A little Italian – the inside out mortadella sandwich

Awhile ago we shared an appetizer, “prosciutto sushi”. It became the inspiration for mortadella rolls, where the mortadella is wrapped around the toasted bread. It is definitely not classically Italian, and still tastes great.

I’m guessing I need to get a sushi mat or something, because mine were falling apart. Everybody did like them – once they got it in their mouths.

magazine browsing – December is Prosciutto Month

I was leafing through a great French cooking magazine, Je Cuisine, and came across this great photo in the December issue. It looks easy and tasty, so I contacted them for a translation. If you look at the crostini in the right corner, they have folded the prosciutto to look like a flower – I am going to try this, does anyone have any experience on how to do this fancy fold? Oh, an here is the instructions, I hesitate to say recipe, it is so simple.

Crostini with mashed avocado and prosciutto

½ baguette cut in 12 slices
15ml (1 soup spoon) avocado oil
1 avocado
10ml (2 tea spoon) lime juice
10ml (2 tea spoon) pesto
Salt and Tabasco to taste
6 procuito slices cut in half lengthwise

1. Put the oven to grill mode
2. Drop the baguette slice on a hotplate and brush with oil on both sides. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from oven and let them cool.
3. Crush the avocado in a bowl; mix the lime juice, pesto and seasoning.
4. Spread on the baguette slice with the avocado mixture and add a prosciutto slice on each slice.

Thank you to Je Cuisine for the image and translation.

December is Prosciutto Month – Share a little Italian with Smoked Prosciutto

You might have heard of speck, it is a ham that is coated in 11 different spices, including juniper berries, coriander and pepper for two weeks. The ham is smoked with natural hickory for 2 days and then aged for six months. We also sell it as San Daniele Smoked Prosciutto, and you can see it is really much more than that.

My wife shared smoked prosciutto crostini at her hockey party last week to huge success. She made them at the start so people could watch during preparation; they were surprised at the ease for such an amazing taste.

While we usually do most of our preparation beforehand, I am starting to realize that people really enjoy watching simple food preparation and love to talk about the ingredients. Perhaps this is the impact of all those hours of The Food Network. Do you usually prepare in advance or on the fly?

December is Prosciutto Month – Share a little Italian

More than any other deli meat, prosciutto is served for guests. Given its nickname, “the king of deli meats”, that probably isn’t surprising. As we enter the holiday season I have stocked up. Just yesterday my daughter set up draped prosciutto around the outside of the plate with cantaloupe balls in the middle.

Last holiday season I served Prosciutto Sliders, I still think it is the ultimate appetizer for a large group of people, say 20+. We were recently at the Gourmet Food and Wine Show where we served over 7,000 slices – proof of high volume ease. And yet, perfect for any weekend lunch.

A little Italian – prosciutto any day

More than any other deli meat, prosciutto is served for guests. However, two out of every three times it is eaten within the home; that is, not with guests. So lately I have taken to asking people how they eat it; so here goes:

• Straight out of the pack – multiple mentions
• On bread with provolone cheese – a few mentions
• With buffalo mozzarella cheese, olive oil, fresh basil – multiple mentions
• With bread and grilled vegetables (out of a jar)
• Rolled around provolone cheese and stuffed inside a chicken (in place of stuffing) – two people
• Wrapped around a breadstick, the kids especially love this – multiple mentions
• On a baguette with spinach and tomato
• In bread, by itself, nothing in the way
• In a sandwich with bocconcini and grilled vegetables
• In a bun with provolone cheese, tomato and basil
• Wrapped around figs and walnut, gorgonzola cheese on the side
• On pizza (put on after the pizza comes out of the oven)

What we eat with our family is usually the best tasting or the simplest, how do you eat your prosciutto?

A little Italian – the mortadella sandwich, do they know something?

We did some video earlier this year, and so I asked the obvious question, “What is your favourite deli meat?”  This video is just 50 seconds long, and yet beautifully captures the essence and passion Italians have for their food:

I had the wonderful opportunity to share Italian deli meats with the Canadian Living test kitchen a couple years back. These people know food, and were still a little nervous when we finished with a mortadella panino. Amazingly most of them had never tried it. I was so grateful to Editor Susan Antonacci who spoke right up, “I’ll have one of those”, everyone joined in to surprised delight.

A little Italian

Many years ago I came across a book called How to be an Italian by Lou D’Angelo, published in 1968. Amazon rates it 4.5/5, okay so only 5 people did the rating, and yes I am one. (The only person not giving a 5 did so because of the condition of the book, the content is indisputable.)

Some people achieve greatness; others have it thrust upon them. Then there are those people who are born Italian.  If you are not an Italian, don’t be despondent. You can become an Italian. You can learn to look, dress, walk, gesticulate, think, and talk Italian by mastering a few simple rules….

 

Amazingly he missed the one thing that everyone returning from Italy raves about, the food! The easiest way to become Italian is to enjoy the food and share it with others.  Food plays an important role in the Italian culture, and that means sharing it and the conversation around the food is one of the staples.

I am rediscovering my Italian heritage and invite you to be a little Italian, if only once a week. Think about the food you are eating, share it with others – there are more than a few ideas here, and maybe try a hand gesture or two – carefully.

Daughters know

My daughter has invented the ultimate “gourmet” KD, disagree at your own peril.

Her secret ingredient is Mastro Salametti Hot:

The outcome:

If I ate KD, my secret ingredient would be pancetta.

Spain and Italy didn’t get along as well as expected this time

The thing about a tapas night, like every pot-luck I have ever attended, there is always way too much food. Two of my Christmas Eve tapas never even got served, (they were fully enjoyed later in the week).

At least my wife reigned me in before I made my planned fourth appetizer for the meal, yes I am a big part of the “too much” problem. Being lazy I dropped the experiment, baked brie with cranberry, pancetta and spiced pecans; next dinner party I guess.

The lack of love was not for the mini-Milano sandwiches which were their usual big hit. It was the Spanish Lustau Amontillado Sherry. While I acquired a taste for it, and it is a beautiful match for the prosciutto; it was simply too far from the accustomed taste buds of most.

If you try it, you must think of it as a tapas wine, it has no similarity to my mother’s sherry. The most remarkable thing is the total lack of linger/aftertaste. The taste happens in your mouth and is then gone, so works perfectly after a bite of prosciutto.

Italian “Tapas” and Sherry

The Spaniards have done a great thing with the word “tapas”. It communicates so much, and leaves many doors open. My wine expert friend Ramesh recently was in Spain for a course on Sherry – not your mother’s sweet pre-dinner aperitif either.

He tells me, for I know little of sherry, that there are many Sherries from ultra-sweet to bone dry. The dry Sherries work very well with the tapas we might call charcuterie – so this is my Christmas Eve plan given my mother has said we are doing only appetizers.

My plan goes as follows:

Cacciatore – sliced thick and on the diagonal

Mini-Milano grilled sandwiches – my daughter’s favourite and she will make them. (see http://jimmyprosciutto.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/cooking-with-my-kids/)

The proven pleasers, one-bite pancetta cups filled with Caesar salad, (see http://jimmyprosciutto.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/a-master-chef-from-the-canadian-institute-of-culinary-arts-science/)

And for something new will try this “christmasy” idea: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2009/11/25/holiday-appetizers-101-baked-brie-with-cranberry-pancetta-and-spiced-pecans/

And the sherry, per Ramesh’s recommendation is Lustau Amontillado, although I have had to search and source to find.

I promise a full report …