simple healthy merenda (snack) kids will love

Fregata? Bruschetta!

~ Alessandra

During our summers at our grandmother’s in the Tuscan countryside, my siblings and I were playing outdoors for most of the day. Italian grandmothers are pretty authoritarian, especially when it comes to feeding their growing grandkids. Nonna carefully monitored each meal, making sure we were fed the freshest food. Needless to say, everything was made from scratch.

Given the fact that every day we spent many hours outdoors, nonna made sure that in the middle of the afternoon, between lunch and dinner, we were given a healthy merenda (snack), to support the growth of our young bodies, constantly on the move.

Merenda is a common daily tradition in Italy, but in the country those were occasions to witness the preparation of simply made, delicious treats.

One of our favorite merende (plural) was the fregata (rubbed slice). We loved it because it was delicious, but also because we could actually prepare it by ourselves. Thick slices of rustic Tuscan bread were grilled (by a grown up) on embers in the large kitchen hearth. Then we were each given a plate (not that much actually stayed into it for long anyway…), half a clove of garlic and between a quarter and a half of a ripe tomato (depending on size). And here the fun started! Each of us was to rub, first the garlic then the tomato, lacerating it, on the grilled slice of bread. We then would dress it with some virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. So yummy!

In the States I went to one of my kids’ kindergarten classes to show how to make fregata. What fun the children had! We all had! And we all loved every morsel of it!

We still call it fregata because that is how it originated, but the recipe is famous now in Italian restaurants as bruschetta. In many cases, instead of rubbing the tomato on the bread, like described before, the slices are coated with tomatoes cut into small cubes, and mixed with torn basil leaves. Everything is dressed with oil and salt. Some people also add a few drops of balsamic vinegar.

This is a merenda that children can prepare themselves. Simply hand them the grilled (or toasted) slice of bread, garlic, and a half of a ripe tomato (if you are the brave kind). Or prepare beforehand the chopped tomatoes mixed with torn basil leaves, dressing them with some oil and salt. The children will have fun rubbing the garlic on their bread, and either lacerating the tomato on their slice with gusto, or loading the bread with the tomato cubes! De-licious!

All you need is:

bread (best if Italian rustic or French country) cut into slices

extra virgin olive oil (best if cold pressed)

ripe tomatoes, either cut into a quarter or a half to be rubbed on the bread (for the fearless grown up), or in small cubes

garlic cloves

basil leaves, better if torn by hand

salt

I am looking forward to sharing more morsels with you again on Tuesday. Enjoy the week-end.

A feast for olives’ first squeezed oil.

~ Alessandra ~ 1 Comment
Our meetings for the month of May.

I could keep sharing with you non stop, but should probably schedule a couple of days of the week, and a time during those days, when I will publish my new posts, so that you can come and visit. It has been suggested that I publish on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, eastern time.

There is so much I want to share. I should start with giving you an idea of where I come from, and how recollections of my childhood have partially inspired me to write for children, about children.

Growing up in Italy, I had the fortune of spending long summers in the country side. To escape the torrid heat of the city, our mother would take us to visit grandmother; from Florence, we would move to the much cooler, small village in Tuscany where our nonna resided.

It is in the country side that I learned that a delicious snack doesn’t have to cost much at all, or be tremendously complicated to make. During those beautifully carefree summers, I witnessed the making of some of the most mouthwatering food I have ever tasted! Everything was made from scratch, with the natural ingredients provided by nonna’s garden, orchard, hen-house, sheepfold or pigpen.

Some of the most humble, rustic dishes, over the years and with many influences from our shrinking world, have become more sophisticated, and quite costly in Italian restaurants around the planet. The original, ancient versions, teach us that a snack or meal, does not need any added frills to be delicious, healthy, and cheap!

Today I will recall the festive gatherings we enjoyed every year for the ‘fett’unta’, a mouthwatering treat made with the deliciously tasty oil from the olives’ first pressing.

In the fall, olives are harvested, then brought to the mill, were a big stone wheel grinds them. The olives’ first squeeze is cause for celebration at the mill; farmers and their neighbors gather around big rustic tables to taste, for the first time, the thick, spicy, green liquid; one of the many nature’s bounties for which Tuscany is famous.

Thick slices of country bread are grilled over embers. Cloves of garlic are then rubbed over the warm bread, where the new oil is poured and spread, for the delight of all participants to the feast!

It is still possible to enjoy a delicious fett’unta, even if not at an old mill in the Tuscan country side!

What we need is:

good bread, best if it is country style

pealed garlic cloves

virgin olive oil, tastier if it is cold pressed

salt to taste

What to do:

Cut the bread in slices of about three eights of an inch

Grill (best) or toast the bread

Rub the garlic, pour and spread the oil over the slices, add salt as you wish

ENJOY one of nature’s simplest, most delicious gifts.