Marc Forgione – FORGE

Marc Forgione is a good friend of our family. He went to college with my brother Mike and after graduating Marc, my brother and a few other buddies backpacked through Europe (Edgar, Lou, Steve and Jay.) I had to include all their names or I would have gotten an email or 2! They had a memorable few days in Bologna sleeping on my couch and floor and a very interesting experience at the Pronto Soccorco that involved a few stitches for Steve, they also made a stop at my Aunt’s place in Lucerne and another stop in Calabria to visit my grandparents.

Back to Marc: Marc is a top chef in New York City and was most recently the executive chef for the BLT Restaurant Group. He is opening a new restaurant next week called FORGE located at 134 Reade Street in NYC. I’ll post the menu once Marc gives me the ok, which includes a special item direct from my grandparents’ farm in Calabria!

If you’re in the city anytime soon, make sure to stop by FORGE…. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Here’s Marc and his father Larry Forgione (If you know anything about chefs and restaurants, you might recognize the name) on the Today Show yesterday with Ann Curry. What are they making? Pizza Rustica! My brother the home-chef already chimed in that he should brush some butter on the top to give it a golden brown finish. I’m wondering how he was allowed to make it outside of Easter?? I thought that was against the rules. However, I love the idea! Why limit it to once a year?

P.S. -Does anyone recognize the name Forgione outside of chefs and cooking? ring a bell? A southern Italian saint maybe? that’s right, Padre Pio’s birth name was Francesco Forgione and he happens to be Marc’s great great Uncle.

Giovanni’s Italian Pastry Shop

It was E’s birthday yesterday and it was a great reason to have a few treats from my sister and brother-in-law’s bakery (as if we need a reason:) Antonio (Tony), my brother-in-law came to the US from Bracigliano (SA) when he was 16. Along with his brother Bruno, they make lots of amazing dolci and other Italian specialties. Here are a few photos of what they have on the menu.

Sfogliatelle & Canoli… Mmmmmm! Two of my favorites but that’s not all they have.

Taralli
Pizzelle
Italian Cookies
Breads, Cakes, Pies
Yoga fruit juice
San Pellegrino limonata (someone asked me about this a while ago and I finally tried it!)
Wedding Cakes and more.
So if you’re ever in Agawam, MA… make sure you stop by to say hello.
PS – Six Flags New England is in Agawam:)

Day of the Pig

If you ever get the chance to experience “the day of the pig” in Italy (mostly southern Italy), I would highly recommend it. It’s not officially called “the day of the pig,” I actually just made that up but many Southern Italian families, my nonni and zii included, will raise a pig each year for one purpose……to make sopressata, salsiccia and capicola. For families that take part in this yearly process it’s like a holiday. Families get together, eat, drink and make their sopressata, capicola and salsiccia for the year. A bit of advice though, the first part, the part between when the pig is alive and then NOT alive… is not for the squeamish, so if you do get to experience this process I would recommend starting after that part.

Here in the States we don’t have the space to raise a pig, not to mention the neighbors may find it a bit odd but it doesn’t stop us from making these Italian specialties each year. Every winter, we carve out a weekend when we’re all available to help because as my dad says with his thick Italian accent… “no work, no eat!” and nobody wants that! This past Saturday, we all went to my parent’s house to make our salumi and all the delicious recipes that go along with it. As usual, we ate too much and had our share of homemade vino but it’s all part of the experience and I wouldn’t want to miss it. My brother and I have really tried to step it up in the last few years knowing full well that if we don’t learn how to make all these traditional Italian foods that we’ve grown up with, we may not be able to enjoy them someday. Here are a few pictures from, “the day of the pig.” I will have more details on the process itself on Italyville.com when it launches….. it’s coming, I promise!!