Italian Food

MypinchofItaly said:
And althought you were in Roma you hadn't pizza? Unique in the world:happy:.
Rimini and the Romagna area isn't famous for pizza ( but if you want it you find it)...but is famous for Piadina. Neither this did you eat?
Click to expand...

No, never had that either. Our breakfast and dinner were provided by the hotels, so maybe they were catering for the tourist trade rather than anyone else but the food was definitely not their take on British food and what we considered to be Italian. We did buy lunch from all sorts of restaurants and cafes (wherever we happened to be at the time) and never came across pizza or piadina there either.
 
Someone know or have ate Bottarga?
20170316_092838.jpg
20170316_092851.jpg
 
I've had bottarga. It was shaved onto a garlic crostini and drizzled with a bit of evoo. I've also had it on pasta. Delicious stuff, but only my son and I will eat it, not my wife. My boy and I are adventurous eaters, especially with seafood.
I've never seen it in a jar like that. Was it preserved in an oil or something?
 
buckytom said:
I've had bottarga. It was shaved onto a garlic crostini and drizzled with a bit of evoo. I've also had it on pasta. Delicious stuff, but only my son and I will eat it, not my wife. My boy and I are adventurous eaters, especially with seafood.
I've never seen it in a jar like that. Was it preserved in an oil or something?
Click to expand...

Oh no...it's only grated bottarga, nothing else. I really love bottarga.It's a typical famous product from Sardegna but also from Sicily..but that from Sardegna is most good! (Ok, I must confess I'm not so impartial about Sardegna...my mother's family is from Sardegna and I spent my summer holidays there since I was 10 :love:).I use bottarga in this way: in a pan with a lot of EVO and one/two cloves of garlic, drain speghetti and add in the Pan and then add a truckload of grated or fresh bottarga ( in this case you can also grated or cut into little slices), mix altogether and serve with a bit of evo again. Someone add minced fresh parsley at the end or cooking in the Pan with oil and garlic and some cherry tomatoes, also good. Or is not unusual to find spaghetti with bottarga and shellfish...mmmm...gnam! But I prefer simple dish of spaghetti, bottarga and EVO. I could immagine that not all like bottarga because has a very strong taste...but, welcome to adventurous eaters!
 
Last edited:
morning glory said:
I've used it an a linguini and clam recipe (sprinkled over the top) and with prawns and pasta. I've even added some to prawn curry! I think it would go well with artichokes...
Click to expand...

I've never used it with other fishes but it looks interesting recipes. Oh....it's an Italian food thread so the right word is Linguine, not Linguini :wink::wink:..
Do you think to cook bottarga with artichokes? .....mmmm....I can't imagine how it could be...let me know if you would try...
 
Ken Natton said:
Well, I suppose this is the point about not judging food of a particular culture by what you get in restaurants supposedly of that culture. The truth is, they will cater to the tastes of their clientele, which, of course, is nothing other than good business. All I can say is that around me, a significant number of the best restaurants are Italian themed. And pizza and pasta is only a small part of their offering. And I suppose that the fundamental idea of this thread would have worked better if it had been about what dishes people cooked of an Italian bent, and perhaps even better what food they had experienced while actually in Italy. I accept, I’m the one who set off talking about Italian restaurants.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's so. Pizza and pasta is only a small part of food Italian restaurants. It's so sad for me because Italian food is various, health, recognized all over the world but a big part of the world think that our food is only pizza, pasta, provolone with a fat Italian cook that dance tarantella accross o'Vesuvio with guitar and some tomato sauce on T-shirt..it's really an embarassing things for Italians in Italy! The most Italian restaurants were established several years ago by a lot of sicilians and Neapolitan or people from Calabria...ok that's not a problem but not all Italians are from that parts of Italy and mostly we are a little bit embarassing when we see that this kind of restaurants sometimes are like character Actors... (thanks also to the Sopranos and to all movies where we are all mafiosi with mandolino and spaghetti...Ok but this is another story). However, here in Italy we have an invasion of japanese and chinese restaurants. A japanese friend of mine said to me :this is not the taste we have in Japan! They adapt the J. taste to Italian taste or they could closed their restaurant here". It's the same for us..
I think that the real Italian taste is to taste in Italy.

Duck59 said:
Scotland has a large number of people of Italian descent and if you visit Edinburgh, you'll find any number of Italian restaurants, cafes, bakeries and delicatessens.

Italian cuisine gets around - when I lived in Eritrea, I almost certainly learned more Italian words there than in the various times I've been to Italy. A lot of fruit and vegetables are known by the Italian names, as are quite a few kitchen and household items. A visit to the capital, Asmara, feels a bit like you've suddenly found yourself in a little part of Italy. There is a very Italianate cathedral, lots of pizza restaurants and masses of shoe shops!
Click to expand...
 
MypinchofItaly said:
Yes, that's so. Pizza and pasta is only a small part of food Italian restaurants. It's so sad for me because Italian food is various, health, recognized all over the world but a big part of the world think that our food is only pizza, pasta, provolone with a fat Italian cook that dance tarantella accross o'Vesuvio with guitar and some tomato sauce on T-shirt..it's really an embarassing things for Italians in Italy! The most Italian restaurants were established several years ago by a lot of sicilians and Neapolitan or people from Calabria...ok that's not a problem but not all Italians are from that parts of Italy and mostly we are a little bit embarassing when we see that this kind of restaurants sometimes are like character Actors... (thanks also to the Sopranos and to all movies where we are all mafiosi with mandolino and spaghetti...Ok but this is another story). However, here in Italy we have an invasion of japanese and chinese restaurants. A japanese friend of mine said to me :this is not the taste we have in Japan! They adapt the J. taste to Italian taste or they could closed their restaurant here". It's the same for us..
I think that the real Italian taste is to taste in Italy.
Click to expand...

Firstly, if it encourages you, just to prove a point about Italian Restaurant names, the ones near me, the nearest to us is called San Marinos, and there is another not far called Ciao Baby – not unknown to see Premier League football players in there (at least in the days when Bolton and Blackburn were in the Premier league – it is on the Blackburn Road out of Bolton). There is another in the centre of Bolton called Ciao Napoli, and another of very high excellence, close to where my parents live, where I was brought up, called Al Bosco. Varied enough for you?


And if I might suppose to return to the question I posed about why Italian food is so good – so influential. I have heard it suggested that it is because food is so important in Italian culture. I don’t doubt that it is, but there are several other cultures where food is of particular importance and I am not sure that there is such a thing as a culture where food is of little importance. I think it might be more insightful to point out the importance of family to Italian culture. It is an obvious point that large family gatherings have a tendency to revolve around the fare that is provided. A great deal of the planning and execution of such gatherings is all about the catering. But again, that is not entirely unique to Italian culture, though maybe there is some case to suggest that it is particularly strong in Italian culture.


But perhaps there is also some merit in pointing out that Italy is the place of origin of so much of western art. Maybe there is something in the suggestion that Italian food is born of that artistic temperament. Yes, I dare say many might suggest that it is in France where food has been elevated to an art form. But it seems very clear to me that Italian food is far more influential outside Italy than is French food outside France. Perhaps some would disagree…
 
I'm agree about the importance of food also for other countries, not only for Italy. We are not the only in the world. But.....I think that our food difference is not only for the culture (ancient romans, etruschi, etc) but is also for the clima/weather that has a big influence for the agricolture and animals. Apart the actual Community European rules, we import very little foods from others countries because we have a lot of food here with high quality (and we export the same high quality). Then depends all about the manner of cooking..
And I also think that in some countries was enough eat but not taste. Maybe we was innovative because we have also experimented to elevate food to an art form.
 
Last edited:
Lullabelle said:
This is our 'local', a delightful little place

http://www.casaromana.co.uk/
Click to expand...

Amazing Place! I have read menu and the ingredients and looks authentic recipes. Apart two/three details: garlic bread isn't very Italian, at least we have bruschetta ( toasted bread) with garlic. Original roman Amatriciana isn't with pancetta but is absolutely with pork cheek.. (guanciale)..I haven't saw pasta cacio e pepe - (pasta with pecorino cheese and pepper)..but however they have an interesting menu. I would like to try next time I'll come in UK on May.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom