Learning to Cook Like an Italian

What better place to learn to cook real Italian food than Tuscany? I've lived with an Italian man for three years now, and over time have learned a lot about Italian cooking: always use the freshest in-season ingredients, letting them be the focus of the meal; good olive oil is the key to great-tasting food; and recipes are always guidelines rather than exact instructions. Much of Italian cooking must be learned rather than taught: there is a wealth of infinite knowledge to be learned from observing the Italian cook in the kitchen that is rarely expressed in formal cookbooks.

Sunday lunch in Italy is a sacred occasion, a grand family meal of many courses. So last week's Sunday lunch was my tutorial on the Italian classic zuppa di mare - soup of the sea. Here's what I learned:

1) Begin by prepping the seafood. Soak the vongole (clams) in a bowl of water, cut the polpo (octopus) and raw fish into manageable cooking pieces, and clean the cozze (mussels) - that part's the worst, in my opinion. Cleaning mussels took nearly an hour, there were so many. The kitchen was filled with raw seafood piled in the sink and bowls on every surface: the bounty of the sea, literally.

2) Chop the vegetables. Onions, more garlic than you think could possibly be necessary, carrots and celery - I was set to work on chopping vegetables, and then fresh parsley (there were three different kinds, some leaves half the size of my hands. Parsley in Italy is on a whole other level.) The base to the zuppa (soup) was of course onions, garlic, and tomatoes, simmering slowly to develop the flavor.

3) The first course was stuffed mussels. Garlic sauteed in oil in a pan on the stove, then crushed tomatoes, making a classic marinara sauce. Then they whisked a raw egg into the tomato sauce to thicken it, tempering the egg in a glass bowl with the warm marinara and combining. When the tomato-egg sauce mixture came together to the right consistency, it was then spooned into each raw mussel and tied with string to bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

The mussels came out of the oven bubbling hot, with the tomato filling lightly crusting the edges of the mussel shells, enveloping the savory mussel meat inside. We peeled the string off the shells, prying the shells open with spoons to devour the exquisite insides.

4) Next course: classic steamed mussels and clams with garlic, parsley and a splash of wine. Simple, to the point, and eaten with bread and fresh homemade garlic aioli, which could knock you out with one whiff of the pungent raw garlic aroma.

 5) Meanwhile, the zuppa was simmering away. After the vegetables went in the polpo (octopus) and white fish, then more clams and mussels, then finally topped with gamberoni and scampi (shrimp of all sizes), the lid on tight to infuse the seafood with the aromatics' flavor. The zuppa was served right out of the pot:

The broth was ladled over a piece of crusty toasted bread placed in the bottom of each bowl, to sop up the juices, and topped with the steaming hot seafood piled high:

The savory tomato broth and perfectly cooked seafood and fish was so flavorful, the taste of the sea infused in every bite. At the bottom was the broth-soaked bread, the dessert at the end of the seafood symphony. We enjoyed the meal with Tuscan wine of course, and finished with espresso and grappa. Cooking like an Italian also means you get to eat like an Italian: course after course of delicious homemade food, enjoying time together at the table as a family. It's the way to live life, I think - enjoy every moment.