To begin with, the latest feature is dedicated to Easter breads, special treats that contain other ingredients, especially cheeses and cold cuts, in addition to the standard flour, water, and yeast that are used to make bread. They are in a very real sense peasant food, and are also a harbinger of spring. While we're on the subject of Easter and Passover, both of which are rapidly approaching, you'll find Italian Passover recipes here, recipes for a Neapolitan Easter here, recipes for a Roman Easter here, and recipes for lamb, which is the standard meat Italians serve at both Easter and Passover, here. The wine of the week is Poggio Antico's just-released 1997 Brunello, a wine that's surprisingly ready considering its youth, but that will also scale great heights for those who have the patience to put it down for a few years. The pic of the week is Florence's Ognissanti early in the morning (see below).

Flying out of Malpensa? If You Must

Returning to Cosa Bolle, this has been an interesting week for those flying out of Milano's Malpensa airport, and were I the airport's administrator I'd think seriously about changing its name, which translates roughly as bad thoughts: At the beginning of the week a plane strayed onto a foggy runway as another plane was landing, and only the prompt action of a tower operator averted disaster (this was a repeat of what happened last fall, only then the radar was turned off and 130 people died). Then, a couple of days later, a great gout of flame burst from the engine of a charter taking off for Cuba; those with well-placed window seats said it looked like the wing was on fire. One might have expected an emergency landing, but the pilot instead came onto the intercom to say that there was nothing seriously wrong and they could continue. When the passengers refused to be mollified he suggested they vote on it, and only turned the plane around after the votes were tallied. Of the 240 passengers, about 200 took off the next day on a different plane, while the remainder returned home, their faith in the skies badly shaken.

Nor are these the only mishaps suffered by Malpensa: the turbulence from passing planes sucks the roof tiles off the houses at the end of the landing route, and the mayors of all the surrounding towns are demanding compensation for noise pollution (as are the homeowners living around what used to be a dinky airport and is now the major North-Italian hub).

Nor is this all: last year they had to repave all the runways after a treatment they put down reacted with the asphalt, making it so sticky that the planes were glued to the ground.

Brunello to Zibibbo

Moving in a very different direction, a few years ago Nicolas Belfrage published Barolo to Valpolicella, which is probably the best overview of the North Italian wine scene in print. With Brunello to Zibibbo he turns his attention to Central and Southern Italy, and does just as good a job.

As with Barolo to Valpolicella, he divides the country by geographical area, and within each geographical area discusses the indigenous grapes grown and the wines they become, followed by a rundown of the major producers, praising the positive and calling spades spades with equal forthrightness. For example, in discussing Bigi, a winery in Orvieto, he says:

This azienda was founded as far back as 1880, but for some years now has been part of the Gruppo Italiano Vini empire (see Melini under Poggibonsi, section on Chianti Classico). Production is enormous -- around a half million cases a year -- many of which being destined for export, and while the Orvieto Classico normale can be rather industrially uneventful the Vigneto Torricella is and has been among the best of the genre, year after year, since the 1980s. Francesco Bardi, who also reigns at GIV's Frascati establishment Fontana Candida, is one winemaker who does not seem fazed by the need to turn out good wine in large volume (P 188).

Quick, concise, and we come away knowing what to look for, and, just as important, and what to avoid. He also discusses the inroads of the international varietals (Merlot, Chardonnay, and so on), the effects (many of which are negative) that wine journalism is having in Italy, gives a good idea of the political maneuvering that is shaping the wine trade, and finishes up with a long discussion of Italian wine law and the shortcomings that are becoming apparent as the number of denominations grows, with some very sound suggestions for putting the system back on track. If you're professionally interested in Italian wines the legislative section alone is sufficient reason to purchase the book. If you simply like wine, you'll enjoy the rundowns and commentary, and find yourself slipping the book (or its companion) under your arm the next time you head to a well-stocked wine shop. Italy has hundreds of excellent, little-known enological gems, and Nick's books are the best way to discover them that I have seen.

Practical things:

Brunello to Zibibbo; The Wines of Tuscany, Central and Southern Italy

By Nicholas Belfrage

Faber & Faber, 2001

London & New York

ISBN 0-571-19516-4

493 pages, including the indexes, and there are many maps too.

The other volume:

Barolo to Valpolicella

By Nicholas Belfrage

Faber & Faber, 1999

London & New York

ISBN 0-571-17852-9

368 pages, including the indexes, and there are many maps too.

Cremolata

Turning at last to food, Marie asks for a recipe for cremolata, a treat I'm not familiar with because it's not made in Tuscany. Turns out that cremolata is quite similar to a sherbet, in other words filtered fruit juice that's combined with a sweet syrup and stirred about so as to become creamy as it freezes, though in the case of the cremolata the fruit juice is not filtered. Therefore the gelato has fruit fibers in it and will be more richly flavored, assuming the fruit was perfectly ripe to begin with.

I have found a recipe for cremolata di pesche, peach cremolata, in the recipe section of Santa Margherita's web site; since the recipe was in Italian I am translating it rather than simply post the link. Unlike some other recipes it calls for both milk and cream, which will make it richer than it might otherwise have been; this is possibly an example of a chef's decision to enrich a simpler traditional recipe. It does in any case look quite tasty, and one could also use other ripe fruit instead, for example apricots or flavorful pears.

Cremolata di Pesche

• 2 1/4 pounds (1 k) ripe peaches, blanched, peeled, pitted and quartered
• 1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
• 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
• 1/2 pound (200 g) brown sugar
• Another peach or two, cut into thin wedges

Bring the milk to a boil in a pot, turn off the burner, add the sugar, and, stir gently until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Blend the peach wedges. When the milk has cooled, stir in the pureed fruit. Beat the cream to moderately soft peaks and fold it onto the fruit-and-milk mixture, then turn the mixture into a pudding mold that's large enough to hold it all. Chill the cremolata for several hours, then unmold it onto a serving platter and serve it with the peach slices. Serves 6-8.

Cremolata di Fragole

Another recipe without milk? Cremolata di Fragole, Strawberry Cremolata, drawn from Maria Adele Di Leo's I dolci Siciliani:

• 1 1/8 pounds (500 g) fresh raspberries
• 1/4 pound (100 g) wild strawberries
• The juice of a lemon
• The juice of 4 oranges
• 1 1/2 cups (300 g) sugar

Wash and dry the berries. Put the raspberries in a bowl and crush them with a fork, reducing them to a pulp. Stir in the sugar, citrus juice, and strawberries, mix well, and but everything into a mold. Chill it in the freezer for a couple of hours, stirring it about every now and again to keep it from freezing into a solid block.

You'll yet find yet another recipe, for apricot cremolata, at A Chili Reception, an interesting account of what Mathew Fort discovered when he decided to visit Basilicata rather than the much more popular Rome-Tuscany-Venice circuit: Hot Peppers in generous quantities, together and many other delights.

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Some Sicilian Easter Recipes

Al writes,
My heritage is Sicilian. At Easter my mother made a cream pie with pasta in it. She never wrote her recipes down -- always worked from memory. We've searched in Italian cookbooks for years and haven't found it. Any help?

I'm afraid I'm drawing a blank so far on this one -- it's not in any of my Sicilian cookbooks, and I haven't found it yet in the more general Italian cookbooks either. I have, however, come across several interesting Sicilian Easter recipes:

Ministruni D'U Jovi R'O Lardaluoru -- Good Thursday Soup

According to Pino Correnti, it was the custom in the Contea of Modica to prepare a minestrone whose primary ingredients were bits of lard, greens, legumes, and herbs; gather the family together to do it justice, and as they ate it set aside their differences. In other words, the soup helped them prepare themselves to greet Good Friday in the proper frame of mind. The recipe calls for:

• 1 1/8 pounds (500 g) thick-stranded spaghetti
• 10 ounces (250 g) potatoes, peeled and diced
• 8 ounces (200 g) wild fennel or other frondy vegetables (if you cannot find wild fennel, use a little bulb fennel and some fennel seeds to approximate the flavor)
• 1/4 pound (100 g) tomato paste
• 8 ounces (200 g) lard, without the skin (pork fat back will work here), cubed
• 10 ounces (250 g) shelled dried fava beans, soaked overnight
• A large onion, shredded
• Parsley
• Salt & black pepper to taste

Begin by setting a pot of water to boil, lightly salt it, and add the wild fennel or a green that's known as old woman's thighs, then the soaked fava beans, the onion, the potatoes, the tomatoes, and finally the lard. Check the salt and simmer until the beans and potatoes are fork tender, dusting the soup liberally with pepper just before you bring it to the table.

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Taganu D'Aragona -- Aragona's Easter Pot

Aragona is in the province of Agrigento, and Mr. Correnti says not to be frightened by the number of eggs that go into this dish, which families have been preparing on Good Saturday since at least the 1600s, baking it at home or in the village bakery, and carrying through until the outing on Easter Monday, when it was often the only dish served.

You'll need:

• 1 3/4 pounds (800 g) cavatuna or rigatoni
• 16 beaten eggs
• 1 1/3 pounds (600 g) tuma (a mild, creamy sheep's milk cheese), sliced
• 3 cups (150 g) grated well-aged pecorino
• A pinch of cinnamon
• A cup of hot chicken broth
• A packet of saffron dissolved into the broth
• 8 slices day-old Italian bread
• Abundant minced parsley
• Lard
• Salt & pepper
• Meatballs and sliced hard-boiled eggs (optional)

Boil the rigatoni in salted water, drain them when they're still slightly al dente; while they're cooking take a terracotta pot large enough to hold everything, grease it well with lard, and lay four of the bread slices over the bottom of the pot. Beat the eggs and combine them with the parsley, grated cheese, and cinnamon. Drain the pasta when it's still slightly al dente, and transfer it to the pot, interlayering it with the sliced cheese and the egg mixture; when all is used up cover it with the remaining slices of bread, and the broth, in which you have dissolved the saffron. Put it all into a moderately hot (350 F, 175 c) oven, and bake until the liquid has been absorbed; Mr. Correnti warns that it will take a while. Remove it from the oven when it's firm but not bone dry, slice it and serve it. It will keep well for several days.

Note: If you chose to use the meatballs or the eggs, mix them into the pasta.

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Riso Nero di Pasqua

And finally, a dessert, from Maria Adele Di Leo's I Dolci Siciliani -- Riso Nero di Pasqua, Black Easter Rice. Unlike most black risotti, this owes it color to chocolate rather than squid ink, and is therefore a dessert; Ms. Di Leo says it was traditionally prepared by those living in the province of Messina as a votive offering for the Madonna Nera di Tindari. You'll need:

• 1 1/8 pounds (500 g) short grained rice
• 1 quart (liter) milk
• 3 1/2 cups (700 g) sugar
• 1 pound (400 g) bitter cocoa
• 1/4 pound (100 g) bitter chocolate, crumbled
• 1 pound (400 g) slivered almonds
• 1/4 pound (100 g) mixed candied fruit, finely diced
• 2 ounces (50 g) diavolini (tiny colored candies)
• The grated zest of an organically grown orange
• Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cook the rice in the milk, adding a pinch of salt, the sugar, and the vanilla. When the rice is close to being done stir in the cocoa, a little at a time, and the grated orange zest. Stir constantly, and make certain that the rice doesn't overcook and go soft or stick to the bottom of the pot.

Remove the mixture from the fire, stir in the almonds, and the chocolate too, as soon as the mixture has cooled enough to keep it from melting. Turn it all out onto a serving dish and sprinkle it with the candied fruit and the diavolini, then dust a little powdered cinnamon over all and it's ready.

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Crema Fritta alla Siciliana

Elise instead writes,

Kyle: I receive your newsletter every month and I truly enjoy reading it through. I'm looking for a recipe that my grandmother (Sicilian) used to fix when I was a little girl. Unfortunately, I'm the only one left in the family and I've lost the recipe! It was a custard that was poured into a square casserole after it was cooked, chilled in the refrigerator then cut in squares or diamond shapes dipped in egg and then coated with finely chopped nuts or bread crumbs, fried in butter and then set a-flame with brandy. Could you help? Thanks...Elise

First of all, flattery will get you everywhere ;-)

Next, I haven't quite found this, though I've come close with a couple of fried cream recipes from Maria Adele Di Leo's I Dolci Siciliani. She doesn't light either off before serving, and calls for bread crumbs in both cases, which lead me to wonder if the brandy might have been your grandmother's addition.

In any case, for plain crema fritta:

• 2 cups (200 g) flour
• 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
• 4 eggs, separated
• 2 cups (500 ml) milk
• The grated zest of an organically grown lemon
• Bread crumbs (you could use chopped nuts instead)
• Oil for frying

Sift the flour into a pot and add the milk in a thin stream, stirring with a spoon to keep lumps from forming.

Beat the four egg yolks with the sugar until they turn pail yellow, add the grated lemon zest, and combine the mixture with the milk. Mix well and set the pot to cook over a gentle flame, stirring steadily until it thickens and begins to pull away from side of the pot if you scrape the spoon along it.

Turn the cream out onto a moistened marble countertop to cool, and when it has cut it into small diamonds. Beat the whites to fairly firm peaks. Dredge the diamonds in the whites, then in breadcrumbs, and fry them until golden. Let them drain on absorbent paper, dust them with sugar, and serve.

Something slightly more elaborate: Crema fritta all'Arancia, Orange-flavored fried cream

• 3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
• 3/4 cup (75 g) potato starch (you may find this in the Jewish part of your supermarket's ethnic foods section)
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 cup (250 ml) milk
• The grated zest of an organically grown lemon
• 2 ounces (50 g) candied orange peel, finely diced
• A dash of vanilla
• Flour
• Breadcrumbs
• Oil for frying

Beat the yolks and sugar until the mixture is pale yellow, then slowly beat in the flour, milk, vanilla, grated orange zest, and candied orange peel. Transfer the mixture to a pot and heat it over a very low flame and stir it until it thickens. Turn it out onto a moistened marble slab, and use a spatula to spread it to the thickness of a thick sheet of pastry dough. As soon as it has cooled, cut it into squares. Beat the whites to soft peaks. Dredge the squares in the flour, then in the whites, and finally in the breadcrumbs. Fry them, drain them on absorbent paper, and serve them.

To flambé the crema fritta, you'll want to have the squares warmed. Set them in a heat-proof dish, sprinkle them with a little granulated sugar, and dribble some liqueur of choice, either brandy or something orange-based (for the orange crema) over the crema, and ignite it using a long match and igniting one edge of the liquid. You should also warm the liqueur, by putting what you plan to light into a bottle and setting it in hot water -- do NOT heat it to the boiling point, and especially not over a naked flame!

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The Pic of the Week:
Florence's Ognissanti at First Light

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This week's proverb is Tuscan: Tanto va la gatta al lardo che ci lascia lo zampino -- A cat who's drawn to lard will get her paw into it. In other words, if you're drawn to something you will get involved.

A presto,
Kyle Phillips
Webweaver, About Italian Cuisine

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