When I starting making pizza about 15 years ago, I made a lot of terrible pies... doughy, pale-looking, tasteless, flat, oily, floppy, burnt--you name it. Lots of mistakes. But that's the part of life I love--learning from our mistakes and really fine-tuning a craft, talent or skill. You have to crawl before you walk or run. On guitar, one must pluck before you strum and then eventually really make some music. On my penny whistle, I squealed like a pig before I could play a tune that my wife wanted to sit and listen to. My love of carpentry started when I was 5 years old... with me holding the board while my father sawed it through. Now, I can built pretty much anything I set out to build. 

Learning to make truly great Pizzas requires the same attitude--learning from mistakes--and successes, as they add up. I would say that it took me about a year to learn how to make a really delizioso pizza--perhaps another couple of years until I could make pretty much any style of pizza... thin crust, thick foccacia, Chicago deep dish style, etc.  You have to start somewhere, and with that simple fact, you need a simple dough that works. I am going to show you how to make my all-around, Basic Pizza Dough... 

What do I Need to Make Great Pizzas?
First, a brief mention of tools (I go into more depth on gathering together a Pizza Tool Kit HERE).  To make a good crust, you really need a rectangular pizza stone. Round stones are limited, but with a square shape (about 16" square) you can any different shape, whether of not they are placed directly on the stone or are baked in a pan. Although you can make pizzas in pans placed directly on an oven rack, using a stone affords shorter bake times and a crisper bottom crust. Even when using a pan, placing the metal on a stone speeds up the transfer of heat from the stone to the pan. On a rack, the air in the oven insulates most of the metal and slows down this transfer of heat from the rack to the pan.  

You should also pick up a pizza peel to prep your pizzas on and to remove pizzas from your oven. Although you might have seen a TV pizzaiolo on occasion loading up their dough rounds with toppings right on their floured, marble work surface, and then try to drag it onto a peel. Don't even try this. Your dough could stick, you could tear it and heavier toppings will go all over the place.  So, shape your pizza on a wooden peel. I like using a metal one for removing pizzas from the oven, but a wooden one can also do double duty, if space is at a premium. 

When planning to bake pizzas made directly on the stone, I recommend using parchment paper on top of your peel. The order is: cover your wood peel with parchment, then shape the dough on top of the parchment, next, add the toppings. The parchment does two things: It helps slide your pizza onto the baking stone (even with heavily loaded pies); it helps keep your stone and oven clean. When I first started making pizzas, I used to use stone ground corn meal on the wooden peel. You can do this, but I've found that some always falls into the oven itself, gets burnt and makes a mess. 

Of course, you'll also need a pan or two. For serving, buy a flat, round 16" pizza serving pan. Do not use this type of pan to bake pizzas on, simply because they are usually silver and won't crisp a crust bottom that well. For baking, select a dark, non-stick rectangular pizza pan--a heavy one is better than a cheap thin pan. You will use this when making foccacia and "Sicilian", square slice pies. For regular pizzas, you will bake them directly on the stone. Finally, don't forget to buy a decent, large diameter pizza wheel (cutter).  

A judge from Guinness World Records has certified a 400-foot-long baguette baked at the Milan Expo 2015 World's Fair as the longest in the world. Some bakers worked nearly seven hours on Sunday to bake the French bread. (Oct. 18)

Watch the video...

Posted on Transparent Language by Serena in Italian Language on blogs.transparent.com/italian/

The setting: a small and friendly supermarket in a old sleepy town in Italy
The characters: Serena and the staff at supermarket

Il giovane cassiere, all’entrata del supermercato: “Buongiorno!”
The young cashier, at the supermarket entrance: “Good morning!”
Serena: “Buongiorno!” Poi, parlando tra sé e sé: “Allora, vediamo la lista della spesa: pere, uva, funghi…”
Serena: “Good morning!” Then, talking to herself: “Right, let’s have a look at the shopping list: pears, grapes, mushrooms…”.....

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My Dad worked hard when I was a kid.  He was a fruit and deli man his whole life. He started with his brother and his "three legged horse" and cart (as he called his lame horse) selling fruit and vegetables on the docks of Hoboken, New Jersey--mostly to the sailors coming off the ships from all over the world. I inherited his multi-national coin collection made up of coins he collected from those days.

He worked overtime--a lot. He also worked holiday mornings (Thanksgiving, Easter.... even sometimes Christmas). For the most part, these were his deli jobs.  He had one job for several years that had him on the night shift--as a fruit-veggie man. I'd remember him coming home to have some "dinner" in the morning right before I left school. He had little time left in the day for anything...

But still he squeezed time in for me--to go fishing and crabbing on the Hudson, to show me how to plant in the garden, to go row boating in a local park, or to cook. Yes, Dad cooked--and he was a far better cook than my Mom (there, I said it) for the Holiday meals especially. He made the best roast beef, fist-sized meatballs, ,amazing roasted "Virginia" ham for Christmas, and a huge turkey for Thanksgiving. He was an expert at carving meats--after all, he was a Deli Man.

But it was his simpler meals that I remember most.... the comfort food. One of these was his "Potatoes and Eggs". Simple, quick, tasty and belly filling. I'll be honest, I never knew that what Dad was making was called a frittata until I was a grown man. There's an Italian idiom used when someone has screwed something up badly... “hai fatto una frittata".  It literally means "you've made an omelet", but it refers to how a frittata can quickly become a mess. I consider it a tribute to the casualness of this dish. You'll rarely find a frittata on a restaurant's menu in Italy simply because it's a dish made by people in their homes. You'll rarely make a frittata perfectly and the same each time. Some come out wonderfully intact and can be sliced like a cake, while others will need to be scooped up out of the pan and piled rustic style on the plate. No matter, it's still delicious comfort food.

In our house, we have "Potatoes and Eggs" every so often, mostly for a lazy Saturday lunch, although it can be an excellent colazione (breakfast). What I love about it is how fast you can throw it all together (especially if you use canned New Potatoes and don't have to boil fresh potatoes)... and how I can change it up a bit each time, depending on what leftovers I have handy. Here's a basic recipe, sticking closely to how my Dad would make it...

Ingredients
(9-10" frittata for 2-3 people... OK, maybe for 4 if you eat like birds. You need a 9-10" non stick fry pan.)

The Basic Recipe:
4 eggs
1 can of "New Potatoes" (Del Monte has good quality potatoes, diced, sliced or whole)
2 tablespoons of butter (for frying)
2 tablespoons of light olive oil (for frying)
1 small onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated (and more for topping off the frittata)
salt and pepper to taste

Optional Ingredients:
small bell pepper, diced or julienned
caramelized onions (you would need to prep these beforehand)
diced ham, smoked bacon, prosciutto, pancetta or Guanciale, (fried beforehand)
cherry tomatoes (halved) or sliced wedges of Campari style tomatoes
roughly grated fontina, mozzarella or caciocavallo cheese
black pitted olives

Preheat your oven to 425 F.

1. Beat the eggs until a little foamy, then add salt and pepper. You can add the Parmesan cheese to the egg mixture now.
2. Pre-heat your fry pan for a minute and then fry the onions on low-medium heat until barely translucent in the oil and butter (the oil prevents burning, the butter aides in browning).
3. After the onions are ready, place your potatoes in the pan and saute until browned. If needed, add a pat more butter. You can use either diced or sliced New Potatoes, but you can also use the whole type if you dice, slice or crush them a bit beforehand. Keep tossing the pan to prevent burning the onions or the potatoes. (If you'd like a little more heat, sprinkle a bit of red pepper flakes on the potatoes).
4. Before adding the potatoes, make sure the butter and oil hasn't dried up in the pan. If the pan looks dry, drizzle in some olive oil, then Turn up the heat to a medium high flame. Once the oil is hot again, add the egg mixture. Move the potatoes around and make sure the egg mixture covers the entire pan all the way to the edges.
5. Let the potatoes and eggs fry for 4-6 minutes until the bottom has browned nicely. Use a spatula to check underneath and pass it around the edges making sure it will separate from the pan.
6. There are three ways to cook the top side. One is to use a plate on top of the fry pan, then inverting the plate and pan, and then slide the frittata back into the pan. (This can break the frittata if you're not careful). Now my Dad used to flip these (flapjack style), and I used to also, but I've since learned (after some flipping disasters) that there is a better way. Just place the fry pan into the oven and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the top has browned. At this point, you might think about adding some grated fontina to melt on top.
7. Remove the Potatoes and Eggs from the oven (USE AN OVEN MITT!) and let it cool down for a minute or two. Next, take a spatula and try to separate it from the pan.  If you can get it to slide, use the spatula to help slide it onto a serving platter. If not, no worry.... simply serve it directly from the pan. Some of these turn out a bit messy, but they always still taste great.

You can serve a slice (or wedge) of your Potatoes and Eggs with sliced, toasted ciabatta or with full blown garlic bread. We've made a dinner out of this by making a tomato and chopped black olive bruschetta to serve along with the frittata. It's also nice when paired with a small bowl of soup. We tend to have it by itself with a dollop of a simple marinara sauce (OK... or the way my Dad would serve it--with Ketchup). Top it off with marinara and more grated Parmesan cheese. If you like, add a small glass of Chianti or even a bottle of beer. It's comfort food. It's fast food for the Italian kitchen. It's just damned good.

Mangia bene!

--Jerry Finzi

And here's a video by the Alan Parsons Project that goes along with this sentiment...  Godere!
--Jerry Finzi

When we decided to travel to Italy, we knew it was there. Columbus had no idea that the Americas existed, but he knew--or at least, thought--that the Orient that Marco Polo had previously explored was there. He was looking for a shortcut to replace the long arduous journey through the Silk Trade Route to the Orient. It's been 523 years since he "sailed the ocean blue, in fourteen hundred and ninety-two" as we learned in school.

Most people today think that people in the 15th century thought the Earth was flat, but in fact from the time of Aristotle it was well understood that our planet was a sphere. The ancient Greek mathematician Ptolemy proved that the Earth was a sphere and within a few hundred years of his death, other mathematicians and ancient astronomers even calculated the size of the Earth's circumference to near precision.  Columbus and his advisers were confused by the various methods of measurement used in the ancient calculations and got the size wrong... leading to his belief that the Orient was closer than it really was--in a westward direction across the sea. He had no idea that there was a couple of continents in between Europe and China.  

Cristoforo was not born on born October 31, 1451... no one really knows the exact place or date of his birth.  One respected historian puts his birth somewhere between August and October, 1451 in Genoa. Some other theories put the range of his birth year from 1436 to 1455! With such extremes, Columbus could have started out on his Voyage to the New World as young as 37 or as old as 56. In a time when most people died early from disease, Columbus living into his seventies is unlikely. This is one reason why most historians consider 1551 to be his birth date.

Where he was born is also debated. Genoa is considered to be where he was born, but exactly what town? His father, Domenico was a wool weaver who worked in Genoa and Savona. As many people in modern day Italy, he had a couple of of ways to make a living... his second was that of a cheese monger, with young Cristoforo working as his apprentice. His mother Susanna Fontanarossa also gave birth to other sons... Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo, and a daughter, Bianchinetta. Bartolomeo worked in a cartography workshop in Lisbon--along with Cristoforo--for at least part of his life.

Columbus as a young boy and man was in awe of the sea. He read everything he could about the sea and being a mariner. He eventually learned to sail himself on small vessels in and around Europe. He became fairly talented, especially at navigating and map-making at 25 he and his brother worked as cartographers in Lisbon, Portugal. In 1480s he sailed and explored Africa and learned many things that would help him on his later explorations. For instance, he learned how various large seeds and plants would was up on the shores of Spain and Africa--species that were unknown to botanists. They had to be coming from somewhere, he thought.

In the 1480s he presented his ideas to King John of Portugal. Just after this, Bartolomeu Dias returned to Portugal with after his successful rounding of the southern tip of Africa which proved there was a new  eastern sea route to the Orient. King John was no longer interested in Columbus. He rejected his proposal.

Next was a presentation to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella or Spain. At the time he offered his plan, the Spanish Inquisition was in full swing... he had better not offend anyone, or else. They didn't accept right away, but then realized that if Columbus' plan worked, they would have a chance to get ahead of their successful upstart neighbor, Portugal.  He negotiated for grand titles along with 10% of the profits of the venture (which the Spanish King and Queen reneged on after his voyage, leading to years of law suits against the Crown).  

Columbus's Voyages were very arduous and his first excursion with the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria had its own troubles. He left Spain on August 3, 1492 and sailed west. He convinced his crew that enormous wealth awaited them, but as they passed the Canary Islands all they found was a dead calm--no wind. His crew started to second think his plan. But by September 3rd the winds started to push eastward on a calm sea. Unknowingly, he had just discovered the Southern Trade Winds that would carry westward bound ships for hundreds of years into the future. 

The passage dragged on and the crew became restless and thought of mutiny. Columbus kept two sets of ship logs--one to appease the crew with daily reports of traveling greater distances than they had actually gone. The second log recorded the true, slower measurements. By October 10th the crew was about to explode... but luckily (for Cristoforo) land was sighted the very next day.

He didn't get rich--at least not right away. He didn't find the Orient. He didn't find gold and pearls. But he did stumble onto a New World. He's not a perfect man by any means. He also enslaved thousands of the native people, bringing back hundreds to Spain (with 200 dying on the return trip), and introduced European diseases to the indigenous people his army of men came in contact with. The native population of Greater Antilles and Bahamas dropped from one million to around 500 people within 50 years of contact with Europeans. He disobeyed the Queen about her desire not to take slaves and was thrown into chains--for a while. In the end, he made four Voyages. Their immediate success can be debated, but the contribution toward bridging the New World with the Old cannot be questioned.

On 20 May 1506, around the age of 54, Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain. He never set foot in Italy again, but is still thought of as one of Italy's most successful sons. An interesting side note is that none of the portraits we know of Columbus are done from life. All are painted after 1519, years after his death. Still, there are statues, stamps and money with his likeness on them... and even an asteroid that bears his name.

Then there are the places bearing his name: District of Columbia, Columbia University and the Columbia River. There are Columbuses in Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, South Carolina, Indiana, Georgia, Nebraska, Texas, Montana, Mississippi and Wisconsin. Of course there is the country in South America, too. And of course there are the parades in his Honor, one of the largest being held in New York City each year.

And that brings us to Columbus Day. The first state to officially observe Columbus Day was Colorado in 1906. Angelo Noce, an Italian immigrant who was the founder of Colorado's first Italian newspaper, La Stella.
Noce, and fellow Italian-American, Siro Mangini both worked with Colorado's first Hispanic state Sen. Casimiro Barela, to sponsor a bill proposing a Columbus Day holiday. Mangini owned a tavern named Christopher Columbus Hall, thinking that he was the only Italian Americans would not throw rocks at. Within five years of Colorado's creating the holiday, 14 other states were also celebrating Columbus Day.

It took until 1934 for Columbus Day to become a federal holiday during Franklin Roosevelt's administration. The Knights of Columbus was the driving force in the creation of the holiday. In 1970 Congress declared the holiday would be on the second Monday of October.

Although it's a national holiday with banks, post offices and Wall Street closing, it's still not a holiday in some states.  As a kid I always wondered why "our" Italian holiday didn't mean a day off for us. Still, if we don't celebrate the man himself, we should all celebrate the bridging of Europe and the New World. If it wasn't for the years of discovery, we all wouldn't be here...

--Jerry Finzi

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends. Grazie.

From Così Italiano
October 10, 2015 By Eligio Bucciarelli

La frittata is the Italian version of an omelet, and the word “frittata” derives from the Italian verb “friggere” meaning “to fry.” As with any omelet, eggs are the main ingredient to which various other ingredients such as meats, vegetables and cheeses are added. There are two main differences between a classic Italian frittata and a classic French omelet. First, a frittata is flat with the ingredients integrated with the eggs, whereas an omelet is folded semi-circular or rolled with the ingredients in the middle. Second, an omelet is always served hot; whereas a frittata can be enjoyed hot, at room temperature or cold. (CLICK for more...)