L'insalata caprese & Italian food prep terms

(or how to learn new words & eat them too!)

It's fun to study Italian.  

It's even more fun when you get to enjoy a delicious, and iconic, Insalata Caprese /in-sah-LA-ta kah-PREh-seh/ (Caprese Salad) as the fruit of your labor.

Read the transcript and review the ingredients and key terms before watching the video lesson: (Highlight in the spaces below to reveal the English translations)

Buongiorno amici di Ricette per Cucinare. Oggi siamo qui per parlare dell'insalata caprese. 
Greetings friends of Ricette per Cucinare.  Today we are hear to talk about the Caprese Salad.

Quest'insalata è facilissima da preparare ed è velocissima. 

This salad is super easy to prepare and super fast.

Vediamo di cosa abbiamo bisogno. Ci servirà: 
Let's see what we need.  We will need: 

una mozzarella di bufala campana

one buffalo mozzarella from Campania (d.o.c.)

un pomodoro ramato fresco

one fresh red tomato

del basilico fresco

some fresh basil

e dell'olio d'oliva.

and some olive oil.

~

Procediamo a preparare gli ingredienti.
Let's start by preparing the ingredients.

Tagliamo il pomodoro in due metà, e togliamo la parte del picciolo interno.
We cut the tomato in two halves, and we remove the interior part of the stalk.

Poi procediamo a tagliarlo a fette di media larghezza, in questo modo qua.
Then, let's proceed cutting it into slices of medium width, like this.

tagliare a fette

to cut into slices

Useremo solo metà mozzarella di bufala per una porzione, quindi adesso la tagliamo a fette.
We will use only half of the buffalo mozzarella for one serving, therefore now we cut it into slices.


In un bel piatto piano, disponiamo le nostre fette di pomodoro. 
In a nice flat dish, let's arrange our tomato slices,

e successivamente, mettiamo al centro le fette di mozzarella di bufala.
 and then, let's put in the center the slices of buffalo mozzarella.

mettere

to put

Facciamo a pezzettini il basilico, e lo mettiamo in modo irregolare sopra al pomodoro.
Let's tear into little pieces the basil, and let's put it here and there on the tomato.

Per guarnire, ci siamo tenuti una cima di basilico, e la possiamo utilizzare mettendola per esempio qua al lato. 
To garnish, we saved the top of the basil and we can use it putting it here on the side, for example.

Concludiamo il piatto, irrorando con un filo d'olio.
We finish the dish bathing (drizzling) a bit of oil.

Un saluto a tutti amici e amiche di Ricette per Cucinare, e arrivederci alla prossima.
Greetings to all the friends of Ricette per Cucinare, and see you next time.

Now, watch the video and see if you can pick out the terms and expressions without relying on the written transcript.  Notice the pronunciation and intonation— is anything said differently than you imagined?

Video & images via Ricette per Cucinare, check them out for more great recipes in Italian!

Now, the fun part! Get your ingredients and make the dish! You can do it! — I purposely chose one of the easiest recipes out there (and one of my favorites, too!) 

Practice saying aloud what you're doing, as you're doing it— as if you were on your own cooking show.  You can use the 1st person plural (we) as in the video...

Tagliamo il pomodoro.

We cut the tomato.

Or practice other conjugations, for example, the 1st person singular (I): 

Taglio il pomodoro.

I cut the tomato.

After you've cut, sliced, torn, arranged, and drizzled… it's finally time to...

Mangia! Mangia!
Eat! Eat!

Buon appetito!

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Potrebbe pure interessarti….

ITALIAN: Food Picture Dictionaries

VOL. 01

VOL. 02

VOL. 03

VOL. 04

Infischiarsene — and other ways to say you don't give a hoot...

Original: Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

Watch a film, and its clever or catchy phrases can easily get engrained in your memory. This is especially true for iconic films and lines that get incorporated into popular culture.

Voted the number one most memorable movie line by the American Film Institute in 2005, you've likely heard some version of: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" said by Clark Gable as Rhett Butler to a decidedly whiny Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) in Gone with the Wind (Via col Vento.)

Now you can use the same mnemonic strategy to help you remember the phrase in Italian, too! Watch this dubbed clip and see if you can make out the context. Then, listen to the pronunciation and tone of the line:

Me ne infischio.

I don't give a damn

Part of the line's memorability and appeal was its use of the word "damn"— considered a profanity at the time of the film's release, and still not exactly polite today.  The Italian version maintains the same colloquial tone… But nowadays, it sounds a little bit out of date, and maybe a bit corny— something more along the lines of "I don't give a darn" or "I don't give a hoot."

If you'd like to express the same thing in a decidedly modern way, you could also say:

Non me ne frega.*

literally: that doesn't rub me

still means: I don't give a damn

*Be warned, this is very colloquial and quite crass!

If that isn't colorful enough for you, you can also add modifiers: (still crass—ranked from less vulgar to extremely vulgar!)

Non me ne frega un cavolo.

literally: a cabbage

a way to say a swear word without saying one!

means: I don't give a damn at all.

Non me ne frega un ficco secco.

literally: a dried fig

another way of saying a swear word without saying one!

also means: I don't give a damn at all./ I don't give one damn.

Non me ne frega un cazzo. (!)

used in place of the English F-word!

means: I don't give a F***!

I included the above for educational purposes only— I don't recommend saying it! 

Instead, swing back to the polite side of the spectrum with these perfectly acceptable (and mixed company friendly!) ways to express that you don't care:

Non mi interessa.

It/That doesn't interest me.

Non mi importa

It/That doesn't matter to me.

—Vuoi vedere un film?
Do you want to see a film?
—No, non mi interessa.
No, I'm not interested.

—Dove vuoi mangiare?

Where do you want to eat?

—Non mi importa.

It doesn't matter to me.

Now that we've run the gamut of ways to express disinterest, watch the clip again. Repeat until the sound becomes familiar, and you can pronounce it easily. Then try replacing the original with some of the variations and consider how each changes the meaning and tone of the film. Does associating the phrases with the clip help you remember each phrase and its subtleties better? 

I hope so! 

Sì, che mi importa!—

 Yes, I do care!

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