How to define Italian food....
My folks just returned from their inaugural trip to Italy - Venice, Florence and Rome to be more precise. Spoke to Big Yves (Mom) this afternoon and she starts talking about how different Italian food is in Italy vs. back home in New York. I remember going through this the first time I went to Europe back in '92, and then remember going through something similar when I went to Hong Kong and learned what real Chinese food tastes like - as opposed to my tried and true beef and broccoli with white rice.
Two of the items that Big Yves spoke very highly of were lasagne and tartufo. Now this is not the same tartufo that Marc referred to last year - this is a dessert. Yes, one of my favorite cheeses is called Sottocenere al tartufo. But my Mom's new addiction has a different definition:
Tartufo is defined as an Italian confection similar to truffles, made of premium ice cream rolled or dipped in a coating.
Source: http://food-management.com
Anyway I had planned a few days ago to make some lasagne for Marc and I today. I wanted to do something different, so I opted not to go for our traditional recipe of lasagne with lots of tomatoes, cheese, meat and herbs. Before speaking to my Mom, I knew I wanted to go "old school" so I found a recipe that I wanted to give a try. The main differences were:
1. Instead of an overload of mozzarella and ricotta, I made a bechamel sauce which was ridiculously easy to put together. The sauce acted as one of the layers in the dish.
2. The meat sauce had something other than ground beef or turkey as the base for the ragu. So two other meats were used - ground veal and ground lamb, plus we had some pancetta in there.
3. The only remnants of tomatoes in the dish were from the 6 oz. can of tomato paste that I had to throw in the Ragu Bolognese (this link will bring you to something very similar). The rest of the sauce had carrots, milk, white wine and some thyme. In our other recipe, we use lots of different herbs.
It came out pretty good, although of course, I am already thinking about what I would do differently next time. Marc missed his hot red pepper flakes, but I really liked what the homemade bechamel sauce added to the dish as opposed to the mozzarella and ricotta. Drank an Italian wine from Sicily called Ceuso 2000 Custera, which went very nicely.
As my Mom was regaling me with tales from their trip (her very close friend Barbara V. went along as well), she starts telling me how Barbara was peppering the Italian tour guide about "Italian dishes" that are very common in the US. These are dishes that are very common throughout Italian-American kitchens and are made in countless Italian restaurant kitchens throughout the US. Dishes such as chicken parmagiana, veal marsala, etc. Barbara grew up in an Italian-American family and she is a great cook - I say this from much experience. It must have been a kick to watch her go into shock as she learned the major differences between Italian-American cooking and Italian cooking.
Don't worry - from what my Mom told me, Barbara still managed to have a great time. I'll look forward to see what kind of magic Barbara conjures up in her kitchen the next time I am over.