Comfort food sings to me on these cold dark days of winter.  During what other season can you indulge in an incredible cream soup or a mouthwatering caramel latte knowing that you don’t have to show off your bathing suit body for a few more months? 

Stews, chops, soups, pastas, biscotti are – every one of them – calling my name daily.   As I enter the market in the morning, I say to myself, “Which one of them do I want to create today?”  I head to the walk-in cooler to see what wonderful local produce and products are available for inspiration.  Cooking is about creativity.  Without creativity there is no taste and without taste you have a boring, lifeless dish.  Along with creativity, freshness is essential to our cooking in the Cucina.  We have fresh produce and products brought in daily even in these harsh winter months.  This process of weaving inspiration and the freshest ingredients is how many of our dishes are created here at Merante Brothers Market.  

My chefs and I are constantly tasting;  we are creating;  we are defying the winter blues;  and we are catering to the savory desires of your appetite.  Every day you can count on us to awaken your palate and comfort your soul.  Come on in, see what we have in store today, and see what we create next.  Get your juices flowing:  try one of our homemade soups, our delectable meat sauces or cheesy lasagna and our newest creation – the Wood-Fired Fried Fish Sandwich with Mac and Cheese on Fridays! 

Just because it’s grey on the outside doesn’t mean the sun doesn’t shine on the inside.  Our market is alive and fresh.  Experience the taste of sharp provolone, the smell of roasting red peppers, the feel of fresh, firm oranges, and the sight of smooth, glossy extra virgin olive oils.  It’s here waiting for you when you come through the doors to brighten even the dullest of these winter days. 

For those of you who want a little sunshine snuggled up in your sweats and bunny slippers, we can now bring the life of our market to your door.  We deliver $25 minimum orders within a 4 mile radius.  Just call us, tell us what you need – whether it’s a market item or one of our mouthwatering dishes – we’ll bring our home to yours. 

Sometimes people ask me what it means to be Italian.   Recently, a four year-old boy (with napkins sticking to his hands from the mess he’d made with our wood-fired chicken wings) asked me this very question.   At that moment, the only simple answer I could come up with was, “Being Italian, to me, means everything!”  He looked at me and, like a child does when they sense a bigger meaning than they can grasp, said “Me too!”

But there are so many things that define being Italian to me:  traditions, family, culture, love, hospitality, FOOD and, of course, Pride.  Not the kind of Pride that makes one boast, but the kind of pride that fills your heart so full you want to burst!   Italians have countless traditions and each little village has sometxhing special of its own:  the way they celebrate their Saints Feast Day or the dishes they prepare at specific times of the year – there are literally hundreds of names for one particular dish or a thousand ways to carry a Saint at a procession.  Each village has their own story and their own piazza where everyone, blood-related or not, is family.

The first time that I ever visited Italia, my husband sent me off before him to his family’s village toting his 75 year old Zio, Uncle Sal, and our three children (under the age of 10).  What was I thinking?  I knew it would be hard, but I would have done just about anything to spend some time in Italy.  We landed at an airport with a village of people waiting to pick us up!  It took an hour to get from the airport to the tiny village of Pentone located on the foot hills of Catanzaro, Calabria.  The first night was a blur; we arrived to our house with no electricity, 9 and 10 year-old boys without a Play station or tv and a screaming 5 year-old!  I wanted to get back on the plane and go straight home; it seemed so much simpler there.

But the smells that woke me the next morning were overwhelming for me as a chef.  Espresso first followed by the scent of heavenly fresh baked breads and pastries.  “Oh my! What is that- onion and garlic?” Then basil, oil and lastly tomato!!!  Dinner is already on the stove by 7 am.  All of the children came in the morning to welcome my boys to a morning game of FUTBOL, only after they had the caffe and dolce, of course.  Then the sounds of the piazza took over my senses:  The ringing of the siren as the produce man announced his arrival; The chatter of women that swarm to his little cart eagerly awaiting his fresh pickings of the day so they can get started on their noon meals; The nonno’s with their grandchildren walking through the piazza, hand in hand, singing to them – I never heard that much singing in my life…  The town was alive and this is all before I could make my morning caffe!

As the days continued for me, every morning exactly the same as that first, I began to fall in love with my place of origin and to live the Italian saying “La Vita e Bella” (Life is beautiful).  You see, in Italy you get to truly live.  You take time for what is important – like spending time with my children and being part of the community.  The Italians truly don’t sweat the small stuff.  The traditions are alive there because they are a part of everyday life.  This is why I wanted to bring a little bit of my love for Italy here to this area. From our new euro-style caffe to the piazza\open-air feel of our market, Merante Brothers Market is filled with the reasons why we love being Italian.

Our daily lives are so hectic and we, as a community, have forgotten to take the time to talk to our neighbor, sit down, enjoy our food and just live for today and not tomorrow.  Our busy lifestyles have us, sometimes, not knowing who is working in the cubicle next to us.  When you walk into Merante Brothers Market, I want to make life slow down for you – at least for a little while.  Take time to absorb it all and let the little things go.  Enjoy a simple Panini or dish of pasta as you get to know the person sitting next to you.  Fresh food takes time to make and to eat – it’s worth it!  When you come into my cucina let the smells embrace you, draw you in, take some time for yourself and truly live. 

The Family Table

The cucina is a reminder that family comes first, that neighbors should know one another and that community does matter.  Every day I see new friendships being made over our family-style tables.  Most of you have embraced our idea of the family table and have found a little place to rest.  Now, getting everyone else on board will be my mission.  We have had some criticism over our tables but the only thing we can say to the people who don’t understand it is “That’s what being Italian means to us.”  It is our way: Italians eat, breathe and dine together whether we know each other or not.  We take the time to reach out to our neighbors, to have a conversation over a cup of coffee or a dish of pasta.  That is our way of life.  That is our hospitality to others. That is who we are.

I would like to say thank you to all of you for your patronage throughout these past months.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!  No matter what your race or religion is: we embrace you all as our family!

Domenica Merante

[You can find out more about Nicky on her Fan Page:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/nicky.d.cooks]

As long as I can remember, I have always been a bibliophile. I am always reading something, whether it be magazines, books or cookbooks. I usually do most of my reading at night while I am in bed. It helps me relax before I go to sleep. My ADD brain keeps me jumping through various genres of literature, so my tastes for what I want to read constantly change.

Several months ago, my best foodie friend (BFF) suggested a great foodie book for me to read. I was excited because it was from a local Pittsburgh author. She lent me her copy of Aftertaste: A Novel in Five Courses by Meredith Mileti. BFF knows what I like to read, so I took it on blind faith when she said, “Read this because it is something you will like.”

A few months later, I decided to join a book club. Because of my voracious appetite for reading, a book club seemed like a wise choice. When it was my turn to pick a book for the group to read, I knew which one that I would choose. It was an obvious choice—I had to share this book with my friends.

I wanted to have a meeting where we would cook some of the dishes described in the book. The recipes that were included in the novel could help us accomplish this feat. I was excited for this and I knew that it would be fun.

The plans were set. Mileti, foodie extraordinaire and author, was coming to my house for dinner and a book club meeting. After the initial excitement waned, the realization set in that I would be cooking for a local famous person. Yes I can cook, but never for anyone like this. The more I read about Mileti, the more my stomach began to get knotted.

This person has traveled to the motherland—Italy! She has eaten some of the best foods that country has to offer and, not to mention, she knows her way around a kitchen.

I ran to Merante Brothers Market to consult a local gastronome Domenica Merante. I needed some advice about appetizers because this is an area that I am weak in. I peppered her with questions: “Like what would you serve? Could you give me a quick tutorial on authentic Italian appetizers and tell me more about imported olives?”

I really must have looked flustered, or perhaps pathetic. Because with all of the questions I asked, I eventually blurted out, “Domenica, would you like to come to my house the night of book club?” I have become friendly with Merante, but I never expected her to say yes. To my surprise, she agreed to come! I was thrilled—this would definitely be a good time.

I now had an executive chef and foodie author coming to my house for dinner, along with my friends from the book club. Yep the panic set in. I cook for family and friends all the time—that is easy. To have two top foodies coming to my house to eat, I was slightly freaking out in my mind!

I was going to meet an author and discuss her book from conception to publication. I was going to talk with an executive chef who trained in Italy and chat about food. These events were occurring together under one roof at my house. One person wrote about food and another cooks it, I was dizzy with excitement.

Merante arrived and in her hands she had a platter of treats from her store. My food radar was on and I began to think about all of these lovely treats that she brought. Yes, I was in gourmand heaven.

Merante brought a show-stopping antipasto with various cured meats from her shop—to die for! Paper-thin sliced Parma prosciutto, soppresatta, numerous imported Italian cheeses, hand-stuffed olives with capicola and Asiago cheese, and an array of cured olives. I could not believe my eyes. She brought such a beautiful tray to my house—it honestly took my breath away.

The sounds of happy eaters around the table filled the house. It was music to my ears. This is what I live for. This makes my Italian heart swell with pride—good food, good friends and good wine!

The stories, the laughter and chatter went on into the late evening hour. As the midnight hour approached, the meeting was sadly coming to a close. Everyone said goodbye and soon, thereafter that, my house was empty.

I am sharing the recipe for the baked penne that I made.

Buon Appetito!

Check out Meredith Mileti and some of her recipes at meredithmileti.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Meredith-Mileti/149306025123553.

Please check out Merante Brothers Market at merantebrothersmarket.com or like their page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/meranteboys.

Auntie Karen’s Party Macaroni (Cinque Formaggi Penne)

This is a great dish to make if you are having a large crowd for dinner. The measurements are estimates—no need to be precise. A little more or a little less will not alter the taste; this is a baked pasta dish, so have fun with it.

Ingredients:

½ cup grated Italian cheese—use any one kind or a combination of your favorite (Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano-Reggiano

or a Romano/Parmesan blend.).

6 oz Fontina (Italian) cheese, shredded

¼ cup Gorgonzola, crumbled

2-3 heaping tablespoons (about ¼ c) ricotta cheese

¼ lb fresh mozzarella, cubed

2 cups half and half or heavy cream

1 cup crushed tomatoes

1 handful of fresh basil, roughly torn

1 pound penne pasta, cooked al dente

½ stick of unsalted butter, cut into cubes    

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 X 13 baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta (a little under) al dente. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except the penne, basil and butter. Gently mix the penne into the bowl with the rest of ingredients. Fold in the basil. Pour mixture into baking dish, then top the mixture with the butter and bake (covered) until bubbly and brown on top—about 1 hour or so. Remove the cover the last 15 minutes of cooking, allowing the top to become golden brown. Let the pan rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

But we’ve also been hosting the most fun rehearsal dinners and special events in our private function room.

As if that weren’t enough, we also just debuted our catering menu so we can provide delicious gourmet food for you to serve in your own home. Whatever the occasion—graduation, confirmation, or just Sunday dinner—we’ll do the cooking so you can concentrate on spending time with each other. But we can do more than provide the pasta with meat sauce, or the antipasti platter, or the mini Italian pastries. We can also hook you up with chafing dishes, table and chair rentals, even a tent if you want to party al fresco, as we say in Italy.

And there is so much to celebrate these days, what with religious ceremonies, weddings, end-of-school parties and beginning-of-summer barbecues.

Here at the market, we’ve got one more thing to celebrate: copycats. Customers have been telling us they’ve noticed other stores in the area are suddenly serving sandwiches and specialties that mimic our own. And our regulars seem surprised that, instead of being annoyed, we’re excited for two reasons. The first is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as mamma always says. We’re proud we’ve had such an impact in such a short time!

And the second reason is that everyone who’s tried a similar dish sold by a competitor has sworn that not only does our version taste better (how could it not, when we only use nitrate-free Boar’s Head cold cuts and the freshest vegetables around?), but it’s also more affordable. According to all sources, we’ve got the best prices in town on Italian specialty cheese and meats.

So that’s another reason we’re raising a toast to our customers this week—we’re grateful for their eagle eyes, and for their support!

We hope you’re celebrating many blessings these days, too. And if you’re heading to a party at someone else’s place, why not bring them some flowers to make the day even brighter? We’ve got  hanging baskets that are well-priced, gorgeous and long-lasting. Because a thing of beauty is a joy forever—and a cause to keep on celebrating!

A+ Vegetables

When we opened the market, we planned on feeding your body. And we hoped our traditional Italian delicacies would also feed your soul. But what we didn’t expect was that our customers would hunger for knowledge as well.

We certainly underestimated you guys. Every day guests pepper us with questions—why do we insist on using San Marzano tomatoes in our pizza sauce? (They’re the tomato-iest!) Or, where did you get that mouthwatering buffalo mozzarella? (Easy; our domestic cheese come from Grande, a company that makes top-notch mozzarella, ricotta, provolone.)

In response to all the questions, we’re setting up table cards in the Cucina, so you can do a little light reading while you enjoy your meal. They’re filled with useful info (why we use Antimo Paputo flour in our pizza) and fun facts, like how long it takes the mix of cherry and oak wood in our wood oven to start a pizza-ready fire. (Curious? Come on in and read the cards!)

We love talking about our food, so we welcome any inquiries. And since we’ve been open, we’ve found that there’s a specific answer to every question, and a general one, too. The general one is our philosophy: Food is only as good as its ingredients. So everything that goes into our prepared specialties is top-quality.

First of all, you can rest easy knowing that there’s no “mystery” in our meat. All delicacies which call for ground meat—meatballs, lasagne, meatloaf—are made using grass-fed, hand-ground pork and veal. And our sandwich cold cuts are all Boar’s Head brand, so they’re guaranteed not to contain nitrates or preservatives.

Vegetarians can eat healthy, too—our salad greens are organic. (And delicious!)

Speaking of salads, when restaurants buy vegetables, they choose from those that have been rated A, B, or C in quality. We only use straight-A veggies, which is how ours stay juicy even when they’ve been baked in our wood-fired ovens atop our handmade pizza. And if you’ve ever tasted our roasted peppers, you know why they score top marks.

Why do we care so much about what goes into our foods? We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: our customers are family. And you only feed your family the best, freshest ingredients (and lots of them—we use 75 pounds of fresh basil a week in our various dishes!).

Everything you find in our market, and anything we serve in the Cucina or Caffe, is guaranteed to be made of only the finest ingredients. And whenever possible, those ingredients are locally sourced (because we love Pittsburgh as much as Pittsburgh loves us!). So all our sandwiches are served on Mediterra artisan bread—which is handmade in Pittsburgh every day using whole durum semolina flour.

Sure, if the best of the best version of an ingredient is found out of town, we’ll import it. Our feta is Greek, of course—we only use Olympic—but even that is imported and distributed locally by the Stamoolis brothers, who have been operating in the area since 1907.

That’s another one of our philosophies: buy locally, eat globally. At the Cucina, you can do both, enjoying traditional Italian specialties made of the best ingredients Pittsburgh has to offer. So ciao for now, but please stop by soon; yinz are more than welcome.

“Gourmet” sounds so stuffy—which we’re not! But our food is gourmet-quality. Here at Merante Brothers Market, everything we serve is artisanal, handmade with the finest, freshest ingredients.

Take our pizza, for example. First, we hand make all our dough using Antico Caputo 00 flour which we import from Naples (where they’ve been using Antico Caputo flour to make pizza Napoletana since 1924!)

Then, we layer on tomato sauce made with LaValle San Marzano tomatoes D.O.P.–which stands for Denominazione di Origine Protetta, the Italian name for Protected Designation of Origin laws which protects the names of certain foods that have a a specific geographic origin. Only French sparkling wine can be called “Champagne”, for example and soon only Greek cheeses can be called “Feta,” the versions from Bulgaria or France will be called “Sheep’s Milk Cheese.” Well, the stuff we use is the Champagne of canned tomatoes. And our basil oil sauce is made in house daily from fresh blanched basil.

What’s special enough of top off all that gourmet goodness? Only our hand-shredded blend of imported provolone and imported mozzarella. We sprinkle that lavishly on top of our thin-crust pie and cook it in the wood-fired oven, so every personal-sized pizza has that fresh, authentic, rustic Italian taste. With imported cheese, tomatoes, even flour, our pizza is more Italian than the Real Housewives of New Jersey (just, please, don’t tell them we said that!).

Seriously, though, when you try our pizza, you’ll taste the difference; you’ll taste Italy in every slice.

Want to try it for yourself? Take advantage of our Night Owl Special: Patrons dining in the cucina on Fridays and Saturdays between 8 and 10 can enjoy a wood-fired plain pizza for just $8.99. And when a piece of our pizza meets your taste buds —yup, that’s amore! And it’s gourmet. But between us, let’s just call it “delizioso.”

We stared back. “The mustachioed old guy in the three-piece suit sitting on the milk crate,” the customer explained. “Do you pay him to sit there, looking picturesque?”

He was talking about Uncle Sal. No, we don’t pay him. And he’s not a legend. To paraphrase the old Seinfeld episode: He’s real. And he’s spectacular.

So what’s Uncle Sal doing at the latest incarnation of the Merante Brothers Market? The same thing he’s been doing for over fifty years: making sausage.

Every Wednesday at the market is sausage day (or, as we like to call it, a Sal-ibration!). 80-year-old Uncle Sal shows up in his three-piece suit, changes into his work clothes, adds an apron, comes to the sausage station and works until about one p.m., making 200 pounds of hot and sweet sausage. He doesn’t eat, he doesn’t sit, he doesn’t move until he’s done with his work. And what work it is! His sausage has been sold all over the country, but today you can only find it here, at Merante Brothers Market or our sisters’ market in Oakland, Groceria Merante.

If it’s a Wednesday between 9 and 1, you’ll find Sal, too. Or if it’s a Monday, between 2 and 4, you’ll find Domenica in the Cucina doing a live cooking demonstration, showcasing an old family recipe like pasta fagioli, or finding creative ways to use some of the store’s specialty products, like our imported vinegars.

Just make sure you come on time, because after four on Mondays, Domenica has to get ready for the dinner rush. As for Uncle Sal, once the sausage is made, he changes back into his three-piece suit, goes outside, pulls up a milk crate and takes a seat to wait for his ride.

There’s a real person behind most everything you find at Merante Brothers Market, whether it’s a local farmer who harvests our produce, or Uncle Sal and his sausages. And we put Sal-level care and pride into everything we create because we know the people enjoying the specialties we sell are as special as the people who created them.

We know, he sounds too good to be true. But Sal is real and he’s really our uncle. We’ve got generations of photos of him in Merante groceries over the years to prove it.

Feel that air warming up? This is what we like to call iced coffee weather. As summer approaches, the afternoons are getting longer and longer, and there’s no better way to spend one than coming into the Caffe d’Antonio and treating yourself to a coffee—whether you go for iced or hot—and a sweet.

The Caffe is part of our attempt to recreate “la dolce vita” here in Pittsburgh. In Italy, people enjoy life’s simple pleasures, savoring a perfect cup of coffee and a tasty snack, instead of wolfing down a big gulp and a donut before rushing off to their next chore. That’s the kind of relaxed, European feeling we wanted to create at the Caffe d’Antonio, so that you’ll feel like you sat and lingered, enjoying the sweet life, even if you only get to steal a few minutes for yourself.

And yes, you can take a little bit of the sweet life to go…starting with our pastries. The sweets in our Caffe are tried and true family favorites, whether it’s Domenica’s mom’s cream cheese bundt cake, apple crumb cake from our prep chef Melanie’s grandma’s recipe, or Triple Berry Buckle dreamed up by Dave’s (who works in the deli) Aunt Mable. You know that with histories like those, our sweets are made with love.

Love and a whole lot of butter; it takes four pounds of butter, and three whole days, to make the dough for our artisan pastries! But thanks to our manageable portions, you can enjoy them (almost) guilt-free; these treats are made to follow the Italian philosophy to “eat with your soul, not with your eyes.” And that’s what we think a pastry should be: a treat. Which is why we make ours truly decadent, but sized reasonably enough that you won’t spoil your dinner or end up having to spend an extra hour at the gym after eating one. Think of it as indulgence, Italian-style.

The same care and thought that we put into our pastries goes into our coffee; it’s a house blend you won’t find anywhere else, a combination of Pacific Gold Coast, Guatemalan and Costa Rican beans that we tweaked and tweaked until Anthony, Domenica, and the owners of 19 Coffee Company (a local Washington, PA coffee roaster) all agreed it was perfect. Our Bold Roast, created by the same team, adds Espresso beans into the mix.

Speaking of Espresso, ours is guaranteed to wake you up. If you just need a little nudge, order a Piccolo coffee drink, made with one shot of espresso; if you need a little more of a nudge, a Medio gets you two shots. And if it’s one of those days, a Grande is packed with three full shots.

In May, early risers can save a little cash on Thirsty Thursdays, by picking up a 49 cent, 12-ounce hot coffee at our drive through between six and eight am. It’s our attempt at making Thursday mornings a little easier as you rush off to work.

Just make sure you come back in the afternoon, to reward yourself with a little sweet something after a hard day and celebrate the beauty of spring. Take a friend for coffee (or give them a gift card so you can treat them to coffee even when you’re not around). And instead of gulping it down, savor the coffee, the sweet, and the springtime afternoon. We do what we can to make the first two amazing, but making the most of the third is up to you.

We're here to put a smile on your face!

We at Merante Brothers Market like to think you can find anything your heart desires here. But that doesn’t mean we have everything sitting right out on the shelves. The other day a customer came in looking for Panforte made with figs. We don’t normally stock it, because it’s an acquired taste–not everyone is ready for the explosion of chewy, nutty, sticky goodness that happens when you take a bite of panforte. But this customer’s mamma used to serve it at every holiday meal, so she was disappointed when she didn’t see it in our store.

We instantly yelled, “What’s a matter, you? Why you look-a so sad?” (OK, we didn’t. We’re Italian, but we’re not Joe Dolce. Still, we love that song. For a good laugh, click here to watch him singing it!)

What we actually said, was, “Just because we don’t have what you’re looking for right now, that doesn’t mean you can’t have it at your celebration.” And we ordered the panforte in time for our customer’s meal.

The whole experience made us realize that many of our customers don’t know that we’re not just grocers, we’re memory-revivers and dream-makers. If you have a favorite grocery item you haven’t seen on shelves since you were a kid, we’ll do everything we can to track it down and find it for you.

If there’s a dish your mamma used to make but doesn’t anymore, put in an order and Domenica will re-create it for you, whether your mamma was the kind who cooked lasagne or spanakopita or something we’ve never even heard of. Whatever the specialty you’re dreaming of is, if you can describe it, Domenica will try to recreate it. Just make sure to give her enough warning so that she has the time to cook it.

And speaking of enjoying Domenica’s cooking at home, don’t forget about Cucina to Go’s prepared meals. Call ahead to order an item off of our menu and you can pick it up at the Cucina window an hour later, ready to bring home, put in the fridge, and pop in the oven when you’re ready. We call it our “take it and bake it” service. We prepare it, you heat it up, and then you get to take credit for the cooking as far as we’re concerned.

Cucina-to-Go isn’t just a great idea for a prepared meal when Ma needs a night off during the week. We’re also a full-service catering company who can make your graduation, confirmation, first communion, or any other celebration unforgettable (and so much easier than you ever imagined!).

We know that the way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach. And that’s why all of us remember the foods we grew up with so fondly, because they were prepared with love. Here at Merante Brothers Market, we love our customers. So if it makes you happy, we’ll cook it, stock it, or sell it. Because we want you to walk out of our kitchen with a smile on your face.

Until we see that smiling face again, Happy Orthodox Easter to all our Orthodox Customers who’ll be celebrating this weekend. And a blessed Spring to all of you.