Italian food
Hello, my name is Mary I am italian and this is my first time here. I need your suggestions... I would like to share all my knowledge about italian food and reveal to you all secrets of Italian receipts... In which way? If you have some doubts about italian food, or you would prepare some nice receipt for your friends or your family... don't hesitate to ask me for your answer... I am at your complete disposal!!! naturally everything is free... Maybe in the future you could taste my receipts when you will visit Sicily and you will stay to my B&B I hope to open soon :)
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20 Comments:
I'm sure I will be consulting you regularly. I want to know how to make the perfect marinara sauce. I know it's like the easiest thing ever, but mine always tastes too acidic.
PumpkinBear at 4:54PM on 05/25/09
I would like a nice receipt for the advertising you paid for.
JerzeeTomato at 4:59PM on 05/25/09
no advertising. thank you
Italianfood at 5:48PM on 05/25/09
PumpkinBear, could you tell me in which way you prepare marinara sauce? I will say you where is the mistake .. ok?
Italianfood at 6:02PM on 05/25/09
I sauté thinly sliced garlic in extra virgin olive oil until it's toasty brown. Then I add dried herbs to the oil/garlic mixture; usually oregano, a little thyme, and dried basil. Then I add whole San Marzano tomatoes that I kind of break up with my hands while dropping them in the pan. After letting them cook a bit, I tear up fresh basil and stir it in. I'm thinking it may be the pot I use. I've heard that you shouldn't cook tomatoes in certain kinds of pots. Is that true or am I making that up?
PumpkinBear at 6:23PM on 05/25/09
I ADORE Italian food. Actually, what I'd like to see is some examples of real Italian recipes, as opposed to the Americanized versions. I've only had real Italian once or twice in my life, with all of the other times (which is seriously almost every day) being Americanized Italian food. Know of any websites with some authentic recipes that you can share?
cycorider at 6:46PM on 05/25/09
italianfoodforever.com
caramel at 7:03PM on 05/25/09
oops, here's the link -
http://www.italianfoodforever.com/iff2008/
caramel at 7:05PM on 05/25/09
Jerz - you are a HOOT!
My father was born and raised in Naples. All we ever ate was authentic Italian food. Marinara is a quick mixture of onions, garlic, olive oil, basil, and tomatoes, S&P - maybe some white wine. Cook it quickly, it's ready when the color deepens. There's no need to cook marinara until it's so concentrated with acid it can take the paint off a Buick. And please remember, there is no sugar in tomato sauce. It's an abomination.
therealchiffonade at 7:17PM on 05/25/09
Do Italians eat bread with their pasta dishes?
lamac at 7:17PM on 05/25/09
Sometimes we eat bread and sometimes we don't.
JerzeeTomato at 8:00PM on 05/25/09
We would saute shredded carrot to add sweetness to the sauce and then cook the sauce for hours - until it was more of a red-orange color not bright red. Soooo delicious.
yankeesgal at 10:51PM on 05/25/09
@PumpkinBear, I've heard the same thing about not cooking tomatoes in cast-iron, but it was because acid takes off the seasoning and the pot would need to be reseasoned. I've also heard that the iron darkens the sauce and can give it a metallic taste (bonus if you're anemic though!). No hands on experience though, so take it for what it's worth. As for sweetening, I usually saute diced onions and add them, and sometimes a little sauteed carrot (which probably isn't a very traditional ingredient, but at least it's not sugar).
@caramel, thanks! Looking forward to trying some of those.
cycorider at 12:27AM on 05/26/09
Hi people, I am really happy about your interest on Italian food! Now I will explain you some important things to remember when you try to prepare some recipe... If you want have a good result with italian food you have to use genuine ingredient and follow some important passages while prepar your recipe... Anyway you have to use a lot of love and passion :)
Italianfood at 5:42AM on 05/26/09
Sometimes we eat bread and sometimes we don't.
Speak for yourself sistergirl - I eat bread all the time. Gleaned from an old e-mail "you know you're Italian when..." forward "I was 14 years old before I realized that not everybody eats with a piece of bread in their left hand."
The best question I've ever fielded regarding bread: "Is it true that Italians cook steak very rare and then drink the blood with bread?" Yeah, just call me Vampira - and what do you know? It ends in a vowel!
therealchiffonade at 5:48AM on 05/26/09
About marinara for example it exists two different versions... 1) white marinara and red marinara (with tomato). Ingredients for white Marinara: Oil of olive (extra vergine), garlic (a clove entire), parsley, table salt, mussels, prawn and clams. Boil in a coucepan the prawns in water with a slice of lemon and in another coucepan the mussels and clams with a little of water. In a sauteing pan pour three spoons of oil and a clove of garlic... when the garlic became lightly brown put inside the mussels, prawn and clams... after a minute pour a little of white wine and mix all togheter... add salt and poor a little of water that you take from the coucepan where you prepared mussels and clams and your dish will be ready. :) I hope this explanation is clear for any further question don't hesitate to contact me.
Italianfood at 6:07AM on 05/26/09
Italianfood, Are you saying that we should not crush the garlic in a white marinara sauce?
PumpkinBear&Cycorider, My experience with using various kinds of cookware suggests that this line of schtuff comes from the pitches used by peddlers of stainless steel cookware. While I have not undertaken to cook authentic Italian dishes, I do often cook tomatoes to make the base for some of my soups. I have used both cast iron and cast aluminum skillets for this and have had noticed no bad effects on my food from it. What does invite trouble is to leave a tomato based product in a cast iron or aluminum pot over night. Never just stick one, pot and all, into the refrigerator. Always transfer the food to a plastic container with a sealing lid.
Grumpy Old Man at 9:05AM on 05/26/09
PumpkinBear&Cycorider, about garlic it depends about your tastes... Instead of crush it is preferible to cut it in small part because in this way it save its properties... if you crush it lost some properties... so, if you like to eat small parts of garlic you can cut it in small cubes although you can also prepare the receip using an entire slice of garlic.
Italianfood at 9:18AM on 05/26/09
O Chiff you are right but and except on days when I am not doing carbs.
You are right we used to eat bread a lot then we heard the word carbs.
Damn the person who did that.
JerzeeTomato at 4:56PM on 05/26/09
Are Italians-in-Italy aware of Italian-American cuisine, and how do you find it compares?
marzipanda at 1:41AM on 05/27/09