It's a long, long way from Hawaii to Italy. Living in the land of pasta, pizza, and wine is everything that you might imagine, but one thing remains true. You can take the girl out of the island but you can't take the island out of the girl
Friday, April 29, 2011
Silky, salty and sweet: prosciutto di Parma aged 24 months
If it is at all possible to dismiss this as a pile of ham slapped on a plate then sorry, but that is so wrong. What you're looking at is Parma ham - prosciutto di Parma - and you simply can not drive to this part of Italy without tasting the best that the city has to offer. Certainly it's possible to buy already sliced and under wrap at the supermarket for much, much less, but aged prosciutto, like that above, is an experience in taste that only food gurus will know how to appreciate. Silky, salty and sweet all combined in one bite. A sublime flavor made even more intense from all that time hanging around in a dark cellar.
We had a recent dinner at I Tri Siochètt, a family-style osteria just outside of Parma. This place is mentioned in several food guides, Michelin among them, but I am choosing not to give a full opinion because of one dish that failed to deliver. It was the tagliatelle with rabbit ragu and black truffles. Whether the truffles were meant to be an infused oil or as minuscle black specks, the truth remained to be seen. There was no hint, sign, or sniff of tartufo nero anything in that dish, leading me to believe that somebody fell asleep in the kitchen. That can only mean one thing - I have to make this dish as soon as I can find black truffles.
Allow me to go back a couple of years when softshell crabs in Italy came to my attention. I just loves me some crabs, so when I found out that an exquisite delicacy crawled along the bottom of the lagoon in the watery depths of Venice, I knew I just had to find me some and soon. Known as moleche or moeche (it means 'soft' in the venetian dialect), green crabs in the moulting phase are found in the areas of Burano, Chioggia, Mazzorbo and the Giudecca. It is in this period between April and May, and again in the fall from October to November, that the crustaceans go through the natural transformation of shedding their exoskeleton, exposing the soft moist tissue underneath.
Caught with special gillnets called trezza, the crabs can be harvested in various types: matti, masanete, spiantati and boni. The "matti" will not change any further during harvest season and are thrown back into the sea, meanwhile the "masanete" feminine crabs are taken only in autumn and are distinguished by a heart-shaped abdomen. The "spiantati" will change within a couple of days and the "boni" becomes "spiantati" in a couple of weeks. As confusing as that may all seem, keen mariner eyes trained by decades of experience are able to accurately sort out specimens by observing the diverse colors of the abdomen.
Moleche are cooked while they are still yet alive! I had bought, cooked, photographed, eaten and written about them in Moleche - Veneto's softshell crabs. They were the next best thing since softshell crab in sushi, and if I had known then that this image(s) would become so popular with writers who didn't think twice about pinching it for themselves, I would've said vai pure. Go ahead. You only wish that it was your own mouth feasting on the finished product instead of just talking about them.
Jump back to the present and again we have crab (top photo). Labeled as granchio da moleca (crabs for moleca, or the softshell ones that I thought them to be), I completely lost all good sense at the low price of 4.90€/kilo and bought a couple of pounds. The major difference in these, however, is that the shells are HARD, but I didn't realize this until later. I should've known that the soft ones would cost nearly 10x as much, so what the heck was I to do with two dozen tiny pairs of beady eyes that raised their angry little pincers anytime I went near with a kitchen knife?
I'll spare the ugly carnage but a forum comment described smashing them (I cleaved 'em in 2) and cooking in evoo on very low heat. The whole lot is then drained through a sieve and the remaining juices added to cooked pasta, along with wild garlic and fresh hot pepper. Well, it didn't work for me and I had to tweak it a lot which doubled the amount of effort that went into messing with the crabs in the first place. Speaking of which, here we are messing with the crabs from the getgo. My neighbor is too deaf to hear us say "could you just cut the weed whacker for a minute?", but that's just life in the chestnut forest.
When we split for the family's vacation unit further north in Lombardy (near to the Trentino Alto Adige border), the last thing I wanted was to slave in the kitchen over the usual holiday fixings. Last year I split the cooking with my mother-in-law and it was a pleasure to be part of the meal prep, knowing that neither of us had to shoulder the whole load from beginning to end. This year it was going to be different. No antipasti, no lamb, no baby goat, pasta or Colomba dove-shaped bread. No pastiera napoletana (a very traditional Easter cake) like the one I made last year, and definitely no easter eggs.
What I made instead was a persian stew - khoresh - with sheep meat, candied orange peel and some dried limes that I found at an ethnic store in Milan. The recipe comes from manju of Three Tastes and I swear on my loomi (those dried limes that are so hard you could bat it like a ping pong ball and it wouldn't break), that this stew was one of the most interesting dishes to win instant approval from our tastebuds. Cooking sheep meat can be intimidating, maybe even off-putting for those not used to its strong flavor/odor. Unfortunately no photos because we dug right into this exotic meal and were amazed at the taste/texture sensations in each bite. Manju's post has images to give an idea on what this khoresh is all about.
By the way, we drank Asahi beer with our persian Easter lunch, and afterwards we ate a colombina (tiny version of the Colomba) that the gas station attendant gave us as an easter gift. This is not the first time that italian gas stations have given token gifts for the holidays, but I have never experienced this anywhere else and certainly not in the states. Maybe you get a calendar...wow.
The rest of the weekend saw us in a drive over to Alto Adige to check out the Mercato di San Marco held in the town of Ora on April 25th each year. The market was packed with visitors but the offerings were the same as most any village mercato. We just wanted wurstel, make it to go please because we have to try the wurstel and fries at the roadside stop outside of town. It was at this little casual shack that a cyclist decided to join our table during lunch. He asked if we had come for the market, and we told him that yes we did but it was too crowded. It's like that every year, he tells us. It's a tradition to go to Ora. Me, I prefer to ride my bike.
And yesterday marked 8 more months until xmas...but I bet you already knew that. I noticed only after publishing that the Happy Easter post was my 1000th scribbling of living in Italy. One thousand web pages worth of whatever it was that popped into my head for the moment. Returning home yesterday I snapped this shot as we crossed over into Lombardia. It's great to be back in the chestnut forest in slippers, tshirt and shorts.
As I knew it would happen, too many things going on this week is the reason why I didn't have time to put together another costume set for the Mads and the Mister. In lieu of the both of them "hatching" from a large paper-mache egg, I'm putting up this image that was taken 2 Easters ago. Things haven't changed much... Maddie is still the ham and Mr B hates being reduced to pink accessories. Wishing you all a pleasant weekend and see you next Tuesday!
scribbled from the chestnut forest by Rowena... at 5:08 PM9 comments
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
From Lecco's Saturday open market
Until our humble little garden is ready for harvesting, the bulk of vegetable and fruit buying is done at the mercato twice a month. This hasn't always been our routine as weekends are reserved for hiking, but ever since we've started going heavy on the produce and less on the meat, shopping at our favorite supermarket has actually become costlier. The convenience is there, but the experience is nowhere as colorful as what you get when a fruttivendolo or fruttivendola greets, bags your purchases, and bids you a buona giornata with a smile.
For me, anything less than a kilo sounds like it won't be enough, and I shop with the vision of my empty fridge in my head — beans are gonna go here, tomatoes there, eggplant in that section and so on. I'll even count the pieces of fruit so that we don't overbuy...can't stand to throw away food. We get at least 10 kilos (20+pounds) of stuff - minimum - and somehow I'm able to use it all up within 7-10 days. Everything here, with the exception of the fava beans (3 kilos) and ricotta salata and pecorino cheese, is 1 kilo/2.2 lbs. Melanzane (eggplant) for 1.20€/kilo, friggitelli (small, green sweet peppers), kiwi, finocchi (fennel), pomodori, mele e pere (apples and pears).
What to create with this bounty? Pasta and rice salads. The classic sliced raw fennel and oranges. Breaded and pan-fried eggplant slices, served in garlicky tomato sauce and topped with melted pecorino or parmigiano. With a kilo of fava pods (approx. 4 dozen pods that will yield a generous 1/2 quart of cleaned beans), I'll saute the fave together with cubed pancetta and minced shallots in olive oil until tender. Toss in a large handful of sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped fresh herbs, salt, pepper and freshly cooked fusilli and lunch is almost done. Garnish with grated tuscan pecorino. I will lick the bowl! What you're working with is so fresh, it begs to be enjoyed for the goodness that it already is.
Omigod it's the bread guy! It's incredible to think that it took me nearly 7 years to be able to put this up on my blog, and all I have to say is that it was well worth the wait. Ever since the MotH recounted nostalgic memories of the panettiere in bicicletta in which I wrote about on The early bird gets the bread, it has been my mission an obsession to actually catch "the bread dude" on film. The circumstances were always as such that he was either going in the opposite direction, turning a corner at the very last second (the guy moves like the Road Runner) or already done by the time I crossed his path. But this past Saturday while on the way to the market, we finally, FINALLY, found ourselves in the perfect position to give chase and even followed him racing across the rail tracks. That's me a few seconds into the clip sounding like a chipmunk...errrrr...one of my few odd talents.
In the event of an error, the video can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/TLkZXFlUN8o
Chapchae/japchae - korean sweet potato starch noodles
You know how they say when eating chinese food you're back to hungry an hour later? Same goes for this dish. If it's made for lunch I can spend the rest of the afternoon returning again and again to the pot that this was cooked in, head bent over the stove, chopsticks at the ready and devouring greedy mouthfuls between household chores. It's like noodle crack.
There are as many versions to making this as there are chapchae addicts, so this is another non-recipe where I use what's in the vegetable bin (carrots and asparagus) and season with the essential soy sauce, sugar, salt, black pepper and sesame oil. The noodles are different from the bean thread type as they have a gray color and are said to be chewier. To prepare them, cook in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes, drain, rinse until cool, drain again and evenly coat with sesame oil. Snip into shorter pieces by lifting up clumps at random and cutting with kitchen shears. I used half of this package (400g). The rest of the ingredients are spelled out below and I've used korean spam instead of the usual beef. To tell the truth, I couldn't even tell that it was spam after the seasoning went in — a total misuse of 1/3 of a can that cost me an expensive 8€.
Saute spam, sliced onions and garlic in sesame oil until onions are soft. Add the asparagus, carrots, 2 tbsp dark or regular soy sauce, 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp water. Stir and cook until vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add bamboo shoots and green onions; cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the noodles, breaking up the clumps as necessary and mix with the vegetables. I've seen an example of a cook using plastic disposable gloves to mix the noodles in more evenly (turn off the heat and don't burn yourself) and it works! Finish the dish with a generous sprinkle of sesame seeds and thinly sliced hot chile peppers if you like the heat. I've also seen sliced strips of scrambled eggs as a garnish.
Unless it decides to snow, I'm going to zip my opinion about this strange weather mix-up of springtime-cool and blazing summer hot. Anything is possible, like enjoying asparagus and datterino tomatoes in April, even if those little hybrids were cultivated in a hothouse. Not mine, of course. This heavy-on-the-vegetables pasta dish is something that I've been doing since January in order to raise our 5-a-day intake without always having to eat like rabbits. I'd rather have the rabbit in a burger with cheddar and mushrooms (which I will have to write about one day) because I don't believe bunny burgers are a big thing in the states.
This is one of those non-recipes where I only measure the amount of pasta and vegetables, that is, 180 grams wholewheat pasta, 400 grams asparagus (still whole), 125 grams datterino or cherry tomatoes and half of a medium onion. Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus and discard. Cut the stalks into 1-inch pieces. Halve the tomatoes. Slice the onion into thin wedges. Saute asparagus and onions in olive oil until fragrant then add a generous splash of white cooking wine. Continue to cook on medium heat until crisp tender, then add the tomatoes and cook until just warmed through. Season to taste with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and fresh herbs like thyme. I also add a pat of butter to give it a little extra oomph. In the meantime the pasta will have been boiling away on the fire and when that's done, drain and stir into the vegetables. Serve with grated parmigiano. Enough for 2 people.
Tiptoe...♫ through the tulips...♪... As mentioned in the post Mister Tulip, we finally had a free weekend to make the drive down to Pralormo to see the floral display at the castle. Not having seen anything of the sort in my entire life, being surrounded by thousands of brightly colored blooms was a great thrill - I adore tulips - and the setting of a small castle exuded a charm that was all the more fairytale-like. Maddie the Westie was in total heaven.
One of the best things about the entire visit was this pistachio-chocolate gelato in the middle of the day. Spring has been unusually warm, too warm if you ask me, with temps in the mid to upper 20°C. Bowls of water were placed at random throughout the castle grounds, ready to quench the thirsts of visiting doggies.
We eventually made our way to the product stands and I couldn't pass up on some fresh asparagus...would you believe that these were only 2.50€/kilo? I bought 2 bundles and will be eating them for the rest of the week. Other things to peruse were herb plants, berry plants, flowers, tulip bulbs, arts and crafts booths, bread stand, a thrift store and a restaurant for hungry visitors. The theme this year focused on the 150th anniversary of Italy as a nation-state, so the colors of the flag (green, white and red) echoed everywhere you looked.
Naturally a place like this draws the photography crowd like bees to honey and I was no exception to those who carried more than one camera. I took more photos than is possible to share here so the rest of the lot can be viewed in Messer Tulipano | Mister Tulip 2011 on Flickr.
scribbled from the chestnut forest by Rowena... at 4:09 PM9 comments
I know that the thought of xmas is the last thing on the minds of the majority, but since today is really New Beer's Eve, why not bust this baby open tonight? Imagine back then in 1933, when it was suddenly legal to go out for a precious pint after having waited well over a decade. I would drink myself silly and sillier.
The first week of April has been nothing but go, go, go as the garden and really nice weather (18-21°C average) has kept us very busy. Less time for blogging, or better to upload images and post through Flickr. Kinda like killing 2 birds with one stone or as they say in Italy prendi due piccioni con una fava. Gosh, speaking of fava, a kilo was selling for 2.50€ at Lecco's weekend market. I think that's a little steep compared to elsewhere in Italy, but raw fava beans and a semi-aged tuscan pecorino made a fresh and delicious lunch!
Honestly, when Kat of Our Adventures in Japan passed this award onto me the first visual thought was of a cloister of....nuns. Who me? [Right.] This one has been circulating within the innernetz for some time now, but I'll oblige the Sisterhood and share 7 things about me. The only difference is that one of these "facts" will be a total farce because what's the point of blogging on April Fools Day without a little fun?
1. I like to reflect my pidgin-english roots in this blog, and that is why words like sister turns into sistah and rubber turns into rubbah. As far as the slippers go, in Hawaii slippahs are the footwear of choice but don't you dare walk into the house with them on. Leave them outside with the jumbled pile on the doorstep.
2. I've made it my mission to trim our electric bill so much that this month's billing amounted to less than 50€ for two months (usage is computed on a 2-month basis).
3. I used to be a lei greeter at Honolulu International. Fun and easy job but only when you don't have to greet pax [airline industry lingo for passenger] that are drunken, old men who try to french kiss you on the spot.
4. My father-in-law says that I have skin like a toad. It's not an insult. It means that while others are struck down hard during cold/flu season, I only get the sneezies for a day. What's my secret? Keeping a chestnut (or two) in my pocket.
5. Having a garden is good for the soul, and my favorite vegetable is the tomato. This year I'm growing San Marzano for sauce, Cherokee Purple for slicing, Omar's Lebanese as a newbie, and cherry tomatoes to enjoy straight off the vine.
6. If it's european cheese and it stinks, then I'm an instant fan.
