Italians love a good appetizer. (I think I should have been born part Italian.) There are many restaurants and wine bars in Italy where one can make a meal from the appetizer bar. “Appetizer bar?” you ask. Yes….isn’t that a wonderful concept? Italians are of a mind that wine should be consumed with food, an idea I whole-heartedly agree with. When you order a glass of wine, it almost always comes with something to nibble on. Maybe it’s just potato chips or olives; sometimes it will be adorable little pizzette (half dollar sized baby pizza!). But often times, for an extremely reasonable price, you can visit the appetizer bar, where there’s a little smorgasbord of delights. A taste of this, a bite of that, oooh and a spoonful of this and……..a lovely glass of Italian red wine.

One of the things that can often be found at an appetizer bar are sweet and sour onions. These are not just any onions, but adorable baby cipollini onions cooked down with vinegar and sugar; a method of cooking called agrodolce (which basically means sweet and sour). There are many recipes out there requiring various amounts of cooking time, using different types of vinegar and different types of onions. This recipe is a very simple way to make them thanks to Mario Batali. In a previous blog post I gave you a recipe for Thelma’s Roasted Red Peppers. These cipollini would be a great accompaniment to that recipe along with a bowl of olives for the makings of an at-home appetizer bar, along with……………. a lovely glass of Italian red wine.


Here’s your list of ingredients:
Adorable baby cipollini (about 20 of them)
Olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 T. sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to boil while we start prepping the onions.  Cipollini onions are small and quite flat compared to regular onions.  Simply trim off the root and stem ends.  Don’t bother to peel them.

When the water comes to a raging boil, toss in the unpeeled, trimmed onions.  Boil them for about 7 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, stir the sugar and red wine vinegar together in a small bowl to completely dissolve the sugar. Set aside.

After 7-8 minutes, drain the onions in a colander and as soon as they are cool enough to handle, peel away the skins.  If you find that the center little “nubbins” of some of the onions have fallen out, be sure to save them; they are especially tender….like chicken dimples.

Heat a good, healthy drizzle of olive oil in a deep saucepot (I use the same pot I just boiled my onions in.)  and add the 2 bay leaves.  When the oil is nice and warm, toss in the cooked, peeled, still-warm onions.  Turn the heat up a bit and give everything a good stir to coat the onions with the oil.  Very shortly, they will begin to brown.  Now things are smelling lovely, aren’t they?

When the onions have become nice and browned, pour in the vinegar/sugar mixture.  Stand back a bit, as it tends to sputter and bubble up.  Very quickly now, the mixture will become dark brown, and syrupy and deliciously gooey.  Make sure all the onions get a nice coating of syrupy vinegar, but don’t let the mixture burn.

That’s it…..all done!  You now have a delicious little appetizer.  I served these onions on top of homemade hummus atop little toast rounds recently and they were delicious.  They were equally delicious when I served the leftovers as a side dish to a small steak. I actually recommend you make a double batch because by the time you're done popping "a few" into your mouth, you won't have many left for your appetizer bar. They are amazing while they are still warm.  Buon Appetito!

Isn’t an appetizer bar a lovely idea?  Come to Rome with me and let’s go to one together! Booking now for  Late spring/early summer and October 2013!

I’ve been obsessed with Norcia of late; since I realized I missed “Nero Norcia”.  This festival spans two weekends at the end of February and the beginning of March, and celebrates all things having to do with black truffles.  Norcia is located in the southeast of Umbria and though it is a little out of the way, it’s well worth a visit.  Located near the Sibillini Mountains, Norcia is a hunter’s paradise, especially for hunters seeking the thrill of chasing a wild boar, or for foragers seeking truffles.  As such, this little town is overflowing with really delicious earthy food.  This is a town for steaks, sausages, and of course the ever prevalent black truffle.  In fact, this town is so famous for its sausages and meats that there are shops (all over Italy) called “norcineria”. These shops sell nothing but pork products.  These are the shops to look for when shopping for prosciutto, guanciale, coppiette, salumi, etc.

There is another product the area of Norcia is famous for as well, and that is lentils or lenticchie.  These are grown in the high plains of Castelluccio di Norcia.  Grown at this altitude, in the shadow of the mountains, these lentils are very special.  They are thin-skinned, but when cooked still maintain their shape and texture.  Lentils are an important part of diets in many places around the world. I have eaten lentils in other countries and found them to be somewhat mushy and not to my liking; these however, are quite different.  It wasn't until I lived in Italy that I began to appreciate lentils at all.  Lentils from this area are so specialized as to have received “IGP” certification.  This stands for Indicazione Geografica Protetta which stands for “Protected Geographic Indication” and is your guarantee they come from Castelluccio di Norcia.



This recipe is for pork sausages with lentils, a very basic, very homey, very comfort food kind of meal…..one of my favorites!

Here’s your list of ingredients: (Serves 4)
Olive oil
One garlic clove, smashed
Pork sausages
Onions, diced
Carrots, diced
Lentils (I used 200 grams which made enough for four people)
2 cups of water, plus a little more as necessary
Fresh sage, chopped (or dried)

This is a stove top recipe and the beauty of it is that it’s a one-dish meal.  You just need one large skillet to get started.

Heat your pan, give it a good drizzle of olive oil and toss in your smashed garlic clove.  Rub the clove around in the oil a bit, and add the sausages.
As the sausages are browning on one side, dice your onions and carrots.
Turn the sausages over after the first side is brown.

Move the sausages to the side of the pan and add the onions and carrots.  (I would have used diced celery as well if I’d had any on hand.)  Saute the onions and carrots for a bit before adding in the lentils.  Mix the onions, carrots and lentils well, making sure they all get nicely coated with the olive oil and sausage fat that’s in the pan.  Then gently pour in two cups of water.

Bring the whole mixture to a boil, and reduce the heat to keep it simmering.  The lentils will need about 30 minutes to cook.  Check in on them once in a while, adding a little more water if necessary and turning the sausages over now and then.  After about half an hour, taste the lentils to see if they are done, and if they need some salt and pepper.  I added some chopped fresh sage at the end.  Be sure not to add too much extra water at any given time.  The lentils should be absorbing the water; this is not a soup.

And there you have it; salsicce con lenticchie.  There really is something special about Italian sausages; I simply can’t get enough of them, and if you can’t find lentils from Norcia at your local store, drop me a line.  Let’s go shopping together in Norcia!  Travel with me and Bella Giornata Tours and you will never go hungry….I promise.
mailto:irene@bellagiornatatours.com
    

Pasta con le Sarde
at our favorite restaurant in Praiano, Amalfi Coast....before

.....and after.

And here is my version.  I was so excited to make this!  The recipe is below.

In a previous blog, I discussed my cookie “history”. Well, believe it or not, I have a sardine history as well. As a small child, I grew up in the Canary Islands, back in the day before we worried about where our children were every second of the day. When I was about seven years old, I used to be invited to lunch quite often by a family of Spanish strangers. I was drawn to their doorstep by the great food smells emanating from within. I guess when I kept showing up around lunch time, they thought they should take me in. I remember being served sardines in tomato sauce on bread….and loving it. My mother would be mortified to know I dined with strangers like a stray cat, and to this day I haven’t told her.  Shh….

When we lived in Rome, we were lucky enough to experience many lovely weekend trips to the Amalfi Coast. In the tiny hillside, seaside town of Praiano we would often order Pasta con le Sarde or Pasta with Sardines, (along with the seabass baked in salt crust featured in a previous blog). It was always so incredibly rich, aromatic and flavorful making it necessary to perform la scarpetta at meal’s end. I have tried to replicate that recipe here to pretty good success. 

Here’s your list of ingredients:
Fresh sardines
Olive oil
Onion, chopped
One garlic clove, smashed
One anchovy fillet (jarred)
14-15 oz. can of Italian plum tomatoes in puree
Italian seasoning
Italian flat leaf parsley

Put a big pot of pasta water on to boil, and let’s get started:

A note on how many sardines to buy:  Sardines are very small fish to begin with, and after you clean and debone them, there’s simply not that much left. In this recipe, they’re all going to break down into the sauce anyway. I bought 10 for two generous portions. 

Our first order of business will be prepping the sardines. In Italy, the fishmonger will clean them, but he will leave the de-boning to you. Here, my fish guy wouldn’t do the cleaning, so….

First, chop off the head. Leave the tail on for the moment as it gives you something to hold on to. With your knife perpendicular to the fish skin, scrape gently in the opposite direction of the way the scales lay, to remove scales. This only takes a moment. I have spared you a photo of gutting the fish, but it’s a very simple process. Make a slice along the belly and wash out the entrails, leaving a nice clean fish body to work with. Dig your fingers under the spine at the tail end of the fish, and lift and pull the whole skeleton away from the body. Now the fish opens very easily, like a spineless book and you can trim off the tail and fins.  It is not necessary to remove the skin of the sardine.  Now that you have all your little fishes prepped, we can start on the sauce.

Heat some olive oil in a sauté pan.  Toss in some chopped onion and your smashed garlic clove.  Rub the garlic clove around in the hot oil to spread its flavor and discard it when it browns.  As the onions begin to soften and brown, toss in an anchovy fillet.  Anchovy fillets are very helpful to flavoring sauces.  They simply melt away into the sauce leaving behind a nice salty hit and adding a depth of flavor.

Pour in your can of tomatoes, giving each one a squeeze to release its juices and hasten the breaking down of the tomatoes into the sauce.

Now lay your sardines “open-book”, meat-side down on the sauce.  Use a large spoon to bring some sauce to the top to cover the sardines.  Let them simmer.  While the sardines are cooking, you can go ahead and start cooking your pasta, being sure to salt the pasta water generously before adding the spaghetti.

The sardines will cook very quickly and before long, it will be easy to start breaking them up with your cooking spoon.  Add a good pinch of Italian seasoning, and taste to see whether you should be adding some salt and pepper.  Just before serving, throw in some chopped Italian flat leaf parsley.  Remember to never throw out all your pasta water when you drain your spaghetti.  If your sauce has become too thick, adding a little starchy pasta water is the perfect way to thin it out a little. 

Add the drained spaghetti to the sardine sauce, toss and serve……..with a nice red wine, of course!  Buon appetito!

Would you like to eat Pasta con le Sarde in Praiano? That can be arranged. Drop me a line at irene@bellagiornatatours.com.

Yes, I mean Valentine’s Day.  Have you thought about it yet?  No?  Then it’s about time you did.  If you don’t know what to get her, lucky for you, I do.  What could be more romantic than a trip to Italy for ten days?  She will never forget her completely stress-free vacation with Bella Giornata Tours.  Oh, the sights, the sounds, the food, the wine…sigh.  She will be eternally grateful. 

A tour with Bella Giornata Tours is the perfect combination of escorted group activities and private down-time.  A portion of every day is spent together exploring all the wonders Italy has to offer, while another portion of the day is set aside for you to explore, stroll, relax, and dine on your own. Our small group tours offer our clients very individualized attention and attention to detail.  No gigantic buses, no long lines, no having to wear a neon colored scarf.  Our privately-chauffeured van takes us directly where we need to go and our small group size along with your tour director (me!) makes sure everything goes smoothly.

Bella Giornata offers several options for your trip-of-a-lifetime.
1)      We offer trip planning for your private unescorted trip. You let us know when you’d like to go, how long you’d like to stay and we help you plan the perfect trip. We write itineraries for sights to see, routes to take, restaurants to dine at, wineries to visit, etc. so you don’t waste a single precious minute. We can also book your hotels, make restaurant reservations and purchase advance sightseeing tickets.

2)      Sign up for one of the current escorted tour offerings. Click on the tabs for Spring and Fall, and see the tours currently booking. These are small group (six person) tours with privately chauffeured vans traveling to fantastic destinations. Read the blog with highlights of last October’s tour!

3)      Don’t see dates that work for you for the escorted tours? That’s okay; we have other dates available. Simply let us know what your plans are, and we’ll work to accommodate them. 

4)      The escorted tours aren’t going where you want to go? Where do you want to go?  Just let us know, and we’ll plan an itinerary and escort your small group on the perfect vacation.

Contact me now at irene@bellagiornatatours.com.  Valentine’s Day is fast approaching.

Won't you join me for a glass of wine?

The Pacific Northwest Wine Club has teamed up with Bella Giornata Tours to explore some of the club's favorite wineries in the fabulous area of Walla Walla, Washington.  Participants will drive themselves to Walla Walla on a Friday afternoon, park their cars in the hotel lot, and not have to touch them again until Sunday.

Let us take care of you for the weekend.  Friday evening, we'll stroll to a nearby restaurant together where we'll be served a fabulous gourmet meal with wine.  Saturday morning, a lovely bus will come pick us all up from the hotel.  We'll spend the day together touring wineries, sampling tastings and having a wonderful lunch at one of the wineries.  Saturday evening is some down time for you to have a private dinner to yourself.  The tour concludes after breakfast at the hotel on Sunday.  We'll have a suggested list of wineries in case you'd like to stop at a few more places on your way home.  

The tour includes two nights at the Best Western Walla Walla, Friday night's gourmet dinner, seven hours of bus transportation on Saturday, wine tastings, wine tours, lunch on Saturday and more!  Contact Kevin at the Pacific Northwest Wine Club at mailto:kcraig@pnwc.com or you can contact me at Bella Giornata Tours at mailto:irene@bellagiornatatours.com  A reservation deposit of $50 is what is necessary to save your seat on the bus.  Click on the tab for the "April Wine Tour" for complete information.

GREAT NEWS!

I've just published a new tour agenda for May.  It's called "Girlfriends on the Go", and promises to be loads of fun.  Grab five of your best friends, and Let's GO!  You get a $100 discount for being the lead girlfriend and rounding up your best buds.  I take over from there, doing all the work and planning for you, ensuring that you all have a Fabulous trip!

For full details click on the tab for Spring 2013.