Florence Favorites

At last I have a minute to sit down and write about the food in Florence. It has been so long now that I hope I have not forgotten all the details.





This first picture is a delicious bread and tomato soup. I was expecting something more like an onion soup with a piece of bread in it, but what I got was quite different. The soup is mostly tomatoes and olive oil with what tasted like the inside of a french roll soaking up all of the yummy juices. The taste was wonderful, and I loved the consistency, but I have a feeling soggy bread is not a consistency that most people enjoy.


Like all other meals in Italy, this one too was filled with carbohydrates.


The next course was a beef and asparagus roll (much like a meatball with asparagus in it) accompanied by potatoes and of course a marinara sauce. My brother and his friend ordered a ginormous steak that had to be shared. The thing must have been like 2 lbs. The funniest part was that the waiter brought out the steak to the table raw so the boys could check the quality. Like they would have known what they were looking at one way or another! There were tables of people all over the restaurants sharing these huge steaks and literally gnawing on the bones to make sure they got every since bite of meat... gross!
Brother and I visited Pisa for the day so I could bravely climb the leaning tower. During the 2 hour wait before I could go up, we enjoyed some pizza on a side street. My pizza had olives, onions, and artichoke hearts. I ordered a 'personal size' pizza, but it was still way too much for me to eat in one sitting. Not the prettiest pizza I have ever seen, but very tasty. Of course, I found the food market in the middle of the city and had a field day taking pictures of all the crazy foods I discovered. While Italian food is based on carbs, they also incorporate some wacky parts of animals...
The picture above is of what I assumed to be cripe... Since I don't know Italian, it was very difficult for me to decipher what they were actually selling. The stuff (I can't even call it food) looked like that I imagine the adipose tissue under human skin to look like - YUCK! I guess it's lining of stomach or intestines or something. Whatever it is, it does not look appetizing to me!
Sun dried tomatoes - not my favorite food, and I always pick them out of whatever I eat because I just don't like the consistency, but they do add great taste to almost any dish!

Check out all of those fresh lettuces. I don't think I would even know where to begin making a salad with all of those options!

This next picture depicts my favorite part of the market - watching them make pasta!

The machines they use look exactly like the ones I had as a child to 'make pasta' out of play dough. Too funny. Spaghetti anyone?
WARNING: these next pictures depict items I would NEVER consider to be food and you could not pay me all the money in the world to eat them. Again, due to my lack of Italian skills, I'm not totally sure what they are, but I did take human anatomy so I can take a guess...
Hooves, or brain?
Tongue and more minced meat?

Definitely some liver, and not sure what else... But it doesn't look very appetizing to me.

Ahhhhh. Much better, back to the carbohydrates! PASTA!!! How amazing does the fresh spaghetti and ravioli look? This was at the store front of the previous pictures where they were making it. Looks very different than the packaged crap we get in our grocery stores.

Since Italians have such great pasta and bread, it's no wonder they also have delicious pastries! All sorts of cookies with jelly, chocolate, and nuts. I could have eaten these all day!

More cookies - YUM

And just in case you were enjoying the pasta and cookie pictures too much and getting hungry... back to the meat!

I guess you can tell that the chicken is fresh since it still has its head, feathers, and legs. And for the LAST meat picture... hanging, drying meat. As much as I love salami, I'm not a fan of the thought of meat hanging to try out for ages... But hey, who does like aged, dried meats?

The produce in the market looked fabulous - so fresh and plump.
There were also large stands of dried fruits and nuts. It's like the bin candy stores we have here, but will fiber filled naturally sweetened fruit rather than high-fructose corn syrup filled candy! I got a big bag to take with me for my long day of adventures around the city.
I think this is a jelly dried fruit salad. And of course, Italian wine - so good and so cheap!
Like every market I've been to anywhere in the world, this one had beautiful flowers!

I loved the coffee in Florence. You literally walk up to a bar and order your coffee. The only thing I knew how to get was a cappuccino- and I had no idea how to order non fat milk - so I was drinking regular cappuccinos daily. They were small, wonderful, and only 1 Euro. People stand at the bar, drink their coffee / cappuccino quickly and then leave - very different than the Starbucks we have here. Come to think of it, I did not see one Starbucks in Italy - their coffee must not be good enough for Italians...
Bags of nuts and grains looks so healthy and much more appetizing to me than the meats and 'other' parts of animals.

ahhhh the gelato. I discovered pink grapefruit gelato and I think I died and went to heaven. It has to be the most wonderful and refreshing sweet I have ever tasted. I mixed it with the yogurt flavor and I just could not get enough. It was too hot while I was in Italy to have any type of chocolate or nutty flavored gelato, so I just stuck to my yogurt & grapefruit. I did try tiramisu one time and it was equally wonderful, just not as refreshing as my concoction! I ate gelato at least once and sometimes twice every day I was there - It's amazing I didn't come back 15lbs heavier!
More cookies! These butter cookies were dipped in chocolate, or filled with apricot jam (my favorite) and super crunchy - cheap too! I got all of these for less than $0.50 US.
Last but not least - my risotto. All other nights I enjoyed pizza or pasta, so on my last day in Florence I insisted on finding some risotto. This is risotto with mushrooms. I was surprised that Italians don't make risotto with tons of cheese like we do in America. I actually don't think it had any cheese - mother goose approved! I enjoyed every bite and it was a fabulous way to end my food adventures in Italy!
I loved all of the food in Italy and plan to visit again for more eating and wine drinking! Ciao!

Mamma's Matzo Ball Soup

We all have those childhood favorite foods that remind us of holidays and special occasions. Well, for me it's my mother's Matzo ball soup. Everyone makes matzo ball soup differently (and equally delicious), but nothing says passover and the beginning of spring to me like mamma's matzo ball soup. Since we didn't have sedar at my parents' this year, she didn't make her soup. (Insert sad face here)
Missing it terribly, I decided to attempt the feat of re-creating the wonderfulness. I jotted down a few notes while she explained to me how she makes her soup. I had a VERY difficult time getting past the cleaning and cutting of a WHOLE CHICKEN! For those of you who know me well, you understand how difficult this is for me. I cannot handle the texture of raw meat, especially meat that actually looks like the live animal... eeeek.


So after many deep breaths, I bought the whole chicken...
I cannot imagine having to actually touch the raw meat on bones, so while I was in Safeway I asked the innocent, sweet looking butcher for some disposable gloves. When I explained that I needed them in order to make this chicken he stated, "You are kidding me, right?" Well no Mr. butcher man, I am not. But thanks for the gloves, I could not have gotten past this step without them!
I tried to take more pictures of me holding the raw meat, but I was so grossed out dealing with a whole chicken that it took 110% of my attention. After all of the torture, my matzo ball soup came out great!! and better yet, BOYFRIEND LIKES IT!!!! Food #3 that he will eat. Must be a winner!
Since my mom makes this soup from scratch and she gave me verbal instructions about how to make it, I tried to create some kind of recipe. This is what I have come up with so far:

Mamma’s Matzo Ball Soup

1.Place a whole chicken without skin or legs or wings,

WITH giblets into pot with water and bring to boil

2. Skim the ‘skum’ off the top

3. Lower the heat to a gentle boil

4. Add: 1 tsp chicken bullion and black pepper

5. Add: veggies- carrot (12), parsnip (2-3), parsley bunch, boiling onions (4), parsley (head)

6. Lower heat to simmer for at least 45 min – 1 hour. Longer = better

7. Take out giblets and chicken and pull off the bone – put chicken meat back in

8. Make matzo balls according to directions in a separate pot

9. Add mazto balls to soup 10 minutes before serving

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Passover. Next year in Jerusalem!

Passover Friendly Foods

Passover is a Jewish holiday that lasts for 8 days when we remember the exodus from Egypt. The most significant observance related to Passover involves the removal of chametz (leaven) from our homes. This commemorates the fact that the Jews leaving Egypt were in a hurry, and did not have time to let their bread rise. It is also a symbolic way of removing the "puffiness" (arrogance, pride) from our souls. For more details and explanations about Passover please visit the website. I'm pooped from educating my co-workers all week! So on to the good part: FOOD!

My good friend Gayle sent me an awesome Mandel Bread recipe that's kosher for passover:

Ingredients:

3 eggs

¾ cup sugar

½ cup oil

1 ½ cup matzo cake meal

1 tablespoon potato starch

Methods:

1. Beat eggs and sugar until thick and lemony looking.
2. Stir in oil
3. Fold in cake meal and potato starch
4. Add chocolate chips
5. Form 2 long loaves on greased cookie sheet
6. Bake at 350 forf 30 minutes
7. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar when taken out of oven-slice it and put back for 10 more minutes-if want crispy pieces

The Mandel bread recipe is super easy to make and so delicious too!

This year, we went to our dear friends' home for Passover Sedar. Here is a picture of the beautiful sedar plate:
...and the parsley and salt water to symbolize all those tears
What's passover without matzo?!
My absolute favorite passover treat: Charoset.

Recipe for Charoset

This fruit, nut and wine mix is eaten during the seder. It is meant to remind us of the mortar used by the Jews to build during the period of slavery. It should have a coarse texture. The ingredient quantities listed here are at best a rough estimate; I usually just eye-ball it. The recipe below makes a very large quantity, but we usually wind up making more before the holiday is over. Other fruits or nuts can be used.

• 4 medium apples, 2 tart and 2 sweet
• 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1/4 cup sweet wine
• 1/4 cup dry wine
• 1 Tbs. cinnamon

Shred the apples. Add all other ingredients. Allow to sit for 3-6 hours, until the wine is absorbed by the other ingredients. Serve on matzah. Goes very well with horseradish. Courtesy of Judaism 101

Matzo ball soup
The infamous gefilte fish - GROSS. This year I was able to get through the first bite.. but the second one induced my gag reflex!
Must have many many glasses of red wine at the sedar.
Ronnie's famous Macaroons. Simply the BEST!
Her almond apricot cookies - these are good too, but it's hard to compare anything to those macaroons.
Happy Passover! And thank you to the C's for another great sedar together!

Fun at the Farmer's Market

I recently watched the documentary Food, Inc. and just as the website claims, I will probably never look at food the same way. Although I found the movie very informative, I am still at a loss about where to find grass fed chicken and beef- If anyone knows of a good, reasonable place, PLEASE let me know! Immediately following the movie I decided that I was going to be a vegetarian. Watching chicken and cows be slaughtered will do that to you... Of course the next day I went out for sushi and I couldn't resist the fish, so I decided to become a pescatarian. And after about 4 days of eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish, I began to crave meat again. So here I am back at square 1. I did however, vow that from now on I will buy local and organic whenever possible.

Every Sunday there's a fabulous farmer's market at the Mountain View train station. As we approach spring, I find it irresistible to be outside enjoying the sunny weather. Last weekend I bought some beets, broccolini, and bok choy - some of my faves.

I absolutely LOVE beets. They are super easy to make too! I must enter the disclaimer here: be forewarned that #1 and #2 will be a little pink... no you do not have bloody stools. But I always wonder how many people show up in the ER complaining of bloody stools a day or two after enjoying this wonderful vegetable. Please do share your stories!
RD tip: Beets are super healthy! They contain powerful nutrients that help protect against heart disease, birth defects, and cancers - especially colon cancer. Beets are high in folate, manganese, potassium, and fiber. For more nutrition info about beets check out this site.
My Asian friends at work: Em, N, L, and C always have the coolest vegetables. The biggest problem is my friends only usually know the Chinese or Japanese names of the vegetables and a lot of them are not even found in regular grocery stores. While at the farmer's market I spotted one of the vegetables my Chinese friends usually have. Broccolini is super easy to make by sauteing it with some EVOO, garlic, and soy sauce.
Bok choy is another one of my favorite Asian vegetables. I haven't make this quite yet, but I will most likely saute it the same way as the broccolini.

For dinner I had the beets, broccolini and quinoa. DELICIOUS!
I cannot wait to see what I will find at the farmer's market this week. Happy Sunday!

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

I am beginning to realize that my blog is turning into a baking blog, so for this month's RD meeting / pot luck I had to make a conscious effort to make something NOT sweet or baked and blog about it... I attended an awesome nutrition seminar at the CIA in St. Helena where I received some delicious olive oil as a 'party gift' and it got me thinking - of olive oil pound cake! haha

Of course when you rule something out, it's the ONLY think you can think about. Naturally, I could think of a million items I would like to bake, but no 'real food'. I called my cooking go-to-gal (Ronnie) and asked her for suggestions. A few weeks ago, I remembered Ronnie going on a small rant about how terrible it is when people put "weird stuff" in tuna salad - like relish... Ronnie came up with a great idea of making mini tuna sandwiches, but "without anything weird in it". She e-mailed me this great recipe that incorporates my new olive oil!

INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp olive oil

2tsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp oregano

3 oz. tuna fish, water-packed low sodium

5 cherry tomatoes

1/2 cucumber

1 serving of bread of choice

METHOD:

Rinse and pat dry vegetables. Cut cucumber and tomatoes into bite size pieces, and mix with drained and flaked tuna in a bowl. In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, vinegar, and oregano, and toss with tuna-vegetable mixture. Serve with toasted bread or crackers.

I used carrots and cucumbers instead of tomatoes - I personally don't like the seeds, texture, and juiciness of tomatoes in this type of dish.
The oil and vinegar actually held the tuna together better than I expected it would!
I served the tuna on croissants cut in half (so I would have enough) and sealed the deal with a cute umbrella toothpick. The mini sandwiches were such a hit at work that my boss stashed some away for dinner and lunch the next day!