Italy: tomatoes good, coronation chicken bad.

As I start to write this post and recall my strong feelings towards the Italian tomato, I am wondering whether anyone has written a really good poem about a tomato.  There turn out to be a number.  In "I bought a pet tomato" Devang Gandhi wonders why his new pet can't catch a frisbee (derived from the banana version?).  The Washington Post posted a whole feature inviting tomato based poetry from its readers.  And over at the Poetry Showcase, Betty O'Neil notes that "Corporations can make their "ugly" tomato but when I bake I'll go farm to table."

After a week of Food Zombie behaviour in Italy (concentrated loafing alternated with preparing or eating meals), I firmly believe that an ugly tomato is a tasty tomato.  We spent 18 Euros on a weeks worth of amazing fresh fruit and veg from this grocer in Lucca, including a bagful of fresh porcini.

It was slightly miserable to return to the UK, where unless you have the luxury of an accessible farmers market, supermarket vegetables MUST LOOK IDENTICAL, come with 5 layers of packaging and little taste.  In contrast, the quality of the always-seasonal produce  in Italy is so high that you just need to throw things together to create an amazing meal.  In fact you could have zero technical cooking skills and provide gorgeous grub.  This weekend I heard a story about a friend of a friend this weekend who moved to Italy, spoke great Italian, was beautiful and lovely and was adored by all her neighbours. She invited them over for a party and served a range of traditional Italian dishes and salads. She also thought it would be fun to introduce them to Coronation Chicken, as you know a sweet curried chicken dish featuring almonds and raisins.  The HORROR! The Italians were aghast at such a strange dish, rejecting the combination of sweet, spicy and poultry as alien, outside their range and not to be touched.  Perhaps the UK's less strong food culture has allowed us to absorb the flavours and techniques of other cultures more easily.

So here are a few ideas for easily assembled dishes from an Italian repertoire:

The Ultimate breakfast

Jigsaw Caprese

Salad salad

Pasta pasta
Stuffed courgette flowers