February 2008

Remember the fable about the ant and the grasshopper? It's the one where the busy ant works all summer storing food while the grasshopper lounges about, having a merry old time. Well of course winter comes and the grasshopper is cold and hungry while the ant is cozy and well fed, enjoying his stored summer bounty. I sort of felt like the ant this summer. I canned jar after jar of tomatoes, all in anticipation of February when I would be the only one around with such great canned tomatoes. All you grasshoppers were out of luck.

Then Zingerman's went and called February a celebration of sunny Italian islands and yes, canned tomatoes. Now they've got sunshine dripping olive oils from Sardinia and jar after jar of tomato products lined up for the tasting. You grasshoppers can have your summer beach parties and your winter pasta sauces.

Il Mongetto Pomodoro Sauce
There is this great Italian pomodoro sauce from Il Mongetto in the Piedmont. It's made of vine-ripened tomatoes, lots of good Umbrian olive oil and just a smattering of salt, pepper, celery, carrots and herbs. One jar heated up with a little garlic and poured over fresh pasta, perhaps the uniquely shaped Malloreddus from Sardinia. Top it with a little fresh goat cheese and it's practically summer. At least the flavors will be bright, if the sky isn't.

Estrattu — Tomato Paste from Sicily
The Pomodoro sauce is great and easy, but I felt a little better because I had a little home-canned tomato sauce at home. I might not have vine-ripened tomatoes, but it was pretty good. The next thing in the line was something called Estrattu. This was unique. To call it tomato paste is a disservice. It is 20 pounds of Sicilian tomatoes, cooked down into a sauce and then sun-dried into the most concentrated spread-able tomato essence I've ever tasted. Use it as a spread on a sandwich, smear a little on a homemade pizza, or use it as concentrate as a soup base. I've never had anything like it. I still don't know how to fit 20 lbs of anything into a small jar.

Pacchino Tomatoes from Sicily
And to top it all, not a paste or a sauce, but as close as you can get to the real thing in February, are the semi-dried Pacchino tomatoes. These things are little sweet flavor bombs. From Sicily, packed in a little bit of vinegar, olive oil and Sicilian basil, these are nothing like the dry, tough, sticky tomatoes that you need to rehydrate to use. These little cherry tomatoes are ready to go right out of the jar. Eat 'em one at a time, like olives.

So much for being an ant.

Piave cheese
Warm steaming bowls of pasta with tomato sauce, of course, need cheese and certainly there is parmigiano. But you might want to try the Piave for a change of pace. It can do everything a parmigiano can, and this month is cheaper to boot ($5.00 per pound). It's this great flat disk of cheese, made by a farmer's cooperative and aged for about a year in the Veneto region, near Venice. This cheese literally sells itself — there is a pile of samples out to try and pretty much one taste is all it takes to fall in love.

All these things are great pantry items to rely on for those snow days. But sometimes I just want a few quick items for an antipasti to eat right away. This month, try this:

Caprotto cheese
A third of a pound of Caprotto goat's milk cheese from southern Italy. The sign says it tastes like hazelnuts. Ask for a taste to see if you agree.
Prosciutto di Parma and Grilled Tuscan Ham
A few slices of hand-sliced Prosciutto di Parma. Aged with the bone in, sliced to order like they do in Italy. Or a few slices of the oh-so-delicious, very-slow-roasted grilled Tuscan Ham.
Alpage Fontina cheese
A third of a pound of our Alpage Fontina. Smoother than Gruyere, creamier than Comte, mellower than Raclette, way better than Fontinella.
Roi sauces from Liguria
A selection of some of our excellent Roi sauces from Liguria. Made from purely Ligurian ingredients using traditional recipes, we have six flavors to choose from. Whether you like the artichoke the best or the one made from Arugula, they're all excellent to smear on bread.

Rustic Italian bread, Mont Albo Olive Oil and Fruttato Montiferru Olive Oil
Speaking of which, finish it all off with a little Rustic Italian bread drizzled with one of two olive oils. Both are from the island of Sardinia. First there is the Mont Albo, from the eastern side. It tastes of artichokes and greens. For a more dramatic presentation, pour over the Fruttato Montiferro oil. It is pressed from native Sardinian varietals of olives grown on an extinct (they hope) volcano. Sardinia is an intriguing little island, with an even more intriguing cuisine. We've invited a Sardinian chef to teach us about Sardinian food. If you want to join us, see details to the right.

Zingerman's is full of delicious canned tomatoes and great cheeses and luscious olive oils. They'll bring sunshine into your pantry. And there's enough to satisfy both ants and grasshoppers.

Jess Piskor
Retail Scribe