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The Origins of the Italian Cuisine: Magna Grecia and the Etruscans
The history of Italian cooking begins with Magna Grecia, where the culture of the Greek colonies popularized the art. The daily fare was simple and sober (pork, salted fish, chickpeas, lentils, lupins, olive pickles and dried figs) but at banquets the food was more varied and plentiful (soups, game in vinegar and honey sauces, sweets with almonds and walnuts) and also took on ritual and symbolic meanings. The Etruscans too had a simple diet based on the cereals favored by the fertile region (present-day Tuscany). The richest Etruscans were particularly fond of excellence and the pleasures of the table: The ancient Romans tell of sumptuous feasts.
Roman Cuisine in the Republican Era
Romans of the Republican Era were a sober people of frugal dietary habits: they usually had two meals a day, prandium and supper. The custom of a breakfast of cereal, honey, dried fruit and cheese was gradually introduced. For a long time the most widely consumed foods were boiled cereals (a kind of mush), legumes such as broad beans, lentils, chickpeas and lupins, vegetables of various types, bread and cake. The diet also included fish, game from the hunt (only eaten on festive days and there was no raising of livestock), milk, cheese and fruit.
Roman Cuisine in the Imperial Age
The Romans had two main daily meals, but they often added a breakfast of bread soaked in wine, grapes, olives, milk and eggs. The midday meal was a light affair of cold dishes. Dinner was the main meal: a feast of hors d'oeuvres (mixed seafood) followed by game, pork, veal, goat, fowl and, especially, fish and finally sweets with a honey base, fresh and dried fruit. These courses were accompanied by sweet, scented wines, as well as often having interludes for entertainment. Cuisine had thus become a refined pleasure and, for some, a show of wealth and originality, as in the famous banquets of Lucullu and Trimalchio.
Cuisine in the Middle Age
The cuisine of the Barbarians who invaded Italy from the 5th century A.D. was considerably different from that of the Romans and was based on plentiful roast meats, stuffed pastries and oven-baked pies. However, for the Italian population reduced to poverty and servitude, food was rather poor and consisted of cereals, milk, cheese and vegetables. Gradually, culinary art began a revival (especially after 1000 A.D.) in the agricultural centers around the monasteries where the famished and terrorized population had taken refuge. The general tendency was to make food healthier, more appetizing and digestible, eliminating elaborate preparation and introducing more fresh fruit and vegetables.
Gastronomical Revival in the Feudal Courts
Around 1200 A.D. life in the courts became less difficult, commerce and social life resumed and the feudal lords frequently organized celebrations, feasts and tournaments. At the most important meals, the courses were legion but cooked and served with no variety or cohesion. There was an endless series of roast meats seasoned with a garlic sauce (garlic, herbs, sweetmeats and almonds). The meal was finished with cheese and fruit. There was little change from roman cuisine, but the spices of the East were beginning to arrive in greater quantity and their exotic aromas starting to scent the food - a prelude to coming refinements.
The Spice Trade
There was already a spice trade in the Early Middle Ages, but this really intensified after the Crusades and demand was as much for cooking as for medicine. Alongside the fascination of rarity and high price, spices had other more practical and important qualities: the preserving of meat and fish for longer periods and the flavoring of otherwise bland foods. There was also an obligatory route for spices fixed, as with other prized merchandise, by customs and taxes. For many years the last lap of the journey was the monopoly of the great Venetian merchants and bankers.
The Culinary Discoveries of the great Explorers
Among the many goods brought to Europe and Italy by the explorers there were some foods whose importance was understood only in time. First, there was maize, widespread in North Italy, which, at the time of the great famines of the 17th century, became the base for the most common dish: polenta (a sort of meal mush). Then there were potatoes, tomatoes, and beans. Rice from Asia was an instant success and joined pasta as the nation’s first course. Venetian merchants imported sugar from the Orient and this, initially very expensive, was used in medicine and only later in cooking. Last there was coffee, of Turkish origin, and also first used as a medicine.
Cuisine in the renaissance
The 15th and 16th centuries were a particularly fortunate time for Italian cuisine. With respect to the preceding period, there was a greater variety and richness in the preparation of foods: soups, grilled, roast and boiled meats, meat pastries, fish, vegetable (also in oil) and refined salads, almond-based sweets, pine-nuts and candied fruits; cane sugar (then still expensive) began to replace honey. Renaissance court banquets were famous for their enormity and refinement, whilst the food of the common people remained rather simple: beans, lentils, chickpeas, buckwheat (used to prepare soups and porridges) as well as eggs, cheese and mutton.
Culinary Art and Etiquette in the Renaissance
Italian cuisine reigned supreme from the end of the Middle Ages to the 17th century and had a notable influence abroad. In particular, Catherine de` Medici popularized Italian recipes (especially sweets and ice cream) in France on her marriage to the future King Henry II. It was also in this period that the first menus and rules for courses were printed and table manners were improving, albeit very slowly. Within this latter context, the Italians were the educators of Europe and the famous 'Galateo` by Monsignor Della Casa was quickly translated and distributed abroad. The principal innovation was the use of individual cutlery.
Cuisine in the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries
The upper classes of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries enjoyed a refined cuisine. Every official event became the pretext for sumptuous feasts where the courses were abundant and the servings enormous: charcuterie hors d’Oeuvers and delicate French-style soups were followed by numerous meat and fish dishes, vegetables purees, intricate sweets and fruit, all presented with the utmost care, particularly in the rapidly spreading restaurants. However, the food of the common people remained frugal and monotonous, based on bread and vegetable soups, beans, cabbages and potatoes. Cheese and eggs were widespread as were polenta and pasta made from flour and eggs .
Foreign Influences and the Spread of New Foods
From the 17th to the 19th century many new dishes arrived from France: consommés‚crepes, purees, jellies, gravies and delicate, tasty sauces such as mayonnaise and béchamel. The presentation of the food was very important and was executed with great refinement. Even English cooking found its typical dishes becoming widespread abroad: roast beef, pudding and, above all, tea which however remained less popular than coffee or chocolate (from America). The most elegant places were never without coffee, which in fact became so popular as to give rise to locales where it was the most consumed drink: the coffee house or café.
20th Century Cuisine
In the last few decades Italian cuisine has altered as a result of rapid and profound changes in lifestyle. The involvement of industry in the food sector and the subsequent improvements in preparation, conservation and distribution has led to modifications of the old system and a raising of food standards but perhaps at the cost of a certain loss of flavor in meats and fresh vegetables. Italian cooking, with its adaptability in preparation, has remained resistant to this, as well as keeping up with the pace of 20th-century life. Italy therefore remains a country with a noble culinary tradition and is renowned abroad as such.
Source: http://www.floria-publications.com/italy/index.html
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Baccala Meatballs: Polpette di Musillo
Prep Time: 30 minutes / Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
2 pounds dried salt cod (baccala’), soaked for 48 hours in cold water, changing water at least twice daily
1 tablespoon plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 slices soft, white sandwich bread
1-cup nocino (green walnut liqueur)
1 cup black Gaeta olives, pitted
1/3-cup salt-packed capers, rinsed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 bunch fresh oregano, leaves finely chopped to yield 1/8 cup
3 large eggs
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 (16-ounce) can whole peeled plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, drained and crushed by hand
Rinse the soaked baccala and pat dry with a kitchen towel.
Lightly oil a 10-inch metal baking pan.
In a shallow bowl or pan, lay the bread slices flat. Pour the nocino over the bread and let stand, so that the liquor soaks into and softens the bread.
Roughly chop the baccala into chunks, about 1/4-inch each. Place these chunks in a medium-sized braising pot. Add the half the olives and half the capers. Add the soaked bread, pouring in any of the excess nocino, and use either your hands or a wooden spoon to blend all the ingredients, breaking up the bread. Mix until the meatball mixture is homogenous. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add a generous pinch of oregano. Mix again until well combined. Add the eggs and mix until completely homogenous.
Using your hands, form 12 evenly sized, meatballs from the mixture, each slightly larger in diameter than a golf ball, but smaller than tennis ball. Using your palm, squash each meatball so that they resemble thick coins in shape. This shape will help them hold up during the cooking process.
In a 12 to 14-inch saucepan, pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat over medium-high until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 6 at a time, add the meatballs and cook until brown on all sides, about 6 minutes each batch. Set the browned meatballs aside.
In a 14-inch saucepan over medium-high heat, heat 1-tablespoon oil until hot but not smoking. Add the sliced garlic and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, the remaining olives, capers and oregano. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer gently for 15 minutes. Add the meatballs and simmer until they are warm throughout. Serve immediately.
Fresh Vegetable Lasagne // Lasagne di Verdure Fresche
A medley of just-picked summer vegetables layered between thin sheets of lasagne noodles gives this dish its garden-fresh taste. I like to use Del Verde brand no-boil lasagne sheets. For this recipe, you will need eight of the 7 by 6½-inch sheets. If using another brand, adjust the number of lasagne sheets as necessary to make four layers in the pan.
3 tablespoons Colavita™ Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 large white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
1/4 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
2 medium potatoes, cooked, peeled, and diced
1 pound ripe tomatoes, diced
Fine sea salt to taste
Eight 7 by 6 1/2-inch no-boil lasagne noodles
1 cup diced Italian Fontina cheese
1 cup diced provolone cheese
1 cup diced mozzarella cheese
2 cups Tomato and Basil Sauce or prepared sauce
In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion begins to soften. Add the pepper, zucchini, and eggplant and cook until the vegetables soften. Stir in the basil and parsley. Add the potatoes and tomatoes, stir well, and season with salt. Cover the pan and let simmer until very soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease a 14 by 8 1/2 by 2-inch baking pan with olive oil.
Place 2 lasagne sheets in the pan, slightly overlapping them. Spoon about 2 cups of the vegetable mixture over the noodles. Scatter the Fontina cheese over the vegetables. Cover the cheese with 2 more lasagne noodles. Spread another 2 cups of the vegetable mixture on top. Scatter the provolone cheese over, cover with 2 more lasagne sheets, and top with the remaining vegetable mixture. Scatter the mozzarella cheese over the vegetables and top with the remaining 2 lasagna sheets.
Press down on the top sheets with your hands to compact the layers. Spread the tomato sauce over the top. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
Let the lasagne cool for about 5 minutes before cutting into squares. Serve immediately.
Note: Cooked lasagne can be frozen for as long as 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator and reheat in a moderate oven for 20 to 30 minutes: SERVES 8 TO 10
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The Italian Cuisine