August 12, 2019

Italian is a difficult language.  It doesn’t help that the endings of some words multiply like, well… zucchini blossoms.

Take the humble zucchina, er, zucchino.  You know, that pile of zucchine…zucchini!!!  There are both masculine (zucchino [singular] and zucchini [plural]) and feminine (zucchina [singular] and zucchine [plural]) words for what the British call courgettes and we, in the States, call zucchini.  The different usages are both regional (masculine preferred in Tuscany and Southern Italy) and temporal (the feminine form first being documented a few years after the masculine).

The investigation of this whole situation started after Zia Ida and Zia Fidalma corrected my original writing of Sformato di Zucchine for the first blog of this “Cooking in Tuscany” series.  Both said it was Sformato di Zucchini.  Nancy Burkey, a friend and follower of the blog who is studying Italian, asked why I used Zucchini instead of Zucchine.  This question escalated and got Nancy’s Italian coach involved.

Although I had never heard the word zucchino until a few days ago, I’ll be sticking with the zucchino/zucchini form going forward if for no other reason than that’s what the seed packet says!

The night of August 7th was blissfully quiet at the apartment.  Upon awakening on the 8th, I packed an overnight bag as the plan was for me to spend the night at Zia Fidalma’s in Benabbio but more on that in a minute.

I arrived at Zia Fidalma’s to find her mixing a meat filling for squash blossoms that had been promised by a friend the previous evening.  Just when we thought the blossoms weren’t going to appear, they arrived.  Zia Ida removed the stamens while Zia Fidalma stuffed them.  There were about 18.

Into a baking dish they went with a healthy dose of oil and they headed for the oven.

The remainder of the meat filling was going to be turned into a polpettone (a giant meatball) to be put in the broth and poached.  As we were cleaning up the kitchen, the next batch of squash blossoms arrived which resulted in a groan from both Zie (Aunts).  The flowers were so beautiful, however, that they had to be processed.

The production line was reconstituted.  Several dozen blossoms were stuffed and stood up like little soldiers.  They were put in the fridge for another day.

For lunch I sautéed a few Friggitelli (those Shishito-like peppers) that served as an antipasto as we assembled a simple but delicious lunch of Focaccette con Pancetta Rotolata e Strachino (Savory Flour and Cornmeal “Pancakes” with Pancetta [in the middle, encased by the batter] accompanied by Strachino cheese).  This is a dish that I had when I visited Benabbio in March.  I’ve ordered a set of the irons used to make focaccette which I will pick up during the week.

Around 2:30 we headed to Ponte a Serraglio to deposit Zia Fidalma at the beauty shop.  Zia Ida and I walked around Fornoli, the next town.  Fornoli is where Zia Ida and my father-in-law grew up.  The house they lived in still sits by the river and the pedestrian chain bridge that crosses the Lima River to the town of Chifenti.

We also visited a long-abandoned building that contained five houses, where Zia Ida’s grandparents and aunts and uncles had lived.  One of the five units has been rehabbed, but the two units on either side of it are full of rubble and have no windows.  We met the present occupant of the rehabbed unit, the one that Zia Ida’s grandparents lived in.  We chatted for a while and then he started his afternoon walk by walking with us to our car.

That evening we were invited to an event, in the “Borgo e Bellezza” series, celebrating a relative, the artist Francesco Zavattari.  After a simple dinner of Beef Broth and Little Pasta (Brodo di Carne con Pastina), oven-roasted stuffed squash blossoms, and melon and prosciutto, Zia Ida and I walked down the mule road from Zia Fidalma’s house to the piazza of Benabbio.  Francesco’s father, Pieralberto, had offered to pick us up and drive us to Diecimo, where the event was being held in the piazza.  However, he would only drive as far as the piazza of Benabbio.  The worst part of the road, containing what I call the gauntlet, is from the piazza to Zia Fidalma’s house.  That is a “no go” zone for him.

The event nominally started at 9 PM but, in fact, didn’t get underway until 9:35 when the local official arrived.  The event ended around midnight and was followed by al fresco snacks and beverages.  Pieralberto deposited us in the piazza of Benabbio shortly after 1:00 AM.  Zia and I hoofed it up the mule road getting to the house around 1:30.  Sleep came well after 2:00.

The 9th was not an early day.  We spent a leisurely (late) morning making food for lunch and dinner which seemed like a perfect way to spend the time.  First up, Zia Fidalma and I collaborated on Cavolfiore Grattinato (Cauliflower Gratin).  Zia cooked the cauliflower.  I made the besciamella and we jointly seasoned the cauliflower and assembled the dish.

For lunch, Zia Fidalma made a warm salad of giant Corona beans with onion and extra-virgin olive oil from her own olive trees.  Zia Ida made Insalata Caprese with tomatoes and basil from the garden.  I fried the squash blossoms that had been stuffed the day before.  Whole grain bread rounded out the meal (with a bit of wine, of course!).

After lunch, Zia Fidalma made rice salad for the next day’s lunch.  I made fresh pasta for the next day’s dinner, to be served with Zia’s ragu.

I know it sounds bacchanalian, but the only other thing we did on Friday the 9th was to make and eat dinner.  Just to be clear, that means we got up late, prepped for dinner, made lunch, ate lunch, prepped the next day’s lunch, napped, prepped the next day’s dinner, made dinner, ate dinner.  Basta!  Finito!  The End!

By the way, Friday’s dinner was Pasta al Ragu and Cavolfiore Grattinato after which I headed to my apartment in Bagni di Lucca and the promise of karaoke night in the piazza below.

Zia Ida and Zia Fidalma took a taxi from Benabbio to Bagni di Lucca on Saturday morning.  We did some marketing then Zia Ida and I set off for the airport in Pisa to pick up (cousin) Massimo (Zia Fidalma’s son) who was returning from vacation.  Back in Benabbio with Massimo we had a lunch of Insalata di Riso (rice salad), pecorino cheese from Garfagnana, and the last bit of the cauliflower gratin.

Three of us slept after lunch (Zia Ida and I from the wine and Massimo from the jetlag).  I don’t really know what Zia Fidalma did but she appeared in the living room at 4:15, just as I opened my eyes.  After telling me to go back to sleep, which I declined, she offered to make me coffee.  Fortified with caffeine, I made Macedonia di Frutta (fruit salad) for that evening’s dessert.

Massimo’s welcome home dinner was more elaborate than usual.  We had Friggitelli (those Shishito-like peppers) and Crostini con Tonno (crostini with tuna) as our antipasto.  I cooked my homemade tagliatelle with Zia Fidalma’s Ragu.  Zia Ida made a salad of arugula and tomatoes.  Macedonia provided a light ending to the meal.

Back at the apartment, I encountered cranky internet service that lasted about an hour until it completely shut down for the night by which time the usual Saturday crowd of rowdies was at the pizzeria below.  They wrapped up their revelry sometime just before 3 AM.