To begin with, an apology about the delay in getting this issue out, but I've been dealing with house painters and moving my office over the past couple of weeks. Glad they finished when they did, because it has now become hot as blazes, and those who can are fleeing the cities in favor of the beaches. If you happen to be in or are planning to visit Tuscany, perhaps a detour to the coastal towns would be a good idea. The mountains, which are usually a good bet, are not now, because the freezing line has climbed from the normal 3400 meters up to 5000 meters; this means ice is melting all over the Alps. The pic of the week, which may help you feel cooler, is of La Marmolada, in the Dolomites.

Nightmare in Genova

Returning to Cosa Bolle, in the last issue I warned people to avoid Genova because of the upcoming G8 economic summit. Well, it was worse than anyone expected, with rioting on an epic scale that left scores of wounded, one dead, and millions of dollars in property damage. Nor is it over yet, and despite the defeat of the motion to have the Minister of the Interior resign, political heads will roll. Put simply, Genova was selected long before protestors began congregating at summits, and when troubles did begin (in Seattle, Goteburg, and elsewhere), the authorities underestimated the danger. It is true that Prime Minister Berlusconi temporarily suspended the free circulation of citizens around Genova, but it's also true that the police failed to corral or otherwise isolate the Black Block anarchists everyone knew would be coming to run amok.

So when the protest marches organized by groups of pacifists began, the anarchists blended into them, using them as a sort of cover from which to dart out and commit mayhem. The police responded to the attacks by charging and beating the demonstrators, at which point a significant number of the demonstrators forgot that they were nonviolent pacifists and began to counterchage and hurl rocks. Things reached a nadir when a band of protestors isolated a police jeep and smashed the windows; one of the protestors, who was about to throw a fire extinguisher into the jeep, was shot in the face and died. Both of the policemen in the jeep were injured, the one who did the shooting seriously, but that didn't stop people from demanding the poor guy be charged with murder, and he is indeed under investigation.

The second day of the summit was quieter, because the authorities used a lot of teargas, but during the night a school where a group of protestors was sleeping was raided, and they almost all ended up in the hospital with broken bones or split heads, many were carted off on stretchers while still in their sleeping bags. Italian MPs and senators who demanded to be allowed in to see what was happening (they have the right) were mistreated and sent away, and the next day's news showed room after room with pools of blood on the floor and spatters everywhere. The police did call a press conference to show the weapons they seized, two Molotov cocktails, a few clubs, and lots of knives, most of the folding Swiss Army variety, but within the space of 3 days the magistrates ordered the release of almost everyone who had been arrested, citing grave procedural errors, and several internal police investigations have turned up disturbing evidence of police brutality and misconduct. Not just during the raid at the school, where riot squads who had been fighting all day ran amok, but also at a barracks where those who had been arrested were systematically beaten before being turned over to the prison system. The question becomes, "Who was in Charge?" and the Genovesi are all saying it was people who arrived from Rome.

Some of the center-left politicians are saying that the police felt free to beat up protestors because Alleanza Nazionale (far right) is in the government, and this strikes me a far-fetched. However, so does Prime Minister Berlusconi's saying that the police violence is the left's fault because the officers who are being called into question were appointed during the tenure of the leftist government that proceeded his. There's ample blame to go around, and we can hope that the parliamentary commission that has been established to look into the mess will do so quickly and without squabbling. Italy's next summit should be held on one of the smaller islands that can be isolated easily, for example, Capraia.

Sircam

Moving in a very different direction, for the past couple of weeks I've been getting about two dozen attachments a day from people infected by the Sircam Virus. This is a nasty little critter that selects a file at random from the My Documents folder on the Windows desktop, attaches itself to it, and sends it to everyone in the email address book with a note saying "Hi! I wanted your advice on this." (or something to that effect) in either English or Spanish. If you have sensitive files in My Documents and get Sircam, they can go astray; the virus can also do other nasty things. Therefore, don't open an attachment, even from a friend, unless you're expecting it, and then only if your (recently updated) antivirus software gives it the OK. If you have been bitten, see http://antivirus.about.com/library/weekly/aa072301a.htm for information on the virus, and http://antivirus.about.com/library/weekly/aa072301b.htm for removal instructions.

The Fiorentina's Coming Back!

This fall continental Europe, which had been complacently saying that there weren't any cases of BSE (Mad Cow Disease) on record, began testing slaughtered cattle for the prions that cause the disease and finding them. Beef sales nosedived and the sale of cuts with spinal marrow was banned; for Tuscans this meant no more bistecca alla Fiorentina, a porterhouse steak cut from Chianina beef that's grilled over the coals. Howls of protest and a run on butchers before the ban went into effect, followed by the development of a "prosthetic bone" to insert between the filet and the contre filet. With any luck this will all become memory, because the health people have announced that T-bone and Porterhouse cuts from Italian animals that haven't eaten animal meal-based feed will be allowed again beginning in September.

Polenta Boards

Continuing to skirt food, Eugene asks if I have ever heard of "a board that you pour polenta on???"

Actually, yes -- it's a circular board 18-24 inches in diameter that you pour freshly cooked polenta out onto. Since polenta is slightly fluid at this point, it flows into a circular shape, and you then cut it with a wire or a string pulled taught between a couple of handles. It makes serving polenta considerably easier than would be scooping it out of a bowl.

Never made polenta? It's tasty and astonishingly versatile. The Polenta Page has instructions and lots of recipes.

Panelle: Street snacks from Palermo

Cindy writes,

HI,
Looking for recipe for "Panella"(not sure of spelling). It is like a deep fried flat pancake with a ceci bean flour base. My husband used to eat it on bread like a sandwich on streets of Palermo.

These are peasant food in the truest sense of the word, and resemble both the panissa made in Liguria and some of the fritters they make in Tunisia -- proof that in the Mediterranean everybody interacts. I've found a couple of recipes, one savory and the other sweet. To begin with the savory:

• 1 pound (500 g) chick pea flour
• Olive oil or rendered lard for frying
• Salt
• Lemon juice
• Minced parsley (optional)

Stir the chick pea flour into 2 quarts (2 l) of lightly salted water over a moderate flame, and stir the mixture steadily in the same direction with a wooden spoon until you obtain a soft, lump-free paste. When the paste begins to pull away from the sides of the pot, turn it out into oiled wooden molds, or spread it out about 1/4 inch high (1/2 cm) on your work surface (dust the surface with parsley before you spread if you're including it). Once the paste has cooled, cut it into 1 by 3-inch (3x7 cm) rectangles and fry them in hot oil or lard.

To serve them, lay several rectangles on a slice of still-warm freshly baked bread, season them with lemon juice and salt to taste, top with another slice of bread, and enjoy.

The sweet version is slightly more elaborate, and calls for:

• 12 ounces (300 g) chick pea flour
• 1/4 cup (50 g) rendered lard
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) milk
• 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
• 1 egg
• A pinch of salt
• Oil for frying
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Stir a cup (250 ml) of water into the milk, add the sugar, lard, and salt, and bring the mixture to a boil. Remove it from the fire and stir in the four and the egg to obtain a stiff dough. Roll the dough out onto your work surface, cut it into rectangles when it has cooled, fry them, and dust them with powdered sugar.

A printer-friendly version of these recipes.

Scaloppini di Pollo

Winding down, Sue writes, "For some reason, I am having a hard time finding a chicken scallopini (or is it spelled scaloppini?) recipe on the internet web sites. Please help! Do you have one? I would appreciate you finding one if you could."

To be honest, I'm drawing a blank -- My English-language cookbooks are packed away, and a look through La Cucina Italiana's Manuale delle Carni doesn't turn up anything in which chicken and scaloppini are associated (Italians reserve the word scaloppini for pork or veal); I am therefore not sure what the cut might be. Il Manuale does, however, have this rather nice looking chicken breast and zucchini dish:

• 4 chicken breasts, weighing a pound (400 g) in all
• 10 ounces (250 g) zucchini, sliced into very thin rounds
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons butter
• A sage leaf
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• A pinch of thyme
• A small bunch parsley, minced
• Flour
• 1/2 a bullion cube (or some salt, if you prefer)
• White pepper
• An ounce of shredded Swiss cheese (or Fontina, if you prefer)

Heat the oil in a pot, and sauté the garlic and parsley for a minute or two; before the garlic begins to brown add the zucchini. Cook for a few minutes more, then sprinkle a half cup of cool water over the pot, add a pinch of thyme, and salt to taste. Reduce the heat as low as possible, cover, and cook the zucchini until they are done and the water has evaporated.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 400 f (200 C). While it's heating, lightly pound the chicken breasts and flour them, giving them a good shake to remove excess flour. Pick a pot large enough for the chicken breasts to lie flat that can go both on the stove and into the oven, and melt the butter with the leaf of sage. As soon as it begins to crackle add the chicken breasts and cook them until they begin to brown, turning them once or twice. Sprinkle them with the white wine, crumble the bullion cube over them, and season them with a grind of pepper. When the liquid is reduced by two thirds, remove the pot from the fire.

Scoop the zucchini over the chicken breasts, dust everything with the cheese, cover the pot, and slip it into the oven for about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken breasts to a heated serving dish, spoon the pan drippings over them, and serve.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

This week's proverb is Tuscan: Dio ti salvi dal cattivo vicino ed il principiante di violino -- God save you from bad neighbors and beginning violinists.

A presto,
Kyle Phillips
Webweaver, About Italian Cuisine

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