Medit-style eating
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Medit-style eating
- From: E*@agora.stm.it
- Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 18:58:46 ITA
Mark and Bill have touched the tip of an iceberg-of-Medit-Style eating
discoveries.
When buying olive oil, be sure it is 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' which means
it is the first pressed 100% pure low acidic oil, and no chemicals have
been added to extract the oil.
Fresh figs are peeled in Italy and served as a first course with slices of
dried ham ('prosciutto), they are served as fresh fruit at the end of the
meal also.
Almonds have always played a very important role in Mediterranean food and
the almond sweets alone of Sicily (traces left by Arabs in precedent
centuries) would merit a visit to this unique Mediterranean island. At the
end of January the almonds bloom turning the trees into pink froth.
Another 'Mediterranean' fruit which the Sicilians love and which grows wild
there is the prickly pear - brought here after 1492, thanks to the
discovery of America.
Herbs play a very important role in Mediterranean food. They provide
flavours and at the same time preventitive medicine. The liquor from Italy
called 'centerbe' is called 100 herbs, and a thimble full of this
firewater, sipped slowly, will make you digest after a large meal.
What the Italians do with peppers - green, red, yellow and the tiny hot
ones, is sheer gastronomic magic. Another reason to visit this country.
Again, this treat is thanks to the discovery of America.
Egg plants - from India once upon a time - also play an important vegetable
role and are prepared in an incredible number of inventive ways.
One should spend a good year prowling this area, eating one's way around.
Many foods are seasonable. We are in the middle of artichoke time...what
discoveries one can make at the table!
Enough, and off to prepare supper (artichokes in the Roman style tonight
made with fresh mint, parsley, garlic, bread crumbs, top quality dry white
wine and extra virgin olive oil.. All that will be served will be tender
and edible - the tough parts are tossed out before cooking.
'Buon appetito' from the
Mediterranean!
Helene Pizzi
Rome
