AND NOW A FEW JEWISH ITALIAN PASTA SAUCES....

After learning how to cook pasta 'al dente', are you ready to try a few traditional sauces?
Let's start with a dish from Venice, my hometown.

BIGOLI IN SALSA (Whole Wheat Spaghetti in Anchovy Sauce)

INGREDIENTS FOR 6:
. 1 pound thick whole-wheat spaghetti (I like De Cecco)
- 5-6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 large white onions, minced thin
- a 3-ounce can of oil-packed anchovy fillets (or, even better, 10 salt-packed anchovies, rinsed), minced
- half a cup of dry white wine, like Pinot Gris
- salt, pepper
- toasted bread crumbs, or grated Parmigiano Reggiano, if desired.
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In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta 'al dente' following the instructions in my previous post.

Meanwhile, in a saute' pan, warm the olive oil over a medium flame. Add the minced onions and lower the flame. Let the onions cook, stirring, till translucent, adding little water if they start to dry out. In the meantime, you will have minced the anchovies; once the onions are translucent add the anchovies and wineto the onions and keep cooking on low heat, stirring, until they 'melt' completely into the sauce.
Add black pepper to taste, and use this sauce to dress your spaghetti. Some like to add grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (in a dairy meal), or toasted bread-crumbs (in a meat meal), and parsley; but the classic Venetian way to eat this pasta is without any additions.
Enjoy!!!!

THE PERFECT PASTA

Pasta is a passion for Italians, Jews and non-Jews alike. It can be fresh and made by hand for special occasions, or dried ('secca') and packaged. In Italy, laws regulate how it's made and exclusively durum wheat flour can be used. But how do we make it 'al dente'? And what does it mean exactly? Literally, "al dente" means "to the bite". That's how we define pasta that's not too soft and not too hard, just perfect. Overcooked pasta is flavorless and mushy, and is less digestible.  At the same time, you don't want to leave it so raw that it will be hard or stick to the teeth. For the nutrition buffs among you, overcooked pasta has a high glycemic index, while when it's made "al dente", Italian-style, that index is quite low.
Here is a HOW-TO:

* use about 2/3 cups per person
* fill a large and tall steel pot with very abundant water (at least 1 cup of water for every cup of pasta, or more) and salt. I add salt with my hand, but if you are not used to this you can try half a teaspoon per person of coarse salt.
* when the water is aggressively boiling, add the pasta and stir immediately. Never add the pasta before this point or it won't cook properly! Stir occasionally to prevent it from sticking.
* packets of pasta usually say how many minutes it must be cooked for. However, this varies slightly depending on a variety of factors including whether the water is hard or soft, and how long the pasta has been sitting in its package. So, I start checking the pasta at least one minute BEFORE that time.With a fork, pull out one piece of pasta and taste it. (keep a dipping bowl of cold water next to the pot to avoid burning your tongue).
* taste every 20 second maximum. It just takes 30 seconds for the pasta to go from undercooked to overcooked!
* When you taste it and it's just PERFECT, quickly remove the pot from the stove, and drain the pasta with the sieve which you had previously placed in your sink.
* the right cooking time can be anything from 2 minutes less than the box says, up to 3 minutes more.
* add sauce and grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese when appropriate, and enjoy!!!!

Jewish Italian Food: OLIVE OIL

Jewish Italian Food: OLIVE OIL: "We can't even start cooking together without first discussing OLIVE OIL (Homer called it 'Liquid Gold'): if you want to make authentic Itali..."

OLIVE OIL

We can't even start cooking together without first discussing OLIVE OIL (Homer called it "Liquid Gold"):
if you want to make authentic Italian (and Jewish Italian) food, don't even think of buying any 'light' or 'blended' kid.
Look for EXTRA-VIRGIN, COLD-PRESSED olive oil. This is the only type that is unprocessed (and naturally kosher - it doesn't need a hechsher because it's made by simply pressing cold olives).
Make sure it's labeled 'EXTRA'-virgin, not just 'virgin'. Virgin oils are still extracted without chemicals but after repeated pressings of the olives, which makes their acidic levels higher, and their taste more pungent.
If it doesn't even say 'virgin',  don't buy it! It has been produced by chemical heat pressing, which makes it  harsher-tasting, less healthy, and not kosher unless certified.
Olive oil is not just meant to grease up foods: it makes food taste better. If like some of my American friends you shudder at the idea of pouring abundant quantities of oil directly from a bottle into your pots and pans, remember that according to the FDA consuming olive oil may reduce your risk of heart disease.
In addition, it will make your skin look great - as my friend and dermatologist Dr. Doris Day pointed out (in her book "Forget the Facelift")....

WHY JEWISH ITALIAN FOOD

Because it's true home cooking and not elaborate chef-inspired Fusion cuisine.
Because Jews have been in Italy since the second century B.C.E. and have had two thousand years to develop mouth-watering recipes using a variety of delicious local ingredients, now easy to find in our grocery stores.
Because it's healthy, simply elegant and colorful.
Because with so many vegetables and healthy fats, you may even lose a couple of pounds.
(And if you don't, at least you will have fun trying!)