3669 Italian ingredients

Oh, that's easy, here my shortlist.

Sfogliatelle, rhum baba, vongole, fresh garlic from neighbours orto along with tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, juicy lemons, wild peaches, cherries (not long to wait now) sweet watermelon, wild asparagus picked from the roadside, figs (September) uva fragola (I would buy EVERY BOX if you ever think of importing to the UK) proper ragu made by mia zia (theres a business opportunity!) octopus so fresh its still alive, fresh bread so tough it makes your jaw ache after months of chewing damp english cardboard; especially if dipped in the ragu sauce when no one is looking, mozzarella made that morning, Kimbo coffee (black label)..... want more? :D

What a great choice, you've just transported me over to Italy.

Anyone else have ideas?

Sorry, I haven't any ideas, but l'm positively drooling!!!!
I'm going to have to get out of the Food and Drink for a while, I can't think.

Anastasia what are uvi frugola when they are at home? They sound like something you find left over in your welly from the previous winter!!

Jackie

Jackie,

Uva fragola.. are one of the most delish, sweet, juicy, adorable things that Italy produces! They are grapes (uva) and really do taste like strawberries (fragola).

As far as I know, they are not exported, but there is wine made from them, so I guess there is a possibility that you could find a few in your wellies if you have been treading the grape.

If you find any, even at the bottom of your welly, send them over to me, I'll eat them! :D

I would like to add proper ice cream to the list...........the stuff that tastes of the fruits that it's made from and not squirty cream.

Fundamental for many Sicilian dishes is excellent olive oil - and believe me I have never found anything worth its label under 12GBP in the UK and another essential ingredient is farina di grano duro - pasta, bread, etc just takes on a whole new meaning with that.

Then there is the cheese, the fresh oranges from Etna, the wonderful Nero d'Avola (which the UK has yet to discover even though there is a Nero D'Avola in Tesco's), the fresh vegetables, cherry tomatoes from Pachino, carrots from Ispica, the gelato artigianale, the granitas...

But I now live in Sicily so actually I miss toasted bread with butter, a proper english breakfast, beer and crisps on a lazy sunday afternoon in a pub, the burger every Saturday from Winchester's farmer's market, REAL lamb chops from the same market, decent salmon, ALL Indian and Chinese, Japanese food products, Sushi in London (and even Wagamama).... hmmm me thinks I should pay a visit to the UK sometime soon :-)

There are two foodstuffs I regularly export to the UK from Italy - dried funghi porcini, and pinoli. They are small and light enough to be posted, even, and cost so much less here!
I have to import everything for Indian cooking from the UK to here though! The limit in Italy seems to be a tasteless yellow powder called "curry" - not much use for anything.

Agree on the curry powder... seems very popular on the continent and not very tasty...

I brought some porcini back from Rome... yummm...

Am really fed up with all these horrible veggies & fruits you can buy here for horrendous prices... no it's not strawberry time yet but there they are! Good enough for milk shakes but the great taste of freshly picked ones has escaped me for years... :(

And don't even start me off with tomatoes!!

Living in Naples is great because I can get fresh Mozzerrela everday, but if I ate it everyday , I would have to buy new clothes.The pane cafone, is also great! :D
The fresh veggies and sea food can't be beat and the local wines are also fantastic. The Campania region has some really good ones.
Ronald, if you hunger for a good British breakfast then take the ferry over to Sorrento , they have a few Brit pubs that serve it up.
Ciao,
Dan

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]I'm drooling too and wanted to say why is it our fruit and veg is so awful when everything I buy in Italy is sublime and costs at least half the price?Waitrose in particular seem to specialise in hard tasteless fruit that never ripens.
Going to be out in Abruzzo in June to gorge on Peaches,Nespole,Mulberries,Cherries,and lovely fresh courgettes,huge Aubergines from Sicilly that have no bitter taste and all sorts of fresh salad stuff.These
I like to bring back Pecorino cheese and some little sweet sort of 'brandy snap' things filled with ricotta,candied fruit,chocolate.What are these called?

Becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

[quote=manopello][FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=3]I'm drooling too and wanted to say why is it our fruit and veg is so awful when everything I buy in Italy is sublime and costs at least half the price?Waitrose in particular seem to specialise in hard tasteless fruit that never ripens.[/SIZE][/FONT][/quote]

You must be shopping in a different branch of Waitrose. We get stuff that turns out to be too ripe when you get it home (although come to think of it that may be a problem we've had more with veg than fruit).

As to why Italian fruit and veg tastes so much more tasty, I've come to the conclusion - and others will probably know a lot more about this than I do - that our supermarkets have "encouraged" producers to grow fruit and veg and looks good and lasts longer on the shelves over and above considerations of taste. We've moved away from varieties that have more taste because they don't necessarily look as uniform in size or withstand pests as well as the less succulent tasting varieties. In Italy, it still seems to be the case that people shop a bit every day or two and until recently Italians have insisted on a higher standard of freshness in their cooking than was the case in the UK. The UK is improving, though, and who knows the proliferation of farmers' markets may help to introduce the more fragile varieties back into the market.

[ATTACH]555[/ATTACH]Becky.. Are these what you are talking about? They are called Cannoli.
[ATTACH]557[/ATTACH]and if you like Ricotta.. with strawberries.
[ATTACH]556[/ATTACH] and this.. is "Fantasia"..

Enjoy!

:D

I agree, Italians have no qualms about picking up an ugly tomato, a twisted carrot, an unwashed potato or a blemished orange. It's taste and freshness that are important.. not convenience and often not price!

Italians shop - for everythng - everyday.. and the shopkeeper who does not have the best to offer soon goes out of business, no matter how much cheaper they are than any competitor.

Shopping, preparing and the serving of food in most area's of Italy is still the proud responsibility of the Nonna's and is their way of "keeping the family together".

Before my Nonna died, she would often drag me to the market to help carry the shopping, where she would push and prod, sniff and squeeze and even taste everything before she haggled over the price and eventually agreed to buy.

It was a street theatre education of Neapolitan life and even though I protested I didn't want to go.. I wonder if she really knew how much I loved these trips.. or how much she actually taught me. ;)

Good food will always make you want to go home.

:) :)

Drooling at my desk now over your pictures, Sassy!!! :p

Ricotta & strawbs looks (and sounds) particularly lovely ...

I agree us brits just wont pay (in general) for good food and dont really expect it. There are some good veg around if you go for the Sainsburys "Taste the Difference" range - the Vivaldi potatoes taste like they have cream in them when mashed and their tomatos are fresh and ripe. Now then the best tomatoes you are get are are from surprisingly Somerfield, their "Taste so good range" (which is against trade descriptions act most of the time) are excellent you can smell them from the next room but thats just in north London I'm sure their suppliers to Somerfield vary from county to county. If that fails get down to the deli/local shop/farmers market support the local farmers: its not cheap but for essentials like top meat (Sainsburys excels in meats and the Jamie Oliver hung range is succulent), cheese, toms, fruit and veg are, then buy the rest in the supermarket. I cant bare having hard fruit or soft veg, or chewy tasteless meat...errrrr :p

I get all my fruit and veg from a local organic company that deliver it to my door once a week it may cost a bit more but the tatse is worth it Mud on all the veg still, it's lovely, what we do not have in season they have suppliers oversea Italy being one, you can even get organic wine from Italian producers lovely!!.

Dawn.

:p

I dont eat meat but if I did I'd certainly buy the Jamie Oliver ':D :D Hung' stuff!!!!!

Good to know that you can still get decent tomatoes in UK! Here in Italy, the moment we got the Euro, all the German supermarkets seemed to twig "this stuff is cheap", started buying up all the edible tomatoes and exporting them to Germany, and left us in Italy with rubbish Dutch stuff in the supermarkets. So, even here, I have to buy from "home growers" to get tasty fragrant tomatoes, (in season). The prices in Italy are astronomical - shopping for food in Barcelona last year I promise you the fantastic produce (fruit and veg) were half the cost of the same thing in Italy: cheese was about 60% of Italy prices, as was fresh meat and fish. Foodwise, Italy has become ridiculously expensive, and you have to hunt for good stuff outside the "Coop" supermarkets. "Coop" - what a joke - they are Tesco in green rags........Pam doesn't pretend to the ideological baggage of the Coops, and has better stuff, but breaks the bank!! Markets require a partita IVA, and you have to buy a crate (wholesale) - so it isn't all rosy on the peninsular....

yes, but no matter if you bring back a recipe find the ingedients and follow it word for word the food doesn't taste the same. My sister in law makes polpetti di pane I tried to make them here and believe me mine never come close- everything tastes different......

You are all right, I do not like the vegetables in the UK supermarket either.
Yes for some reason Somerfied tomatoes on the vine are not bad.
But the veg and fruit are so much better in Italy or in France.
My partner who is real English (I am naturalized British) tells me that soon after the war farmers were strongly encouraged to go for quantity rather than for high quality, And then again lots of people in supermarkets do not want to pay a lot for groceries. And this happens in Italy as well, you may have seen a few hypermarkets... I love Uva fragola and miss it, but then I wonder what vegetables are going to taste good after a long journey. I often go a local market in Oxford and I buy local produce as much as possible. And it is good. I buy seasonal things.
And about my home Venice I miss market by the Rialto, with its range of seafood and vegetables from the islands.
Yes I do think that supermarkets in the UK like Sainsburys and Tesco should go a bit more local. M&S is good but I find the produce section almost too sterile. Do you know what I mean? Like you guys who can eat local Italian stuff every day!

Fruit and vegetables have been imported to/from every country in the world for centuries. My father was one of the first to import "exotic" fruit (Kiwi, pineapples, mangoes, nectarines etc) on a large scale way back when they were expensive and had to be shipped in and sold very quickly. No massive refridgerated lorries existed. They tasted great and if we could do it in the late 60's and 70's.. why cant we do it now?

Part of the reason so many foods are tasteless nowadays is they are picked very 'green' and ripened 'off the vine' which increases shelf life. Pre-packed foods such as ready salad and suchlike are expanded with some sort of gas to stop them rotting within the cellophane pack. Take the salad out and we all know how fast it rots!

Did you know some of the apples you eat in the UK are up to TWO years old? How many times have those pretty peaches been as hard as rock one day and the next day.. totally spoiled and inedible?

Just exactly what are we eating? The mind boggles! :eek:

Polpette di pane...
my mother and grandmother used to make cotolette impanate (with bread crumbs) known also as cotolette alla milanese and with whatever was left of the breadcrumbs mixure they would make also 'polpette di pane' which is essentially breadcrumbs, parmesan grated cheese, a pinch of nutmeg, egg shaped into balls and fried along the breaded cotolette.
Another thing I remember is that my grand mother after deep frying the cotolette would top them with some prosciutto or cooked ham and on top that she should put some bechamelle and then she would put them under the grill for a couple of minutes. mmmmm

And you know what another thing which a great country soup and again bread based is PASSATELLI (alla Romagnola). I have to thing to make them in Oxford, I bought the metal thing in Ravenna.

This was home cooking, and much better than any ready meal one can buy in a supermarket.

Let's put it this way in the UK I eat to live - In Italy I live to eat. I do love a proper Sunday roast here with all the trimmings I really do.
But in Italy food just goes on and on and on.
And sometimes it is something very very simple.
Beats me.

[QUOTE=Valeria].....
This was home cooking, and much better than any ready meal one can buy in a supermarket.

Let's put it this way in the UK I eat to live - In Italy I live to eat ....[/QUOTE]

Nice quote, Valeria - and very true!!

We're currently experimenting with getting foods from different stores to see how the taste varies. It does vary between them but still it's never the same as when you get it fresh from the grocer's or butcher's. There's a weekly farmers market here on Sat mornings with lovely local meats (taste the difference!), organic veggies and a German baker who bakes proper bread - not that pulped stuff you get in supermarkets! Love his Bretzels too... ;) Yes, they're more expensive but your health should be worth it!

I hate pre-packed salads, half sized cucumbers, little thin courgettes (or zucchini as I still call them) and big packs of sliced bread. Herbs in pots always die on me (maybe it's me) but I can't say that there's one supermarket that beats all the others.

Definitely buying more organic now and looking into it whether there's a company here, similar to the one Dawn mentioned, who delivers to your door.

Ahhh I miss those vans doing their rounds in the 70s selling their own fresh produce to your door. You knew where it came from and it was always nice. I guess 'Health & Safety' has done lots of damage - and nothing really to improve 'our' health! :(

I entirely agree on finding the over all quality of Fruit & Veg in UK supermarkets unsatisfactory or worse letal. Perhaps my living overseas for 20 years prevents me now from being so blunt : ). But yes, I am not happy. I find it boring and unsatisfactory. Go to the Fruit & Veg market of Modena and you will see what a market is supposed to look like!

So what is to be done?
Perhaps if UK consumers complained more something would be done. Is it an issue of supermarket monopoly? Is it a profit issue for UK supermarkets? Would it be just the same for them to buy something fresh and decent food from local producers and I mean UK, Italian, French, Spanish, etc -- I do not care about nationality as long as it is the real thing -- variety is the spice of life!

Variety may be the spice of life - but huge profits are the incentive for supermarkets!

Been reading how they're steamrolling more & more all over green fields in cities, pushing out the little corner shops and happily buying the cheapest stuff there is. Just look at how little local dairy farmers get for their milk! Can't possibly make a living off that... :(

I think people have started to wake up, though, and there's fierce opposition in many places against them - but the building business is worth alot, so it's impossible to win against them.

Yup buying abroad is one of the lesser savoury things coming out of the EEC. Animals being ferried hundreds of miles in the name of economy and semi-ripe fruit landing on our shelves in an inedible state - yes, and sometimes years later (Sassy - was there a programme on apples on telly at some point, showing how long it takes for them to end up on the shelves? I vaguely remember something about it.).

If anyone is interested here is the website for the organic fruit & veg I have delivered, if it does not cover your area they may know of the a scheme which is local to you. The company is River Nene organic veg.

[url]www.rivernene.co.uk[/url]

I disagree that buying abroad is

'one of the lesser savoury things coming out of the EEC'. the UK buys abroad all over the world - e.g. the fresh cut roses at M&S come from Kenia!

EEC being savoury or not. this has not 'prevented' on the contrary! big numbers of British Nationals flocking to buy holiday properties in the EEC. Tuscany, South of France, Spain and so on. The EEC is here and there it is.

I have 3 passports I consider myself global and quite frankly I do not care where I live as long as I am not stuck in one place.

But getting back to the general issue of supermarkets maybe the problem is food processing and packaging.

Thanks alot, Dawn. I'll have a look...

Valeria - I meant this specifically for food (or live animals) being shipped around, not for exports of cars, commodities, house buying etc. It has opened many doors for us which would've been difficult to open prior to the agreement.

I'm just unhappy that many EEC countries get poor quality food from those who produce cheapest. I think it's a quality thing of how it's grown to start with - processing is the next step. Money and profits are higher up on the agenda of those companies than quality. And with GM arriving on our doorstep, I'm not very hopeful it will improve. Luckily there are still some 'smaller' companies who insist on getting good stuff but you have to search for them... :)

By the way, don't have 3 passports but I've moved around a bit too, left the country I grew up in - and will move again in a few years' time I hope! ;)

We have been diverging, I have to get some work done today.

I did not collect the 3 passports on purpose -- I moved, it made sense and it happened -- I must have got the British one for good behaviour : )

It is raining here today in Oxford -- mist and gray sky -- I got used to it and actually quite like it. I love the garden in the rain. Maybe tomorrow we get some sun.

Have a great day.

V

Scientists developed a coating that can preserve apple slices for up to 100 days. Why would ANYONE want to keep SLICED apples for 100 days?

It's a chemical they spray onto the food before packaging and then the cellpohane is inflated with a gas which also acts as a preservative.

The first photo shows broccoli untreated and left for 4 days..
[ATTACH]562[/ATTACH]
The second has been treated.. and is 58 days old.
[ATTACH]563[/ATTACH]
When the treated broccoli was finally removed from the packaging - it turned to rancid slush within 12 hours!

Hmm.. :eek:

[QUOTE=Valeria]Polpette di pane...
my mother and grandmother used to make cotolette impanate (with bread crumbs) known also as cotolette alla milanese and with whatever was left of the breadcrumbs mixure they would make also 'polpette di pane' which is essentially breadcrumbs, parmesan grated cheese, a pinch of nutmeg, egg shaped into balls and fried along the breaded cotolette.
Another thing I remember is that my grand mother after deep frying the cotolette would top them with some prosciutto or cooked ham and on top that she should put some bechamelle and then she would put them under the grill for a couple of minutes. mmmmm

And you know what another thing which a great country soup and again bread based is PASSATELLI (alla Romagnola). I have to thing to make them in Oxford, I bought the metal thing in Ravenna.

This was home cooking, and much better than any ready meal one can buy in a supermarket.

Let's put it this way in the UK I eat to live - In Italy I live to eat. I do love a proper Sunday roast here with all the trimmings I really do.
But in Italy food just goes on and on and on.
And sometimes it is something very very simple.
Beats me.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for sharing the 'polpette di pane'.When I return to Italy in July I will try them out...I recall many years ago my grandmother toasting the hardened bread in the oven which was then added to the caffelatte.

Yes and another thing is that same toasted 1 or 2 day old bread sometimes became a quick children's merenda.... too.

'Pane burro e zucchero'
A bit of good butter on top and some sugar crystals.

And we picked blackberries and pine nuts and my granny would make jam with the blackberries and Croccante di pinoli with the pine nuts. It was fun. I think my grand mother had a wonderful life. I mean making these things for us made her very happy.

I used to eat bread with butter and sugar on it with my Aunt in the typical Italian town of Birmingham :)

Miele di castagna - now that is something you don't find easily in the UK.

[QUOTE=Valeria]Yes and another thing is that same toasted 1 or 2 day old bread sometimes became a quick children's merenda.... too.

'Pane burro e zucchero'
A bit of good butter on top and some sugar crystals.

And we picked blackberries and pine nuts and my granny would make jam with the blackberries and Croccante di pinoli with the pine nuts. It was fun. I think my grand mother had a wonderful life. I mean making these things for us made her very happy.[/QUOTE]

We had that too!There was no wastage if it could be helped.
I recall last month my Italian Sister in law checking out the hardened bread I was about to throw out - but.. she had other ideas - she could see a use for it!
I think she would approve of the 'Polpette di pane'!!!

I have many more Venetian recipes but this one is dissappearing for obvious reasons. This cake could be found in some Venetian bakeries - I am not sure if this is still the case today.

Torta nicolotta (Nicolòta)
Questo dolce poverissimo prende il suo nome dall'antica comunità veneziana dei Nicolotti, cioè dei residenti nell'isola di S.Nicolò dei Mendicoli, i cui membri erano dediti in modo praticamente esclusivo alla pesca dentro e fuori della laguna.
This poor cake takes its name from the ancient Venetian community of the Nicolotti, the inhabitants (fishermen) of the Venetian island of St. Nicolo of Mendicoli.

TORTA NICOLOTTA
Base of this Venetian poor cake is the cooked mollica of advanced bread with the uvetta. Then ciascuna family enriches it with quality and amount of preferred ingredients. The cooked and cooled cake must turn out soft.

Doses for 6-8 portions - Easy Difficulty

Ingredients
400 gr bread white man I confirm without crust
3/4 lt latte
90 gr sugar
1 honey spoon
2 blinked entire eggs
100 gr flour 00
a teaspoon of I leaven vanigliato
100 gr uvetta softened
pinoli
gherigli of walnuts
5/6 fichi buckets cut to thin fettine
2 large apples to tocchetti
the juice of 1 orange
seeds of finocchio
a pizzico of knows them

Preparation
To soak in latte the cut bread to pieces for one night.
The day after, to strizzare the softened bread and to add to you to all the other ingredients.
To turn upside down all in one tortiera imburrata and to cook for approximately 1 hour and 1/4 to 180 degrees.

[quote=Iona]Ahhh I miss those vans doing their rounds in the 70s selling their own fresh produce to your door. You knew where it came from and it was always nice. I guess 'Health & Safety' has done lots of damage - and nothing really to improve 'our' health! :([/quote]

Slightly different from just turning up and hoping you'll buy, but lots of people deliver organic boxes to your door. Here's a Guardian article from last year about just such a venture [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1495262,00.html"]http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1495262,00.html[/URL]

[url]www.local-food.net[/url]

126 people growing, rearing, processing, and selling local food in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire.
Lots of good stuff one can buy straight from the UK farmer for a fair price.

Which is a very Italian thing to do. Italian do not do all their shopping in supermarkets. We love visiting farms and open markets.

Here one of my favourite recipes. I really like it with spinach tagliolini (the green ones) but another thin tagliolini type could do. I can find lovely cooked ham in the UK so I have no problem making the recipe and it is always a success with my friends.

Green Tagliolini with Cream & Ham, "au gratin"
Ingredients: (4 persons) 4 ounces /120 g cooked ham, cut into julienne butter 7 tablespoons /250 g green taglierini Béchamel sauce Parmesan cheese. Grated
Method: In a copper pot, heat the cooked ham with a small knob of butter. Add the cream and cook to reduce until thickened. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a generous amount of salted water until al dente. Drain.
Combine the pasta with the cream and ham reduction. Transfer the pasta to an ovenproof casserole dish and cover it with a "veil" of Béchamel sauce. Dust the top with grated Parmesan and cook under the broiler until well browned.