Lunch like an Italian
Take a leaf (and a lemon) out of the Café Culture cookbook
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
Ernest Hemmingway; A Movable Feast
Story time:
Through fate, chance and the fortuitous marriage of my 70-year-old granny to a 75-year-old European man, I spent many a summer holiday (thus South African winter break) traveling through Europe. Remember, back then it was about R7/Euro and I suddenly had a lovely, generous Belgian Oupa who not only hated his home country’s weather but also doted on all his new “Grand kids” …
Long story short – I, and my many happy siblings, all fell in love with the simplicity of Italian café culture. I don’t know if it is because the weather during the rest of the year is so unpleasant, but June and July in (most of) Europe, is spent outside.
We all know that there is a magic to a lazy late summer lunch, but (and don’t call me unpatriotic) does it always have to be a boerewors and branna’s fuelled braai?
I have started embracing those idyllic Italian summer memories in my own home, and the feedback from guests (and nostalgic family) has been amazing.
How do you bring Italy to the table?
This sounds like a cliché but trust me. Bring out the lemons!
To my mind, Summers taste of fresh lemon – there is a drink, sold in both France and Italy, called Panache or Birra a Limone…it’s a refreshingly light beer, with a hint of spice and served with a slice of lemon rubbed around the rim of your glass and then dropped into the beer itself. It is summer in a glass. It tastes of taking your time over a meal, slipping that little bit further into the sultry haze of a Tuscan afternoon and forgetting all about your return flight on the 31st of July.
Top Tip: If a simple glass of beer sounds a bit dull, try this AMAZING beer cocktail which uses lemon liqueur (Limoncello) and the quintessential Italian beer, Peroni.
Add to this the magical dish that is Spaghetti a Limone, and your lemony lunch is lazily sorted…
The humble lemon is so revered in the Mediterranean (any and all citrus fruit actually) that it regularly features on dinner tables as an ingredient, but also as a decoration. Spicy, tart, lemon and lime leaves, bring fragrance and scents of summer to flower arrangements, bowls of bright yellow and green lemons adorn tables, and sliced lemon is an absolute necessity for any glass of acqua frizzante (fizzy water).
For me, the perfect lunch tablescape looks a bit like this:
- Crisp white table linens. (If you are feeling nostalgic, go with blue and white chequered gingham)
- Large Cichetti style platters of sharing food – enjoyed family style. You can make simple salads, buy or bake focaccias and seasoned dipping oil. If you absolutely MUST braai, try something new, like a Florentine T-Bone steak (Bistecca alla Fiorentina) (Spaghetti a Limone is the perfect zesty accompaniment to this heavy meat dish.)
- Mismatched stemware, bottles of imported wine, ice cold prosecco…a couple of Birra a Limone, or Aperol Spritz’s.
- Lemons. Big ones, small ones, specially bought for the table or simply harvested from your back yard abundance…the more, the yellower, the better.
Lemon is a return to basics.
It is a simple, yet complete ingredient. Like olives or grapes, its terroir makes a difference. Lemons grown in the limestone hills surrounding Rome taste different from the gigantic lemons grown on the island of Capri. The oils from its skin give off a heady fragrance if you cook with it and nothing on earth beats the taste explosion of a well zested dish.
The later the season, the sweeter the lemon.
Much as Hemmingway got lyrical about Paris being a movable feast, I feel the same about Italy. If you are lucky enough to have travelled there, and walked the cobblestones, then wherever you may go for the rest of your life. It stays with you. It is a movable feast.
And should you need some help remembering, simply stop and smell the lemons.
Gracie Mille Oupa for sharing this feast with me
