A FAMILY FAVOURITE: ZUCCHINI CAKE

Italians are great in inventing all sorts of savoury tarts and cakes. One particular recipe has become a firm family favourite: Cake Salato alle Zucchine, which could be translated simply as a savoury zucchini cake.  I learned this from an excellent book called Lezioni di Cucina: Un Corso completo fotografato step by step. This is dead easy to make and actually tastes better the day after baking.

Don't worry if it is not perfect when you take it out of the tin. Leave the cake to cool and it will firm up so that it can be sliced nicely. 

You will need:

180 g flour
3 zucchinis
100 g pancetta or cooked ham in small cubes
150 g ricotta
50g parmigiano
1 onion
3 eggs
100 ml olive oil
100 ml milk
1 tbsp baking powder
salt, pepper, herbs

1. Cut the zucchini in small cubes and fry with onion. Add  pancetta or cooked ham cubes to the mixture. Add salt and herbs.

You can add other veggies into this mixture too - I happened to have some red pepper in the fridge, so I threw it in. 

2. Mix eggs with milk and olive oil in a separate bowl. Add flour and cheese together with the zucchini, onion and pancetta or ham and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well to incorporate all the ingredients.

3. Line a long bread tin with kitchen paper. Pour the mixture into the tin. Bake about 1 hour in 190 C. Test with a skewer before taking out from the oven, if it comes out clean the cake is ready.

This makes a great snack for a crowd - just cut in bitesized pieces and enjoy!

CHASING THE STORM

There was an almighty storm last night. So much so, that floods have been reported in some parts of Genoa.
But this morning the storm had moved on and the weather seemed to have calmed down. I decided to have a little stroll on the Passegiata Anita Garibaldi in Nervi to see what the damage was.

Only couple of months ago this beach club was full of people enjoying a very hot weather under the umbrellas. 

It turned out to be a very pleasant day, mostly sunny too, temperature around plus 18 C. The sea had a different sound though, angrier than normal. But for some people it was the perfect opportunity to try and test the elements: members of the local canoeing club were out enjoying  some white water rafting and fishermen were trying their luck, too!

Canoeing in these conditions requires a lot of skill and it is clearly a lot of fun too! 

GINGER ICE CREAM? WE GOT IT!

It may be November and the winter is approaching fast, but ice cream is still firmly on the menu for the Italians. There are numerous gelato bars in Genoa alone and come a sunny day, there might even be queues outside the best ones regardless of the time of year.

  One particularly popular ice cream shop in town, U Gelato du Caruggiu, on Via San Bernardo #91 in the centro storico, is a magnet for gelato connoisseurs looking for unusual flavours.



Moreno and Barbara make approximately 25 different ice creams  every day.

Yesterday I went together with other members of the American International Women's Club of Genoa (AIWC) to learn how the owners Moreno and Barbara, a husband and wife team, transform such humble ingredients as milk, butter and eggs into an ice cream base where different flavourings are then added afterwards. We were able observe the process through a glass window while Moreno explained the technical details. He stressed how important it is to get the balance of the ingredients right. Be aware, that if your ice cream starts melting the minute you get the cone in your hands, it has not been made correctly.

Chesnut and rosemary make an interesting change from the normal "vanilla-strawberry-chocolate" choice.



Barbara with the very delicately flavoured icecream: violet.

We were given small samples to taste of all the flavours and my absolute favourite is ginger, quite a sharp and spicy ice cream with lots of character. Regular customers are also raving about zabaglione, cinnamon, ciocco frizzy and hazelnut icecream (nocciola)....





A MOMENT OF PEACE WITH MUSIC

I recently walked in the area of Piazza Banchi in the centro storico. I have passed this place quite a few times while exploring the city, but not noticed that there is a tiny church, elevated on top of the shops. The doors were open, so I went in. It happened to be a bit of a grey autumn day, around noon.

Piazza Banchi and Chiesa di S Pietro.

As soon as I stepped inside the Chiesa di S Pietro I heard beautiful classical music and quite a familiar tune too. I have heard this piece before but could not remember the composer. It really did not matter. I soon felt totally at peace with myself and the rest of the world. Far away was the huzzle and buzzle of the street and the city.

  Curios about the history of this place, I picked up a leaflet in English at the entrance, where it was explained that the church was built during the second half of the 16th century on the ruins of another church. The original church was destroyed by fire. The architects, Taddeo Cartone and Daniello Caselle, modelled this new church on Basilica Assunta in Carignano.

There are beautiful frescoes just outside the entrance, up on the ceiling.

A REMINDER OF LAMPEDUSA

The island of Lampedusa, off the coast of Sicily, has for a long time been a gateway for people wanting to escape for a better life in Europe. The most recent boat accident, where 300 migrants - mainly from Eritrea and Somalia - lost their lives in early October, is only the latest incident and I fear, not the last. In the city centre of Genoa, on Piazza de Ferrari, there is currently a very eye catching reminder that this problem is not Italy's alone.

This banner, hanging outside Palazzo Ducale says it all: "Deaths again. Lampedusa is not the graveyard of hopes". 

Vittorio Longhi commented on the Guardian online (www.theguardian.com):

"So why do Eurocrats keep investing in security measures? Why don't they focus on a shared asylum policy, on serious multilateral agreements between transit and receiving countries, on building search-and-rescue capacity in the Mediterranean, on the full respect of the right to international protection?

Europe cannot go on sealing its borders and pretending not to see what's going on in the south, especially in still-troubled Northern Africa, and in a continent with growing poverty, along with a food and health crisis. Increasing social conflicts inevitably result in harsher repression by authoritarian regimes and therefore in further asylum-seekers, just like the Eritrean young men and women who drowned in Lampedusa."
Well said.

ITALY'S ANSWER TO NORDIC NOIR: IL COMMISSARIO MONTALBANO

I have a bit of a crush on actor Luca Zingaretti. Well, not on him personally, but on the character he is playing in Italian television series Il Commissario Montalbano (Inspector Montalbano). In the series, based on detective novels by Andrea Camilleri, Zingaretti is Salvo Montalbano, a Sicilian police inspector, who solves crimes in a small town called Vigata. The state-owned Italian broadcaster RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) commissioned the series in 1999 together with  Swedish television. It has become an international hit and is available on DVD with foreign language subtitles. The BBC is currently showing some episodes.The success has also generated another series called Il giovane Montalbano (Young Montalbano), which is about the start of Salvo's career and his very first cases.

   I have only seen season 1 & 2 of Il Commissario Montalbano so far, but I am hooked and there are several reasons why. 

   Firstly, it is happening in Sicily. The camera carresses the gorgeous landscape in every episode, the sun is shining all the time. The Sicilian tourist office can certainly relax now, we have all put Viagata on our list of all important places to see. In reality, Viagata does not exist. The show was filmed in the region of Ragusa and several other locations. It is heavily edited to give an impression of a perfect Italian holiday location.

   Secondly, Salvo Montalbano is a very different type of a police officer compared to his colleagues elsewhere in Europe, especially in the Nordic countries. There are murders but no detailed close-ups on post mortems or discussions about methods of killing people. Salvo visits the scene of the crime for briefest of moments in general and never takes notes. His right hand man, Fazio (played by Peppino Mazzotta) is the one who always goes out to find out more and comes back to report the results. Salvo's deputy Mimi Augello (Cesare Bocci) has constant problems with women and is basically quite useless as a police officer but is capable of helpful action when it counts.

   The Montalbano stories are an interesting mixture of relationships and old fashioned community police work. Salvo is not operating in a vacuum. There are plenty of cultural references, yet it shows that Italians can have a bit of a laugh about their own peculiarities and national characteristics.

   In the Nordic noir (Wallander, Killing, Bron) work is the only thing that matters to the officers because they are normally divorced or mentally unbalanced or alcoholics. There is no humour whatsoever. The police inspectors and detectives are incapable of any kind of human warmth, solving crimes with efficiency, spiced with gunfights, clever computer work and  the latest surveillance equipment.  

   Not Salvo. He talks to the neighbours of victims, who are always able to give him a lot of information about lifestyle, family ties, sexual histories and frequently offer their own theories of the possible perpetrators and motives of the crimes. Salvo lives in a luxurious seaside villa. He swims every morning in the open sea and loves spagetti with fresh sea urchins, enjoyed with robust red wine. Salvo has a girlfriend, Livia, who flies in from Genoa every now and then. Mostly they talk on phone. Salvo is relatively faithful, but what can a man do, if there are supermodel types with Sophia Loren lips walking around? We are all wondering, if Salvo is going to give into temptation or not. Often he is not, but you can understand the struggle the poor man goes through.

    The Nordic crime writers and producers of television series could perhaps take a deeper look into the world of  Il Commissario Montalbano. The current assumption that detailed descriptions of extreme violent acts and expert knowledge of forensic crime scene investigations is what is needed to create "entertainment" could do a little shake-up.

  

  
  
  
  
  
  

STREET MARKETS: EVERYTHING FROM CARROTS TO FUR COATS

  A friend staying in Milan came for a visit and  and I went to meet her at Brignole station. Since I arrived early and there was still time before the train arrived, I decided to take a little stroll around the little streets around Brignole. To my utter delight I stumbled upon a street market selling antiques on Via Galata, only 5 minutes walk from the station. As soon as my friend arrived, I suggested we go back there to check what is on offer. She agreed and we ended up walking up and down the market for couple of hours inspecting every single bancarella, tables covered with suitably aged goods, such as decorative glass bottles and stoppers, handbags, jewellery, books, posters, dolls and numerous other small items.

   I love all kinds of street markets in general and Italy is an especially good country to visit these. Every local area have their own monthly or weekly veggie, fruit and general goods market. A street stall can be as simple as a lorry stopping for some hours in the street near you - here in Nervi there are regular opportunities to sample Sardinian cheese, wine and salami every Monday and Thursday on Via Oberdan and often during the weekend a fruit and vegetable lorry stops there as well. Organic farm produce is sold on Wednesday mornings in the little park near the Commune.
   On Tuesday mornings one can have some serious savings and real bargains in Quinto, where at least hundred stalls are selling clothes, shoes, underwear, bags, fur coats (looked real to me), bedlinen and sheets, kitchen utensils, children's clothes and many other things. In these times of financial distress, this type of a general goods market makes a tight household budget a little bit more flexible. Bus number 15 stops right in front of the market.
    Sometimes it is tricky to find out when and where the markets are happening. So, when I went back the following week to check if the antique market is on at Via Galata, it wasn't. It happens only once a month, on a Thursday of the second week of the month.
  Then there is a big antique market on in and around Palazzo Ducale every first weekend (Saturday and Sunday) of the month (www.genovantiquaria.com). I recently went there and came back with collectable Danish Christmas plates (10 euro a piece), vintagle ear rings, old postcards of Genoa, one vintage compact powder case and an unsual leather handbag from the 1950s (in truth, it is a bit difficult to open, but once you figure out how the little key works, it is possible to use it on special occasions).

If you are a foodie, the monthly market in front of Palazzo Ducale is the place to discuss the finer points of Italian delicacies.

  The same place in front of Palazzo Ducale (via San Lorenzo side)  is transformed into a regional gourmet food market every second Saturday and Sunday of the month. I am now a regular custormer for a nice nutty rye type of bread from South Tyrol. There are also unusual country type cheeses and salamis, olive oil, wine and plenty of other delicacies. However, no bargains on this market. It is a serious meeting of foodies. These farmers/producers are particularly keen for you to sample their product. That one bite should tell you the difference between the product that is for sale here and the one in the supermarket. Italians can definitely taste it.
  I was just about to finish this by saying that the City of Genoa could do a bit more to advertise these markets, when I saw a little booklet John had left on my desk: Calendario degli Eventi Fieristici in Liguria 2013. He had picked it up from the tourist office and it has a list of all regular events, festivals and markets in the whole of Liguria. No more detective work needed!