Open "Olympia" Room!

OK, maybe it doesn't look like much to you, showcased by my limited photographic capabilities, but believe me it is a very exciting and satisfying time at Bella Baita. Fabrizio has literally transformed our "disco" into the "Olympia" room at last. Tearing out, ripping, shredding, drilling, insulating, plastering ceilings, raising local massively heavy wood beams, laying pipes, tile, stones, electrical, lights and painting it all by his lonesome, are just a few of his winter time idle time ventures. Fabrizio, the working machine wonder, worked like a man driven with an internal clock ticking the doomsday deadline. He met the May challenge, ready to cook, eat and enjoy.

He made it and we are using it.

We have maximized our modest means to get this big ole dinosaur whipped up into a much more usable space for our guests and cooking classes and other future offerings simmering on the back burner. We still need a variety of furnishings, appliances and wish list items, but we have moved from darkness to light, warmth and space to spread our wings, or well, ahem, at least all of our stuff! We're using what we have been given and leftovers from the "La Baita" era and we're grateful to have them. Now we'll have some time to work in the space and have a better idea of what are true needs are as we go along.

We did inaugurate the space with meals, cooking classes and general "hanging out", not a moment too soon, as the weather hasn't always been cooperative, as mercurial as springtime in the alps can be. Here are some photos of the past couple of weeks goings on. I hope to get to some recipes and regular posting again now that we're starting to settle into the space, but we're still doing quite a few km back and forth between our flat and the "Olympia" room as we shuttle our utensils and supplies to and fro. Keeps it interesting.

First a spin around the market

Finishing off with coffee and pastries before the hard work starts later

Pasta fun

with new friends and family

The beginnings of cinghiale filled agnolotti

and ricotta and stinging nettle ravioli

"La Dolce Vita" class to comfort the sweetest toothed guests

Marie didn't know where to begin the sampling,
but she worked her way round pretty quick

as the rest of us did too

Thanks for stopping by
See you soon

May Day, May Day

or the May Day in Italy is a time to head out somewhere, anywhere, to picnic, walk, frolic at the beachwork on the garden at the family mountain holiday house. May day though out most of Europe is the equivalent of Labor Day in America. All the factory workers are off of work and many ofthem march around waving flags and perhaps protesting the way things are these days. Our acrobatic air force jets are out painting the sky red white and green. It's just a celebratory day.

So happy May Day to all of you.

Small Change

I know it looks like it could be fixins for lunch.
And it was, but you might be surprised as much as I was as to what it was.
Give up?

Change. Small change.
My small change back from my purchase of the Grana Padana cheese in the left hand side of the photo.
That's right.
The other day when I bought some Grana Padana cheese in the market from from someone different than my normal GP stall just to mix it up a bit sometimes, and I gave the man my money, he asked if instead of my .50 centesimi that I was owed back, if I would like this package of mortadella, or bolgna as we call it in the States.
Obviously I said yes, Perche no?, why not.
This is not the first time this has happened. Once before I received a small sampler package of mini wurstel, or hot dogs as we, Americani, are so fond of calling them.
At first I thought how odd and then it dawned on me how clever it actually was.
More than likely he didn't lose any money on the deal, he had more small change to use for the others who said, no grazie, and on top of it all he got his customers to try a new product in hopes of upping the amount of euro out my pocket and into his again next time if I liked it. It's not always easy to increase your sales in the market stalls, so any clever marketing technique is worth a try.
I know it is a small thing, but I found it kind of fun. Instead of handing out all those little samples like they do at the grocery store where most folks sample it and then walk away and never buy the product, that includes me, he covered a few bases at once and helped the small change crunch while he was at it.
You never know I just might buy some next time. Just wish there wasn't so much plastic packaging, but then that's another topic for another day.

Aprile 25 and Apples & Thyme, the Roundup

Today is Liberation Day in Italy. A time for celebration when Italy was liberated from the occupiers of World War II. A national holiday and long weekend for most. You'll find everyone heading out for the mountains, the seaside, countryside and usually that will include some special food for the occasion. It's also a time of reflection of the many freedoms of which havng a choice of what we will eat and when is a pleasure we enjoy and mostly take for granted. So it is also a fitting time for us to round up this months Apples and Thyme blogging event, "Celebrating time in the kitchen with mothers and grandmothers" this months stories has expanded to celebrating others as well that have had significant infuences on our enjoyment of the culinary arts. It has been my pleasure to host April's Apple's and Thyme blogging fest. I was thrilled to participate and honored when Jeni & Inge of Passionate Palate and African Vanielje asked me to host this month. I think you'll find some great posts here celebrating time spent in the kitchen through a variety of humorous and touching stories. If you haven't discovered the different blogs listed blow, make sure to have a good read throught hem because they are a treasure trove of interesting recipes and stories about a variety of things sometimes other than food. Grab a cuppa and enjoy!

First up this month from Bellini Valli of More than Burnt Toast in who hails from Canada and has the most incredible view on her blog. She never thought that her mom was a huge influence on her cooking, but delving into it further she decided that her mother really was the biggest influence of all. "She led me to discover new cuisines and dream of being the "hostest with the mostest" by serving up bland foods day after day."... Read about her time spent at a Greek cooking school and I think you'll find that her **Melitzanopita** will have you hankering for a leisurely cruise around the Greek islands and would be a fantastic center piece or addition to any appetizer/antipasti/meze layout you might put together.

Continuing on with a Greek theme, Ivy of "Kopiaste...to Greek Hospitality" invites all of us to discover the delights of making home style Cypriot Halloumi cheese in her post Say Cheese....or better Halloumi while reminiscing about her family. Her sister passed on her experiences of making this cheese before Ivy had the opportunity to learn it from her family. Nice to not lets these treasured recipes slip away. It's full of step by step information on how to make this family's national cheese, but best of all she gives lots of great suggestions of all kinds of great Halloumi dishes and links to recipes. If you haven't already discovered her blog wander on over with some time for a good read and plenty of recipes to keep you busy.

Transplanted island girl Rowena of Rubber Slippers in Italy, will give you a chuckle when you read about her early influences on her cooking with her entry of "Stone Soup" . It should be nostalgic look back for many of us, but you'll have to leave it to your imagination of what the soup looks like, as they ate it all before she could get a picture of it. Be sure and check out her many adventures trying out as many of the Italian festivals located near and far from her corner of Italy as she bravely samples her way around Italy. She'll inspire you to get out and up into the high country to experience what the locals are eating at the refugio when you get to the top too.

Baking Delights Mayre shares a heartfelt story of her visits with Aunt and their special early morning ritual of fresh biscuits topped with her home made Strawberry Jam. It will have you running to the kitchen to break out the biscuit makings and whipping up some jam. It's a timely variation as the strawberry season is upon most of us now. Mayre however gives it a new inventive twist to this favorite standby. Don't miss all the other interesting things on offer on her site, with links to giveaways too, if you're feeling lucky.

Hopefully, you won't be too weary to tour with Mele Cotto's Chris, through some of her old haunts, such as "Zabar's " and "Chelsea Market", as well as some new finds, like "Stew Leonards" in her post "NYC Tour Day 2 with a little Apples and Thyme" . It's worth having a double espresso to keep you going. You'll finish up over at her Mother's home for a tour of her Mother's memory wall and proudly they have the stamina to prepare some biscotti, fit for a Queen with her lovely Mom at the helm of her ever so red Kitchenaid. Make sure to check out all the delicious offerings that keeps Chris fed and will have you begging for more. Chris hosted the Apples and Thyme March edition. If you missed any of those have a look here.

African Vanielje, of the same named blog, and one of our founding hosts of "Apples and Thyme", Celebrates some time with her Mother . in which she recounts the many life lessons experienced growing up in her mothers restaurant kitchen. Working her way through a professional kitchen, she vividly and accurately describes learning not only the basics of commercial cooking and kitchen techniques, but the larger picture as well. "If you can’t make yourself heard you will be lost, and if you can’t earn your team’s respect you will be dead and buried." Amen, to that sentiment! Be sure and don't miss this South African tale.

My Bella Baita View's offering to this month's round up is a meandering story of my sister-in-laws prized family recipe, Grandmother Denzio's Ravioli . A reminiscence about how our extended family has as much influence at times as our relatives by blood. I try to take the mystery out of ravioli making and present it as a party waiting to happen. You might want to make it a basis for a fun get together sometime. Although, I have been making ravioli for awhile now, since I have been living in Italy, it took this story to push me to make this particularly special ravioli and revisit the first time I made them.

I just discovered that we somehow missed Giz and Psychgrad of Equal Opportunity Kitchen's wonderful post about Cholent, honoring Baba, their mother and grandmother respectively. They say the phots don't do the dish justice, but I think it looks very homey and I like the sounds of the crusty top. They have a fun interview with Baba talking about cholent and her family getting their dishes mixed up and the sad outcome of that sabbath meal. Do have a wander round their site as there is a lot of cooking and story telling going on.


We hope you enjoyed this months April round up. Apples and Thyme is taking a hiatus for a while due to busy schedules. Be sure to check back in with Jeni and African Vanielje, for the next edition. Although Apples and Thyme is taking a break, I would encourage all of you to find the time to spend some time in the kitchen with the people that you love, whoever they may be. Why not pass along some of your culinary tips, tricks, laughs, family stories, traditions and treasured recipes. It's an inexpensive gift and a priceless memory that can be savored over and over.

Disco transformation coming along

We've moved from deconstruction and reconstruction.

Insulation, local wood beams and wood ceiling slats are in.

Dust has almost settled.

Flooring and tile work are done.

Painting and stone work are almost done.

We're getting there.

Watch this space.

Grandma Denzio's Ravioli -An Apples and Thyme Event

No, Victoria Argenta Denzio wasn't my grandmother, although I wouldn't have minded. She was my sister-in-law, Nancy's maternal grandmother and quite a quite a character as I remember her. You see, influences come in many different forms and sometimes it takes the lens of time to bring back all the different influences that make us who we are. To quote a present day American presidential candidate, "It takes a village to raise a child..." or something like that. I must say that I can draw on a variety of influences that have stimulated my interest and imagination when it comes to food as a child. All the different influences have also stimulated the desire to travel and experience food in authentic settings as well and of course, that means meeting the people that make the magic in the kitchen. But that is some other tales for another time. Back to southern Illinois where I grew up and where these ravioli came into my memory as the legendary family treasure that they are.

Our normal family meals were American farm fare, simple and tasty as my mother took great pride in her cooking and it showed. My father was her most enthusiastic fan of her accomplished standards but he wasn't her only admirer. When we found ourselves in a new community with different foods on offer my Mom was game to try some of these new tastes. I still remember the first time we had spaghetti and red sauce and chop suey, which isn't Chinese at all but it was new and exciting. It was a big deal and just the beginning of Mom venturing out into the culinary world of other ethnic foods and venturing away from the familiar. When we came to to live in Herrin, Illinois I was pretty young and 2 of my older brothers were already in high school. Somewhere along the way my brother, Jim started dating Nancy, fell madly in love with her and eventually they married after college graduation. Nancy brought along a new set of family traditions that were exotic and intriguing. Nancy's mothers side of her family were Italians who had settled in southern Illinois along with a quite a few others from Chicago and the east coast as Italian immigrants found their way out of the original points of landing in America. Going to Nancy's family for a big extended family meal was a new adventure. There were super garlic salameats (which I have a sneaking suspicion is a new world pronunciation of salame) with crusty rolls that you could only get from Luigi's market and almonds covered in a hard white coating in little cups or bags tied up at their wedding reception. The even had wine with their meals, wow. My family was the straight and narrow tea totalers. Nothing wrong with that, but it was new unexplored territory in this new part of my family that my brother had married into. It was, however, Grandma Denzio's ravioli that I remember so clearly that Nancy spoke of with such reverence and affection. I was drawn in to this enticing unfamiliar world. Nancy's grandparents lived nearby and came on more than one occasion to a meal with all of us together. I was completely mesmerized by Nicolo and Victoria or Nic and Vic, as they were affectionately called. I remember Nic showing us his little garden plot that he had put in for Nancy's parents as well as his own that he lovingly tended. My favorite tale involved him returning from a visit to homeland Rome, Italy with seeds and vines of varieties of tomatoes and other veggies that he couldn't access in Southern Illinois, sewn into the lining of his trousers and jacket pockets. Sometimes in the telling of stories and general conversation Nic and Vic would get quite animated and drop into rapid fire Italian, that I could only guess at what they were discussing so passionately. I have a feeling some of it might be some of the things that you first learn when you arrive in a different country and aren't suppose to say, but don't know that yet. I don't know, but it was lively, a bit forbidden. They were colorful and interesting and I loved it. I just knew that making Victoria's ravioli was something magic that mere mortals like myself and non Italian to boot, could never master. I was in awe of this mysterious food, ravioli. It took me all these years to get around to ask for the recipe again. Actually, I think I have it somewhere, but I think it is packed away with a lot of other bits of other lifetimes back in the states. When my brother graduated with his masters degree, Nancy held a little dinner party in celebration of Jim's accomplishment for my parents, my youngest brother and I along with the student housing neighbors, Thor and Nancy, with whom they remain friends with to this day, some 30+? years later. It was quite a day, because Nancy was making her grandmother's legendary ravioli. Nancy had learned by making them along side her grandmother, Victoria. We all pitched in that day and helped. It was great fun, and I've never forgotten it, but for some odd reason most of my adult life I seemed to have thought that I couldn't' make ravioli. That you had to have a special family recipe and, you had to have an Italian gene to really be able to make them. Funny how we get things into our heads and it takes forever to sometimes even realize that it's even there. Funnily enough, I even use to make fresh pasta regularly at one of the restaurants that I worked at, but we didn't really take on filled pasta, though. Pity that. It wasn't until I came to Italy to live that some of these myths started to be dispelled. I don't have an Italian gene, but I do have a natural interest and I have learned a trick or two while I have been here and the mystery of making pasta and filled pasta isn't so mysterious as it once was and it isn't sooo time consuming either, once you get the hang of it. My mother in law even came over to have me help her with making ravioli dough a few years back and when I made Grandma Denzio's this past week, my in laws were full of praise. The first thing out Fabrizio's mouth was, these are just like my Grandmother use to make. My in laws said they same. High praise, high praise indeed. You see too these are special for another reason too, Grandma Denzio and her family were originally from Torino, so this is a truly authentic Piemontese family recipe. The local Piemontese family that I married into completely agreed. How interesting that all these years later I find myself in the heart of the Torino province and Piemonte. Who would have thought. If you've got some time and want to make a lot for a big family or crowd, then this special recipe is for you. You may want to enlist some help to make it go a bit quicker, or make a few family memories of your own. I've never forgotten that ravioli making day with Nancy, my mother and brother also. Nancy made it special. Her willingness to share of herself and her family makes it just one of many reasons that she is such a great sister in law. She has been my sister a lot longer than she hasn't. So this post is dedicated to my sister Nancy with all my love from all the years of friendship and generosity of spirit she has brought to my family. Thanks Nancy, I love you very much and thank you for sharing your grandmother and her legendary ravioli recipe with me.
I'm now sharing it with all of you.
Please make some memories too.

Nancy & Marla

New Years Eve 2005

This my entry for April's 2008 Apples and Thyme event that Jeni of Passionate Palate and Inge of Vanielje Kitchen, started. If you want more information please click here.

This recipe makes a lot! It will easily feed 10 people or more. I forgot to buy the veal and made it only with the beef and pork and I think the veal would give that little added dimension to the flavor. So the full recipe would make quite a bit more and you might run out of past before you run out of filling. When making pasta dough, you sometimes need to adjust the recipe a bit for your conditions and needs.

Grandma Denzio's Ravioli

For the Filling:

• 1 lb of veal
• 1 lb beef steak
• 1 lb pork steak
• 1/2 c uncooked plain rice
• 1 large can of spinach
• 3-4 eggs
• 1/2 c hard grating cheese, like Romano, I used Grana Padano
• S&P, butter , oil and garlic

Fry the meats all together in frying pan with the oil, butter and garlic.
Saute the rice with half of a small onion.
Cook with water normally and set aside.
Drain spinach and fry with a little butter and garlic
(I used fresh spinach and used enough to have a couple of big handfuls when squeezed dry.)
When the meats are done, cool enough to handle.
(I had more like roasts pieces, so I cooked mine all together with herbs and onion, carrot and celery in a pressure cooker, which worked very well with using the food processor. I chopped the meats up and and sauteed them in a small amount of oil before putting them through the meat grinder. I reserved the vegetables and juices for the sauce later)
The meats, spinach, and rice all go through the meat grinder.
(I don't have one, so mine went through the food processor)
Then I added 4 eggs and the grated cheese.
(As I know my family's taste, I added a generous amount of fresh ground noci moscate or nutmeg, which I knew would have been pointed out, if I had omitted it.)
I then adjusted the seasoning with some salt and pepper.
It needs to be a dry, moist and flavorful filling.
I filled a pastry bag with a plain round tip to fill the pasta.

For the pasta:

Grandma D's recipe
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2Tb oil
Mix all together and
add 1 c warm water
This will make a soft dough.
Roll out thin placing filling 1/2 apart on dough.
Cover, cut and cook.
Drain and add your favorite sauce.
Traditionally, served with a red meat sauce.
I, of course, tried a little local variation.
You take the meat juices and cooked vegetables and run it through the food mill for a passata. Often it is serve just like that and called Salsa dell' arrosto.
On Fabrizio's urging, I added a bit of the filling that I had left over
with the thickened passata from the vegetables and juices,
adjusted seasonings and voila.
It was tasty, simple and used everything up.
These were a big hit with my family.
I hope you enjoy them with yours.