Sunday, April 12, 2009

Shaved, Slivered, Sliced, Grated, Chunked And Best Of All, In Meatballs

One of my favorite cheeses in the world (my world, since I haven't tasted every cheese in the world) is Locatelli brand Pecorina Romano. It's the cheese of my childhood. You could say I grew up on it.

As a kid, we never used anything else. In fact, I never even knew anything else existed since I never saw another type of grated cheese in our house. For that matter, I never saw another type of cheese used by any of my family. And I never knew it was Pecorina Romano - to me, it was just Locatelli. And if you know what that means, you know what that means. It's good stuff.

When on the table, it was grated into tiny slivers, served in a little bowl with a teeny spoon. Never served in a cheese shaker, and never in that weird grainy form. We always used it on our macaroni, but we also put it in soups and used it in our cooking. I can't imagine making my grandmother's meatballs without several handfuls of Locatelli. Yes, handfuls.

The unfortunate thing is, you can't find it everywhere; but since I was up in New York last weekend, I got a big chunk of it. It was $12.99 a pound and worth every penny. I never flinch at the price because honestly, I don't even look at the price.

I was too impatient to wait for something to use it on, so several times this week I found myself standing in the kitchen with a thick slice of it in my hand. It made my mouth so happy to taste its sharp, salty flavor.

Eddie and I had ravioli for Easter dinner and the sprinkling of freshly slivered Locatelli brought back so many memories.

Now if only I had those meatballs...


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1 comment:

Gil said...

"Locatelli", is this Bronx thing? My Father always used to stress that if they don't have Locatelli Romano they don't have Romano and don't buy what they offer. Too funny.