2012 was a year of abbondanza for Salumeria Italiana -- good products, great customers, and media recognition.  Feb 13, 2012, Andrew Zimmern of Travel Channel featured the North End and especially Salumeria Italiana on Bizarre Foods. Zimmern and a television crew came in the previous August to film his favorite foods. He raved about Coppa di Testa, head cheese filled with all the bits and pieces of pork he loves. He sampled our Olive Antipasto with seven different olive varieties, caper berries, pickled garlic, and sundried tomatoes. And he chatted with owner Gaetano and staff members. Coppa di Testa, usually sought out by older Italians, suddenly became a hot-selling item with customers coming from far and wide to taste what Andrew likes.

Spring 2012 brought an epiphany in super premium extra virgin olive oils. Gaetano read "Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil" by Tom Mueller, about authenticity and fraud in EVOO, and began a hunt for exquisite small-production extra virgin olive oils to offer our customers. 274th Il Novello from Sicily, Colonna Molise DOP from Molise, Le Amantine's Amantino, Taleo and Unico from Lazio, Garda Orientale DOP from the Veneto, and many more were added to our already impressive stock of EVOOs from all over Italy. We feel passionately that the extra virgin olive oil we sell must be the very best. And our customers rely on Salumeria Italiana to tell them about the oils, let them sample, and give them a good value for superior products. 

Many customers are very familiar with our retail store, coming in several times a week for bread, cheeses, meats, and other necessities. Others shop online for the best, but have never visited the store. This summer, a crew from Media Temple, our web host, chose Salumeria Italiana to be profiled in a video. It's a glimpse into the life of the store that everyone from Boston to Los Angeles to Texas to North Dakota can enjoy. http://player.vimeo.com/video/48766445

It's nice to know that taste testers for the Wall Street Journal agree with Salumeria Italiana on our Sweet Soppressata. In a  Dec. 7 Mini-Guide to Salami, our Alps Sweet Soppressata was chosen best in its category. All the salumi sold at Salumeria Italiana is tasted before purchasing to sell at the store, and each shipment is tasted to guarantee consistency. That way customers can feel confident that they are getting the very best product we can find. The article caused a run on Sweet Soppressata; luckily we keep a good supply of it. (And Alps Hot Soppressata is deliciozo, too).

As we say good-by to 2012, we offer hopes for a happy and prosperous 2013 for all !! Buon Anno!!!

2012 was a year of abbondanza for Salumeria Italiana -- good products, great customers, and media recognition.  Feb 13, 2012, Andrew Zimmern of Travel Channel featured the North End and especially Salumeria Italiana on Bizarre Foods. Zimmern and a television crew came in the previous August to film his favorite foods. He raved about Coppa di Testa, head cheese filled with all the bits and pieces of pork he loves. He sampled our Olive Antipasto with seven different olive varieties, caper berries, pickled garlic, and sundried tomatoes. And he chatted with owner Gaetano and staff members. Coppa di Testa, usually sought out by older Italians, suddenly became a hot-selling item with customers coming from far and wide to taste what Andrew likes.

Spring 2012 brought an epiphany in super premium extra virgin olive oils. Gaetano had read "Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil" by Tom Mueller, about authenticity and fraud in EVOO.  That set in motion a hunt for exquisite small-production extra virgin olive oils to offer our customers. 274th Il Novello from Sicily, Colonna Molise DOP from Molise, Le Amantine's Amantino, Taleo and Unico from Lazio, Garda Orientale DOP from the Veneto, and many more were added to our already impressive stock of EVOOs from all over Italy. We feel passionately that the extra virgin olive oil we sell must be the very best. And our customers rely on Salumeria Italiana to tell them about the oils, let them sample, and give them a good value for superior products. 

Many customers are very familiar with our retail store, coming in several times a week for bread, cheeses, meats, and other necessities. Others shop online for the best, but have never visited the store. This summer, a crew from Media Temple, our web host, chose Salumeria Italiana to be profiled in a video. It's a glimpse into the life of the store that everyone from Boston to Los Angeles to Texas to North Dakota can enjoy. http://player.vimeo.com/video/48766445

It's nice to know that taste testers for the Wall Street Journal agree with Salumeria Italiana on our Sweet Soppressata. In a  Dec. 7 Mini-Guide to Salami, our Alps Sweet Soppressata was chosen best in its category. All the salumi sold at Salumeria Italiana is tasted before purchasing to sell at the store, and each shipment is tasted to guarantee consistency. That way customers can feel confident that they are getting the very best product we can find. The article caused a run on Sweet Soppressata; luckily we keep a good supply of it. (And Alps Hot Soppressata is deliciozo, too).

Staff member Pietro LoPriore's wife Maria is a talented cook. Here is a light version of Tiramisu she makes for family and friends.

Ingredients

• 1 package Vantia Savoiardi (Italian Ladyfingers)
• 1 pound Polenghi Mascarpone (2 containers)
• 4 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups brewed Illy Dark Roast Ground Espresso
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup brandy or Amaretto
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder

Separate eggs, setting aside whites in a mixing bowl or copper bowl.  In a stand mixer or using a sturdy hand-held mixer, beat egg yolks with sugar for 5-10 minutes until thick and pale yellow. Add mascarpone and mix until creamy. Using a stand mixer or hand-held mixer, whip egg whites until stiff, about 5-6 minutes. Fold into egg-mascarpone mixture. Mix espresso with milk and brandy or Amaretto in a shallow, wide bowl. Dip ladyfingers in the coffee-milk mixture and lay them in a layer in a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Spread half the mascarpone-egg mixture over ladyfingers. Sprinkle with cocoa powder. Dip more ladyfingers into the coffee-milk and layer over mascarpone. Cover second layer of ladyfingers with mascarpone mixture. Sprinkle with cocoa. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving.

Tip: Don't dip ladyfingers too much. They should keep their shape in pan.

Recipe by Maria Lo Priore

For Swordfish

ingredients

• 1 1/2 Swordfish (1 inch thick and cut into 4 to 6 serving pieces)
• 1 cup Almond Flour or all-purpose flour
• Sea Salt and Black Pepper
• 2 tablespoons Olio Carli Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons Delitia Butter of Parma
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 2 lemons (juice and zest) plus extra slices for garnish
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Bomba Calabrese
• 2 tablespoons Capp Ars Capers, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons Italian flat parsley, chopped

For salad

Ingredients

• 1 head escarole (torn into bite-sized pieces)
• 2 tablespoons Badia a Coltibuono Red Wine Vinegar
• 3 Scalia Anchovy Fillets in Olive Oil, chopped into a paste
• 2 tablespoons Badia a Coltibuono Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Sea Salt and Black Pepper

For Swordfish: Place flour, salt and pepper on a plate, and dredge swordfish filets in flour. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over high heat, and cook swordfish in oil, flipping to brown both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Remove swordfish to a platter covered with paper towel to drain. Add butter, white wine, lemon juice and zest, and Bomba Calabrese to skillet and warm over low heat until butter melts. Add capers and parsley. Season with more salt and pepper if desired. Cook for about 1 minute until flavors combined. Place swordfish filets on warm plates and top with pan sauce. Garnish with lemon slices and rest of parsley. Serve with escarole salad. 

For Salad: Combine anchovies, red wine vinegar, and garlic in a medium bowl. Whisk in olive oil. Toss with escarole leaves. Season with salt and pepper.

Adapted from Mario Batali as seen on ABC's The Chew

Autumn is harvest season for Italy's bounty of olives. Fratelli Aprile, south of Scicli, Sicily, starts pressing Oct. 1 for the family's exceptional 274th Il Novello. Recently, we visited the Aprile groves and mill and were lucky enough to see the brothers in action. Their extra virgin olive oil is the essence of super premium. The olives are hand-picked from trees that are hundreds of years old, and the oil

pressed just yards from the trees. The 274th green-gold color reflects the freshness and pure olive-y nature of the oil. 

The brothers, Roberto and Daniele, decided when they took over operations in the late '90s to concentrate only on quality. That dedication to quality and careful controls is shown in every detail -- from the small size of the containers storing the oil to reduce oxidation, to the simple beauty of the labeling on 274th, Sesto and other oils they produce, to the sparkling, clean mill.  The brothers and their parents who still work in the mill are justifiably proud of their EVOOs.

And we at Salumeria Italiana are excited to offer the 2012 harvest of 274th Il Novello. Daniele Aprile says that this summer's hot daytime temperatures combined with cool nights points to an exceptionally good olive harvest. We think this crop of 274th is fantastic, and we think you'll think so, too. 

Because we love this EVOO and so do our customers, we placed an early order for 274th Il Novello and will be among the first stores in the United States to offer the new 2012 harvest EVOO. And, as you know, freshest is best in extra virgin olive oil.

The very best extra virgin olive oil is so simple and so essential – just pressed olives. So the quality and type of olive literally makes the oil. We asked Chef Raymond Gillespie, a man who knows a lot about extra virgin olive oil, to connect the olive to the EVOOs we love.

Q. Let’s start with EVOO pressed from one variety of olive, such as Le Amantine’s Unico.

A. Unico, as its name suggests, is pressed from only Frantoio olives. Because of this, you get a very well-defined expression of the olive. The flavor of the olive oil is dictated by two things: The olive itself, and when and how the olives are harvested and pressed.  In these Frantoio olives cultivated in northern Lazio, the olive flavor is dominated by volcanic rocks laid down millions of years ago. The flavor profile will be broadly described by its bright minerality.   These olives will have been picked early in the season (all olives start green and, depending on when they’re picked, end up dark to black).

Q. What about olives picked later in the season? Can you give us an example?

A. Late-harvest olives (when the olives are allowed to mature on the trees) will have a very different expression. One example would be Terre Bormane from Liguria, which could be described as olivey, fruity, even buttery.

The terroir, or terra, affects the oil, too. In northern Lazio, the olive trees would be more exposed to the elements whereas in Liguria the groves would be more protected by the mountains and proximity to the sea.

Q. Terroir or terra in Italian – it sounds like you’re describing wine.

A. A comparison to wine tasting gives a measurement when thinking about EVOO. Take two blended EVOOs – G. Calogiuri Affiorato from Apulia (Leccino and Cellina olives) and Le Amantine Talea ( Leccino and Frantoia)     Both blends using some of the same olives, but two very different flavors because it all comes down to soil, sun, and moisture, basically the land and its geography.

Q. Should you find an EVOO you like and stick with it?

A. No, you should never buy the same bottle twice in a row because you can get stuck in a rut. Try different EVOOs so that you can begin to understand the differences among them. Then you’ll have insight about flavors, textures, and terroir.

My motto: “May your thirst for knowledge never be quenched.”

A few weeks ago, Media Temple, which hosts our website, came in to video the store and staff members. Jon and Levi wanted to get a real-time feeling for what Salumeria Italiana is all about. They talked to Chris, the online manager who also cuts meats and cheeses, waits on customers and does almost everything else,  Chef Raymond, our guru on extra virgin olive oil and more, and Alison, who writes and produces Salumeria's Giornal-e, does social media, and more. And they got stunning shots of our store. It's worth a video break in your day!! http://player.vimeo.com/video/48766445

Salumeria Italiana is a small store, but it's packed with hundreds of products. Wonderful salumi from soppressatas to prosciuttos to cinghiale(wild boar) and all kinds of salamis. Delicious cheeses from the classic aged Parmigiano Reggiano to Crucolo to Moliterno al Tartufo to Robiola and dozens more. Olives, San Marzano DOP tomatoes, anchovies, capers, sea salt, breadsticks, rices, and much, much more. 

We try to offer as much as possible in our online store, excluding a few products that are too perishable to ship. And we try to add new foods as soon as possible after they come into the store. We're always getting exciting new foods in -- and if our staff is excited about a new extra virgin olive oil, a special wine vinegar, or even a delicate olive oil soap, we want to share that excitement. And Goni, our manager who does most of the ordering, also tries to make sure your favorites are replenished regularly.

Recently, a distributor brought in La Bonta Campania Bufala Mozzarella DOP shipped frequently from Italy. Our staff members tasted it, and the verdict was unanimous: This was a cheese that we had to offer. Although it costs a little more, the delicacy of its flavor and its smooth texture make it worth the difference. A summer delight, this mozzarella pairs beautifully with sun-kissed tomatoes, a drizzle of super-premium extra virgin olive oil, a few leaves of basil. Iconic, simple and perfect for any occasion. This will be online soon -- in the meantime, just call 800-400-5916, and we can send it to you. Or come in to pick it up. We're eager to share our exciting find with you!! 

The front windows of Salumeria Italiana showcase some of our wonderful foods. Here, Anastasia arranges Setaro Spaghetti, La Bella San Marzano Tomatoes and La Valle San Marzano DOP Tomatoes, Scalia Colatura di Alici, and other products in the sunny window. The other window displays beautiful breads from three local artisanal bakeries that are delivered soon after baking several times a day. In fact, some loaves, baked right down off Hanover Street, are still warm when the lucky customers carry them off. 

Right now, that window also emphasizes Italian pride in Italy's defeat of Germany to compete for the Euro Cup title. Go Italia!! We at Salumeria Italiana wear our hearts in our windows. Come by and see -- or order on online.