Essa receita foi uma inspiração dada por uma colega do trabalho, a Adriana Barsotti, que também gosta de cozinhar coisas gostosas de vez em quando. Ela me disse uma vez que fez bruschettas de pera, nozes e mel. Eu usei amêndoas em lascas, porque já tinha em casa e o sabor dessa entradinha foi uma grata surpresa! Meus amigos adoraram e o Digo também. Não sobrou nenhuma pra contar história :D

Você vai precisar de:

- 1 baguete de pão italiano

- 1 pote de cream cheese

- 2 peras portuguesas

- Suco de 1/2 limão (se a fruta tiver pouco caldo, use 1 limão inteiro)

- Amêndoas em lascas

- Mel

Preparo:

Corte as peras em fatias finas. Disponha em uma assadeira antiaderente, regue os pedaços com suco de limão e asse por 10 minutos em fogo baixo (180º). Você vai ver que o limão faz toda a diferença no sabor. Reserve.

Corte a baguete em rodelas. Passe cream cheese nos pedaços de pão (seja generoso). Em seguida, coloque 2 pedaços de pera e amêndoas em lascas em cada um. Asse em fogo médio até o pão corar. As amêndoas também vão tostar um pouquinho e ficarão mais crocantes. Na hora de servir, coloque um pouco de mel sobre as bruschettas. Decore a travessa com amêndoas em lascas espalhadas.

O resultado será uma mistura de doce, salgado e cítrico maravilhosa!

Thanksgiving 2009

Main course:
Vegetable Soup
Mashed potatoes
Turkey

Dessert:
Spice cake
Puff Pastry “strips”
Meringue cake (store-bought)

The turkey I’ve made in the last 5-7 years has always been moist as a result of both brining and baking it in a bag. However, this year it was absolutely superb. Please don’t think that I’m boasting. I did absolutely nothing differently from years past. The difference is in the turkey itself. I ordered a turkey at a farmers market earlier this year through Rueggseger Farms. The turkey was never frozen, it was “harvested” on Tuesday morning and we took delivery in the evening. It was astonishingly fresh and well-cleaned and absolutely lip-smacking when cooked.

Additional Recipes will be coming soon.

Happy Turkey Day Eve friends!!!

So here we are, one of the biggest bar nights of the year, and this lady is for the first time since she was 21 staying in!  Who have I become?

I’ve had a fantastic day working out, shopping, cooking & hangin’ out with lil sis and now I’m relaxing with the man I love — I think that’s who I’ve become — so be it!

Anywho, today was superfab, lil’ sis and I are like two peas in a pod, it’s really kind of scary how alike we really are and how much I adore every minute I get to spend with her!

We spent the afternoon shopping it up, Home Goods and World Market style (VIP? haha).  I got some great stuff, including a few Christmas presents whoop whoop look who’s gettin’ their early shopping on!  Also, check out the amazing selection of fun sauces, oils, vinegars etc we came across — foodie heaven on Earth?!

After some serious shoppin’ and a McDonald’s soft serve (we have problems), it was time to head home. Yea yea yea, we planned on making the TDay stuffing today…. That gets a big Ooooops!  Bride Wars, computer, couch and fireplace won out haha, hey, we’re only human?

After sis headed home, I finally got myself together and started planning out dinner…. this week I am really all about using up what we have in the house.  I see no need to go buy extra groceries when there is plenty to eat here and there will be an abundance of food starting tomorrow !!

So tonight’s plan came out as follows:

• Bruschetta Chicken with Pasta
• Salad with cucumber, onion, tomato & artichoke hearts

Here were some of the key bruschetta chicken players (thanks Mom for the TJ’s bruschetta! )

• 2 chicken breasts
• bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• milk
• salt/pepper/oregano
• TJ’s bruschetta
• Italian cheese blend
• cooking spray
• pasta

First up was the chicken, which I dunked in egg wash made of (1) egg/splash milk combo and then (2) bread crumbs seasoned with black pepper, salt & oregano.  Placed into a baking dish and into the oven at 375F for about 15 minutes

Then I topped with half the jar of the bruschetta 

And back into the oven for another 15 minutes or so.  Then topped with some Italian cheese blend, melted up

Voila!  And yes, this was really really good   The bread crumb crust really kicked it up a notch!

I also made some pasta to go alongside, mixing in the leftover bruschetta & some red pepper flakes.

Of course we had to have some veggies to round out the meal too!  What better time to use up the salad goods   In the mix tonight:

• romaine
• cucumber
• tomato
• onion
• artichoke hearts!

And within the hour – dinner was served!

 So we may or may not be channeling our “inner 21″ tonight and enjoying some beverages if ya know what I’m sayin!  Hey, it’s Friday night again, so be it!

Tomorrow look for the homemade Hazelnut, Sage & Mushroom Stuffing cooking adventures + recipe of course – and yes friends, it is MORE amazing than it sounds   It’s been requested every year since I first pulled it together, yay!

Also spending some major time with Fanatic Fam tomorrow and looking forward to some great eats & vino (who said that?!)

Gotta run, movie time in this house!  Have a fantastic Thanksgiving Eve friends and can’t wait to see what ya’ll have planned for tomorrow

“L’ORO DI SPELLO”: XLVIII Festa dell’Olivo e Sagra della Bruschetta. La manifestazione conclude il ciclo di 5 weekend di Frantoi Aperti, . Sabato 5 : ore 17 e ore 20, concerto dell’ensemble Micrologus, nella chiesa di S. Maria del Prato; apertura della mostra di sculture in legno d’ulivo di Augusto Caponera. Domenica 6: alle ore 10, trekking verso le aree olivate a dorso di mulo; ore 11-18, musicisti e stornellatori itineranti; ore 11.45, concerto di mezzogiorno con la Bandaliberatori; ore 15, sfilata dei carri allegorici “la Frasca“, lungo le vie di Spello; ore 16, cabaret e stornelli con i Cantores di Montefalco; ore 18, “Celebri arie d’opera” con il Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto. Lunedì 7: ore 16, concerto pop con gli “Spirito Divino”; alle ore 21, spettacolo “A proposito di vino e bruschette” a cura di Fontemaggiore. Martedì 8: alle ore 11.45, in piazza della Repubblica, concerto di mezzogiorno con i POP ’90, 13 musicisti umbri per suonare il blues dell’età d’oro da James Brown ad Aretha Francklin. Tutti i giorni, dalle 10 alle 18, frantoi aperti nel territorio del Comune, bruschetterie aperte in centro, e, dalle ore 20, apertura taverne. Info: Comune di Spello, tel 0742.301009

ブリックレーンのOld Truman Breweryにあるカジュアル・イタリアン、Al Volo（アル・ヴォロ）。NUDE ESPRESSO CAFEやROSA’Sと同じ通り、Hanbury Street沿いから入ったところにある駐車場にある。明るく暖かみのあるインテリアは、センス良くモダンにまとめられており、居心地もいい。ランチタイムとディナータイムの間もキッチンをクローズしないので、遅いランチや小腹が空いた時にも便利。スタッフの多くはイタリア人で、あまり忙しくない時間だったからか、テーブルで楽しくお喋りしていた。

Al Voloでは、antipasti（前菜）、Bruschette（ブルスケッタ）、Zuppa（スープ）Piadine（ピアディーナ）, Pasta（手作りのフレッシュパスタとDe Cecco乾燥パスタのチョイス）、Secondi（メイン）、Insalata（サラダ）、 Contorni（サイドディッシュ）、Pizze（ピザ）、Dolci（デザート）と、軽食からちゃんとした食事まで、幅広いメニューの中から選べる。秋のシーズンメニューの中から私たちが今日オーダーしたのは、Penne all’arrabbiata（ペンネ・アラビアータ）とTagliatelle al pesto siciliano piccante（プラムトマト、薫製リコッタチーズ、松の実、アーモンド、にんにく、唐辛子、生バジルを使った、スパイシーなシチリア風ペストのタリアテッレ）。クリーミーなタリアテッレのソースは、不味くはないけれど、何とも言えない不思議な味。でも手作りの生タリアテッレは悪くない。アラビアータはパスタの正統派、完熟トマトの自然な甘みが美味しい一品だ。食後のエスプレッソとカプチーノは、イタリア人の店だけあって、上出来だった。

毎日オープンしているが、Sunday UpMarketとThe Backyard Marketが開かれる日曜日は大変混むので、ゆっくり食事したければ、マケーット開催中は避けるのがベター。

Al Volo is a casual Italian restaurant in the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, and it is facing the parking space on Hanbury Street, the same street of NUDE ESPRESSO CAFE and ROSA’S. This airy and cheerful restaurant is decorated modern and in good taste. They don’t close kitchen in between lunch time and dinner time, and it is good place to go for late lunch or snacks. Most of the staffs are Italians, and they enjoyed chatting as it was not a busy time when we went.

Their wide range of menu offers anything you want from Italian restaurant from nibbles to mains – antipasti (appetiszers), Bruschette, Zuppa (soup), Piadine (thin bread sandwich), Pasta (handmade fresh pastas and De Cecco dry pastas), Secondi (mains), Insalata (salads), Contorni (side dishes), Pizze (Pizza) and Dolci (sweets). From their Autumn menu, today we ordered Penne all’arrabbiata and Tagliatelle al pesto Siciliano piccante (spicy pest0 of plum tomatoes, smoked ricotta cheese, pine kernels, almonds, garlic, chilli pepper and fresh basil) – photo. Creamy Sicilian style pesto sauce was not terrible but I don’t know what to think – it is unfamiliar taste for me. However, handmade tagliatelle was not bad. Penne with nice and sweet sauce made of ripen tomatoes was pretty good – we loved it. Their espresso and cappuccino after the meal were very good – we can count on an Italian-operated place!

Al Volo opens everyday but can be very busy when Sunday UpMarket and The Backyard Market are held on Sundays, so better avoid Sunday during the markets, if you want to relax without hassle.

• Four boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pounded until 1/8” thick)
• 8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 jar of Garlic Head’z Bruschetta
• Bread crumbs for coating
• Egg wash for chicken
• ¼ cup grated cheese

Place the bread crumbs on a flat plate. Dip the pounded chicken in the egg wash and then coat both sides with the bread crumbs. Lay on a flat surface and add the Bruschetta and cheese on top of it. Roll it up jelly roll style. Place seam side down down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or greased. Top with a little bit of bruschetta and grated cheese. Repeat these steps for all four breasts.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes. Serve hot with your favorite side. I like to make a nice rice pilaf to serve with this.

Good morning! I’m in a very chipper mood today! Not sure why, but I’m rolling with it.

Last night I attended A Taste of Art Cooking Class hosted by a great Oklahoma City art gallery – Art Space at Untitled.

I’d only ever been in the bottom story where the exhibits are, so it was a big treat to get to go upstairs for the cooking class.

There is basically an apartment upstairs for exhibitors to stay at during their shows. It was amazing. There was also a full sized kitchen, where the cooking classes take place, and an art studio where they have art classes.

The night started off with wine and appetizers.

The lighting was good by the actual cooking area, but not so much at the tables so I apologize that some of pictures are hard to make out. The appetizers included a delicious hummus, a wonderful bruschetta, and flat bread and multigrain toast for dipping.

After everyone was settled and we introduced ourselves, it was time for the cooking to begin! The chef who was teaching the class is the chef at the restaurant down the street that I go to quite often, Sage.

On the menu for the night was:

• Turkey Valencia – free range turkey cutlets in a wine reduction served with tomatoes, green onions and mushrooms.
• Home-style Green Beans – cooked southern style so they had a softer texture, made with fresh dill, onions and garlic.
• Twice baked sweet potatoes – stuffed with a mixture of sweet potato, mascarpone, sour cream, and vanilla topped with pecans. (This was by far my favorite!)
• Applesauce with cranberries – served chutney style.
• Pumpkin pear custard for dessert

Since it was a shorter class, we worked in stations. Me and Melissa chose to work at the sweet potato station since we both want to make them at home very soon.

It was fun, but my anal retentive side saw all the dirty dishes in the sink (come on people, scrape your scraps into the trash before you plop them in the sink!) so I mainly observed and cleaned until it came time to put the finishing touches on everything and get the potatoes in the oven. I did measure out some of the ingredients, haha.

Even though there wasn’t as much hands-on cooking as I would have hoped, I really enjoyed the class. I got to pick the assistant chef’s brain and ask her about some different things, which was great. Plus being around so many other people that have a passion for cooking was super fun!

When everything was finished cooking, everyone sat down to eat. It was definitely a culinary success – and full of butter, heavy cream and sugar.

I ate everything on this plate – even the turkey. I’ve been saying for awhile that I’m not opposed to eating meat, but there just hasn’t been the right circumstance for me to actually do it until last night. It was local and free range, and well it was part of a $75  fee I paid to take the class. Plus, I saw how it was prepared so that I knew it was quality and fresh. And let me tell you, this one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten in quite a while.

My absolute favorite dish was, of course, the sweet potatoes but it was all amazing! I think I’m going to make the potatoes and the applesauce for my office pot luck next week.

I just realized that I’m missing a photo of the Pumpkin Pear Custard – but we had to cut it before it had set up so the pictures really wouldn’t have done it justice. I’m putting that recipe on reserve for a day when I need to provide a really fancy dessert. It was definitely a crowd pleaser.

This was a great experience, and I’ll definitely go back for another class in the future. Me and Melissa are already signed up to do another class at another restaurant on the same day as the next A Taste of Art class, but I hope to make it to another one as soon as possible!

Oh, and I’ve decided to join the Vegan for a Day movement today. I think it will offset last night’s turkey consumption, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself

Have a good day everyone!

Toen koks nog ambachtslui waren die je spontaan met een keuken associeerde was er plots Antonio Carluccio, een Italiaan uit Vietro sul Mare die zich in Londen had gevestigd om van daaruit de keuken van mama wereldwijd te promoten. In die hoedanigheid kon ik hem een jaar of tien geleden op de Boekenbeurs interviewen. Het leek mij een aimabele opa die smakelijk kon vertellen. Sinds vrijdag weet ik dat hij ook smakelijk kan koken.

In zijn stijlvol caffè in Garrickstreet (het vlaggenschip van een vloot van een veertigtal restaurants) werd mij een bruschetta voorgeschoteld met tomaten die Italiaanse aria’s zongen in mijn mond. Ik hoorde hun echo nog toen de Saltimbocca di Maiale op tafel verscheen. Ik zal het moment dat een varkenskotelet de status van een driedaags oesterfestival kreeg nooit vergeten. Voor de cioccolato fondente kwam (kreun) mocht ik nog een memorabel ogenblik meemaken toen Fre mij een restje van haar pasta con funghi toeschoof. Ik wou dit met u delen. Maar het is op, dat zal u begrijpen.

As you walk down the steps into Gusto Va Mare, (237 E 53rd St; New York, NY 10022; Telephone: 212.583.9300) be prepared to leave behind the hustle and bustle of daily life in New York City. Enter this cozy, intimate, restaurant and be transported into the Italian Campagna. Charming, folksy wall frescoes of country scenes, seating which reflects Mediterranean themes and mouth watering aromas, the most delicious homey dairy and fish Italian fare await you. Gusto Va Mare is in a class by itself!

SYR and I started the meal with a warm Bruschetta, (Italian bread grilled with fresh mozzarella and garlic herbed tomatoes). We followed that with a fresh Insalata Greca (mesclun, tomato, cucumber, black olives, feta, & Italian dressing) and their delectable Gnochi Combinzione (selection of three gnocchi with three sauces).

SYR had their ample portioned house special of Fettuccini Ai Funghi, fetuccini with mushrooms, it was outstanding. I ordered their 12-ounce Tuna Balsamic served with a large salad. It tasted like real meat and not at all as a product of the sea! We washed it all down with an excellent white house wine.

Their desserts are not to be missed. SYR had the Double Truffle Cake (two creamy layers of dark and white Belgian chocolate on a thin layer of cake) I ordered the Tiramisu (lady fingers dipped in espresso, fresh whipped cream with sweet cheese & a dash of hazelnut liquor, topped with thin shavings of dark chocolate); both, melt in your mouth delicious.

It was a bit pricey, but well worth it!

CS

[Our upcoming website, the supremegourmet.com will feature a longer, more in depth, review of this restaurant and our experience there]

Last week I finally took my first “adult” vacation. By that I mean I went on a vacay with a good friend instead of siblings or parents.

IT.WAS.AWESOME.

Amy and I spent our days sunning ourselves, swimming and getting massages. Our nights were spent watching sunsets and having some of the most delicious food on the planet.

Below is part 1 of the photos. Another round to come later this week. Enjoy!

The View

Daily diet basics…

My lovely travel companion

Delicious bruschetta and some of the best tiramisu i have ever tasted all wrapped up with a gorgeous sunset bow.

Not really a recipe today, this is one of our most popular bruschetta in La Cucina so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s perfect for an antipasti or light lunch and very simple to put together.

what you need:

bruschetta bread or ciabatta

parma ham

buffalo mozzarella

rocket

pesto(optional)

olive oil

what to do:

toast your bread on both sides.

top with pesto and cheese and melt under the grill

serve with parma ham and rocket on top and drizzle with a little olive oil.

ciaoxx

Visited Massimo’s last Friday with my slightly bonkers mum.  It’s very nice inside modern and also quite cozy, stil has the feeling of newness about it.

Pretty busy and lively with attentive and friendly service.  No starters my mum doesn’t do them. Never mind, they looked nice on other peoples plates.  She wouldn’t try the Bruschetta, not a fan of tomatoes…

The Bruschetta was crunchy and tomatoes were nicely dressed in a good olive oil and basil dressing, followed by a very good Seafood Linguine.  My old dear was freaked out by langoustines and mussels (hard to belive we are related).  Good mix of fresh seafood and pasta cooked perfectly.

Mixed salad pretty standard stuff but a good size for two.

A very solid Italian restaurant and I would certainly go back.  Mum disappeared when I was at the loo which added some unexpected excitement for a couple of minutes.  She is not au fait with toilet etiquette.

I enjoyed a couple of large glasses of a very good Sorrento Rosso and Irish Coffee.   An enjoyable place to visit if you are in the local area for a show.

http://www.massimo-restaurants.com/edinburgh/

Olio extra vergine di oliva di Serni Fulvio Luigi

Anche quest’anno è iniziata la raccolta delle olive e la frangitura per ottenere l’olio extra vergine di oliva 2009, “l’olio novo” !
E’ questo il periodo per tornare a gustare la classica “crogiantina” (più comunemente detta “bruschetta”), ovvero buon pane sciocco toscano tostato, sfregato con aglio, salato, pepato e ricoperto di abbondante olio extra vergine di oliva appena franto. Naturalmente anche la tostatura del pane è d’obbligo che venga fatto sul fuoco, magari proprio con legno di olivo, ottima per la brace.

Crogiantina (bruschetta) con olio nuovo

La nostra raccolta è iniziata ormai da più di una settimana e chi è venuto a trovarci alla manifestazione “Livorno Food” nel week-end scorso, ha già potuto provarlo e si è portato a casa qualche bottiglia del nobile condimento. Il nostro olio lo potete trovare in due tipologie, la versione monovarietale, dove è possibile assaporare tutto il gusto e la delicatezza della qualità di olive “Frantoio”, oppure il plurivarietale ottenuto dalla miscela di tre tipologie di olive: oltre al Frantoio ci sono la Moraiola ed il Leccino.
La raccolta ovviamente è solo all’inizio e andrà avanti sicuramente per tutto Novembre e parte di Dicembre.  Per adesso le olive sono ben salde sugli olivi e speriamo che lo restino fino alla fine. Ancora la maturazione non è piena, gli olivi più carichi di frutti sono un po’ più indietro rispetto a quelli meno copiosi, ma questo è normale.

Oliveta Serni sulle colline di Castagneto

Yesterday my friend Paula and I decided to meet for lunch in the cosmopolitan metropolis that is Mullingar. Usually lunch means a bagel or an overpriced sandwich – or, heaven help us, ‘panini’ – in one of the many coffee shops about the town. Value for money is not something the great and good of Mullingar seem to have embraced as of yet so I was pleased to hear that a newly opened restaurant “La Guitarra” was offering two courses with coffee or a soft drink for €9.90. This special is served from 12-4pm and though I forgot to check I think it’s also available on the weekends.

Inside the restaurant was empty but somehow still welcoming. The special lunch menu had four starters and four main courses. Paula chose the salad for starters and the “Green Lasange” (beef lasange made with spinach pasta) while I went with the Bruschetta and the ‘Regina’ pizza: Buffalo Mozzarella, Tomato and Rocket. I asked them to add some chilli to the pizza, a direction that was lost somewhere in translation.You can order any pizza from the a la carte menu with the lunch special, which adds to the value element. Because it was raining and neither of us had work to do we also ordered one glass of wine each.

Starters were lovely; Paula’s salad was pretty big and came with a slice of pizza-type bread. My bruschetta was tasty, the tomatoes were tossed in oil and garlic. My only complaint was that the garlic was oh-so strong and rather overpowered everything else on the plate. Mains were served promptly after our dishes were cleared. Paula’s lasange – served with nothing else – was a decent portion and was well made. The sauce was meaty and tasty, the pasta was perfectly cooked and, unlike other lasanges I’ve had ’round these parts  the cheese was an ingredient, not the dish’ sole purpose in life. My pizza arrived next. I was surprised to see buffalo mozzarella on the pizza as it is an expensive ingredient, not something you throw on a €5 pizza. The pizza base was thin but a little soggy, the chef is a little over-eager in the olive oil department. The garlic was back; an ingredient that was not listed on the menu. I’m not a big fan of garlic so to have it overpower the whole of my lunch was annoying and less than comfortable for those people in my vicinity.

As the restaurant started to fill up we ended with two coffees: my espresso was excellent, with just the right amount of crema. Our bill came to €28.80 which was for two lunch specials at €9.90 and two glasses of wine at €4.50 each. I will definitely return and I hope that others do too. It’s good to see a new place offering value in this town, especially when their competition seem to think it’s still the good ol’ times of 2004.

address and number to follow

My friend steph and i went to a halloween party this sat. I spent the day in Pomona with my friend evelyn and keith for there baby shower. I was so beat but i went with Steph anyways. I dressed up as a pink lady and she was a vampire. Met a bunch of new people drank more then i should have and then had to drive us home cuz someoneeeeeee got hella wasted and showed us her dinner. Over all it was a fun night.

Monday night dinner.

Bruschetta and Vermicelli w/tuna and chickpeas

The Bruschetta is from the Julie & Julia movie after i saw the movie i was drooling to make this and ahhhhhh it was soooo good. The Vermicelli was super yummy also

I have found that my posts about food — allegedly the, ahem, bread and butter of this dog and pony show — don’t receive quite the same attention as those about my life. Perhaps I have inadvertently found my calling.

Nevertheless…I feel it would be remiss to not talk about 1) the bruschetta; and 2) the apple tart.

1. I’ve wanted to make bruschetta ever since I saw that food porn scene — you know which one I’m talking about — in Julie & Julia. I should have just Googled those precise terms, I guess…as I would have come up with this: Bruschetta alla Julie and Julia. As you know, Epicurious is my go-to site…but they really didn’t seem to have any basic bruschetta recipes — everything had lots of stuff and I was really looking for something simple. So…FoodNetwork.com is always Choice #2…but, same deal. (Alton Brown’s is simple, yes, but it lacks tomatoes…) Finally, I looked in my cookbooks, et voila: The Joy of Cooking had the very simple recipe I was looking for. I kind of monkeyed around with it a bit and added the garlic to the tomato/basil mix instead of rubbing it on the bread (which perhaps means I did not make proper bruschetta at all, but I can live with that…) and I decided to go with a little onion, too. In the end, it was really amazingly delicious…but very heavy. I wanted to be able to eat, like, an entire loaf of the stuff, but just couldn’t stomach it. And when I woke up the next morning, I could still sort of taste the garlic…which I know is totally gross to admit…but, it’s true. (And thanks to some little writer figurines that my friend Frani gave me yesterday, I know that Virginia Woolf said, “If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.”) It was really good stuff though…and I still have enough tomato goods to make it three or four more times, I’d say.

2. And…apparently I don’t like using apples as much as I thought. The same thing happened last year. I went on that standard fall-time I’m-in-a-couple ritual — apple-picking — and in theory, I should have been on cloud nine afterward, baking up a storm…and churning out pies and tarts and sauces faster than you can say, “The leaves are changing color!” But I never really used them all. And it’s not like I had many apples this year…I had plans to emulate my New Jersey friend and make an apple tart — as in singular! — but the recipe I wanted to use required cardamom and I couldn’t find any at my grocery store…and my mother actually ended up sending me some in the mail…and I checked on the apples yesterday and they’re kind of mushy now. So, I mean, I can still totally *make* the tart…it will just be with less interesting apples.

During another night in our Tuscan kitchen, we started our evening with some homemade bruschetta.  Very simple, basic ingredients added up to a polished and well-received result.

Una Bruschetta Toscana

• Crusty baguette, sliced
• 4 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place the baguette slices on a cookie sheet, and drizzle with one tablespoon of olive oil. Bake for five minutes, or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, stir chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic, salt and pepper with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.

Top each baguette slice with a spoonful of the prepared topping. Serve immediately.

For a more decadent bruschetta, feel free to add some fresh mozzarella to the topping mix.

Ideally, enjoy outdoors, looking out on the tranquil countryside.

This is how I remember Italy: simple, beautiful, and delicious.

And the next time you make or order bruschetta, please impress your friends by pronouncing it correctly: Bru-sket-ta.

This is a simple but great tasting meal to make. Not really much prep work to be done.

First we start by slicing inch-thick slices of ciabatta bread.

There we go

Brush both sides with some olive oil

Preheat oven to 180 c and toast for 10 mins. I actually bumped up to 200 c near the end.

Season chicken breasts with black pepper and grill them on a griddle.

Alternatively you may roast them also.

Cut some slices of Italian cheese, I used provolone.

Now the ciabatta slices are ready

Now the real stuff comes. First spread on some apricot preserve.

Put on the cheese

Slice chicken breasts and put on top

Top off with a good slice of proscuitto

Sprinkle some extra virgin olive oil on top and we are done!

The number of different tastes combining in this dish is amazing!

The sweetness of the apricot, the bitterness of the cheese, the saltiness of the proscuitto all combine together with every bite. Not to mention the juiciness of the chicken breast and the crunchy ciabatta.

Yeah, so I have a job now.  Well I am not supposed to say it is a job, I am supposed to say I am serving at the Boys and Girls Club on behalf of AmeriCorps, but for all intents and purposes it is a job.  This means I will be out until 7 or 7:30 most nights, which will seriously hamper my cooking opportunities.  Now, I am very excited about this job, but I don’t think Jess will be so gung-ho about me cooking when I get home and eating at 8:30 every night.  That means probably less frequent posts from me from here on out, just a heads up to all three of you who read this.

Anyways, Jess was out late again tonight for her stat’s class, so it was up to me to come up with dinner.  For some reason I had been craving chicken alfredo for a while, so I decided to do that.  I figured this was a good meal for me because it involved cooking pasta and using jarred alfredo sauce.  That is certainly within my abilities.  However I knew Jess would be mad if that is all I served her after she had been in school for ten hours, so I tried to spice it up a little bit.  I sauted some green and red pepper, a handful of mushrooms, some onion, and some spinach with some olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper.  This went with the chicken into the sauce and over the pasta.  It was not overly difficult or groundbreaking, but it was very tasty.  Add in the bruschetta left from last night’s debacle and it was a very good meal.  A very good last meal before I face the horror that is the working world.  Heaven help me.

We’ve been fairly busy in the cramped kitchen this week, and therefore, have lots of fodder for the blog. Including the following tale of woe:

I opened the freezer with a total lack of enthusiasm for the yesterday evening’s meal: pork chops. Pork chops are not Paul’s and my favorite, but we got a family pack of 8 of them for something like six bucks at the store a few weeks ago. When you’re on a budget, you gotta eat what’s on sale.

“What should we have with these?” I asked Paul, holding up two frozen pork chops in a Ziploc bag, looking nonplussed.

“Some sort of potatoes?” He questioned back.

“I guess,” I answered lethargically. “Now to look online for interesting potato recipes,” I finished as I broke out my computer.

Great. Potatoes. We both love potatoes, but we’ve been eating them a lot lately, and haven’t been very creative with what to do with them. We’ve had mashed, baked, roasted, oven-style fries and more over the past week. And, because we always have leftovers, I spent last weekend eating nothing but leftover potatoes from the fridge when Paul was away on a work retreat.

“I saw someone on Food Network making these chili fries the other week,” Paul said, in a much more optimistic tone of voice than I thought necessary when discussing potatoes.

“We don’t have any chili, Paul.”

“No, like with chili powder on them, to make them spicy fries.”

“Oh. Well that sounds alright,” I said. “At least it’s different.”

So, I got to work chopping potatoes for Paul’s chili fries and he set out to defrosting the meat. (Because of Paul’s mishaps, we’ve taken to dividing and conquering in the kitchen, meaning, I do all the chopping, and Paul does anything but.) After the potatoes, I started dicing up tomatoes for the bruschetta we had decided earlier on having, because we have a large bouquet of basil in our kitchen from the farmer’s market last week. The bruschetta, I was definitely looking forward to. As I was dicing, I began contemplating the looming specter of the meal: the pork chops.

“How on earth can we season these things to go with…italian bruschetta….and spicy potatoes…?” I trailed off.

Most of the seasoning combinations we’ve used in the past have been spice rubs or barbeque-based sauces: hearty flavors that don’t really go with the idea of light, tomato-basil bruschetta toasts.

I kept opening the fridge repeatedly for inspiration. But no matter how many times I looked, the only thing I saw was a tub of plain yogurt. Okay, I thought. This could be a start.

For some reason, I had in my mind that I’d seen somewhere before yogurt and herb sauces made to go over pork chops. I could do that. Right?

I grabbed the yogurt, a fresh cayenne pepper, a sauce pan, and, yup, pepperoni. I once again, set to chopping. Spicy pepperoni-basil-yogurt sauce. Yeah, that might be good over pork chops.

Meanwhile, Paul was seasoning and baking the potatoes, putting olive oil on bread for the toast for bruschetta, and watching me skeptically. He had a right to. Even I didn’t really know what I was doing.

Fast forward through a bunch of boring chopping, stirring, sauteeeing, and baking, to T minus two minutes before food time: Paul’s chili fries were done, the bread had just been put under the broiler, the bruschetta was on the table, the pork chops were sizzling in a pan. And I was still fretting over my sauce, which I had just tasted.

“It’s not too bad,” I lied to Paul. It was kinda funny-tasting, but I still had hope.

“Check the bread,” said Paul, as he was getting two glasses of ice water ready.

I opened the oven and determined that the bread was not crisp enough yet, deciding to wait another few minutes.

I dumped in a bunch of fresh ground black pepper into my sauce, put in some extra olive oil, hoping to save the consistency, and turned off the heat.

Then, I smelled burning. That’s definitely not my sauce, I thought.

Yikes! The bread! I yanked open the oven door to a flood of smoke. Paul rushed to open the windows, but the smoke alarm sounded anyway. My beautiful homemade bread toasts were black. Completely. Unsalvagable. And we had no more bread to start over.

“Oh well,” sighed Paul.

As we sat down to our dismal dinner, I was heartbroken. No bread for bruschetta and a sketchy-tasting sauce for the pork. The bruschetta was going to be my favorite part! We just stared at each other over the kitchen table, as we poured on dainty amounts of the sauce onto a corner of pork.

“You first,” I told Paul, who was looking at his pork curiously. He took a bite.

“That’s not so bad,” he said, chewing, and reached for the sauce pan.

I tried it.

It was at least edible, and didn’t make me feel like ralphing all over the table. It kind of tasted like warm ranch dressing…with pepperoni. Anyways, it was better than eating the pork plain. And, at least we had the chili fries. Paul’s portion of the meal was successful. My part, however, was an epic fail.

Well, maybe things didn’t turn out so bad. We decided to save the bruschetta to serve with new bread toasts tonight, to have with chicken and pepper alfredo. It goes better with pasta anyways. And after our failed dinner, I made yogurt and cream cheese apple dip, which was delicious. So that mostly made up for my kitchen fails.

The moral of the story: don’t let something you don’t think will taste very good distract you from making sure the best part of the meal turns out right.

Ieri sera avevo voglia di un po’ di America, ed è così che sono andata a mangiare in quello che ritengo (strutturalmente parlando) uno dei locali che più si avvicinano ai ristoranti che qualche mese fa ho avuto la fortuna di visitare a New York City: il ristorante La Coppola di Como, in viale Lecco, 79. La Coppola è ubicato appena fuori dalle mura storiche, su strada di forte passaggio, con un buon numero di parcheggi che purtroppo sono quasi sempre occupati. Ho prenotato un tavolo grazie al loro sito internet http://www.lacoppolarestaurant.it e dopo una trentina di minuti ho ricevuto la conferma direttamente via email dell’avvenuta prenotazione. (Il consiglio è quello di eseguire la stessa almeno un giorno prima).

A La Coppola ci sono già stata un paio di volte prima di recensirlo sul mio blog eppure questa sera l’ho trovato “diverso”, non tanto negli arredi (VERY COOL) o per le stampe retroilluminate appese ovunque dei personaggi che hanno reso celebre gli USA degli anni ‘50 (Al Capone, Jfk, Sinatra, Marilyn, ecc…) ma tanto per la gestione, oggi molto più gentile e familiare rispetto ai mesi scorsi.

Con me ci sono altri tre amici che prima d’ora non erano mai stati al Ristorante La Coppola di Como e che si buttano a capofitto nel menù per vederne il contenuto. Durante questa operazione, ci offrono, per stuzzicare il nostro appetito, una coreografica focaccia a forma di stella con pomodorini freschi e rucola.

Ordiniamo una Cesar Salad con pollo, poco da dire, se non che, in perfetto stile italiano, ci riempiono il piatto più di verde che di pollo, grana e crostini.

Optiamo per un antipasto ed un secondo, anche se ci accorgiamo subito che le dosi sono molto generose e che faremo davvero fatica a mangiare tutto quel ben di dio. Scegliamo un antipasto USA ed un antipasto Italiano, Nel primo troviamo le tipiche onion rings all’americana, peperoncini ripieni (poco piccanti) e delle buonissime alette di pollo. Il tutto è fritto ma non pesantissimo. Nell’antipasto italiano invece ci sono bruschette al pomodoro, ai funghi, una mozzarella di Bufala (freschissima) e delle polpette che personalmente ho trovato un pochino “posse”.

Ordiniamo anche una pizza bufalina per saggiare le capacità del pizzaiolo e scopriamo che è davvero buona, soffice e cotta con forno a legna. Pizzaiolo: promosso!

Come secondi la scelta è ricaduta sugli hamburgher: “COSA NOSTRA” con carne di manzo, bacon, prosciutto cotto, pomodoro, cheddar, insalata e maionese. “YANKEES” con carne di manzo, bacon grigliato, scamorza affumicata, pomodoro, insalata e salsa yogurt. Entrambi sono enormi a vedersi e sostanziosi a mangiarsi. “MINI BURGERS BOB DE NIRO”, mini panini con carne pollo e manzo, molto saporiti e pratici. In tutti e i tre casi le patatine fritte fanno da contorno.

Nel complesso al Ristorante La Coppola ci siamo trovati bene, sazi e soddisfatti. Torniamo a casa con un pò di nostalgia NewYorkese nel cuore… e nella pancia.

Costo per persona:  22,50 euro con acqua, Coca Cola, un bicchiere di vino bianco sfuso, un caffè.

VOTO PERSONALE: 7

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