Kyle's Italian Food Blog

Italians don't celebrate the American Labor Day (here workers celebrate on May Day, May 1st), but this a fine time for a cookout in any case. One could just fire up the grill, but with a little planning one could do much more:

• The day before, make insalata di riso (chilled rice salad), together with pasta all'ammiraglio, a tomatoey pasta salad, and butterflies with almonds, tomatoes, and feta cheese. While they're chilling, heat the coals and prepare some peppers, and also some eggplant; they'll profit from marinating overnight in olive oil and garlic. Some mixed boiled vegetables (to be served chilled) will also be quite nice.
• On the morning of The Big Day, marinate whatever meats you want to marinate -- Vittorio's grilled chicken, for example, which profits immensely from the addition of finely chopped lemon zest and an occasional drizzle of lemon juice as it cooks, and prepare your other meats as well.

Chicken works nicely with sausages, spare ribs, and steak.

Side dishes? The grilled vegetables, chopped tomatoes (even an insalata caprese, with mozzarella, for those who don't want meat), and mixed boiled vegetables. Salad too for those who want it, and lots of crusty bread.

Next? Ice cream or sherbet, or fresh fruit. Peaches in wine are very nice in summer.

And this brings up the subject of drink. Chilled white wines, for example a good Soave or Gavi (2007 vintage) will be nice, as will Lambrusco, of the Secco (dry) variety. I'd go with Sorbara in this case, or Salamino.

But there's still time for another cookout or two, and if you live in the US, Labor Day draws nigh. I usually cook up a grigliata mista, or platter of mixed grilled meats. and it usually goes over very well.

However, there is one major drawback to the grigliata mista: There can be a run on a particular kind of meat that leaves some licking their chops and others muttering as they pick over the platter -- I had this happen once when the chicken was especially good, and those who didn't snap it up were making faces about bistecca alla fiorentina and agnello scottadito (grilled lamb chops). One answer to this problem is to make spiedini, by sticking foods on short skewers (spiedo is spit, spiedini are little spits), grilling them, and giving each diner one or two spiedini.

The spiedini pictured here, which were prepared by a butcher in Florence's Mercato di San Lorenzo, are best suited to roasting because it's all too easy to burn sliced bread over the coals. But they do give the idea, and I've put together a quick and tasty collection of Italian spiedini recipes perfectly suited to a hot grill. Enjoy!

When they announce when school will be opening. The date varies Region to Region, and our kids will be heading back to class in September -- Son Riccardo on the 11th and Daughter Clelia on the 15th. This gives us time to arrange a couple more cookouts. A few ideas:

• Mozzarella and Tomatoes: Insalata Caprese
  In small portions this is a nice summer appetizer; in larger amounts it is refreshing summer meal or fine picnic food.
• Bowties with Almonds, String beans, Feta and Tomatoes
  A tasty pasta salad that gains zest from feta cheese, richness from almonds, and balance from string beans.
• Polpettine alla Griglia
  Sicily's delicious grilled meatballs.
• Rosticciana
  Tuscan grilled spare ribs are simplicity in themselves. And very good too.
• Costarelle di Maiale alla Laziale
  Costarelle can be either ribs or chops, depending upon where you happen to be. In Lazio they're boned chops, and quite tasty.

And to finish up? Either Gelato or Macedonia.

We're coming to the close of tomato season, but they're at their richest and ripest, and are perfect for drying to set aside for use as winter antipasti that bring memories of summer, or simply as ingredients. Drying them is easy, and once they are dry they work nicely in pasta sauce or can even be stuffed. Another alternative is to salt them. Enjoy!

Frascati is one of the classic Roman white wines, made from vineyards in the Alban Hills overlooking Rome. If you have eaten in a Roman trattoria you may well be familiar with it, because it's commonly set out by the pitcher, and does a fine job of accompanying quickly cooked Roman dishes. You may have found it to be rather simple, and much Frascati is. However, when made with care it is quite graceful, and very pleasant to drink. In shrot, a good selection for a late summer cookout,or (if you're in the US) Labor Day.

I tasted through quite a bit of Frascati at Vinitaly, and here are the wines that impressed me the most.
Want to know more? My comments on the appellation and complete tasting notes.

When it gets hot enough for the pavement to melt it's time to think about refreshing foods. For example, Ligurian minestrone, which is light because the herbs are just barely sauteed at the start, and refreshing thanks to the addition of pesto sauce. Drink it with a Pigato or a Vermentino (both Ligurian whites), and you'll be happy indeed.
A version you can make most of ahead | A version starting from scratch.

Chicken is one of the most popular meats in Italy, and even though much of what is now sold is commercially raised, it is tasty. And then, if one is lucky enough to come across a true free-range bird that foraged in the barn yard, well. Heaven on earth! What to do with it?

If it's really hot, set it on the grill. You can either squash it with a brick in the Etruscan tradition, or marinate it following Vittorio's lead.

If it's not so hot, pollo alla cacciatora, or chicken cacciatore is quite nice. Though many recipes are extremely elaborate, I like Artusi's simple recipe. A close relative would be Pollo alla Marengo, the dish Napoleon enjoyed after a great victory in Piemonte. Or you could cream your chicken, if you want something more delicate.

Cooler out, or a special occasion? Stuff it, and a rice-and-tomato stuffing is quite nice.

Winding down, three things:
How to Chop Up a Chicken | How to Bone a Chicken | Italian Chicken Recipes

Ferragosto, or Assumption Day (August 15, the day the Virgin Mary was assumed into Heaven), is the most important summer holiday in Italy, a time that all Italians who can get out of the cities and head for either the coast or the hills.

It's also an occasion for a festive meal, and for many in Tuscany is a culinary breath of winter in the midst of summer: People fire up their ranges and make rich hearty dishes along the lines of pasta with sugo alla bolognese or lasagna, and Artusi has a number of other interesting suggestions.

In other parts of Italy people do other things, for example in Milano they enjoy vitello tonnato (which makes more sense to me, given the season), but no matter how you look at it, it's an occasion to get together with friends and enjoy a fine meal.

And what are we going to do this time? Probably enjoy pasta with pesto sauce, grill up a steak and some chicken, with a nice tossed salad and borlotti, also known as cranberry beans, all followed by a sorbetto di limone.

Again, Auguri!

Moving in a very different direction, if you have access to wild boar, North American Import & Export is holding a wild boar recipe contest. Entries are due by September 15, and the first prize is 500 Dollars. Time to get cooking...

Or, Squid, Octopus, and Cuttlefish, three mollusks (yes, they are distantly related to snails) that look much more difficult to prepare than they are, and are very tasty too. Three simple recipes:

Anelli Fritti, or Fried Rings -- squid bodies cut crosswise into rings and fried. The one problem with this dish is that it runs out before people have had their fill.
Polpo Affogato, or Drowned Octopus -- a mixed fish antipasto without boiled octopus wouldn't seem quite right.
Calamari Ripieni, or Stuffed Cuttlefish -- Cuttlefish are ideally suited for stuffing, and this recipe is both tasty and easy. Romantic, too.

Caught your own fish? How to clean them, and harvest their ink.

In late summer peaches are at their ripest, and richest, and now is the time to set some aside for the winter months; you'll find these to be far superior to anything that one can get out of a can. In terms of peach varieties, you'll want firm fleshed yellow peaches, and of a kind whose pit comes out easily. This recipe will yield about 10 half-pint (250 ml) jars, and they'll make excellent holiday gifts too. You'll need:

• 13 1/2 pounds (6 k) medium sized, blemish-free, ripe peaches
• 2 1/4 pounds (1 k) sugar
• 1 quart (1 l) spring water
• A 750 ml bottle of non-sparkling Moscato wine
• The juice of 3 organically grown lemons
• 3/5 cup (150 ml) rum
• 10 leaves lemon balm (Melissa Officinalis), or 10 slices of lemon zest (yellow part only)

Begin by making sure your jars are clean and dry.
Next, the syrup: Put the lemon juice through a fine-mesh strainer to filter it and combine it, in a pot, with the spring water, wine, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer it for about 10 minutes, then remove it from the fire, add the rum, and let it cool completely.
Bring another pot of water to a boil. Cut the peaches in half, pit them, and blanch the halves in the boiling water for a few seconds to loosen the skins, which you will want to remove and discard. Put the peach halves in the jars; if you prefer you can also cube the peach halves before putting them in the jars.
Fill the jars to the brim with the syrup, topping each off with a lemon balm leaf or a strip of lemon zest, and cover them tightly with the lids. Fill a large pot with cold water, set a rack into it, and put the jars on the rack; there should be at least 2 inches of water covering them. Bring the pot to a boil and simmer the jars for a half hour to sterilize the peaches. Let them cool in the water, dry them off, and store them in a cool dark place. They'll be ready in a month, and bring back a welcome remembrance of summer.