Episode 23: My Calabria – Calabrian Cooking & More with Rosetta Costantino

Hosts Sara, Michelle, & Jessica talk about the recent building collapse at Pompeii, Berlusconi’s latest comments that are drawing attention, and a new charge against Amanda Knox. Later, we’re joined by author Rosetta Costantino, author of the new cookbook My Calabria, who will share her love of Calabrian cooking with us.

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Special Guest:
Rosetta Costantino
Rosetta Costantino (@RosettaCalabria on Twitter) is the author of the new cookbook, My Calabria: Rustic Family Cooking from Italy’s Undiscovered South. She was born and raised in Verbicaro, Calabria until her family moved to California when she was fourteen. In 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle did a story on her family called “Calabria from Scratch — Foods of Calabria,” which showed Rosetta just how much interest there is in Calabrian cuisine . . .  and so My Calabria, the cookbook, was born. Rosetta also now does culinary tours to Calabria, which include cooking classes.

GIVEAWAY: As promised, we are giving away a copy of Rosetta’s My Calabria to one lucky listener. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to listen to the podcast and then comment here with an answer to this question:

Based on Rosetta’s interview, what aspect of Calabria or Calabrian cuisine are you most interested in exploring further?

Note the contest will run until November 22nd, and is open only to those with North American shipping addresses by the publisher’s restrictions.

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    • to be passionate about something

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10 Comments

  1. Leslie Vincent
    Reply

    I visited Rome, Panzano and Florence recently and fell in love with the different cuisines of the areas. I have tried to reproduce some of the dishes that I experienced in Italy and have had some successes. Having a first taste of Italy, I would love to experience more of the varied local traditional dishes prior to my eventual return to Italy. Calabria would be a perfect place to learn about the cuisine of southern Italy and how the local produce there influences the local cooking.

    Living in Louisiana, we eat things that most people are not familiar with such as crawfish, boudin, gumbo, jambalaya, couche-couche just to name a few. Therefore I feel that I can appreciate the variety of foods that Calabrians are noted for.

    Leslie Vincent

  2. GF
    Reply

    Great podcast. It hits close to home as part of my family is from Calabria. A very underestimated region, but maybe we can keep that one for ourselves. 😉

    Right on Rosetta. Your idea for a cooking show has me thinking…

  3. Gail Brown
    Reply

    My next trip to Italy will be to Calabria so I can’t wait to discover what’s in store for me. Where should I go, what should I look for when I’m there? I’m very curious to know what are those ingredients that every Calabrian cook should have in her/his pantry. As a fan of salumi, this aspect of the regional cuisine intrigues me. As a lover of eggplant, I would love to learn more about the ubiquitous preserved eggplant.

  4. Jere Brown
    Reply

    My interest is in understanding the regional differences of Italian cuisine. Calabrian cooking seems to be very unique and, as in many other regions, dictated by local ingredients. It is great that there are authors who are willing to focus and deal in depth with regional specialties rather than try to cover more recipe geography just to appeal to a broader base of readers/cooking enthusiasts. We need more books like Rosetta’s!

  6. Michelle @ Italian Mama Chef
    Reply

    I love the idea of recipes with simple ingredients and easy to make. I love cooking and want to keep learning different regional dishes of Italy besides what I learned from my own Italian family. I have some dried peperoncini from my garden and I just don’t know what to do with it! Help!!! I need this cookbook!

  7. Pat
    Reply

    I always enjoy these pod-casts! I listened tonight while I made pie doughs for Thanksgiving. As the wife of a Calabrian I am always looking for authentic recipes. My mother-in-law taught me many by the “watch and learn” method, which Rosetta spoke about, but sadly she passed away many years ago. I am always looking for the elusive baby eggplants stuffed with a potato bread mixture that my husband’s town in Reggio Calabria makes. It seems they are very specific to his town, and a few nearby, like Siderno. I try many combinations but nothing tastes as good as what my mother-in-law made. They also make a semolina flour and potato yeast dough bread which they twist around an anchovy and fry. It was a savory holiday treat, and so good! I’d love to win Rosetta’s cookbook as I’d love to learn more about preserving foods. It’s definitely on my amazon.com wish list for Christmas!

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