An Umbrian Thanksgiving

Okay, honestly, our Umbrian Thanksgiving was pretty much like a Thanksgiving at home—on the menu, at least. It’s not like we moved here to get rid of all of our traditions, just to get rid of some of the daily traditions. The one thing that was different (the one big thing) was that we weren’t sitting at a big table with my family. That part’s sad without a doubt. But the food was great: mushroom patties (a family tradition for the vegetarians in our family, which subs for turkey), stuffing (with sage and onions), mashed potatoes, and gravy over everything. The veggie Thanksgiving can turn into too many shades of brown (partially cause gravy is over everything), so we also had steamed broccoli topped with aged Asiago, with Bindolo red wine from Domini to drink. Yummy:

Oh, we also didn’t have luck tracking down pumpkin for pumpkin pie, but (this is one positive about being here where Thanksgiving doesn’t close down shops) our local scrumptious bakery, Dolce Forno, was open today, so we got a pair of cream puffs (yummy):

Cielo Chiaro Special: Lasagna Vegetariana con Tartufo Crema

This is a somewhat special Cielo Chiaro special (hah!), because the recipe isn’t actually in the post, but over at Nat’s blog, Bella Cinghiale. This lasagna was so delicious we both wanted to post up the recipe, but since I normally get to post recipes I let her put it up on her blog. It was the first lasagna I’d had since moving here (there’d been some on menus at ristorantes before, but always with meat in them) and was amazing: homemade pasta, spinach, onion, and carrots, multiple cheese, and a truffle cream sauce made with the truffle salsa we picked up at the truffle festival. Layers upon layers of goodness:

So, head on over to Bella Cinghiale and get your lasagna going!

Cielo Chiaro Special: Homemade Tagliatelle e Gorgonzola

When we moved in, we (you would too—I know you) almost immediately went through the kitchen cabinets to see how stocked up the new pad was with glassware (especially important), dishes, utensils, and anything else that might be needed (or just fun to play with). It was a like a little kitchenware treasure hunt, and one of the finest treasure found was a classic pasta maker. Crafted with care and meant to last at least one lifetime, if not two, this sturdy metal device is of the hand-crank variety, and was a fortuitous find, because we knew we wanted to start making more of our own pasta (we did a little back at the Seattle home with our KitchenAid, which has a great pasta attachment). And while it’s a kick to cut your own, having pasta in generally uniform and recognizable shapes isn’t a bad thing either.

So, we busted it out a bit ago, to start our pasta-making adventures. We followed the advice of our Italian grandmother, Jeremy Holt (okay, Italian grandfather—though he can wear a nice dress), who in Double Take reminds us “un uovo per etto.” Or, 1 egg per 100 grams (grams works great for us, as that’s what we’re operating in mostly, but it goes as Jerm says to about 3-1/2 ounces). We went with the Tagliatelle setting on the pasta maker, and it came out darn swell. Our pasta was a little thick (seemed more East European than Italian in a way), maybe Tagliatunni, so next time we need to either us the rolling function on notch more, knead less, or boil less. As Jeremy also says, becoming a pasta master takes time and trial and error. I look forward to the testing—and tasting. We mixed up a simple gorgonzola sauce to toss with the pasta, and mixed in some fresh walnuts, too, as Nat had recently picked up another passel of them from the tree in our yard:

Tagliatelle e Gorgonzola

Ingredients:
2 eggs
200 grams flour, plus extra for dusting
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 cup regular gorgonzola, crumbled
1/2 cup dolce gorgonzola, crumbled (see Note)
1 cup chopped walnuts
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Make a mound of the flour on the counter or in a bowl or pan, depending on how good at this you are, or your tolerance for flour getting dispersed. Make a well in the middle of the flour. Crack the eggs into the middle of the well. Carefully beat the eggs a bit, and then using your hands or a fork, slowly combine the eggs and flour.

2. After kneading the eggs and flour into a smooth dough (if it seems to dry, add a little water or olive oil; if too wet, add a little more flour), make the dough into a nice round mound. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Then slice into ovals—if using a pasta maker. If not, roll it out thin and slice it accordingly.

3. If using a pasta maker, run the ovals through it according to the directions (you want it fairly thin), and then run the longer, thinner ovals through the tagliatelle setting. My one hint with the pasta maker is, don’t be lean on the flour for dusting. When the pasta comes through the roller, just dust it a bit every time, or every other time. When it comes out that last time as tagliatelle, load on a little flour and toss it a bit to keep it from sticking.

4. Once the pasta is made (or even sooner if you want), fill a stockpot with water over high heat, adding a little salt once it’s boiling.

5. As you’re waiting for the water to boil, place the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the butter bubbles, start adding the gorgonzola and reduce the heat to medium. Cook over this medium heat, stirring very regularly, until the sauce is smooth. It should take about 5 to 10 minutes.

6. Once the sauce is close to done, add the pasta to the boiling water. It will cook very rapidly—a couple minutes max. Once it’s floating, it should be done (but hey, test a little to see if it’s at your level of al dente-ness).

7. Strain the pasta, put it in a bowl, and pour that sauce over it. Add the walnuts, and toss a bit. Then add a little fresh pepper and salt to taste.

A Note: Dolce Gorgonzola is a Gorgonzola and Mascarpone combo. An out-of-this-world combo on crackers or in sauces such as this one.  Using half of it helps to cream and smooth the edges on this sauce. If you can’t pick it up, you could go 3/4s Gorgonzola and 1/4 other super creamy cheese.
*See more specials: Penne e Noce, Zuppa di Pomodoro e’ Fagioli, Italian Burgers,Torta Vegetariana

*See all Cielo Chiaro Specials

Valerie, Mike, Spello, Wine, and the Small World

If you don’t know it, I write books in the cocktail-home-entertaining-food-poetry arena (hey, since we’re here, let me give a plug: buy my books). For most all of the books I’ve been extremely lucky in that my editor has been a genius named Valerie Cimino. She’s had a major hand in shaping every book we’ve worked together on, with fantastic ideas and guidance from the first page to the last. She’s also a big Italian-ophile, and won’t shy away from a good cocktail (or good wine), which isn’t the only reason we’re pals beyond the working relationship, but doesn’t hurt, either. Sometime in late summer, when working on a book (that comes out next fall--keep your eyes peeled), we realized her and her husband Mike were planning on an Italian vacation during the dates Nat and I were pre-tiring here. Once we knew the dates were matching up on the calendar, we decided lickety-split to meet up for a long lunch, some good conversation, and some catching up, all of which happened last week, in a lovely  town called Spello (after a side trip to a town called Cannara, which had no restaurants open for lunch, weirdly—but like many near misses on a journey, the miss ended up working in our favor).

Spello is sorta in the middle between our home in the Niccone valley and Trevi, where Val and Mike were staying, about 45 minutes from us and 20 from them. This was great for Nat and I, as we’d mostly stuck in our area so far. Spello is an Umbrian hill town that’s very picturesque, with sun-dappled streets (does anyone say “sun-dappled” anymore? They should):

but a town definitely on the tourist trail (it’s near Assisi, which is a big stopping spot--and even more beautiful), which means more locals speak English and that there are more shops angled at tourists, which is unlike our neighborhoods. We just parked at the bottom of the hill Spello’s on, and then walked up, deciding to choose a lunch spot at random. We were about halfway up, near a lovely church with a sorrowfully austere metal horse in front of it:

when we noticed Enoteca Properzio (an Enoteca is a wine shop, most of which also have light lunches). We were checking out the menu when a very friendly woman working there came out and started talking to us, and coaxed us in--it was a very cozy place, lots of old brick work and wine everywhere, but with a lot of modern touches, too (but not so many as to be annoying). We sat down and picked our lunches and were talking to our friendly waitress (the one who spoke to us on the way in), and she brought over the owner, Roberto Angelini. He doesn’t speak English, but was extremely friendly and debonair in an older Italian man kind of way. It turns out (the waitress is translating) that he travels around the U.S. once a year doing wine tastings and wine selling and dinners, going to NY, Chicago, LA, other cities, and Seattle. Once he found out Nat and I were from Seattle, he got very excited, and somewhere in his fast-Italian talking mentioned Amazon (Nat heard it, not me at first), which if you don’t know is where I worked for eleven years, mostly in the Kitchen Store. I naturally mentioned this fact (hey, it was a big part of my life, and I’m proud of the work I did there, even though I’m pre-tired now), and then he got really excited and mentioned “Jeff.” I thought (as one would) that he meant the big laugh and big boss himself, Jeff Bezos. He then went back to his desk and got this big folder (turns out it was a big sheaf of wine orders) and on the front it said “Jeff Wilke,” who was my bosses bosses boss (which sounds more remote than it was) at Amazon. I guess he and a few other Amazon folks had stopped by (this Enoteca is somewhat well known for its extensive wine selection and charming staff) and made friends with Roberto, and ordered lots of wine--Jeff may have even hosted him back in Bellevue--we were talking pretty rapidly so I may not have caught everything. This is quite an aside, but I just think it’s amazing how the world catches up with you in the strangest places. Here is Roberto and our friendly waitress (so you’ll know them when you stop by--which you should, if you like wine):

The wines we had, as well as the food, at Enoteca Properzio, were first rate. We ended up bringing home a couple memorable bottles, including a light flavorful white called Renaro (which was a combination of Pinot nero, Pinto grigio, and Pinot bianco grapes, and which would go well outside under the sun with cheese and honey, honey) and a dry, rich red called Rosso Assisi Riserva (from 1997, and being “Riserva” made from the best of the best, and all Sangiovese grapes, and sure to be a hit at a dinner with serious spices in play). Look for them at your local wineshop or online.

In my mind though, the best wine doesn’t mean more than a cup of flat diet Dr. Pepper if you aren’t having it with friends and accompanying it with conversation and laughter. This afternoon, we were blessed (by some Italian wine deity I’m guessing) with having both good friends and good wine. The best possibly afternoon, and when the fact that it took place in an Umbrian hill town is thrown into the equation . . . well, it makes for a mighty-fine pre-tirement day. Thanks again Valerie and Mike, for meeting up with us in Spello:

Cielo Chiaro Special: Italian Burgers, Cole Slaw, Creamed Corn

When browsing the aisles at one of our local supermercatos, I’m always on the lookout for “veggie” products. First off, cause both Nat and I are vegetarians (the dogs though, eat any meat that comes their way. Which is why we chase the cats off). Secondly, because after writing the Double Take with pal Jern, I’ve learned how fun it is to use veggie “meats” and such in recipes of all sorts. Third, because I like trying Italian things that mirror American food I eat. There aren’t a lot of these meat substitutes here, but when at the shiny new Eurospar in Trestina the other day, I found some honest-to-goodness Italian veggie burgers in the refrigerated section. I grabbed them without hesitation. Instead of using them as a part of a complex recipe of some sort, we decided to have a little bit of our history and home (not our Seattle home per se, but our Kansas homes): burgers with cole slaw and cream corn. We did Italian up the burgers some (that’s fresh mozzarella on there), but the cole slaw and cream corn were straight up midwestern, with all the sugar, cream, and mayo you’d expect. No recipe for this special (I’ll save that for Italian dishes), but if the slightly blurry (hey, I was hungry, forgive my blurriness) picture gets you craving, let me know and I’ll give you the KS scoop: