Michela Chiappa - Simply Italian: Cooking at Home with the Chiappa Sisters

This is a nonsense poem our Nonno used to tell us as kids. It always made us giggle and we thought it would be a perfect introduction to our book, memories of fun family times in the Chiappa household.

Mezza notte in punto,

una giornata splendida.

Il sole cadeva a grande falde,

la neve con i suoi raggi possenti

riscaldava la terra.

Io e te eravamo in tre.

Eravam seduti su un grosso

sassolino di legno al chiaror di una candela spenta

leggevamo un libro senza parole.

Vedemmo un cadavere vivente,

che allontanandosi si avvicinava.

Io presi paura e salii su un fico

mangiando delle prugne.

Il padron delle zucche

mi morse con un coltello

senza manico e mancante la pura lama.

E mi disse:

Muori ho scellerato che hai mangiato

lo zucchero salato!

It was precisely midnight,

A beautiful sunny day.

The sun was falling down in large flakes,

The snow with its powerful rays

Warming up the earth.

You and me together made three.

We sat on a huge wooden pebble,

In the faint glimmer of a burnt-out candle

We read an unwritten novel.

We saw a living corpse,

Disappearing, it still edged closer.

Struck with fear I climbed a fig tree

Whilst eating some plums.

The pumpkin farmer

Bit me with a knife

Missing its handle and its razor-sharp blade.

And he said to me:

Die, you truthful liar,

Because you have eaten the salty sugar!

To our cooking mentors, teachers and inspiration: our nonne and Mum

Wales and Italy, family and food. For us, these four things are inextricably linked and at the root of our upbringing. Whether at our family home in Wales or on holiday in the small hilltop village in northern Italy where we are from, we have always heard Dad say that la tavola (the table) is the central focus of our lives its where we cook, eat and socialize.

The three of us Michela, Emanuela and Romina grew up living in what some might call an entourage, a brood or even a clan of family in the Welsh valleys near Merthyr Tydfil. Our first home was a set of terraced houses on the side of a hill overlooking Merthyr Tydfil, where Dad had grown up with his own aunts, uncles and cousins. We later moved into one long farmhouse with interconnecting doors, with views of Aberdare. We were in one house, where our Mum and Dad, Paola and Graziano, still live. Next door is our Uncle Laz (Dads brother), his wife Giulia and their two daughters Antonella and Grazia, and next to them lived our Italian grandparents, Nonno Pino and Nonna Luisa.

Nonno Pino came from a tiny village called Pilati on the top of the Apennine Mountains in Emilia Romagna between Bardi, Bedonia and Borgo Val di Taro. He lived off the land through seasonal farming jobs such as lumber jacking, carpentry and goat or pig farming basically, anything he could put his hands to!

Our Nonna came from a middle-class family. She would often tell us how Nonno hadnt wanted to marry her; he said he had nothing to give her and therefore she couldnt marry him. He would say, Im a simple farmer and all I do is dig holes for potatoes. Her loving response was, Well then, you can dig the hole and Ill be there to place the potato. They soon married.

WALES and ITALY, FAMILY and FOOD.
For us, these four things are inextricably linked and at the root of our upbringing.

Our motto is:
ITALIAN FLAVOUR, BRITISH STYLE.

After World War II ended, Italy was in the midst of a financial depression and many Italians emigrated abroad to find better opportunities. When Dad was three years old, Nonno and Nonna decided to follow many other Bardigani to Wales, where there was already a thriving Italian community. Nonno was a plumber and, although he didnt speak a word of English, he managed to earn a decent living working for the Italian families and never had reason to learn the language!

Our grandparents, like most people at that time, had to live a simple life but even with the most basic ingredients Nonna always rustled up delicious, hearty Italian meals. La cucina povera (peasant food) can be a rich feast if you know how! She developed clever substitutes for ingredients that they couldnt afford a block of Cheddar, for example, air-dried for several weeks until it is as hard as rock, can be used instead of Parmesan. Obviously the real thing is preferable but Nonna used to say that you have to make the best of what you can afford.

Our other grandparents, on Mums side of the family, are the Ferrari-Lanes from Porthcawl in South Wales. Nonna Anna was originally from Bettola (a little Italian town about an hour from Bardi and Piacenza) whereas Nonno Muk-a-Muk, as we called him (real name Morwood), is our Welsh/English connection. He was a master baker and owned his own caf and bakery in Bridgend this is where we get all our baking secrets. Romina takes after him and has written down all of his recipes. Nonnos speciality was puff pastry and he made the BEST coffee puffs! He was also influenced by our Italian side see .

The Italian immigrant community in Wales is now very well established so much so that there is a society called the Amici Val Ceno (Friends of the Ceno, which is the river that runs through the Bardi valley). The society hosts events throughout the year, but the highlight of the calendar is the annual Italian Picnic La Scampagnata . On one weekend in June, friends and family congregate in a field in Wales to eat together, but this isnt an average picnic with a few sandwiches and a blanket spread out on the grass; Italians take picnics very seriously! Everyone turns up in vans with gazebos, garden furniture and barbecues, unveiling container after container of freshly prepared food. The day is spent eating and visiting each others tables to see who has cooked the best and the most that year.