It's a matter of...food!

 

Being an Italian myself, I am often being associated to food (il cibo). I notice among the people I meet there is the tendency to consider an Italian as a person who: si gode la vita , grida and gesticola, for some unexplainable reason keeps voting Berlusconi, wear a scarf even in Summer and, of course, an Italian is a person who lives for food, and not thanks to it.
 Let's put it in this way, we should always try to escape from any type of generalisation or stereotypes.


Are we Italians really so obsessed  with food? My first answer is NO. My second answer is...Of course we are!!!!
Even if we were not, we wouldn't like to disappoint who really believes that.
Because, we care! :-)
I love to see the surprise in the eyes of my interlocutors when I state that I don't like pasta and not even gelato. For goodness sake! Please, don't say "gelaDo" and "spagheDi" with that "D"! Would you like to hear that one of the symbol of Toronto is the CN Dower? Or, that the Skydome should now be called SkyTome? "D" is "D" and 'T" is "T". They're cousins, not twins!
My apologies for this drift. It is part of my personality to get excited when I want to prove my point.
Do I like pasta? Yes, I do. Do I feel the need for pasta every day, at least once a day which means 365 times a year? No, I definitively don't.
To be honest with you, I am not sure if that depends on the fact that I hate any type of dependence or addiction. It is already hard for me to accept that my life depends on oxygen and maybe this is one of the reason why I am claustrophobic! :-)
The types of pasta I love mainly derive from ancient regional traditions, typical from the poor class of the society and later lifted up to a higher rank.
Italian cooking, in my opinion (and not only), cannot be considered as part of a single, uniform tradition. Because of the history of Italy itself, its typicalness depends mainly on the coexistence of regional traditions.
One of my favourite type of pasta is called Pasta ca muddica atturrata (Pasta with toasted breadcrumbs). In Sicily, originally, breadcrumbs was used instead of cheese for economic reasons. Now, it is often one of the main ingredients for many recipes. Its name is in Sicilian and if I tried to translate it into Italian, I can guarantee you it would lose right away even its wonderful taste.
Are you not a chef? Never mind! This is one of the best and fastest pasta ever (Spaghetti with Ketchup don't count!).

La ricetta

We need Muddica atturrata first

Gr. 200 di pangrattato, 2 acciughe dissalate e diliscate, olio extravergine di oliva, sale, zucchero, pepe.
Put 4 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and slowly let the anchovies melting. Then, add your breadcrumbs and, mixing it continuously, let it roast paying attention it doesn't get burnt. When it reaches a golden colour, remove from the fire, add a teaspoon of sugar, just a little bit of salt and black pepper. Let it cool down.

Now let's concentrate on the actual pasta...

Gr. 400 di spaghetti o linguine, 2 spicchi d’aglio, gr.200 di muddica atturrata, olio extravergine di oliva, sale, pepe, prezzemolo tritato.

Place 2 crushed cloves of garlic into a pan with half of a glass of olive oil and let it fry over low heat until the colour turns to gold.
In boiling and salted water cook your past. Within the first 2 minutes, stir to keep the pasta from sticking.  Let it cook until it is al dente. Once ready, drain it and mix with the oil and garlic. Finally, add your muddica atturrata and, if you like it (I don't), some parsley.

Buon appetito!