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Nature’s Bounty

Two days ago I spent hours doing some “down home” tasks and, while I know it sounds contradictory, it both allowed me to take my mind of things and gave me time to think at the same time. O brought home a basket of garden goods just in time, I guess.

There’s something soothing about working with nature’s bounty so, I was able to focus my thoughts on the important things in life as I set about canning my bread and butter pickles.

Later I pondered the various obstacles in my way as I cleaned and trimmed green beans and set them to boil for green bean salad.

Then I was able to contemplate the future as I cleaned and chopped some basil in order to freeze it for the winter.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities in the coming weeks to do some more thinking and pondering as I prepare other garden goodies. And while I don’t often have the time to putter around in the garden, I really do enjoy it and, if you could make a living at it, I’d love to do something that was tied to the earth. Unfortunately, in this day and age, only large agricultural companies are able to make any money in the farming business.

Of course, while I was working the land, I’d also have to have other intellectual pursuits because otherwise I would be lost.

Still, the simple life is very appealing.

Buttery goodness

On a lighter note….

I’ve always been rather fond of cheese. Years ago, I remember my grandfather trying to change my mind by describing what cheese looked like under a microscope, but it was a futile effort on his part.

Years later, when I spent a semester abroad in France, I think I tried to taste every cheese I could find. Of course, 6 months isn’t enough to try all of the cheeses in France, but I gave it my best.

So, now that I find myself in Italy, I’m surrounded by luscious cheeses: fresh mozzarella, scamorza, pecorino, ricotta, grana padana, asiago, etc. And, even though I’ve been here for over 4 years now, I still haven’t tried them all, so every once in a while I have to taste a new one. Since so many of the cheeses are regional, I’m sure there are some I’ve never even heard of, so I have years of cheese discovery ahead of me. Plus, regional variations taste very different. For example, an Abruzzo pecorino is different from a Tuscan pecorino, which is different from a Sardinian pecorino. They’re all good, but they’re all different.

Now summertime is a great time for eating fresh cheeses. A dinner that is comprised of fresh cheese, some sliced tomato and cucumber is just perfect when the temperature soars. So, the other night, O brought home one of the cheeses that I really like. I guess he thought it would work as comfort food too. Anyway, it’s called burrata, which means buttered in Italian, and its very rich.

Originally from the Puglia region, it’s formed into a pouch with a rich, creamy center.  I really don’t want to know how many calories is in it and I certainly wouldn’t have my cholesterol checked the day after I ate it. Yes, it is delicious, but I only indulge every once in a while (once or twice a year at most – it’s that rich and that good).

(I realized after taking this picture that I probably should have put the cheese on a colored plate. The white plate just doesn’t do it justice, but at that point it was too late.)

Lamentations

Excuse me if I take some space for something very personal. I hesitate to post it, but feel that doing so may be therapeutic for me. You see, I don’t tend to share these things with anyone (and I do mean anyone) and sometimes can only express myself through writing. I have other things I’ve written tucked away on my computer and over time they’ve gotten deleted as I change computers or upgrade or whatever. As I write this, I’m not even sure if I will hit the publish button and if I do, I’m not sure I won’t go in and delete it later. This kind of thing rarely gets talked about, but somehow I think it’s wrong to just go on, pretending as if it never happened and never acknowledging it. It’s just craziness… So, if you’re reading this it means that I did hit the publish button and I’m probably sitting at the computer thinking how crazy I was to do so.

——-

Even though I’ve never seen your face, I love you anyway. Do you know, I was convinced from the very beginning that you were a girl. We never will know, but I still have those images in my mind of a little squirmy baby dressed in a little pink body suit. I tried to picture you and wondered if you would look like your daddy or like me or a little bit of both. And, while I suffered through 24 hour nausea, I relished it at the same time because I mistakenly believed that it was a sign that all was going well, unlike the last time. I was so positive that I even started thinking about names. But then I found out that your little heart wasn’t beating and that it had most likely stopped weeks before. I didn’t cry then as we made the necessary arrangements and I wasn’t able to grieve for several hours afterwards. Instead I was forced to talk to people and act as if my world hadn’t suddenly tilted and gone dark. I was on auto-pilot, walking and talking in a fog. It wasn’t until hours later that I was able to mourn, when I was alone and no one could hear me, especially your brother since I didn’t want to upset him. Then I buried my face in the pillow and moaned and wailed as my heart broke yet again. And, I cried again after the anesthesia wore off even though I didn’t want anyone to see my private grief. You were only with me for 11 short weeks, but you will always be a part of me. Please forgive me if I say it’s all for the best and try to find reasons why it’s a good thing for your brother to be an only child. I’m only trying to keep myself going. Your brother’s smiles and giggles are good medicine for me though. So, I’ll light and candle for you and for the other one who we never got to meet. Know that you will always be in my heart.

Roast Beef

Am I the only one who finds the “leather look” unappealing? I’m not saying that my pasty white legs are all that attractive either, but a shade somewhere in between would be nice.

There are women (and even some men) here who spend every possible moment sunbathing at the beach – so much so that they’re skin takes on what I can only call an “overly cooked” look. We’re not talking a healthy glow, we’re talking full blown roast beef. Move over George Hamilton (does anyone remember who he is?).

But then, maybe I’m the only one who finds that unattractive.

Pasta with Chicken and Grapes

This is one of the recipes I made for Luigi’s party. The mixture is rather unorthodox for Italians and some loved it while others wouldn’t even taste it. But, it’s a recipe that I found years ago in a cookbook and I used to make it whenever we had a potluck at work, where it always got rave reviews. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what cookbook I found it in, but if someone out there wants to take credit, let me know. (Oh, and by the way, as you’ll see from the ingredients, I don’t think it counts as low fat, but it’s very tasty.)

The recipe calls for pesto sauce and, since it only uses a small amount, you can get away with some jarred sauce. For Luigi’s party I made a mega-batch, so I made homemade pesto. You can’t beat the flavor.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups short pasta (like penne, twists, bow ties)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons pesto sauce
1 tablespoon sour cream
6 oz cooked chicken breast
1-2 celery stalks
1 cup red grapes (seedless is better, if possible)
1 carrot

Dressing:
1 tablespoon vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

I’m going to assume that you have some poached chicken breast just hanging around. If not, poach some up a few hours before you need it so that it has time to cool.

Mix the dressing and set it aside until the pasta is cooked. Once the pasta has been cooked, drain it, transfer it to a bowl, mix in the dressing and allow it to cool.

While the pasta is cooling, mix the mayonnaise, pesto sauce and sour cream in a bowl. Cut the chicken into strips, cut the celery into narrow slices, halve the grapes and remove any seeds and cut the carrots into matchsticks.

Once the pasta is cool, add the chicken, celery, grapes, carrots and mayonnaise mixture and stir to mix thoroughly. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

This is best if you let it sit for a while so that the flavors are fully blended, so cover it tightly and refrigerate it for a few hours before eating.

(Sorry, I don’t have a picture, but I haven’t made this since the party because we were eating leftovers for days.)

Where’s Little Miss Muffet?

I don’t like bugs and I really, really don’t like spiders. But, I have to admit, that they can be pretty sometimes.

I went to cut some chives the other day and found this tiny one on one of the chive blossoms.

Pasta with potatoes and speck

I know, it sounds like a starch attack, doesn’t it. But actually, in Italy you often find potatoes paired with pasta or even sliced thin and put on top of pizza. (White pizza that is, not pizza with tomato sauce). Pizza with potatoes does sound a little strange, but what could be weirder than pizza with pineapple and Canadian bacon? But, today is not the day to discuss pizza topping choices. It would make a good subject though because it takes me forever to choose my pizza at the local pizzeria since they have so many choices.

No, today we’re talking about pasta and the reason I decided to try pasta with potatoes and speck is that I happened to have some speck that was calling out to me to make something new and, of course, some potatoes. I had heard of the dish, but wasn’t quite sure what all was involved. After an internet search that gave me several different recipes – some that included beer of all things, and others that called for leeks (which I didn’t have) or included tomato sauce (which I didn’t want to use in this recipe), I decided to just wing it and come up with my own version.

(By the way, this is not a dish from Abruzzo, it’s more from the northern part of Italy where speck is made)

It turned out to be quite good and tasty, so give it a try. Speck is a wonderful smoky dried ham which is very flavorful. I think I even prefer it to prosciutto (gasp!). But, if you can’t find it where you are, you might try a slab of hickory smoked bacon cut into small cubes.

Ingredients

1 onion
125 grams (4.4 oz) of speck
2 medium potatoes (boiled whole)
½ cup cream (you could also use fat-free sour cream for a lighter version)
200 grams short pasta (like ditalini)
1 Tb olive oil
½ cup white wine
salt

While your pasta water is boiling, peel the boiled potatoes, quarter and slice into ½ inch slices. Dice onion and speck (or hickory smoked bacon).

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and cook over medium heat, once the onions start to soften, add the speck and allow cook for another minute or two. Pour in the wine and allow it to cook off. Add the potatoes and cook until heated through. Once the potatoes are cooked, add the cream and stir to coat everything. Taste for salt and adjust accordingly.

Add the cooked pasta, stir to mix well and serve.

Decoction Concoction – Good for what ails you.

My latest bought with the cold, the flu, bronchitis, or whatever it was had me really worn out and tired. Coughing was an all-day, all-night affair and there were no medicines available to help out. I was “treating” myself by drinking hot honey and lemon and was stopping the cough with cough drops and hard candy, but I was really getting sick of sugar.

After my third night in a row without sleep, I was ready to try anything when O mentioned a “decotto” that his mother used to make. As I said, I was willing to try anything, but was also interested to find out what this old-fashioned folk remedy was.

Of course, I also had to look up the word “decotto” since it wasn’t anything I had ever run into before. “Decotto” means decoction which comes from the verb decoct and means to extract the flavor by boiling or to make concentrated, boil down. Not to be confused with the word concoction which comes from the verb concoct, meaning to prepare by mixing ingredients or to devise using skill and intelligence. Now a decoction is a concoction, but a concoction isn’t necessarily a decoction. Got it?

Anyway, off O went to get the inside scoop on how to make it and to go shopping for all of the ingredients.

When he came back, we got everything ready and put it into the cauldron pot to boil.

After I heard the ingredients I figured that it certainly wouldn’t do any harm and might even do some good.

If you’d like to make your own decoction concoction you’ll need:

3 apples, quartered (do not remove the skin and seeds)
rind of one lemon
rind of one orange
about 8 dried figs, cut in half
2 handfuls of barley
(I added some cinnamon too because it just seemed like the right thing to do)

Throw all of this into a pot and cover it abundantly with water. Bring to a boil and then let it simmer for an hour or two. Strain out the bits and drink the hot liquid.

It was a little bitter, so you could add sugar to it if you’d like. I didn’t because I was so sick of sugar that I didn’t mind the bitterness. It also makes quite a bit, so I put it in a pitcher and then would heat it up in the microwave.

I’m sorry to say that it was no miracle cure for my cough, but I did find it very soothing for my aching throat.

Bottoms up!

The party

Despite the fact that I started getting a sore throat while still preparing for Luigi’s party, it turned out to be pretty successful. Some things didn’t go as planned, but I should have known they wouldn’t considering…

Yes, the plan had been to do a simple finger food buffet party and it evolved into a much larger, sit down food affair, but that’s ok. It probably was easier since finger food takes a lot of prep time.

A good bit of the preparation was actually done on Friday, but on Saturday there was still a lot to do and my brother-in-law and his wife along with my parents were all railroaded into helping all volunteered to help.

We started out with antipasto kebabs (cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, mushrooms, salami, etc. strung on a stick and marinated), some bakery bought mini pizzas, homemade finger sandwiches (cucumber and goat cheese with olives), ventricina and capocollo and frog eyes (which mom made and were a big hit).

Next up it was a cold pasta dish made with chicken breast, carrots, celery, a creamy pesto sauce and grapes. That was definitely a change for the Italian palate – some liked it, some didn’t, but that was fine.

Then it was time for the meat dishes – meatballs in brown gravy and Judith’s fabulous pork cooked in milk. (That recipe has a big thumbs up. It’s delicious, easy to make for a large party and leftovers are also delicious. Thanks Judith for all your help!!). Along with the meat I made a big Caesar’s salad with homemade croutons (another novelty for the Italian crowd).

We followed that up with fruit salad served in a watermelon carved into a basket and then, of course, the birthday cake.

Wine and beer were flowing, as was the conversation, but I was too busy to take any photos.  You see, the idea was that everyone would help themselves, but I guess that was too foreign of an idea for this crowd. We ended up serving everyone, which in a way might have actually been the better solution. After I thought about it I realized that it would have just been mass confusion as everyone descended on the tables with no rhyme or reason since organization seems to be in short order here.

There were, of course, some sour spots. One of our guests considers any food that she herself didn’t make or pick out (as in a restaurant) to be inferior and God forbid if it happens to be something that she’s not familiar with. She, of course, also knows best how to make the few recipes that are in her repertoire and doesn’t hesitate to let people know this. Consequently, most of the food she was served ended up getting thrown out. Unfortunately, she’s brainwashed her kids into thinking the same way she does so they didn’t eat much either. Now, it’s possible that they truly didn’t like it, but you should at least try it. The whole attitude gets to me along with the narrow-mindedness. (Not to mention how incredibly rude that kind of behavior is.) Life is about trying new things. Why paint yourself into a corner and miss out on new flavors? Last year I made a Devil’s Food Cake for Luigi’s birthday and she didn’t taste a single bite even though everyone else positively raved about how good it was. (And I know it’s not because she doesn’t eat chocolate, because I’ve seen her do it.)

This year the cake was a luscious sponge made with 20 eggs. It turned out to be delicious, extremely light and airy, so I kept it light by spreading some cherry flavored whipped cream in the center, then covered it with buttercream frosting and decorated it with a Winnie the Pooh frozen buttercream transfer.  I’m no professional cake decorator, but it didn’t turn out too bad.

Luigi got lots of presents and lots of attention of course. He quickly learned that the bags that people were carrying in the door were for him and, despite his usual reticence, was giving people kisses left and right. After all, they were giving him prettily wrapped packages, so I guess he figured he was going to give something in return.

I think a star has been born though because after hearing everyone sing “Happy Birthday”, then blowing out the candles on the first try, he got a wondering, self-satisfied look on his face as everyone clapped and cheered for him.

Blowing out the candles

Although there were a few sour notes, the party turned out to be a lot of fun and I think most people enjoyed it. Cleaning up the next morning was another story though.

On the mend. I hope.

Six down, four to go. At least, I hope it’s ten days total for this miserable cold. Of course, it hit right when I was finishing up preparations for Luigi’s birthday party, so I finished all the preparations while inside I was complaining about Murphy’s law and then forced to contend with a miserable sore throat for the rest of the evening.

The thing is, I’m usually pretty good at resisting colds. Usually, that is. This one has really kicked my butt and I’ve been down for the count since Sunday morning.

So, I’m going to sit here drinking hot water with honey and lemon and try to keep from coughing since it’s given me a wicked headache to go along with my general feeling of malaise and stuffiness. Meanwhile I’ll keep Luigi occupied watching Wiggles dvds.

If the average duration of the common cold is any indication, I should be past mid-point and on my way back to normal.