The Recipe for an Italian Dinner

One of the experiences I have come to appreciate here in Italy is enjoying a great meal.   And now you too can live that experience as well and it’s not going to cost you 200 dollars, not 150 dollars, not 100 dollars, not even 50 dollars…  All you need to do is open your heart and mind and let Italian magic rain all over you by following these simple instructions.  If you have a partner or friends to share this meal with, wonderful, but if you don’t I hope that doesn't stop you from making this dinner for yourself and enjoying the experience.   

To have a true Italian meal in your home it may cost a little more than your normal American dinner, but this is the disadvantage to living in America because everything Italian is imported.  It’s kind of funny to think that I am on the opposite side of that coin right now.   But don’t think of it as just another meal, this can be a true Italian dining experience in your own home.    

The “secret” to great Italian cooking is to use fresh ingredients that are in season.   Depending on when you make for your Italian meal and what you choose to make, this may not always be possible.  But most of you can find a farmers market somewhere around you and many towns have Italian neighborhoods that cater to their residence, so things can be found.  And when necessary, just improvise - all it takes is a little bit of effort.   And I know organic fruits and veggies cost more, but if you can afford it, it is worth it.   

Here are some suggested required items: 

1. Andre Bocelli’s CD – Amore.  This is a must! 
2. A bottle (or 2) of good Italian red or white wine, whatever is your preference.  Go to the import section of your liquor store to find Italian wines.  You may (or may not) pay a little more than usual, but for this evening – it is worth it.  If you’re not sure what to get – look for things from the Chianti, Tuscany, Liguria or Emilia-Romagna regions as well as wine from Sicily.  I’m a red wine drinker and find I love wines from the town of Montalcino, Montepulciano and San Gimignano.   If you’re in doubt, ask the person working at the liquor store – if they don’t have any clue, find another liquor store.  A shop keeper, like any good business man or woman, should know their products well so they can sell them to the public.   If you are not a wine drinker, pick up a beverage of your choice.  A sparkling non- alcoholic beverage also adds to the fun.  
3. Fresh bread.  A word about bread – any will do, as long as it is fresh baked.   Do not settle for plain, only American slice white bread for this meal.  Take it up a notch and splurge.  You’ll want to cut some fresh slices to have on the table to slop up with good olive oil and balsamic vinegar and perhaps your pasta sauce.  
4. Good olive oil – again this is going to cost a little more, but I swear to you it is worth it.   De Cecco is delicious and I have seen it in American grocery stores.  They also make great balsamic vinegar.  
5. Candles for the table – unscented.  You don’t want to smell anything other than what is coming out of the kitchen and is sitting on the plate in front of you.  
6. Rosemary.  Whether you use it in your recipe or not, rosemary is a fragrance that is somehow always in the air in Italy.  It is available in every grocery store in the fresh produce section.  Make a small bouquet to put on the table, stick your nose it in, inhale deeply and you are in Italy…

Now, plan your menu.  There should be at least three courses – appetizer, main course and salad.  Salad is served closer to the end of the meal.  If you add desert, then that is four courses.  Another “secret” to a great Italian meal is not to stuff your stomach like it is Thanksgiving Day in America.  The Italians celebrate the taste of every ingredient, every course.  It is celebrated by enjoying just enough to satisfy but not too much to over indulge and then have to unbutton your pants or run to the bathroom afterwards.  Dinner is a slow, enjoyable, experience.  Savory every bite – no matter how much your American spirit wants to rush past it.  Know that there is more if you want it… Go slowly and really appreciate every fork full.   Appreciate the time and effort that was put in to create the food in the first place.  Appreciate the time and effort that you put into the preparation of the food.   Appreciate the fact that you worked hard many hours of the day to earn the money that bought the food that is now sitting on your plate.   Put the fork down, chew ---- chew----and chew a little more so you can appreciated every taste sensation that is dancing around in your mouth.  And then take a sip of your beverage.   If you have a companion for dinner, take a moment to talk to each other, interact, and share this moment with them.  It will never happen again – a moment is just a moment and then it is gone forever…   If you are eating this marvelous dinner alone, remember to take a breath and appreciate and savor the moment.   Stop and listen to whatever song Andre is singing, and then take another breath before you pick up your fork again.  Each course should take more than 2 minutes to inhale – the longer you take, the more enjoyable the experience.   Trust me – I am living this everyday right now and it is wonderful.    

The appetizer should be something small and easy.  Bruschetta is relatively easy to prepare – it is bread with tomatoes, basil and olive oil.   You have the internet, look up an easy recipe.   Or you could get a few small amounts of Italian meats and cheeses from the deli counter at the grocery store.  Or you could make caprese – which is simply fresh mozzarella cheese and tomatoes.   A little good balsamic vinegar on a slice of fresh mozzarella is a slice of heaven.  

For the main course, I suggest pasta as this is an Italian dinner.  Some grocery stores (all over here) sell fresh pasta; if they do it is in the refrigerated section.  If you’re feeling adventurous, make it yourself – it is really not difficult, its nothing but water, flour, oil and maybe eggs – depending on what you are making.  Here again, search the internet.  Two great shows from American TV that make great, simple, 100% Italian pasta dishes are Lidia’s Italy and Ciao Italia.  GOOGLE them and see for yourself.  And you don’t need a fancy pasta cutting machine, a sharp knife works just fine.  Nobody is going to care if one noodle is thicker than the other…   Or just make it easy on yourself and grab a box of pasta – but wait a minute, have you ever actually read the portion info on the box?  Most state that a portion is ½ cup of uncooked noodles which becomes one cup when cooked.  If you check your box of spaghetti, I believe it states there are eight servings in there.  Eight - not two, not four, eight!    Do you know why Italians can eat pasta every day of their lives and not be morbidly obese?  Because they adhere to these portions and because most make their own pasta or buy it fresh so it is not filled with all the sugar and preservatives that are in the pre-made products we buy.   You do not need to give up carbs to lose weight or stay slim.  The problem is not in the carbs, it’s in what makes up most of America’s canned and boxed products that magically makes them last for months and months, sometimes years in the pantry or refrigerator.  

My mother told me, during a recent phone call, that she was still eating lettuce that was in her fridge that I bought before I left Hershey on April 22.   Lettuce that has miraculous lived for over a month in her refrigerator.  Now, I doubt this to be true but she is insisting that it is.  So either that lettuce was severely laced with chemicals when it was in the ground that made it last so long, or her refrigerator is performing miracles and she needs to call the Pope and have it declared a Saint.  I don’t know the real answer to that mystery, but if you live close to my mother and you have an ailment, stop by and spend some time with the refrigerator – it couldn't hurt…  

Back to the pasta - - - another “secret” to a great Italian pasta dish is to marry the pasta with the sauce before it is put on the plate.  You do this by slightly under-cooking the pasta, then taking it out of the boiling water and putting it directly into the pan with the sauce.  Do not dump out the pasta water yet, just take the pasta out with tongs or a pasta pick-er-upper and put it in the sauce.  Keep the heat on the sauce for minute or two more to let the pasta finish cooking and it will also absorb some of the sauce.  If it cooks to fast and your sauce dries up, add a spoon full or two of the pasta water to re-hydrate and then turn off the heat.  Then add some grated cheese right into the pan and mix all around so the sauce, pasta and cheese all gets happy with one another.  

Third course can be a salad or some other kind of vegetable.   It makes more sense, if you think about it, to have the salad at the end of meal because it helps with digestion.   Again, keep it simple.  The best salad I have had from my Nonna in Italy is when she brought out a big wooden bowl full of all the salad fixings to the table.  It had some different kinds of lettuce, a few carrots, a few stalks of celery, an onion and other green.  She passed the bowl around and you took what you wanted from the bowl, cutting the portion you wanted and made your own salad on your plate.  This way you can make your salad exactly the way you want it and the other person at the table can do the same.  

The last course is desert.  If you choose to have one, make it something small and refreshing to fully close out the dining experience.   Here, I have had a small plate of fruit and cheese.   I've also had Gelato!  Again, however, the portions are small.  When I buy 2 scoops of gelato, together they fit inside a small ½ cup container or small cone.  It’s all that you really need after a big meal.  Your sweet tooth is satisfied and again, your stomach is not bulging or in pain.  It is just enough – the icing on the cake, if you will…   And if you want cake have cake, or pie – have it – just remember to keep it small so your mind and body can really appreciate what you are eating and to take the time to actually taste what you are eating.  

Now, the last step in the process can be the hardest – depending on how much wine you have had.  But the “norm” over here is after you sit for a few minutes and your food is digesting, you get up and take a walk after dinner.  Not a strenuous “let’s get physical” kind of walk, but a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood.   You would be amazed at how great this makes you feel.  Just a short stroll – 10, 20 minutes – to help the food digest and then you can go home and miraculously have room for more wine!    Some people I've met here wait until after their walk to have desert.  Either way, it is a great way to end the dining experience.  

And there you go – follow these suggestions and you can have your own ‘night in Italy’ in the comfort of your own home.   It really is possible and will save you the cost of a plane ticket, and hotel room, and lugging around a heavy bag, and - - - on you get the picture.   Bon Appetite!   

Ciao!