Fall

I thought there should be some mention of three excellent things about Germany in the fall: fresh-pressed apple cider at the market, free apples, and neue wein ("noy-a vine"). Apples and apple cider are not specific to Germany, but I look forward them. A stand at the twice-weekly market starts making apple cider in the fall and continues for a few months. There are apple trees planted on public land, which is genius. I mentioned neue wein once before, but didn't explain much (you could also read the wikipedia article I linked to). Wine makers make it when they start harvesting grapes, so it's only available for a short time in the fall. You have to drink it within a few days of making it, because otherwise it will ferment too much. It has less alcohol than wine, so it's more like grape juice, which I like very much. Germans, at least in certain regions, eat it with Zwiebelkuchen (onion tart), which is also seasonal. I personally don't think onions should be a main ingredient, but many people would disagree with me.

American Italian Food

I don't think I ever mentioned this before, so here are some things:
1. Fettuccine alfredo isn't on menus in Italian restaurants.
2. Italians don't eat spaghetti with meatballs. They have meatballs and they have spaghetti with tomato sauce, but they don't put the two together.
3. In nicer restaurants, Italians eat pizza with a knife and fork.

Pointed Cabbage!

Interesting Deli Products

I was not familiar with these items. I'm told that the one in front, with the vegetables, is also eaten like sliced lunchmeat. Also, I don't know how they got that tractor shape.

Chicken with Chanterelles

As fall approaches, mushrooms are appearing more and more at the market and on menus around town. I adapted this recipe from here.

300g fresh chanterelle mushrooms
40-55 g butter
2 chicken breasts (about 350-400g)
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 shallots, finely sliced
150 ml white wine
A good pinch of sweet paprika
90ml chicken stock
3 tbsp double cream or creme fraiche
Salt and pepper
100g egg pasta
A little freshly grated nutmeg
1 tbsp very finely chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
Brush the chanterelles lightly with a soft brush, trim the bases and slice them; then saute them lightly in 15g of butter.
Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then dip in the flour. Heat a medium-sized frying pan over a moderate heat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and 15g of butter and place the chicken breasts in skin side down. Fry for about 2 1/2 -3 minutes until the skin is brown and crisp, turn the chicken over and lightly brown the other side. Remove the chicken from the pan, place in an ovenproof dish, transfer to the oven and cook for 20 minutes.
Discard the fat, wipe the pan and replace it over a low heat. Add the remaining oil, another 15g of butter and cook the sliced shallots gently for about 5-6 minutes or until soft.
Add the paprika, stir, turn up the heat and pour in the wine. When the sizzling has died down add the chicken stock. Turn the heat down again and leave to simmer for 10 minutes until the liquid is reduced by half (strain the sauce into a bowl through a fine sieve if desired). Return the sauce to the pan, add the mushrooms, cover and simmer for another 5-6 minutes.
Check the chicken. If it’s cooked turn off the oven. If not give it another 5 minutes (boneless chicken breasts will be done sooner than bone-in breasts). Put the pasta on to cook. Take the mushrooms off the heat, stir in the cream or creme fraiche and check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste. Replace over a very low heat to thicken, stirring occasionally.
When the pasta is cooked drain thoroughly, stir in a small knob of butter and season with a little pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Place the chicken breasts on a chopping board and cut with a sharp knife into five or six thick diagonal slices. Transfer them to warm plates, arrange the pasta alongside and spoon over the mushrooms and cream. Sprinkle with a little finely chopped parsley.

Things You Don't See in the U.S. #9

That's broth (bouillon) from a hot drink machine.

Laugenbrötchen

Germany gets a point for soft pretzel products. Italy, though, also gets a point for the availability of pasta with tomato sauce and/or cheese pizza at every restaurant in the country. There is always a respectable vegetarian option.

Hamburger Bun Instructions

That's right. These are the instructions on the back of the package that explain to you in detail how to toast a hamburger bun (it also lets you know that they can be eaten at room temperature).

"Per una buona tostatura Vi consigliamo di portare la piastra ad una temperatura di circa 200-220^oC, di tagliare a meta' il panino e di appoggiare per circa 1 minuto sulla piastra la parte interna (mollica) senza schiacciare. Il panino puo' essere scaldato anche in altro modo (es. infrarossi); e' importante, pero', rivolgersi sempre la mollica verso la fonte di calore. I panini 'non tostati' devono essere consumati a temperatura ambiente."

It's not important if you don't speak Italian, the point is that there is a paragraph describing what to do with the bun. I would have to conclude that this is not a familiar subject here. Everyone knows what a hamburger is, but some of the details don't make it. Often they just eat the meat by itself.

Happy 4th of July!

grilled burger with potato salad and insalata caprese

Some Pictures

These are some pictures I've taken with my phone over the past few months.


This diagonal pole device is attached to a truck. It's used for moving things from upper-floor windows to the street or vice versa.


Tee hee.


I always see people taking pictures of produce at the market, so maybe people want to see market pictures. Here is part of the pecorino selection at one of the stands.


This seems to be the standard way people prune trees here. It seems excessive and looks stupid.


Virtual chips.

Polbo á feira

Here's a recipe of a specialty of Galicia, that I tasted while I was there. It's pretty fast and easy to make, as long as you're not squeamish about preparing and eating octopus. I used frozen octopus, which makes it easy to keep and apparently tenderizes meat somewhat.

• 1 large octopus (figure about 500 g/1 lb. per person for a main course)
• coarse sea salt
• paprika/pimentón
• olive oil
• potatoes

In a large pot, place enough water to cover the octopus completely, and bring to a boil. Wash the thoroughly under running water, paying special attention to the suckers on the tentacles. With a pair of scissors or a knife, remove the beak, located at the center of the tentacles.
Holding the octopus by the head, dip the tentacles three times into the boiling water, allowing it to come back to the boil between dips. This curls the fine ends and makes them more attractive once cooked. Now place head down in the water and simmer until you feel no resistence to piercing. A rule of thumb is to cook for about 20 minutes, then leave it in the water for another 20 minutes while it cools down slightly. At the same time, peel and roughly cut up some potatoes and add to the boiling water.
When everything is cooked through, remove the octopus and cut each tentacle up into slices with scissors or a knife. You might want to discard the head, but if not, cut this up, too. Spread the pieces evenly on a - preferably wooden - platter, distribute the potatoes, and sprinkle with the salt. Holding a teaspoon full of paprika or pimentón in one hand, tap it lightly with the other over the platter to colour it evenly. Finish off with a generous trickle of olive oil, give a fork to each person and dip in!

(based on Jamie Oliver's recipe)

Lazio

Kristen is doing a "stage" again with her school in the region of Lazio, south of Tuscany, so this weekend I rented a car and went to visit her. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very good (it rained most of Saturday and some of Sunday), but we nevertheless had a good time. Saturday, we went to Tarquinia, where we first visited the Etruscan necropolis. In contrast to the one we visited near Sovana, this one is famous for its painted underground tombs. While most were simply decorated or had feast or hunting scenes, some others had ... ahem ... expressions of different standards, shall we say.
Afterward, we went into the town, where a medieval festival was supposed to be taking place. The expected equestrian events and battle didn't take place though -- I'm guessing due to the weather. So we headed towards Viterbo and picked out an agriturismo in which to spend the night. For dinner, we went to nearby Tuscania, a pleasant little medieval town. We ate at the ristorante "Kyathos", where we had a good dinner, and probably the best value meal we've had in Italy (25 Euros for two people, multiple courses, wine and cover).
The next day, we went to visit Viterbo, which was also pleasant enough. The highlights were the frescoes in the town hall, as well as the well-preserved medieval quarter. We only saw the papal palace from the outside, where several popes were elected. We then went to the hot springs, again opting for the free variant at Bullicame. Here we bathed in the waters that Dante had already described in the Divine Comedy.

Tacendo divenimmo là 've spiccia
fuor de la selva un picciol fiumicello,
lo cui rossore ancor mi raccapriccia.
Quale del Bulicame esce ruscello
che parton poi tra lor le peccatrici,
tal per la rena giù sen giva quello.

Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes
Forth from the wood a little rivulet,
Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end.
As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet,
The sinful women later share among them,
So downward through the sand it went its way.

Not many people were around, and we almost had the springs to ourselves. Finally, after a decent lunch, I dropped Kristen off again in Tolfa, and drove back to Florence.

Fried Chickpeas with Chorizo and Spinach

We've made this recipe twice now and it's tasty, fast, and the spinach even makes it sort of healthy. I don't think it's necessary to add the breadcrumbs and put it under the broiler -- just combine everything at the end and serve. Kristen makes a vegetarian version with seitan chunks instead of chorizo.

Cute

Taking your leftovers with you from a restaurant apparently isn't done much in Italy. Once it took three people to figure out what to do, and they ended up wrapping the pizza in aluminum foil. The waiter at the pizza place this evening arranged my leftovers nicely in the box:

Chocolate Fest

Last weekend there was a chocolate festival in Piazza Santa Croce. They had lots of things I'd never seen before, like sausage-looking chocolate, chocolate that looked like rusty tools, and the chocolate "food" in the picture below, as well as more traditional things like hot chocolate, chocolate covered strawberries, and little chocolates with all kinds of weird flavors added. Of course there were lots of large chunks of regular chocolate as well. Many vendors were giving out free samples.

Stir-fry noodles

This is one of our favorite recipes. Kristen requests it nearly every week (it also works well with seitan or other fake meat).

• 250g Asian noodles
• 500g chicken breasts
• 1 bunch green onions
• piece of ginger (thumb-sized)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 small dried chilies
• 5-6 Tbsp. neutral oil (e.g. peanut oil)
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1-2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Cut chicken into narrow strips. Wash green onions and cut into thin rings. Chop garlic and ginger finely. Chop or crumble chilies. Prepare noodles according to package directions (usually you have to cook for 3-5 minutes in water). Rinse.
Heat 3-4 Tbsp. of the oil in a large frying pan or wok on high heat. Add chicken strips and cook for 1-2 minutes while stirring. Push to the side, add a bit of oil and fry the green onion, ginger, garlic and chilies. Add the remaining oil with the noodles and stir fry for another minute. Add soy sauce and lemon juice. Enjoy!

Lemon-steamed fish

Still feeling guilty after all of those rich meals around the holidays? Try this quick, simple and healthy recipe.

• 700g filet of zander, perch, or other fish
• salt, freshly ground pepper
• 2 organic lemons
• 1 (small) bunch parsley
• 400g fresh spinach
• 200g mushrooms
• olive oil

Dry off the fish filets and cut into ~3cm (1 inch) strips. Season with salt and pepper. Wash the lemons in hot water and remove the zest. Wash the parsley. Chop the lemon zest and parsley finely and combine. Press the juice of the lemons into 1/4 liter of water and add to a pot or wok large enough to hold a steamer.
Wash the spinach and coarsely chop. Add to the steamer. Clean the mushrooms, slice and place on top of the spinach. Finally, place the fish fillets on top of the bed of spinach and top with the lemon zest and parsley mixture. Drizzle with olive oil. Place the steamer in the pot, close lid and bring the lemon-flavored water to a boil. Once the water starts to boil, cook for about 5 minutes, or until fish is sufficiently cooked. Serve with potatoes, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with some more olive oil.

Barcelona

Last Tuesday was a holiday in Italy, so like all good Italians, we made a long weekend out of it and went to Barcelona for a few days. We really liked the city, with its Gothic old town and modernisme architecture by Antoni Gaudi, among others. Kristen got tickets to a concert in the Palau de la Musica Catalana for her birthday, and we enjoyed listening to Mozart's Requiem in this over-the-top concert hall. Add to that the excellent food (tapas and paella), and you can tell we had a good time.

It was also enjoyable to be in a city (even a southern European one) in which there is ample and functioning public transportation, mostly friendly and helpful people, and you don't feel like you're being ripped off at any given time. Hey Italy... *nudge, nudge* Interestingly, there were very few jaywalkers... what's up with that?

Turkey Day

We celebrated Thanksgiving a few days late again, since making a big dinner on a weekday is too much of a hassle. So Sunday was spent preparing turkey (or rather turkey parts, since a whole bird was too much for just the one meat-eater in the household), gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, cranberry sauce (out of the can), fruit salad, and pumpkin pie. And we've been eating turkey ever since... If you still have some sitting in the fridge, this turkey spinach curry was pretty good.

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The day before, I went to a concert at the Auditorium Flog, where Yo la tengo were playing. Indie rock bands playing in Florence are few and far between, so even though I wasn't too familiar with their music (there goes my indie cred...), I went and was not disappointed. It was loud, energetic, and incredibly varied -- everything you could ask for from a rock concert. The opening act, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby, was pretty good as well.

Schiacciata all'uva

It seems like fall has finally made it to Florence: the days are shorter, it's no longer above 30 degrees every day, and the nights are pleasantly cool. And of course, there's the food. Porcini have reappeared, the first cavolo nero has been sighted, and the summer stone fruit has largely given way to pears and grapes. With the last of these, particularly the small wine grapes, you can make an excellent Italian/Tuscan treat -- Schiacciata all'uva.

• 25g equivalent dried yeast (one packet)
  
• 350g (~2 3/4 cup) flour
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 100g (~1/2 cup) sugar (can be more if desired)
  
• salt

To garnish:

• 1kg (~2 1/4 lbs) black (wine) grapes -- the ones they have here are small, sweet, and have a large seed-to-flesh ratio
• sugar
• olive oil
• rosemary

Dissolve the yeast in a little lukewarm water and add to the flour, oil, two tbsp. sugar and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Knead together with additional water as needed, form into a round ball, cover the bowl and leave to rise in a warm place for about two hours. Carefully remove grapes from their stalks, wash and leave to dry.
Divide the dough in two and roll out into rectangles the same size as the baking tray you are using. Put one piece in the greased tray and top with half of the grapes. Sprinkle with a little sugar and put the second rectangle of dough on top. Cover with the remaining grapes and the remaining sugar. Drizzle with oil and rosemary. Bake at 180° C (350°) for about 40 minutes.

(from Sandra Rosi: Florence, The Art of Cookery)