eating out in florence

Laura: "How do you feel being back?"
Me: "It's weird. It's so hot (I was here in the winter) but it's so nice. I love that I know the streets so well.
Laura: "Ohhh yes it gets reaaally hot!! I guess less clothes more gelato!"

In Florence I drank the first cappuccino that I've ever enjoyed, ate my favorite fresh mozzarella, and averaged a gelato per day.




I discovered my new favorite summertime drink: granita. It reminded me of 7-11 slurpees with better flavors and minus the blue food coloring. It was perfect in the Florence heat.




I could dedicate an entire week's worth of posts to gelato but I'll hold back. Stracciatella is a really simple flavor (basically vanilla with little chocolate bits) but I missed being able to have some whenever I wanted. I'm pretty positive that it's impossible to go wrong with gelato at all, but I hold a special place in my heart for stracciatella.

One might even call it a love affair (sorry, David).

It almost pains me to talk about food in Florence without mentioning all of the amazing home cooking I had with my host parents-- but that's for another post!

quinoa and black beans

This week I made a vow not to buy an groceries. I have so many other things in my pantry and fridge that it was starting to get ridiculous how much I'd buy on top of the things I already had. This past summer, my sister gave me some quinoa and the first time I tried to make it, it was awful. Maybe the heat was too high or I didn't cook it long enough, but at that point I decided that quinoa and I were not meant to be friends.

Enter this week's resolution. In an effort to try to use what I have rather than wasting it, I gave quinoa another chance. Much like the time I made pancakes for one, I searched for quinoa for one, and this amazing recipe showed up (even though it says it serves 10!). The quinoa comes out at the perfect consistency! I can't wait to make this again.

quinoa and black beans
adapted from allrecipes

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped and peeled
3/4 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a medium pot, heat olive oil and brown garlic. Add quinoa and toast for 30 seconds, stirring. Add broth and spices, bringing everything to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and cover for 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork and add beans, parsley and lemon juice.* Serve as a main course or side dish (I had mine with paprika-seasoned tilapia).

*This recipe is really flexible. I didn't use an onion as the original recipe called for because I didn't have any with me, but you can probably add lots of other vegetables and spices. It's so delicious!

lemon & cheese pasta

One of the best meals I remember having in Florence was the most simple. It blew my mind. It was literally pasta, olive oil, lemon zest, and parmesan. On several occasions I've tried to make it without getting the perfect consistency that I wanted, but thanks to the glories of the internet I think I've found the best recipe. The best part? You can add as much or as little cheese or lemon to make the dish perfect for you. (For the record, I like a lot of both).

lemon and cheese pasta
adapted from Deb

1 pound spaghetti or long noodle pasta
3 medium lemons
for 1 tablespoon of lemon zest and 1/2 cup of juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 - 1 cup grated pecorino or parmesan
1/2 - 1 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, cook pasta in salted water until al dente (12-15 minutes). While pasta is cooking, zest and juice lemons.

Set aside 1 1/2 cups of pasta water and drain pasta.* In the same pot, bring 1 cup pasta water, olive oil, heavy cream and zest to a boil on medium high heat. Slightly whisk to mix. Add pasta and reduce to medium or medium-low heat. Add cheese and 1/4 cup juice to the pasta and toss together with tongs (be sure to continually lift pasta and mix so it doesn't stick together and mix thoroughly). If you'd like add more water and/or lemon juice to thin out the sauce or add more lemony goodness. Toss in parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Enjoy with bread and chianti.

*I forgot to reserve any pasta water, but I found that regular, hot tap water with some salt was a good substitution.

apple galette

My first galette! A few months ago my sister made a really delicious berry galette, and when Norris told me she'd like an apple galette for her birthday I knew it was finally time to try it myself. I went to the ever-useful, Deb, for advice, but unfortunately this was the first time that a Smitten recipe didn't come out perfectly for me. The apple to dough ratio was a little off so I've fixed it below for future reference. But, even though there were holes in my dough and apple juice burned along my silicone liners, everything was still [golden] delicious. Okay... no more puns.

apple galette
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

dough:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tbsp) of just softened butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 1/2 tablespoons cold water

filling:
3 medium golden delicious apples (or which ever firm type you'd like) peeled and cored
2 tablespoons melted butter
4 tablespoons sugar
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter at low speed until the dough looks like coarse cornmeal. Add the rest of the butter, until the largest chunks resemble peas. Slowly dribble in a tablespoon or so of water, then mix and add more until the dough begins to come together. Run your fingers through the dough and begin forming a ball (if there are dry patches, add another tablespoon or so of water). Form a disk 4 inches in diameter, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Once ready, on a lightly floured surface, begin to roll dough out with a floured rolling pin (or muddler, or wine bottle..). As the dough thins, smooth over and repair cracks at the edge so it's one continuous circle. Roll the dough out to 14 inches in diameter, 1/8th - 1/4th of an inch thick.

Place dough on silicone mat or parchment paper. Assemble apples in the middle, with at least 2 inches from the perimeter of the circle. Begin to fold dough onto the apples, making vertical pleats in the dough. Brush apples and dough with melted butter then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top.

Bake at 400°F for 45 minutes, rotating the galette every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for at least a few minutes before you enjoy it warm and fresh.*

*Homemade whipped cream is a highly suggested addition.

weekend

Yet another weekend where all of the photos I take revolve around food:

1. Morning chai lattes with Hanry and Anna, right next to the rainy seaside.
2. Proof of the rain and my adoration for my boots.
3. Saturday lunch.. and dinner. Little Lucca's is heaven.
4. Sunday lunch: avocado, smoked salmon and cranberry salad; courtesy of my sister.
5. Chinese New Year feast at Norris's house! No but really, there was so much food.
6. Pretty candles on a beautiful (and delicious) cake for Norris's birthday.
7. My first ever galette (recipe coming soon): my birthday present to Norris (and Monday dessert).
8. My second weekend feast thanks to Jenna. Shrimp, cabbage, carrots and rice. Healthy and filling!

But really, sometimes I think this food-picture-taking has gotten a little out of hand... but it also makes me want to document an entire week in food. Hmm...

weekend

I think I've eaten out more in the past week than I have in all of January. Naan n' Curry, Anatolian Kitchen, Celia's, and Cafe Brioche all in one weekend... not that I'm complaining. I love food.

The weekend started with NightLife at the California Academy of Science-- museum admission at night with beverages and such (more on that later). David came for the weekend and although it seems like all we did was eat, we also managed to play more Settlers and take a long walk on a sunny afternoon.

And now I have to face the consequences of doing almost no work the entire weekend. In an ideal world, I would have finished my English response papers, studied for my midterm and had enough time to bake Valentine's treats for everyone I love... but this weekend was my ideal weekend, spending lots of time with the boy (and food) I love.

spinach and mushroom risotto

Risotto has become my go-to recipe. It's easy to change so that it incorporates seasonal vegetables or you can pretty much just add whatever you want. My friend Heather, who I hadn't seen for a year since we were in Italy, came over for dinner so I thought it might be fun to have risotto. I knew I wanted spinach and I knew I wanted mushrooms. I also felt confident enough in my general knowledge of risotto that I was able to pull it together without a recipe. I'm so proud! It was so creamy and delicious. Heather and I ate the whole thing! Just kidding... the dish probably serves 6 to 8. But it did make for some really delicious leftovers.

spinach and mushroom risotto

1 quart (32 oz.) vegetable stock
2 cups water
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups of arborio rice
3/4 cup white wine
10 shitake mushrooms, sliced (or 2 cups sliced of whatever you want)
3-4 cups (5 oz.) fresh, finely chopped spinach
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium pot, bring vegetable stock and water to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer. In a large pan, sautee the garlic and onions in olive oil until soft. Add rice and stir for 2 minutes, until lightly toasted. Add white wine and stir until absorbed. Once absorbed, add one and a half ladles of warm stock to the rice mixture, stirring until absorbed. Repeat this process until you have two ladle left to add.

During the ladle process, sautee the mushrooms in olive oil until cooked and season with salt and papper. At the second to last ladle, add the spinach with the stock and stir. Once absorbed, add the last ladle with the mushrooms. Stir in the parmigiano and add salt and pepper to taste. Voila.

pancake balls

Yes. They are pancakes, and yes they are perfectly formed balls. With either chocolate chips or blueberries in the middle. The secret to these little bites of heaven is a Japanese contraption called a takoyaki grill. Traditionally, "takoyaki" is a savory Japanese dough ball with green onions and octopus inside (note the little octopus on the grill!). Well, we've made the traditional kind (more on that later) but I couldn't resist sharing the pancake version first.

Basically, you grease each mold, add batter (and filling), and slowly rotate the balls with a pick. Each time you slightly turn the batter over, it slowly creates a complete circle and whatever you put in the middle becomes entirely enclosed. And melted, in the case of chocolate chips.

Jenna imported these babies all the way from Japan, but I just found them available on Amazon as well. The Amazon ones are a little different, because you'll need to use your stove to keep the grill hot, while Jenna's are electric so we can use them in the middle of our dining table. It's optimal for an eat-as-you-make-breakfast kind of morning.

Next time? I'm going to try these with pumpkin.

PS- For all of you who were wondering, on Sunday Jenna used the pad thai recipe from the NY Times, except she used pre-made sauce (tamarind paste is hard to find).