Pisa Pizza

Well, with visitors coming and going, I have been down to Pisa (where the airport is) a few times now... and for some reason, every time I go, I just have to say it.... "Let's get a Pisa Pizza"

HAHA I think i'm so funny! lol, get it... a Pisa Pizza :) ...... Anyway, the leaning tower is quite interesting, there are tours to walk up to the top, but they are seriously sold out for weeks at a time, at least through the rest of the summer season.  The tower is actually surrounded with luscious lawns and accompanied by a beautiful church, everyone takes pictures standing with there hands up (as if they are holding the tower up)  Once I saw how ridiculous these people look I just couldn't bring myself to do it....

Guess this is soon to be the National Monument in D.C.???

Totally cool! Not a tourist trap, Worth the trip.

Well I am off to Pisa again in the morning, but this time the airport visit is to my own benefit!  Tomorrow, I am flying to Greece!  That's right, this Italian Fat Girl is going Grecian, yippppeeeee, I can wait to eat, explore, tan, drink, and PARTY!  A one week holiday to learn as much about Greek life as possible!  (I never did that whole sorority thing...)  I promise to take lots of pics, post as much as possible, and eat EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!  Wish me luck...

A Pisa Pizza ;)

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant Parmigiana, now this thing is authentic!  It comes together more as an Eggplant Lasagna or an Italian style Moussaka; hearty, filling, beautiful, and something you can feel half-way decent about....  No Experience Necessary, a real assemble-and-bake kind of dish.

Lessons learned while making this dish: Chicken Parmesan or Veal Parmesan are entirely American made! Seriously, the Italians in this area have never heard of such a thing and don't understand the concept.  Alfredo sauce, another VERY UN-Italian invention, finally a Caesar Salad, not on a single menu (except in the extremely touristy places)  So. Not. Italian.

Anyway, this Eggplant Parmesan is completely Italian, but not as healthy or vegetarian as I was thinking....

Ouch, Fried in Sunflower Seed Oil

 of course you could always do it without ham...

I also choose not to show the 2 separate layers of 3 other cheeses in the middle!

Italian Fat Girl Seal of Approval

 

Seafood Supper

I have been mainly focusing and seriously enjoying, all of the carb based meals Italy has to offer, because of course, why wouldn't you?!?  However, my will power to get on the treadmill is no where near my passion for eating pizza and pasta covered in cheese...  So, for my waistline and overall health I have been passing on the pasta and opting for skinny-fatgirl seafood options.  Yummm, I can deal with that, 

Warm Seafood Salad

Mussels, prawns, calamari, crab, and octopus; basically shell fish, seem to be the most popular creatures of the sea around here.  Count me in.  Restaurants are featuring dishes such as mussels marinara,  grilled scampi or calamari, octopus salad, and Fritto Misto.  This Fritto Misto (fried mixed seafood) is what I have to look out for, salty/savory/slightly greasy delicious and very Italian, but sadly, we all know that deep fried anything can't exactly be put on the healthy list :(  

Octopus Salad

Accidentally ended up with a potato crusted fish, not exactly what I was going for, don't worry I ate around the potato part.....kind of....

Fear not, I haven't turned my back on carbs completely, just taking a small break.  Will try to prepare a few Semi-Italian Vegetarian dishes as well... Thought of the Day: Eat Well, Live Well

Little Pockets of Love

I have a whole new appreciation for raviolis.  In my recent cooking lesson I made spinach and ricotta raviolis by hand, folding, closing, and cutting each one.  The process took about 2 hours to go from flour, eggs, and cheese, to hot and ready-to-serve, covered in a butter/cheese sauce.  I made 40 raviolis which was more than enough for four people, and we ate them up as soon as the last little pocket was ready for cooking.

Very delicious, light (well as long as you don't count the butter), and full of flavor,  I did make one mistake before I even started the cooking process, I bought chopped boiled radish leaves instead of boiled spinach.  So technically I made radish leaves and ricotta raviolis.... They were just as good, and looked the same, goes to show I have been doing more work in the kitchen then I have on my language lessons.  Oops?  At least Carla told me that the greens are quite hearty and are rather tasty when fried up with garlic and chili oil.  Tried this, and would have to agree :)

Filling

Home Made Pasta 

Roll up Little Pockets and cut with a knife

Full Recipe to the Right of Page

These are from the local restaurant, I think mine look better!

For the Foodies

Cut into the tiramisu that I made the other day.  DELICIOUS, light, creamy, with just the right amount of flavor. I have noticed, tiramisu served in Italy is much creamier and less cake like then I usually see in America, in restaurants here the dessert is usually served in a small bowl, and does not stand up on its own.  If you rather a stiffer, more cake like, tiramisu just add an extra two layers of soaked lady fingers on the bottom of the baking pan (this will also increase the coffee/rum flavor).

Here are a few pictures of dishes that I have neglected to feature.  So much food, too little blogging time!

Home Made Lasagna

Lazy Girl one pot Pork Roast about to go in the Oven

Zucchini Flower Pizza

Insalata Caprese 

Food Market in Antibes, Fresh Olives

Finally got that meat skewer!

Firenze

Made the drive into Firenze (Florence) to do all our sight seeing.  Walked around the Duomo (domed church), past the Uffizi (museum with Statue of David), over the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge), and into the Palazzo Di Pitti (Palace owned by several private family).  Touring the Pitti Palace was my favorite part, the history of all the different families in control of the palace, the over taking by Napoleon, rooms where nobles had slept, all very interesting.  The house holds hundreds of pieces of Italian art, and features large gardens that over-look the city.

Being the middle of August, Florence was over flowing with tourist,  and this 110 degree, sweat-just-by standing day, was probably not the best to be trekking around the city.  So I will leave the rest of my exploration of the city, including, shopping, more museum visiting, and restaurant rating, until September; a cooler and less crowded month!  For lunch I enjoyed a Truffle Beef Carpaccio with a couple of glasses of rose, nice and light, to beat the heat!

Firenze

 The Duomo

Palazzo Pitti

Art from the gardens.... no pictures allowed inside :(

Italian Leather (reason to come back)

Sunny Day, Spirits Up

The warm Tuscan sun is shinning over head today, which calls for swimming, tanning, and not too much cooking!  So, only in an effort to redeem myself from the gnocchi nightmare, I made a quick and light lunch - Harvest Salad and Eggplant Pizza.  The "harvest" salad I made up as I went along, throwing whatever vegetables were in the refrigerator, spinach, carrots, corn, mushrooms, and red onions, I spiced it up with a couple of cheeses, a light prosciutto, and some hard boiled eggs.  The tasty, and accidentally bumble bee attracting, home made dressing was made with some dried herbs, olive oil, vinegar, lemon, HONEY, and a little S&P.

Hanging in the sun instead of the kitchen

I got the idea to use eggplant as my pizza base from a magazine the other day, baked slices of eggplant topped with marinara, Parmesan cheese, and pepperoni.  All on the healthy side and still very Italian, a completely carb free lunch for this fat-girl-belly... Success!

Some of the statues in the garden where we enjoyed lunch

Because vegetables have been ingested, there will be no guilt for enjoying the very simple, no-bake tiramisu I made this morning.  Seriously, such an impressive treat to whip out in only 20 minutes.  (Complete recipe found under the "recipe" page to the right) looks good now, but will probably look much better when we crack into it!  I will let you know how it tastes...

P.S. Carla made me feel better about my adventures in cooking yesterday, all has been forgotten ;)

Kitchen Nightmares

I. Had. A. Serious. Meltdown.  After 3 hours in the kitchen, (while everyone else was enjoying sun by the pool) I ruined everything, I had to through away all the food I made, and nearly cried.

I was making a meat sauce with fresh tomatoes, so in total is was going to take around 2 hours.  As I started this, I thought I would make gnocchi since it also takes a long time... admittedly, I knew all I had to work with were the wrong potatoes. but of course, I am such a genius in the kitchen by now, I'll make it work (yeah right)....   The sauce is just minutes away from being ready, smells amazing, taste delicious, all I wanted was to reduce the juices a little, I turned the heat up a smidge and started doing dishes, next thing I know my nose smells it, I turn as quickly as possible, lift the lid, stir the sauce...... BURNT....BURNT. BURNT. BURNT.

I couldn't believe it, it was amazing just a minute before and I burnt it, I ruined it after two hours of perfection, with one minute of idiocy...  hhuuuuuugggghhhhhhhhhhhhh

This isn't actually mine, but there was no way I was taking a picture of food I ruined.

Deep Breath, move forward... I peel the potatoes, and can tell they are too wet, but Carla had said, when you have wet potatoes (meaning they are too fresh, and not dried out yet) just add more flour.  I add more flour, and more flour, and more flour, and they just are not getting to the right consistency.  For some kind of cruel punishment to myself I keep at it, rolling the dough, cutting the gnocchi, the entire time really thinking that it will not be right.  I start a 4 cheese sauce, to make up for the meat sauce in the trash, and notice one of the cheeses isn't melting the same way as the others.  It won't turn into a sauce form, it is just staying rubbery and looks disgusting, with the luck I'm having at this point, I throw a couple pieces of gnocchi in boiling water, to taste before spending another 30 minutes of rolling and cutting potato dough.  

BLAH. CHEWY, FLOURY, WRONG.  

Does this ever happen to her???

Now, I have starving guest, a huge mess, and nothing edible.  After a little banging of pots and pans, lots of swearing, and filling the trash can with what was supposed to be lunch, I busted out the box of Barilla and that bottle of Ragu, swallowed my pride and served it with salad.  Everyone was really polite, and keep saying how good the food was (kind of made me want to strangle them... j/k)

Would have been easier.

Lesson Learned.  I am not quite a guru, I am still learning, and sometimes sauce burns.....  Hey, it's just food.  I have not lost my passion for cooking and will happily try again, luckily Carla comes tomorrow,  I think it will be a cooking lesson/ therapy session and since we are making Tiramisu I will be eating  away my sorrows.  THEN TACKLING ANOTHER HOME MADE MEAT SAUCE!!!!!  

Girls in Pedona

After putting on the first nights dinner... and doing all the dishes... deciding to go out for the second night was easy.  We ate in Pedona, a small town just around the hill from the villa, at a restaurant that I believe, rarely sees tourists.  The restaurant is family run with Mamma cooking in the kitchen, Pappa slicing the Prosciutto behind the counter, and the Son running around waiting tables, the very sexy, very Italian son that is!

My friends speak with him in Italian and a flirtatious relationship begins between David (the son) and our table!  Luckily, we have time to develop this relationship seeing as we gossip our way through four full courses and two bottles of wine!  An overwhelming spread of antipasti is first, Elena asks about the special cheese of the region, created by a person from Pedona, and, just by batting her eyelashes a little, we all get a special serving of it ;)  On to the pasta course, we discussed sharing pastas in the beginning, but somewhere in the ordering frenzy that idea was dropped and we each ended up with our own... feeling quite satisfied already, the second bottle of wine arrives at the table, and we take a short breather.   For the meat course I had the pork,while the others had rabbit and chicken.  Finally, the Crescendo, drum roll please  ........ 

THE TIRAMISU

Oh, my my my, we obviously would not be bothered with sharing this either! This desert is especially what the restaurant is known for, and usually, if you don't get there early enough it is all gone.  Of course, by now David only refers to us as the princesses, so obtaining the coveted tiramisu is a no brainer.

Just a few of the starters...Lard, Salami, Prosciutto, marinara and cheese bread 

 Served Simply: Grilled on a bed of Arugula, with a wedge of Lemon

Small portions, so its guilt free!  well, almost...

Excellent food with Amazing company

Party Favorites

Everyone loooovvvveeeeddd the gnocchi!  This time I made it with a four cheese sauce and ooohhhh, it was sinfully delicious, with every bite someone at the table made a slightly inappropriate grunt or moan....  I would have taken a picture if it hadn't been devoured before I could get to the camera, ... fear not, dinner was enjoyed even without the photos.

However, the Hit of the afternoon was as predicted, the Cocktails!!!! I  mean really, what's paradise with out an intoxicating pitcher of  something sweet?!?  I broke out one of my newest endeavors, Infusion Vodka.  I infused one bottle with strawberries and one with cucumbers, but to my surprise, the cucumber was everyone's favorite!  HINT: this is the simplest, most impressive trick to spice up a party.  I mixed the cucumber vodka with soda water, lime juice, and sugar, and it was the too refreshing and easy to drink.  This Is DANGEROUS!!!

 Let sit for 4 days, turns pink and makes the drinks look pretty!

 Even this weird, cheap vodka was really good after infusion

OK... I might have gone a little cucumber crazy 

Infusing the cucumber was quicker than strawberries, 2 cucumbers for 24 hours, remove and replace with 2 fresh cucumbers for another 24 hours.  REMEMBER: remove fruit after infusion...and if you dare.... try a piece  bbbllllaaahhhhkkklllkkk (gross).  Must thank my friend Trevor for help with these recipes, I am feeling a bit more adventurous now to try different fruits and alcohols!

Gnocchi for Dinner

My Italian friend, not like Jersey Shore - Italian, but like actually lives in Italy - Italian, Elena is coming to stay tonight with two of her friends: Julia, also Italian, and Michelle from San Francisco.  So now that I have mouths to feed and critics that know a thing or two about pasta I'm trying to act calm, cool, and impress the shit out of them!  Ekkk, OK so really, I'm a little nervous, but prepared as possible, and if all else fails, I make a mean cocktail...

Insurance Policy for Good Reviews

Today I made Gnocchi alla Sorrentina with Carla (my teacher), however, she says, in Tuscany we don't want to give credit to Sorrento, so when we cook it here it is called Gnocchi Gratin. Basically it is potato pasta with a home made tomato sauce baked with mozzarella and parmigiana cheese. Truthfully, it is not the best time to be making gnocchi, because the potatoes are too fresh and should really be cooked later in the season, buuuttt, beggars can't be choosers, and this fat girl needs to learn some tricks!  So we did, besides milking the cow, I did it allllllll, made from scratch and it was heavenly!!!!  Wooo Hooo carbs for everyone !!!!!
(I have posted the full recipes to the right of this page under recipes)

Cutest Little Potato Puffs

You kknnnoooowwww Atkins is over-rated

Alright, Guest are about to arrive, gnocchi is fresh in the fridge, meat is marinating, and the pool is calling my name!

Afternoon Delight

I visited the walled city of Lucca today, a few churches, lots of touristy stores, and a tall tower with a tree growing off the top! I didn't actually get to go into any of the ancient churches because unknowingly, (or at least I hadn't really thought it through) I wore a sun dress, which doesn't quite meet the requirements of appropriate attire. Oops...

Piazza dell'Anfiteatro

View from lunch table

Sitting under a large umbrella to escape the afternoon heat, i split another long meal with Nick. It was actually quite a light lunch, 1/2 sized bottle of pinot grigio, bruschetta, gnocchi 4 formaggi, and grilled scampi and prawns. IT WAS ALL SPLIT FOR TWO.... sooooo that't not that much?!?!? right?

I have to repeat in my head "don't touch the bread, don't touch the bread"

\

Tomorrow my cooking lesson is Gnocchi :)

Seeee, light, healthy, delicious