Italian - - Page 6

by tvff

Pasta Recipe: Keepin’ it Cool

Nothing’s better than a steaming bowl of pasta, right? Not when it’s 86° outside. That, my friends, was my predicament last week when we were enjoying some unseasonably warm weather here in the Northeast and I got an e-mail from Mrs. TVFF suggesting we have pasta for dinner. Not one to ever turn down the opportunity for a carb-heavy meal, I resolved to avoid the ususal pasta dishes — which certainly didn’t sound appetizing as I perspired my way around the city — and go for something that wasn’t quite pasta salad either. We’d meet in the middle with a hot pasta dressed with a room-temperature sauce.

First, the props: I’m pretty sure this originated as some sort of bruschetta topping or chunky dip from Jamie Oliver. His input forms the basis of this “sauce,” which is the olives, the cherry/grape tomato and the olive oil. The rest of the recipe is a bit more free-form.

Warm Pasta with Crushed Grape Tomatoes and Olives

– One pound of short pasta – penne, rigatoni and farfalle are perfect for this.

– One cup, olives without pits

– One pint, grape or cherry tomatoes

– Six tbsp. oil

– Whatever the hell your heart desires (see below)

by tvff

La Dolce Eat-a: The Best Foods in Rome

I know that we took a look at the top ten things I ate in Rome (just updated with more photos!!), but to think of Rome as the sum of its individual parts would be a mistake. There is a larger story to tell.

First off, I should admit that I’m not going to be able to do justice in this post to the experience of eating a week’s worth of meals in Rome.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m not a good enough writer, though that may be true. I think it’s just that you can’t really talk about eating in Rome in a way that can even remotely replicate the experience. That said…

If you are a lover of food, you owe it to yourself to go to Rome at some point. If you fancy yourself a decent home cook, you really should go and see how you can make simple ingredients delicious.

And if you work in an Italian restaurant, you should be required to go to Rome. There really ought to be some sort of licensing process involved.

Here’s the thing, though. It wasn’t just about how good the food tasted, although that’s something we’ll cover point-by-point at a bit later. What was amazing was that there is an overwhelming and all-consuming food culture. It seeps into everything there. I was there less than one full week and it’s easily the greatest single food experience of my life.

What was so impressive? It was the little things, and it started first thing in the morning.

by Tyler

My Classy Cheating Confession: Gastronomic Glaze

Part III in our controversial ES series…

When my fabulous former neighbor returned from Paris having successfully smuggled Vacherin Mont d’Or cheese into the States, we knew it was going to be a party.

And party we did. After leaving the contraband Vacherin out overnight, it was exceptionally soft and bore that hallmark of quality cheese, the stink of smelly feet. It was the rustic-looking wild cousin of brie—the one with the beard who gets wasted at your sister’s wedding and hits on the bridesmaids because he knows you’re not going to say shit about it.

But the real star of the party was the goat cheese garnished with crumbled walnuts and fig balsamic gastronomic glaze (glassa gastronomica if you’re pretentious, Italian, or both). It was the perfect tangy and sweet complement to the cheese. She simply took a log of chevre, split it in half lengthwise and glazed up the interior, putting it back together like a wonderful cheese sandwich with balsamic candy in the middle. Gastronomic glaze: garnish of the gods.

Well, after six or seven bottles of Bordeaux and my incessant harping on the brilliance of this balsamic glaze, Jan admitted that she had brought back a couple bottles of plain balsamic glaze from a French grocery. In her drunken state she offered me one, which I’m sure she now regrets.

in Cheese / Personal 0 comments

by tvff

Top Ten Things I Ate in Rome

I asked. You chimed in. I’m back from Rome and I’ve just got to let you know the goods on what I had, including a recap of the dishes that I was most anticipating.

Did everything live up to my sky-high expectations? Let’s find out.

10. Gelato – I actually took it easy on the gelato. I only had it twice while I was there…tremendous restraint on my part. Our first time was at Giolliti, a famous spot, and I had a hazelnut/fior de latte cone and our second was at Della Palma (below) where I had creme caramel/ricotta with fig sauce. Both were delicious, but the thing that really struck me was the overwhelming number of varieties these places had. They made Baskin-Robbins and his 31 flavors look like a punk. I did a quick guesstimate at Della Palma and came up with more than 85 flavors. I’m convinced that the majority of the fun involved in the gelato experience comes from the process of choosing which varieties to get.

9. Zucchini Blossoms – I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get these due to the early season, but after seeing how fantastic they looked in the market at the Campo dei Fiori (below) we ordered them as an appetizer at La Campana, a ristorante just around the corner from our hotel. Delicate, crunchy, and filled with oozy cheese. But the best, most flavorful part of the perfectly fried flower was the fact that it was filled with…

8. Anchovies – Listen, I don’t want to hear that you don’t like anchovies. And I’m not getting into the canned/tubed conversation because the ones I had in Rome were light years ahead of even the best canned anchovies you can get here. The anchovies that we had both in the zucchini blossoms and on a pizza were flavorful but surprisingly mellow. I’m now more convinced than ever that people who think they don’t like anchovies just haven’t had good anchovies.

Find out what topped this list and pick up the names of some great restaurants along the way, after the jump.

7. Amatriciana – This dish makes the list even though I didn’t order it during my time there. Of course, I did sample more than my fair share of it off of Mrs. TVFF’s plate (she got it twice), so it’s in. It was quite a bit richer than when I make it, and without the red onions that I typically put in. I asked one of our waiters if the restaurant made it with pancetta or guanciale and he replied quickly and forcefully: “Guanciale…if you want good amatricana, you must use guanciale!” There you go, folks, straight from the expert. If you’re in NYC, pick some up at Salumeria Biellese, which is where I get mine.

6. Filetti di Baccalà – Fried fish? Yep, pretty much the same as the fish and chips that you’ll find in the best places in London, but there’s something to be said for simple fried food executed perfectly. It’s just another reminder of how seriously they take their food in Rome…even the glorified bar snacks are inspired. We got ours as an early-evening snack at a place named, unoriginally, Filetti di Baccalà, located a few blocks away from the Campo dei Fiori, in a bustling part of town that we cut through after a long day of touring churches and walking through Trastevere.

Next: Top 5 Things To Eat in Rome

in Desserts / Fish / Lists / Personal 9 comments

by tvff

Infinito Sobbollire: Anticipating Rome

Ladies and gents, I’m in dire need of a vacation and, as luck would have it, that’s just what I’ll be doing at the end of this month. My last two trips to Europe, which took me to Hamburg and London, certainly left me with a few good food memories, but that’s going to pale in comparison after Mrs. TVFF and I head to Rome. She’s been there a few times (and studied for a summer during college), but it’s my first trip. We’ll be looking at tons of artwork, visiting important churches and ancient ruins and gorging ourselves on every type of food we can put our hands on.

It’s funny…I plan on walking something like ten miles a day while I’m there, yet I completely expect to gain 5+ pounds. What, exactly, am I looking forward to most? I’ve got a shortlist of dishes that have my mouth watering already.

5. Gelato – Yeah, I know you’re probably thinking that this should be a bit higher on the list. And it would be, except for the fact that (a) I’m going to be there at the end of February and it’s not exactly frozen-desert season and (b) I work about a block away from what I think is the best gelato this side of the Atlantic, so it won’t likely be the kind of revelation it typically is for Americans raised on bland ice cream. Still, eating a cup of pistachio while walking through the Campo de’ Fiori will be pretty sweet.

Check out the rest…and help me find the best spots…after the jump.

in Cheese / Eggs / Food Travel / Pig 4 comments

by BS

Two Tastes for Every Bite

One of the best things I’ve eaten anywhere lately is the sweet potato gnocchi at Tulio, an Italian restaurant in Seattle. It is one of those dishes that was just a total surprise — sounds simple, looks simple, then you put one in your mouth and realize it’s a million miles from simple. Every bite of these little pillows had two distinct, equally beautiful tastes and textures: crisp and buttery on the outside, but with a sweet, melt-in-your-mouth middle.

Firmly on my homemade pasta kick, when I got back to New York I emailed Chef Walter Pisano’s press folks to ask if he’d be willing to share the recipe. Apparently he gets this request all the time and was more than happy to oblige.

“I’m surprised he would share his most popular recipe,” remarked the veggie gf. “Why would anyone go to the restaurant if they can just get the recipe for free?”

Well I figured that one out soon enough. Remember that “sounds simple, looks simple” thing? Yeah, turns out they’re not so simple to make. Chef Pisano only has one sous chef who he’ll trust to take charge of these babies, which take, oh, about a full day to make. Of course, being the slacker chef that I am, I glanced at the minimalist ingredient list (sweet potatoes, parm, nutmeg, eggs and flour), ran out to pick up a few SPs and got to work. Or so I thought.

in Recipe / Veggie 7 comments

by gansie

Challenging the Jewish Christmas Dream

I really hate when things are such cliches, but also so, so true. I’m not sure of one event that is as joked about, but yet is so strikingly correct as a Jewish person’s day on Christmas. There’s two ultimate truths: going to the movies and eating Chinese food. I don’t know how this happened. But these are the only two options for out-of-the-house entertainment in the Northeast (I’m sure Jews in warmer climates are sunning themselves or golfing.)

My family has been going to the movies for 20 years on Christmas. A number we recently calculated by remembering our first film together on Jesus’ birthday: The Little Mermaid.

This year we saw The Blind Side and I wanted to dismiss it as a cheesy, feel good, predicable sports movie. And in many ways it was that, but it was also really fulfilling and fun and sad to watch. And I cried. And I loved it.

But in unpredictability, the Family Gansie did not chow down on lo mein. We ventured to another continent.

in Cheese / Holiday / Recipe 2 comments