A Farm on a Midsummer Night

Crostini with herbed fontina and cherry tomatoes, served in the herb garden

I had the good fortune to be invited to a special dinner Saturday evening, a midsummer night’s dream of a tasting.  Held at Hurd Orchards in a vintage barn, the event showcased 21 original recipes using their abundance of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The atmosphere was enchanting with both sides of the barn opening to setting-sun views of orchards and gardens, candles in glass jars hanging from the beams, and opulent flower arrangements on every dinner table, serving table, and any available space. With gratitude, it was magical.

The hosts pouring celebratory Champagne for a gathering of friends

Amazing home-made graham cracker with honeyed goat cheese and berries.

From one of the three centerpieces on our table

La Salute

DECEMBER 02, 2014 IN GENERAL

Sometimes I lead a charmed life. I asked friend Diane Conroy about an upcoming Sons of Italy event, their annual wine dinner. She was on the committee and invited me to the tasting to choose the wines!

The dinner is this Saturday, Dec. 6. Of course the food is authentic, and the wines are Italian.

The line-up looks like Niro Montepulciano with antipasto and bruschetta; Riondo Rosso with roasted pork shoulder and pepperoni lasagna roll-ups; Planeta Segreta and Straccali Pinot Grigio with the seafood dishes; Bartenura Moscato with dessert; a delicioso PISA Liqueur as a finish.

Thank you to the Sons of Italy for the warm welcome. I’m looking forward to the dinner!

(I was in California and Oregon during November. Posts regarding the trip coming soon, and I’ll get back on track.)  

American (Pizza) Pie

OCTOBER 26, 2014 IN TIMES LEADER, FOOD

(A little feature from today's Times Leader in honor of National Pizza Month. Thank you to Dominic DeFelice and DeFelice Brothers Pizza for their input and allowing me to take some photos at their Wheeling/Bethlehem store. Buon appetito!)

It’s that time of year when, after a long day and a dash through the neighborhood on a dark night, families gather in the kitchen to divvy up the goods. Yes, it’s National Pizza Month, and opening that box on the table has become part of the American way of life.

                So much so in fact, according to National Restaurant Association statistics, Americans consume pizza at the rate of 350 slices per second, or 46 slices per year for every man, woman and child. For a family of four, that’s 23 eight-slice pizzas per year. In the US, 93 percent of the population eats pizza at least once a month. Pizza is the “go to” food for family parties, especially for families with children under the age of 18. A Gallup poll notes that pizza is the top choice for lunches and dinners with the age 3 to 11 crowd.

                America’s favorite topping is pepperoni, which is on more than 36 percent of all orders and totals 252 million pounds consumed per year, but no one knows exactly where this trend began. It did gain popularity sometime between 1930 and 1950. Regardless of which kind, 62 percent of pizza orders include some sort of meat. And with pizza becoming a diet staple, each American also eats around 11 pounds of mozzarella cheese annually. Among toppings, anchovies are the least favorite in the United States.

                There are as many topping preferences as cultures throughout the world. The Japanese like pizza topped with eel and squid; Russians like a fish mixture of mackerel, salmon, tuna and sardines with onions. Curry is popular in Pakistan, tofu in India, coconut in Costa Rica, hard-boiled eggs in Brazil and shrimp with pineapple in Australia. 

 Most people think that pizza originated in Italy, Naples to be exact. However, research shows that people were baking bread 7,000 years ago in the Neolithic age. A little later, Ancient Greeks put herbs, garlic and onions on flatbread, and after that various cultures in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Asia developed their own types of flavored flatbreads.

                Naples, as it happens, was a Greek settlement established around 600 BC. The seaport city grew and thrived with explorations and developing trade routes through the centuries, fostering an increasing population of working poor, or lazzaroni. Since many had no kitchens, street vendors and bakeries began selling inexpensive flatbreads with toppings, coined “pizza” (believed to originate from the Latin pista of pinsere, to pound or beat) around the 16th century. Many of the early pizzas were also sweet, and the more savory versions familiar today developed later. Tomatoes found their way onto pizza after European explorers brought them back from trips to the Americas. While wealthy Neapolitans dined on rich foods and wines, the poor “mangia”’d their way into history.

                Port’Alba, the first official pizzeria opened in Naples in 1830 and featured an oven that used lava from nearby volcano Mt. Vesuvius. On a tour through Italy with King Umberto I in 1889, Queen Margherita Teresa Giovanni asked to try pizza when they arrived in Naples. Don Raffaele Esposito, owner of long-established pizzeria Pietro il Pizzaiolo, obliged with a special pie topped with tomatoes, basil and, for the first time, mozzarella cheese—honoring the colors of the Italian flag—and he named it for the queen.

                The first “official” American pizzeria was Lombardi’s Pizzeria Napoletana on Spring St. in New York City. Gennaro Lombardi opened it in 1905. As Italians immigrated to the US, they also opened restaurants and pizza parlors, introducing their cuisine to a growing American middle class. Soldiers returning from World War II tours in Italy helped spread the word about pizza and boosted its popularity as a tasty, wholesome meal.  

Today the $30 billion a year pizza industry serves up the second most popular restaurant menu item, the first being burgers. For consumers over age 50, pizza is second to chicken when it comes to take-out food. Chances are, there is a pizza restaurant nearby because they hold a 20 percent market share of the number of restaurants.

                Based on per capita counts, the National Restaurant Association reports that New Hampshire rates the highest with 3.87 stores per 10,000 people. West Virginia ranks fifth in this count with 3.40 stores per 10,000 people, followed by Pennsylvania at 3.26 stores. Ohio ranks eighth with 3.18 stores per 10,000 people. New York, home of the first pizzeria, comes in 15th with 2.63 stores per 10,000, and Hawaii is last on the list with only 1.21 stores per 10,000 people.

                Of the chain pizza restaurants, Pizza Hut is the largest in the world. According to Technomic, a restaurant industry consulting firm, Pizza Hut restaurants and delivery/take-out units total 6,120 in the United States alone (an average of more than 120 stores per state and over 8.5 percent of the pizza real estate, but they also have outlets in 90 other countries. Rounding out the top five chains, largest first, are Domino’s, Little Ceasars, Papa John’s and Papa Murphy’s. In total, chains have 47 percent of the total 71,387 US pizzerias.

                The other 53 percent are independently owned, Connecticut having the highest percentage of independents versus chains at 87 percent. New York is second with 83 percent independent. Pennsylvania is eighth (76 percent,) Ohio is 13th (55 percent,) and West Virginia is 26th (45 percent independents.)

  Locally, regional family-owned DeFelice Brothers Pizza has been serving their brand based on family recipes since 1982. President Dominic DeFelice says that they’ve been able to maintain the integrity of the original pizzas even through their growth to nine stores.

                “Our dough is made fresh several times a day. We chop our fresh vegetables in every store. We use 100 percent real dairy cheese,” DeFelice explains. “We used to make our own sausage, but found someone to make it to our specifications when we couldn’t keep up with demand.”

                He adds that they used to use fresh tomatoes, but, because of the company’s growth, sought out a producer in the United States who is able to pick and can (fresh pack) tomatoes within a six hour time span, giving DeFelice a consistent product that is as fresh as possible. He believes the fresh products and flavors played a part in the “DeFelice Bros. Special” pizza winning a competition in Italy.  

                In all, DeFelice Bros. offers more than 20 toppings on the menu, but, true to form, pepperoni is still the top seller, and anchovies sell the least. The above-mentioned “Special” (with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, green peppers and onions) and monthly promotion pizzas (in October, it’s taco pizza) are popular, also.

                DeFelice and district manager Geno Traficante think people like pizza because “it covers the four food groups:” dairy, meat, grains and vegetables.

                “It’s portable and fun,” adds Traficante. “It’s also social and communal. People buy it for parties, to have with friends and family.”

                “The key is the fresh ingredients, tomatoes, basil,” notes DeFelice. “We try to keep it simple.”

 And with the trend toward healthier, simpler eating, a “better pizza” movement has arisen. Technomic research and surveys indicate that 41 percent of American pizza diners want fresh, local and/or organic ingredients for their pies. Thirty-four percent of pizza consumers said they would pay more for gourmet ingredients, for instance free-range chicken, goat cheese, tapenades, house-made mozzarella and smoked ricotta.

                Pizza purists have also united and formed the “Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana,” the True Neapolitan Pizza Association. Members have set the parameters for creating an authentic Neapolitan pizza. The dough must be hand-kneaded and rolled without using any instruments like a rolling pin. It must be within certain size guidelines, use ingredients of particular quality and origin and be baked in a wood-fired, domed oven. The association evaluates and designates pizzerias outside of Naples to carry on their historic traditions.     

                Finally, since pizza has become a huge part of American culture, here are the facts on the world’s largest pizza. The World Record Academy says the largest baked pizza was created in December 2012 in Italy by five Italian chefs raising awareness about celiac disease. Measuring 131 feet in diameter (covering one-third of an acre,) the gluten-free pizza weighed 51,257 pounds and took 48 hours to bake in 5,000 batches. The ingredients included 19,800 pounds of flour, 10,000 pounds of tomato sauce, 551 pounds of salt, 8,800 pounds of mozzarella cheese and 275 pounds of parmesan cheese.  

Some Fall (Food) Colors

OCTOBER 05, 2014 IN FOOD, GENERAL

Thought I would add a couple of photos from yesterday's trip to the Ohio Valley Farmers Market in Bellaire. Susan West/Lone Oak Farm had bright heirloom tomatoes, and Vagabond Kitchen was serving up Chef Ryan's steamy hot soup made with market veggies and just a little hot pepper. "Soup. Bee-you-tiful soup." (the turtle in Through the Looking Glass, C.S. Lewis)

Feelin' "Saucy?"

JULY 10, 2014 IN TIMES LEADER

Fresh food, memories, passion--it's all in the sauce. Here's what I dished up for Saturday, July 5th's Times Leader.  I'm looking forward to talking with these people again.

Say “Italian,” think “food.” Americans have embraced the warm, familial culture expressed often by “Mangia, mangia” (“Eat, eat.”) Comforting meals prepared with love, gardens full of tomatoes and peppers and herbs, and family recipes of simple but hearty, real food are still hallmarks of Italian cuisine.  

                Truly some of the most beloved dishes are those of pasta with sauces—rich and red or decadent with melted cheese and butter or fragrant basil and olive oil. They do have histories, however. Pesto sauce, herbs “pounded” with olive oil, was probably created in Persia using coriander and adopted by the early Greeks and Romans using basil. It was definitely part of the cuisine in Medieval Italy. Many variations have followed, but the key to pesto is grinding or pounding the ingredients into a pulp.

The origins of a basic white sauce called Bechamel (bay-shah-mel) are fuzzier. Italians credit Catherine de Medici (and the chef who traveled with her) for bringing this sauce to France when she married the future King Henri II in the 14th century. However, the French argue that in the 1600s Duke Philippe de Mornay, Marquis Louis de Bechamel or, most likely, Chef Francois Pierre de la Varenne, a court chef for King Louis XIV, created the sauce made with butter, cream and flour.

Tomatoes have become nearly synonymous with Italian food. An ancient fruit used as a vegetable, the tomato was probably “discovered” by the Aztecs. By 500 BC it was being cultivated in Mexico. No one in Italy even saw tomatoes until Spanish explorers Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortez brought them back to Europe from South America. At that time a botanist likened tomatoes to eggplant, and they were grown for decoration rather than food. Over the next two-hundred years Italians—especially the wealthy--assimilated them into regional dishes and soups around Naples and Genoa. In 1692 a tomato sauce appeared in an Italian recipe, but it wasn’t until 1790 when a recipe combining tomato sauce with pasta was included in L’Apicio Moderno, a cookbook by Neapolitan chef Francesco Leonardi.   

Two types of tomato sauces emerged as Italian cuisine evolved: sugo and ragu. Pellegrino Artusi, in his 1891 cookbook La Scienca en cucina e l’arte de mangier bene, defines sugo as “made from tomatoes that are simply cooked and run through a food mill. At the most, you may add a small rib of celery and a few leaves of parsley and basil to tomato sugo, if you must."

Ragu sauces are richer and heavier, made with meat, vegetables, wine and, possibly, cream. Its origins are attributed to Bologna.  

Immigration at the turn of the 20th century fueled the market for Italian imports of olive oil, fruit and canned tomato sauce from the homeland and created a new food industry in the United States for citrus fruits and tomatoes. It also introduced most Americans to Italian food as enterprising immigrants set up restaurants using family recipes.

Today’s Italian cooks are still using some of those recipes, and the annual Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival at Wheeling’s Heritage Port, this year from July 25 through 27, celebrates the culture, history and food. For the second year the festival will host a sauce contest, open to the public, with three categories: red, white and “miscellaneous” (such as pesto.)

One of the contest judges, a chef for 30 years who grew up in a traditional Italian family, says that people do still use family recipes—when they cook. Hectic lives have families reaching for processed foods or fast foods instead of fresh tomatoes and herbs from a backyard garden. But it doesn’t have to be home grown to be good, she adds.

“There are some really good canned tomato products out there,” the judge explains. “Take canned tomatoes, some spices, garlic. Make a whole batch and freeze part of it. It’s a lot cheaper than jarred sauces, and you’re using real food. People need to get back to real food.”

Lisa Badia of Wheeling grew up in Bellaire in a large Italian family with her grandparents close by.

“My sauce recipe is in my grandmother’s handwriting, Teresa DiPaolo Badia,” she says. “She used her own tomatoes and canned them. My only modification to her recipe is that I use organic sauce rather than growing my own tomatoes.”

Badia’s father lovingly tended backyard gardens which provided the foundation for their meals. When she visited Italy Badia says she was “humbled” when she saw the same gardens in Italian yards where her ancestors lived.

“I really felt the connection to my heritage, to the food,” she adds.  

Frank Muraca grew up in Wheeling a third-generation steel mill worker. Last year he won three medals in the Italian Festival sauce contest: silvers for his Bolognese and puttanesca sauces and gold for his marinara. He describes himself as a “self-taught” cook though, he, too, grew up in a traditional Italian household and remembers a neighborhood full of small family grocers and shops with “cheeses hanging from the ceiling.”

He developed an appreciation for culinary arts as a bachelor who wanted “good food” like that of his childhood. Muraca grows his own herbs and has extensively researched canned tomatoes to find the right taste.  He remembers his grandmother’s sauces with beef, pork and even rabbit, and adds that his father was an excellent cook. His method is trial and error, and he encourages others to do the same. 

“There are a lot of good cooks in the Valley, but if you want to learn you have to keep trying,” Muraca notes. “I don’t have to measure anymore, but I do have to taste while I’m cooking. The key is to make it the way you like it.”

Local caterer Diane Conroy says that by the time she was 10 years old she could cook well enough to prepare a family meal. Her sauce recipe comes from the old country, too. Her Uncle Joe and his mother taught her aunt the fine points of sauce making, and she passed the recipe on to her sisters (including Diane’s mother.) Sauce ingredients came from the garden, and children were expected to pitch in and help with picking, prepping and canning.    

For Conroy, who cooks sauce by the gallon now, preserving the recipes helps preserve family memories.

“As a child I felt I knew many of my relatives that had passed away already just by listening to the stories about them and the food they made or how much they loved the recipe we were eating,” she explains. “Our mothers (the sisters) would get together at least once a month to cook for the family. We were together learning about our family's history and faith. The best times even today are cherished because of favorite recipes, stories and traditions of my own family.”

Conroy plans to enter the sauce contest this year, and Muraca is busy preparing three entries again, his marinara and two other sauces. The judge is also looking forward to the contest and has some advice for home cooks.

“Most people cook the sauce either too long or not long enough,” she notes. “There has to be a balance between tart and sweet from the ingredients, but a sauce doesn’t need to cook all day. Sauces should have some viscosity, but not be like jelly. A rich sauce like a Bolognese should have some weight. It shouldn’t run off the spoon, but drip off of it.”

She and Muraca caution against putting sugar in sauces. According to them, good sauces should have a tang, but any sweetness should come from good quality tomatoes, or, as Muraca recalls a relative doing, adding a carrot. 

 Information and entry forms are available online at www.italyfest.com. The deadline for the sauces is July 10, and only homemade sauces are eligible. Entry fees are $10 for the first jar and $6 for each additional entry. For questions, contact Kim Smith, festival coordinator at (304) 242-1090 during regular business hours.