table talk / By Simona Carini

Hard Boiled

(Jan. 8, 2009) 

In the refrigerator Montalbano found a plate of cold pasta with tomatoes, basil, and black passuluna olives that gave off an aroma to wake the dead, and a second course of fresh anchovies with onions and vinegar. Montalbano was in the habit of trusting entirely in the simple but zestful culinary imagination of Adelina, the housekeeper who came once a day to see to his needs, a mother of two irremediably delinquent sons, one of whom was still in jail, put there by Montalbano. And this day, too, she did not disappoint him. Every time he was about to open the oven or fridge, he still felt the same trepidation he used to feel as a little boy when, on the second of November, he would look for the wicker basket in which the dead had left their gifts during the night — a celebration now lost […]

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Surprise, in short, was an indispensable spice in Adelina’s dishes.

He took his two courses, a bottle of wine, and some bread to the table, turned on the television, and sat down to dinner. He loved to eat alone, relishing every bite in silence.

— Andrea Camilleri, The Terra-Cotta Dog

Salvo Montalbano is police inspector in the fictional town of Vigàta, in Sicily. His creator is Italian author Andrea Camilleri. Born in Porto Empedocle (Sicily) in 1925, Camilleri published his first novel in 1978. In 1994, the first mystery of the Montalbano series was published. The Inspector’s adventures — told so far in 14 novels (nine of them available in English) and four collections of short stories — have had a remarkable success in Italy and abroad. The TV movies based upon them are also popular.

Camilleri’s stories are a tribute to Sicily, its people, language, landscape and food. Montalbano is not a cook but is passionate about good food. He drinks only coffee for breakfast (made by himself at home using the traditional stovetop coffee pot), then takes his time to eat lunch and dinner. Readers know what Montalbano gets at the restaurant (like the Trattoria San Calogero) and what his housekeeper Adelina leaves in the oven or in the fridge for him to eat when he goes back to his beach-front home, as in the introductory scene above. Montalbano has deep respect and affection for good cooks and celebrates them in the best possible way: by eating everything they prepare with appreciation and gratitude.

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