Accountants Who Cook

Focus: Introduction to Italy

This month were focusing on Italy for our cooking challenge! Each week we’ll post a different recipe focusing on different types of Italian food.

Why start with Italy?

Being 100% honest, both Katherine and I are Italian, so why not 🇮🇹! We’re familiar with Italy and the cuisine, so we thought this would make the first month of the cooking challenge easier, rather than jumping into a cuisine that we’re not as familiar with.

Italian food isn’t just pizza and pasta, and it has a long and rich history. Italian cuisine has its roots in the Etruscan, ancient Greek, and ancient Roman civilizations. Many of the ingredients and techniques used in modern Italian cooking have been passed down through the generations and have been influenced by a variety of cultures, including the Arab and French.

Italian food is mostly considered part of the Mediterranean cuisine, which is known for its focus on fresh ingredients, with many dishes featuring vegetables, fruits, meats, and seafood. However, cuisine in the northern regions of Italy can start to resemble foods from countries that border Italy, like France, Switzerland, and Austria,

The modern country of Italy didn’t come into existence until around 1861, when the individual kingdoms and principalities were unified and consolidated into the Kingdom of Italy. The whole process took from 1848 to 1871, so Italy is still a relatively young country compared to its neighbors. One of the reasons why Italian food is so diverse is because food traditions grew up in the individual smaller countries before unification.

Another reason for the regional diversity in Italian food is that Italy is a peninsula with a mountain range running down it the middle. Separated by the mountains, the different sides developed different cuisines. You can find seafood on the coasts while the mountainous areas have heartier wintery foods.

Regions of Italy

Italy has 20 different regions, and each region has a rich and unique culinary tradition. Here are some popular dishes from different regions of Italy:

• Piedmont: famous for its truffles, Piedmont is also home to dishes like agnolotti (stuffed pasta) and fonduta (a type of melted cheese).
• Lombardy: Milan, the capital of Lombardy, is known for its risotto alla Milanese (risotto with saffron) and cotoletta alla Milanese (breaded veal cutlet).
• Emilia-Romagna: This region is known for its cured meats, such as prosciutto di Parma and culatello, as well as dishes like tortellini and lasagna.
• Tuscany: Tuscan cuisine is simple and rustic, featuring dishes like ribollita (a hearty bean and vegetable soup) and bistecca alla Fiorentina (a large, grilled T-bone steak).
• Campania: This region is home to Naples, the birthplace of pizza. Other popular dishes include spaghetti alla puttanesca (spaghetti with olives, anchovies, and tomatoes) and sfogliatella (a shell-shaped pastry filled with cream).
• Sicily: Sicilian cuisine is influenced by a variety of cultures, including Arab, Greek, and Spanish. Popular dishes include arancini (rice balls filled with cheese and meat) and cannoli (pastry tubes filled with sweet ricotta cream).
• Abruzzo: The Abruzzo region of Italy is known for its hearty and flavorful dishes, many of which feature lamb, pork, and a variety of locally grown vegetables and grains. One popular dish from the Abruzzo region is arrosticini, which are small pieces of grilled mutton on a skewer. Basically a lamb shish kabob.

Standard Meals

As far as food goes, an Italian meal consists of several courses. You don’t necessarily have an item from each course in every meal, but knowing what course an item comes from helps you guess at the portion size and intended purpose. Here is a breakdown of the different courses you find in an Italian meal. You’ll notice that many Italian restaurants break their menu down into these different sections.

1. Antipasti: This is the first course of the meal and consists of appetizers such as olives, cured meats, cheeses, and vegetables.
2. Primo: The primo is the first of the main courses and typically consists of a pasta dish, such as spaghetti or lasagna, or a risotto.
3. Secondo: The secondo is the main course and usually consists of a dish of meat or fish, served with a contorno of vegetables or a salad.
4. Contorno: The contorno is a side dish that is served with the secondo. It can be a simple salad, roasted or grilled vegetables, or a more elaborate dish such as a gratin or ratatouille.
5. Dolce: Dolce is the Italian word for dessert. It can be a sweet pastry, such as tiramisu or cannoli, or a fruit salad.
6. Caffè: Caffè is the Italian word for coffee, which is typically served after the meal. It is often accompanied by a small dessert or biscotti.

This month’s challenge will give you some options for an appetizer (Antipasti), main course (Secondo), dessert (Dolce), and a cocktail.

Resources for the Cooking Challenge

These resources will hopefully wet your appetite and help you enjoy learning more about Italian Cooking in the this month’s Cooking Challenge.

Cookbooks:

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Sicily Cookbooks Recipes Rooted in Traditions

Pasta Grannies

You Tube Channels:

Pasta Grammer – Eva is from Italy and Harper is not.  Together, they explore the differences in US Italian food and Italian food made in Italy

Pasta Grannies – this channel records home cooks who still make Pasta by hand

Positano Diaries – Nicki and Carlo live 500 steps above Positano and grow much of their own food.  The recent episodes on Olive harvesting and making olive oil are very interesting for those of us without olive trees. If you ever wanted to live on the Amalfi Caost, this is a must watch.

The Pasta Queen – A TikTok star that is also known for using Ruffoni cookware (the copper and stainless pans that she uses)  

TV Shows

Stanley Tucci Searching for Italy – this show was cut short after two seasons due to changes at the network, but, we still had two seasons to focus on the different regions of Italy!

Two Greedy Italians – Seasons 1 and 2 from 2011 and 2012 follows Italian chefs as they travel back to Italy to see what has changed since they left.