Italian Cuisine

Welcome back! This week I will be taking a look at Italian cuisine. Italian food has always been one of my favourite types of cuisine. I will specifically be looking at cuisine from Northern Italy. Northern Italy has a variety of different types of foods due to its varied topography and proximity to other countries.

The Aosta Valley of northwest Italy is covered in mountainous ranges. Due to the mountains it is hard to grow crops, so it is mostly an area that has farms with animals. One common food that comes from this region of France is Fontina cheese. Fontina can either be eaten on its own or used to make fondue. This cheese is said to get its sweet flavour from the fragrant herbs in the mountain fields.

Piedmont is known for antipasti. Antipasti has a lot of dishes under its umbrella that are both hot and cold dishes. A common hot dish is fiori di zucca ripieni. This dish is made with pumpkin, courgette, meat, parmesan, and parsley. This dish is then deep-fried. A cold dish that is popular is vitello tonnato. This dish consists of thin slices of veal with tuna-flavoured mayonnaise and capers.

A common ingredient that comes from Liguria is pesto bianco. Pesto bianco is commonly known as white pesto. This sauce is a mixture of walnuts, olive oil, and ricotta. This sauce is often served with corzetti pasta. This sauce is the less common version of pesto Genovese, which is most commonly known as just pesto.

In Italy, panettone is a Christmas culinary tradition. This dish originated in Milan, Lombardy. Panettone is a tall dome-shaped loaf that is light and airy. This dish is said to have a savoury buttery flavour. To contrast the savoury flavour, candied fruit and orange peel bring a more sweet flavour to the dish. This dish can be eaten with any meal of the day. When eaten at breakfast, it is suggested to eat the loaf with coffee, whereas for lunch or dinner it is suggested to eat the loaf with a dessert wine.

A common dish in Friuli-Venezia Giulia is Prosciutto di Sauris. This dish is a ham dish. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has a distinct aromatic flavour when cooked. This flavour comes from a smoking method that is only used in the Udine province of Italy. Beech wood from locak woodland is used in this smoking process and is used in traditional smoking rooms. This dish is both sweet and smokey. It is recommended that Prosciutto di Sauris be eaten with a soft red wine.

Thank you for reading my blog! Next week, I will be discussing French cuisine.

(Vitello Tonnato)