Meet Giovanna Caprara; my new-found friend, terrific wife, mom and the family cook.  In other words, she’s just like us, only Italian!  At the end of my last tour to Italy, I had the opportunity to spend the whole day in her kitchen, cooking by her side.  I am so lucky!

The first thing Giovanna and I cooked together was zucchini lasagna.  This was an entirely new idea for me as I had neither eaten nor cooked it before.  But let me tell you; it’s really delicious, simple to make and the taste of the fresh zucchini really shines through.  I’d really only thought of lasagna as a meaty, red sauce kind of dish.  But now, I have all kinds of lasagna ideas rolling around in my head; pumpkin, mushroom, eggplant.  Giovanna and I also made a sausage and mushroom lasagna (among other things)…..that was out of this world which will all have to wait for another blog.  In the meantime, here’s the recipe and photos for her zucchini lasagna, printed with her permission.  (You might notice an inconsistency with the photos.  I photographed Giovanna and I making the lasagna in Italy, then when I returned to NY, I made the lasagna and photographed it again.  I’ll be using a compilation of both sets of photos to give you the best visual directions.)

Here’s your list of ingredients:
3 medium zucchini, grated, seasoned with salt
No-boil lasagna noodle sheets
16 oz. ricotta cheese
¼ c. pesto
Mozzarella, shredded
Parmesan, shredded
Breadcrumbs
butter
For the béchamel sauce:
50 grams of butter
6 T. flour
2 c. milk
Salt and pepper

The beauty of this lasagna is you don’t have to cook either the lasagna noodles or the zucchini ahead of time, making it a fairly simple and quick dish to put together.  Preheat your oven to 350.  Grate the zucchini, season with a little salt, and set aside in a bowl.

Let’s make the béchamel sauce:

In a saucepan, melt the butter. 
Take the pan off the heat, and quickly whisk in all the flour to form a paste. 
Put it back on the heat and whisk for one minute to “cook” the flour. 
Whisk in about a ¼ cup of milk to loosen the paste and continue adding the milk a little at a time.  Soon the sauce will begin to form. 
As I was whisking, Giovanna warned me to whisk “non impazzisce”.  In other words, “without craziness”….because I’d been whisking kind of willy-nilly.  Giovanna says we must whisk always in the same direction to make a smooth sauce.  I would listen to her if I were you. 

Soon the sauce will thicken up and coat the spoon.  At this point, remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.

Place the ricotta in a bowl. 
Add a little béchamel sauce just to loosen the ricotta, and then add the pesto. 
Stir together to blend. 
The ricotta should now be a lovely shade of green and be spreadable. 
If it’s still too thick to spread, you can always add a little milk.

Now your components should all be ready.  Starting on the top left, I have my mozzarella shredded, the zucchini shredded, my ricotta/bechamel/pesto mixture and a small bowl of grated parmesan.  My pot of remaining bechamel sauce is not pictured.

Time to start layering!

Giovanna lines her dish with parchment paper.  I simply greased my 13 x 9 pan.

I put a couple of tablespoons of béchamel sauce to coat the bottom of my pan. 
Then place a single layer of no-bake lasagna noodles on top. 
Spread a layer of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. 
Layer grated zucchini on top of that. 
Next comes a layer of grated mozzarella followed by a sprinkling of grated parmesan.

Time to start over:  Add another layer each of béchamel sauce, noodles, ricotta, zucchini, mozzarella, and parmesan.  And…….do it a third time.  When you have three complete layers of ingredients, sprinkle the top with bread crumbs, dot with butter, and pop it into the hot oven.  There it bakes for about 30 minutes.  

When you pull it out, it should be browned and bubbly.  Let it rest for 10-15 minutes before cutting into it.

You’re going to love this…..creamy, cheesy, yet fresh tasting because of all that zucchini and the pesto flavor in the background.  Serve with a simple salad and maybe a nice pinot grigio.  Delizioso!  Thanks Giovanna!

Dear Diary,

We started in Rome, meeting for the first time, and getting to know not only each other, but also the busy and hectic city.  Out here in the country, the pace has been more relaxed, and we’ve had time to talk over leisurely meals, during strolls along medieval streets and during time spent traveling together in our van.  As the tour winds down, we spend our final days in Umbria in the towns of Perugia and Spoleto before making our way back to Rome.

October 10th has us in Perugia, where the group fans out on their own to sightsee for the morning.  We meet up for lunch at a cute little osteria where we have a delicious light meal and a glass of wine together.

First came a little appetizer plate followed by a delicious bowtie pasta with zucchini and sausage.  Yum!

After lunch we head to Frantoio Trampolini, the oldest olive oil mill in the Perugia area run by multi-generations of the Trampolini family.  We have a fantastic time here as Alessandro explains to us how the olives are made into olive oil, and shows us a short DVD so we can see the process.  Afterwards, we’re in for a real treat as in preparation for our arrival, they have built a fire in the fireplace and inserted the grill grate.  Sure enough, they start toasting bread over the open fire, and serve it to us doused in beautiful olive oil and sprinkled with salt.  It’s oh-so delicious and we munch away while we talk about the different varieties of oil and make lots of purchases.

Bellies full, we return to Spoleto with plenty of time for everyone to relax, or stroll and sightsee before our group dinner.  Dinner tonight is very special.  Chef Michele at Ristorante Appolinare has prepared a delightful menu for us.  He uses local and traditional ingredients, but prepares them with a special gourmet flair.  His friendliness has us all charmed and in addition, he presents us with the wine corks from the very bottles we have consumed for dinner, made into key chains! 

The following day (Oct. 11th), after a morning to further explore Spoleto, we board our van to return to Rome.  Some how, the van is much fuller than it was on the way to Umbria!  Everyone has made purchases of olive oil, ceramics, cashmere, leather, cookies, grains, and of course….wine.  Federico, our driver manages to make it all fit and helps us to unload as well when we reach Rome again.

All that’s left now is our farewell dinner.  Dinner tonight has been organized at our hotel in order to give everyone time to repack and reorganize for their flights home the following morning.  Pipero al Rex, is a tiny, but very elegant restaurant serving intriguing gourmet food.  It’s a good thing our waiter explains every course to us, or we might not know what we are eating!  It’s all unique and delicious and we have a fun evening reliving the highlights of our time together the past ten days.  

It’s been an absolute joy getting to know this group.  We’ve enjoyed each other’s company and seen and experienced so many fabulous things together.  Farewell hugs all around, and they’re off to return home; bags filled with wonderful treats and hearts filled with a new found love of Italy.  Arrivederci!  Until we meet again.

Dear Diary,

We start October 8th by boarding our lovely vehicle and making our way to Deruta; land of ceramics.  What fun to stroll from shop to shop perusing all they have to offer.  Then, as luck would have it, we are offered a spur of the moment backstage tour of the Gialletti Giulio shop and studio!

We watch as the potter makes a vase lickety split, followed by a bowl with scalloped edges….all in about 2 minutes.  We’re shown the giant kiln and are then amazed by the ginormous vat of underglaze each item is dipped into.  The best part is getting to watch the artists at work.  They are amazing…painting all the very delicate and intricate designs with a steady hand.  Maybe they don’t drink as much espresso as I do.

After hauling our purchases to the van, we make our way back to Todi for lunch and to get ready for cooking class.  We have a delicious lunch in a restaurant with a stupendous panoramic view of the valley.  It’s such a fabulous day to eat outside and soak in the natural beauty of the area.  Everyone opts for something different; pizzas, various salads.  We’re trying to eat light in anticipation of cooking class tonight.

Our cooking class is held in a beautiful winery called Decugnano dei Barbi between Todi and Orvieto.  It’s perfectly perched on a ridge with a view of Orvieto in the distance and row after row of grapevines falling away from every side.  We take a tour of the winery and even get to see how sparkling wine is made and stored in the old Etruscan tombs.  After the tour, we’re off to the restored chapel for cooking lessons.  We’re joined by another small group to make:  Focaccia bread, tagliatelle pasta with tomato and mushroom sauce, stuffed zucchini and brutti ma buoni cookies.  What a great name for these cookies!  It means, “ugly, but good”.  Along with each course, we get to taste the wines made here.

We had a long night last night.  We spent five hours at the winery and made our way back to the hotel rather late.  So Oct. 9th is a sleep-in morning.  Yay!  No alarm clocks.  But by 11:00, we are off to Montefalco.  For the first time, the weather is not cooperating.  Since its raining so much, it’s hard to sightsee.  What should we do?  I know…let’s eat!

We have a fantastic lunch; pasta cooked in Sagrantino wine, lentil soup…everyone chooses something different.  But there’s one thing on the menu that we ALL seemed to want: roasted artichokes.   Oh my!  They melted in your mouth leaving the crispy brown edges to crunch on.  Oh. So. Good.

After lunch, we’re in for a real treat.  We have a wine tasting at a winery that is so passionate about natural wine making.  We tour the facility and are amazed to see the freshly picked Sagrantino grapes drying on their racks.  Soon they will begin the process to become Sagrantino Passito, the famous sweet wine of the area.  I have tasted many passiti from Umbria (I am either proud or ashamed to say), and the passito from Paolo Bea is simply the best. 

We’ve been busy the past two days and the trip is winding down….only two more days left on the tour, but there is still so much to see and do!

More coming soon,
Irene 

Dear Diary,

What a find today!  Who knew you could have lunch in a horse stall?  Today, on our way to Assisi, we have made reservations at an adorable little restaurant that used to be old animal stables back in the day.  Thank goodness we arrived early, because the restaurant filled up quickly with hungry folks looking for great food cooked over an open flame.  Most of us had grilled meats; sausages, pigeons, pork and also grilled vegetables.  The onions had been grilled until they melted in your mouth, and the potatoes having been cooked in the ashes were soft and fluffy on the inside and crispy and charred on the outside.  La Stalla was rustic, loud, and delicious.

Now that our hunger has been sated, we move on to Assisi to stroll this beautiful hill top village.  While there, we see sweet shops galore.  Federico, the driver spies a chocolate concoction he has to try and Bruce goes for yet another gelato as does Luca, the son of our translator Holly who has joined us for the day along with Holly’s husband, Giovanni.  (Maybe our hunger wasn’t completely sated afterall?)  We work off our lunch and treats by wandering the beautiful streets and admiring the Basilica of St. Francis.

The hills of Assisi have done their magic and made us hungry enough to tackle a nice dinner.  We’ve moved on to Todi for the next two nights and are dining tonight at Pane e Vino, one of my favorite little spots.  Fabio and Loredana have prepared a wonderful meal for us.  We start with an assortment of crostini and a beautiful bottle of Sagrantino.  We move on to a risotto with saffron and pumpkin and continue with a stew made with Sagrantino wine.  Whew!  Barely able to move, but still we can’t resist the dessert:  A lovely piece of cake smothered in pastry custard and garnished with blackberry sauce.  Time for a digestivo!  What’s that, you ask?  Well, we weren’t sure to be honest, so we asked Fabio to show us just what he had brewing in that giant vat of alcohol.  Turns out, it was a massive wad of thyme.  Highly unattractive, but when he filters it and refrigerates it, it becomes a “digestive”; a drink consumed in small quantity which is to help you digest your food.  “When in Rome!”  (Well, actually, we’re in Todi, but still…)

And what's with the Christmas decorations, you might ask?  Well, we were equally bewildered.  Turns out, the previous weekend a film was being shot in town and they needed the town to look like it was Christmas time.  All the shopkeepers decorated their windows as if it were Christmas.  Christmas trees were hauled in, and lights were strung everywhere.  Then, kind of jokingly, the restaurants thought to go ahead and serve Christmas menus.  So after our delicious dessert, we got Christmas cookies (in October)!  Merry Christmas from Todi!

Dear Diary,
We start our Saturday with a dose of culture, but as usual seem to end in a haze of food and wine.  (I don’t hear anyone complaining.)  Our driver, Federico, takes us to the beautiful church, Santa Maria degli Angeli where we learn a little about St. Francis and admire the unbelievably unique and beautiful interior.  I have visited a lot of different churches in my life, and this ranks as one of my favorites.  (Unfortunately, no picture-taking is allowed inside.)

Next up, we head to Torgiano where we stroll through a wine museum.  There we see a giant old hand press which takes up the entire lower floor of the museum and used to be used to press wine back in the day when slaves were used to turn the cranks.  We also view all kinds of ancient ceramic, glass, terra cotta and wooden vessels which were used to hold wine over the centuries.  In addition, there is a large amount of beautiful artwork depicting ancient scenes of wine debauchery and viniculture.  This is followed by a short walk over to the nearby olive oil museum where among other things, we view photographs of how olives were harvested in the past and see a beautiful collection of old oil lamps and artwork.  We have worked hard all morning and deserve a glass of wine for our efforts, and so we raise a glass at the osteria which belongs to the museum.

And now that we’ve had just a taste of wine on our lips, we crave a little more.  So we head to nearby Bevagna for a visit with Fabrizio Antano, the owner of a delicious little winery.  He has agreed to meet us in his shop in town for a wine tasting, and we find his many generous pours oh, so delicious.  His “samples” seriously rival some of the actual pours I have paid for in New York City!  Who knows whether it’s the flavor of the wine, the generosity of the pours, or the friendliness of Fabrizio (or maybe all three?); we purchase a fair amount between us.  As we gather our bags and boxes and head out the door, Fabrizio holds me back and hands me a giant magnum of my favorite Sagrantino.  “It’s a gift”, he says (in Italian).  “I want everyone to share it together at their next meal.”  We are overwhelmed by his generosity and when I tell everyone what he has done, they all go back for hugs and kisses.

We end our day together with a lovely lunch back in Spello at La Cantina.  We call the restaurant ahead to make sure it’s okay for us to roll in our giant bottle of wine, and they readily assent.  We have a delicious lunch featuring rabbit served in a lemon caper sauce, and beautiful, fresh vegetables that have been baked with a breadcrumb topping.  And….a wonderfully lush bottle of Sagrantino!  Thank you Frabrizio!

It’s been a good day.  We’ve seen a lot, done a lot, eaten a lot (okay, we drank a lot too), and we still have the bulk of the afternoon ahead of us.  Everyone has time to be on their own, choosing to either stroll, relax, explore, or shop.  Spello……ahhhhh!
A domani,
Irene

Dear Diary,
Our last day in Rome was an amazing one.  Our fabulous and oh-so-knowledgeable guide, Nancy toured us through the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica.  She is a fountain of information and kept us enthralled with her stories and wit.

After a couple of hours rest to give our weary feet a break, we met up again for a wonderful dinner.  After a starter of two different pastas: one filled with pumpkin and the other filled with cheese and greens, our main course was veal braised in milk with a side of mashed potatoes and spinach.  The veal was melt-in-your-mouth, seriously delicious.  And of course, there was a lovely wine to go with.  We topped it all off with a stop for gelato at a very famous gelateria, and then tried to walk it all of with a stroll to see the Trevi Fountain lit up at night.  And before you even ask….yes, we threw coins in hoping to return to Rome!

After several days of the hustle and bustle of Rome, we are looking forward to our slower paced trip out to Umbria.  We will still get to see so many things, but without the hubbub of big city life.  Not that we haven’t eaten well to date…..but here comes serious food and wine adventures!  First up, Orvieto.

Orvieto’s gem is its principle church.  It’s spectacular outside and in, but there’s lots more to see in this beautiful hillside town.  There are views over the valley, underground tours, museums, and of course, fine shopping and eating.

Our stop for our first two nights in Umbria is the charming town of Spello.  Our hotel is a beautiful old palazzo filled with artwork and ambiance.  There’s also a beautiful view and a charming internal garden courtyard.  And the dinner planned for tonight is nothing short of spectacular with 6 wine pairings, great food and the most charming and knowledgeable hosts, Roberto and Luca.

Yes, as promised, we have begun eating and drinking our way through Umbria, but we’re not ignoring the beautiful sights and will never forget the wonderful people we are meeting along the way.  Stay tuned…..more tour updates to come...... A Presto, Irene

Dear Diary,

Our long anticipated tour is underway, and though we’ve only been together a couple of days, we have seen (and eaten) a lot!  Some participants arrived to Rome a day or two early and thus were able to take in a few more sights and partake at a few more of my favorite eating spots.

Those who arrived early were treated to an enlightening visit at the Trionfale Market among other things.  We were amazed at the wide variety of fresh fish available; some varieties of which we’d never seen before.  Porcini mushrooms are in season and on beautiful display.  We watched wine being dispensed from giants vats into individual bottles for home consumption for a mere one to three euros per liter.  And I heard many comments about how beautiful and fresh all the produce looked and how healthy Italians must be as a result.

Though our time so far has been short, we’ve managed to eat a wide variety of foods.  Pastas of course, but our Welcome Dinner was a Sicilian feast featuring a fantastic breaded seabass.  Of course there has already been gelato galore, with many more surely to come.  For our wines, we’ve been ordering inexpensive local wines as we eagerly await our wine adventures in Umbria.  And espresso….Mmmmm.

And as far as sights go, we had a wonderful professionally guided tour of the Coliseum and Roman Forum yesterday.  But we’ve also made stops at the Pantheon as well as several churches and museums.  Today, we’re off to the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica!

And what does tomorrow bring?  Umbria!  It’s time to leave Rome behind, board our private van and head out into the countryside.  Our first stop will be the beautiful hill town of Orvieto.  Can’t wait to get there….there’s supposed to be a food festival going on!
A Presto,
Irene