Eating Green in Tuscany, Carpaccio di Zucchine

My personal meat platter at Castello di Verrazzano

One of the things I love about foreign travel is immersing myself in the local culture.  Not only eating what they eat and drinking what they drink but also doing those things the way they do them.  Downing a shot of espresso in the afternoon with a half a pack of partially melted sugar in the bottom of the cup while standing at a bar in Cortona, eating a decadent brioche con crema for breakfast in Rome, drinking the simple but delicious house table wine made by the owner of the osteria in Montepulciano, enjoying a daily sweet, creamy gelato in Positano - I live 49 weeks of the year in America but for a few precious weeks I get to experience the joy of eating and drinking like an Italian!  I tell people who travel with us to leave all of their American habits at home because the best way to truly experience a place is to live it like a local.  After all, why spend the money and the time to come half way across the world to a country steeped in thousands of years of culinary traditions to eat a hamburger and french fries covered in ketchup and washed down with a Budweiser? 

Pasta with saffron cream, prosciutto and zucchine

But I must admit I do have one gastronomic complaint about Central Italy - as much as I love going to Tuscany every year the thing I crave by the end of our trip is fresh green vegetables! This part of Italy is about meat + pasta + cheese and many amazingly different and unique combinations of all of them.  Of course there is also an abundance of ripe juicy tomatoes in every size and shape, deeply flavored roasted eggplant, marinated artichokes, delicately fried zucchine flowers, but sometimes a girl just wants a SALAD!!! 

Truffles foraged in Umbria

So one of the American traditions that I enjoy on a regular basis has slowly and reluctantly crept its way to Tuscany.   Each year we go, as the Italians try to cater more to American tourists, I have noticed salads are making their way onto restaurant menus.  Thankfully these are not salads as we know them - there are no bottled gloppy dressings or fake processed cheese, no stale croutons that came out of a can or "salad in bag" stuff here.  It's their spin made of course with fresh local ingredients that change with the current season's offerings. Like crisp lettuce topped with the thinly sliced, small pears that were ripening on the trees and shaved with the local pecorino cheese from Pienza just a few towns away or the local figs that grow wild on the hillsides combined with strips of sliced prosciutto over freshly picked arugula....

Fufluns frolicking on the left

All of these wonderful food memories are bringing me to one such salad we had on our last trip - not once, but twice!  There is a great little pizza place off of Piazza della Republica in Cortona called Fulfuns (fittingly the Etruscan God of vegetation, gaiety and wine!) that we tested out on my family the first week and then brought our Swirl guests the following week.  Not knowing what it would be but assumed it would be "green"  Kerry and I ordered the "Carpaccio di Zucchine"; the epitome of Italian flavor and simplicity!  Freshly grown local lettuce and basil topped with very thinly sliced zucchine ribbons and shaved parmigiana cheese, a sprinkle of roasted pine nuts served with half a lemon and Tuscan olive oil to dress it.  I've made it a few times at home now and while it will never be as good as it is in that medieval hill town washed down with a pitcher of local Trebbiano, it brings me back to sitting outside on that cobblestone street with family and friends enjoying the food and flavors of Tuscany.

Carpaccio di Zucchine, Fufluns Cortona

Carpaccio di Zucchine  (serves 2 hungry Americans craving greens)

1 fresh head of local lettuce or Boston Bibb lettuce if not in season

2 baby zucchine sliced very thin on a mandolin 

1 handful of fresh basil torn into pieces

2 T. toasted fresh pine nuts 

lemon zest from 1/2 lemon

shaved parmigiana or grana padana

Salt, pepper

1/2 lemon

Extra virgin olive oil  

Take a large flat bowl, add the lettuce an torn basil leaves.  Top the greens with the zucchini, salt and pepper, and pine nuts; Serve with 1/2 lemon on the side and olive oil.  To dress, put a fork in the lemon half to break the fibers and squeeze the juice all over the salad.  Follow with olive oil, toss and enjoy!

Buon Appetito!!

I didn't have pine nuts this time so I used roasted almonds, preferred the pine nuts!

Gulf Shrimp da Zaccaria

Positano, definitely one of our favorite places on earth!

The theme for our annual staff dinner this year was "Food and Wine from Our Favorite Places on Earth" so you know that the Amalfi Coast had to be represented.  I found this great recipe from Mario Batali that he took from a restaurant in Atrani that overlooks the sea called "da Zaccaria".  However, I had a lot of shrimp so I served it in individual bowls with toasted bread instead of as bruschetta.  And of course we paired it with a local wine and the 2012 Taburno Greco Benveneto was truly fantastic!

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly

12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 ounces Limoncello

1/2 cup dry white wine

4 slices of Italian bread

1 bunch chives, chopped

Salt and pepper

Pour the oil into a large saute pan over high heat. When just starting to smoke, toss in the garlic. Cook until it turns light brown.  Add the shrimp and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes, flip, and cook for 1 minute. Remove the shrimp.

Pour in the the limoncello, lemon juice, and wine. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.

Toast the bread. When sauce is done, turn off the heat, sprinkle in the chives and season with salt and pepper. Place a few shrimp atop each piece of bread, and top with the sauce and lemon zest.

Semplice, Italian Fast Food!

Real Parmigiano-Reggiano, not the dried fuzzy stuff you sprinkle from a can, is an amazing cheese. Following the strictest guidelines from the Consorzio del Formaggio it can only be made in a small area of northern Italy, a place where the soil, the climate and the geography all come together to yield a quality of milk found no where else in the world. There is nothing fast about the process of making it - it's aged for an average of 24 months, the longest of any hard cheese.  And they've used the same recipe for the last 9 centuries...

Our friends over a St. James Cheese have been bringing fantastic selections from a few new producers and el Casey brought me a sample from Giorgio Cavero the other day to see if we were interested in carrying it. I figured the best way to put the sample to use was to cook something with it, so I designed our meal last night around this beautiful hunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and another special ingredient given to us by our friends over at Cleaver & Co.

Knowing our love for all things Italian, Seth gave us a sample of their house made bresaola to try. Bresaola is an air dried salt cured beef from Lombardia that has been aged 2-3 months until it turns a deep reddish brown color. It has a musty sort of sweet aroma and is seasoned with a dry rub of coarse salt and spices like juniper berries, cinnamon and nutmeg. And besides eating it thinly sliced on a charcuterie plate, there is a classic Italian salad that involves bresaola and, of course, parmigiano cheese...

So it's Saturday night, we have a big MS training ride tomorrow and what better excuse to make a light, quick pasta and salad? I have the perfect, fresh, high quality ingredients for 2 Italian dishes, Insalata di Bresaola and Spaghetti al Limone.

Insalata di Bresaola
This is a simple, simple classic salad served in Italy that is amazingly flavorful if you use top quality ingredients.

Two big handfuls of arugula
1/4 lb sliced Bresaola from Cleaver & Co.
A few slivers of sweet onion
Excellent quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I used the Terre Nere that we sell at swirl)
Fresh lemon juice
Shavings of DOP Parmigiano-Reggiano ( I used the from St. James, soon to be at swirl)

Spread your two handfuls of arugula on a flat plate, top with bresaola and onion slivers. Shave the cheese on top, as much as you want. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste, squeeze some fresh lemon juice on top and drizzle with olive oil.  Enjoy, serves 2!

Spaghetti al Limone
I found a few Meyer lemons last week at the market that have been sitting in my fruit bowl waiting for something special to happen.  When I brought home the cheese, I knew why I had waited...

Ingredients:
1 T. coarse salt (for the pasta water)
1 gallon of water
1/2 lb. of spaghetti (I used a really nice pappardelle)
5 T. butter (we have the Parma butter from Italy at the shop made from the cream of the cow's milk used to for the cheese, amazing!)
zest of 1 lemon
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1/4 t. salt
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 c. freshly grated DOP Parmigiano-Reggiano (I used the from St. James, soon to be at swirl)
Excellent quality Extra Virgen Olive Oil (I used the Terre Nere that we sell at swirl)
Basil leaves for garnish

Heat water for the pasta. When it’s boiling, add about 2 tablespoons salt and the pasta and cook according to the package directions. Melt the butter in a pan over medium-low heat. Add the zest, juice, salt and pepper. Heat for about 1 minute. When the pasta is done, toss it into the skillet with the lemon butter, add the basil and Parmigiano-Reggiano and toss until spaghetti is evenly coated. Serve immediately, drizzled with a bit of olive oil and garnished with basil, offering extra Parmigiano-Reggiano to grate at the table.
Serves 2


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tomato Season in the South

It's one of my favorite times of the year here in New Orleans.  No, it's not Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest, it's tomato season, when my most favorite food is in abundant supply in all shapes, forms, sizes and colors.  Our friend Mary gave us a bag full of big, ripe Creole Tomatoes this weekend and Kerry has our little garden overflowing with cherry tomatoes.

We were having a little get together last night for our group that is coming with us to Positano this year, so I decided to make use of all this beautiful fruit and make a few tomato dishes.  Both of these are so simple yet amazingly delicious. 

The first is classic tomato bruschetta, and when I say classic I mean the way the Italians make it in Italy.  There is no vinegar or onions just five simple, fresh ingredients assembled and served with good, grilled crusty bread.

Bruschetta al Pomidoro (Tomato Bruschetta)

This is a summer staple on the Amalfi coast since Campania is also the DOP of San Marzano tomatoes.  You know, those delicious, deeply flavored plum tomatoes that we are only fortunate enough to get in cans.  But a quick lesson on bruschetta; it is pronounced bru-SKE-ta and bruschetta refers to the bread, not the topping.  The best bread for bruschetta is a stale, dense loaf like a sour dough or country style bread. The bread is cut into slices, grilled, and brushed with good quality olive oil then rubbed with fresh garlic cloves.  There are many recipes you can make to top your bruschetta, but the pomidoro is a classic.

To make the topping:

-4 medium sized ripe tomatoes cut into 1/4" dice

-2 cloves of garlic minced

-10 fresh basil leaves torn into small pieces

-1/2 to 1 teaspoon coarse salt

-few turns of the pepper grinder

-a pinch or two of peperoncino

-2 tablespoons of good quality extra virgin olive oil

For the bruschetta:

-12 slices of dense, stale bread, no more than 1" thick, and about 3-4" long

-olive oil  

-1 clove of garlic cut in half

Mix the topping ingredients, stir to combine and set aside.  Using indirect heat on a grill quickly toast the bread slices until the edges get slightly dark.  Remove from heat, brush on some olive oil and rub with the clove of garlic.  Add the topping and consume immediately!

Now what to do with all of those tomatoes Kerry has been so proudly attending to?  Cherry tomatoes always make my mouth water for a classic Sicilian dish and Lidia Bastianich's recipe is tried and true. Delicious, light, fresh and very unique, this is the perfect summer pasta dish. I've fallen in love with this brand of dried pasta called Cipriana that is sold at the Fresh Market on St. Charles and now use it anytime I'm not making fresh

Pesto Trapanese 

From Lidia's Italy

Serves 4 to 6

¾ pound (about 2-1/2 cups) cherry tomatoes, very ripe and sweet

12 large fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup of whole almonds, lightly toasted

1 plump garlic clove, crushed and peeled

1/4 teaspoon peperoncino or to taste

½ teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt, or to taste, plus more for the pasta

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound spaghetti

½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano

Recommended equipment:

A blender (my preference) or a food processor

A pot for cooking the spaghetti

Rinse the cherry tomatoes and pat them dry. Rinse the basil leaves and pat dry.

Drop the tomatoes into the blender jar or food processor bowl followed by the garlic clove, the almonds, basil leaves, peperoncino and ½ tsp salt. Blend for a minute or more to a fine purée; scrape down the bowl and blend again if any large bits or pieces have survived.

With the machine still running, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream, emulsifying the purée into a thick pesto. Taste and adjust seasoning. (If you’re going dress the pasta within a couple of hours, leave the pesto at room temperature. Refrigerate if for longer storage, up to 2 days, but let it return to room temperature before cooking the pasta.

To cook the spaghetti, heat 6 quarts of water, with 1 tablespoon salt, to the boil in the large pot. Scrape all the pesto into a big warm bowl.

Cook the spaghetti al dente, lift it from the cooking pot, drain briefly, and drop onto the pesto. Toss quickly to coat the spaghetti, sprinkle the cheese all over, and toss again. Serve immediately in warm bowls.

Antipasti for Nic's Birthday

Our friend Nicole celebrated a birthday yesterday and we were lucky enough to be invited to dinner.  Other friends in from Atlanta were doing the cooking, so I offered to bring some appetizers and of course, the wine.

We've been eating so much Indian food lately, I was happy to dive back into Italy and do some real traditional bites.  All of these are simple and take little preparation but pack a lot of flavor.  The key, as in all good cooking but especially Italian, is fresh, good quality ingredients.

Fichi con Formaggio e Speck

The first was Fichi con Formaggio e Speck (figs with cheese and speck).  Speck is a smoked, cured meat from the Alto Adige region of Italy that looks similar to prosciutto as it is from the same cut of meat, the hind leg of the pig.  To make speck, a boned pork leg is cured in salt, and spices like laurel and juniper, then intermittently slow-smoked, using pine or juniper wood for several months. I get it from St. James Cheese, but I'm sure Whole Foods probably carries it as well.  If you can't find it, you can substitute Prosciutto, but be sure it is freshly sliced.

Take fresh figs and slice in half length wise.  Add a small spoonful of a fresh goats cheese, I used one of the Cypress Grove Chevre from the shop, a sprinkle of chopped, fresh rosemary, a dollop of honey and short piece of speck (about a third of a slice) scrunched up and sat atop the cheese. A wonderful bite of salty, sweet, creamy deliciousness, I served these with the Avissi Prosecco for a nice little starter...

Grilled lemon leaves with mozzarella, Da Adolfo Positano

Next up was our first attempt at recreating one of our favorite appetizers from our trip to the Amalfi Coast.  Due to the abundance of lemon trees and the fact that Campania is THE home of the Mozzarella di Bufala DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta, or Protected Designation of Origin), Foglie di Limone alla Griglia con Mozzarella (Grilled Lemon Leaves with Mozzarella) is on the menu of almost every restaurant in the region, but really never seen elsewhere in Italy or anywhere for that matter.


As simple as this is, the key is fresh lemon leaves and good quality mozzarella.  When grilled for a quick 30 seconds, give or take a few, the lemon leaves impart the most delicious citrus flavor to the mozzarella.  But the older the leaves, the less flavor you are going to get.  We have a Meyer Lemon tree in the backyard so I picked a handful of the biggest leaves I could find just an hour or so before we would use them.

Hand tossed mozzarella and fresh lemon leaves

 I got some really nice hand tossed mozzarella from Whole Foods that was not as good as the buffalo version, but the fact than it was handmade gave it a really nice flavor.  The cheap, stringy, everyday mozzarella you buy in the grocery will just not give you the same outcome.  Again, the food you make is only as good as your ingredients...


All you do is cut about 1/4" thick slices of mozzarella, place it on a lemon leaves, and then put over indirect heat on a grill using a grill pan to place the leaves in.  It literally takes about 30 seconds for the cheese to start melting.  But be careful, our fire was too hot and our first attempt, while still tasted delicious, did not get to spend enough time on the fire.  Guess I'll just need to practice this one more...

San Marzano tomatoes on the vine @ Villa Le Sirene, Positano

We also needed the grill for our Bruschetta al Pomidoro (Tomato Bruschetta), another staple on the Amalfi coast since Campania is also the DOP of San Marzano tomatoes.  You know, those delicious, deeply flavored plum tomatoes that we are only fortunate enough to get in cans.  But a quick lesson on bruschetta; it is pronounced bru-SKE-ta and bruschetta refers to the bread, not the topping.  The best bread for bruschetta is a stale, dense loaf like a sour dough or country style bread. The bread is cut into slices, grilled, and brushed with good quality olive oil then rubbed with fresh garlic cloves.  There are many recipes you can make to top your bruschetta, but the pomidoro is a classic.

To make the topping:
-4 medium sized ripe tomatoes cut into 1/4" dice
-2 cloves of garlic minced
-10 fresh basil leaves torn into small pieces
-1/2 to 1 teaspoon coarse salt
-few turns of the pepper grinder
-a pinch or two of peperoncino
-2 tablespoons of good quality extra virgin olive oil

For the bruschetta:
-12 slices of dense, stale bread, no more than 1" thick, and about 3-4" long
-olive oil 
-1 clove of garlic cut in half

Mix the topping ingredients, stir to combine and set aside.  Using indirect heat on a grill (again ours was a bit too hot...) quickly toast the bread slices until the edges get slightly dark.  Remove from heat, brush on some olive oil and rub with the clove of garlic.  Add the topping and consume immediately!

I served the lemon leaves and bruschetta side by side and poured the perfect wine, the Caggiano Devon Greco di Tufo.  An unbelievable wine that brought our all the best flavors of the dishes!

Now the Atlanta cooks were at the grill and in the kitchen, making a fabulous beef tenderloin, gorgeous salad of avocado, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, rosemary roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus.  We brought the 1997 Manzoni San Stefano Barolo to have with the meat, and they were about as perfect together as a pairing could be! 

We ate like Italians, slowly, taking time to savor each delicious bite of food, sip of gorgeous wine and enjoy each other's company.  A truly delightful evening, thank you Nic for inviting us to celebrate your birthday!