Italian Vegetable Garden by Rosalind Creasy

Author:Rosalind Creasy [Creasy, Rosalind]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Preparation Methods

Vegetables in Italy are cooked in endless ways, befitting their status. They are included in every part of the meal, from antipasto to an occasional dessert.

Vegetables are an integral part of an Italian anti-pasto. This one includes slightly cooked romanesco broccoli, roasted pimento peppers, sprouting broccoli, and sliced fennel.

Antipasto

Translated into English, antipasto means “before the meal,” and it’s associated more with restaurants than with home cooking. While an antipasto can consist of olives, anchovies, sliced meats, and seafoods, many vegetables are served as well. Some of these are white beans with seasonings, sometimes made into a puree and served on toasted bread; roasted red bell peppers served alone or with capers; pickled cherry peppers; thin slices of fennel drizzled with olive oil; chopped tomatoes and basil on toasted bread; and all sorts of vegetables in a tomato sauce. They can be offered in conjunction with other seafood or meat dishes for a party or served singly in a family setting.

Soups

Soups appear to be the “soul food” of Italy. They are generally a hearty mix of vegetables and seasonings thickened with either pasta, rice, or bread. Minestrone, which translates to “big soup,” is this type of soup. There are also soups that feature only one or two vegetables. Meat is rare in an Italian soup; sometimes just a little prosciutto is added for flavor. Many soups are served warm in the winter, and at room temperature in the summer. As a rule, the soups in the north are hearty and fairly filling whereas the ones in the south tend to be lighter.

Salads

Salads are very popular in Italy. They are most often a simple presentation of lettuces, endive, escarole, arugula, and all sorts of chicories (either alone or in a mixture) drizzled with premium olive oil and salt. Mixed, young, tangy “wild greens” are popular in the spring and are simply dressed with olive oil and salt. Vinegar or lemon juice is sometimes added, as are fresh herbs and, occasionally, garlic.

Pinzimonio is the name of a dressing made with the best possible quality of olive oil and served in a small bowl. Diners season the oil to their taste with salt and pepper and then dip raw vegetables into it, most commonly wedges of bulbing fennel, but paper-thin slices of raw artichokes, sliced radicchio, bell peppers, and tomatoes are also favored. At home, pinzimonio usually features one vegetable, though Italian restaurants often offer a mix.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.