly browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add carrot, onion and garlic to pan; saute until tender, but not brown. Add broth, water, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Heat to boiling. Stir in pasta. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add frozen vegetables, parsley and reserved chicken. Simmer for approximately 4 minutes until vegetables are tender.

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Homemade Breadsticks

About Grissini: Most would agree that they got their start in the Piedmont region in the north of Italy. It is thought that they have been around since the 14th century and may have been “born” in Turin. Even Napoleon acknowledged them and called them “ les petits batons de Turin”!

If you are looking for a little help, these breadsticks are also fun to make with your kids or grandkids! What are you waiting for – start rolling! Andiamo!

Ingredients -- Makes: 18-20

1 Loaf pizza dough – 1 Loaf pizza dough

Olive Oil

Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, Romano, or Asiago

Chopped Fresh Rosemary leaves or Coarse Salt– as options

Instructions

Make your pizza dough ahead and freeze it like I do. It’s easy and you’ll have about 4 loaves to keep in the freezer.

Take one of the loaves (or defrost one) and roll out flat and thinly on a lightly floured surface.

With a sharp knife, cut strips about ½ inch wide.

Take each strip, fold over on itself, and then roll with both hands to make a “snake” about 14” long.

Repeat with each strip.

Place on a cookie sheet, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with grated cheese ( & chopped rosemary leaves) or simply Coarse Salt.

OR – Another way of adding your rosemary, salt, cheese etc. – you might try rolling out your dough like this and sprinkling the dough first – then roll your sticks!

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until golden. Keep in an airtight container. They do not have to be refrigerated and will keep tightly covered for several days.

OK – so you got Napoleon’s approval and you are now ready to make your own GRISSINI – NORTHERN ITALIAN BREADSTICKS!

PARLA COME MANGI!

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Wine

The wines of Northern Italy include some of the most well known red wines in the country including Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, Amarone and Valpolicella. Arguably, the two most important regions in Northern Italy are Piedmont in the northwest, and Veneto in the northeast.

Step 1: Harvest red wine grapes

Red wine is made with black (aka purple) wine grapes. In fact, all the color you see in a glass of red wine comes from anthocyanin (red pigment) found in black grape skins.

During the grape harvest, the most important thing to do is to pick the grapes at perfect ripeness. It’s critical because grapes don’t continue to ripen after they’ve been picked.

Step 2: Prepare grapes for fermentation

After the harvest, grapes head to the winery. The winemaker decides whether or not to remove the stems or to ferment grape bunches as whole clusters.

This is an important choice because leaving stems in the fermentation adds astringency (aka tannin) but also reduces sourness. As an example, Pinot Noir often ferments with whole clusters, but not Cabernet Sauvignon.

During this step, grapes also receive sulfur dioxide to stop bacterial spoilage before the fermentation starts. Check out this eye-opening article about sulfites and your health.

Step 3: Yeast starts the wine fermentation

What happens is small sugar-eating yeasts consume the grape sugars and make alcohol. The yeasts come either from a commercial packet (just like you might find in bread making), or occur spontaneously in the juice.

Spontaneous fermentation uses yeast found naturally on grapes!

Commercial yeasts allow winemakers to produce very consistent wines year-in-and-out.

Natural yeasts are more challenging but often result in more complex aromatics.

Step 4: Alcoholic fermentation

Winemakers use many methods to tune the wine during fermentation.

For example, the fermenting juice gets frequently stirred to submerge the skins (they float!). One way to do this is to pump wine over the top. The other way is to punch down the “cap” of floating grape skins with a tool that looks like a giant potato masher.

Pumpovers rigorously extract lots of flavor from the grape skins and make for rich reds.

Punch downs extract flavors more delicately and thus they tend to produce more subtle red wines.

Step 5: Press the wine

Most wines take 5–21 days to ferment sugar into alcohol. A few rare examples, such as Vin Santo and Amarone, take anywhere from 50 days to up to 4 years to fully ferment!

After the fermentation, vintners drain the freely running wine from the tank and put the remaining skins into a wine press. Pressing the skins gives winemakers about 15% more wine!

Step 6: Malolactic fermentation (aka “second fermentation”)

As the red wine settles in tanks or barrels, a second “fermentation” happens. A little microbe feasts on the wine acids and converts sharp-tasting malic acid into creamier, chocolatey lactic acid. (The same acid you find in greek yogurt!)

Nearly all red wines go through Malolactic Fermentation (MLF) but only a few white wines. One white wine we all know is Chardonnay. MLF is responsible for Chardonnay’s creamy and buttery flavors.

Step 7: Aging (aka “Elevage”)

Red wines age in a variety of storage vessels including wooden barrels, concrete, glass, clay, and stainless steel tanks. Each vessel affects wine differently as it ages.

Wooden barrels affect wine the most noticeably. The oak wood itself flavors the wine with natural compounds that smell like vanilla.

Unlined concrete and clay tanks have a softening effect on wine by reducing acidity.

Of course, the biggest thing that affects flavors in red wine is time. The longer a wine rests, the more chemical reactions happen within the liquid itself. Some describe red wines as tasting smoother and more nutty with age.

Step 8: Blending the wine

Now that the wine is good and rested, it’s time to make the final blend. A winemaker blends grape varieties together or different barrels of the same grape to make a finished wine.

Blending wine is a challenge because you have to use your sense of texture on your palate instead of your nose.

The tradition of blending created the many famous wine blends of the world!

Step 9: Clarifying the wine

One of the final steps of how a red wine is made is the clarification process. For this, many winemakers add clarifying or “fining” agents to remove suspended proteins in the wine (proteins make wine cloudy).

It’s pretty common to see winemakers use fining agents like casein or egg whites, but there is a growing group of winemakers using bentonite clay because it’s vegan.

Then, the wine gets passed through a filter for sanitation. This is important because it reduces the likelihood of bacterial spoilage.

Of course, a large group of fine winemakers do not fine or filter because they believe it removes texture and quality. Whether or not that’s true is something for you to decide.

Step 10: Bottling and labeling wines

Now, it’s time to bottle our wine. It’s very important to do this step with as little exposure to oxygen as possible. A small amount of sulfur dioxide is often added to help preserve the wine.

Step 11: Bottle aging

Finally, a few special wines continue to age in the winemaker’s cellar for years. In fact, if you look up different types of red wines (like Rioja or Brunello di Montalcino) you’ll discover that this step is considered essential for reserve bottlings.

So, the next time you open a bottle try to figure out what went into it!

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At our house on Cypress, we always had bread sticks, wine, garlic, various cheeses on board. I lived in that house until I was 5 and we had Italian food for most meals. My Nuni cooked everyday, so my mom would just warm things up. 

If you're looking for a place to buy pastas, sausage and or basics for Italian recipes, go to Monte Carlo's / Pinocchio on Magnolia.