Italy, So Close You Can Taste It
By DAVID TANIS
WHEN I’m in a hurry to get dinner together, the last thing I want is to stand in line at the supermarket. More often than not, I will pop into my local Italian deli, really a little hole in the wall but a treasure trove of ingredients.

Though I could make a meal of what I buy there without much cooking at all (and will, and do, and have), a good deli can also be a starting point for a fine simple meal, whether it is a dead-easy satisfying pasta or something more elaborate.

Here is what can be found at mine: a decent ciabatta, a choice of several types of prosciutto and an assortment of salumi, and mozzarella made daily. That’s just for starters. Then there are good anchovies, salt-packed or in oil; salted capers and capers in vinegar; and a well-curated selection of olives.

Plus, parmigiano and Romano cheeses for grating, dried pasta in every shape and tortellini in assorted colors (simply boiled and served in a bowl of chicken broth — you could do a lot worse). Taralli with fennel seeds and pepper, long breadsticks and peperoncini. Olive oil, good canned tomatoes, imported lentils and spicy Calabrese fennel sausage (there’s another meal there).

But today, I might just grab a few items (sliced prosciutto, a ball of mozzarella, some anchovies, capers and olives) before ducking into a nearby organic greengrocer for a little produce. Arugula, romaine, tomatoes, peppers, fennel, cucumber, radishes — and a dozen eggs.

On the way home I compose the menu. There’s a frittata I want to make, which I learned from one of the best cooks I know. She uses raw shredded chard or spinach, but I’m going to use the arugula, along with prosciutto and mozzarella. You add ribbons of raw greens to beaten eggs, then proceed to make the frittata, flipping it like a big pancake. The greens are cooked in the process, and the flavor is phenomenal.

To go with this, I’m longing for a juicy Italianate chopped salad with great sweet seasonal tomatoes and peppers, good and garlicky, with just enough vinegar and anchovy.

Here’s how: for a half-cup of salad dressing, whisk together four tablespoons olive oil, two tablespoons red-wine vinegar, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, two minced garlic cloves, a finely chopped anchovy fillet, a big grind of black pepper and a pinch of salt.

Cut a couple of tomatoes into chunks or wedges, slice a ripe bell pepper, a cucumber, some fennel bulb and a few radishes. Add some thinly sliced onion if you like. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and dress them with half the vinaigrette, and marinate for up to a half-hour. Toss with chopped romaine leaves and a little more dressing.

With drinks we will have slices of spicy soppressata and Genoa salami, and crostini with a quickly made black olive schmear. Any good black olive will do, but dark, meaty, oil-cured olives are ideal. You will need a half-cup of pitted olives, two teaspoons of capers, a garlic clove, a pinch of red pepper flakes and enough olive oil to make a spreadable mixture. Whiz the ingredients in a blender or hand-chop for a coarser version. For the crostini, simply toast thin slices of bread, then spread with olive paste.

Oh, and for dessert? My Italian deli also sells the best hazelnut biscotti...
Full Article and Greens Frittata recipe

Thanks, Lilo. I'm trying to lose weight, so reading that at 10 pm shouldn't cause me any trouble.

I do what I can....

I tell ya, Lilo. You're pretty domesticated. You're like a brown Martha Stewart .

Went to dinner with my husband last night. We both had the carpaccio for our appetizer. It was delicious. My husband had the frutta di mare and, even though it wasn't on the menu, the chef made me spaghetti carbonara. It was the best carbonara I've tasted in a long time.

Chef?? You splurged for Olive Garden, fancypants?!!

Nope, we went back to this place. We used to go there several times a year, and then sort of stopped, for no particular reason. Food and service are still top notch.

I do have to admit, though, that the $9 Olive Garden pasta special has intrigued me.

It's very good -- so's the unlimited soup/salad lunch deal

My daughter treated me to the lunch deal once. It was fine, but I like Friday's similar special much better.

Strange, but while I know I've never been there, I'm wondering if I saw the place profiled on TV. Something seems oddly familiar about the name and location. This'll probably keep me up tonight while I puzzle it out.

A shame, though, that on their website the "menu" and "private parties" links are dead. I was curious about what they offer...or, to put it another way, what they've got under their fingernails.

Signor V.

The best cooking, is cooking when you've receive 250 usd in food stamps a month. - The O.D.N.

I love a good oatmeal cookie.

I think a glass of pinot grigio makes a good lunch. Then again I'm a hopeless alcoholic. I was on a skinnygirl margarita kick all summer, but I'm over that now.

Don't drink and post. Bad things happen.

Costco hot dog, churro, and hand-dipped ice cream bar (with almonds). Yum!

Why don't you just tie on a feedbag?

Costco's dogs are always cold, though The "everything" pizza is really pretty good, tho!

Then there's something wrong with your Costco! Costco dogs are the BEST! $1.50, and you get a soda with free refills! Actually, now that you mentioned it, I want to jump in the car and drive to Costco to have one, so susceptible am I to the power of suggestion.

Costco dogs are indeed the best. I actually had one again for lunch today! I also bought four ice cream bars. Have you seen those things? They're as big as my head! I can barely eat one by myself, but I bought four and put the rest in the freezer! Now I have dessert for a week!!

Maybe we don't get the same dogs as everyone else. They *used* to say "Kosher", but not any more. They're not terrible, but after 30 seconds of getting it (and the oversized bready bun), they're practically cold and thus unappealing.

Yes, the price is right. But I'd rather have a microwaved Nathan's than that boiled crap.

Get an everything-slice next time, and you might not get a dog ever again!

The berry sundae isn't bad... but I'm not much of a dessert person. But it's pretty good...

I've had the "everything" pizza. I actually got it by accident one time. I usually call in and order a half cheese/half pepperoni pizza, since the wait is usually 30 minutes or more. Well this one time, I went and picked up my pizza, and it had everything on it. I told them I wanted half cheese/pepperoni. So they made me a new one (which meant I had to wait!!), and this time they gave me a half cheese, half everything. By this point I said forget it and took it home. I quite enjoyed it. Sometimes our service people screw up our orders for the better!

I was one of those people, and did the same thing... choose what you really should have!

Agreed, Babe. We usually go to the one up in Yonkers because it's right next to Stew Leonard's. Two birds with one stone .

After eating you will Cry.

Don't Be Tricked By Fake Olive Oil December 14, 2011 at 8:06AM by Kiri Tannenbaum

Extra-virgin olive oil. It should mean pure, unadulterated, and good-for-you, right? According to Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, a new book by Tom Mueller, that bottle of "extra-virgin" olive oil in your pantry may actually be fraudulent.

As olive oil is a premium product, some producers want to undercut the market by putting low-priced, bad quality oils on the shelves. "Fifty percent of the olive oil sold in the United States is, in some ways, adulterated," Mueller told NPR's Fresh Air. That means consumers who purchase these imposters are missing out on the health benefits that authentic oil offers.

http://www.delish.com/food/recalls-reviews/how-to-spot-authentic-olive-oil

Ten Best Inexpensive Restaurants in NY Area

Yeah, you don't want olive oil that's just been all over the place doing lord knows what with who knows who...

Don't diss Olive Oyl.... Popeye will beat your ass.

I hear things...Bluto had some tales to tell....

Quite true. Actually, with the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Bluto recently made headlines with some revelations of his own, and not of the "extra-virgin" variety. Olive Oyl was, reportedly, in seclusion - and Popeye's only comment to the media was, "Well, blow me down!"

Signor V.

Maybe Bluto should have been introduced to Vito Spatafore?