043: Eat Happy with Anna Vocino

Living Villa Cappelli

Anna joins us again for another fun podcast, featuring an amazing day of food shopping with Paul, a delicious lunch, and a fun discussion about her new cookbook Eat Happy.

Topics we cover:

• How Anna's last name is ironic. It translates to "little voice" yet she is a voice over talent.
• Anna's mission to find stracciatella (more info below)
• How cheese shops are call caseificio and why
• The cheese grater also has name based on a similar base
• The local dialect is influencedd by the different cultures that have all been in the area and thus is also a history of the area
• The two biggest influences to the local Terlizzi dialect are French and Arabic
• How areas near Lecce have a more Greek influenced dialect
• How the local dialects were all spoken languages, no written languages
• What Paul and Anna did all day, shopping and enjoying Aperol Spritz (recipe here)
• How it is mandatory to have a gluten-free section in Italian supermarkets
• Our lunch, which included steamed mussels, and Paul's "recipe" for the mussels
• Our lunch also included raw tuna and salmon sashimi
• The Facebook Live video we shot during lunch

• The difference between an aperitif and digestif
• How Italians want to drink with a purpose, not just drink to get drunk
• Anna's new cookbook Eat Happy: Gluten Free, Grain Free, Low Carb Recipes For A Joyful Life
• How the cookbook came about
• How long it took Anna to make the cookboo
• The struggles Anna went through
• How Anna tested and retested every recipe
• How magazine recipes aren't really tested a lot
• Taking pictures of recipes for a cookbook
• How Italians hate cilantro
• How recipes evolve and are guidelines, not rule books; you can adjust them to your own tastes
• How even different kinds of salts can affect a recipe and should be adjusted to your taste
• Our red wine infused sea salt
• What real balsamic vinegar really is
• How the other "balsamic" can be used to make salad dressing, but not the real stuff
• A quick explanation on how they make balsamic vinegar
• Why Italians hate Bloody Mary
• Our favorite Bloody Mary Mix, Bob's No Problem
• Anna's favorite recipes

- Anything with zucchini noodles made with Paderno spiralizer

- Butternut squash cauliflower rice

- Low-carb pizza crust

- Pistachio crusted salmon

- Sausage zucchini bake

- Bacon broccoli

• Cooking seasonally
• Our Red Onion Jam
• Paul and Anna's shopping, where they also bought:

- Napoli salumi with peppercorns

- Some spicy Calabrese salumi

- Mortadella, how big and delicious it is in Italy

• How Paul hates bologna or baloney

More on Stracciatella

Otherwise known as heaven on Earth at Villa Cappelli, it's a fresh cheese produced in Puglia using a stretching and shredding method. Thus the name which means "little shreds."

The way it was explained to me at one point is that it's the same as mozzarella before it becomes mozzarella. Meaning, the curds aren't worked quite as much.

After the shreds are made, they are mixed with cream. It's amaze balls. A creamy, smooth, delicious bite of heaven.

This is also the same cheese you find in the center of burrata, which is essentially stracciatella wrapped in mozzarella. So when you cut into the big ball of mozzarella, the stracciatella and cream ooze out. Also to die for, but for me, why not just enjoy the star of the dish on its own!