Gelato alla Vaniglia con Frutti di Bosco

Vanilla ice cream with berries, a simple pleasure of life that I wouldn't trade for anything.  After a tiring walk, I look forward to a big bowl of gelato alla vaniglia con frutti di bosco as opposed to my husband's cappuccino with apple strudel or my son's ice pop & lollipop.  Don't even ask me what happens if I trek for hours and find out that the rifugio (refuge) doesn't have it in the menu.  95% they have it.  I don't even want to dwell on that 5% of probability.

5 Torri of the Dolomites.

We walk with heavy packs on our backs.  Everything seems to be an essential when you trek up the mountain with kids.  Jackets, sweaters, food, diapers, cameras, sunblock....and the list goes on.  Even in the peak of summer, the mountains can get very cold so we practically have clothing for all seasons on my back.  Our 1-year old stays on my husband's back on her backpack baby carrier.

Rifugio Scoiattoli, 2255 m. in June 2011.

At times, I question myself how these tortuous walks can be considered a pleasure.  Come to think of it, you walk under the sun with heavy backpacks with whining kids as the background music.  It's the indescribable scenery, the triumph of attainment and pleasure or enjoying it all with a cup of cappuccino, a glass of beer or a bowl of gelato in front of you.  That is the reason why we keep on knocking ourselves out from walking.

This is not even a recipe.  It is just a 3-minute composition of little heaven.  Vanilla ice cream + fresh berries + a light drizzle of white sugar on the berries = pleasure.  It's not so easy to find all the berries in the fruit shops.  Once I do find them, I get all kinds and prepare this simple and wonderful dessert.  

Gelato alla vaniglia con frutti di bosco and hot chocolate from Rifugio Scoiattoli.

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Penne Rigate with Chanterelle Mushrooms, Speck & Tomatoes

Sometimes I wonder how it is like to live in the mountains.  As I turn 360 degrees, the panorama doesn't stop captivating me with its beauty.  I have been going to the Dolomites for 12 summers already following my husband's footsteps of spending about 30 summers in these mountains.  How is it like that we never get tired of this place?

I used to tease him that he should explore other places in summer.  Now, I am the one who is hooked.  I even beat him in planning our summer mountain escape every year.  Our kids (our dog included) are the fourth generation who are taking their summer trips here.  They are growing up to be mountain lovers just like we had been hoping they would.

One by one, the kids wait for their turns for the last touch of tying the bandannas around their necks that go along with their tyrolean clothes & hiking boots before going out to trek with us.  There is always a fight on who gets the red bandanna because they both like it so we never give it as a choice.  Even our dog jumps for joy when he sees his own red bandanna. 

I found these fresh chanterelle mushrooms in the fruit & vegetable shop.  I was meaning to cook & preserve them with vinegar & extra virgin olive oil just like how my 5-year old loves it but since the shops close so early here, I didn't make it on time to buy a bottle of vinegar.  Gosh, in here, we are always on the run to try to make it to the shops before closing time.  We can never get used to the early closing times.  I cooked the mushrooms instead with speck & fresh tomatoes for the pasta sauce for dinner. 
 

 

Penne Rigate with Chanterelle Mushrooms, Speck & Tomatoes

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 350 - 400 g. penne rigate or any short pasta
• 250 g. chanterelle mushrooms or any similar mushroom
• 150 g. speck, cubed
• 300 g. cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• 1/4 cup of red wine
• a bunch of parsley, chopped finely
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• parmigiano reggiano, grated 

1.   Boil some water in a pot for the pasta.  When the water boils, put the pasta and cook until al dente or cook the pasta a couple of minutes less than the suggested cooking time in the package.
2.   Meanwhile, saute' the onions in a saucepan with extra virgin olive oil.  When the onions sizzle, add the cubed speck.  Toast.
3.   Add the cleaned mushrooms.  Toss with the speck for a few minutes.  Let the liquid evaporate a little bit.

4.   Add the tomatoes.   After about 5 minutes, add the red wine.  Cook with medium fire for about 20 minutes or until the liquid sauce thickens.
5.   Season with salt & pepper.  Add the cooked pasta and toss for about 3 minutes with the sauce.  Add the chopped parsley.
6.   Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil & sprinkle with parmigiano reggiano before serving.

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Risotto ai Funghi (Mushrooms)

A week in the Dolomites and I think I am already gaining weight.  If not for the trekking and biking we had been doing, I wouldn't fit in the clothes I brought with me.  Seriously, I am in trouble because I can't stop eating in this place.  There's not much variety in the menus of the rifugi (refuges) or restaurants but you never get tired of the redundancy nonetheless.

In summer, the main activity is to trek in the mountains choosing the difficulty according to your capacity and the main objective is to reach a rifugio (refuge) hidden somewhere at a back of a mountain and award yourself with a big lunch or something in between meals.   My chosen award is always a big slice of apple strudel or a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with frutti di bosco (berries).  It's not the same when you buy it while sitting comfortably in the town.  It's the psychology of attaining it that makes the food in the rifugio special.

I do prepare almost all our dinners but I make them simple because after straining my muscles all day, I don't have so much working in my body to cook something elaborate.  One of the first dinners I prepared is risotto ai funghi or mushroom risotto.  Where else can I get the best mushrooms? 

San Vito di Cadore.  One of the beautiful towns in the Dolomites.  This is also where I buy the food before going home back to the mountain chalet we are renting.

Rifugio Mietres.  One of the rifugi in the Dolomites that you can reach by trekking.  It overlooks Cortina d'Ampezzo. 


Risotto ai Funghi (Mushrooms)

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 75 g. dried mushrooms, soaked & drained (or 300 g. fresh mushrooms)
• 300 g. Arborio rice or anything similar
• 250 ml. or 1 cup white wine
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• 2 knob of butter
• 1/3 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated
• 1 liter hot vegetable broth
• salt & pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• bunch of parsley, chopped

1. Boil a pot of vegetable broth.
2. In another pot, saute' chopped onion in extra virgin olive oil.  When they start to color, add the rice.  Toast for about 5 minutes, moving constantly.
3. Add the wine on higher flame.  Let the alcohol evaporate.
4. Add the mushrooms and about a cup of hot vegetable broth.  Keep the flame low.  
5. Keep on ladling small amounts of hot vegetable broth while cooking.  Stir the rice frequently to avoid sticking.
6. Turn off fire when you see that the rice is already al dente.
7. Add the butter, parmigiano reggiano & parsley.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil before serving.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    

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Spinach, Sundried Tomatoes & Mint Frittata

Gathering the last contents of the refrigerator, I created this simple and delicious frittata.   Accompanied with a prosciutto and cheese platter, it completed our quick and last dinner before taking the last things and driving off to the Alps. 

I was not intending to blog about this plate but the desire to snap some pictures was stronger than me so I unpacked the camera and hurriedly gave it some photographic attention.  What can I say?  It's the star that got me.  It also got my five-year old's appetite rolling because he ate the whole star.  I was surprised because he just added eggs to the list of food that he deems inedible.   My cookie cutters and perseverance have a good team work in perking up my kid's selective appetite. 

Spinach, Sundried Tomatoes & Mint Frittata

Ingredients:
Serves 2 - 3

• 6 eggs
• 150 g. spinach
• 10 g. sundried tomatoes
• a handful of mint
• 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated
• salt & pepper
• extra virgin olive oil

1. Saute' sundried tomatoes in a pan of extra virgin olive oil.  After 2 minutes, add the spinach.  Toss until volume is reduced by half.  Add mint leaves.  Quantity depends on how you want it strong.  I like to taste the mint so I put quite an abundance of leaves.  Transfer the mixture to an electric chopper or food processor to chop.  
2. Beat the eggs in a bowl.  Add parmigiano reggiano and spinach mixture.  Season with salt & pepper.
3. Cook both sides of frittata in a large saucepan. 

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Chicken Rolls with Peaches & Spinach

I dubbed this week my "food elimination week".  We are leaving for a long vacation and my main goal is to leave the kitchen bare of any candidate for decomposition.  Practically everything fresh and cured.  No one wants to come back home with a little surprise on a platter of dreaded moldy food that miraculously quadrupled in size and altered the homely smell to something indescribably horrendous. 

The refrigerator can only hear my heavy exhales everytime I open it to mentally calculate and coordinate how I can combine what are inside.  The week had passed and I am on to my last meal tonight of a ham & cheese platter with some frittata.  As frustrating it was,  I successfully apportioned everything the whole week.

These rolls are from the beginning of the week when I had the luxury of cooking fresh chicken fillet and peaches.  I've always loved mixing fruit with meat or fish and this combination is worth a try like the others I have posted.  The peaches added a twist of a pleasant fruity & floral flavor to the chicken.

Until my next post from the beautiful mountains of the Dolomites!


Chicken Rolls with Peaches & Spinach

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 400 g. chicken fillet
• 3 ripe peaches, pitted, peeled & chopped
• 100 g. spinach
• 50 g. pancetta affumicata (smoked), cubed
• a bunch of mint leaves, chopped + some for decorating
• a bunch of parsley, chopped
• salt & pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup port + a dash
• 1 garlic, halved

1. Pound chicken fillet with a meat tenderizer.  Set aside.
2. Prepare the filling.  Saute' the garlic in a saucepan with extra virgin olive oil.  Add the pancetta affumicata when garlic changes color.  Toast the pancetta.
3. Add the spinach.  Toss with the pancetta for a few minutes until its volume reduces.  Add the peaches.  Season with salt & pepper.  Cook for a few minutes.  Add the parsley & mint.  Add a dash of port.  When the alcohol evaporates, turn off the fire. Discard the garlic.
4. Lay one chicken fillet flat on a plate.  Spoon some filling.  Roll and secure with a food stick.  Repeat until you finish all the chicken.  
5. If you have some extra filling, saute' it along with the chicken rolls.  
6. In the same saucepan where you cooked the filling, pour some extra virgin olive oil.  Saute' the chicken rolls.  Brown all sides.  Add 1/4 cup of port and let the alcohol evaporate.  When it evaporates, turn off fire.  Slice the rolls.  Pour the sauce on the rolls.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil before serving.

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Riso Cantonese (Cantonese Rice)

Eggs, green peas, prosciutto cotto & rice.  These four ingredients make up the Cantonese rice or riso cantonese.   Adapted to the Italian palate, it is one of the most ordered food in the Chinese restaurants in Italy.  In fact, I don't know anyone who goes to a Chinese restaurant here who doesn't order this along with involtini primavera (spring rolls), spaghetti di riso cinesi (Chinese rice spaghetti) and pollo alle mandorle (chicken with almonds).  And for an average person, these already connote the whole Chinese gastronomy.  Not so many venture outside these four-dish menu.  We order five so we join the rank of the adventurous.  But we have been ordering exactly the same dishes over the years. 

My one-year old devours rice like there's no tomorrow and instinctively picks away anything green mixed with it except green peas.  Maybe because they look like balls that amuse her.  I wonder why children have this natural aversion to vegetables.  And how they all learn on their own to dump the undesirable ingredients on their parents' dishes and give a conspiratorial look that says, "Between you and me, what I gave you is very good.  Go on, eat it."  Hold on, who's the parent here?

I just got my new, tiny heart-shaped cookie cutter and was excited to use it that I started to attack the block of prosciutto cotto and the scrambled eggs.   It was time consuming to cut the food to little heart shapes but the finished product came out nicely.  My husband was amused with the shapes.  I secretly think that he's worried I might start shaping everything that's edible in the kitchen.

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Riso Cantonese (Cantonese Rice)

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 1 cup rice (I used Carnaroli.)
• 1/2 lime or lemon
• salt & pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 200 g. block of prosciutto cotto or cooked ham (You can adjust the amount.)
• 3 eggs
• 200 g. green peas (You can adjust the amount.)
• soy sauce

1. Boil rice with 2 cups of water.  Set aside when cooked. 
2. Meantime, prepare the other ingredients.  Slice the prosciutto cotto thickly, about 1 cm. each.  You can cube them, which is faster, or shape them by using small cookie cutters. Chop the parts that cannot be shaped anymore.  Set aside.
3. Saute' the green peas in a pan with extra virgin olive oil.  Season with salt & pepper.  Set aside.
4. Beat the eggs.  Cook them in the same pan you used to cook the green peas.  Leave it flat while cooking.  Invert when one side is already cooked.  Place on a plate.  Shape them with the cookie cutter.  Chop the parts that cannot be shaped anymore.  Set aside.
5. In the same pan, or a bigger one that can accommodate all the ingredients, pour some oil.  When it warms up, saute' the rice.  Add the eggs, prosciutto cotto and green peas.  Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime.  Put some soy sauce according to taste.  Season with salt if still needed.  

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Cherry, Asparagus & Corn Salad

It's confusing when you are confronted with different types of fruit.  It's cherry season and there were about four types in the supermarket.  Practicality dictates to get the cheapest variety but they pale in comparison to the more expensive types beside it.  Dark red, shiny and and irresistible looking cherries from Vignola (a town near Modena) won me over.  I took a box of half a kilo to try.   When I served them after dinner, we were all astounded by the taste.  They are so intense and sweet.  It's not so often nowadays to find such scrumptious fruit.  This interested me and I googled the cherries from Vignola.  I found out that they are the top prized cherries of Italy among 150 different varieties produced in this country.

Sometimes, limited ingredients work out wonders.  Dinner was some breaded fish sticks and I needed a side dish to go with it.  I had my last bunch of asparagus that needed to be cooked and a couple of ears of corn.  Instinctively, I roasted all of them on the griddle.  If you asked me a year ago on how I cook asparagus, I would say just steamed then drizzled with extra virgin oil.  When I discovered how good they are roasted on the griddle, I shelved the steaming.   Roasting intensifies the wonderful flavor of the spears.

 

The corn got roasted next.  I needed something contrasting to perk up the taste and color.  I was deliberating whether to use the cashew nuts that I tried once with this salad or some sweet grape tomatoes or try out something new.  Cherries.  There was a bowl I was draining beside my chopping board.  So I grabbed a handful of ripe cherries.  I pitted & chopped them, then mixed them with the salad.  The vibrancy of its color gave the salad a new life.  Red, yellow & green together made up a delicious looking dish.  The flamboyant splashes of color were shouting summer.

My husband and I polished off the whole bowl meant for 4.  Believe me, it was delicious.  I will do this salad over and over again until cherry season is over.

Cherry, Asparagus & Corn Salad

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 2 ears of corn
• 800 g. asparagus, hard part taken away
• handful of cherries
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• salt & pepper
• extra virgin olive oil

1. Wet stove top griddle (or a thick bottomed saucepan) with oil.  Wipe off excess with a kitchen paper towel.  Sprinkle fine salt all over the griddle then warm it up. 
2. Distribute the asparagus on the griddle.  Brown them.  Turn them often to avoid burning.  Set aside.
3. Do not turn off the fire.  If the griddle dried up while cooking the asparagus, drizzle with extra virgin olive again and wipe away excess with a kitchen paper towel.  It should be hot so be careful.  Sprinkle fine salt all over the griddle again.
4. Roast the corn cobs.  Brown all sides without burning.  Take away from the griddle when cooked.  Let them cool down for a few minutes.  Hold the corn cob vertically and slice off the kernels from all sides.  Make sure you just get the kernels, not the cob.  Put them in a bowl.
5. Cut the asparagus to bite sizes, about 1.5 inches long.  Mix with the corn kernels.
6. Grab a few cherries.  Pit them and chop the pulp.  Mix them with the asparagus & corn kernels.
7. Season with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (or 2 tablespoons if you want to intensify the taste more), salt & pepper.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  Mix the salad well.  Serve at room temperature.

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Mini Sandwiches

When I make these mini sandwiches, my kids can wipe out a plate.  This is not even a recipe, just a very simple idea that could boost the appetites of the choosy little ones.  All you need are cookie cutters, slices of bread of whatever kind, and the fillings.   The sandwich fillings I prepared are basic and simple.  Canned tuna & mayo seasoned with salt & pepper.  Mayo ranks low in my family so I put a minimal amount.  The rest of the sandwiches are ham and cheese.   I use prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) and individually sliced cheese (whatever kind) because they are easier to cut with the cookie cutters.  Prosciutto crudo is tastier but the cookie cutter will not penetrate it.

I wanted to make these for my 5-year old's end of the year class party but the food had to be in the classroom before 9 AM and the sandwiches had to be freshly done to retain the moisture.  I pondered on it for some days and finally abandoned the idea because it takes time to cut the bread, cheese & ham.  Unless I was willing to sacrifice a few hours of sleep.

So it was pizza al taglio to the rescue once again.  It's the type of pizza commonly found in Rome where the pizzerie sell them by weight.  They are about a meter long and rectangular.  You indicate the size you want.  From that piece that they cut, they weigh it, cut them to pieces, wrap them in paper and you can take it away.  It's a very quick & cheap bite.









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Farfalle Italiane with Matcha Green Tea, Pistachios, Raisins & Zucchini

After featuring the candy-colored farfalle primavera last month, I had to blog about this other vibrantly colored farfalle.  This tri-colored pasta is aptly called farfalle italiane because of the Italian flag's colors. 

Last Thursday, Italy had a big celebration commemorating its 65th year of Festa della Repubblica. Festival of the Republic is the day when the country had a referendum choosing between a republic or a monarchy to govern Italy after the fall of Fascism.  The republic won and all the male descendants of the monarchy were exiled from the country.  Incidentally, the 150th year of Unita' d'Italia (Unity of Italy) was also celebrated.  It is the day when the country became one unified nation.

It was a national holiday and the festivities were concentrated in the center of Rome.  There were 80 heads of State and government invited so the security and traffic were imaginably stringent.  And where were we amidst all this chaos?  Circumventing our way around the center of Rome to reach Parco della Caffarella, a 190 hectare green park in the city that extends until the Appian Way.  It was a free day so we decided to go biking.  After two hours of desperately preparing to go out, the bikes and kids were finally packed in the car.  As soon as we started to move, we realized that we were heading straight to the parade and festivities.  Darn, after two hours of putting up with the kids and the bikes, we can't just abandon our plan.

We continued, met policemen after policemen in every corner of endless closed roads, saw some military participants in every inconceivable mode of transportation and of course, the traffic.   The park was crawling with people and the smell was heavenly.  I counted more than 10 active barbecue grills roasting different kinds of meat.  Sigh.  And we just rushed to a pizzeria to buy some pizza al taglio for our picnic lunch.  The prospect of eating our pizza didn't seem so appetizing anymore.  As we sped on away from the crowds, the people thinned out.  We finally found a spot with a couple of other families on bikes already having their lunch of .... pizza!   I guess it's the most practical thing.  It would be impossible to lug around a barbecue grill on a bike anyway. 

While we were settling down on our picnic spot, we were greeted by the frecce tricolori.  Nine fighter planes spewing out colored smoke lining the sky with the Italian flag.  It was a remarkable sight. 

Our picnic spot was right beside the cenotaph of Annia Regilla, a noblewoman killed by her husband, Herodes Atticus in the year 160 in Greece.  The cenotaph or (empty) tomb was erected in the second half of the second century A.D. 

Farfalle Italiane with Matcha Green Tea, Pistachios, Raisins & Zucchini

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 400 g. farfalle italiane or any short pasta
• 1 tablespoon Matcha green tea
• 1/4 cup raisins, soaked in warm water, drained & dried
• 400 g. zucchini, diced
• 3 tablespoons pistachios, ground
• handful of fresh fennel leaves
• salt & pepper
• extra virgin olive oil

1. Boil water for pasta.  When it boils, add salt.  Cook the pasta according to the time in the package.
2. Meanwhile, saute' zucchini in a saucepan with extra virgin olive oil & about half a cup of water.  When water evaporates, the zucchini should start to sizzle.  Keep on tossing in the pan until they change color.  
3. Add the raisins, Matcha green powder & pistachios.  Toss the ingredients together for about 3 minutes.  Season with salt & pepper.
4. Add the cooked pasta & fennel leaves.
5. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil before serving.

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Croxetti with Tomatoes, Salame & Olives

This pasta is unknown to anyone I asked.  I first saw it on TV years ago and had wondered from then on about it.  Then suddenly, while searching for new types of pasta in the specialty shop, it jumped out at me.  I got ridiculously excited when I saw what it was, checking the embossed emblems or shapes on each pasta disc.  It really is reminiscent of the Communion host.  And I finally learned the name.   Hello croxetti. 

Croxetti go way back during the middle ages and they originated in Liguria, Northern Italy.  They were exclusively used by aristocratic families as a display of wealth and status.  The family coat of arms are stamped on each disc.  Certainly, personalized pasta discs seem to be a grandeur idea.

Unfamiliarity with the pasta made me decide to cook a "no fail" savory sauce.  A simple mixture of fresh tomatoes, salame & olives harmonized with the pasta well.   Fast, simple and tasty.  That's how I work on the food in my kitchen.  

  
Croxetti with Tomatoes, Salame & Olives

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 350 - 400 g. croxetti or any pasta
• 400 g. cherry tomatoes, halved
• 100 g. pitted black olives, chopped
• 1 garlic, halved
• 50 g. salame, cubed
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• thyme

1. Boil water for the pasta.  When it boils, add salt and put the pasta.  Follow the time suggested in the pasta package.
2. Meantime, prepare the sauce.  Heat oil in a saucepan.  Add garlic and cook until golden.  
3. Add salame.  Toss in the pan for about 3 minutes.  Add the tomatoes & olives.  Cook for about 10 minutes.  If the sauce dries out, ladle some hot water from the pot of water you are boiling for the pasta. 
4. Add salt, pepper & thyme.  Discard garlic.  
5. Mix the cooked pasta with the sauce.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil before serving.

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