Filed under: Events | Tags: cooking, Easter, Easter Egg, eating, Grassroots Gourmet, Holidays, Italian Easter, Lamb, Parma, Pasqua, spring, Travel
Well it’s almost that time of year here in Italia, the Easter holidays. Despite the fact that I am the lone Jew in Parma, the festive air is nonetheless charming, and of course appetizing. Being that this is a major Catholic hub, Easter is kind of a big deal out here. Not necessarily for religious reasons, but for culture, family, and of course delicious holiday eating.
Beginning somewhere in mid-March, you can begin to see the immersion of the famous Uova di Pasqua (the Italian take on the Easter Egg) in specialty shops, grocery stores, and markets alike.
This festive treat is basically a large chocolate egg (dark, milk, hazelnut, etc) filled with a little surprise inside. It is a typical “I don’t really care about you but I’ll give you this Easter egg to be cordial” type gift. They make the shops look pretty as they are usually wrapped in colorful cellophane.
Another typically Italian Easter treat is the Colomba Pasquale (The Easter Dove) cake that has a similar taste and texture to familiar Christmas cakes such as Panettone or Pandoro. These are traditionally made with candied oranges and almonds, and of course a heartstoppingly high amount of butter. Nonetheless delicious. They are supposed to represent the shape of a dove, but I didn’t realize this until I looked it up. I always thought it was a cross.
Colomba
But of course, the true essence of Easter is the meal itself, on Sunday April 4th, Italy becomes the country of lamb, as this is the traditional Easter meal. Roasted lamb is SO goodddddd!
However, unlike Christmas, the Easter meal is usually less formal and spent with friends. My Italian friends say “Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi” which literally translates to “Christmas with the parents, Easter with whoever you want”. In fact, many Italians actually go out to eat in restaurants on Easter to save energy and spend some quality time being social with others.
Nonetheless, I am keeping up my gym routine because in anticipation for the holidays it is always a good idea to burn off a few extra calories? No?
Happy Easter Folks, or as they say in Italy, Buona Pasqua!
I leave you with a recipe I found for Roast Easter lamb with Fennel and Potatoes. Yum.
P.S. This is also my 100th Post!!!!!!! Thanks for reading!
Filed under: Local Food | Tags: gelato, Granita, Grassroots Gourmet, ice cream, Italian food, Sicily, summer, summer treats
This winter in Parma has been absolutely brutal and seemingly neverending, just one week ago it snowed almost 2 feet. IN MARCH?!?!?! Ah, indeed. Though we joke that the winter will continue on until the proposed end of the world in 2012, the weather here is finally starting to show some promising upturns. SUN! (Can we say goodbye to our Seasonal Affective Disorder?)
As a tribute to the 60F weather and sun I am cherishing on this lovely Thursday, I figured I’d write a quick entry about Granita, a delicious summer Italian treat. Originating in Sicily, Granita is the what American’s know to be Italian ice (you know, that stuff Minute Maid sells in the squeeze tubes?). Anyway, made with sugar, ice, and various flavorings, Granita is basically my dietary staple in the hot months here in Italia.
Some of the traditional flavors are: Lemon, Orange, Coffee, Jasmine, Coffee, Almond, and Mint.
It can be eaten at any time of the day but a popular sicilian breakfast consists of a cold coffee granita and a brioche. Delish..
Summer please come soon. I am ready for my daily Granita.
Filed under: Current Issues | Tags: Agriculture, BBC News, Consumer, food, Food news, lazy foods, modern eating, UK diet
Just came across this really interesting and incredibly relevant article on BBC news about the rise in popularity of “lazy foods” in the UK (and most likely US) market.. Lazy foods like peeled carrots, potatoes, pre-packaged lettuce, etc make life easy for those on the go… but could it have social, cultural and environmental consequences??
Take a look at the article, I thought it was pretty interesting.
What do you think?
Do you think lazy foods are detrimental to the taste of the product in it’s original form?
Are we becoming too distanced from the cultivation and natural processes of the foods we eat because of the rise in these convenience items??
Filed under: Uncategorized
I was curious to know my reader’s thoughts… Gettin’ interactive 
Filed under: Grassroots Gourmet: Abroad, Italian Region Profiles | Tags: cinque terre, fish, Food Blog, Grassroots Gourmet, Italian food, liguria, pasta, pesto, seafood, Travel, University of Gastronomic Sciences, white wine
My Ligurian longstay is over and I come home to Parma full of deliciously fresh fish and pesto. Ligurian cuisine is uniquely delicious in the respect that it is incredibly varied and incredibly fresh. Known for beautiful summer stops such as Cinque Terre, Genova, Portofino, and Portovenere, the Ligurian region of Italy is often frequented by Italian and international travellers alike….IN THE SUMMER!
The reason I emphasize the season so extensively, is because March is probably the absolute worst time we could have picked to do our week long gastronomic and tourism field trip in Liguria. Why? Well.. let’s just put it this way, Hurricane Katrina like winds, and Snow…at the beach. Almost no shops were open because only an absolute moron would go to the beach in bone-chilling temperatures. Despite this minor detail, we did get some sun, and on the days when the weather was sub-par, we ate like horses to make up the deficit.
Ligurian cuisine has gained international fame for products such as pesto, focaccia, olive oil, and white wine… however, the fresh products that are locally recognized are what really made an impression. We had plates of freshly grilled fish, simply prepared with a squeeze of lemon, delicious white wine, Sciacchettra (a dessert wine), and incredible artisan pasta. Haha are you hungry yet?
We also made a quick trip into Tuscany to see the production of a specialty product called Lardo di Colonata, made in the famous marble region of Tuscany, Lardo is basically large pieces of pork back fat cured in huge marble boxes (that looked like coffins) for 6 months in a bath of salt, garlic, rosemary, and a huge array of other spices. It was pretty heavy to eat but I never thought I’d enjoy a piece of plain lard as much as I did.. mmm gluttony.
For those of you backpacking travellers, I highly recommend coming to this area in the spring and summer seasons. I had to use my imagination to visualize what the city of Portovenere would be like with decent weather conditions, nice summer breeze, cold mojitos and suntans, unfortunately all I really knew was a deserted, windy, and rainy pirate town. Nonetheless, if you eat well, and are surrounded by breathtaking beauty, it becomes incredibly hard to complain.
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- Cute little Pesto Shop
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- Fresh Muscles with a lemon Squeeze
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- Riding an incredibly rickety tractor used for object transport in the hills of Cinque Terre
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- Old-timey olive oil/Flour mill
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- Olive oil press from the early 19th century. In use until 1960s
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- The famous Via Dell’Amore connecting Manarola to Riomaggiore
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- Another delicious Fish Antipasto
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- Scampi alla Catalan
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- Octopus, Potato, Tomato, and Olive salad
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- Anchovie Crostini
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- Cemetary on the cliffs of Portovenere
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- Traditional Spongata and Amor cookies at a Tuscan pastry shop in Potremoli
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- Pastry shop owner describing how to properly eat the Amor cookies
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- Amor cookies: 2 wafers with a Chantilly butter cream filling.
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- Making the traditional pasta Testaroli in an outdoor fire oven
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- Torta D’erbetta
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- Boiling the Testaroli
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- Testaroli: served either with basil and parmasan cheese or pesto
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- The UNISG group
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- My friend Alice and I on the boat to our restaruant
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- Another antipasto: shrimp in a pesto puree
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- Anchovy Tartlet and Stuffed Muscles
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- Fresh Lobster salad
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- Marble Caves near Carrara
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- Lardo shop in Colonata
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- Lard spices
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- Marble tombs filled with huge blocks of lard, weighing in at 10 lbs each
Filed under: Grassroots Gourmet: Abroad, Italian Region Profiles, University of Gastronomic Science
Ciao friends, I am off to Liguria today for another 5-day field trip. Just wanted to prompt you because I will be back with many surprises and interesting things to share. If you want to do a little research. Liguria is the home of the Cinque Terre (gorgeous cliffside towns), Pesto, Focaccia Genovese, Olive Oil, and white wine.
I hope to eat more fish, friuts, and vegetables than I did in Sardegna, but just in case I am bringing my Fiber tablets….for emergency situations.. use your imagination.
See you next weekend. <3
Filed under: University of Gastronomic Science | Tags: aceto, balsamic vinegar, emilia romangna, food, Grassroots Gourmet, Italian food, italian tradition, traditional balsamic, traditional cuisine, Travel, vinegar
Shopping in American supermarkets, passing the salad dressing isle, it is not so out of the ordinary to see “Balsamic Vinegar of Modena”, your run of the mill balsimic vinegar, used typically to dress salads, clean sinks, etc. However, the product we were taken to see yesterday was far from this acidic liquid we Americans have come to know as Balsamic Vinegar.
Traditional Balsamic Vinegar
Oh yes, I am talking about Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Reggio Emilia. Unlike the watery substance you know as Balsamic Vinegar, Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Reggio Emilia is so concentrated that it has a deliciously smooth and syrupy consistency. It is also much more expensive than your regular 2 dollar bottle of vinegar. The traditional stuff, aged at a minumum of 3 years (all the way up to 25+) ranges in prince from 60Euro to 90 Euro! WHAT?! for VINEGAR~?!
This is a prized possesion out here. It tastes deliciously sweet, and unlike anything you would expect. The gourmet version of the vinegar is usually enjoyed with dessert (rather than as a salad condiment, unless of course your salad consists of leaves of gold ) Typically with strawberries or large chunks of fresh Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
What is balsamic vinegar? Cooked grape must and a little bit of caramel, aged in wooden barrels for long long long periods of time. As each season passes, the balsamic mixture is placed into smaller barrels in order to keep up with its increasing density.
Very delicious, very expensive, very Emilia Romagna.
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- First stages of aging. Large oak barrels
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- Later stages of aging. Smaller barrels: Oak, Cherry, and Chestnut wood
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- GIving us a taste, directly from the barrel
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- Here you can see the syrupy consistency
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- A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
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- Traditional Balsamic Vinegar
Filed under: Uncategorized
Well lucky for me, *cough* I have come down with an intense case of the flu these past couple of days and have been stuck in bed with nothing to do besides find strange people on Chat Roulette (don’t even ask). But! Today we are going to the Ferrarini company in Reggio Emilia to see some traditional and authentic production of balsamic vinegar…the real stuff..
Get ready for an awesome post. I plan to take many a picture.
Ok, Grassroots Gourmet away!
