Jordan in Italy!

Here's Jordan arriving through customs at Fiumocino! Hurrah- off to Rome, Torino, Padua, Venice, Formia, Naples and Viterbo we go!!!

Gosling Selfie

Yesterday Anna and I picked up her spring order for new egg laying birds- 5 chickens, 3 ducks, and 3 geese. Still way too small to produce eggs, the ducks and geese and being kept in crates until they are big enough to fend for themselves. I took the opportunity to take another barnyard selfie- I look terrible, but look at how ready for a selfie this little baby goose was! She and the lamb would probably be BFFs.

Buona Pasqua ~ Happy Easter

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. It holds so much less of the materialism of Christmas with all the joy of gathering together to celebrate the joy that is the risen Christ. I was feeling the pangs of homesickness thinking of my family celebrating, but being with Anna and her family was wonderful as well. Her daughter hosted us and 20 others. It was a wonderful occasion with lots of young people, and of course lots and lots of food. I was thrilled to see blown and painted Easter eggs on the table along with these wonderful hollow chocolate eggs. It's one of my favorite Easter traditions.

We also had a variety of delicious food, I won't go into too much detail but here are some of the highlights.

 

This Easter meal was a grazing meal. We started with various raw vegetables and crostini topped with eggplant, homemade olive oil, rabbit pate or cheese. There were artichokes two ways, one way is pictured on top and they were delicious. The bottom two pictures were cheeses that Anna and I had made yesterday. 

We had Italian sausages and the slices in the first picture are pancetta. Uncuted pancetta is just like a giant piece of bacon, but it's eat similarly to a pork chop and is absolute delicious  and decadent. We also had Angelo- lamb- and it was wonderful, but of course I am partial to the lamb I had in Salento that i watched live and die. 

This was delicious and I have no idea what it was called. It was goat meat, spinach  and ricotta wrapped in a floury puff pastry shell with hard boiled eggs. It was delicious and such an interesting and unusual side dish. Italians seem to put ricotta in all kinds of unusual places and it just works. Definitely a tip for the future. 

We also had this wonderful goat meat broth. It was unbelievably light and full of flavor. It had turnips, dill, carrots  and celery. Almost like a chicken soul but done with goat. Wonderful.

Of course there were the requisite dolci at the end of the meal. Both of these were hand made and beautiful. I want to show you a recipe that I got for the following cake that I gleaned from a guest that only spoke Italian who made it. I gathered this entirely in my horrible broken Italian, but truly I'm very proud I was able to understand anything at all.

6 eggs

4 big spoons of farina

4 big spoons of semolina

700 grams of ricotta

2 spoons of sugar for each egg

200 grams of cream

200 grams of melted butter

Raisins 

Chocolate chips

Grand marnier or other liquor if desired

Whip egg whites until they are mounted (aka meringues), add sugar one spoon at a time. Add the yellows of the eggs, add cream a little at a time. Then add the farina and semolina alternating. Add the liquid butter once combined. vanilla and/or liquor can be added at this time. Add raisins. Butter and flour a 10" baking dish and pour mixture in, it will be quite liquidy. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top if desired. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 45 minutes.

I have no idea how this could come out or if I transcribed/translated the oral instructions I was given correctly. I hope I did and I'll sure try and make it when I come back. I think if I had one wish right now, or one thing I would so differently, was to learn Italian because I feel like I miss out on so much information and learning because I am not able to communicate clearly with people around me. Italians love to talk about food. Just yesterday Anna got into a discussion at the meat counter with the butcher, and two customers about the sweetness of prosciutto. I knew that they were discussing salt and age, but the nuances of the conversation were lost because I wasn't able to catch the details. The learning happens in the details  and although I'm learning so much as it is, I wish I could catch all the things I feel like I'm missing.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. I miss you all  and wish you all the best.

Abandon All Diets, Ye Who Enter Here (Roma)

It's probably no surprise to you that besides the roman ruins and iconic sites, the things I travelled thousands of miles to take in was really the food. Rome has wonderful food. But it also has a lot of tourist food that plays to the same basic saliency that American junk food plays- fat, salt, sugar. I was lucky to have had good advice, but more importantly good guides while I was eating and traveling in Rome.

The first thing I ate in Rome was this delicious plate of pastries that Anna forced on me... Well maybe I wasn't forced, but she insisted I try the best. This was at Vanni where Anna was delivering cheese for their restaurant. The star of the plate was the Monte Bianco which was unlike anything I've ever tasted. The delicious morsel is built with a super soft, creamy meringue drop base. On top is piled a delicious cross cross of marron (chestnut) glacé. If you're like me and you'd never tried marron glacé before you need to stop what you're doing and get on a plane headed for Rome (or southern France) right now. It's amazing. It's made of chestnuts which are candied and creamed to make a light, slightly grainy confection that is pale brown in color. After this is laid on the meringue it is dusted with powder sugar to look like a white mountain- hence Monte Bianco. And while eating it you can be glad that there's a little historical element to the confection as well- it was first mentioned in print in 1475 and was  served in the home of Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia.

The other two pastries were wonderful and deliciously sweet. The one with the green and white glacé and the candied fruit is a mini Cassata Siciliana. Labor intensive and extremely sweet, this dessert consists of sponge cake, a ricotta and chocolate filling, two layers of glacé (one pistachio flavored) and candied fruit and a kind of royal icing to top it all off. Delicious, and ridiculous to look at,  this cake is very popular at Easter time. I found this updated recipe that doesn't use Maraschino cherries or food coloring, and I would like to try when I get home (http://food52.com/blog/10072-cassata-siciliana).

After the pastries with Anna and my glimpse of the Pope, Marco and Paige and I sat down to a 'Spritz'. This classic Italian aperitivo is made with prosecco and an orange flavored liquor called Aperol. It is readily available, so you can make this one at home! The bittersweet, bright orange liquor is combined as follows- 3 parts prosecco, 2 parts Aperol, 1 part soda water. But I like it better like this- 1 part Aperol, 3 parts prosecco, skip the soda water and enjoy. 

Rome's late nights, walking and crowds can make you a little sleepy, so naturally there's plenty of coffee and, (oh no!) more pastries...

This was a banana chocolate muffin which elevated my entire concept of a muffin. When Marco first ordered it I was like 'psh, muffin? Please... I come from the land of muffins' but never have I had a muffin like this. It was dense and rich, yet full of air bubbles like a sponge, and oh-so-fudgy. Just imagine the best muffin of your life, multiply it's deliciousness by 10 and you'll have what we ate. We also had an insanely chocolatey torte with nocci and niccioli ( walnut, hazelnut) and some coffee which was nespresso but still hit the spot. The best thing about the coffee was the funny little plastic cups they served it in. You can see page holding it in the first picture.

I also tried Cafe Prana's espresso macchiato. I made the trip because I had heard  good things about it on Katie Parla's food blog but was bitterly disappointed by the weak coffee, but the picture is pretty It's also the only coffee shop in Rome to use exclusively fair trade and organic beans. Ill wait for Jordan to suss out the best coffee in Rome.

Lunch was Paninos from Enotca Provincia Romana, a government sponsored hotspot that serves only roman dishes made with food produced in Rome and it's suburbs. While we waited for our take away order, Paige and I drooled over the hot food coming out of the kitchen so naturally I had to ask Marco to make a reservation for Jordan and I when we're in Rome. Can't wait for dinner this Tuesday! Paige was smart enough to take a photo of lunch but it doesn't of it justice.

While terribly out of season, I couldn't pass up some street chestnuts. They were still quite good despite the more than unseasonal-ness, and I loved the little cone they came served in.

This doesn't even scratch the surface of what wonders lay ahead. I am really, really looking forward to being joined by my favorite eating companion on Monday and will be sure to make notes of the delicacies! delights and maybe some of the disspointments as well. You may ask yourself, 'how is Gwen staying thin?' Or maybe you've skipped directly to 'wow Gwen must be getting fat', so am I? You betcha. Is it the worst thing in the world? Not at all. I may be eating way too much, but I've taken this advice about Italy quite literally- 'Abandon all diets, ye who enter here'. I advise you do the same. 

Lamb BBQ for 40

At one point on the last farm I was on, Mari and Antonio were contractd to do a party for 40 people with lamb and all the delicious trimmings. They served their various cheeses and marmalades, pasta, lamb, potatoes, salad and much more all to be washed down with wine made by Mari's uncle. It was a lot of work, and a joyous occasion, full of all the hearty Italian conversation and indulgences you could imagine. 

This is Domenico serving the lamb on traditional Sardinian wooden platters.

Mari and I were up until 10:30pm the previous night making these morsels. They are little packets of the lambs internal organs and are amazingly addictive. To make them, the lungs, pancreas, liver and heart are chopped into tiny pieces and seasoned. The mixture is then put into the casing that our organs are held together by, I have no idea what it's called but it looks like a piece of lace. Then you take the little packet and tie closed using the intestines. Gross though it may sound, you may never taste anything from a lamb that is better in your whole life. I was so close to not eating these because my job was to clean the lamb intestines which was quite possibly the most foul kitchen job I've ever endured (and even after washing the shirt I was wearing twice I still don't feel like it is clean), but I'm so glad i did try them. As soon as I can get my hands on the entire inside part of a lamb I'll make it for everyone back home! 

For desert we had Juncata and caramello with mint. Juncata is the cheese they make after they've added the coagulant and let rest, but before they've broken the curd to make the harder cheeses cheese. It's incredibly delicate and creamy and caramel just falls straight in love with it.

But this is what it's all about. That is a hot, crispy piece of lamb fat and I swear you will never have a more delicious mouthful in your entire life. Because all the flavor of what the lambs eat is stored in the fat, the fat from Mari and Antonio's lambs is incredible. These lambs aren't being fed your average mix of pellet feed and straw, they are eating grass so green it makes my mouth water, and milk from their mother rich with the nutrients from that same grass. I wish I could bring this back for all of you, but alas, I'm sure border control would have something to say about it. 

All in all it was a day of hard, hard work but also wonderful to be able to share Lamb and cheese with so many people. 

#NoFilter

I couldn't pick just one photo of the olive grove across the street from our farm, so I'm posting them all, no filter necessary. The countryside here is literally exploding with wild flowers- calendula, iris, poppies... Spring has sprung. It's beautiful, bountiful and everything is good. 

To Be Alive in Rome

Words cannot describe what Rome is like, but for your sake I will briefly try. Is as lucky enough to have Paige, another American wwoofers from Georgia, and her Roman boyfriend Marco, as my guides and together we saw the city. It's incredible, around each corner is a new sight. Here are just a few of the photos from our day-

First things first, when in Rome- see Pope Francis on Sunday morning. I showed up at 11am to catch the public mass, but more importantly, to be at the public blessing at noon. I have to say that all Italians seem to really like the Pope and even from 10feet away through the crushing crowd and a sea of iPhones all taking a million photos it's not hard to see why. Just look at that smile. And many Italians believe he will be a wonderful influence for the church and be able to do many great things. I was very excited to be here, and even more so because it was Palm Sunday. After the Mass, the pope takes a lap around the road constructed out of barriers, waving to people, stopping to talk, kissing children and blessing them. It's a wonderful sight and takes quite a bit of time. He isn't rushed or hurried, and when he stops to talk he laughs and connects with those who have come to see him. 

Afterwards, I met up with Page and Marco to do some sightseeing, but first an apertivo Spritz consisting of  Aperol and Prosecco. 

Paige and Marco biked to the public blessing and were kind enough to ride together so I could take the second bike and we could travel by bike instead of foot. Check out the bike Marco gave me to ride, it's an orange  'Dutch' bike and even says HOLLAND on it- and underneath, 'made in Italy' in tiny letters! Ah memories, memories...

Marco drinking from a Roman fountain, which is introduced to Paige and I proudly as 'The best water in all of Europe'. It's delicious. 

Entering the Pantheon...

Marco enlightening us as we looked out over the Roman Forum ruins.

It was amazing and I can't wait to come back with Jordan- this time next week we will be touring together!!!