Italian Vegetable Garden. Rosalind Creasy
Cut the remaining heart, or bottom, into bite-size pieces and relish it.
Artichokes
In Italy artichokes are also incorporated into many cooked dishes. Very young and tender buds are lightly trimmed and used whole or cut up. If the bud is more mature, the outside leaves and tough outer material is removed, the meaty center is quartered, and the choke is removed. Cut-up pieces are then cooked with other vegetables such as asparagus, fava beans, or peas and served as a side dish (as they do in Sicily) or combined with tomatoes and served over pasta (as is popular in many parts of southern Italy). Morsels of artichokes are added to pizza; combined with marjoram, parsley, and garlic in frittatas; incorporated into risotto and pasta sauces; and included in a creamy tart of puff pastry (as they serve it in Genoa); or pureed and made into a spread for bread or folded into soufflés. When fried whole, artichokes can be flattened out to look like a star and then fried again, as is done in the Jewish Quarter of Rome.
Young, tender artichokes are a treat when eaten raw. Pieces are dipped in olive oil as part of an antipasto; in pinzimonio, raw artichokes are sliced paper thin and served in olive oil, salt, and pepper.
ARUGULA
(rucola) Eruca vesicaria
RUSTIC ARUGULA
(rucola selvatica, wild arugula)
E. selvatica
(Diplotaxis tenuifolia)
Arugula leaves are lobed, pungent, and nutty and taste a bit like horseradish. The most common arugula is the domesticated milder one; however, there is another, usually called rustic arugula, that is perennial and has a more intense flavor.
HOW TO GROW: The standard arugula is grown in cool weather in early spring and again in the fall. The plants are short-lived; they get quite spicy and will go to seed in hot weather. Rustic arugula is a tender perennial, that, if started in spring and kept cut back, grows throughout the summer and fall and even winters over in mild-winter areas. Common arugula is planted in the fall for a winter harvest in these same mild climates. For both types, broadcast seeds over rich soil in a sunny area of the garden and lightly cover them with soil, or plant them in flats for transplanting into the garden. In cold climates, in the fall, plant common arugula in a cold frame or green house for winter salads. For succulent growth keep arugula well watered and fertilize lightly. Both arugulas have few pest and disease problems. Harvest individual leaves or cut back the plant and leave a few inches of growth for a cut-and-come-again crop. Common arugula comes back more quickly than the rustic one. Arugula flowers attract beneficial insects, so I keep them blooming for much of the spring. If allowed to go to seed, both arugulas reseed readily in your garden and behave as “wild greens.”
VARIETIES
Arugula: 40 days, lobed green leaves, plants grow to 1 foot (0.3 m) tall, white flowers
Wild Rustic Arugula (Italian wild arugula, Sylvetta): 55 days, finely cut leaves, plants grow to 8 inches (20 cm), yellow flowers
HOW TO PREPARE: When only 2 or 3 inches (5 or 8 cm) tall, and still very mild, arugula leaves can be used in fairly large amounts to add a peppery and nutty flavor to a mixed green salad, misticanza, or a bread salad. Combine them with other assertive greens, especially the fall and winter ones, like chicories and mustards, and complement them with strong cheeses, capers, prosciutto, anchovies, olives, and fruit. Sprinkle young leaves of arugula over a plate of carpaccio or sliced tomatoes and serve with paper-thin fennel drizzled with olive oil, or put them in a sandwich instead of lettuce. Boiled potatoes dressed with olive oil and garlic and sprinkled with arugula and other herbs make a wonderful dish.
Arugula
Parboiled arugula can be sautéed with anchovies, garlic, and olive oil or combined with cooked white beans and served over pasta. Arugula leaves can be added to pizzas, frittatas, and soups. When the leaves become more pungent, use arugula sparingly as an herb in a mixed salad, sauce, or dressing. Long after the leaves have become too strong to use, the flowers are great in salads or as a garnish.
Sweet basil
BASIL
(basilico) Ocimum basilicum
Basil is an annual herb that glories in hot weather and withers after a light frost.
HOW TO GROW: Plant basil in a sunny site in fertile, well-drained soil with a high amount of organic matter. Start basil seeds inside a month before your weather warms up in spring or use transplants from the nursery. Keep the plants fairly moist during the growing season. If your soil is not very fertile, feed every six weeks. Harvest the leaves by hand or with scissors. Keep the flower heads continually cut back, or the plant will go to seed and give you few leaves.
VARIETIES
Fine Green (Piccolo Verde Fino): dwarf plants to 1 foot (0.3 m), small leaves, compact shape great for edging beds, flavor great for pesto
Genovese: tall, slow to bolt, large dark green leaves, intense spicy basil fragrance; ‘Genovese Compact’ is about half as tall and good for small gardens or containers
Lettuce Leaf (O. basilicum var. crispum): 85 days, very productive, large crinkled leaves
Mammoth (Mostruoso): very large leaves, sweet and spicy, similar to lettuce-leafed basil but not as crinkly and has larger leaves
HOW TO PREPARE: The aromatic leaves of basil are used fresh in soups, salads (including panzanella, a rustic salad made with slightly stale bread and vegetables), bruschetta, and pesto. It is sometimes tucked in sandwiches instead of lettuce. In Italy basil flavors minestrone, sandwiches, marinara, zucchini frittata, and fresh and marinated mozzarella.
BEANS
(fagioli rampicanti: pole beans; fagioli nani: bush beans; fagiolini: snap beans) Phaseolus vulgaris
FAVA BEANS
(fave) Vicia faba
Beans are beloved in Italy. Italians use the standard cylindrical green beans, but they also favor broad, flat green and yellow beans called romano beans and the coiled ones called anellino beans. These beans seem to have a richer flavor than most green-bean varieties and are worth seeking out. Shelled beans are also widely grown in Italy, particularly the white kidney-shaped cannellini and the lovely red-speckled borlotto. Use them fresh or dried.
Ancient Romans relied on the broad fava beans as one of their staples. In Italy the special sweetness of these beans is prized, particularly when they are harvested very young. Favas are still very flavorful when fully mature, but their skins must be peeled off before preparation—and this is a real labor of love.
Fava beans
HOW TO GROW: Beans are grown as annuals and do well in most climates. Plant snap and shelling beans after all danger of frost is past; the purple and wax varieties can tolerate colder soil than the green snap bean. All beans need full sun and a good, loose garden loam with plenty of added humus. Sow seeds of bush beans 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep in rows 18 inches (46 cm) apart. Thin seedlings to 2 inches