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Benvenuti to Cositutti
Miei Amici
Are you ready for an Italian Spring Break? With winter behind us and spring ahead now is a good time to bring "la bella vita" into your life. If you're like most of us, it's been a long winter and you're ready to leave all the gloom and doom behind. Begin by changing your mind set.
This Spring resolve to clear your mind, enrich your palate and soothe your body and soul. Spring seems to me to be a much better time to do this than in the rush of a New Year's resolution. So spring ahead with a new attitude and create a lifestyle that values beauty, art, culture, good food and wine and create a Springtime all your own.
Read more . . . about one of my favorite Italian painters who uses fruits, flowers and vegetables in unconventional ways to capture the exuberance of Spring.
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Anticipa la primavera 
Italians celebrate Spring by dining a fuori - outside. Although Italians are outside year round no matter what the weather, beginning in March caffe's open their outdoor dining and everyone is walking and gathering at the piazza. There's no better way to clear your mind that to get outside and enjoy the longer days and milder weather.
Spring weekends in Italy mean sagra's, regional food festivals. These outdoor festivals celebrate a local culinary specialty or seasonal agricultural product the region is known for. It's a no-frills, casual eating experience where you can taste and sample foods that reflect the history and culture of the region. They usually take place in large public spaces, some include local entertainment and best of all you can experience an authentic taste of Italy.
Plan a Spring Break Italian style. Visit a local art gallery or museum, try a new restaurant, take a walk through a nearby park or forest preserve, arrange for a taste and travel trip to a vineyard , dairy or cheese factory. Divertiti! Enjoy.
In Italy a dairy or cheese factory is called a caseficio.
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Enrich Your Palate
Eating in Italy is defined by seasonal foods simply prepared and there is no better time to experience the freshest ingredients then with Spring's first bounty. Spring foods in Italy include artichokes, (carciofi), asparagus (asparagi), fava beans and spring lamb (agnello).
You've never eaten artichokes Italian style! Carts loaded with artichokes appear at the outdoor markets all over Rome in springtime. Their long stems and leaves are still attached, which helps to keep them from drying out. Italian cooks know that the stems are as tasty as the artichoke hearts. They only need peeling and can be cooked right alongside the artichokes. Take an Italian Spring Break at home by preparing Agnello al forno con Patate Arrosto (Leg of lamb roasted with potatoes and fresh rosemary) and Braised Artichokes paired with a Valpolicella from the Veneto region of Italy.
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Soothe Your Body 
Give yourself the heart healthy benefits of Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil and comfort your body with natural skin care products from Olivella and the Chianti Cashmere Company. These products contain high concentrations of vitamins, anti-aging properties and natural antioxidants beneficial to the skin.
Italians often find benessere, a sense of well being at termes, hot springs, like the one I visited in Bagno Vignoni in Tuscany.
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| Big Night In
Enjoy eating at home at the table with your family and friends with easy to prepare, authentic Italian food from CosituttiMarketPlace. For a restaurant quality meal with stay-at-home convenience we now offer some of our most popular products in boxes designed to include everything you need for an authentic taste of Italy.
Restaurant quality ingredients and artisan food products make it easy to create your own "Big Night In". Plan a dinner party, impromptu Italian Happy Hour or indulge your Inner Chef. There's even a Family Box where kids can prepare their own pasta and learn about Italian food and culture and an Ellis Island Steamer Box of traditional Italian food inspired by our grandmother, Nonna.
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| Roast Leg of Lamb
Tuscan Style
To PREPARE an Arrosto di Agnello, or roast leg of lamb, you will need
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic
coarse salt
coarsely ground black pepper
one leg of lamb
1/2 cup olive oil
few drops of wine vinegar
Make sure that lamb is at room temperature.
PREHEAT
the oven to 450 degrees F.
STRIP the leaves from the sprigs of rosemary. On your chopping board chop 1 sprig of rosemary and garlic into small pieces, combining the ingredients. Mix with a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Make cuts here and there over the leg of lamb and stuff with the garlic mixture.
ANOINT the lamb well with good olive oil and sprinkle on more coarse salt and pepper. Put the lamb on a rack in a roasting pan and place in a hot oven to sear the meat (20 - 30 mins), then lower the heat to 375 degrees to cook the lamb through (1 - 1 1/2 hours). Baste occasionally with olive oil which you can brush on with the other sprig of rosemary and once or twice sprinkle on a few drops of wine vinegar. If your oven has a revolving spit then use that instead of the rack and pan.
NOTE: Tuscans like their lamb to be well cooked with a crusty salty exterior. They do not carve the lamb into slices but break it into large chunks.
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