By Stacey Morris
Staff Writer
Published in The Post-Star newspaper 1/20/99
Anatomy of a Feast
-- Antipasto -- The first course is designed to open the appetite with a selection of pungent and sweet foods like Italian cold cuts, artichokes, olives, peppers and melon.
-- Soup or pasta -- Usually a light variety like minestrone (vegetable), or noodles and chicken broth. The favorite pasta from the Bologna region is tortellini.
-- A meat dish -- Such as veal or chicken with cooked vegetables (zucchini, broccoli, spinach) on the side.
-- Salad.
-- Macedonia -- Fresh fruit cup topped with lemon juice, sugar and cognac.
-- Nuts -- Any type mixed of mixed nuts like hazelnuts, walnuts and chestnuts, which are commonly grown in Italy.
-- Cheese -- Usually a softer, dessert-type cheese like Bel Paise, Stracchino or Gorgonzola.
-- Dessert -- Italian pastries, gelato (ice cream) or cake.
-- Espresso -- Served plain or as Espresso Coretto, with a dash of cognac and topped with whipped cream.
-- Cognac.
SOUTH GLENS FALLS -- Luisa Cirelli's cooking is so good it's almost cruel.
One instinctively realizes that the culinary rapture of tasting her Risotto Milanese could be confined to that particular occasion. Because it's unlikely you'll experience anything comparable unless you're fortunate enough to be invited back to her kitchen.
There are specialty dishes from Cirelli's native Bologna, Italy, she especially enjoys preparing for friends and family: a dessert of fresh, sweetened cream that has seeped into lady fingers soaked with marsala wine; a salad of sturdy radicchio leaves bathed in olive oil and lemon juice; and achingly tender veal shanks, cooked at a snail's pace and imbued with the delicate bouquet of a fresh vegetable sauce.
The flavors are so pure and vibrant, they can bring a diner to tears -- especially one accustomed to the substandard quality of preservative-laden convenience food.
But to Cirelli, who grew up amid sumptuous, prolonged feasts that were painstakingly prepared, such cuisine is not unusual -- it is food the way it was intended to be served.
Growing up in the northern part of Italy, said the South Glens Falls resident and mother of six, it was customary for families to partake in lavish Sunday dinners of up to 10 courses.
"In Italy, everything was so different -- food was bought fresh everyday," she recalled. "A woman would spend several hours at the market to find the right ingredients."
And unlike the all-encompassing supermarkets of America, Cirelli said, each food group was purchased at its own market: Bakery, butcher and produce markets were all individually owned.
Cirelli's favorite dishes growing up are the ones she prepares for her family today and occasionally at her restaurant, Villa Luisa, on Saratoga Lake: Osso Buco (veal shanks sauteed in a vegetable sauce), Risotto Milanese (Italian arborio rice made with chicken broth, shallots, saffron and fresh parmigiana cheese; and Pasatelli (chicken broth with fresh pasta noodles made of egg, bread crumbs, parmigiana cheese and nutmeg).
Though most Americans tend to envision Italian cuisine as strictly tomato-based dishes centered around pasta, Cirelli maintains that such dishes reflect regions of southern Italy, where food tends to be spicier and lighter than its northern counterparts.
"Northern Italian cuisine is similar to French," she explained. "We use a lot of meats, sauces, soups and cooked vegetables."
Cirelli, who met her husband, John, a Bronx native, while he was a medical student in Bologna, grew up learning the art of Italian cooking from her mother; by the time she was an adolescent, crafting tortellini from a sheet of dough was second nature.
Though Sunday meals in Italy are large enough to feed a small country, Cirelli said, in general, Italians adhere to modest eating habits starting with a light breakfast of caffe latte and focaccia (bread, pronounced Foh-cah-chah).
Aside from pasta, she said, the second most popular thing for Italians to partake of is espresso. The potent and full-bodied liquid is also the base used in cappuccino and latte and is served at the coffee bars that can be found scattered ubiquitously around any Italian city or town.
Lunch (mezzo giorno, pronounced "met-so jor-noh") is the day's largest meal and served between the hours of 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. It is during this laid-back, family-oriented segment of the day when businesses close so members of the workforce can return home for a family meal and nap.
Because of the midday largesse, dinner (cena, pronounced "chay-nah") is a lighter meal taken around 9 p.m. or later.
"Stores stay open till late at night because of the mezzo giorno break," Cirelli said. "So it's not unusual to see restaurants busy at 1 a.m."
Though she studied opera at Bologna Conservatorio Martini as soprano singer and performed arias at area caffes, she ended up marrying the young, aspiring doctor and returning with him to New York City to make a home. The Cirellis relocated to the Glens Falls area in 1957.
Despite being immersed in a culture that lauds the time-saving inventions of canned parmesan cheese and bone-brittle pasta from a box, Cirelli does her cooking the old-fashioned way: from scratch.
Everything.
"Powdered?" she frowned when asked about using chicken broth as a base. Without exception, Cirelli said, any chicken broth used for her cooking is derived from simmering a whole chicken for two hours.
It's not surprising that her most valued cooking principle is the insistence on the freshness of all ingredients. It's a non-negotiable concept that she enforced even with her children's school lunches.
While other students made do with peanut butter and jelly, the Cirelli children enjoyed a spread that included choice Italian cold cuts on fresh panninni (Italian bread) with softened butter.
"The other kids at the school would beg them to trade their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them," she smiled.
In 1985, Cirelli took her love of Italian cooking public when she opened the Villa Nova Restaurant on Bay Road in Queensbury. She said for several years, until a location change, the restaurant drew legions loyal customers who developed a fondness for the authentic cuisine.
Now, besides helping her son Rick operate Villa Luisa on Saratoga Lake, Cirelli also manages the kitchen, with son Michael, of the Betty Beaver Truckstop and Diner near Northway Exit 17 in South Glens Falls.
It may seem odd to have a consummate northern Italian cook manning the grill at an American truckstop, but Cirelli confided still puts her signature on traditional American fare.
"I add a little touch of Italian, but they don't know it," she said. "A little olive oil in the frying, a sprig of rosemary on the pork chops -- they love it."
The following are some of Luisa Cirelli's favorite recipes from her native Bologna, Italy:
POLENTA
(Serves
4 to 6)
Bring water to boil in a large saucepan. Slowly add cornmeal, stirring constantly with a wire whisk. When all the cornmeal is added, bring heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly to prevent lumps, until thick. (Polenta should be thick enough to set on a cutting board).
Mold mixture onto a cutting board so that the polenta is about 3 inches high. Cool slightly and cut into large pieces to serve with Osso Buco. Top with parmagiano cheese.
Polenta is also used as a hot cereal for breakfast. Just leave the mixture a little thinner and top it with sugar instead of cheese.
OSSO BUCO (Veal
Shanks)
(Serves
4)
Rinse veal shanks thoroughly in water and coat each thoroughly in flour. Melt 6 tablespoons butter and 6 tablespoons olive oil in a large sauce pan and fry shanks over medium heat till each side is golden. Set shanks aside. Chop vegetables finely by hand or in food processor. Melt 6 tablespoons butter and 6 tablespoons olive oil in large frying pan. Saute all chopped vegetables with the tomato paste till vegetables are soft. Add veal shanks to the sauce, and, over high heat, add the wine and lemon juice. Add tomato puree and enough chicken broth to cover the sides of the veal shanks. Cook for five minutes, stirring with wooden spoon. Lower to very low heat for 2 to 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally to make sure the bottom doesn't stick. Serve with polenta, spooning extra sauce over polenta.
RISOTTO MILANESE
(Serves
4 to 6)
In saucepan, melt the butter and saute the shallots. Rinse rice in a strainer and add to mixture of shallots and butter. Saute for a few minutes over medium heat, till rice becomes slightly golden. Add one ladleful of broth to the rice and simmer till broth is absorbed. Continue to add broth to rice, a ladleful at a time, letting the rice absorb the liquid. Continue the process until the rice is sticky, with a slight sauce (30 minutes to 45 minutes). Stir constantly with a wooden spoon the entire time. Add saffron and blend thoroughly before adding cheese. Serve immediately.
ZABAGLIONE SEMI
FREDDO
(Serves
4)
Heat the egg yolks and sugar in a double boiler till warm. With electric mixer, beat egg yolks and sugar till they become a thick, white foam. Add the wine and whip more till thick and foamy again. Cook mixture in double boiler for seven minutes, stirring constantly with wire whisk. Let cool. When mixture is cooled, transfer to mixing bowl. Fold whipped cream into the mixture. Place a slice of poundcake, or three ladyfingers, in the bottom of each dessert cup. Sprinkle each slice with marsala wine. Top with cream mixture. Chill in refrigerator for several hours before serving.