Zucchini Flowers

Ciao a tutti!! I hope everyone has been having a lovely and relaxing weekend.  I myself have been busy in the kitchen, as usual!!

A couple of days ago I was shopping on Fresh Direct, when I came across them. Yes, them. The food that changed my life forever. The food that I only for the first time tried last summer in Italy. I’m talking about…..zucchini flowers.

Zucchini flowers are very hard to come by and are only in season for a few months, so when I saw them, I jumped at the opportunity to purchase a few batches.

My mom had been telling me about these delicate, light blossoms for years. She herself first tried them in Italy and I had my chance last year. When we were in Rome, we ate them every day. They were on every menu, so I just wanted to make sure I got my fix. We had them stuffed, pan fried, on white pizza, you name it. But my favorite way to eat them was the classic stuffed and fried version, who can blame me? Because really, when you stuff something with cheese and fry it, how can that not be anything but amazing?!?! So, in honor of the zucchini flower (or squash blossom), I present…Fiori di Zucca.

Fiori di zucca

6 medium squash blossoms
2 cups Ricotta
1 tablespoon Italian parsley – chopped fine
1 tablespoon basil – chopped fine

Chopped garlic- Quanto basta
2 eggs
1 cup flour
Vegetable/Canola oil – enough to fry
salt/pepper

Start off by cleaning them very well, they are extremely delicate so please be careful. Wash them with a spray of water and dry with a paper towel. Gently open the tips of the blossoms and pull out seeds or anything that doesn’t look too appealing. Set the blossoms aside.

Place a few inches of oil into a deep pot and heat.

Add the ricotta and herbs into a small bowl and mix well, season with salt and pepper.

Put the eggs into a small bowl and beat. Put the flour in a separate bowl. Set aside.

Very carefully pull back the tops of the blossoms and using a tiny spoon or a pastry bag, put enough of the ricotta mixture in to fill the blossom without tearing it. Twist the tops of the blossoms to seal. Continue until all blossoms are filled.

Dip the blossoms into the egg mixture and then coat with the flour. Tap off any excess flour. Continue until all blossoms are done.

Place blossoms into the heated oil and cook until golden, this should only take a few minutes, but stand by them to watch and see exactly how golden you like them. When done, transfer blossoms to a wire rack lined with paper towels to soak up any excess oil and season lightly with salt while they’re still warm.

Please let me know if you have had zucchini flowers and what you think of them!! Buon Appetito!

The Healthy Italian Lifestyle

Our balcony overlooking the pool in Ischia, where I swam everyday

It's summer, which means that the odds are, if you’re a woman, at some point you went on a diet to look good in your bikini or little white dress. While I mostly write about all things food, I wanted to write about the healthy Italian lifestyle. Which brings me to this….

Last summer, as I have mentioned in previous posts, I had the pleasure of spending a month in Italy. My days were spent studying opera, shopping, relaxing, sight-seeing and eating. It was really la dolce vita or the sweet life. It was a magical time. I am so excited to say that I will be going back in just a few short months.

While in Italy, my mother and I ate some of the most delicious food we have ever had. Fresh pasta, thin crust pizza, moist mozzarella, bread right out of the oven, vegetables just picked, beans, homemade pastries, creamy gelato. We tried it all. As any young female on vacation though, before I left I was a little concerned about gaining some weight.

I have always led a very healthy lifestyle. I don’t drink or smoke. I eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables and limit my intake of meat and exercise 4-6 days a week. I wanted to try to maintain that lifestyle the best way that I could in Italy, while still getting to enjoy the food that this glorious country has to offer.

So we arrived in Italy. We were in Rome for a little less than a week. By the sixth day we were in Ischia and here’s the funny thing….. my shorts were looser. I went to Italy with them fitting perfectly and within a week they were too big. I was amazed. I had not been skimping on anything. I wanted to experience all of the food and I was! In Ischia my shorts continued to get loose. And then I realized that there was a reason for all of this.

The Italians do not really eat processed food. They do not use corn syrup. While they certainly do enjoy pasta, they use it as a first course, meaning there is a lot less of it. A typical serving of pasta in America is usually two to three times bigger than a recommended portion size. Italians eat fresh fruits and vegetables, herbs and beans. A serving of gelato is also nothing like a serving of ice cream here. The large serving in Italy is really more of a medium over here and while that doesn’t sound like that big of a difference, every little thing adds up.  In Rome, everyone walks everywhere. That’s exactly what my mother and I did. We walked EVERYWHERE. Except for late at night when we took a cab back to our hotel, we walked everywhere. In Ischia, our hotel had the most beautiful outdoor pool surrounded by palm trees with a view of the mountains. I swam 20 laps every day, on top of taking walks up to four times a day with my mama.

I really took to the lifestyle (except for all the smoking of course.) I could do not believe that eating all of this tempting, wonderful food was resulting in weight loss! Here is an example of a typical day of eating while in Italy.

Breakfast: Yogurt, toast with nutella or cornetto with nutella (or another tempting pastry) and a cappuccino or frappe (a coffee milkshake, yes, I had milkshakes at breakfast!)  

Lunch: In Rome- A few slices of thin crust pizza with a side of fried vegetables, capresse salad or pasta.

In Ischia- Tarallis, pesto, beans, cheese and nuts

Dinner: In Rome- Fish with a side of vegetables, pasta or pizza and a few slices of bread

In Ischia- A few slices of pizza

Dessert: Two scoops of gelato (sometimes twice a day!!)

So as you can very well see, I was not depriving myself. Like any sort of lifestyle or diet, whatever you prefer to call it, it is all about moderation and getting in some exercise. You can have your gelato and eat it too!

Marketing Italian Style: Iavarone Brothers



Ciao lovely readers!! I am so sorry for being away, but between my computer not having service due to technical issues and being on vacation the past few weeks, it was pretty hectic and unfortunately, I was not able to continue with my blogging. But all is well and I’m back now!

As I mentioned, I’ve been away on vacation and just got back yesterday. So what was one of the first things I wanted to do this weekend? Why, market of course! Now, I am still pretty tired from the past few weeks. You know how they say you need a vacation from your vacation; I believe it to be true!

I knew I wanted a nice quiet weekend at home with some warm, cozy meals. So, instead of making an entirely homemade meal (please don’t be mad!) I decided to do the next best thing: go shopping at Iavarone Brothers.

Iavarone Brothers is truly a family run business and will hopefully keep part of its old world charm and stay that way. The store first opened its doors in Brooklyn in 1919 as the first Salciceria (sausage shop) run by Pasquale Iavarone. By 1951, Pasquale's sons, Joe and Jerry, took over. In the early seventies, a new generation, Pat and John, opened new stores and continued with the legacy. Several years later, their brother Joseph Jr. came into the family business. Now here’s the thing. Iavarone has four locations, all in New York. But….you can order online!!! Here is a link to the site: http://www.ibfoods.com/ Now you too can order some of the delicacies I’m about to tell you about!!

Iavarone Brothers is a wonderful store specializing in; you guessed it, Italian food! All homemade. You enter the store and you’re not sure where to start first. There is a section with fresh, crusty, fragrant bread. One full counter devoted to prepared specialties that vary from day to day, you will find chicken and eggplant parmigiana, fried vegetables, lasagna, stuffed shells.



Another part of the counter has different salads, pasta salads, olives, vegetables in vinegar, fish salads. There is a section full of fresh cheese and pesto. Another section with fresh pasta. The pasta selection is amazing. They have some of the most amazing homemade ravioli I have ever had and they offer a huge selection of different fillings; meat ravioli, spinach ravioli, lobster ravioli, truffle ravioli, mushroom ravioli. They of course have other pastas besides ravioli; gnocchi, cavatelli, tortellini, fettuccini. They have shelves filled with jarred peppers and vegetables in vinegar.

There is the butcher with house made sausages, steak, burgers, chicken cutlets and a section full of fresh fish. The selection is endless. If you are craving something Italian, odds are, at Iavarone, you will find it! On top of it, the service is wonderful. Friendly, patient and helpful.

Now, I know you’re wondering, what did I get? Well, the question is, what didn’t I get? Fresh mozzarella, ricotta salata, parmigiana, jarred peppers, olives, tomatoes, sausage, eggplant parmigiana, meatballs, roasted Italian pork, taralles, fried vegetables, pesto, bread and ravioli. The beauty of this shop is that nothing needs to be done to spice this food up. If you are getting already prepared specialties, you will just want to warm them and enjoy! The only thing that I ordered that had to be prepared was the ravioli, which I made with some of the fresh tomatoes I purchased and some garlic. You will not be disappointed in the quality. Best. Raviolis. Ever.


The mozzarella is moist and buttery. The meatballs were tender and light. The fried vegetables crispy, not at all oily. The eggplant parmigiana was perfect. I find that eggplant parmigiana can be difficult. It can be too soggy and mushy to the point that you can’t even tell that you’re eating eggplant. But not at Iavarone. The eggplant is perfectly cooked, crisp, but not too crunchy like a cutlet, and layered with mozzarella and tomato sauce. The bread was delicious with a sesame crust. Perfect when dipped in some of the extra sauce from the meatballs. If you live in the New York area, I highly encourage you to hop on the train, bus, car, anything, so you can try some of this amazing food! If not, they have a site, so don’t feel too bad.

Christopher, Jonathan and Michele Iavarone are now the fourth generation to enter the family business and carry on eighty years of tradition. Here’s to eighty more! Cin Cin!

The Joy of Pesto

First off, I would like to introduce you to a wonderful blog that I discovered called“A High School Foodie.” It is run by high school student Russell (as you could probably guess by the name) and has a number of delicious recipes, both indulgent and healthy. Make sure to add it as a favorite!!

For me, Pesto is like water. I must have it. Water has so many benefits and can be used in a number of ways, just like pesto! You can use it as a marinade, a dressing for salad, add a few tablespoons to a sandwich or a side of vegetables, pasta, the list is endless. Pesto can be used however you like it! Spread it on some nice crusty bread for a snack; add a few tablespoons to your pizza for a little zing. Do whatever you want with it!!

Here is a little history about our dear friend, Pesto. Pesto originated in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy. It traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and pine nuts mixed with olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano and Fiore Sardo. My Pesto Genovese it a mostly traditional, except for the fact the I sometimes make it with walnuts instead of pine nuts. There are so many variations of pesto, traditional, tomato, sun dried tomato, spinach, cilantro, arugula. I love pesto and if you have yet to experience, I encourage you to try these recipes with some nice al dente pasta and I dare you not to fall in love with it, the way I have!

Pesto Genovese

3 large cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
½-3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 – ½ cup pine nuts or walnuts (to taste, some people like more, some people like

less)

Crushed red pepper
Salt +Pepper
Full head of fresh basil

Warm your garlic very slowly in the olive oil until it gets just slightly golden. DO NOT BROWN. Add crushed red pepper to taste, add nuts to the oil, brown very lightly. Let it all cool. Put your basil leaves and thin stems into the food processor or blender. Add your oil, garlic and nut mix, salt and pepper to taste and process. Some people like a coarse pesto which is more traditional, others like a smoother one. This would traditionally be made in a mortar and pestle and would be coarse, some people enjoy using this traditional method. Either way, it’s delicious.

Tomato Pesto

Fresh tomatoes (any size, cherry, plum, even large, just chopped coarsely) end up with two cups chopped

3 large cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
½-3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts or walnuts (to taste, some people like more, some people like less)
Crushed red pepper
Salt +Pepper
Full head of fresh basil

Warm your garlic very slowly in the olive oil until it gets just slightly golden. DO NOT BROWN. Add crushed red pepper to taste, add nuts to the oil, brown very lightly. Let it all cool. Put your basil in the blender, chop it a bit. Then add your garlic nut mix, salt and pepper and tomatoes last. Try to keep them a little chunky. This is also makes an amazing bruschetta!!  If you have some fun ways that you enjoy pesto, please comment and let me know how you enjoy it! Buon appetito!!

The Sweets of Italy, Part due

Time for more delicious sweets of Italy!!

Gelato mouse trifles- So, at Roxy bar they had these wonderful little trifles. They were made with a layer of mouse (hazelnut, vanilla or chocolate) and a layer of gelato (hazelnut, vanilla or chocolate.) Obviously this combination was enough to satisfy me. But what made this so incredible what something I have never seen before. They were served in these little plastic cups with a handle. The handle was hollow and filled with….yep, you guessed it, NUTELLA!!! Even more amazing, it was served with a special double sided spoon, one side was like a regular spoon and the other was a narrow spoon made specifically so you could scoop out the nutella. It was amazing.

The mini pastries- We went to this really nice place for lunch right by an Upim (Upim is a big store, kind of like a JCPenney or a Target.) We had a delicious lunch there. When I went inside to use the bathroom I noticed a huge Pastry display. We were stuffed, so we decided to go back for dessert after dinner. Boy, am I glad we did. We shared a nutella tartlet, a pistachio tartlet and a coffee crème puff. I think I’ve said it all.

Nutella with toast- I know this might sound boring. But if you’re used to toast with butter or peanut butter and jelly, this is a nice change of pace. At our hotel in Rome, there was a continental breakfast and every day I had two slices of whole wheat toast spread generously with nutella. It’s weird; I can’t seem to have this breakfast at home. It’s just somehow not the same when I know I’m not in Italy. Good thing I’m going back soon.

McFlurrys- Yes, McFlurrys, as in a McDonalds McFlurry. Strange, I know. My mother and I went to the famous McDonalds by the Spanish Steps and I couldn’t help but notice that they had hazelnut and pistachio McFlurrys!!!!! I was tempted, so we got one of each and shared!! They were the classic vanilla soft serve ice cream topped with hazelnuts or pistachios. Classic, simple and very, very tasty.

Coffee gelato milkshakes- When we were in Italy, some days were unbearably hot. We noticed a lot of people had gelato for breakfast (my kind of country), so one day we shared a coffee gelato milkshake with our cornettos. Oh my. So delicious and refreshing. We continued this tradition almost every day. You know, to escape the heat. Wink wink.

Do you have a favorite sweet memory of Italy? If so, please comment and let me know!!

The Sweets of Italy, Part Uno

I ate a lot of sweets when I was in Italy this past summer. I mean a lot. I had to have nutella and gelato every day. I had sweets at breakfast, in the afternoon and of course, after dinner while strolling around Rome or Ischia. I got so used to having nutella everyday, that when I got back to America and it wasn’t everywhere you looked, I went through nutella withdrawal. It was pretty intense. Anyway……I thought it would be fun to list a lot of the delicious treats I ate while in Italy. And don’t worry; I’ll be salivating right along with you.

The nutella donut- Yes, you read that right. Nutella. Donut. A beautiful light yeast donut, stuffed and I mean STUFFED with creamy nutella. Sometimes I would eat the outside of the donut first just to save the nutella for last, other times I would take a bite and get a little of each.

The yeast bun with chocolate chips- Okay, not quite sure how to describe this. Almost every morning in Ischia my mother and I went to a place called Roxy Bar. They had some baked goods, gelato, coffee and drinks. One morning we get this delightful yeast breakfast bun, shaped like a cinnamon bun that was made with chocolate chips. It wasn’t sweet, the chocolate was the only sweet thing about it. It was kind of like a twisted bread roll with chocolate. Eaten with a cappuccino was a lovely mix.

Cornetto with nutella and cream- So in Italy, they call them cornettos, not croissants.  They are very similar, but the French version of the croissant tends to be crispy and contains a lot of butter, whereas an Italian cornetto is usually softer. A lot of the time for breakfast my mother and I would get one filled with nutella and one filled with Crema Gillia (custard) and share them both. Delizioso.   

Gelato- I don’t even know where to begin with the gelato. I had so many different flavors, it’s not even funny. The flavors I like are usually nutty or chocolaty. I had Stracciatella (kind of like chocolate chip, except the chocolate is not really in chip form, but in fine bits throughout the gelato. It gets this way by drizzling a thin stream of melted chocolate during the final stages of churning, which hardens on contact and gets broken up as it churns.) I had baci (chocolate and hazelnut), bianco hazelnut (white chocolate and hazelnut. Pistachio. Coconut. Nocciola (hazelnut.) Noce (walnut.) Caramel. White chocolate. Cookie gelato. And my personal favorite, nero fondente. This was without a doubt, the richest, darkest, creamiest, most intense chocolate gelato (or ice cream) I have ever had in my life. It was literally black. Best. Gelato. Ever.  

Do you have a favorite sweet memory of Italy? If so, please comment and let me know!!

Memories of Ischia: The Food, Part Due, Our Pizza Guy

 As silly as it may sound, when we were in Ischia, my mother and I had a pretty set routine for the late hours. After I finished with my evening lessons, we would take a walk, maybe do a little shopping, pick up a pizza from our favorite pizza guy, come back to our nice, spacious room and eat the pizza straight out of the box on our comfy beds while watching DVD’S on the laptop. I know what you’re thinking. You’re in Italy and you stay IN for dinner? First off, we did not do this EVERY night, just most. Second, we were in Italy for a month and sometimes we really craved that feeling of being “home” and doing this kept that feeling alive. Third, no matter where you ate this pizza, it was going to taste amazing, so who cares where we ate it?


Forio, Ischia

So, how did this routine start? Well, on our second night in Ischia (The first night we went out with a group) we were not quite sure what to do for dinner. Were we going to go to same place we went the night before, look for another place, maybe venture to another part of the island? We weren’t really up for anything that big. As we were wandering around trying to make up our minds, we passed a teeny tiny pizzeria. Il Pizzicotto Pizzeria. It was very narrow with just two little booths on one side, a narrow counter for just a few people to sit on the other side and the main counter in the back to order. On one side of the wall was a huge menu, I think they had over 25 pizza specialties. Even though it was small, it felt very inviting and we instantly felt at home. We scanned the menu, unable to pick from so many of the tempting, mouthwatering pizzas. But, after much deliberation, we landed on the Sorriso.

The “Sorriso” was a traditional pie with gravy (some of us Italians call it gravy instead of sauce) and mozzarella, but…..it also had dollops of fresh, creamy ricotta. And if that wasn’t enough, the crust was also stuffed with more fresh ricotta. The combination of the homemade gravy and moist mozzarella with the creaminess of the ricotta, the chewy crust and the smoky taste from the wood burning oven was indescribable. Best pizza ever. While we did try other varieties (my other favorite was the eggplant parmigiano pie) most nights, we just had to get the Sorriso. We would go in, scan the menu, go over a few other options, but I think we both knew we were always going to get the Sorriso.

What made this experience so memorable for us was the fact that even though we were only in Ischia for a little over two weeks, we became regulars at Il Pizzicotto Pizzaeria. It was a very nice feeling. There were moments when we missed home and having a little place where the owners remembered us and knew we would come back every night was a special feeling. I would have loved to have known the names of the two people that were always in there. There was a sweet older woman who helped us a few times and of course, the pizza man himself. Every time we came in, he was so nice and polite. He would take our order and then go straight to making our pie. We even saw him in town a few times and he would always say hello to us. I miss the taste of the pizza in Ischia. It was like no other pizza I have ever had. But I am quite certain I’ll get to try it again someday.