Zuccotto: Something New

When I first started the Cooking With Nonna project, I had in mind all the flavours, smells and ingredients I grew up experiencing in Nonna's kitchen.

I didn't take into account the Master Chef effect that had spread across Australia.  The Ready Steady Cook, My Kitchen Rules, and Channel 31 Italian cooking effect.

Suddenly the wonderful world of culinary experimentation and foodie adventures has invaded our living rooms.  Who can resist?  

Well, me, because I don't watch much TV.  But Nonna has kept up to date with what's going on and she was ready to try 

something new.

Pesto: Summer on a Plate

It's a fact: the smell of fresh basil can instantly make you happier.  I tested this today and it worked...

Just look at all of that glorious herb.  I'm sorry, but what's not to love about the stuff that makes sauce taste Italian and gives meaning to all summer dishes.

And Wikipedia says that extracts of basil are very toxic to mosquitoes. BIG WIN.

This morning Nonna got up with the early birds to harvest 4 cups of fresh basil leaves for some fresh pesto.

I've been eating pesto since I was in nappies but this is the very first time I've ever seen it made.  Actually I have a feeling our whole family still thinks pesto is born in the freezer.  Nonna has been producing yearly supplies of basil-green sauce for years without anyone seeing the transformation from leaf to fragrant mush until this moment.  

One month since Christmas

Christmas in my world revolves around the birth of my Saviour, sparkly decorations, some crazy gift shopping, family time and home cooked food.

This year we all went back to our childhood Christmas Day place... Nonna's house.  My Christmas lunch

was haunted by memories of the boys claiming the turkey drumsticks, wrapping paper under the couches, posed photos under the gum trees with new presents and the smell of percolating coffee.

2013, and the boys still got the turkey drumsticks. 

Paste Secche (Almond Bread/Biscotti)

It's the name that confuses me!

Half of the phone conversation was spent trying to describe the next thing I wanted to make with Nonna. "You know, those biscuits with the almonds in them?  They were really crunchy?  And thin?"
It turns out that there are a lot of different types of crunchy Italian biscuits containing almonds.
"You sometimes have them in your cupboard!"  That wasn't a useful statement either!

Finally a light bulb went on somewhere.
"Paste Secche! You want to make past secche.  Almond bread."

This is what happens when you grow up in a bilingual family which uses a Southern Italian dialect and then decides you only get to learn proper Italian.  Which is different, by the way, from the language my grandparents speak.

Or maybe I just never caught the name of the thin, crunchy almond biscuits I used to eat at an alarming rate.  They are so thin you see, you can eat about 17 at once.

And now the best part is that I know they are almost as easy to make as they are to eat - four ingredients, two trips into the oven, and a very sharp knife.

Veal Schnitzel

Nonna only started making veal schnitzel when she moved to Australia.  My mum says she remembers eating it "all the time" when she was younger, and so it "had" to go in the cookbook.  This is one of those recipes that was born out of the good times.  When I asked Nonna if they ever made schnitzel in the village, she told me about the different meats which were around post-World War II.

Rabbit, the occasional young goat, something like one pig a year (salami), maybe chicken, and ... guinea pig.

No guinea pig schnitzel, thanks.

These days Nonna sometimes hands over a plastic tray of freshly-coated veal schnitzel for our family to stick in the freezer until we are ready to fry it up for dinner one night.  It's a treat :)

Fennel Biscuits

One of my earliest memories of Nonna's baking involves a crunchy biscuit, shaped like a fish, full of sharp-tasting fennel seeds.

We called them fennel biscuits or 'biscotti con finocchio'.

I get the feeling that fennel biscuits come from a very ancient recipe which has been adapted all throughout Italy for generations (maybe I'm speculating).

Today, some of the family still living in Italy run their own biscuit factory which sells fennel biscuits of course. Nonna remembers the time when all fennel biscuits were handmade and served at weddings with a glass of homemade wine.

When I was diagnosed with a wheat intolerance at the age of eight, fennel biscuits were off the diet (boohoo!).

But I re-discovered them again this year.

My stomach lets me eat wheat again now, so I asked Nonna if we could make another batch of fennel biscuits for the cookbook.

When I bit into my first fennel biscuit of the last 13 years, the crunch brought me right back to where I'd left off - but I have to be careful... these things are addictive!

We can't forget Easter...

Even though it was over a month ago, Easter time is important when you are Cooking With Nonna.

When Nonno and Nonna were living in the village in Italy, Easter was really the biggest holiday of the year on the Italian Catholic calendar.

My family has always come together for a big lunch on Easter Sunday.  We have Nonna to thank for this tradition, and although I can't speak for the whole family, I know that Nonna has infused into me a sense of the joy and thanksgiving spirit of Easter.  She always provides us with gifts, family time and of course a special meal... this year I was at Nonna's the day before making lasagna and other goodies.  But that's another post.

Down in the shed, the lasagna has just finished cooking.