Welcome back! It’s time for the first post – and deep dive – into the country where I was born, even if I’m starting with the opposite end of it. I have such fond memories of the food my family and my mom would cook for me at home. Even though we lived in Austria where my mom got her degree and my family is part of the German-speaking minority in Alto Adige, she would almost only cook Italian food (with the exception of Knödel and Spätzle).
Wanting to challenge myself and not just ask my mom for her personal recipe book, I decided to start Italy from the opposite end – the very south. (I guess you could argue the islands might be the opposite end but I’m the one choosing the narrative so you dear reader will have to deal with it 😇)
Back to the topic at hand – Italian food hardly needs an introduction. In most of the western world (the only world I can attest to), Italian restaurants are everywhere to be found – in varying degrees of authenticity and quality. Due to this variation, my mom and I only have 2-3 restaurants we go to for Italian-style-dishes because with many restaurants we will leave with the following opinion in the words of my mother: “das hätte ich zu Hause besser geschafft” (I would have done this better at home).
Note: this applies to Italian restaurants in Austria – when we’re in Italy we actually eat out quite a lot.
As for the cook day itself:
Figuring it out
I decided to split Italy into 5 regions, since doing all 20 regions seemed a bit excessive – although I might come back to it at a later time. The regions are as follows: Northwest, Northeast, Central, Southern, Islands.
Today I’m cooking food from the South – in which the website Ricette Regionali was a godsend because it allowed me to see where the recipes are typically made. Of course, there’s many many recipes that are made all over Italy but I’m trying to make them according to their place or origin – such as pesto genovese being from Genova, or pizza napoletana being from Naples.
The Italian states we will be visiting today are from north to south: Abbruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria. I wasn’t quite able to fit in a dish from every state but I tried to represent the region as well as possible.
This week’s menu (2025/07/20)
The Dishes:
Italian food is quite “strict” in its separation of dishes, so I tried to follow the classic Italian meal structure, as shown below.
Antipasto: Caprese (Campania)
This simple starter is really just fresh buffalo mozzarella with good quality tomatoes, olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and a bit of basil. To get the maximum flavor from the tomato, I decided to sprinkle them with salt a few minutes before assembling and serving the dish.
Primo Piatto: Spaghetti al nero di seppia: (Calabria)
One of my all-time favorite Italian dishes! Spaghetti with a creamy sauce of squid, tomatoes and given its signature black color from the ink of the squids. If you’re at all squeamish about seafood, try this dish and you will never go back.
Secondo Piatto: Pesce Spada con Sammurigghiu: (Calabria)
This grilled swordfish dish is a perfect summer main with its refreshing topping of lemon, olive oil, oregano, garlic and parsley.
Contorno: Insalata Abruzzese (Abruzzo)
This salad dish is a great side, generally made with a mix of veggies, tuna and beans. Since I had already made two fish dishes I skipped the tuna in this iteration, but it was still delicious.
Dolce: Torta di Mandorle: (Molise)
To close out the dishes I made this almond cake, entirely without flour or chemical leaveners. Make sure to cake-test it, as it was still a bit raw inside when I pulled it!
Man I love Italian food and the south really shines with its seafood. I don’t really have anything more to say, other than do definitely try this.
Some honorable mentions that didn’t make it by a hair: Spaghetti alle Vongole (little clams) from Campania and Branzino al Forno (also Campania) – The Branzino mainly because it’s summer and if I’m given the choice between firing up the grill or the oven when it’s hot outside, the oven will always lose.
Cook Time: 2-3 hours, Budget: about 60 Euros, Research Time: 6-7 hours
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