If you walk into Biancorosso, Api Cae Gourmet or the Cicer offices (a local Italian community group), you might notice a little green spiraled notebook, with friendly letters reading Ricette E Chiacchiere Fra Amiche Ad Abu Dhabi: Italian Cooks Abroad.
If you pick up and flick through this book, you will quickly notice various one-page recipes in English, Arabic and Italian. This light-hearted kitchen aid is full of recipes for starters, pasta dishes, main dishes, side dishes and desserts. We caught up with some of the ladies behind the book, including Matilda Starace, the Italian ambassador’s wife, about how this project came about.
The book itself is the brainchild of Mila Disarno. When she arrived in Abu Dhabi two years ago, Mila immediately joined the Italian group for ladies called Cicer. Among the many activities that the Cicer group organised, one included meeting each week at a member’s house and watching movies. From one of these sessions, the idea came about for one lady to prepare a meal for all the guests, to end the session in gloria (meaning to end with a meal). This evolved into cooking mornings, which took place twice a month. ‘It was full of great spirit, the women working together in the kitchen, laughing and eating,’ says Matilda.
At these cooking sessions, 16 women would get together and each time one lady would have to wear a special chef’s hat, and she would have to prepare a meal for the rest of the group. Many of the dishes prepared would be from secret recipes handed down through the generations. The process always involved chatting by the women, and watching the designated chef of the session prepare her dish and explain various things about its origins and ingredients.
Although the book is largely an Italian cookbook, many of the recipes inside are of different origins. For example, you will find in its pages recipes for tabbouleh and stuffed vine leaves. There are also some recipes for very typical American desserts; such as apple pie and oatmeal raisin cookies.
The reason for the inclusion of these is that some of the women in the Cicer group either came from a mixed background or are married to men who are not Italian.
‘Because the women in the group were from all parts of Italy, the book is very comprehensive in presenting dishes from all the regions,’ Matilda tells us.
The books cover price is Dhs50 with all proceeds from the sale going to charity. However, people are of course free to pay any amount over the Dhs50 if they see fit. The Cicer group has always been involved in charity events in the past, using different activities to raise finances to help those in need. For example, after this year’s earthquake in Italy, the Cicer group managed to raise Dhs29,000. ‘This all went to
rebuilding a school that was badly damaged. And now, the proceeds from this book will go to the Save the Children charity,’ says Matilda. The group always manages to raise funds for different charities.
The book itself was actually completed within one month. All the ladies collaborated diligently to put together their recipes, take pictures of their creations and include little anecdotes about the recipe or their experience in the kitchen. Each recipe in the book includes a photo. ‘The nice thing is that in some of the photos you can see the table cloth from Mila’s house,’ says Matilda.
Not only do you contribute to a worthy cause by buying the book, but you will also have a great addition for your kitchen. With its very easy to follow recipes and ingredient lists, you will soon be able to produce authentic dishes like an Italian chef. There are currently plans to start cooking workshops to complement the book too, although no date has been confirmed as of yet.
Italian Cooks Abroad can be purchased at Biancorosso (02 658 4244), Api Cae (02 666 8909) or the Cicer offices (050 622 3258).
