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TASTES OF ITALY
By
Odette Halliford
The
very best of Italian gastronomy was showcased at the spectacular
TUTTOFOOD exhibition, recently staged in Milan by Fiera Milano.
 
 Odette
Halliford, representing Showcook.com and Africa,
amongst 55 international
food journalists gathered to witness one of Europe’s most innovative food
shows. On her return Odette invited four top food journalists; Ornella Fado,
Barbara
Gibbs Ostmann, Marlena
Spieler and David
Washington, to
send SHOWCOOK a favourite recipe.
  
The
Italians have done incredibly well introducing their style of eating to most nations of the world
and Showcook’s visit to Tuttofood in Milan, was an affirmation of the
diversity and popularity of the Italian food heritage.
Tuttofood
attracted food writers from as far afield as Moscow, Shanghai and Sae
Paulo and their enthusiasm for all things Italian was infectious. We couldn’t let this opportunity slip by and here we introduce
you to a few of the writers and their well-tried-and-tested recipes.
Buon
Appetito!
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Ornella Fado
Italian
born, Ornella Fado moved to New York 11 years ago. She has a career
background in Italian film
and dance and her latest venture, the TV show “Brindiamo!” has
proved to be a popular slot on Saturday mornings on channel 25, nyctv.
Ornella’s bubbly enthusiasm and sheer glamour certainly add to
the appeal of the programme which features successful Italian
restaurants around the US. She
is a passionate Italian and strives to promote and keep the Italian
language and culture very much alive. On “Brindiamo!”she talks food, wine and people… Italian
people living in America. She
hopes one day to compile a “visual encyclopaedia of Italians around
the world”. www.brindiamotv.com
COSTOLETTE
D'AGNELLO CON CIME DE RAPE
Chops with Broccoli Rabe
This
is a recipe that I made in my show " Brindiamo" under the
instructions of Chef Marcello Russodivito
16 lamb chops, center cut
1 ½ lbs broccoli rabe,
without stems
12 cloves garlic, crushed
3 stalks fresh rosemary
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
(
Serves 4)
Marinate lamb chops in
½ cup olive oil, 8 cloves of garlic and
fresh rosemary for 3 hours.
Steam broccoli rabe for a few minutes, drain and set aside. Put
½
cup olive oil in frying pan. Fry lamb chops on a high heat until chops
are crispy and cooked pink. Set aside.
In the same oil, add 4 cloves of garlic and cook until golden. Add
broccoli rabe, salt and red pepper flakes to taste. Arrange chops on
plate in a circle with broccoli rabe in the middle. Sprinkle with a
little extra virgin olive oil.
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Barbara
Gibbs Ostmann
Barbara
Gibbs Ostmann lives in Missouri, US. She has written over a dozen cookbooks and currently contributes
to several US newspapers. Barbara
is a self-described travel junkie! She keeps her bag packed and is ready to go on a moment’s
notice.
During her time in
Milan for Tuttofood, she found an old favourite of hers, Brutti ma Buoni
(Ugly but Good) cookies in a small bakery near the Duomo. “I first
sampled these many years ago, on a foodie tour of Italy and wrote about
them at the time. The ones in Milan tasted just as good as I remembered!”
Barbara Gibbs Ostmann
has been writing about travel, food and wine for more than 30 years.
She’s the co-author of “The Recipe Writer’s Handbook” (John
Wiley & Sons, 2001), a style manual, and a dozen cookbooks. She was
the food editor of the St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch for 17 years,
food writer for the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group for 12
years, coordinator of the Agricultural Journalism program at the
University of Missouri for three years, and has been head of her own
company, Write & Edit, Ink., since 1993. She lives on a farm about
an hour southwest of St. Louis, Missouri.
BRUTTI MA BUONI ALLA
MILANESE
“Ugly
but Good” Hazelnut Paste Cookies
8 or 9 egg whites, at
room temperature
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons
granulated (white) sugar (240 g)
¾ teaspoon pure
vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups (200 g)
hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and chopped to the size of fat rice
kernels
(Yield: 2 ½ dozen cookies)
Beat 8 egg whites in
bowl of electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat, gradually adding the
sugar, and continue beating until peaks are stiff and shiny. Stir in
vanilla. Fold in nuts.
Transfer mixture to a
saucepan. Cook over low heat about 10 minutes. Initially the mixture
will soften and then, as it cooks, it should come together in a single,
although not well defined, lump. It is done when it is light brown and
pulls away from the side of the pan. If the mixture is dry and crumbly,
add the last egg white, a bit at a time, to moisten it. Remove mixture
from heat.
Drop the dough by
teaspoons 1 ½ inches apart onto well-buttered or parchment-lined
baking sheets.
Bake cookies in a
preheated 300˚F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly
colored. If the cookies seem too soft, you can turn off the oven and
leave them there about 10 minutes. Let cool on racks. These cookies keep
well in an air-tight container.
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Marlena
Spieler
Marlena
Spieler broadcasts and writes internationally on her favourite
subject… food – cooking, eating and sharing it! Her lively unpretentious style of writing is much loved in both
her adopted home, England and in her native America and she has over 50
successful cookbooks to her credit.
Marlena travels the world to conjure up flavours and dishes…
from Morocco to Mexico, from India to Italy – her recipes are
innovative and never intimidating.
Her latest book, “Jewish Traditions Cookbook” (Lorenz
Books, LLC, 2006 ) contains over 400 recipes gathered from around the
globe. Marlena has won
numerous awards for her writing and broadcasting and she is regularly on
the BBC airwaves. She contributes to the New York Times and her stories
are often syndicated by our own Sunday Times. www.marlenaspieler.com
SPAGHETTI
WITH ZUCCHINI AND ROASTED RED PEPPERS
(from
her book, Pasta, Headline Publishers)
This is so simple, light and
lithe, perfect for summer (we here in the
northern hemisphere) or waiting for summer (you in the south).
4
red bell peppers, roasted, seeded and peeled (or a
jar about 9 fl oz/250 g)
1 small bunch chives, about 1 oz/25 g freshly snipped
2 - 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 - 8 leaves basil, thinly sliced
2 - 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 lb/450 g spaghetti (good quality spaghetti, imported from Italy!)
Dash of balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
4 zucchini, diced or cut into bite sized pieces
(Serves 4)
Finely chop the peppers and place them in a bowl with the chives, garlic, basil and half the olive oil.
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, then add the spaghetti and cook about three-four minutes until half
cooked, then add the zucchini and continue cooking until the spaghetti is al dente, or just tender; the
zucchini will be tender as well. Drain.
Add the vinegar, salt and pepper to the pepper mixture, then toss the drained pasta with the
remaining olive oil and serve each portion of spaghetti and zucchini with a dollop of the red pepper
sauce/relish.
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David
Washington
David
Washington is based in Adelaide and is the Managing Editor of Australia’s
Sumptuous magazine.
In his
diverse career, David has been a political reporter for a number of
major Australian newspapers, the editor of a magazine for young drivers
and a communications manager at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Sumptuous reflects his enduring passion for food! This quarterly
publication is a delectable mixture of inspiration and knowledge on
contemporary food and wine derived from the source: South Australian food producers and wine makers.
Visit www.sumptuous.com.au
STUFFED
BELL PEPPERS
This
is a rustic and simple dish, based on a recipe in Antonio Carluccio’s
wonderful book Vegetables.
In
Australia we call bell peppers capsicums. Whatever you call them, make
sure they are very fresh, with taught, shiny skins.
Preheat
the oven to 200ºC. You
can choose either long red or green peppers, or the fatter, squatter
variety. (Small peppers would be fiddly, but delicious, and you would
need to allow shorter cooking time.) Carefully slice off the stem end
and remove the seeds and membrane within (a long, thin, sharp knife
helps).
Get
yourself some fantastic Italian pork sausages – it’s up to you which
kind or how spicy they are. I like the spicy ones.
Split
the sausages open, discard the casings and put the meat into a bowl
(about 100 g for each pepper, but this varies depending on the size of
the peppers). Add two well beaten eggs to the sausage mixture along with
a couple of tablespoons of dried breadcrumbs, half a teaspoon of ground
cumin, a dash of dried chilli (depending on spiciness of the meat),
salt, freshly ground black pepper and a grating of nutmeg. Stuff the
sausage mixture into the peppers and carefully replace the stem end to
cap it off. Place the peppers on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil
and bake for about 30 minutes.
You
can serve them hot as part of an Italian feast. Alternatively (and this
is what I like to do), let them cool, wipe off any fat from the sausages
with kitchen paper, and then slice it into one to two centimetre rounds.
Serve as part of an antipasto course, or eat joyfully on a thick slice
of crusty Italian bread with homemade tomato sauce.
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