The GREEK INFLUENCE ON SOUTHERN ITALY
 

EASY BECHAMEL SAUCE RECIPE


Can be used in Greek Moussaka or Northern Italian Lasagna recipes..........


Since the Greeks settled many of the southern Italian villages dating back to the 11th century, their cousine has intermingled with that of the regional Italian dishes.


My grandmother's mountain village in southern Italy's Basilicata Region was settled by the Greeks (they also navigated to the Island of Sicily.....right across the water from Naples region.


　
5 tablespoons butter


4 tablespoons all purpose flour


4 cups milk


2 teaspoons salt


1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (the nutmeg really makes the difference here)


　
In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted.


Add the flour and stir until smooth.


Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.


Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil.


Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth.


Bring to a boil.


Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat.


Season with salt and nutmeg, and set aside until ready to use.


Recipe courtesy Mario Batali

Senior citizen: You are right. In fact the Campania region had Greek origins and were eventually conquered by the Romans to what became Naples. My maternal and paternal grandparents emigrated from this region. My maternal grandfather was from Foggia with his wife from a small village nearby

My favorites to this date are Italian, Greek, Chinese and French dishes

I like your recipe

Thank you sir
 

Northern vs Southern Italian

DR. WINSTON BOOGIE'S QUESTION GOT ME TO WONDERING EXACTLY WHAT THE ITALIANS DID EAT IN THE EARLIER CENTURIES...........

Thank you Rubicon......

I knew from my earlier genealogy research, that Lucania (what Italy was once called) had been inhabited by many different types of people (please see earlier post)......my own ancestral town was home to the Greeks who built the castile (castle on top of the mountain, which still stands to this day.......Centuries later the mother church (chiesa madre) was built.....as the town developed, with the smaller church being lower down in the village. Now, the town has under 2,000 inhabitants & looks quite rugged & hilly to me. In some sections, it's as if time has stood still.

My ancestry was easy to track since this small mountain town had cousins & next door neighbors inter marrying......and, thanks to the excellent birth, marriage, death records required by NAPOLEON, these records are still available........listing for instance, not only the birth mother & father of the newborn, but the grandparents, the great grandparents, (as far back as they can go actually) the time of birth, the place of birth (strada/street) the witnesses who might just have been a shepherd or anyone passing by the home.....or a relative attending the birth.......the midwife, etc., etc. All fascinating.

My father always told me, "Grandma wasn't just Italian.....but she had French & Greek in her as well".....which I found to be true. Plus her blue eyes "clues".

My grandparents came from Laurenzana Potenza Basilicata region of southern Italy.

As you read below......I can't help remembering that my father always said that the pizza in America was NOT real pizza (ha ha) such as could be enjoyed in NAPLES, ITALY.....to him, the deep dish pizza of Napoli was the true pizza. That's only his opinion. As a kid, we never ever once had pizza......not until we were teens & could go to a pizza place on our own......for a "slice". Tasted fine to us.

INTERESTING READ BELOW:


""Within the one slender peninsula of Italy there exists a great variety of cuisines, and comparing Northern Italian and Southern Italian cuisine is a culinary exploration of plentiful tastes and textures. Divided by mountains and rivers, influenced by different cultures, and subject to different climates, the food varies from region to region. Italy’s cuisine is generally divided into Northern and Southern regions.

The regions included in Southern Italy are generally considered to be Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglio, Basilicata, Calabria, Sardinia and Sicily. The Southern region has cuisine that is more familiar to most of us as being characteristically Italian with its tomatoes and olive oil. (Although the tomato was actually a recent introduction, relatively speaking – it came from the New World after Columbus visited.) Peppers, olives, garlic, artichokes, oranges, figs, ricotta cheese, eggplants, zucchini, capers and fish like anchovies, sardines and tuna are all common to Southern Italian food.

The South is also known as being the best area for dried pasta. Dried pasta is made with unleavened flour and water. Fresh pasta, by comparison, is made with the addition of eggs. There are hundreds of varieties of pasta. Spaghetti, lasagna, fettuccine, capellini, fusilli, rotini and orecchiette are all familiar shapes of pasta. It is also home to many of the red pasta sauces, like marinara or puttanesca.

Lamb, pork and fish are more common proteins in the South than beef. The area tends to be poorer than its northern sibling, with terrain unsuited to raising cattle. Mozzarella di bufala, made from the milk of the water buffalo, is a cheese delicacy used commonly in Southern Italian cuisine, especially on the classic Pizza Margherita.

Pizza hails from the South, having originated in Naples. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana is dedicated to protecting and promoting real Neapolitan pizza worldwide. The Italian government has even stepped in, asking for recognition by the European Union. They decreed that true Neapolitan pizza should be made with risen dough cooked in a wood-fired oven. The recipe for the dough calls for wheat flour, yeast and natural water.

Central Italy is comprised of the regions of Toscana, Umbria, Marche and Lazio, home to the capital city of Rome. The coastal regions, with their hot summers, bear much in common with southern Italy. But inland there are mountains, home to saffron, truffles, corn meal and chestnuts.

Northern Italy consists of Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige, Lombardia, Valle d’Aosta, Peimonte and Liguria. Bordering continental countries like France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia, there is more influence from these cuisines and less of the Mediterranean fare more common further south. Rather than olive oil, butter is the cooking fat of choice. Pasta is used but it supplemented by rice and corn meal.

Rice was introduced, not from the New World, but by Arab traders entering Venice from the east. It is used most famously in risotto, a creamy slow-cooking rice dish. Corn meal, another introduction from the Americas, is used in polenta. Polenta is a boiled corn mush served as a side dish or main course accompanied by any number of ingredients.

The richer land of the northern regions leads to more cattle and hog farming, meaning that beef, veal and pork are more common than they are in the south. Conversely, lamb is less used. White creamy sauces are more common than tomato-based red ones for pasta. And the famous basil pesto hails from Liguria. It is the pureed combination of walnuts, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, fresh basil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Linguine, most commonly made fresh and not dried, is another Northern specialty, along with other pasta shapes like corzetti, trofie and the filled pasta ravioli. Gnocchi, popular throughout Italy, are small dumpling made from pasta dough or potato. (The potato is yet another introduced food from the New World.)

Many of the cooking ingredients famous in Italian cuisine hail from the north including Parmesan cheese, prosciutto, bologna and balsamic vinegar. Famous cheeses from the dairy-rich north include fontina, gorgonzola, taleggio, bel paese and asiago.

Though Tuscan chianti in its typical straw basket may be the most recognizable Italian wine, the entire country produces many different sorts of delicious wines. In the North, Trentino produces a significant amount of grappa, an Italian brandy. Friuli-Venezia-Guilia produces white wines. Piemonte produces some spectacular wines including Amarone, Barbaresco, Barolo and Dolcetto d’Alba.Central Italy has hundreds of thousands of acres devoted to growing grapes. Lambrusco, the softly sparkling red or white wine, hails from Emilia-Romagna. Moving south, Abruzzo is famed for Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, a red wine. Sicily and the South have been growing grapes since they were introduced by the Greeks some thousands of years ago.

Whether in Northern or Southern Italy, the cuisine and wine is rich in flavor and heritage.""