Feast Week!

In celebration of my birthday, which was last week, I am throwing a dinner party this Friday! In the introduction of The Classic Italian Cookbook, Hazan lays out the importance of Italian meal structure. There is a great difference, she states, between Italian food and an Italian meal. Italian food is what I have been doing this whole quarter, lonely dishes that do not have to play well with others. In an Italian meal, each dish must be able to stand on its own, but also fit cohesively together to create a pleasing collection of flavors. By creating an Italian meal, it is not only a test of my cooking skills and timing, but also in developing a menu that will flow well.

The Classic Italian Cookbook chapters are arranged in the same way as the meal structure is. Hosting multiple courses, it goes as such:

• Antipasti: When served in a home cooked meal, antipasti usually consists of various cured meats, salami, prosciutto, or dried sausages. Hazan warns against serving too much during this course. While it is found in restaurants, “in the intimacy of a family meal use them wisely- which is to say sparingly” (p. 29).

• The First Course/Primi: Often times soup or pasta, the contents of which are based on what will be served in the second course. If you are to have leg of lamb for your second course, then serving a meat heavy first course would not be wise. As Hazan says, “the first course is chosen in anticipation of what the second will be” (p. 6).

In between the first and second course, often times the eaters take a break with wine and conversation to clear their minds and tastebuds of the first course.

• The Second Course/Secondi: Of the second course, Hazan writes, “while the Italian first courses owe their luxuriance to the fertile imagination of the home cook, the austerity of the second courses is the legacy of the hunter and the fisherman” (p. 198). Balancing the mixture of flavors and textures found in the soups or pastas of the first course, the second takes a simple approach. It is there to provide balance to the meal, grounding it in an uncomplicated protein dish. Its simplicity is not to say that it cannot stand against more elaborate first courses. Rather, the second course focuses on subtle terroir based flavors of the meat found in your area. The second course is usually accompanied by one or two vegetable dishes.

• Vegetables/Le Verdure: Vegetable dishes in the Italian meal are there to uphold the other foods, they are the load bearers of the meal, they are the dishes that, “define the meal, that gives it shape, that encircles it with the flavors, textures, and colors of the season” (p. 7). Pairing them with the second course perfectly displays the tastes and textures of your area. They are a way to connect with nature through one’s plate and savor the riches of the season.

• Salad/Le Insalate: Hazan lays out two types of salads in Italian cooking: the first is made up of cooked cooled meat or fish, mixed with raw or cooked vegetable and sometimes rice and is usually served as an antipasto or first course; the second is served at the end of the meal and acts as a final palate cleanser which releases the eater of the meal. Vegetables are often raw or boiled and rely on the seasons. Almost all are dressed with a simple vinegar and oil dressing, onions or shallots being added depending on the dish.

• Cheese Course/Formaggio: The end of a meal is signified by the appearance of three things: salad, cheese, and then fruit. Often served with crusty bread, olive oil, and/or honey, the cheese course brings the meal to its natural end.

• Dessert and Fruit/Dolci e la Frutta: When one is enjoying a home cooked meal with family or friends, dessert is something that is often skipped. Many times, Italians choose to enjoy their desserts outside of the home in pastry shops or cafés. When desserts are served within the home, they are often very rustic in both taste and appearance. Fruit is instead served as a sweet ending to the meal.

While reading Hazan’s thoughts on each course, I was struck by how celebratory each dish was of its local flavors. Often times, Hazan would write that it is not any use to cook a dish if you could not get the Adriatic shrimp or local finocchio that she could. Italian cuisine is not so much reliant on spices but rather the rich terroir and merroir the land boasts. Coming from a similar verdant, flavorful cradle in the Pacific Northwest, I think that I will be able to honor the tastes of land and sea in a similar way.

I plan to source most of my food from the Olympia Farmer’s Market as I feel it will provide me with the most flavorful ingredients that will elevate the meal with their rich terroir and merroir. In both Italy and Washington, local ingredients available to us are so abundant in flavor that they can make a meal and are in no need of an arsenal of spices to remedy them. I feel that the most authentic Italian meal I can make will be the most Washington based meal as well.

I am so excited to treat my friends as well as myself to this meal and experience an Italian meal as Hazan intended. This whole week I will be gathering ingredients as well as planning out a menu.