An Ode to the Italian Cookie Table – how would we celebrate without it?

It was about 2am, early in February a year or so ago, when I finished packing the last of the fifth and final batch of amaretti cookies into a freezer container and snapped the lid closed satisfactorily. I picked up two misshapen “mistakes” of cookies and munched on them on the way to the fridge where I crossed “amaretti” off a long list held to the fridge door by a weak magnet. The magnet couldn’t hold the weight of the list, it kept falling to the floor, and I’d like to think it knew the weight and importance of just how many cookies were on that list and what they were for: an Italian cookie table for my sister’s wedding shower.

Amaretti, tri-colour cookies, chambrelle, crescents, pastry peaches and more lined table after table once we were all done. With two weddings in the family in eight months last year, the cookie baking was constant. My mother baked dozens upon dozens of cookies starting months in advance and filled her freezer, and the freezers of family and friends, leading up to the big day. (All these photos are from my own and my sister’s wedding showers.) The loving care with which they are all prepared, packaged, handled and displayed, shows just how important they are to the celebration.

While no one really knows how and when it originated in general (Wikipedia says it is a tradition that started in Pennsylvania), the cookie table is definitely an Italian-Catholic mainstay for weddings and bridal showers. After a three or four course meal at a shower or a wedding, all the guests line up with cookie boxes in hand to sample the traditional and newly invented cookies and to load up some treats to bring home and enjoy the next day.

Continue reading »

Italian Preserving: food, family and heritage

As spring and summer approach, I’ve been thinking a lot about Italian preserving and canning techniques. Italians who went abroad, like us here in Canada, have maintained many traditions from our former country including preserving meats, vegetables and fruits. While preserving has come back into style due to economic conditions here in North America, Italian-Canadian families are blessed with the knowledge and experience of years of preserving everything including tomatoes and beyond.

It’s said that many in Italy have left this tradition behind, as have those of us that are now third generation Italian-Canadian. However, even I, as a young Italian-Canadian, am hoping to keep the preserving of our foods, and yes, our heritage, much a way of life. I have a few reasons for doing this…

Continue reading »

The classic Italian meal structure

I’m trying to teach myself the proper Italian menu or Italian meal structure. After hosting a six course wedding dinner last year, and starting to have people over our own house, we’ve taken to at least having 2 to 3 courses when we have guests. I know that in Italy at least, we were always have primi and secondi at restaurants, but its not often that you see that here in Canada (unless you are at a relatively authentic Italian restaurant).

I came across this piece of artwork above (that I’m hoping to order to have in my kitchen, you can order it here) that got me thinking about just how much I know about the traditional Italian dinner courses. Here they are defined:

Continue reading »

Italian-Canadian sausage making – a photo essay

In the Italian-Canadian year, because it is marked by big events, January and February are sausage season (and capicollo and soppressata season). In truth, I’m not the biggest fan of cured meats. Though I’ll eat my share, what I like best about the whole process is that it becomes a big family get together. And, of course, we make things from scratch and we know exactly what is in the food we are eating. Here are a few photos from the yearly process.

Continue reading »

Italian Dessert Food Groups Pyramid

I have a definite appreciate for the four-course meals that are part of Italian rituals…but in doing my Italian Food Pyramid a while back, it struck me that there’s also a certain method and hierarchy to Italian dessert too. Thus, the Italian dessert food groups or pyramid.

I find the after-dinner ritual of dessert just as comforting as Italian food itself. Offering guests a small glass of alcohol and proceeding into coffee. I also appreciate the serving of fruit, something that is not necessarily always common in other cultures, before the heavier things are served. And it’s always in that order, so the pyramid was easy to build. Digestivo first, coffee and fruit and nuts, followed by a good canoli (or panettone at Christmas, or zeppole in February…).

The rituals of desserts and dolci play a big part of my family heritage with recipes that are old and new variations that have become favourites. What I love about Italian desserts is that they aren’t always super sweet, but can go a bit to the savoury side, using nuts and honey and wine in cooking. What this really stems from is Italian dolci always being simpler, in fact it was mostly fruits used as sweets many years ago, and it is thought that only with the addition of French and American influences that some of the other cakes and rich desserts that items like tiramisu become popular. Many cookbooks point to Italian desserts being “humble”, which I don’t necessary agree with. It’s not the fat content in the desserts that I find satisfying – and I think this might be the same for others – but it is the complex tastes that do it for me.

My attempt to diet, especially while making this Italian dessert food groups pyramid is being, is being challenged. But it a part of a meal I’d loath to give up, if just for the memories and familiarities it brings.

Like this post? Sign up for e-mail updates (in the right sidebar) or share with your friends (check out the buttons below).

Eating Italian: our food groups and food pyramid

It’s time to forget the Canadian food groups and follow something Italian!

After getting married last year, a Calabrese-Pugliese-Sciliano wedding, I’ve done my fair share of eating. It’s been an all-Italian free-for-all, starting with antipasto buffets and ending in a sausage and sopressata making fest this last weekend. It’s time for a diet. But I still want to eat Italian!

My largest problem with dieting has always been what prescribed diets want you to eat. I have no desire for cottage cheese or bananas or some bland chicken breast. I still want Italian food – in my own way. I was trying to create a healthy menu for this week and I remembered when I was young being taught the “Canada Food Guide”, particularly the 1980s version. It told you how much to eat of all the food groups. Great. Except the food groups didn’t include taralli, polenta, figs, tomato sauce (is that considered a vegetable serving?), ricotta or anything else recognizable. I hated that. Just like we all hated having the smelly mortadella sandwich at school when everyone else had peanut butter.

Searching for the food pyramid or food groups these days shows just how far thinking in diets has come. There’s an Italian Food Pyramid (and an Indian one, Mexican and so on.) Finally something I can relate to! It inspired me to put a nice looking one together – for all those young Italian-Canadians learning about food groups, this is for you! Polenta and foccaccia for grains, figs and grapes for fruits, artichokes and rapini for veges, parmesan and calamari for proteins. Did I miss anything integral? Let me know in the comments!

(images are courtesy of various sources from depositphoto.com)

Mini meatball lasgana Sunday

Nearly every Italian-Canadian I follow on Twitter has pics of their Sunday dinners (at Nonna’s or elsewhere)…so here’s mine. Mini meatballs for lasagna making today.

Shurabetta – my grandfather’s winter dessert

Whenever the first snow falls, I am reminded of my grandfather. Clean fresh snow layering the backyard and roofs, whatever is left in the garden (if there is a tomato stalk or two) and lining the patio stones making them look gleaming white. It’s usually a surprise from overnight, but early fresh snows meant a special treat that I haven’t made, and don’t know if I will make, in years.

Continue reading »