I’ve been on holiday, AT LAST. In spite of the fact that I adore my job I was totally fed up with working – I’ve been working hard all Summer – and, horror of horrors, I hadn’t had a REAL holiday in the last four years.
So the REAL holiday I long dreamed finally became a reality at the end of October. I spent it in a lovely B&B in Pontassieve (Florence) doing nothing but eating, drinking, sleeping, going to visit nice places and nice people and sitting in front of the fireplace with my belly full of wonderful stuff that I can only dream of when I’m home (in Amsterdam, that is). :) Something like the twohundredfiftyfivemillions different types of Tuscan pecorino cheese (OMG they make so many here and they’re all wonderful!!!). Or the little wild boar salamis made in small-scale and free from additives unlike the mainstream ones. And really fresh porcini mushrooms. And what about fried artichokes the way my mum makes them? (I’m sooooo lucky, she’s was sharing this holiday with me so I was able to eat them again!).
Talking of my mum and of porcini mushrooms, , I thought of filming her during one of her cooking sessions here in Tuscany. In this video she’s making one of her many classics, porcini mushrooms and potatoes in the oven.
We found some wonderful porcini – this is the perfect season – and we decided to prepare this yummy side dish. Red potatoes are amazing and stay perfectly firm so I really advise using them for this dish. If you like, you can also slice them a bit thicker and cook them a bit longer. If you’re a millionaire or related to a millionaire – porcini are quite pricey -you can build even more layers to make this dish even more luscious and sinful. Mmmm, what a great taste, and with so little ingredients. Just porcini, potatoes, olive oil, salt and oregano. A bit of black pepper wouldn’t be bad idea at all, if you like it.
For the recipe and the video in Italian, click here.
One of the great Italian habits I really miss when not in my country is the aperitivo: drinking something together with friends, colleagues or loved ones before lunch while nibbling on some good stuff . In some places the aperitivo is almost elevated to a form of art: together with your drink, usually a glass of wine or Prosecco, you get different little bite-sized delicacies - gli stuzzichini in Italian - and you end up being full before even having lunch.
Bari in Puglia is one of those places and a few days ago I was enjoying an aperitivo with nobody less than my dad, whom I see just from time to time - living more than 2000 km far from each other does not improve regular enjoying the aperitivo together. ;) The place was La Champagnerie (a bit of a pompous name but the place is quite nice). The address is via Roberto da Bari 99, in the city center and the prices are in the highest range (an espresso costs 2,50 euros while in normal bars it's about 0,70-0,80 cents).
A glass of Prosecco for my dad and a Pugliese white for me with lots of wonderful things to eat, from big Bella di Cerignola olives to focaccia with tomato and oregano, raw carrot sticks with Aurora sauce - terribly Eighties and yet still very nice in combination with the wonderful raw vegetables that Puglia produces, little canapés with tuna, salmon and fish eggs, salted peanuts and grana padano cheese blocks. All of the nice aperitivo bars in Bari serve a whole variety of finger-food, from tarallini to fried panzerottiniand focaccia with potatoes. Definitely a great habit, one that I really miss in Amsterdam where I live and that I merrily take on again when in Bari. The only risk of such a habit is that you'll probably arrive home late, half-drunk and full-bellied while la mamma is waiting for you with lots of food that is getting cold. ;)
To enjoy a classic salsa Auroraat its best prepare some fresh, raw vegetables (celery, carrots, fennel) cut in chunks, wedges and big sticks and mix some mayonnaise (2/3), ketchup (1/3), a dash of cream, a splash of cognac - but I prefer it with good grappa - and a few drops of Tabasco. Dip generously and enjoy!
A meal with friends. Some very old ones (Vincenzo, whom I met in Amsterdam immediately after I went to live there, 24 years ago) and some new ones like Maria, Vincenzo's sister who offered me and my dog Mirtilla a beautiful and comfortable room in her home in Pisa, plus Cristiana, one of Maria's closest friends. Three ladies and a Pisano - Vincenzo is a real pisano, very direct and sincere, qualities I really appreciate - in a wonderful restaurant run by women in Pisa (La Leopolda, Piazza Guerrazzi 11). The location used to be a railway station and is now a warm, welcoming place where you can eat some of the very simple and yet great plates of the Tuscan tradition. Think of a tortino di carciofi con lardo di Colonnata (an artichoke flan with cannellini beans and wonderful, thinly sliced pork fat from Colonnata - a delicacy even for those who normally remove the fat from the ham like I do). We ALL chose it and we ALL loved it till the last bit.
The choice at La Leopolda is quite simple: two starters (the one we don't try is the steak tartare of chianina meat with green apple), five primi (first courses), five secondi and six desserts. Simple and yet difficult: what's it going to be??? Everything sounds extremely appealing. We chose to share three primi: spaghettoni con puntarelle e alici (with chicory and anchovy, actually more of a Roman dish than a Tuscan one), pappardelle con la lepre (thick tagliatelle-like pasta with savoury a tomato-hare meat sauce) and the wonderful testaroli cacio e pepe. Testaroli is a dish served in Tuscany - mostly the Lunigiana region - and Liguria that consists of little squares cut from thick pancakes made mostly of spelt flour and then served with pesto or other sauces. Here we eat them with a simple dressing of extra vergine olive oil, pecorino cheese and black pepper.
After that primi, we go on with sharing and choose for the coscio di cinta senese arrosto con le rape (a wonderful pork roast made from special Cinta senese pigs) and the peposo, a earthy, sturdy stew with lots (and I mean LOTS) of black pepper and red wine, something so good you'll definitely want to eat again if you appreciate the strong flavors that often characterize the Tuscan cuisine. It was my first peposo and I immediately fell in love with it. What a dish! Impossible to ignore it because of the thick, dark, spicy sauce and the wonderfully tender meat slowly cooked in wine. This is real slow food!
Since in the afternoon Vincenzo and I have been visiting the village where his grandpa came from - Palaia - we chose a wine that comes from that area, a 2004 red Toscana IGT Rosso Sangervasio (80% Sangiovese, 20% Merlot and 10% Cabernet) that perfectly matches the strength of the peposo. After that, no desserts are necessary anymore even though the choice is tempting, for example the chocolate and pear cake or the goat cheese bavarois with a port, raspberry and chocolate sauce and a mascarpone cheese and coffee cream. A simple, strong espresso (simply called caffè in Italian) is more than enough.
La Leopolda changes menu quite often and the prices are really good. The most expensive meat dish - the tagliata di chianina with rocket - costs 16.00 euros. The average price for a meat dish is 12.00 euros. Bread and self-made bubbly water are two euros per person. The food is great and the atmosphere warm and pleasant, the ladies do their very best to make their clients full-bellied and happy and, last but not least, the hand-written wine list is rich and varied. Mostly Tuscan wines with - quite a peculiar detail - only French bubbles. The restaurant is also dog-friendly and that makes a big difference for people like me who like to take their four legged friends with them as often as they can. Another big plus: you can find the wine list online with labels and grape types for most of the available wines! Definitely a place worth coming back when is Pisa, thus. A big cheer for the ladies at La Leopolda: complimenti, ragazze!
My mum is the BEST cook in the world, no doubt about it. Don't ALL Italians say that? Well, I can assure you, in my case it's true. :)
Yesterday we had lunch on her balcony overlooking the lungomare(the beautiful promenade along the coast) of Bari to enjoy the little bit of available cool air and make the hot day more bearable.
She prepared a great primo piatto, delicate and yet very savoury: lovely zucchini flowers stuffed with lemon-flavoured tagliolini (the thinner version of the classic tagliatelle). An absolutely fantastic dish, perfect for that one-day-to-summer day.
After eating something like that we didn't need much more and had just a fresh caprese with oregano accompanied by some great porcini mushrooms in oil.
The wannabe sommelier chose a bottle of citrusy and bubbly Verduzzo-Prosecco frizzante delle Venezie IGT 2008 from Giordano that went perfectly well with the lemony taste of the tagliolini. Ahem, "chose" is a big word. To tell the truth, nothing but the truth, it was the only bottle of wine my mum had in the fridge so it HAD to go perfectly well with the lemon pasta. ;) The thing is... it actually did!
Here's the recipe, to be enjoyed as long as courgette flowers are available (which hopefully is going to be all summer long!).
Fiori di zucchina ripieni di tagliolini al limone
Serves 4
300 gr thin tagliolini 4-5 courgette flowers per person 40 gr. butter 2 big organic lemons 160 gr cream cheese or cooking cream salt and black pepper
Wash the zucchini flowers briefly under the tap, open them delicately on one side so that they become strip-like, remove the fleshy pistils and lay the flowers on a clean kitchen cloth.
Melt the butter in a saucepan on a low fire but don't let it fry and get all golden brown. Grate the lemon rind and mix it gently with the warm butter and the cream cheese in the saucepan. Set aside.
Cook the tagliolini in salted boiling water till only half cooked and drain. Transfer the pasta in the saucepan and toss with the sauce. If you like, season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Take a forkful of tagliolini and roll it well on the fork. Use this little "nest" to stuff a courgette flower and proceed in the same way until all the flowers have been filled. Enclose the little tagliolini rolls within each flower wrapping the flowers around the pasta. Lay the stuffed flowers in an oven dish and scatter a few pieces of butter all over them.
Cook for about 5 minutes in the pre-heated oven at 250°C and for 2 extra minutes under the grill. Serve immediately.
Just arrived in Bari, Puglia. We landed last night at 2.00 after a nice - and a bit delayed - flight with my friend Claudio, also living in Amsterdam and born in this beautiful southern Italian city to which I come back so often, lately. My dog Mirtilla was sitting in a travel bag at my feet, panting a bit and looking a tad unhappy, but stoic enough to stay in the small bag for two hours without protesting, just looking at me from time to time to make sure I was still there.
This morning I got up early and took her out for a little walk along the shore - my mum is lucky enough to live in a beautiful apartment overlooking the famous (and sometimes infamous) "Pane e pomodoro" beach. It's already soooo hot at eight in the morning that it's no good idea to take Mirtilla to the park to play with the ball, she would be panting and sweating after 2 minutes, so we'll wait till around sunset time.
At 8.30 the beach was already alive with people bathing, playing or just lying in the sun which, at this time, is already quite hot. What a difference in temperature from the 15°C of Amsterdam yesterday evening when we left! Here it's already summer and Mirtilla is not the only one who's panting now...
"Pane e pomodoro" beach this morning
If you decide to drown after six it's your friggin' problem ;)
Panzanella is the famous bread salad belonging to the rich Tuscan culinary tradition. It's usually made with stale bread and fresh vegetables from the garden (in the rural areas of Tuscany like the one in which I'm now it seems like everybody's got an "orto", a vegetable garden full of tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers...), good extra vergine olive oil and a few more ingredients. The reason why we use preferably old bread is because 1) it does not get all soggy and soft when sprinkled with the vinegar/tomato juice mixture and 2) you usually have some at home. :) The Toscani are masters at cooking with only what's available in the pantry and in the fridge.
We've been eating it during the lesson on the Tuscan cuisine. Lovely and fresh with its vinegary pungency, it is perfect for a warm summer day lunch. It fills you without making you feel heavy . :) Here's my recipe. Buon appetito!
Panzanella del Valdarno
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
600 gr ripe tomatoes
3 garlic cloves
fresh basil
½ Tuscan bread, diced (preferably stale bread)
½ a big cucumber or 1 small one
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
50 gr. capers
80 gr. black olives, pitted
4 anchovy fillets in oil
olive oil extra vergine
1 dl wine vinegar
salt
black pepper
Cut a little cross (X) on the bottom of the tomatoes bring some water to the boil and dip the tomatoes in it for about 30 seconds. Take them out of the water and leave them to cool off a bit. Remove their skins, halve them and remove the seeds. Keep their juice, possibily without seeds, in a big bowl for the dressing. Cut the tomatoes in big chunks (about four parts per tomato). Here some very good step-to-step information on how to skin tomatoes.
Add the peeled and finely chopped garlic, half of the basil, the vinegar and 2 dl. of olive oil to the tomato juice. Season with salt and pepper.
Cut the bread in chunks (not too big ones, about 1,5- 2 cm. each), put bread and tomatoes in the bowl, add the dressing, mix everything well and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes. If the bread is really stale it could need more juice to get softer. In this case add more olive oil and vinegar (but pay attention not to use too much vinegar or the salad will be too sour). Keep on tasting just to make sure.
Wash and peel the cucumber. Cut it in half, remove the seeds with a spoon and cut in thin slices. Add it to the tomatoes and bread.
Wash the peppers, cut them in halves and remove the green top and the seeds. Cut the peppers in thin strips and add them to the salad.
Halve the anchovies and the olives and add them to the salad together with the capers. Mix everything well and season with salt if necessary.
Leave the salad in the fridge to marinate for at least a couple of hours.
Serve cold during summer or at room temperature the rest of the year after garnishing with basil leaves.
If you have just one week of holidays and yet you love to cook so much that you think your work is great fun and that it's even more fun if done with your friends, you might want to shoot a cooking video.
That's one of the things I did during my short Apulian holiday at the end of January. My friend Valentina and I decided it was time for another video recipe - and for some serious laughing during the shoots which, lucky you, we're going to spare you. It all resulted in the filming of a classic Apulian dish, the calzone di cipolla, made by a Genovese who grew up in Puglia. :)
I'm not going to tell you HOW MANY onions I had to peel, cut and fry to make this dish (if you ever decide to shoot a cooking video make sure you always have at least three times the necessary ingredients just in case something goes wrong and you have to do a shot all over again...), I'll just say that after the shooting I smelled like I had spent four days in a row frying onion rings in a fast-food restaurant (brrrr!). Not pleasant AT ALL. So now you know that, in case you were thinking of making 3 calzoni next weekend. :) Oh, and don't forget to put a wet cloth under your chopping board while cutting the ingredients otherwise everything will inexorably slide away while you're working! ;D And serve on beautiful dinnerware. Although this is a simple dish, it deserves the very best!
Here the video and the recipe. My thanks to Valentina of Nikolaus Produzioni for filming, (and for the good laugh), to Arno at helderfilm.nl for editing the video and adding all those cool special effects and to Gianni Ciardo for the beautiful jazz music!
250 gr. of plain flour (possibly of the 00 type) 250 gr. of
durum wheat flour 25 gr. of fresh yeast (or two teaspoons of dry granulated yeast) 1 teaspoon of sugar 2 teaspoons of
salt for the dough 2 dl of
lukewarm water 8 small sweet white onions (or 4 big
ones) 5 anchovy fillets in oil 2 tablespoons of raisins 100 gr. of pitted green or black
olives 50 gr of
grated pecorino cheese (Sardinian, Roman or Sicilian) 1 ½ dl. of olive oil extravergine coarse sea salt black pepper
Mix the yeast
with 2 dl. of lukewarm water and a teaspoon of sugar. Dissolve yeast and sugar properly. The sugar is going to boost the activation of the yeast.
Mix together the two types of flour (you can sieve the plain
flour first to make sure you get no lumps). Add 2 teaspoons of salt and
mix further. Add the water with sugar and
yeast and then the the olive oil, mixing everything well. Transfer the mixture on the
table and kneed until the dough is compact and yet very elastic. Use
some extra olive oil if the dough feels too dry and some extra flour if the
dough sticks to the working top.
Divide the dough in 2 balls, one
of which a bit bigger than the other one. Cut a cross on top of each ball
of dough using a knife and leave to rise under a wet kitchen
cloth on a warm place for about 15 to 20 minutes (this calzone dough doesn’t really
have to rise for a long time).
Soak the
raisins in warm water, rinse them and pat them dry with kitchen paper.
Cut the pitted olives in rings and
put them aside in a small bowl.
Peel the sweet onions and cut them
in rings. Fry the onions in olive oil until
soft and glazy, and do that preferably on a low fire and with the lid on the
pan so that they can get all soft in their own steam and caramelise a bit.
Season the onions with salt and pepper and leave them to cool off.
Mix well the onions with the
soaked raisins, the grated pecorino cheese, and the anchovies cut in small
pieces.
Flatten the two dough balls with a
rolling pin. Lay the bigger piece of dough on
a previously greased oven dish. Fill with the onion mixture.Cover with the smaller piece of
flattened dough and seal the borders.
Grease the top side of the
calzone with some olive oil, sprinkle with coarse sea
salt and put in the pre-heated oven at
200°C for about 30 minutes.
Serve lukewarm with a good glass
of wine, for example a good Locorotondo from Puglia, and buon appetito! :)
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