While in Rome, one of my favorite re-connects to my old life here is to join my former hiking group for a day in the countryside.  There were four of us yesterday who took a day out of our lives to relax, yet invigorate our bodies with the joys of hiking. 

This hike had a little of everything, thereby making it a truly great trek.  There were rolling meadows with beautiful views of ancient towns nestled in the crook of distant hills.  There were rigorous uphill portions reminding us of the exercise benefits of a good hike.  We ran across cows and curious horses, and to top it all off, it was a great day of foraging.  One of our members loves to pick mushrooms (and yes, she’s careful and knowledgeable).  We also picked lots of end-of-summer blackberries and finished the hike with armloads of beautiful yellow flowers.  It was a satisfying day, filled with friendship and the bounties of nature.

And of course after a long hike like that……..I was hungry!

Dinner last night was delicious, made all the better by the fact it was eaten with two great friends.  We shared everything (because that’s what good friends do).

I have eaten at Babette’s countless times for lunch, but never for dinner.  At lunch there’s a wonderful and inexpensive buffet that is always reliably delicious.  On this night, we went for dinner.  It was a little on the expensive side, made more reasonable by the fact we all shared.  And as usual, the food was really delicious.

Our pasta was ravioli filled with burrata and alici in a tomato sauce.  To be honest, the taste of the alici didn’t quite come through, but it was delicious all the same, and we mopped up all that luscious sauce with pieces of the wide variety of breads they serve.

Our fish was tender, delicate and moist.  And it was served with a red onion relish and a small side of cherry tomatoes and olives.

And since we were sharing, dessert seemed to be in order.  It was one of those great molten lava cakes, hot from the oven…..crispy on the outside and oozing creamy chocolate when you dig in.

Oh, and to drink:  A lovely glass of valpolicella from the Zenato winery in the Veneto region.  I know…not local (to Rome), but I love valpolicella and I love all things from Zenato, so…..

As I await the arrival of my tour group, I have a few days to acclimate, pin down final logistics, visit with old friends, and of course…..a girl's gotta eat.

I’ve been here two days so far, and have already tried something new, discovered two new restaurants to return to, and eaten old favorites.  My old favorites were each discovered at new places:  

The first is octopus and potato salad.  I had this at a new place called RED (Read, Eat, Dream) a great new bookstore/culinary shop/café on Via del Corso.  This shop is a lot like the old Borders stores that I used to love in that people can relax with free wifi and shop for books and have a coffee.  Yet, even better than Borders, it has a full café in the back with not only coffee, but wine and menu items.  Now that Borders is no more in the U.S., maybe Barnes and Noble should get on board and start serving some wine amongst the stacks!  To be honest, it wasn’t the best octopus potato salad I’ve ever had, but I loved the whole concept of the store.

The second old favorite was pasta alla amatriciana.  This, I loved.  I had lunch today with old friends at a restaurant I’ve been wanting to try, called Da Armando al Pantheon.  There are a ton of restaurants that have this classic dish on their menus.  I eat it when I’m in Rome because it’s so hard to make at home.  It requires guanciale which is the cured jowl of a pig.  While many cured parts of the pig are readily available in the U.S., the cheek is less available, and of course is very expensive.  At home, I make this dish with pancetta and it’s simply not the same.  After our meal at Armando’s, we ordered espresso and it came in these adorable little cups with lids.  It was creamy, hot and delicious.

So, I did mention that I tried something new today…..tripe….yipes!  When we were at Armando’s the waiter wanted to tell us about today’s specials which included tripe, “a delicious and classic Roman dish”, we were told.  Yes, I know its classic, but was it delicious?  Well….yes and no.  For those of you who don’t know, tripe is basically the stomach lining of a cow, or pig.  Our little group decided we should order it since I’d never had it, so we asked if we could just have a small taste.  After our meal, here came a plate with about ½ a cup of tripe in a lovely tomato based sauce.  And there was the chef in the background giving us the “thumbs up” signal encouraging us to dig in.  One of the group simply refused, having had it before and knowing better.  Another in the group gave it the old college try…but her back was to the chef (He couldn’t see her facial reaction).  That left me, facing the chef. So how was it?  Well, the sauce was delicious with lots of fresh black pepper, but the tripe itself….well, I don’t need to order it again.  It’s a textural thing.  I kept a stiff upper lip and finished the dish as we all three returned the thumbs up with big smiles on our faces.  He was so happy.  

And my parting shot for the day:
I spent some time reading and making phone calls in the Villa Borghese park late this afternoon.  As I was leaving the park and the sun was beginning to set, I was able to capture this photo.

Can't wait for my tour group to discover Rome!

But what is it exactly?  Why oxtail of course!  I remember as a child, I loved oxtail soup.  So when I was living in Rome and saw Coda alla Vaccinara or braised oxtail on the menu, I thought I should give it a try.  And good thing too….it was delicious!  It is a very ancient and very Roman dish historically prepared by the poor who couldn’t afford the good cuts of meat, and so were left with inexpensive bits like the tail, organs, etc.  I know, it all sounds a little….not so appetizing, but believe me, it’s SO delicious your eyes will roll back in your head.  (This is always my gold standard for the deliciousness of a recipe :)

It’s not difficult to prepare, but it is time-consuming, in that it needs to simmer on the stove for a minimum of two hours so the meat will be tender and fall off the bone.  As you can imagine, there really isn’t a lot of meat on an oxtail, but what meat there is needs to cook thoroughly so it’s really tender.

Here’s your list of ingredients:
Olive oil
The usual Holy Trinity of:
Diced carrots, onions and celery (I was out of celery….oh, well.  I made do without.)
Minced garlic clove
Oxtail pieces
Red wine
Beef broth
15 oz. can of tomatoes (preferably imported from Italy)
Salt and pepper

You see... there really aren't a lot of ingredients.  The trick is layering the flavors; letting each one simmer its way into the oxtail meat and making its presence known before adding the next layer.  Let's get started!

Dice your onions, carrots and celery.  Mince your garlic.  Obviously, I was out of celery....oh well, I made it work.  But if I had celery on hand, I would definitely use it.  Here's a photo of what oxtail looks like.  It looks meaty, but those meaty bits really like to stick to that center bone (or is it cartilage?)  

Drizzle some olive oil into a big heavy pot and set the flame to med/high.  This is when I pull out the big guns; my favorite bright yellow Le Creuset braising pot.  Toss in all your diced veggies along with the garlic.  Add a little salt and pepper and stir often until onions are translucent and everything’s beginning to brown up.

Push the veggies aside, and nestle your pieces of oxtail into the pan.  The heat should still be on medium high.  Drizzle in some more olive oil if you need to.  Season the meat with salt and pepper as well.  It's important to season each element.  You won't have to make much adjustment to the seasonings in the end this way.

When one side is brown, go ahead and turn them over to do the same to the other side.

Once everything is brown and the kitchen is really beginning to smell good, the fun begins.  

Pour yourself a nice glass of red wine, and add another cup of the red wine to the braising pot.  The heat should still be fairly high so the wine comes to a boil quickly.  Lower the temp a bit and let it simmer until at least half of it is gone.  You see how the color of the broth is really becoming quite rich looking at the end of the wine portion, just before I add the beef broth in the third photo above.

Now comes the next layer of flavor; beef broth.  Add at least a cup of that and once again, let it simmer away until it’s been reduced by at least half.

And finally, the last layer of flavor; the tomatoes.  I admit to a little snottiness here.  I must say, I always spend a little more for good, imported Italian tomatoes.  Look at these beautiful San Marzano tomatoes that came out of my can.  I usually buy them whole like this and if I need them to be in pieces, I just squish them through my fingers.  It’s very satisfying to squeeze them.  I think it must release aggression of some sort :)  Anyhoo…

Now that you’ve got all the main players in the pot, you just need some patience.  Cover the pot and keep it going at a nice steady simmer.  From beginning to end, it needs to simmer at least two to three hours.  If too much liquid begins to simmer away, I just add a little more beef broth or ¼ cup of water at a time.  What you’re aiming for is meat that falls off the bone.  As I said before, oxtails don’t actually have a lot of meat, and what is there clings like mad.  So you really want to be able to get every bit of it off the bone. 

Okay, now we're getting somewhere!  About 2 1/2 hours have gone by, so this is where I get out two forks and use them to see if the meat is tender enough yet.  If you can use one fork to hold the bone and the other to pull the meat away easily, it’s done!  If not, just let it simmer some more.  Mine's looking pretty darn good!

If the meat starts to come away easily, remove the bones to a cutting board, and use the forks to pull all the meat you can off the bone.  Slide that delicious, tender meat back into the pot and discard the bones.  Now what you’ve got is a pot of gold!  You end up with a ragu sauce that’s out of this world; so tender, so flavorful….you’ll want to start eating it out of the pot.  But hold on!  Boil yourself some pasta to al dente to serve as a vehicle for that beautiful sauce.  

I like to use a craggy pasta that captures the sauce.  Top with a little shredded cheese if you like and enjoy!  Buon appetito!
PS:  Serve with some crusty bread; you’ll want to mop up every last bit of sauce.
PPS:  I served this with a hearty red Umbrian Sagrantino; simply the best.