Supermercato swoop
A shopping list for food-lovers visiting Italy.
I’ve been truffling about in Piemonte with a couple of friends for the last week.
This is arguably the most enjoyable time of year to be here. It’s not quite full-on winter, but the light and colours are stunning, the smell of wood smoke is everywhere, and there’s already plenty of snow on the higher Alps. It’s certainly my favourite season for food: the famous white Alba truffles, amazing wild mushrooms and lots of melty cheese fonduta.
The three of us took a half-day trip down to wine country for a vineyard tour and predictably came away with a few cases of Barolo that I promised to bring back to London in the car after Christmas, along with some selections from the local supermarkets to make the cold, dark months a little brighter.
Since food is a national obsession, practically every Italian has their favourite stores and will happily debate the best place to buy peaches or hazelnuts. Likewise, they will use specific supermarket chains on the basis not merely of geography and convenience, but perceived areas of excellence. For a long time I considered myself an Esselunga guy, as that seemed the most similar to Waitrose in the UK. But then I read that the founder was a Berlusconi crony and went off it a bit. My current favourite is probably our local Conad, which has a superb in-store bakery. But I will quite happily go to Mercato (solid all-rounder, though less good at bread) Pam (top deli), IperCoop (just huge) or Carrefour (phenomenal wine selection). I also have a soft spot for Penny (surprisingly good discounter). They’re actually all great. It’s much more fun than shopping at home.
Travelling in Italy as a child, I remember my mother always insisted on saving a chunk of space in the boot for her winter store-cupboard shopping. It’s a habit I’ve happily adopted as a greedy adult – and in the spirit of which, I wanted to offer a list of the things I’m going to make sure I stock up on before I leave.
Parmareggio Formaggini
Even as a kid I didn’t much care for Dairylea’s ubiquitous triangles, which seemed to me simultaneously far too salty and not nearly cheesy enough. The worst of all worlds. And don’t get me started on the inexplicably popular BabyBel.
Parmareggio Formaggini are the antidote. Available in both foil triangles and even-easier-to-peel squares, these miniature marvels really do taste of actual parmesan and are especially excellent on a toasted slice of Gail’s sourdough. Plus, they’re so highly processed you don’t even need to store them in the fridge.
Bonus for packaged cheese fiends: on the same supermarket shelf you’ll also find triangles of Tiger (IYKYK) and mini-portions of Nonno Nanni’s Stracchino. What’s not to like?
Le Conserve della Nonna
I don’t know whose Nonna she is, but I love her. This is a brand that specialises (as its name suggests) in the sorts of basic jarred items you’d find in a grown-up Italian kitchen.
Nonna cooks up an impressive range of jams and preserves, sauces, pestos and passatas, but really comes into her own with beans and lentils. Nonna’s borlotti or cannellini beans are a sensational accompaniment to good sausages or any grilled meat (all you have to do is warm them through) and superb value at €1.70 for a 360g jar. The ‘ceci giganti’ (giant chickpeas) are uniquely excellent. There are extra-fine beans and tiny peas, too.
Far better than anything that comes in a tin – and much cheaper than jar brands in the UK. Fantastic products, fantastic prices.
Campari Soda
Driving home? Bring a couple of boxes of pre-mixed Campari Soda. Yes, you can always make your own – and I see that the ready-to-drink version is now available (at a price) on Amazon. But who wants to give that creep Bezos any more money than absolutely necessary? And nothing feels quite so effortlessly Italian as simply pouring one of those distinctive conical bottles into your glassful of ice and cutting a slice of orange.
Close your eyes and you’re back on the terrace at Le Sirenuse in Positano, toasting the sunset. Olive, anyone?
Delicius anchovies
Delicius (note the ‘incorrect’ spelling) is the big fish of little fish. No surprise that I have a soft spot for this anchovy-centric producer (part of the Parma-based Rizzoli corporation), whose expert fisherpeople scour the Mediterranean for every conceivable sub-species.
Its rectangular mini-tins of Canale di Sicilia anchovies are exceptional – and opening one of the circular, CD-sized cans of its extra-large Cantabrico variety feels like a real event. (Serve them on white-bread crostini with thick slivers of unsalted butter.) But my special favourites are the ones in salsa piccante, which make the best spaghetti puttanesca ever and are transformative added to beef stews.
Since the tins are so compact, you’ve got no excuse for not bringing at least half a dozen home in your hand luggage.
Fabbri preserved fruit
Seeing Fabbri’s curly, retro logo still reminds me of visits to the Italian Riviera when I was a toddler. These days, the Bolognese company has expanded its operations to make a vast array of beautifully packaged fruity delights, any of which is recommended.
Fabbri will always be most famous for those elegant white and blue jars of cherries in syrup, which featured so regularly in ice-cream sundaes and Black Forest gateaux back in the Seventies. The cherries are still a mainstay of any good store cupboard. But the range now includes stem ginger and strawberries in syrup as well.
Put a jar of each in the middle of the dinner table and elevate your M&S vanilla in seconds. It’s like living in a Slim Aarons photo.
Smacchiatore stain remover
I seem to have inherited a family trait that means if I’m cooking or eating anything involving a sauce or oil-based dressing, I will absolutely spill some of it on my clothes. What can I say? There’s no arguing with genetics.
Anyway, it’s another reason I feel so at home in Italy, since the country is a world leader in stain removal. Its supermarkets and household stores are chock-full of brilliant items in this undignified, grease-spattered arena. But the absolute numero uno in my book is the Smacchiatore a Secco spray made by the Omino Bianco brand. An incredible product that has been frequently challenged and sometimes doubted – but come through with a near-100% success rate. All it requires is a quick spritz on any affected area before putting it in the machine.
I love Smacchiatore so much I would happily become a brand ambassador if asked.
Star liquid stock
Everyone knows that decent stock is the basis for many great dishes. And of course you should make your own. But what if you forgot, or you’re just wanting to save some time? Star is the pre-eminent brand of ready-made stock in Italy, and you can find its long-life cartons in practically any food store – as unopened it doesn’t need to be fridged.
If you’re driving back to the UK, a few litres of the chicken, vegetable, or mixed meat (actually just chicken and beef) are a brilliant thing to stick in the back. And if you’re flying…
Knorr stock cubes
…Star also make really good stock cubes, in lots of flavours you won’t find easily at home. Their big rival, cube-wise, is the multinational company Knorr with which everyone is familiar. But in Italian stores Knorr’s ‘killer app’, so to speak, is the stock powder it sells in little drums. Its hand luggage-friendly chicken and vegetable versions are particularly recommended.
Way better than any Knorr-branded products you can buy in the UK – although why that should be is anyone’s guess.
Other Knorr cubes
Knorr makes an excellent funghi porcini cube that’s a bit of a secret weapon for enriching mushroom risotto or adding to wintry stews. And if you’re seriously trying to economise on kitchen time, there’s also a soffritto cube, flavoured with the classic mix of onion, celery and carrot. Compact miracles.
Calvé Classica
Opinion is divided (in my house, at any rate) on what makes this brand of mayonnaise so clearly superior to Hellman’s. “It’s eggier.” “It’s more vinegary.” “It comes in tubes.” “It’s just nicer.” These are some of the possibilities expressed. Whatever the actual reason, I will always find a way to get a few dinky tubes of Calvé home. Effortlessly elevate your tuna focaccia – or dip your patate fritte in a dollop and you might as well be having lunch on the beach.
Pickled Tropea onions
Delis in the UK routinely sell overpriced (albeit quite pretty) jars of small Italian borettane onions in sweet balsamic vinegar. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with them. But if your preferences are a bit more rustic, have a look in the preserves aisle for larger jars containing Calabrian Tropea onions in punchy red wine vinegar. The ones from the Cuor di Terra range (below) at the discount supermarket Penny are the best I’ve come across.
Like anything pickled or preserved, these onions have an impressively long shelf life. They’re magnificent with a selection of cheeses and/or salumi. Or savoury pies. Or cold roast chicken. Or just about anything. Mandatory around Christmas-time. Another very economical purchase, too. Italians love a pickle.
Soup mixes
Italy’s so-called cucina povera means adding mixed handfuls of dried beans, pulses and legumes, as well as grains like rice, pearl barley and farro to make soups more interesting and substantial. There are so many ready-to-use combinations on the shelf, you could conjure up a different soup every day for a month.
All the supermarket chains have their own-brand versions in little bags, but a couple of the name brands to look out for include Colfiorito (my favourite) and Pedon.
They’re inexpensive, don’t require any pre-soaking or faff – and having a few packs in the larder will give you a warm feeling not unadjacent to smugness.
Chickpea & chestnut flour
Of course you can find chickpea flour in Asian stores in the UK – but that’s gram, which is designed for making bhajis and pakoras. Italian chickpea flour is milled more finely – which is the essential requirement for Ligurian farinata or Sicilian panelle.
Chestnut flour, meanwhile, is especially versatile. It adds a lovely, er, nutty dimension to cakes and biscuits, as well as certain regional varieties of fresh pasta, pancakes and gnocchi. Wrapped carefully, bags of these will happily fly home in a suitcase.
Amaro
Italy has dozens of weird and highly regional digestivi, ranging from seriously bitter to cloyingly syrupy. Milan’s famous Fernet Branca, much beloved of nose-to-tail restaurateur Fergus Henderson, is relatively easy to get hold of in the UK, but there are many others you’ll only see on sale when you’re visiting.
Big supermarkets carry at least a dozen brands of amaro (literally ‘bitters’), and the selection will vary a lot depending on where you are. From the Alpine provinces there are herbal beauties like Braulio, Benefort and Dolomiti. Piemonte boasts fiery San Simone (as well as dozens of small-production grappas). Lombardy has Ramazzotti. From Genoa it’s the exquisitely retro-styled Camatti. Bologna brings distinctive flared bottles of sweet Montenegro. From further south, Amaro Del Capo, Stravecchia, Lucano, Liquore Strega and Averna.
Very few will set you back more than €15. And unlike limoncello, which only really belongs in the sunshine, any one (or more!) of these will bring a lovely post-prandial glow to your autumn/winter dinner parties.
Pasta
We all know about penne and fusilli. But how about pennone? Or gemelli? Or cubetti, ricciutelle, gramignane? Not only will the more eccentric pasta varieties amuse you, your family and friends with their novelty/comedy value, but even the premium brands like Rummo, De Cecco and Molisana are often part of the big supermarkets’ in-store promotions, so can offer amazing value.
Only yesterday I picked up half a dozen 500g bags of Molisana in slightly offbeat shapes for just 69 cents a pop – barely a quarter of what they would cost me in my local London grocer. If you’re driving and have some room to spare, well, you’d be foolish not to grab a few, wouldn’t you?
Saved! Thanks for writing this.
I loved reading this, and it's my reminder to get some anchovies into my store cupboard! My favourite local (small town north of Rome) supermarkets are Decò and Tigre, both of which have a decent but not overwhelming choice, and a solid own-brand offering.