by Maureen | Jul 2, 2009 | Cheese, Discoveries, Food!, Journal
So, I went in search of some “prosciutto crudo” today and found a little shop, Fratelli Giancola, selling “salumi e formaggi” (meats and cheese). I told him, in Italian, that I wanted to eat some melon wrapped with prosciutto and asked for a recommendation. He pointed, pulled a whole hock off a shelf, shaved some of the fat away, then started slicing paper thin. I could easily and readily buy prosciutto prepackaged at the grocery store, but I wanted to try walking into one of the many specialty stores. There was much he said to me that I didn’t understand, but at least I walked out the door with what I came for!
He also had yet another cheese that caught my eye. It’s a smokey knot! OK. I had to have some of that. I gestured the quantity and ended up with about 8 “knots”. They’re kinda like a string cheese, tied in a knot, then smoked. Mmm, mmm good! The thing is, they’re great for “playing with my food”. You can actually UNTIE the knot and then retie it! What fun, AND smokey, salty, tastey.
I’d better start discovering some fabulous fruits and vegetables instead of cheeses and meats (with a half inch layer of fat on them). What will my doctor say!? (OK. In a year, I’ll check my cholesterol level and make a decision then.) Right now, it’s “no holds barred”. Try it all. Jump in. EAT!
Hey! It’s an “M” when untied!
by Maureen | Jul 2, 2009 | Cheese, Featured Articles, Food!, Meals
Tell me: WHY can’t we get tomatoes like this in the U.S.?! Why is it impossible? Deep red. Full-flavored. Properly ripened. High acid. Mmm! THAT’S how tomatoes should be!
Pair them with some fresh mozzarella. Drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Some shreds of basil plucked from the lone plant on the kitchen window sill. And a dusting of salt and pepper. Heaven on a plate.
by Maureen | Jun 25, 2009 | Cheese, Food!, Shopping & Markets
Took my long walk to the grocery store today, up along Corso San Gottardo, where the little specialty shops are, as well as a few “bigger” stores. The grocery store has a good variety and good quality.
In my shopping bag today was: a big red pepper, a half dozen on-the-vine tomatoes, green beans, garlic, red onion, chicken thighs, fresh little mozzarelline, grana padano hard cheese, ricotta forno (which, I think, is a roasted ricotta), tomato sauce, rucola (arugula), cannellini and borlotti beans and a box of plastic bags. A half a block away at the little corner store, I bought a half dozen bottles of “Acqua Frizzante“, sparkling mineral water, a staple. I don’t have a menu planned, but I’ll whip up something…
Along San Gottardo I can’t tell you how many little “pasticerie” there are, tempting passersby – and me – with their displays of pastries, breads and other delicious foods. I succumbed and stepped in to buy a little something. I came out with a half dozen, bite-sized “biscotti al coco” (coconut macaroons) and “frollini al cioccolato” (a dry little cookie with chocolate bits in it).
by Maureen | Jun 25, 2009 | Featured Articles, Food!, Meals
Dinner at Il Giardino del Naviglio (Garden restaurant, near the Naviglio Pavese canal). When our server brought this platter and set it in front of me, placing another one on the other side of the table, I thought that each platter would be shared by two. But no. She brought two more matching platters. This was just the appetizer: “Imperiale”.
What an understatement that name is! A platter of superlative, ultra fine seafood, all raw and absolutely fresh: sea bass, mussels, oysters, mediteranean scampi, red shrimp, chopped tuna with olives and oil, orata tartar, branzino, 3 kinds of caviar, olive oil, soy sauce, lemon and fresh baked bread rolls. Wow.
Then came the platter of grilled seafood: more scampi and shrimp, scallops, squid, octopus (the most sublime I’ve ever eaten), and a lovely golden-grilled white fish. (The platter was shared, thankfully!)
OK, so it all had to be topped off with a little taste of something sweet, a little counter to the salt and protein of the seafood. Dessert! But something simple and light, please. A chocolate tasting. There were 6 different flavors of chocolates, including truffle (as in, real truffle. It was my least favorite), cinnamon/sugar, vanilla, hot pepper, selection #5?, and 97% cacao. Each chocolate was paired with a rum so different from the other. What an array of flavor subtlety! The chocolate tasting was light, and fortunately shared by 5 at the table.
On the way home, we all did a “passeggiata” stroll north along the canal and back just to settle things a bit. I don’t think I’ve ever had a meal so sumptuous!
by Maureen | Jun 21, 2009 | Cheese, Food!, Meals
I guess I could have gotten a bigger plate. A little of this, a little of that and all of a sudden the small plate was piled high with proscuitto crudo, scamorza affumicata, focaccia with carmelized onions, a few slices of bosc, some pan-seared green beans, and fresh tomato drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, of course. Not a bad little Sunday brunch thrown together with what’s in the fridge.
by Maureen | Jun 21, 2009 | Cheese, Discoveries, Food!, Shopping & Markets
There’s a really great grocery store that I walk to about a mile away. It’s a good thing that it’s two miles there and back and that I walk because I keep finding really delicious cheeses to try out! (Uh oh! I’m much more of a sucker for the cheeses than the photogenic pastries here. Either one’s a danger!)
Here’s one that I just had to test: tomino prataiola mignon. It’s got a thin, brie-like exterior, with a subtly-flavored center and firm as if brie had aged and dried.
(I can see I’m going to need to learn some descriptive foodie terms to describe what I’m eating!)
by Maureen | Jun 19, 2009 | Cheese, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!
Mmmm. I discovered this cheese last summer and loved it: Scamorza Affumicata. (“Scamorza” is the kind of cheese. “Affumicata” means it’s smoked.) So I found it again at the store yesterday and had a chunk this morning with some fresh tomato. Good breakfast?
From a Wikipedia entry:
Scamorza is an Italian cow’s milk cheese. It can also be made of other milks, but that is less common. It is a close relative of mozzarella.
Scamorza is a plastic curd (or stretched curd) cheese in which the fresh curd matures in its own whey for several hours to allow acidity to develop by the process of lactose being converted to lactic acid. Artisanal cheesemakers would generally form the cheese into a round shape and then tie a string around the mass one third of the distance from the top and hang to dry. The resulting shape is pear-like. This is sometimes referred to as “strangling” the cheese. The cheese is usually white in color unless smoked. When smoked, the color is almond with a lighter interior.
It is reputed to melt better in baking than mozzarella. It can be substituted for mozzarella in most dishes. If using the smoked variety (scamorza affumicata), it adds a nice background flavor in replacement of mozzarella.
In Italy, scamorza is more commonly made in the south rather than the north. Technically, scamorza is a product of Puglia, where it is made throughout Bari province (Slow Food Editore. 2005. Italian cheese, p. 372.) However, it is available across the country, both in the unsmoked and smoked forms. Mario Batali cites grilled scamorza as a traditional dish in Neapolitan cooking. (Batali, M. 2008. Italian grill, p.33.) Scamorza in Bari is made from sheep milk. This is not necessarily true of cheeses called scamorza outside the EU.
by Maureen | Jun 19, 2009 | Food!, Journal, Meals
Sono qui! Sono arrivata a Milano!
I’m here! I’ve arrived in Milano!
My plane got in yesterday morning at about 8:30. I found the ticket office for the Malpensa Express train from the airport to the center of town and took the 40-minute ride to Cadorna station. From there, I went to my new home in Milano enjoying and marveling at the familiarity of the streets along the way. I knew where I was! How cool is that!
This fabulous apartment is just one block north of the apartment I had for two weeks last summer, and just a few blocks’ walk to the school, NABA. So I know where the grocery stores are, and the nearest subway station, 4 blocks away. On the nearest street corner is the place where I bought bottled water. Another block away is the “bar” where the guy custom-made me a tosto for breakfast because I didn’t want a Nutella-filled pastry. He took two slices of bread, some prosciutto and formaggio and cooked it for me: a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. (Gotta start the day with some protein, not sugar!)
The first groceries join a few other things left behind. Where did the “America’s Choice” Vinegar come from?!
The first quick trip to the grocery store filled my bags with tomatoes, tomato sauce, pasta, pesto, grated hard cheese, acqua frizzante (sparkling water), butter lettuce, pears, lean pork, fresh mozzarella. Some white and red wine was already here waiting for me.
I puttered around the apartment for a while. Succumbed to the urge for a long nap. Awoke and cooked a bite to eat, then unpacked my bags and settled in. I’m here. I’m home.
