A Life, Lived

Torta di Mele al Burro (Buttery Apple Cake)

Fall has arrived in earnest. We've had a fire for the past two nights. I am sitting here typing in a sweatshirt and jeans (after 6 months of shorts and t-shirts this is a challenge). When it is cool like this I start craving stews and cake. I don't know why, perhaps for me these are comfort foods the way others drool over a grilled cheese sandwich.

I was looking for a recipe to use some apples up the other day and came upon this recipe in a Williams-Sonoma Regions of Italy cook book. This cake is a specialty of the Friuli-Venezia region of Italy. It sounded amazing - a soft buttery cake covering tender apple slices that had also been cooked in butter. Frankly I am shocked that Paul Deen hasn't suggested that she has invented this recipe as it has her trademarks . . . mainly an excess of butter.

I made it for dinner and it was well received. Actually, it was more than well received as someone who shall remain nameless ate 3 pieces. I think that this must be the reason that I am only about 8 pounds more than said someone. A milestone for us as I have always been about 20 - almost 80 (ARGH) pounds lumpier.

Oh oh - yet again I have digressed.

I was worried that it would all get eaten and we'd get fatter so I took the leftovers into work where my colleagues also loved it.

Clearly this recipe was a winner.

Even better - it wasn't a challenging cake to pull together. I appreciated that.

If you're craving a delicious taste of fall as well give this a try. It isn't low-fat but it is amazing and life should be about good things in moderation IMHO!

Torta di Mele al Burro (Buttery Apple Cake)

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 inch round cake pan with 2 inch sides (I used a spring form pan)

In a large frying pan over low heat, melt the butter. pour 6 tablespoons of it into a small bowl and set aside. Add the apples to the frying pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolk until blended. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter, vanilla, granulated sugar, and the lemon zest. Stir in the flour mixture. Gently fold in the apples. Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake until the cake is brown - 30 - 35 minutes (my cake needed 45 minutes). Transfer to a wore rack and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan onto the rack and allow to cool completely.

Just prior to serving dust the cake with icing sugar (we skipped this and didn't miss it at all!)

The Young Gordon Ramsay

Unless you've been hiding under a rock you've likely heard of Gordon Ramsey. For those of you who haven't he is a chef, television personality and restaurateur. Ramsay is known for presenting TV programmes about competitive cookery and food, such as Hell's Kitchen, The F Word and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

A company in the UK has put together an ad campaign that depicts the Ramsay that many know and love/loath as he might have been as a lad. . . 

Ramsay's reputation is built upon his goal of culinary perfection. Since the airing of Boiling Point which followed Ramsay's quest of earning three Michelin stars, the chef has also become infamous for his fiery temperament and use of expletives. Now we know how it all began! *smile*

Onion, Potato, Pancetta, and Rosemary Pizza

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and for the second year in a row, Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are hosting the O Foods Contest to raise awareness of this important health issue.

There are TWO WAYS to take part in the O Foods Contest:

ONE: Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato); include this entire text box in the post; and send your post url along with a photo (100 x 100) to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.

PRIZES for recipe posts:

• 1st: Signed copy of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen by Gina DePalma, Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who is currently battling ovarian cancer, inspired this event, and will be choosing her favorite recipe for this prize;

• 2nd: Signed copy of Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Homeby Mario Batali (winner chosen by Sara);

• 3rd: Signed copy of Vino Italiano: The Regional Italian Wines of Italyby Joseph Bastianich (winner chosen by Michelle).

OR

TWO: If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word and send your post url to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.

Awareness posts PRIZE:

• One winner chosen at random will receive a Teal Toes tote bag filled with ovarian cancer awareness goodies that you can spread around amongst your friends and family.

———

From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

• Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
• The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose, but include bloating, pelvic and/or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; and urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency).
• There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
• In spite of this, patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
• When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.

And remember, you can also always donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at our page through FirstGiving!

Please help spread the word about ovarian cancer.
Together we can make enough noise to kill this silent killer.

Paul and I made this pizza yesterday as our 'O' food entry. We had a similar pizza when we were last in Venice and loved it so we were eager to try and recreate it at home. It seemed perfect for this event.

Onion, Potato, Pancetta, and Rosemary Pizza

Your favourite pizza dough (enough for one pizza)
2 boiling potatoes
1 yellow onion, sliced as thinly as you can slice it
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves (chopped)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 oz cubed pancetta
salt and pepper

Preheat over to 450 degrees with a pizza stone inside.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cooked until tender (about 30 minutes). Drain, cool, and slice as thinly as you can.

Shape the pizza dough on a piece of parchment paper. Cover it with a layer of potato slices. Arrange the onion on top. Sprinkle with rosemary and cubed pancetta. Drizzle it with three tablespoons of olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer to the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce the heat to 400 degrees.

Bake for an addition 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Serve immediately.

Sunday Small Bites - Avocado

The Sunday Slow Cooks  are a group of cooks from the slow travel community message board. We have been bakers, scoopers, soupers, and tossers (yes, I know that is a derogatory term in some parts of the world ! LOL) No we have taken on a new challenge - instead of each of us preparing the same recipe each week, we are preparing our own appetizer - or Small Bite - that uses a specific main ingredient. So far we have tackled shrimp,  crab and sun-dried tomatoes. This week Annie selected avocado as the ingredient of the week.

In my mind avocados are closely tied with the foods of the SW that we love. I went through all of the various combinations of tacos, quesadillas, mini burritos, etc. and finally ended up with this unusual dish. Here a pork tenderloin is coated with a delicious SW rub and grilled. Once cooked it is sliced thinly and the slices are served atop a crisp tortilla chip topped with an amazing avocado cream sauce.

I wanted to make something that would fit the canape range of small plates. You know the things that you can picture waiters dressed in black passing about on silver trays while happy guests sip champagne and chat. Now, to be honest, I've never hosted such a celebration but if I did I would served these. *smile*

Paul LOVED them. In fact he ate the leftovers every night until that pork tenderloin was all gone. There was still some avocado cream left and I suspected he wanted me to grill up another tenderloin so that he could feed his addiction. Given that we are trying to 'eat up the fridge' before we head off to Greece - on FRIDAY I wasn't about to grill up anything else.

Another plus for this recipe - it is EASY! The cream sauce comes together in no time at all and it is the most complex part of the production. This recipe clearly gets put in the category of things you make with no fuss that people will think you're a master chef who has slaved in the kitchen all day.  Everyone needs a few of those in their recipe file. :-) 

You could serve this pork as a main dish as well (i.e. not on tortilla chips). It would be amazing with Judy's black bean salad that we made when we were tossing salads in the summer.

Enjoy!

Southwestern Pork Tenderloin with Avocado Cream

Avocado Cream:

1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 small ripe avocado. peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pork:

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon each freshly ground black pepper and cayenne pepper

1 pork tenderloin, 3/4 to 1 pound
large round tortilla chips
cilantro sprigs and lime to garnish

Combine all avocado cream sauce ingredients in food processor, fitted with steel blade, and process until smooth. Remove to small bowl; cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent discoloration. Refrigerate until needed.

Combine garlic powder, paprika, salt, oregano, cumin and peppers in small bowl then rub over pork tenderloin. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Bring to room temperature before grilling. Grill over medium heat, turning frequently, for 15 to 15 minutes, or until internal temperature in thickest part reaches 160 degrees.

Remove from the grill. Tent pork with foil and allow to cool slightly.

Slice pork very thinly.

Serve slices on large round tortilla chips, topped with avocado cream sauce.

Garnish platter with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs

Photo Hunt - Twisted

This week's Photo Hunt theme is "twisted".  once again I traveled back to Italy for the inspiration for this week's theme. Venice to be precise and the lovely palazzo Scala contarini del Bovolo. This wonderful, and unusual, outdoor spiral staircase seemed to call out for this theme!

The Scala Contarini del Bovolo (also called Palazzo Contarini Minelli dal Bovolo) is a small palace in Venice. It is hidden away in an obscure little alley known as the Calle della Vida, near the Campo Manin, and was the palace of Contarini family.

The original structure was designed by Giovanni Candi in 1499. The main attraction of this palace is an elegant spiral staircase with a plethora of arches.

The family hired a second architect, Giorgio Spavento, to add the staircase to the original structure. The spiral is often compared to the snail’s shell (bovolo) and hence the palace got its name as “snail house”.

There are two small courtyards and several wellheads at the base of the tower.
Many of the wellheads belong to previous structures and are far older than the palace although one bears the Contarini family coat-of-arms and was probably added at the time of the palace’s construction.

Architectural elements of the first Renaissance merge to the building techniques Gothic-Byzantine, producing a harmony of forms, with a typical Venetian character, in a monument that is unique in its type.
From the dome of the belvedere it is possible to get a splendid and unusual panoramic view of Venice: the roofs, the bell towers, the domes of Saint Mark. It is, no doubt, a privileged observation point over the city

Lots of the slow travel  community members also photo hunt when they aren't traveling. You can find their posts by clicking the links below. 

• Old Shoes, New Trip
• Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings
• My Place in the Sun
• Churches in Venice – Mosaics, Marble, and Miracle-Working Madonnas
• Palmabella's Passions
• What I Really Think
• shave Ice and Gelato
• Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!
• Keep your Feet in the Street
• Baked Alaska
• That's my story...and I'm stickin' to it!
• Postcards from the Trail
• Cooking at the Whistlestop Cafe
• Candi's Corner
• Trekcapri's Blog
• Destination Anywhere

Bucatini All'Amatriciana

Since I've been trimming down Friday has been a bit of a 'splurge' night. I try and be really good all week and then on Friday I let my hair down (or I would if I had much left), open a bottle of vino and enjoy a hearty meal (although with a far smaller portion than I would have eaten this time last year).

Last week we tried a new version of Bucatini All'Amatriciana - this one by Canadian Food Network star David Rocco.  Rocco has a show on the food network called Dolce Vita where he travels around Italy, visiting relatives, and cooking up amazing food. Not unlike what Jamie Oliver did but Rocco was there first!

Bucatini all'Amatrician is one of our favourite pastas. This zesty pancetta and tomato sauce is commonly associated with Lazio and Rome, but is actually from the town of Amatrice, which was just over the border into the Abruzzo before Mussolini redrew the maps.

This is a delicious hearty pasta. The dish is full of delicious chunks of pancetta - the rendered oil from the pancetta also flavours the entire dish. because if this you want to use the best pancetta you can purchase. If you have access to guanciale, cured Italian pork jowl, grab it and use it instead. I've looked for guanciale for years and NEVER seen it. A fine pancetta works as well . . although we had the real thing when we were in Italy. WOW

Enjoy!

Bucatini All'Amatriciana

• 1 pound bucatini or thick stranded spaghetti
• 3 tb olive oil
• 6 oz pancetta or guanciale, diced
• 1 can (19 fl oz) plum tomatoes, crushed
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• chili pepper f lakes (to taste)
• salt and pepper to taste
• An abundance (a cup) of freshly grated Pecorino Romano

Set the pasta water to heat, salt it when it boils, and cook the pasta.

 

While this is happening, heat the oil in a skillet, add the diced meat, and cook until it browns, stirring the pieces as they cook. Add the onion garlic, and chili pepper flakes and saute until the onions soften. Turn down the heat to medium-high, add the tomatoes with a bit of salt and pepper and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

 

Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta while it's still a little al dente. Turn the drained pasta into the skillet with the sauce, cook a minute more more, stirring the pasta to coat the strands. Add water as necessary to bind the sauce to the pasta. Add the grated pecorino cheese, mix it together and serve.

Notes:

As I mentioned, Italians traditionally make Amatriciana sauce with Guanciale,salt-cured pork jowl. It is similar to flat pancetta, but not as lean, and therefore has a richer, more voluptuous feel to it. If you can find guanciale, by all means use it, though in its absence pancetta will work. Bacon is not a good substitute, because it is smoked and also contains sugar not present in either pancetta or guanciale.

Amatriciana sauce derives from a much older sauce called La Gricia which the shepherds used to make by sautéing diced guanciale so gently as to keep it from browning, and adding freshly boiled pasta, a healthy dusting of pepper, and grated pecorino Romano. The Amatriciana sauce, with tomatoes, was initially enjoyed by the nobility, because only they could afford tomatoes.

The people of Amatrice prefer to use spaghetti in preparing their signature dish. The use of bucatini is more a Roman thing. The different shapes do produce different textures, and which you prefer is up to you.

Jerry @ work

This is me at work (one week before we go to Greece). Conference for 300.

Raves!

Told 'you hit it out of the ball park tonight'.

4 HUGE beers in the bar tonight.

Not sure I can present or do legal panel tomorrow.

Don't care.

Greece in a week . . . .

(did I say that already?)

Stratford Festival - Westside Story

It seems had to imagine but it was 27 years ago that I saw my first piece of musical theatre. My good friend bought me a ticket to Evita for my 18th birthday. We got dolled up, grabbed the train into the city, had a brilliant dinner, and enjoyed the show. I've been hooked ever since.

Until last week I had never seen West Side Story performed on stage. To be honest I don't think I have seen the movie either.

I'm sure that the rest of you know the story well though . . . a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Takes place in New York in the 1950’s, and there are these two gangs: the Sharks (the Puerto Ricans) and the Jets (those who considered themselves “true Americans”). They’re fighting over a bit of land, when Tony (one of the Jets) and Maria (the brother of the head of the Sharks) fall in love. Cue soap opera storyline . . . star-crossed lovers, death, murder, tears and lots of singing, incredible dancing.

Guess what. This performance was so flawless and loving that it really was the best piece of live theatre I've seen in 27 years. AMAZING

Paul Nolan plays Tony and manages to hit the high notes. He hits the soft ones. He solos and harmonizes. He owns the stage with surprising athletic prowess. Ever look around you at a play? Ever notice the women passing around Kleenex and crying after a moving solo? No? Then go see this West Side Story.

The play is more than just Tony. Chilina Kennedy (previously at the Shaw festival) as Maria has a sweet and full voice. Her voice blends perfectly with Nolan’s in One Hand, One Heart. Her acting captures the innocence of a young girl in love for the first time. When needed, she was able to summon the anger and protectiveness over Tony’s dead body at the end of the play with convincing emotion.

The ensemble pieces and dancing are the third part of the four necessary elements for a great West Side. They nailed it here. In particular, the PR’s doing the Everything’s Great in America and the Officer Krupke bit were near perfect. The dancing was frenetic and beautiful. Just the high energy action one should expect from Jerome Robbins' original choreography which is literally built into the contract. 

Anita, Bernardo’s girl also deserves mention. Anita must be able to act. She must be the anchor for Maria. She needs to be alternately a smart-ass and loving. Forgiving and vulnerable. She really needs to be able to sing and dance too. She needs it all. Jennifer Rias as Anita was perfect. We walked out feeling she could have stolen the show if she wanted. Awesome casting.

Summation? A stunning production. At  the close at least 1/3 of the women around me were openly crying. Quite a few guys were sniffling. Me? I’m not admitting to anything.

Everyone leaving the show was buzzing about what they had just seen. It is no wonder that a number of theatre reviewers from NY declared this to be one of the finest productions of West Side Story - EVER!

Crispy Smashed Roasted Potatoes

In my books everyone needs a good potato recipe. One that has lots of possibilities so that you can adjust it to suit a host of menus.

There are those who will argue that potatoes have no place in a healthy diet.

To those people I say: BLECH

I am nothing if not mature.

I have come to the realization that a healthy diet involves moderation, cutting down on fat, cutting down on food quantity, and allowing for a splurge once in awhile.

This theory has allowed me to loose 60 lbs so it can't be that bad.

Back to the potatoes though.

I often make this excellent recipe from Fine Cooking as a side dish or as an appetizer, served with a dollop of creme fraiche and some fresh chopped herbs. It's a really great one for a make-ahead dish for company, since the potatoes can be boiled and smashed and prepared for roasting in advance.

It's incredibly simple, with few ingredients, but can be varied in flavor easily with the addition of a sprinkling of spices (paprika, chile powder, cumin) and/or chopped fresh herbs (chives, cilantro, basil). The recipe is so simple it is great for everyday cooking but is also special enough for company.

Give it a try!

Crispy Smashed Roasted Potatoes

12 to 15 baby red or yellow potatoes (about 1-1/2 oz. each; 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter)
2-3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan (preferably in one layer) and cover with at least an inch of water. Add 2 tsp. kosher salt to the water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, reduce to a simmer, and cook the potatoes until they are completely tender and can be easily pierced with a metal or wood skewer. Make sure they are cooked through but don’t overcook. The total cooking time will be 30 to 35 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, set up a double layer of clean dishtowels on your counter top. As the potatoes finish cooking, remove them individually from the water, and let them drain and sit for just a minute or two on the dishtowels.

Fold another dishtowel into quarters, and using it as a cover, gently press down on one potato with the palm of your hand to flatten it to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Repeat with all the potatoes. Don’t worry if some break apart a bit; you can still use them.

Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; put a sheet of parchment on top of the foil. Transfer the flattened potatoes carefully to the baking sheet and let them cool completely at room temperature.

Remove the pan of potatoes from the refrigerator, if prepared ahead. Heat the oven to 450°F. Alternatively, if you have a convection function, turn it on and set the temperature at 400°F. Sprinkle the potatoes with about 3/4 tsp. salt and pour the olive oil over them. Lift the potatoes gently to make sure some of the oil goes underneath them and that they are well coated on both sides. Roast the potatoes until they’re crispy and deep brown around the edges, about 30 minutes if using a convection oven, 30 to 40 minutes if roasting conventionally, turning over once gently with a spatula or tongs halfway through cooking. Serve hot.

More Stupid People

Yet again I am amazed at the every present capacity of people to commit activities that are so boneheadedly stupid that one is left shaking one's head in dismay.

You may have caught this story today:

A nicely dressed couple appeared on a Dr Phil show (no . . . a quack doctor having a show isn't the stupid thing here - although it could be!) and said they had roamed several states as shoplifters, stealing mostly toys, selling them on the Internet and making as much as $1 million (U.S.) over seven years.

"I'm no lawyer or a cop," said show host Phil McGraw, incredulously, "but isn't that a federal crime?"

The wife paused, then said, "Yeah, it is."

Hellooooooo?

How can you be so foolish?

Yes, shoplifting is a crime. Now I'll admit to a youthful indiscretion or two - what normal, well adjusted child hasn't lifted a chocolate bar or two . . . and been caught . . . and paid for it! 'Tis a rite of passage.

Criss crossing states, stealing what apparently had to have been tractor trailers worth of toys, selling them on eBay, making close to $ 1 million takes it to an entirely new level. That is the grand king of all indiscretions!

Then to pop on national TV to admit your crime spree is so foolish that I was convinced it was a lie.

One one could be that goofy.

Could they be?

Sadly it is true.

The indictment, for moving stolen goods across state lines, says the Eatons sold more than $100,000 worth of stolen goods using eBay and PayPal over a 12-month period – a crime prosecutors call "e-fencing."

More than 500 boxes of toys and other items were carted off when investigators from the San Diego Regional Fraud Task Force raided the couple's suburban home in San Marcos, Calif.

The Eatons had approached the Dr. Phil show with the offer to tell their story.

Yes. It is real.

Sadly, it gets worse.

Apparently for these silly folks, crime is a family affair. If you're going to rip off the Wal-Mart be sure to bring your toddlers with you . . .

Yet again I might be well on my way to being convinced that those wanting to be parents should have to pass a stringent examination prior to being allowed to breed.

The toddlers, they said on the video, are good decoys.

"Sometimes we just kind of go in together as a nice little family to make it seem like we're normal people, and we don't look like the kind of people that steal," Matthew Eaton said.

Hmmm. No wonder we're going to hell in a hand cart!