Oregano is the anglicized form of the Italian word origano, which is also a derivation from the Greek origanon ὀρίγανον oros ὄρος “mountain” + the verb ganousthai γανοῦσθαι “delight in”. Also known as wild marjoram and adding more confusion to the mix is the close relationship between marjoram (Origanum majorana) and oregano, which naturally means they also look very much alike.
Italian oregano is a cross between marjoram and the Greek form. Marjoram is a close relative but has a gentler, sweeter flavour. It’s widely used in Liguria to flavour savoury pies, pasta sauces and seafood dishes. Floral wreaths of this sweeter herb were very commonly worn by couples at both Greek and Roman marriages, and were taken to symbolize the joyfulness of the wedding and the happiness of the couple.
Oregano, commonly called “the pizza herb,” is one of the most widely-used herbs worldwide, so it is hard to imagine anyone not having tried it. Together with basil, it contributes much to the distinctive character of many Italian dishes. It is the perfect secret herb for all your Italian recipes.
Fresh or dried leaves flavour tomato sauce, vinegar, butter, omelettes, quiche, bread, marinated vegetables, beef, poultry, game, onions, and courgettes. It also combines nicely with pickled olives, capers, and lovage leaves. The leaves are used fresh from the plant or dried but they are more flavourful when dried
Refrigerate the fresh leaves in a plastic bag up to 3 days. Choose bright-green, fresh-looking bunches with no sign of wilting or yellowing. Crush dried oregano lightly in your hands before adding to dishes to activate its essential oils, and for the best taste add it near the end of cooking.
Herb
The o. herb is light green in colour with a strong, aromatic odour and pleasantly bitter taste. This hardly little plant is a perennial herb, growing to 20-80 cm tall, with opposite leaves 1-4 cm long. In the Philippines, it (Coleus aromaticus) is not commonly used for cooking but is rather considered as a primarily medicinal plant, useful for relieving children’s coughs
Growing
Growing oregano plants must be spaced at least thirty cm or twelve inches apart from each other for optimal growth. Plant seeds in warm soil in late spring or in pots or seed trays under glass in mid-spring. Oregano grows very slowly and the soil must be weeded on a regular basis to ensure maximum growth of the crop during the growing season. The ideal way to grow in containers is to keep the growing plant well pruned and pinched (pinching off the growing tips of the leaves) at all times during the growing process, so as to have a rounded and bushy shape which is manageable at all times. A growing pot should be about ten to twelve inches or twenty five to thirty cm wide and the ideal soil mixture must have some coarse sand with the clay.
When cultivating using seeds, you must make sure that the seeds are initially sown in the pot out of doors early during the spring season or germinated seedlings can be settled into growing containers immediately following the last frost of the year. To maintain a continuous supply of fresh leaves, the flowers must be pinched off as and when they develop.
The subspecies “Origanum vulgare” is an important culinary herb. It is these leaves that are used in cooking. Unlike most Italian herbs, oregano works with hot and spicy food, which is popular in southern Italy.
Oil
Oil of oregano is the premier natural antiseptic and it has recently been found to have extremely effective properties against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Carvacrol
Carvacrol is a powerful antimicrobial (antibiotic) and is the active ingredient of Oregano Oil. Carvacrol has been identified as the chief constituent behind this oil’s extraordinary properties and is thought to work synergistically with the other components found in Wild Mediterranean O. Oil
Posts Tagged ‘Traditional Italian Food’
Delight in the Mountain – Italian Oregano
January 7th, 2010Basil, King of Italian Herbs
January 5th, 2010The herb that’s most popularly associated with Italian cuisine is basil (Basilico). There are several varieties, but you’re most likely to find sweet basil in the shops – it has large, aromatic leaves. Cooking with basil, especially if you grew it yourself, is wonderfully satisfying .
Basil is a small, bushy plant that grows to about two feet tall. It is a member of the mint family and is very similar in appearance. With its rich spicy scent it is said to refresh the mind, relieve headaches and elevate moods. It is an excellent source of iron, calcium, potassium and Vitamin C, all of which are hugely beneficial to one’s health. But perhaps most of all it is a wonderful and versatile culinary herb.Fresh basil is best known for pesto and goes extremely well with pasta, rice, tomato, zucchini, and eggplant. The Italians discovered that basil tends to compliment the taste of tomatoes, and since tomatoes played such an important role in Italian cuisine, basil came to be widely used in Italian cooking as well.
It may be good for you, and the oil from the leaf is distilled and used for stomach aches in herbal medicine, but one thing is for certain, it makes your food taste better.
You can store fresh leaves in plastic bags inside the refrigerator, and also freeze crushed or pureed leaves in ice cubes that you can drop into your soups and dishes as flavouring. You can also preserve basil leaves by keeping them in a jar with olive oil.
Basil became an integral seasoning in Italian cuisine, and in fact Italians had such appreciation for this herb, that it became a symbol of love. Cooking with basil induces feelings of love, passion, mental clarity and harmony into your life. It is known as the herb of kings, and is a favourite with cooks around the world, lending its delicious flavour to many ethnic cuisines.
Pick the leaves as fresh as possible, and tear them rather than cut them. (Basil leaves blacken when exposed to metal, therefore it is common in Italy to tear the leaves by hand before throwing the basil into a sauce or onto a dish.)
These torn leaves are great just added to salads, such as insalata caprese. You can also cook them, in a simple tomato sauce for instance, but make sure you add them just before serving. If they’re cooked too much they lose their flavour.
Insalata Caprese Recipe
This is a simple salad from the Italian region of Campania, made of sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes (preferably plum) and sprinkled with basil. It is traditionally seasoned with salt, freshly milled black pepper, and olive oil.Ingredients
Four medium tomatoes
8oz of buffalo mozzarella
Bunch of basil with the leaves torn
Olive OilDirections
Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella thickly.
Arrange alternately on a plate and sprinkle with torn basil leaves
Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to your taste.
A Traditional Italian Meal
January 5th, 2010A traditional Italian meal comprises of different segments. Each segment have its traditional name.
PRIMO named as first course in a traditional Italian meal often comprise of a hot dish for example gnocchi, risotto, pasta, polenta or soup with lots of vegetarian choices. It traditionally has the most carbohydrate. Alternativelly it could be a copld plate of mets, olives and breads with balsamic vinegar.
SECONDO (second course): Ina traditional Italian meal this is generally considered as the major dish of meat or fish. Chicken, Pork and Veal are conventionally the most frequent in an Italian SECONDO course and are often casseroled or pan-fried. Beef is used as steaks (bistecca) while lamb (agnello) is roasted on particular traditional events, for example Christmas and Easter. In Italian cuisine seafood especially fish are mostly used as major or main courses.
CONTORNO (side dish): In a traditional Italian meal CONTORNO possibly a fresh salad or cooked vegetables. But it is also a fact that salad is usually provided with the major course. Commonly used vegetables are beans (pulses and greens), potatoes (often salty) and carrots.
DOLCE (dessert): In a traditional Italian meal DOLCE or desert is also named “the cakes and cookies course”. Italian cuisine has a number of sweet treats and sweet desserts. These Italian sweet dishes or desserts include Amaretti — almond flavored meringues which are famous as macaroons in Australia, Panforte, — sweet semi solid strong bread prepared withy nuts and dried fruits and Pannettone, an extremely tasty bread-cake.
Finally the Coffee: Italian coffee is the essence of Italy. But Italian Coffee is somewhat of a misnomer if taken literally as very little, if any, coffee is actually grown in Italy.
The proper way to make Italian coffee is to make it the way the Italians do. It is only when you use an Italian coffee brand and the Italian coffee making technique that you will end up with the perfect Italian coffee cup. Italian coffees use mainly the Arabica variety of coffee bean, known for its full flavor and low caffeine content. You will find Italian coffee is split into several types, espresso, caffe latte, cappuccino; there would seem to be as many types of Italian coffee as there are pastas.
Espresso
Please don’t say expresso, there is no “x” only an “s”
Espresso was developed in Milan, Italy, in the early 20th century, but up until the mid-1940s it was a beverage produced solely with steam pressure. Espresso : known a Caffe in Italy, is served in a 3 oz or demitasse cup. It is not a specific bean or roast level. Espresso is not made to sip casually; it is made to be drunk in two or three sips at most. The Italian coffee pot is by far the most important coffee making tool that you will need to enjoy a decent cup of espresso the Italian way. Traditionally the Italian coffee pot is known as the Moka pot or the Espresso pot.
Cappuccino
Cappuccino is espresso with foamed milk and containing equal parts espresso, steamed milk and foamed milk. It would seem that cappuccino and caffè latte, usually sipped seated at a table, are the drinks most frequently ordered throughout the day in the coffee shops of the US and UK.
Italian Fine Dining Los Angeles – First Date Story
December 7th, 2009When I came to Los Angeles, being from a family that appreciates Italian fine dining I found a little culture clash, but that is not always a bad thing. I come from a very Italian family so when I finally mustered the strength to ask this particular petite blonde with the most enchanting blue eyes that I have been eyeing on since the start of the term, I did not have any hesitations to take her to this ristorante that served authentic Italian food. She became very excited with the idea of going out on an Italian date. She had told me that she was a huge fan of Italian food, although at that time I did not know exactly what she was talking about. I thought that we were on the same page when it came to loving Italian food. Growing up, I have fond memories of sitting down to a very huge and long meal.
My uncles and aunts, together with my parents, would spend the entire Sunday afternoon in the kitchen just cooking away, and during dinner time we would have such a grand feast. These weekly family gatherings were not as informal as you would believe. Our grandparents wanted us to experience Italian fine dining in a regular basis so the dishes were served in courses and we went through the entire meal from the antipasti to the digestivi when we were finally allowed to shoot alcohol. I wanted to show this girl a good Italian time, while she was just thinking of Spaghetti Bolognese in a spaghetteria two blocks away. You can just imagine her shock when I brought her to this upscale ristorante that did not only write every dish in the menu in Italian, but made every single decoration and every ornament speak Italian. I had to order all the dishes which meant that she had to trust me on whatever dishes I picked. I decided that we should skip the “aperitivo” or the cocktails so we went straight to the “antipasti” which translates to “before the meal”. We were served very thin, salty slices of Prosciutto di Parma which is Italian cured meat made in the area of Parma. After the appetizer, we went to the first course or the “primi”. For the first course, I chose a simple risotto of fish and peas. By that time, the wine was starting to work on both of us. She candidly asked me from what region of Italy the risotto originated from, and being well-versed with my Italian culinary history, I automatically said that the region of Veneto is credited for the risotto. For the second course or the “secondi”, we had a “Bistecca alla Fiorentina”, a large t-bone steak that big enough to be shared between the both of us. As we went deeper into our meal, she finally confided on me about how she did not know that such upscale Italian restaurants existed. She, like everyone else, thought that Italian cuisine is just confined to a paninoteca which serves delicious paninis or Italian sandwiches and pizzerias that sold all kinds of pizzas to your heart’s content. I explained to her that Italian dining is very diverse, it can be very informal as in eating in a local spaghetteria in Napoli or dining in an upscale ristorante in Venezia. Finally, we got to our first desert which is called “formaggio e frutta” or cheese and fruits, a typical Italian pairing. After that we had our dessert which is called “dolce”. For that we had a genuine Italian tiramisu. After that we had the caffé or coffee. For that we had a demitasse of perfect Italian espresso which was enough to jolt our systems that were becoming quite slow because of eating that much food. It was a wonderful first date of the many that came after it.
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Italian Fine Dining Los Angeles – More than a state of mind
December 6th, 2009Just because Italians are known for the world renowned pizza and their mouthwatering sandwiches does not mean that Italian cuisine is just all about that. This is even known about Italian fine dining in Los Angeles. The best Italian dining experience does not have to be confined in some pizzeria or paninoteca. Although those places are wonderful for discovering the true flavors of Italy in a more informal setting, Italian cuisine can also be enjoyed in more upscale ristorantes that provide an ideal atmosphere where family and friends can talk and bond over delicious, authentic Italian dishes. There are just a lot of dining experiences awaiting everyone, it only takes a keen eye to find a nice Italian restaurant and a discerning palette to judge whether the food was an original remake of a Mediterranean classic dish or an American version of what was once Italian. Restaurants with Italian names or Italian ambience have sprouted in almost every city. The Italian cuisine is becoming more and more popular with the huge crowd of diners and almost everyone wants to sample Italian fine dining. Although, you may receive the best service in some Italian sounding restaurant, remember that it is not just all about the experience of eating Italian style, but it should be about the food as well. If you are not eating authentic Italian dishes, even if your servers wear traditional costumes, your dining experience is not at all worth being called Italian fine dining. But the question is how do you know that you are eating authentic Italian food or not?You have to keep in mind that Italian cuisine is all about balance. All their dishes are seasoned with restraint so that one ingredient does not power all the rest. Italian cuisine is all about preserving the natural flavors of every individual ingredient. They do not try to mask the flavors by using too much garlic powder like what most Americans are used to. A great way to know that you are eating authentic Italian food is to order a salad. If the dressing is too robust for the greens then it is probably not done traditionally as it is in Italy. Italians are also about using crisp ingredients and serving food as fresh as possible. Look at the bread served in your chosen Italian restaurant. If they are already warm and possibly day old when they reach your table, chances are you may be dining in those American-Italian restaurants. Most authentic Italian restaurants will serve bread straight from the oven. You can really smell the fragrant scent of newly cooked bread that is crusty in the outside, but puffy and light in the inside. Now that you have uncovered the truth about your Italian restaurant, you will need to sample their Italian dining experience with regards to the courses or how the food is served. Firstly, you may be served with an “aperitivo” or some cocktails. Most of the time, they will serve you bitters or alcoholic drinks with herbal infusions. After that is the “antipasto” or the appetizers. You may be served with olives, anchovies or Italian cured meats. After the “antipasto” is the first course called the “primo”. The first course will usually include a substantial meal packed with carbohydrates like risotto or pasta. The second course or the main dish is called the “secondo”. The main dish is usually made of fish, pork, veal and chicken. The main dish may be accompanied with a side dish or “contorno”. After all those filling dishes will be the first dessert or “formaggio e frutta” which means cheese and fruits. This followed by the dessert or “dolce” that can include a cake or cookies. Finally, you have the “caffé” which serves the espresso and the “digestive” which serves any digestive to help aid digestion after the very long meal.
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How to Serve and Enjoy a Traditional Italian Meal
December 6th, 2009Even to those who have never been to Italy, the uniqueness of Italian meals is well known. With many courses spread out over the period of several hours, these meals are designed to give you time to spend with family and enjoy delicious cuisine that is brimming with Italian culture. Should you decide you would like to eat like the Italians do, the meal structure is as follows.
The Order of Italian Meals
1. Some Pre-Meal Alcohol
Known as “Aperitivo,” the Italians like to enjoy a little bit of alcohol (both wine and liquors) that is designed to get the palate ready for the Italian food recipe. This is meant to both warm the stomach and loosen the family before the meal.
2. Antipasto
Following the drink is the small appetizer. Unlike most restaurant appetizers, this is often something very small, such as cheese, peppers, or slices of meat. It is not meant to be too filling, but still provide ample flavor.
3. First Course
The first meal is then served. Though it is designed to complement whatever Italian food recipe is going to be used for the second course, the first course is where traditional Italian foods like pasta and gnocchi are served. Serving sizes are smaller than in the US (in order to preserve room for the next course) but it is still not minute, and is a tasty part of the meal.
4. Second Course
This is considered the main course. It consists most often of large chunks of meat that have been properly seasoned according to a traditional Italian food recipe. Meat may be chicken, fish, veal or beef depending on regional preferences. The main course is also served with a salad, known as the Contorno. In some areas this is considered a separate meal, but it is still served alongside the main cuisine.
5. Fruit
After eating, many families start with a small “dessert” of fruit or cheese, again chosen to complement the Italian food recipe. The type of cheese or fruit often varies by region and is simply meant to start the closing part of the meal.
6. Dessert
Once the fruit has been completed, the Italians will often serve a more traditional dessert, such as a large cake for the entire family to enjoy.
7. Coffee and Liquor
Italian meals often end with enjoying some type of coffee. The coffee presents a strong flavor, and is generally a major part of the eating tradition. After the coffee, however, many Italian families end with a dessert liquor or wine in order to reduce the effects of caffeine and end the night peacefully.
Enjoying Your Italian Meal
The traditional Italian meal is most often enjoyed on holidays and special events, and is spread out over a period of several hours. Each Italian food recipe is carefully selected, and the purpose of the entire evening is to enjoy the time you spend with family. Even if you are not of Italian descent, enjoying a meal in the Italian style is a great way to eat some delicious food and bond with your family.
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Famous Italian Food
November 21st, 2009The old saying “the Italian food is just composed of about twenty dishes” found at the Italian restaurants in the United States is quite false. Actually, Italian food has an extensive variety and it differs really throughout the world. The diverse regional Italian cuisines present in Italy takes cues from surrounding inhabitants and spices it up with a lot of local inspiration to offer the unique Italian cuisine. An attractive example of the famous Italian food is the cuisine from the area of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
This area has its border with the previously Soviet state of Yugoslavia, and has a lot of common traditions and customs including culinary trends. The famous Italian food of this area has an Austrian, Hungarian, Croatian, and Slovenian influence to it. The beer halls of this typical state reveal the most significant influences. Italian dishes for example Goulash and Viennese sausage are easily available here, goulash which formerly was a Hungarian dish, now acquired the unique Italian taste from this region. Goulash -has become an Italian dish which, among numerous other famous Italian foods, is extremely popular in this region and can easily be found in nearly in all restaurants within and outside of Italy. This particular famous Italian food constitutes a chunky beef stew and it includes fresh vegetables like onions and red peppers. It is generally served with pasta here (although with rice in Hungaria).
Another famous Italian food, the San Daniele del Friuli hams, are also of utmost importance in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and these hams are the staple food of the local population. This whole area is famous for its Italian sausages and bacon. The local soup, jota (pronounced yota), a specialty of this region, is usually prepared with bacon and beans. The pork used in this Italian dish is spicy which is really loved and liked by foreigners and tourists which usually are not familiar with this fiery product of Italian cooking. Though one might not associate sauerkraut with Italy, it’s common in Friuli, and is central to Jota, a simple, hearty bean and sauerkraut soup from Trieste.
But perhaps the most famous Italian food offered in this area is polenta. This is quite similar to American grits (grits are similar to porridge or oatmeal, but are closer to the Italian dish polenta) and includes boiled cornmeal and constitutes a major part of the Italian dishes of this region. Polenta can be served with cheese and meat dishes.
Some Italian staple food ingredients like dairy products are also among specialties of this region. The Montasio cheese which is well-known all over the world comes from this region. If you like Italian cuisine with heaps of cheese in it then this region is definitely for you.
Brovada is another famous Italian food from this region. Undoubtedly, this dish is very special to this area and believe it or not it is pickled turnip – sometimes called Turnip -Kraut It is made with red wine vinegar and often contains the wine marks from the bottom of the tank. The turnips are shredded before being macerated in the vinegar. It is really good and not “turnipy” at all.
Though this typical dish is not among famous Italian foods but still most of the people like it very much. Brovada is a dish that is very popular in Italy so it constitutes an important part of Italian cuisine.
