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by Carole Kotkin

Food fashions come and go, but whether it's pizza, pasta, grilled vegetables, or risotto, America's all-time favorite food is Italian. The timeless food and wine combinations, that for generations have characterized the Italian diet, suit the way we want to eat today, with an emphasis on vegetables, fruit, fish, grains, and olive oil. Richer ingredients such as meats and cheeses are used largely as flavoring rather than as main ingredients; even the wine accompanying Mediterranean meals is thought to grant health benefits. Two or three times a week people all over the world eat Italian food, and not just because it's healthy, but because it tastes so good. When we need comfort or satisfaction we turn reassuringly to familiar Italian food. Is it any wonder pizza challenges hamburgers as the preferred fast-food? Italian cuisine represents the joy and spontaneity of home cooking and celebrates dishes and products of various regions whether home is in Miami, Milan, or Melbourne.

The recent Oldways International Congress on Italian Gastronomy held in Rome took a look at the impact of Italian food and wine in countries around the world.  Speakers from The United States, Australia, Japan, and Italy shared their interpretations of Italian food. Italian food as we know it today owes a great debt to the soil of the Americas. New World crops such as corn, tomatoes, potatoes, various kinds of peppers, beans and squashes, strawberries, and chocolate, were totally unknown outside of the Americas before the explorations of Columbus over 500 years ago. Italy embraced these products enthusiastically, incorporating them into their regional cooking. It's hard to imagine Italian cooking without its river of tomato sauce, yet before this time, the tomato was just a weed in the Aztec corn fields. Initially the tomato and potato attracted interest only as a botanical curiosity. It took more than two hundred years for their culinary qualities to be appreciated and become an integral part of Italian cooking. Corn found its place in polenta, the potato was made into gnocchi, and of course the tomato was made into a sauce to be combined with meats, fish, olive oil, cheese and new world vegetables. While Europe was learning about New World products American natives augmented their mostly meatless diet with foods from Europe: pork, beef, chicken, dairy products, sugar, olives and olive oil, wheat, barley and oats.  Centuries later, the exchange
was completed when the huge wave of Italian immigrants at the turn of the century brought the New World foods back to America in recipes reflecting their history and culture. These dishes were re-invented with American ingredients to suit American tastes. And, America fell in love with "Italian food". The term "Italian food" has little meaning in Italy.  To an Italian, there is Florentine, Venetian, Neapolitan, Bolognese and Genoese cuisines as well as the dishes of Rome, Piedmont, Lombardy and the island of Sicily.  Each of the more than 20 regions of Italy has a different history and geography upon which their methods and ingredients of cooking are based. Common to all the regions is the use of good quality and extremely fresh ingredients that is the signature of the Italian kitchen.  For most of Italy olive oil, used since Roman times, is
the jewel in the crown of Italian cuisine; it's only in the region around Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna, that butter and dairy products are used. The bright scarlet of the tomato sauces in the South contrasts with the vivid spinach gnocchi of Central and Northern Italy; the green pesto sauce of Genoa and sunny yellow of polenta from Veneto. Regional wines and foods have been evolving side by side for over two thousand years, making the pleasure of an Italian meal dependent on the choice of an appropriate regional wine to harmonize with the dishes being served. The main meal in an Italian household is served mid-day when businesses close down for two hours so families will have sufficient time to find pleasure in eating and being
together. There is a lively sequence to an Italian meal--antipasto, pasta, fish, meat, vegetable, cheese and dessert--each complementing the other.  In Italy good food (and vino, of course) is a national passion and the heart of family good times and living well. The sampling of recipes that follows shows the simple and satisfying dishes that illuminate the spirit of home cooking in Italy.

Roasted Peppers with Ham and Fontina
Serves 6

3 large red bell peppers
salt
pepper
2-1/2 ounces cooked ham in 3 slices
4-1/2 ounces imported Italian fontina in 6 slices
3 tablespoons olive oil

Set peppers on outdoor grill, under broiler, or directly on a gas burner.  Watch them closely and when the skin blackens turn the peppers with tongs until the entire surface is black.  Place in a brown paper bag and close.  After the peppers have cooled, scrape away the blackened skin with a paring knife.  Cut the peppers in half, remove the seed and membrane.  Lay the pepper halves out on a board, skinned side down.  Lightly salt and pepper the insides.  Put half a slice of ham and a slice of fontina on each pepper.  Fold in half and secure with a toothpick.  Oil a shallow baking dish with 1/2 tablespoon of the oil.  Set the peppers in the dish and drizzle the rest of the oil on top.  Put them into a preheated 400 degree oven and bake until the fontina melts, about 10 minutes.  Let cool briefly and remove toothpicks before serving.

Polenta with Tomato and Corn Sauce

Mixing the cornmeal with cold water insures lump-free polenta. If you want to make the polenta ahead of time it can be kept over barely simmering water for a few hours prior to serving.

Polenta:
1-1/2 quarts water
2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 cups instant polenta (available at specialty stores) or yellow corn meal
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
few grindings of nutmeg
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a heavy 3 to 4 quart saucepan bring 1 quart water and salt to a boil.  Mix the polenta or cornmeal with remaining 1/2 quart water. Add the cornmeal mixture, stirring well, to the boiling water.  Continue stirring over medium-low heat to keep the mixture smooth. Simmer 5 to 6 minutes for instant polenta or 20 to 30 minutes for cornmeal, stirring frequently.  Polenta will become very thick while cooking.  It is done when it comes away cleanly from sides of saucepan. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Dish into soup plates and top with tomato and corn sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Serves 6.
Tomato and Corn Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
10 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 cup fresh corn removed from the cob
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in a medium-size skillet and saute onions, parsley, and oregano for 5 minutes, or until onions are soft.  Add remaining ingredients.  Cook 10 to 15 minutes.

Roasted Vegetables

Make a selection of New World and Old World vegetables from this list of ingredients or roast them all.

1 small bulb of fennel, sliced into 6 pieces lengthwise
3 small eggplants about 5 inches long, sliced in half lengthwise or 1 medium eggplant cut in 5" x 2" chunks
3 small zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
3 yellow squash, sliced in half lengthwise
6 large mushrooms, left whole
6 small yellow onions, unpeeled, left whole
6 new potatoes, left whole or halved
12 cloves garlic, peeled
2 red or yellow bell peppers, quartered
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs, mixed (oregano, thyme, chives, parsley)
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Arrange vegetables in a baking dish, coating them with oil and sprinkling with herbs, salt and pepper.  Place in oven and bake until tender to the fork, about 40 minutes. Serves 8.

Chicken with Artichokes and Lemon

2 lemons cut in half
16 baby artichokes or frozen artichoke hearts
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 whole chicken breasts, split, skinned, boned and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 red onions, sliced 1/4" thick
1/2 cup chicken stock
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup Nicoise olives
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Use 1/2 the lemon to rub the cut portion of the artichoke.  Fill a large bowl with water and squeeze into it the juice from the other lemon half.  Cut each artichoke in half, immerse artichokes immediately into the lemon water to prevent darkening. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat.  Dry the artichoke pieces and add to the pan.  Reduce the heat and sprinkle with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. Cook, partially covered and stirring occasionally, until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a very large saute pan over high heat.  Add the chicken pieces and brown lightly on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes.  Remove from the  pan.  Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in the same pan over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook 5 to 7 minutes until the onions are translucent.  Return the chicken and artichokes to the pan and add the broth, minced garlic and remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice.  Cook until the liquid is syrupy. Season to taste.  Sprinkle with olives and parsley. Serves 8

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