Tomatoes Tisana and Pasta..
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2010
1
5
14
Trip End
Jun 06, 2010
Pianiano, Latium, Italy
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
She is also a very good cook. With the great vegetarian dishes she cooked, like pasta con lenticche (lentils), vegetable ragout, pasta al forno, risotto, frittata, etc., I think I could easily be persuaded to become a vegetarian. The fresh produce certainly helps in that regard. There is no comparision between the taste of fresh tomatoes for example and the ones we get that are grown in California or Mexico perhaps, and picked before they are ripe. Actually a little investigating on the web busted a myth for me about the tasteless tomatoes we get here in Alberta (other than the ones from the summer market gardens that is). As it turns out, our tomatoes aren't bad because they’re picked green. Rather they’re bad (ie lousy texture and usually don't taste like anything.. sound familiar??) because they’re a lousy breed. And the reason they are a lousy breed is because those are the ones that are hardy enough to make the trek up to Canada. Plant breeders have apparently spent years developing varieties of tomatoes that hold up incredibly well when stacked and jostled during harvest and transport. Flavor and texture are secondary, almost irrelevant. Put a decent tomato on a truck and ship it 3,000 miles, and it’ll be smooshed by the time it reaches its destination. I guess the moral of the story is.. it's best to get your tomatoes from the market garden in the summer.. or go to Italy to eat tomatoes :)
Regarding tisana, a little more investigating (thank-you Wikipedia) and, as I now realize T was explaining to me in italian, herbal tea.. called tisana, is made from anything other than tea leaves, eg they can be made with fresh or dried flowers (e.g., camomille flowers), leaves (like mint leaves), seeds or roots . On the other hand, flavoured teas are prepared by adding other plants to an actual tea (black, oolong, green etc) For example, the popular Earl Grey tea is black tea with something called bergamot; jasmine tea is Chinese tea with jasmine flowers. Apparently you can even make herbal "tea" from the leaves of the coffea plant, rather than the beans (seeds) which are used in coffee. Well I though it was interesting anyway!
And then there is the pasta. It was interesting to me that T weighed out her pasta before cooking it.. 300 g was too much yesterday for 3 of us so 250 grams today. i don’t cook pasta much but I can't say it ever occurred to me to weigh the pasta when i do cook it. Doesn't everyone just eyeball it? If you have left overs so much the better. I mean without left overs what is Gordo going to eat domani (tomorrow) ?
Filomena, a friend from Edmonton, says you should only reheat pasta once. Tiziana converted left overs we did have one day to pasta al forno (baked), although I’m not sure if that is a common practice or not. It was good regardless. And fyi, If you are in Tuscany or surroundings, look for 'pici’.. a specialty pasta of the region worth trying.
Just a side note re cooking pasta.. I’ve also been asked if italians puts salt in the water, and oil. Well for enquiring minds who want to know… yes regarding salt.. put it in before the water starts to boil. Regarding oil, T says that … alcune volte si mette l'olio quando č una pasta fatta in casa, che contiene pių amido e serve per non farla attaccare J that is, sometimes you put oil in the water if the pasta is handmade (which apparently has more starch) to help it not to stick. So there you go. Pasta Cooking 101.
Comments
Tomatoes actually do grow in Canada too! Check out your local farmers market. Love your notes about the food at Gatta Morena.
Wonderful sounding trip....although you've set expectations now to reproduce those yummy looking recipes!
A tomato plant on the balcony is also nice ;)