Central Market Video, and Other Stuff

Thursday night for dinner we had the strawberry pie Lindsey and I made. The following pictures are from Lindsey's camera.

Lindsey Stirring the Strawberries and Sugar
(Wednesday)

Putting the Cookied Berries on the Regular Berries
(Wednesday)

Chopping Asparagus
(Thursday)

Finished Product!

Brittni was sick, so Kate joined us!

Hannah's so cute with her pie!

The pasta with asparagus recipe is from skinnytaste.com. We tweaked it a little bit. (Sort of doubled it, and we had enough for leftovers for two people.) Used about a pound of angel hair pasta, two pounds of asparagus, five garlic cloves, two egg yolks, and half a cup of Parmesan. It was SO GOOD! I had never cooked asparagus before! I'll totally (totes!) make this again. Like, a lot. It's a wonderful Spring dish, and it's great with white wine.

As for the strawberry pie, the crust was weird. I don't recommend that recipe. But the pie was good!

Friday, Meghan's mom came! She's really cool, and she took us to Gusta Pizza for dinner.

Saturday, Lindey and I went to lunch at a place called Vini e Vecchi Sapori. I had pappa al pomodoro (tomato bread soup), Lindsey had pasta with pesto, and we both got raspberry (!!!) tiramisu. It was awesome. The restaurant is really cute and tiny and the food was perfect.

I went to the market with Hannah to buy bananas, and I actually remembered to take pictures! I made them into a video because there were so many I wanted to upload. I hope you like it!

Field Trip to a Winery

During Thursday's wine class, we took a field trip to Tenuta Poggio Casciano, a winery just outside of Florence. (We took taxis there.) We visited one of the vineyards at the estate and got a little tour of the wine-making process. Then we did a tasting of four different wines they produce. Here are some pictures.

The Sign

Pretty Trees and Green Grass

It was a cloudy day.

Vineyard

Cute Little Rows of Vines

The Wine Dude Showing us the Crusher/De-stemmer

The Stainless Steel Fermenting Vats

French Oak Barrels for Aging

Fancy Table Set for the Wine Tasting

Meghan during the Tasting

The wines were great! I definitely had a favorite. We also had plenty of cheese and bread to go with the wine. The only problem was that Meghan and I had to go take an Italian quiz right after this, and we were both a bit tipsy. I think I still rocked that Italian quiz. Then I went home and fell asleep.

Pizza alla Napoletana and Torta Caprese

Want to know how to make this?

Pizza alla Napoletana

Yep. This was today's lunch.

We learned about the region of Campania today. It's the region in Southern Italy where Naples is. They're famous for pizza!

What makes Naples' pizza the best is a combination of awesome things:

1. The dough is made with lievito madre, natural yeast, not chemical yeast. It's very hard to do and the process takes a long time. They also use "farina 0," a certain kind of flour used for pizza and focaccia. (There's also farina di grano duro for pasta and bread, and farina 00 for desserts. I don't really know what the American equivalent is, though; does anyone else know?)

2. The cheese used on the pizza is fior di latte mozzarella. Mozzarella is produced in Campania, and the conditions are perfect for raising the cows. The grass is different there because of the warm climate and the mineral-rich soil from the volcanoes in the area.

3. Tomatoes are the best in the South because the weather is warmer.

So, here's how we made our pizza.

First, get 2 bowls. In the first one, put 500(ish) grams (about a pound, I think) of flour, an Italian (big) pinch of salt, and a drizzle of olive oil. In the next bowl, put some warm water, a pinch of sugar, and a cube (Yes, a cube. I have no idea how you'll find this in the US.) of fresh yeast. Mix the yeast around with your fingers to dissolve it. Then dump the yeast/water/sugar into the flour/salt/oil. It'll look like this.

About to Become Dough

Mix it up with your hands. (Add more warm water if you need to.) Start punching it a lot until it turns into the right consistency. It should be very soft and almost sticky. Then cover it with a warm, damp towel and let it rest an hour to double.

Meanwhile, work on the sauce. (The best part of the pizza, à mon avis) Take some tomato sauce. Chop finely a garlic clove. Add a big ol' pinch of salt, a drizzle of oil, a pinch of oregano and some hot pepper (a ground up spice; not an actual pepper). Let it chill out for a while on the counter. Tear up some fresh, clean basil leaves.

Basil, Rising Dough, Yummy Sauce

When the dough has risen, roll it out on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Put the dough on it. Then cover the dough (not the edges; duh; you need a crust) with the sauce.

Ready for the Oven!

Put it in a hot oven. (We used 250 Celsius; I converted it and it's 482 Fahrenheit.) About 15 minutes (maybe; I don't really know how long it was in) later, the crust will be nice and golden. Take it out, and put some sliced fresh mozzarella on top. (I can't decide if my favorite cheese is mozzarella or pecorino. It's totally a toss-up. I also feel the need to decide soon which is my favorite. It's adding a lot of unnecessary stress in my life. . .)

Cheese!

Sprinkle some oregano on top of the cheese. Then put it in the oven again till the cheese is all melty. Take it out. Put the basil on top. Drizzle with a little more olive oil. Mmm. . .

Ready. To. Eat!

What's for dessert? Torta Caprese.

Melt 100 grams of bitter chocolate in a double boiler. Let it cool; add half a small glass of coffee liquor and half a cup of Italian coffee. (Italian coffee is strong. 1 cup is, like, the size of a shot. So half a shot of coffee.)

In another bowl, mix 100 grams of butter with 100 grams of sugar (minus a tablespoon of sugar which you put in a food processor with 150 grams of almonds). Separate 3 eggs. One at a time, add the yolks to the butter and sugar. Add the chopped almonds and half a tablespoon each of flour and baking powder. Add the melted chocolate. Whip the egg whites. Gently fold them into the mixture.

Butter and flour a springform pan. Place the mixture inside and bake 40 minutes at 180 Celsius. Then take it out of the pan and onto a serving plate. Take your decorative snowflake shaped stencil-y paper thing and put it on top of the cake. Then sift some powdered sugar on it.

Pretty!

Decorate it with almonds and chocolate shavings.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Tasting

Let's talk about chocolate!

First, a quick side note:

I finished The Hunger Games yesterday, and it. was. awesome. When Lindsey first told me about it, it sounded really lame. But after buying it at Paperback Exchange last week, I started reading it and couldn't put it down. The only problem is, I don't have/don't want to buy the next 2 books of the trilogy, and I can't really function without them. To compensate for not having the other books to read, I have just been annoyingly begging other people to read The Hunger Games. So, do it. Read them. Then you can watch the movie when it comes out!

Now. I went to a chocolate tasting tonight. I had signed up for it last week at school. (It was free!) I was one of the lucky ones who got to the advising office super early to get my name on the list. Totally worth it. Here's the plate of chocolates I just tried:

Chocolate!

First, the lady leading the tasting talked about the history of chocolate, where it's from, how it's made, different kinds of chocolate, how to taste chocolate, how to tell if it's good chocolate, etc. (Apparently Lindt makes the best chocolate when it comes to big producers.)

Then, we sampled different kinds:

• Dark chocolate (I forgot the details of this one.)
• Ancient chocolate (It was grainy; it's the kind they made before they made smooth chocolate. Now you can still get it because it's made in Modica in Sicily. It's traditionally eaten with bread.)
• 75% bitter chocolate with ground chocolate beans
• 85% bitter chocolate
• Milk chocolate
• White chocolate (which isn't even chocolate)
• Aromatized chocolates: mixed red berries, and chili pepper
• Dark chocolate with almond (my favorite)
• Milk chocolate filled with cointreau
• Easter eggs! (Just for fun, after we finished the tasting. They were milk chocolate filled with a hazelnutty cream. Italians love hazelnuts.)

After we were done with the tasting, there was a lot of chocolate left. Everyone got to take some more home! I now have a plate of chocolate sitting in the kitchen covered in foil. I wonder how long it will last. . .

Oh, and because I don't like to lie to my blog readers, here's what you should know. That concert in Santa Croce with Lady Gaga and Eminem next week? It's too good to be true. It was a rumor. I'm very disappointed. However, there will be a bunch of Italian artists there, which might be just as cool. So we're still planning on going.

Now go out there, buy some chocolate and The Hunger Games, crawl up on the couch, and have a great evening!

All my blog posts are about food. Deal with it.

So far, the week has been fairly uneventful. I started my last Jewelry Making project! It's a chain; I'm making it into a bracelet.

Pretty Chain

That little section took me 5 hours to make. And the round rings aren't even soldered yet. By the end of the class period, my fingertips hurt from bending wire and getting poked and my back was sore from bending over my workbench. Totally worth it. I'm really excited about my bracelet!

Next noteworthy event of the week: Central market. (Again; and again I didn't take pictures; sorry.) Meghan and I met Lindsey and her friend to go to Nerbone for lunch. It's a restaurant(ish) inside the market, and you can get things like tripe or lampredotto (cow stomach) sandwiches, typical Florentine food. The locals get their lunch here, so we decided to, too. I had a panino con bollito, a boiled beef sandwich that's dipped in the beef juices. (That sounds kind of gross. Pretend I didn't say juices.) It was delicious. I didn't take a picture. When my brother Josh comes (in 1 month!!!) I'm going to take him there and see if he wants to try the cow stomach. I hear it isn't bad.

I also bought cheese from the cheese dudes! Pecorino. The oval-shaped kind called Marzolino, because it is made with the milk from March which is the best because that's when the grass the sheep eat is all fresh and green and new. I learned that in food class. Anyway, this cheese is the bomb. I'm a little addicted. And there's some wine on sale for 1.40 a bottle at the grocery store. Cheese. Wine. Bread. What more could you want?

(If you were wondering, the bread ladies at the market also make very good strawberry muffins! . . .or so I've heard. . . )

Today's lunch was falafel!

You know how you learn something new and then once you know it you see it and hear about it everywhere? That's how it was with falafel. I've seen recipes for it it all over other people's blogs now.

I just learned what falafel was before I came here, but in case you don't know, it's a Middle Eastern street food: patties or balls made of chickpeas or fava beans and served in a pita (or not) with some other delicious toppings. Lindsey heard about a legit falafel place here, and we decided to check it out.

It was legit.

This picture is terrible, but here it is, anyway.

My Falafel

Rundown of my falafel:

• Freshly-made pita (It was steaming when she sliced it open!)
• Falafel (She squished the patties into the bread, so I got falafel in every bite!)
• Smear of hummus
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• White sauce
• Red sauce (Sorry, I have no clue what the sauces were.)
• Dollop of some tzatziki-like sauce
• Maybe something else. I can't remember.

It was delicious and very filling. And now I know where the best falafel is in Florence! (Seriously, everyone kept coming in and ordering falafel, even though they had other things on the menu.)

To complete the afternoon, Lindsey and I went back to the market for supplies for tomorrow's dinner. She got the asparagus. I got the strawberries. Then went home to assemble the pie. (Not with the asparagus, though. Just the strawberries. Hehehe. . .)

Since you can't really find Crisco here (It's super expensive at the one place I saw it.) and since I didn't really feel like trying to convert grams of butter into cups again, I decided to use this strange No Roll Pie Crust recipe that calls for oil instead. It was weird. I mean, I haven't eaten it yet, but it looks weird. (At least you can't really see it with all the strawberries.) And it was very easy to make, but it seemed pretty greasy when I was trying to squish it into the pan. (I also used about half the water it called for and that was plenty.) I baked it at about 400 degrees until it was golden.

Next, we melted some dark chocolate with a little butter, and spread it around on top of the crust so that the crust doesn't get soggy.

Then, we used this strawberry pie recipe, except that instead of cornstarch, we doubled the amount and used regular flour. And we used a kilo (about 2.2 pounds) of strawberries. I am not sure if that's a quart, or what, but it worked!

It smells so yummy!

Now it's sitting in the fridge waiting for tomorrow night. With some freshly whipped cream, it should be delightful.

Food, Friendship, Fiesole

We've started a new Thursday tradition. Dinner. (Together.)

Two weeks ago we had tacos, and this Thursday we (mostly me. . . I'm kind of a kitchen hog) made balsamic bruschetta and penne with vodka and tomato sauce. Thursdays are our Fridays since there's no class on Fridays here. These dinners are great because we all get together and each of us buys a few ingredients and it saves us a ton of money considering how much it costs to go out or how much it would cost just one of us to buy everything to make a nice dinner.

I'm ridiculous and I follow an insane number of food blogs. I have this Word document on my computer called "Recipe Bucket List" and it just gets longer every day. I write what it is I want to make and which blog or website the recipe came from, and when I feel like making something I can just go to my list! It's a marvelous idea which I copied from a couple of bloggers who have their bucket lists on their blogs.

Anyway, I crossed off two keepers.

Balsamic Bruschetta (recipe from Allrecipes) is so easy! Chop tomatoes, basil, and garlic. Add balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. (The real stuff. Not the green can of Parmesan, although I suppose that would work in a pinch.) Mix it all together and let it sit for a while to get really flavorful. Slice and toast some French bread (or a couple of baguettes like we used) and then top your slice with some of the tomato mixture, drizzle with olive oil if you feel so inclined, and then eat it! It's marvelous. Really. I want it every night. With every Italian dish I ever eat.

Then we had this incredible Penne with Vodka Sauce (recipe from Vittles and Bits) which went really well with the bruschetta! The recipe had a lot of butter and cream in it, so it was totally unhealthy, but awesome. The recipe was perfect but it took ours a  lot longer for the vodka to evaporate. I tasted it before it was evaporated and the sauce was horrible. I had never had vodka sauce, so I didn't know what it was supposed to taste like. Catherine tasted it (Catherine and Veronica had joined us for dinner.) and said it just needed to evaporate more. Anyway, it was awesome. Everyone loved it. I would will make this again sometime.

Friday, we went to lunch at Mario's and then we wandered through the leather market. (They sell things besides leather, but I'm saying leather market because I don't mean the food market.) We found a 5-way friendship necklace! I've been wearing mine since then.

Our 5-Way Friendship Necklace
Aren't we adorable?

After that, we went to the Paperback Exchange and I traded in a book I had finished for one Lindsey recommended, The Hunger Games. Then we did some shopping at H&M. Since the only pair of shorts I have here is one pair of running shorts, I bought a pair of jean shorts, a bright pink skirt, and two tank tops. Hello, warm weather!

Speaking of warm weather, Saturday was our trip to Fiesole, a cute little town overlooking Florence. We left Florence around 11:30, I think. The bus from Piazza San Marco to Fiesole takes about 20 minutes. When we got there, we explored the little market on the main road. It was lunch time, so we bought some things for a picnic. We bought fresh pecorino cheese (I love pecorino!) and some really ripe and sweet, delicious strawberries. Then we hit up the CO-OP grocery store for freshly baked bread and prosciutto. We took our lunch to a shaded park and sat in the grass and enjoyed our little feast. It was a perfect day for a picnic. I even got a little sunburned. (Don't tell my dad.)

Lindsey and I shared this for lunch.

After our picnic we walked up to explore the church of San Francesco, and then a terrace overlooking the whole city of Florence. The view is incredible. It's hard to tell, but in this picture you can see Florence's Duomo in the middle near the top.

View from Fiesole

We took pictures and then wandered around the town for a while, stopping to sit and talk in the shade at another park, and then deciding it was time to head to Fiesole's best bakery for treats. I got three little cookies. One was a shortbread shaped like a bunny and dipped in chocolate. Another was like a tiny pie crust filled with jam and topped with chocolate. The third was a very mini jam-filled pie, no chocolate. They were all yummy.

When we finished, we headed back to Florence, around 4:15. We took naps and then Lindsey and Brittni came back over to watch Hairspray. Saturday night we went out. It was a lot of fun.

I can count the number of weeks left in the semester on one hand. It's going to be hard to leave.

Spaghetti alla Chitarra con Vongole e Pescatrice and Millefoglie ai Frutti di Bosco

Welcome to The Marches, Abruzzo, and Molise.

Regions of Italy

The Marches, Abruzzo, and Molise are located in central Italy, along the Eastern edge, bordering the Adriatic Sea.

In The Marches, they eat a lot of fish. A typic dish is Brodetto, a fish soup with over ten different kinds of fish. They also stuff and deep-fry olives to serve as an antipasto. They produce pecorino cheese in this region, along with mushrooms and truffles. They make fresh pasta, but not stuffed pasta.

In Abruzzo and Molise, they eat mostly lamb. They produce the best pasta. They use pepper and saffron in their dishes. For holidays they make Crespelle di Vincingrasso, crepes with cheese and covered in meat stock.

We made:

Spaghetti Chitarra with Clams and Monkfish, and

Torte with Cream and Berries

. . . Clams?

. . . Monkfish?

Hello, new foods.

First, let's talk about this Spaghetti Chitarra. It's the coolest thing ever. First, make your basic pasta dough. (flour, eggs, pinch of salt, drizzle of olive oil; mix it till it's smooth and elastic) Wrap it in plastic wrap. Let it rest 30 minutes. Then, get out this tool that looks like a loom or a musical instrument but is, in fact, a pasta maker.

What? You don't have one of these things at home?

Cut off a piece of your dough. Roll it out thin on a floured surface. Then, place it on the musical-instrument-looking-pasta-maker.

Pasta on Loom Looking Thing

Use the rolling pin to roll it out / squash the dough down through the wires.

Rolling the Dough through the Weird Tool

Dough turning into Noodles

The wires cut the dough into noodles!

Noodles!

So that's how you make the pasta. But while you're in the process of making it, start on the clams and monk fish.

Soak the clams in cold salty water for 30 minutes.

Soaking Clams

Then wash them very well many times. Put them in a pan with 1 whole garlic clove and a little bit of oil. Cover and let them open, using a high flame. Take out the garlic clove. Keep the clams and the liquid.

Next, I introduce you to my friend, Monk Fish.

Look at those eyes.

Gross. Clean him up. (We didn't clean him; our teacher did.) When you're finished, he should look like this:

Much Better

Chop 2 cloves of garlic. Saute in oil. Add salt and a chopped hot pepper. Add about 200 grams of cherry tomatoes cut in half, and then half a glass of white wine. Cook for a little bit; then add the cubed monk fish. Cook 5-10 minutes on a low flame. Add salt if needed, and chopped parsley and chives.

Sauted Monk Fish

Boil a big pot of water. Add salt and noodles. When the noodles are done (3-5 minutes), drain them and add them to the pan with the monk fish. Add the clams. Saute it all together. Then dump it out onto a serving plate.

Finished!

Did I like it?

It wasn't bad.

The clams were a little strange, texture-wise. The monk fish didn't really taste like anything. The pasta was a little bland. But it was kind of good!

Not as good as this, though:

First, buy a package of butter dough. I think it's the same as puff pastry. We would have made it, but it takes like hours and hours to make.

Cut out 2 circles. One bigger, one smaller. Poke holes in the circles with a fork. Beat an egg yolk with a tablespoon of powdered sugar and then brush it onto the dough circles. Bake them 10 to 15 minutes at 205 degrees C. We forgot to check ours. They burned a little.

A Bit too Golden

Wash about 300 grams of your choice of berries. We used blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Mix them with 30 of grams powdered sugar and about a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Leave them alone for a while.

Whip 200 grams of fresh cream with 50 grams of powdered sugar until it turns into whipped cream.

Place the bigger crust on a serving plate. Put a layer of whipped cream and a few berries on top. Cover with the other crust. Place more cream in the middle. Add more berries. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve.

Mmmm. . .

I could have easily eaten the whole thing. So light and fluffy and sugary and delicious, not to mention easy to make!

Now, I'd like to take this moment to brag about something besides food! On April 20, "Total Request Live" has its grand finale in Florence! It's some MTV concert awards thing, I think. It's going to be in Santa Croce square. And here are a few of the celebrities that are going to be there:

Lady Gaga

Eminem

Britney Spears

Shakira

We're going. If we can't get into the square, we'll stand on a street nearby and listen. It's going to be awesome!

(And I thought it was cool that Jersey Shore is coming to Florence in May; this is even better!)

To all my Missouri friends/family (which is most of you), another thing to be jealous about: Apparently when the weather in Florence gets nice, it stays nice. We've been sunny in the 70s for a week now, and the forecast doesn't predict anything else!

I love it here. Come visit. You'll love it, too.