MAKE LIKE A CULINARY EXPERT: Develop relationships with the people who supply your food; take a pass on bagged salad mixes and buy enough fruit for only a few days

Use your eyes, not a list

SUSAN SEMENAK, THE GAZETTE

Maria Loggia is on a first-name basis with everybody at the grocery store. She gives her butcher a Christmas gift. And she never cheats on her favourite vendors at Jean Talon market.
“It’s the way Italians shop, says -Loggia, who runs the Italian cooking school Tavola Mia in Hudson.

"You have to be loyal. And you need to develop relationships with the people who provide your food,'" says Loggia, who recently took one of her classes on a whirlwind shopping tour ' through her favourite shops and market stalls in Little Italy "That's how you get good service. And then you can call ahead and ask the butcher for a special cut of meat. Or find out when the wild baby arugula is coming in from Italy."

"Before you know it, you're getting free bones for soups and stocks."

One of the great joys of Italy is roaming through the markets. In a country where eating is a national pastime, grocery shopping can amount to a full-time job. As editor Kay Halsey writes in The Food of Italy (Whitecap Books, 2000): "Stores open twice a day so you can buy once for lunch and then again for dinner"

And even the smallest village has at least one fruit and vegetable market, as well as its own enoteca for wine, macelleria for meat, salumeria for cured meats, and most likely a fishmonger, a bakery and a pastry shop, as well.

In Montreal, Loggia heads for the closest imitation: Little Italy.

Shopping the Italian way means relying on your eyes rather than a shopping list. When Nino Marcone of Chez Nino in Jean Talon Market holds forth a handful of just-foraged giant, earthy matsutake mushrooms from James Bay, you know instinctively that you're not having spaghetti with meat sauce for supper any more.

As Marcella Hazan, the prima donna of la cucina italiana puts it her cookbook Marcella Cucina (HarperCollins, 1997) : "We go to a food market with one of two objectives: either to buy what we have already decided to cook, or to choose what, on that day, might be desirable to cook."

Here are a few tips from Loggia and her favourite vendors:

About bread:

No Italian meal is ever served without bread, and ideally, Italians buy bread on a daily basis. Otherwise, it should be frozen immediately, wrapped first in paper bags and then in sealable plastic freezer bags, to prevent sogginess.

To serve bread that's been frozen, Loggia pops it into a 225 degrees F oven for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.

Choose ciabatta, the dense, flat loaves with squared or rounded edges for sandwiches or bruschetta. They hold olive oil and toppings better. Large, round pagnotti loaves boast a coarse, airier texture that makes them perfect alongside soups and saucy dishes.

About veal:

Veal is one of the most popular of meats in Italy. Young, milk-fed veal is ideal for scaloppini, which need very little cooking. Look for pale and slightly rosy meat cut from the leg, for tenderness. To keep their shape during cooking, escalopes should be sliced across the grain. And no thicker than two millimetres, insists Luciano Galluccio, a butcher at Milano Fruiterie et Épicerie Fine.

For osso bucco, he says, choose veal shanks that are at least 3 to 4 centimetres thick, with a high proportion of meat to bone. Call ahead and ask the butcher to tie each shank with string around its middle, so they remain flat during the lengthy braising time.

About cured meats:

What's antipasto without a little prosciutto, a few slices of salami? Whenever possible, choose cured meats imported from Italy, even though they are considerably more expensive. They are salted and air-dried and don't contain the nitrates found in most mass-produced, Canadian-made facsimiles.

Of course, there's prosciutto from Parma, or the famous San Daniele from Friuli. (Avoid buying end pieces, which are very salty and too chewy) But there are other sublime Italian cured meats, such as the delicate and less salty bresaola, a dark red cured raw beef from northern Lombardy that's delicious cut wafer thin and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Don't buy too much, though. Sliced prosciutto and bresaola begin to dry up and lose their flavour after more than two or three days in the fridge, no matter how well wrapped.

About olives:

There's more in the olive grove than kalamata. Italians love spicy Sicilian olives and the mild and crisp, bright green Cerignola olives from Puglia.

About cheese:

Parmigiano-Reggiano is the king of Italian cheese. But be sure to get the real thing. Look for the word "Reggiano" stamped in pinpricks on the rind to know it's authentic, aged for a minimum of two years within well-defined geographic boundaries. Never, but never, buy ready-grated Parmesan. And don't throw away the rind; use it to enhance the flavour of stocks and soups.

About pasta:

When to buy fresh (fresca), when dried (secca)? Dried pasta is usually paired with heartier sauces, southern dishes with tomatoes, or meat or chunky vegetable sauces with eggplant, capers. etc. Loggia's favourite brands: Barilla, Delverde and DeCecco.

For really special dishes, she likes the "nice bite" of artisanal, hand-made dried pasta.

Fresh pasta is more delicate and best suited to creamy sauces as well as simple sauces without too many ingredients, allowing the pasta itself to shine. Also excellent for lasagna and stuffed pasta dishes. Then there's the question of long vs. short. Long, thin noodles are best for simple tomato and seafood and olive-oil based sauces.

Short pasta shapes with wide openings or deep ridges trap meat or chunkier sauces.

About canned tomatoes:

For soups and pasta sauces, canned whole tomatoes are an indispensable staple in the Italian pantry. When her favourite brands, Vitale and Aurora, go on sale she stocks up by the caseful. She passes them through a food mill herself just before using. Never buy varieties with herbs and spices added; they play havoc with Italian recipes.

As for tomato paste, minimize waste by opting for tubes rather than small cans. Try triple concentrate Mutti Triplo Concentrato di Pomodoro for amazing intensity of flavour and no tinny taste.

About fresh produce:

Forget bagged salad mixes. They spoil quickly and are often too bland for the Italian palate. Instead, suggests Nino Marcone of Chez Nino's produce stall; mix your own blend of tender lettuce leaves with bitter greens such as cicoria (dandelion), purple- red radicchio or peppery arugula.

When choosing fresh fruit, don't be afraid to touch and taste. Plums, for example, are ripe if they "have a little give" when poked.

At Marché Tania in Jean Talon market, co-owner Egidio Abate says he's happy to let customers try figs, peaches, or melons before buying. "It's the only way to tell a sweet and juicy peach from a pulpy, tasteless one," he says.

He recommends buying only enough fruit for two or three days: “Leave two in the fridge and one on the counter for eating the same day” Most fruits have been refrigerated in transport, so they need a day, or at least a few hours, at room temperature before they're at their best.

ssemenak@thegazette.canwest.com

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