Breaking Away (1979) was one of those great movies that never really made it beyond Sunday television, only grossing a miserable $17,000 on its opening night. Nevertheless it left the world a better place with a wider, sympathetic and humorous view of Italian culture at a time when the ‘Mob’ and ‘Made’ tough guys were all we knew.
The idea of ‘eenni’ food in today’s bleak and humourless, puritan, progressive world is unthinkable. It would surely be flagged as culinary racism and cancelled before arriving at a theatre near you. But in its own charming and lighthearted way, Breaking Away went some way towards introducing alternate cultures into what was then a cultural desert in 1970s Midwest USA. A good thing, si ?
One of the funniest dialogues in the movie is from a scene in the kitchen between Raymond (Dad), a used car salesman from Idaho, and his wife Evelyn, who is preparing dinner while humming an Italian tune. When Raymond asks his wife what’s for dinner…
Evelyn: It’s sautéed zucchini.
Raymond: It’s I-tey food.I don’t want no I-tey food.
Evelyn: It’s not. I got it at the A&P. It’s like…squash.
Raymond: I know I-tey food when I hear it! Its all them “eenni” foods… zucchini…and linguini…and fettuccine. I want some American food, dammit! I want French fries!
Grissini
Those thin little Italian breadsticks they charged you for whether you ate them or not, found in the middle of every red and white chequered Italian trattoria and ristorante table in days gone by.
Grissini were originally developed in Turin, Italy in the seventeenth century for medicinal purposes for Duke Vittorio Amedeo the second of Savoy, who had tummy issues. They went on to become popular worldwide.
Napoleon Bonaparte, an early fan of Grissini, referred to them as “les petits batons de Turin” or little sticks of Turin, and had a regular supply sent up to Paris by coach.
Great as finger food at events or just noshing at home instead of those greasy supermarket chips.
Ingredients:
- Bread flour # 2 (if obtainable) x 500 grams
- Olive oil x 70 grams
- Butter x 50 grams
- Salt x 12 grams
- Dry yeast x 5 grams
- Gluten powder x 20 grams
- Water x 300 grams
For sprinkling:
- Sea salt
- Sesame seeds
- Poppy seeds
- Chilli flakes
Method:
Put dry ingredients into mixer with hook, mix for a minute; slowly add water and then the butter in small cubes one at a time. Mix for at least 7 minutes once everything is added to build the gluten net within the dough. Remove roll into a tight ball and return to mixing bowl, cover with a towel and leave to rise in a warm place.
Once risen, roll out into a large rectangular shape to thickness of about 5 millimetres. Ensuring surface is well dusted with flour, using a pizza wheel (cutter), cut into grissini size sticks. Brush with water, sprinkle with your choice of topping, place on baking paper on an oven tray and leave to rise for an hour.
Preheat oven to 200 Celsius. Now to get things crispy or put crust on your bread, professional ovens give you a steam option for a burst of steam at the start of baking. As most of us don’t have a steam option we can do a ‘jury rig’ steam option by placing some aluminium foil on bottom of oven with sides slightly folded up. When oven is at required heat and you have placed the bread in it, you tip a small amount of water from the bottom of a glass onto the foil, which will generate a cloud of steam as it evaporates. Once steam is done, 10-15 seconds, reduce oven temperature to 160 Celsius and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Remove to cool.
Buon appetito! and enjoy. Grissini comes with a warning, Eat with Caution. These are better than chips so you will have to pace yourselves or expect to put on some weight.
Around the world the Jewish festival of Passover or Pessach will be celebrated in a couple of weeks, so the next couple of posts will offer some simple but tasty Passover compliant recipes.
Shalom V Lihitraot.
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