On air on Byron Bay’s Bayfm 99.9 community radio on 21 November 2011

A Sicilian, a Roman and a Piemontese walked into a studio…and started talking about food – it could become the edible version of occupy Wall street, but lucky for the presenters who are on after us we will probably be quickly driven out by hunger.  Well actually the Roman kind of got lost on the way to the forum…Hopefully I will get to talk to Valentina soon, she has done a course at one of my favourite Italian food mags, sites and now school, Gambero Rosso.  But the capo degli amorevoli, wonderful Italian presenter Sergio from the Bayfm program ‘That’s Amore“, that has just returned to the summer broadcast, was on belly today.  Sergio is from Sicily, but has lived in Rome, Pisa and also in Merano, at the border with Austria, while doing his duty as a sweet young conscript in the Italian army.   I am from Piemonte, in the North near the Swiss/French border, but my parents have lived for years in Tuscany and Sicily, so between us we pretty much cover Italy, and many of its wonderful and very distinctive regional cuisines.

We are both keen to talk about some wonderful dishes from our bits of Italy , which are much less known than the standard pizzas and pastas.  We went straight off into singing the praises of caponata, a gorgeous Sicilian summer dish, done in many different ways across the island.  I have seen some very vibrant discussions among Sicilians about the best way to do this dish!

CAPONATA CATANESE – adapted from a recipe by Mimmetta Lo Monte in “Italy a Culinary Journey”

One 500 g eggplant

500g red and yellow capsicums

1 onion

60 g celery stalks and leaves

1 tbs capers, squeezed if in vinegar, rinsed and drained if in salt

6 large green olives, pitted and cut into pieces

2 tbs red wine vinegar

3/4 tsp sugar

6 canned tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped (or 6 very ripe tasty tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped)

salt

Peel a 2 cm strip of skin from the eggplant, stem end to bottom and back to the stem. Cut it into 2 cm cubes. Cover with water and 1 tsp salt. Weigh them so they stay underwater. Leave 30 minutes, drain, dry with paper or tea towels. Deep fry in 2 cm of oil on high heat, until dark gold. You may need to do this in batches. Set aside.

Cut capsicum and 3/4 of the onion into 2 cm cubes. Heat 3 tbs of the eggplant cooking oil, add capsicum, onion and celery. Stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes. Reduce to low, cover and cook 8 more minutes. Uncover, raise heat to high, stir until veg start browning. Add capers, olives, vinegar, sugar.

Turn off heat, add eggplant, mix very gently.

Finely chop the last 1/4 onion. Heat 2 more tbs of the eggplant oil in a small pan.

Saute’ the onion, add tomatoes, cook on high heat until they sizzle. If you are using fresh tomatoes, start a little slower and cook them a little longer. Stir in salt to taste and add to the other veg.

Serve at room temperature. This gets better the next day, and will keep well for a few days.

As we said on the show, this is basically the primary layer of caponata, which you can adapt and add to to your heart’s delight.  I have usually had it with pine nuts added.   You can add a lot of seafood, mainly little octopus (octopussies?), but also firm fleshed fish, bottarga (dried mullet roe), prawns, even lobster.  Or artichokes or asparagus.  There is even apparently a chocolate and almond sauce you can add, called Saint Bernard’s sauce, salsa di San Bernardo.  Play around, but try the basic version first.

SERGIO’S GNOCCHI WITH PESTO

This is a dish associated more with the North, and of course pesto is from Liguria, the region of Genova, but Sergio likes to make it as it is a low gluten dish, especially with spelt.  Spelt is called farro in Italian and has made quite a comeback in recent years.  Sergio said he likes to play around with Italian dishes, adding things like miso and tofu to Italian classics.

Gnocchi di Patate (4 people)

Ingredients

1kg Dutch (cream?) Potatoes, 200gr spelt Farina, 1 egg,

Steam the whole washed potatoes with their skin, in abundant water and a pinch of salt.

Let them cool down completely and then peel them, mash them till they are smooth.

Pour them on a floured wooden board, make a dimple in the middle and add the egg to it. Add the sieved flour little by little and mix it manually until it is hard and doesn’t stick to your hands. (Probably you will have to use only 3/5 of the flour)

Work it in long rolls of 1.5cm and cut it in 2cm pieces.

Use a fork to give them the right shape. (With a movement swift but firm). Put them on a well floured plate to keep them separated.

Boil them in an abundant (repeat abundant) salted water. When they rise scoop them with a holed ladle.

Mix the gnocchi with their sauce while still warm.

Recommended sauces: Burro e Salvia (Butter and Sage), Fresh tomato sauce and Basil, but you can try also with Pesto and grated Parmesan.

PESTO GENOVESE

(for 600 gr of pasta)

Ingredients

50 Gr of Fresh Basil leaves

½ glass of Extra-virgin olive oil

6 Tablespoons of Parmigiano Reggiano and 2 of Pecorino

2 garlic cloves

1 Tablespoon of pine nuts

A pinch of salt

For the traditional Pesto you should use a marble mortar and a wooden pestle.

Wash the basil leaves in cold water and place them to dry on a tea towel.

Pound the basil leaves and the garlic (a clove for thirty leaves) in the mortar with a slow circular movement.

When the basil releases its juice, add the pine nuts and then the grated cheeses. Finally add (slowly) the oil.

CORNMEAL BISCUITS – PASTE DI MELIGA By Sister T’s mum Franca Corino

A recipe from close to the mountains in Piemonte, where corn goes not only into polenta but into delicious light crunchy biscuits.  I remember we always used to buy particularly good ones in a little town where we made regular pilgrimages to a big discount shoe shop.  Half price Italian shoes and good biscuits : can a day be any more perfect?  This recipe is my mother Franca’s, from a book we did together, along with other authors from the regions of Italy, called “Italy a culinary journey” (Angus and Robertson 1991, ed A. Luciano) – 20 years old now, which is a bit scary.  [I just checked and you can get it on the internet for a massive $1 and 36 cents, + postage, but that is the American edition so I’m not sure if it would have the metric measurements as well]. The quantities are a little odd because the main market for the book was the US, you can play around a bit with the flour percentages.  Also if you are making this in midsummer in Byron and room temperature is 30 degrees, use your butter straight from the fridge.

315 g plain flour
90 g polenta flour
315 g butter, at room temperature
185 g sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tbs grated lemon rind

Preheat oven to 180 C.
Mix all ingredients lightly until the dough is similar to short crust pastry.  Be careful not to overwork it or the biscuits will be tough rather than crumbly and light.
Roll out to a 1.5 cm sheet, cut into circles with a biscuit cutter.
Bake on a buttered oven tray for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden.
Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

BELLY BULLETIN

Where our food comes from, how it is produced and by whom, its impact on our lives and environment, the impact on our culture and on food security, will be some of the themes discussed at the Australasian Regional Food Cultures and Networks Conference. It will be held

At Peppers Resort, Kingscliff, on November 29 and 30, and is organised by Southern Cross University’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. The conference brings academics and industry together across a number of areas including food production, distribution, marketing, tourism and hospitality to explore key issues and opportunities for regional food.

Southern Cross University Professor Philip Hayward said the conference would specifically address local networking issues.

“Local food and low food miles are desirable. But to make local food industries sustainable we have to thoroughly rethink distribution systems, branding and appellation and how producers network with other members of the local supply chain,” he said.

School of Tourism and Hospitality Management Associate Professor Kevin Markwell said he believed regional food could become an engine for tourism.

” Food styles and products help create distinctiveness between regions which then has flow on effects in terms of attracting tourists

to regions to sample distinctive cuisine,” he said.

More info on the conference website, www.regionalfoodconference.com.au

AND BRIEFLY : 2013 has been declared the European Year against Food Waste, and Sikh immigrants are helping to save one of the most traditional of Italian food industries, Parmigiano Reggiano, as they are very skilled with cows, and willing to work the long hours required to bring us this wonderful cheese.

EDIBLE QUOTES – DETTI GUSTOSI

A few of the many many Italian sayings that involve food.  There is a huge list here, although some of the translations are a bit off the mark.

A tavola non s’invecchia – you never get old sitting at the dinner table (not sure if this is because of the good food or the good company)

Non puoi avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca – you can’t have a full wine barrell and a drunk wife (both very desirable things)

i.e. – you can’t have your cake and eat it too

MUSIC

A big grazie to Sergio who always picks really interesting and varied music for That’s Amore, and brought all the tracks we played today.

Vacanze Romane – I Matia Bazar

Pronto – Zucchero

Rap Lamento – Frankie Hi-Nrg MC

Pasta al Pesto e Papadan – La banda di piazza Caricamento

Curre Curre Guaglio – 99 Posse

Love and caponata with chocolate sauce, sorella Mariateresa (aka sister T)