italy food.....

From the If you cannot imagine how mere cornmeal can be turned into a tasty meal, then undoubtedly you have never eaten polenta prepared in an Italian kitchen. Once considered peasant food, polenta is now appearing in even the most elegant restaurants. Earlier in this century, polenta was a staple food eaten out of necessity, sometimes two or three times a day. Some families would dump a big mound of polenta onto a board, and everyone would sit around sharing it. It would be flavored with broth, a little sauce, vegetables or sausages. Polenta is still a staple in many homes in northern Italy today, particularly in the regions of Veneto, Piedmont, and Tuscany, although generally considered "home cooking" and not served for company.early Middle Ages (beginning around A.D. 500) to the late 1800s, Italy consisted of separate republics, each with different culinary (cooking) customs. These varying cooking practices, which were passed down from generation to generation, contributed to the diversity of Italian cuisine. Italy's neighboring countries, including France, Austria, and Yugoslavia, also
In order to create a really great pizza, you need to start with the best ingredients, but unless your pizza has a great crust, it doesn't matter what toppings you put on your pizza. I was fortunate enough to have a very large bag of San Felice Tipo 00 flour sent to me to try out from Ben at Wholesale Italian Food and we quickly got busy making pizzas to cook in our backyard pizza oven. Now our pizza crust is usually pretty darn good, but I have been using all-purpose flour to make it up to this point, and it wasn't until I started to use the San Felice tipo 00 that I realized how much better it could be! San Felice is in fact certified Authentic Artisan Neapolitan Pizza Flour and creates a light crust that is crisp on the outside but tender to the bite. In Italy, flour is classified either as 1, 0, or 00, and refers to how finely ground the flour is and how much of the bran and germ have been removed. 00 flour is the most highly refined and is talcum-powder soft. I will never go back to all-purpose flour for my pizza again

contributed to differences in the country's cuisine.
Italy Food and Wine are varied in nature and is world famous for its cultural difference and diversity. It is not an imitation of any particular type of cuisine but a refectory blend of Greek, Roman, Gallic, Germanic, Goth, Norman, Lombard, Frank, Turkish, Hebrew, Slavic, Arab and Chinese culinary. There are regional differences in food tastes of Northern and Southern Italy. Italian food is also very seasonal. Italian food can thus be distinguished from other world class cuisines due its innate nature of being fresh and priority to seasonal productions.
Italy changed in many ways when the economy flourished following World War II (1939–45). During this time, farming was modernized and new technologies and farming systems were introduced. Various culinary practices throughout the country's regions began to be combined after people started migrating from the countryside to the cities. Many southern Italians traveled to the north at this time, introducing pizza to northern Italians. Those from the north introduced risotto (a rice dish) and polenta (a simple, cornmeal dish) to the south. Fast foods, mostly introduced from the United States, have brought more culinary diversity to Italy. However, pride in the culture of one's region, or companilismo, extends to the food of the locality, and regional cooking styles are celebrated throughout the country.
Northern and Southern Italy gastronomy are assorted. Where the northern Italian food uses more butter and creams, the southern residents like to have more tomato and olive oil. There is also a marked difference in the cooking style of fat and traditional food of pasta. Moreover, inland northern and north-eastern regions like extra butter, cream, polenta, mascarpone, grana padano, and parmigiano cheeses, risotto, lasagna and fresh egg pasta. On the other hand, the coastal northern and central Italians are somewhat fond tortellini, ravioli and prosciutto. The southern Italian food is more concentrated with mozzarella, caciocavallo, and pecorino cheeses, olive oil, and dried pasta. However, the traditional Italian cuisine does not follow strict North-South patterns
3 FOODS OF THE ITALIANS
Although Italians are known throughout the world for pizza, pasta, and tomato sauce, the national diet of Italy has traditionally differed greatly by region. Prior to the blending of cooking practices among different regions, it was possible to distinguish Italian cooking simply by the type of cooking fat used: butter was used in the north, pork fat in the center of the country, and olive oil in the south. Staple dishes in the north were rice and polenta, and pasta was most popular throughout the south. During the last decades of the twentieth century (1980s and 1990s), however, pasta and pizza (another traditional southern food) became popular in the north of Italy. Pasta is more likely to be served with a white cheese sauce in the north and a tomato-based sauce in the south.

Italians are known for their use of herbs in cooking, especially oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, rosemary, and sage. Cheese also plays an important role in Italian cuisine. There are more than 400 types of cheese made in Italy, with Parmesan, mozzarella, and asiago among the best known worldwide. Prosciutto ham, the most popular ingredient of the Italian antipasto (first course) was first made in Parma, a city that also gave its name to Parmesan cheese.

Heat the olive oil over a gentle flame and slowly brown the garlic, taking care not to let it burn. When the oil is flavored, remove and discard the garlic. Next, turn the flame up and brown the breadcrumbs over a brisk flame, stirring in the pepper too. As soon as the bread crumbs are browned remove the pan from the fire. If you are perchance using dried oregano (just 1/4 teaspoon) add it now.

Set pasta water to boil, and while it is heating arrange the sardines on a grill and brush them with some of the bread crumb mixture.

Cook the pasta, and while it is cooking grill the sardines for about 8 minutes.

Drain the pasta, season it with the flavored oil and the fresh oregano, if that's what you have,, carefully incorporate the grilled sardines, and serve at once.

A wine? I might be tempted by a Frascati, and I'd follow the pasta with a more glamorous grilled fish.

Whether it is thin crust, thick crust, stuffed, rolled, topped with a dozen ingredients or served simply with tomato and cheese, there are few people who do not appreciate good pizza, myself included. Pizza, or flatbreads have actually been around for centuries, but today’s style of pizza can be traced back to the 18th century when vendors roamed the streets of Naples selling pieces of garnished flatbread to the poor. Although it is commonly believed that Italians invented the pizza, it's origins can actually be traced back to ancient times. The Israelites, Egyptians, and other Middle Eastern cultures ate flat bread cooked in mud ovens similar to today's pita bread, and later the Romans and Greeks began topping this flatbread with olive oil and native spices. Once the Italians accepted the use of cooking with tomatoes, the Italians perfected the pizza, and it evolved into what we call pizza today. Italians take their pizza so seriously in fact, that as they did for wine, they have established a controlling body (a Denominazione di Origine Controllata or DOC) for pizza: the Associazone Vera Pizza Napoletana. This agency produced a document called the Progetto di Norma which stipulates exact ingredients and methods required by Associazone members worldwide to produce "verace pizza napoletana
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