An Italian Education : Tim Parks

I first discovered Tim Parks when I read "A Season With Verona" where he spoke about Italian culture through the lens of football, specifically his local team Hellas Verona. Parks is an English expat who resides, with his family in a small town outside of Verona and, whilst I have little interest in football in general, and even less in Italian football, I thoroughly enjoyed his keen observations and his sense of humour. Based on this, I was keen to read "An Italian Education" which again offers insight into Italian culture but this time through the lens of children and family.

Whilst the previous book spoke to issues of nationalism and racism, the subjects of "An Italian Education" are more domestic – childbirth, education, buying property, fishing, adultery, family and seaside holidays to name a few. The strength of the this book, as with the "A Season With Verona" is that whilst Parks has a sharp eye for detail, he has a gentle wit so that whilst being acutely aware of the foibles of Italian culture he is perceptive and often very funny but never mocking.

 

 

I particularly enjoyed the chapters on the seaside holidays where Parks' descriptions of the beachgoers, the rows of deck chairs and umbrellas and the kiosks were absolutely reminiscent of my own experience of an Italian beach holiday. I was very tempted to match this book with a pizza pie recipe I have adapted from a Delicious magazine which really matched the casual beach mood of my favourite chapters. Their recipe uses shortcrust but in my version I use a sheet of shop bought puff pastry. I mix up tomato paste, olive oil, garlic and brush this over the pastry. I then score the pastry into 9 equal squares (3 x3). From here, you can pretty much do what you want. A circle of salami topped with a few rings of red onion and some black olives can fill one square, a cross of anchovies and some more black olives on another, sliced mushrooms and bocconcini on a third, sautéed leeks and gorgonzola on another.....or just sprinkle your favourite toppings over the entire surface, top with cheese and into the oven until the pastry is puffed and golden, the cheese melty and delicious. This is a great dish if you have kids or even grown up fussy eaters – each person can design their own squares!

In the end though, as risotto is a staple dish in the Veneto and Verona and I had a recipe I wanted to try I decided that my "primo piatti" would be a mushroom risotto – this recipe adds all the liquid at the start which, I had some doubts about, but worked quite well. To make this more "beachy" you could take any cold left over risotto and roll it into small balls. Then roll these in breadcrumbs and fry in hot oil until the crumb is golden and crispy. Serve these piled high in a bowl with lemon wedges and some chilli aioli. With a glass of ice cold beer or a crisp Soave these would be the perfect fare to snack on whilst lying on your deck chair and people watching at an Italian beach resort....or anywhere!

 

Creamy Mushroom and Thyme Risotto (adapted from The Age)

Place a packet of dried forest mushrooms in boiling water to soak for at least an hour.

Place 3 cups of chicken stock, the cup strained mushroom liquid, ½ cup of white wine and 1 ½ cups of Arborio rice in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often until almost all the liquid has evaporated and the rice is softened but still firm in the centre.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add 20g mushrooms of your choice, the rehydrated mushrooms, a chopped clove of garlic and a tbsp of thyme leaves. Cook until the mushrooms are softened and glossy. Add the mushrooms to the rice and cook a further 2 minutes over low heat, stirring the mixture often.

Add 50g cream cheese (I actually used gorgonzola) cut into small cubes and stir until the cheese melts. Top with grated parmesan, some fresh thyme leaves and serve.