Friday, March 25, 2005

RECIPES, ETC

I’ve found so many new recipes since we’ve been in Italy. Many of them came from our week at cooking school, but I’ve been leafing through all the cookbooks I brought with me, and have decided that I need to start using them more. I’ve collected two binders full of recipes that I’ve printed out from various internet sources and from old scraps of yellowed newspaper that I’ve torn out over the years.

I’m going to include a few of the more recent recipes at the end of this blog. That way, for anyone reading who isn’t interested, you won’t have to scroll through them. Let me just say that they’re all incredibly simple, casually elegant, and of course, delicious.

My worries about finding tomato plants this early in the season was for naught. The market in Marsciano has been full of all kinds of plants for the past few weeks….tomato plants, lettuce, onion sets, herbs. I had to really work at NOT buying some tomato plants last Monday. It was SOOOO tempting because the weather has been so nice, and because the garden is ready.

In order to satisfy my need to plant something, I did buy some parsley. Two were potted up in the back yard, and the other two went into the garden. I also bought a more sage and rosemary. The plants I had last year look really pathetic…something was nibbling on the sage, and the rosemary just looks…sad. I transplanted the old plants to the garden…maybe being in full sun will help them. If not, at least I’ve got some backup now. I bought some stuff to keep the slugs away, if that was what was eating my sage. Time will tell.

We’re supposed to get some rain this coming week, and we could really use a good soaker. Most of the fields have been plowed and are ready to be planted. With temperatures in the low 60’s, it feels like the perfect time to plant. But, as I said before, it’s just too iffy at this point, and then we have a full moon tonight, so that means I have to wait another two weeks. I know little or nothing about the farmer’s almanac, and I’m sure it’s much more detailed than I realize, but I do try to plant when the moon is getting bigger. I have no idea whether this really helps or not, but it can’t hurt, and it’ will keep me from jumping the gun.

We’ve been walking every day. The new road that Giacomo and Belinda told us about is great…well, except when the occasional car drives by and leaves a trail of dust. Luckily that doesn’t happen too often.

This road runs along the top of a ridge. On either side of this ridge are deep, deep gorges. San Venanzo is off to one side, and forests cover the other side. We’ve got so many oak trees, and they still have all their dried brown leaves from last year. I just hate oak leaves. We had pin oaks in front of our house in Louisville, and the trees don’t lose their leaves all at once like the maples. Instead, oak trees continually drop leaves all winter long, so you’re never finished raking. And of course when they get wet they’re SO slippery and yucky, and then in the spring, you’re still looking a brown. Bleah!

The fields are starting to green up, and the almond trees are in bloom now. I’m looking forward to watching the fields along the road. I have no idea what will be planted, but we’ll be right next to them as they sprout and grow. I know there were no fields of sunflowers last year, but maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll rotate this year. They’ll probably just be fields of hay and corn to feed the animals.

Our friend Marguerite arrives today to begin her house hunting. We’re having Easter Sunday lunch in Todi with her and Isabella. Terry had to go back to N. Carolina to run the bed and breakfast, but Isabella is staying to oversee some work in the apartment.

We hope to be able to take Isabella and Marguerite to see Paul and Patty’s fabulous place in San Terenziano, but want to go on a day when we’ll have a great sunset. With Marguerite’s schedule being at the mercy of realtors, and with rain predicted on and off all week, I hope we’ll get lucky.

We had Giacomo, Belinda and Isabella for lunch last week. I fixed cannelloni filled with ricotta and spinach, and covered it with a simple tomato sauce. I also fixed the grilled eggplant we like so much, and of course Giacomo, being from Sicily, recognized the dish as being from the southern region of Italy.
For dessert I tried a new recipe for a chocolate pecan pie. It was a simple, one bowl recipe, and was heavier on the chocolate than a traditional Derby pie…not that I’m complaining.

I had an extra loaf of rye bread in the freezer, and meant to give it to Belinda, but forgot it. Since we had to take Isabella home anyway, we decided to drop the bread off on our way. It took us two tries to find the right road, but just as we were turning down that road, a car was coming towards us. It turned out to be Belinda, Giacomo, and Brad, a fellow tour guide. He had just arrived the night before and had been sleeping in. Now the three of them were off to look at an apartment for Brad in Rotecastello, and they asked us if we’d like to come along. I found out that Isabella likes to look at houses as much as I do, so we said yes.

Art had driven Isabella past Rotecastello when we brought her to the house, but now she was going to get to see it in detail. We climbed the hill into the city, and as we neared the top, I saw the wife of the man who makes the mosaics. Her husband was just around the corner, and when I greeted them, she said, “oh! Now I remember you!”, and we introduced Isabella and Belinda. Luckily for us Belinda is fluent, so she was able to explain more clearly (and more quickly) that we were here with a friend who was looking at an apartment.

Brad would like to have some sort of a base in Italy…a place to store clothes and to retire to in between tours. The apartment in Rotecastello didn’t seem to need and major work, although a fresh coat of paint and an updated décor wouldn’t hurt. Brad is also going to look at the two small apartments in San Venanzo, so maybe we’ll get to take a look at them as well.

We had a quick lesson in radiators yesterday. Neither of us has ever lived in a house with radiators, so when the one in the living room started acting up, we had no idea what to do. The last three sections of this radiator stopped getting warm for some reason, and we couldn’t figure out why. The radiator had been functioning just fine all winter, so why now?

I posted the question on the ExPats in Italy message board, and with an hour or two had my answer…..there was air in the pipes, and we needed to vent them. Several people gave us directions on what to do and how to do it, and Art and I did the radiator in the living room, then checked the others just to be sure. As with so many things, it’s so simple once you know what to do!

And here are the recipes……..

FENNEL ORANGE AND PECORINO SALAD

3 SMALL FENNEL BULBS
3 SEEDLESS ORANGES
4 TBSP EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL (EVO)
1 TBSP RED WINE VINEGAR
2 OZ AGED PECORINO, SHAVED
SALT AND PEPPER

Trim and core the fennel. Cut in half lengthwise, then cut into strips.

Juice one of the oranges and reserve the juice.

Peel the remaining 2 oranges, removing the white pith. Slice the oranges crosswise, then quarter the slices.

In a small bowl whisk the EVO, 2 TBSP of the orange juice, and the red wine vinegar.

Toss fennel, oranges and pecorino with the dressing. Salt and pepper if desired. Serves 2-3


Warm Spinach Salad

6 slices pancetta, chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small shallot, finely chopped
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, eyeball it
1 bunch, about 10 ounces, flat-leaf spinach
Salt and pepper
In a skillet over medium high heat and add the pancetta. Brown the pancetta bits, about 2 or 3 minutes, then transfer to paper towels to drain and return pan to heat, reducing heat to medium. Add oil and shallots to the pan and let the shallots sauté 2 minutes.
To the sautéed shallots for the spinach salad, add sugar and cook sugar with shallots 1 minute. Add vinegar to the pan, scraping up pan drippings. Add spinach to the dressing and turn to wilt and coat it evenly in sweet vinaigrette. Add crisp pancetta to the salad.

BAKED APPLES WITH RED WINE

¾ cup raisins
1 ½ cups red wine
Pinch grated nutmeg
Pinch ground cinnamon
4 TBSP sugar
Pinch grated lemon zest
6 tart apples, all the same size
3 TBSP butter

In a small bowl combine the raisins with the wine. Stir in the spices, sugar and lemon zest. Allow to stand for at least one hour.

Wash the apples, then use a knife or corer to remove the central core without cutting thru the bottom of the apples.

Divide the raisin mixture between the apples, spooning them into the hollow cores. Spoon in a little of the spiced wine.

Arrange the apples in a buttered baking dish. Pour the remaining spiced wine around the apples. Top each apple with a small pat of butter. Bake at 375º for 40-50 minutes, or until apples are cooked through but not mushy. Serve hot OR at room temperature.

I assembled this dish the day before and brought it to room temperature before baking.

ONE BOWL CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE

1 PIE CRUST
8 oz SEMI SWEET SQUARES
2 TBSP BUTTER
3 EGGS, SLIGHTLY BEATEN
¼ CUP LIGHT BROWN SUGAR
1 CUP KARO SYRUP, LIGHT OR DARK
1 tsp VANILLA
1 ½ CUPS PECANS

HEAT OVEN TO 350º

COARSELY CHOP 4 SQUARES OF THE CHOCOLATE AND SET ASIDE.

IN A LARGE GLASS BOWL, MELT THE REMAINING CHOCOLATE AND THE BUTTER IN THE MICROWAVE UNTIL THE BUTTER MELTS (1-2 MINUTES), THEN STIR UNTIL CHOCOLATE IS COMPLETELY MELTED.

BRUSH BOTTOM OF PIE CRUST W/A LITTLE OF THE BEATEN EGG.

STIR SUGAR, KARO, EGGS AND VANILLA INTO CHOCOLATE MIXTURE UNTIL WELL BLENDED, THEN STIR IN PECANS AND THE CHOPPED CHOCOLATE.

POUR INTO PIE CRUST AND BAKE FOR 55 MINUTES, OR UNTIL A KNIFE INSETED 2” FROM THE EDGE COMES OUT CLEAN.

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