Dreaming In Italian

No, that is not a form of bacteria. It is a very easy and tasty sauce that goes incredibly well with fish. I ran across it in one of the cookbooks by the goddess of Italian cooking, Marcella Hazan. The recipe was for grilled swordfish with this sauce and I’ve used it that way a number of times. She also states that it’s good on lots of other kinds of fish so I’m going to try some of those too. It’s Sicilian in origin and definitely qualifies as an item on the “cucina pigra” (lazy cooking) list.

The ingredients are simple enough: olive oil (extra virgin of course), lemon juice, salt and oregano. I use less salt that she does but I’m giving the ingredient list from her cookbook “More Classical Italian Cooking”. As an aside, this cookbook as well as her first one “Classical Italian Cooking” into a single updated volume “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking”. I highly recommend it.

Ingredients: enough for 4 people

1 tablespoon salt (I halve that)

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon oregano (she doesn’t specify but I use fresh and chop it finely)

¼ cup olive oil

freshly ground pepper

Put the salt and lemon juice into a bowl (I use a one cup measuring cup for convenience) and beat with a fork or small whisk until the salt is dissolved. Add the oregano and mix it in with a few turns of the fork. Trickle in the olive oil while beating with whatever instrument (fork or whisk) that you have chosen. Add a few grinding of pepper and mix a bit to distribute the pepper. That’s it. The recipe scales well so even if I am just cooking for myself I can make a small amount since it really doesn’t keep since the lemon juice will lose it’s punch. Also note that the ingredients really don’t need to be too exact for this too all work out. It should be salty and lemony and after it’s mixed together will have a slightly thick consistency. I like some of Marcella’s writing and here is how she sums up the sauce…

 “There can be no simpler way to sauce a fish than with this clear silken wash, wherein are dissolved the cool zest of lemon and oregano’s sultry fragrance. There is certainly non more enticing to the nose or palate.”

I’ve now tried it with other fish as well and found it just as wonderful. One night the fridge was a bit bare so I steamed some broccoli and red bell pepper and put it over rice with some salmoriglio. It was fantastic. Try it soon and let me know if you like it.

I’ve written two posts about the case of Amanda Knox. For one of them I read two books on her case and concluded that she was innocent of the murder of Meridith Kercher or at least that there was certainly no significant evidence against her. Finally the Italian courts agreed and freed her and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito on October 3^rd or 2011. Amanda and Raffaele had spent almost 4 years in prison. Here is a link to the Amanda post if interested.

Now the prosecutors of the case have decided to appeal the case to the Italian Supreme court. Click here to read the short article in the New York Times. Of course given the glacial rate at which the Italian justice system seems to move it may be another year or two before we see the results of this appeal.

I’m not sure that the U.S. justice system allows for an appeal of an innocent verdict. Perhaps some reader who is more familiar with criminal law in the U.S can leave a comment. In any case they obviously can in Italy. In a related article I read the while most Americans think that Amanda is innocent, most Italians feel just the opposite. This is interesting since the evidence, should anyone take the time to investigate it, seems to clearly to point to her innocence. But perhaps it is part of the “bella figura” concept raised to a national level. The only conversation I had about Amanda was with a small group of Italians. I said that I thought that she was innocent and one of my friends, to my great surprise, said that he thought just the opposite. I was shocked since he was trained as a lawyer although he doesn’t practice law. I explained in my best Italian that I’d read two books and found no supporting evidence. His was response was, “but Hillary Clinton put pressure on the Italian government to try to help secure her release”. What! Wait a minute, Hillary is not on trial here, Amanda is. Hillary’s actions have nothing to do with the life of a college student accused of murder. So it was, I think,  a wound to the national pride, Italians felt that they were made to look bad, they felt that their, and the world’s, image of their justice system, had taken a beating. I had read that when the appeal verdict was read at the court in Perugia that the crowd outside chanted “Vergogna!” – Shame. I had thought that was “shame on the courts for having originally sentenced an innocent pair to prison but now I’m not so sure. Perhaps it was shame on the courts for releasing the pair and overturning themselves. A blot on the national pride. I’d really like to get a comment from an Italian on this. Perhaps I’ll have that conversation again when I return to Bologna.

Now Amanda has received a book deal for almost 4 million dollars. Her parents are over a million in debt due to all of the legal expenses throughout the ordeal so presumably that’s where some of the money will go and I’m happy that Amanda will have at least some compensation for the years she spend in an Italian prison.

By the way, I have heard people say that they fear going to Italy because of this case but keep in mind this case is certainly an anomaly.   You really have nothing to fear from Italy. We certainly have lots of cases of injustice here as well and sometimes they result in the wrong person being executed. At least the Italians don’t do that!

I suppose Italophiles or at least the readers of my blog are familiar with Carnevale. If not, surely you know about Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Rio. Carnevale, wherever it is held, usually starts a few days before the start of  Lent and peaks on Fat Tuesday – the day before the start of Lent.  Carnevale is held all over Italy but usually brings to mind Venice. Another one less known here but quite spectacular is the one in Viareggio. Venice is especially famous for masks while Viareggio is famous for floats. And then there is Ivrea which is in a category all it’s own.

In Venice the masks are a long tradition. In fact they were used in the 18^th century to anonymize citizens – indeed required at some decision making functions to act as a kind of secret ballot. The tradition of the mask makers there is quite old with a statue commemorating them dating from 1436. Should you go to Venice you will see some great examples and can bring one or more home. Many are quite expensive but there are some more modest ones that only cover the top half of the face that can be had for an affordable price. A mask of this sort is known as a bauta and has the obvious advantage that one can more readily talk, eat and drink – seems like a good thing at Carnevale.

The Viareggio tradition started in 1873 and has gotten quite extravagant as you can see from the photo. Note the enormous size of these things. It makes the Macy’s parade pale by comparison. The figures range from fantasy to entertainment figures to political caricatures. I’d love to see this in person one of these days. As if one really needs an excuse to visit Italy.

One of the more obscure and interesting celebrations is in Ivrea and is called the Battle of the Oranges where people on floats and opposing groups on foot throw, well, oranges at each other. Ah, those Italians. You can read more about it by clicking here for the whole story on Wikipedia. 

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I’ve read some stuff in the New York Times, my most regular source of news, about the appallingly bad weather in eastern Europe along with associated deaths. However there has been virtually no mention of the fact that the weather in Italy almost everywhere is very bad.  There has even been snow in Naples which is almost unheard of. Bologna has been especially hard hit with 70 centimeters (about 27 inches) of snow at last report and temperatures as low as -17 celsius (about 1 degree farenheit). In a city that usually get only a few inches of snow this has had quite an effect. A state of emergency has been declared for the area and the local authorities have requested help from the Italian Army to help out. The city has decreed that there will be fines of 100-500 euros for failure to clear the sidewalks of snow by the residents or owners of apartment buildings (I’m unclear on this point) or for shop owners who fail to spread salt outside their stores to minimize people falling due to ice. There have also been recent warnings about the danger of icicles or accumulated snow falling from eves and roofs. Rail service has been badly disrupted as has bus service although in general the airport has remained open.

I exchanged emails with my friend Paolo who said that he was taking it in stride but he and Cinzia had temporarily abandoned the country house and are living solely in the apartment in the city due to the snow and the extreme cold in the country. He commented that while driving is certainly a bit more hazardous he still does so and there are no restrictions except in the Appenine Mountains nearby. He also commented the the city is quite beautiful under it’s blanket of white and is wonderfully quiet.

Here are some great photos from Corriere della Sera – the Milan newspaper that always has a section on Bologna.

Paolo sent me a photo of the door to his house in the country so I’ve just done an update to the post. Looks like he was busy with the shovel!

You might be interested in a video of Bologna in the sn0w. It seems to be made up of interviews done at some point in time mixed in with current scenes of Bologna with this magnificent snowfall. It is, of course, all in Italian and unless you are reasonably advanced in the language can be a bit tedious. At the  -17:00 minute mark you will see Osteria del Sole, the oldest of it’s kind in Bologna – established in 1465. The few short scenes of the place  fills me with nostalgia since I have been there with friends to drink wine several times.