Lazzaroni Amaretti

Ok. One thing that I have a craving for today are those Lazzaroni Amaretti cookies that are crunchy and oh so sweet. They were originally created by the Lazzaroni family in the 18th century when the Cardinal of Milan came to visit their town of Saronna. They are bitter/sweet crunchy cookies made from the paste of apricot pits. You can certainly taste the apricot in this cookie whose flavors are almost magically heightened when dipped in an afternoon espresso. Enjoy!

Amaretti di Saronno Cookies (Window Box) By Lazzaroni

River Cafe Cook Book Green

I have one favorite tattered cookbook that I always use, especially when cooking veggies. I picked it up in London when I lived there in 2003 and have used it ever since. Recipes are divided by the vegetables in season. Vegetables are divided by month. I've read it cover to cover at least 5 times.This one's a keeper!

What You Do

To my angel babies,
What you do everyday matters more than what you do once in a while. That goes for everything. Family, friendships, even eating. Make the right choices most of the time; the rest will work itself out. When it comes to diet and nutrition, the same rules apply. If you are making the right choices most of the time, eating healthy, cooking with nutrient rich food, and washing your produce and cooking it thoroughly, then the infamous and so delicious- gain ten pounds just looking at them because you can't have just one- arancini (Italian rice balls) your Nonna Anna makes won't be so bad once in a while. Enjoy the best in life- but always with moderation.

Love always,
Your Bravamama

Italian Swear Words

When I was a teacher and heard a student swear, say in the playground or in the hallway I would always remind them that swearing lacks imagination. I would drone on to explain that using swear words to cope with an pleasant or difficult circumstance is an easy way out and finding the right words that express one's true emotions may even change the circumstance for the better. Alas, that was what I was supposed to say, but I know that deep down swearing alleviates some of the tension. Also, swear words sound so much better in Italian. My parents taught me to swear, unintentionally of course! They are Italians who immigrated to Canada and for many years their second language was a melange of various English words transformed with Italian alliteration. For example a truck would be "the truck-oh" or the garbage would be the "gar-beach-oh". As a young child I would sometimes bring these morphed words to school, only to be corrected by my English teachers. After a while, and probably at the prodding of my teachers, my parents decided to speak to me and my sisters only in English. Yet for my parents, the stub of a toe, an unexpected slip, or a heated conversation would bring about a fervor of these great Italian swear words. These heated intonations would get elevated to the status of a song. Voices would get louder, faces would get hotter, hand's would move with a conductor's precision. They would swear to themselves or in many cases to each other in Italian, thinking we would not understand and that our gentle English ears could not absorb their meaning. The opposite happened and I was enchanted and mesmerized by the heat of those words. I was hooked. Schooled by my friends, I got to know what all of those words meant. (My parents were certainly not going to divulge that information.) Even to this day,  I swear in Italian. These words are filled with passion and must only be used with a clear and direct voice, and with enough practice, directed gesticulation.

Linda

Using the sugo

My Parents Homemade Italian Sauce:

I'll never forget the day I burned the sauce. I was maybe 15 years old and was left in charge of the 3.5 hour sauce and of course completely got distracted with a very important teenage phone call (aren't they all important?). Burning the sauce is a faux-pas in every Italian family, especially for mine, since the sauce in my family takes about 3.5 hours to make. Every Sunday, my parents would make this huge pot of tomato sauce to have at a multi-course lunch, then of course lots of leftovers during the week. The whole house would smell of it's delicious aroma. I don't remember a Sunday without it. The sauce is basically a meat sauce and it's main ingredients are braciola (in my case was a beef or pork chunk rolled with pine nuts and tied with cooking string), meatballs and sugo which is a homemade jar of tomato puree. Making this puree was a very important tradition in our lives. In fact I remember many summers when my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins would spend hours just making the sugo. Some 30 bushels of tomatoes that took a whole day to turn into preserved goodness. Such wonderful memories that in itself is an entirely other blog entry, or perhaps a book, but just for a laugh I put a picture of one of the homemade jars I have. Everyone I know in Canada understands this process and the gastronomical benefits are endless. Here is my recipe using the sugo: Caution it takes hours but the results are worth it....

1. Gather your ingredients: olive oil, garlic (whole), I like to buy the ones ready to throw in to the pot (shh don't tell my mother), braciola, sugo: one large jar or 2 small cartons/jar of pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, salt/pepper (you can be creative here and add favorite spices if you'd like)

2. Flavor the oil: heat the oil (about a tablespoon) and drop the garlic clove or cloves (depending on your taste), remove when they are just about to turn brown because you want them whole and not to crumble when you put them back in the sauce.

3. Add the meat and brown on both sides for 10 minutes

4. Now add the small jar of tomato puree to the pot over the meat, stir and heat. Add the garlic back to the pot.

5. Then add the sugo and add water (about the same amount of sugo). At this point you may also add uncooked meatballs, home-made or store bought depending on the time you have. Add herbs and spices.

6. Let cook for 3 to 3.5 hours until the sauce reduces and the meat becomes tender. Add to your favorite pasta and enjoy.

For such a simple recipe, the results are astounding which proves it's about the quality of ingredients and not the amount of chopping and dicing you do. So put the slap chop away and grab a book because you better be around to stir the sauce.

Linda

Bravamama Beginnings

My name is Linda and this is my first post! I wanted to create a blog about the things I have learned growing up in an Italian family in Canada. I am a second generation Canadian, meaning my parents immigrated from Italy to Canada. I am the first generation to speak English, go to school in Canada and live in a culture rich with British history and traditions. Growing up, these two cultures often clashed, providing me with hilarious memories of my desperate attempts to live in both worlds. Over the years I have lost my Italian roots. I have moved to the US and barely find occasion to talk the little Italian that I know, and as I watch my children grow I have come to realize that they don't even know my heritage. I now realize how terrible it would be to not share the memories, the recipes and the way of life I once knew. I am creating this blog for them and for anyone who wants to add a little Italian in their lives.