BellaItalia food store Blog

Among the rural traditions of my village, Cercemaggiore, the feast of San Martino on November 11th is of great importance: the sowing, a crucial moment for the survival of the entire rural community, has been completed and therefore there is a desire for celebration in the whole village.

The traditional cuisine of St. Martin's day follows some precise rules. First of all, the previous day we make the “Pizza di San Martino”, a sweet pie enriched with nuts which, out of devotion to the Saint who shared his cloak with the beggars, will be divided into pieces to be distributed to relatives and neighbors. On the day of San Martino, for lunch, it is tradition to make cavatelli with rooster sauce. Finally, the new wine will accompany the meal, which will end with chestnuts roasted on hot coals in their special pan.
Just like today, chestnuts had to be bought because in the countryside of Cercemaggiore there are no chestnut trees; this was the typical purchase made in the form of barter: you brought a bag of “Granoni”- corn - to the shop and you received half a bag of chestnuts in exchange.

Let’s make the Pizza di San Martino together!

Halloween is probably the most popular “imported” holiday in Italy. In the past years, we have seen it become more and more popular and kids love it, so I wanted to make something special to celebrate.

Luckily for us, Pumpkins are pretty easy to find in this season and I found some incredibly pretty (and tasty!) ones for this recipe!

Let’s see how I made the “Scary” Halloween Risotto!

Being Italian means that we eat pasta almost every day, and yet we are never bored of it. This is because we have so many recipes and variations that it is never the same!

For tonight I made this simple Pasta Salad perfect for Autumn and I thought I could share the recipe since it is super easy to make and incredibly tasty!

Here are the ingredients for 4 people:

Autumn in Italy brings back so many traditions! One of the most loved and known is the “Vendemmia” - the grape harvest.

In Molise, our small region in the South of Italy, the typical Grape kind is called Tintilia, and this is exactly what I used to make Mosto Cotto. Tintilia is a DOC Grape Variety - DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata (controlled designation of origin), so it can be found specifically in our area.Even if you do not have enough grapes to make wine, Italian cookbooks have something for you! This year I decided to make these fragrant Biscuits with cooked must.

What is Mosto cotto?Mosto cotto is made by cooking the liquid that results from the whole grape pressings including seeds and skin. By cooking it,

One of the most precious fruits in my kitchen are without a doubt Figs and Pears! I am lucky enough to have these amazing trees near my house and, come September, they are always so full of delicious fruits that I simply have to come up with recipes not to waste even one of these gifts of nature!

These delicate and sweet fruits are amazing to make sweet Jams (I have a post about my secret to make an easy and delicious homemade jam every time) but are also great to accompany with other more savory ingredients to create the ultimate charcuterie boards for a stylish and tasty Italian Aperitivo!

Cheese and Pears

Not a single Zucchini or Tomato will be wasted whit this simple recipe: enjoy my End of Summer Minestrone!

When in Italy…make a salad with your own garden’s Pomodori!

You may have noticed we have been a bit absent lately… because we were taking care of our vegetable garden!

One of the best things about the Italian Summer for us is enjoying a fresh salad made entirely with the products we grow and collect in our garden.

The recipe is super simple:

This Summer Lemon Tart looks amazing, tastes even better, and is super simple to make: a perfect recipe for a Summer weekend!

I love making fresh fruit jams: The recipe is so simple and it allows us to preserve these delicious summer fruits so that not a single cherry is wasted!

We decided to make Peas with “Pallotte casce e ove” - cheese and eggs balls. This recipe was created, like all the other dishes of our tradition, from a very poor cuisine, dependent on the availability of ingredients: we used to eat according to the season and using every last bit of what a well-curated vegetable garden could offer, as well as what the chickens and the sheeps made gradually available: our grandparents got super creative with what they had!