Ciao, Chow

OK.  I’ve received a number of corrections since I started this blog concerning the spelling “Chow”.  People seem to think I am misspelling the word.  Hello?

I am a dog.  I hear the language of humans through canine ears.  I am Italian, yes.  But I am a dog first.  Just as humans are humans first, then Italian, French, American, second.

When I hear “Ciao”, it is similar to the Pavlov response…(now that was an easy experiment, no?  I mean, show a dog a treat and he drools…duh)

To me, “Ciao” will always mean “Chow”.  And why not?

Who in this country doesn’t think about food all the time.

This IS ITALY.

CHOW!

More on Mozzerella

More mozzarella in the house this weekend.  Warm and fresh.  A little on crumbled polenta in my breakfast dish.  A nibble in the afternoon from my Contessa’s hand.

Some mozzarella facts:

Do not put fresh mozzarella made from unpasteurized buffalo milk in the refrigerator. It is best at room temperature and should be eaten within two days of production. If you haven’t had mozzarella this fresh, you haven’t had true mozzarella.  Purists eat their mozzarella without accompaniment. 

My advice: Go to Italy, Campania specifically. 

It is mozzarella’s Mecca.

Signs for dairy outlets along the highways in the Naples area are common. Some sell excellent mozzarella. If you always want the real thing, look for caseificios bearing the Denominazione d’Origine Protetta, or DOP seal, a European Union certification that guarantees top-quality Campania mozzarella.

Last year, 32,000 tons of DOP mozzarella were produced in Campania.  Only 16 percent was exported. The very finest DOP cheese never leaves the region because it is made from unpasteurized milk and has a shelf life of only a few days.

Make sure you’re eating the best.  It’s easy to spot the difference between handmade mozzarella and machine-produced cheese. Each artisanal ball has a Y-shaped flap marking the place where it was seamed by the cheese maker, or “casaro.”

Ricotta cheese is made from a milky mozzarella by product. Here in Italy, ricotta is served for dessert surrounded by honey, orange peel, cinnamon and other condiments. It’s a wonderful summer treat.

If you’re doing a high-protein diet (my favorite), a one-cup serving of the cheese is loaded with protein and has virtually no carbohydrates. Of course, it also has 336 calories, 220 of them from fat.  But, fat is good for the brain, no?

And eating the cheese promotes intelligence and good looks.  Just look at the Italians…

Chow.

Life

“People find life entirely too time-consuming.”

—Stanislaw J. Lec

From the perspective of a small, Italian dog: Life is to be enjoyed, not employed.

      Chow.

Lost in the Sauce

There is a difference between pasta served in Italy, and pasta served nearly anywhere else.  Outside Italy, most pasta swims in whatever version of classic salsa or sugo, pseudo-Italians pretend to pass off as originale.

But the key to authentic Italian food is simplicity.  Kitchen sink versions of pasta sauce fly nowhere in Italy.

Italians do not lose their pasta in the sauce.

Less is always more (unless you’re talking about amore).

Grazia was in the cucina again today.  Primavera in the kitchen: spring has sprung and heaven waits.

Penne with Rapini and Sausage, serves four humans, plus one small dog:

Trim, rinse and chop coarsely one bunch of rapini (bitter broccoli rabe), about 2+ cups.  Blanch in salted boiling water 2-3 minutes.  Drain and rinse under cold water to stop cooking.  Pat dry with paper towels.

Uncase the meat from 2 large Italian sausages.  Break up the sausage into 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown.  Drain.

Cook 1 pound penne in salted, boiling water, according to directions.  Meanwhile saute drained and dried rapini in 2 cloves thinly sliced garlic and 4 tablespoons olive oil until hot.  Add browned sausage.  Drain penne and toss with rapini and sausage.  Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Happy spring.

Chow.

Resolution Revolution

I hear from tourists all the time that Italians really know how to live.  La Dolce Vita, Dolce Far Niente, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera….

But does anyone who is NOT Italian really know what it means?  Probably not, for the rest of the world population of civilized, prosperous countries is too busy trying to keep their countries civilized and prosperous doing the only thing they believe is necessary to win that race: Work, work, and more work.

Whereas, with the fall of ambitious Rome, Italians fell into the blissful secret of happiness:

 

Don’t let life live you – live your life!

 

Ask any dog.  Life is supposed to be sweet….the experience is the thing, not that final moment of completion.  It’s the digging that’s the most fun.  And, when the bone is buried, we all know the time that passes until we dig it up again will be sweet in the anticipation.  Think about it over a cappuccino.

 

 

 

Chow.

Old Cris

I love Cristoforo Columbo.  Anyone who can follow a scent across the ocean and find land is my hero.  I don’t care that he came to be known largely for things he never did.  He had courage, and courage is counted as gold by any dog.

It is said that he was born sometime between August and the end of October, 1451.  I’m going with October 24, as tonight our cook, Grazia, is making Paella, and Paella reminds me of Spain, and Spain reminds me of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria…I don’t know why, but there it is…

Columbo is credited by many to have

1) proved that the earth is round;

2) put the first European foot on North America;

3) been a friend of the natives of that continent.

But, hate as I do to credit the Greeks with anything, it was Pythagoras who, in the 6th century BC came up with the theory to prove the curve of the earth.

And, Columbo never even set foot on North America…he only made it as far as the Caribbean and South America.

Finally, if old Cris didn’t kill the Indians he met along the way, he sent them back to Spain as slaves.

So much for the Myth of Columbo…but I still love him…almost as much as I love Paella.

Chow.