A friend gave me some mint from his garden the other day, and my own garden still has tons of parsley, so I chopped the two together and added it to a few small zucchine I sauteed with a chopped shallot. A really nice contorno for my light dinner tonight. Tastes like summer!

I’m travelling to Pittsburgh tomorrow for the Thanksgiving holiday. Am looking forward to seeing my family and spending my days in the face-to-face world. Can’t wait for my Friday afternoon Italian shopping trip, cooking lesson and dinner party with Martin and company. Hope to have a tale to tell upon my return over the weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Check out Eric Asimov’s post in the NYT today:

An Italian Lesson for the Overstuffed

I’ve never been a big fan of amari; maybe I should re-examine them on my trip net month?

Sunday dinners with Carlo have become somewhat of a tradition. Tonight we went to Patizia and Boyd’s place out in the exurbs (and got lost , as we always do) for a simple meal of minestrina with pisellini (a basic broth with peas), sformato di zucchine and an insalata. Everything was delicious (also, as always). We had some goat cheese and iberico wth sourdough as well, and a chocolate cake layered with pumpkin mousse from Whole Foods (not good).  I totally loved the fact that we ate such a simple meal. Grazie a tutti! The evening was just what I needed.

Big news: the vegan *does* eat pasta, just not as a regular part of his diet. To celebrate, I invented a fabulous new vegan pasta dish and served it up to him before we went off to see the Tori Ensemble (one of the most interesting and beautiful concerts I’ve seen in years). Quel surprise!

Spaghetti di farro with butternut squash, arugula and pine nuts

Cube a butternut squash and roast it with sliced shallots, fresh thyme, olive oil and salt.

Cook spaghetti di farro (a variety of wheat grain, similar to barley or spelt)

Add cooked squash to the bowl with a few handfuls of uncooked arugula, and another handful of toasted pine nuts.

Skip the parmigiano … but add it to the leftovers you eat the next day.

This invented pasta dish outshines others I’ve recently created. The slightly sweet squash played well with the nutty pasta; the pine nuts added a layer of texture to what would otherwise be somewhat mushy. The arugula adds a bit of color and a bit of bitterness. It’s all good.

Gian Luca gave me this pasta for my birthday a few months ago. The text on its package reads that its flour is stone milled, that the pasta is extruded through a bronze dye, and then dried at a low temperature, consistent with the production of many artisan pastas.

Farro is an ancient grain, cultivated in Italy and other parts of the Mediterranean/Middle East. I wonder where I can find some in Philadelphia? Maybe I’ll just pick some up ‘dahn’a'Strip when I’m home next week.

Every week on Facebook, one or more of my friends wishes everyone a happy hump day. I had no idea that Wednesday was seen as such by so many. (For my Italian readers, hump day simply means the middle of a workweek, Wednesday. Why hump? I guess because it’s like a hill you’re just about to get over.)

In my world, Wednesdays are simply no gym days, when I can socialize freely with friends. Tonight brought Ben, Rachel and Carlo over for a casual ‘family’ dinner. It was the first time they had met! We ate well (no surprise there).

• Mushroom risotto: 4 types of mushrooms: porcini, shitake, oyster andcrimini. White wine, mushroom broth from bringing the dried porcini back to life, and organic vegetable broth. Two chopped shallots, and rosemary pulverized so as not to evoke suspicion in Rachel’s mouth. (She equates rosemary with licking a Christmas tree.) Shaved parmigiano reggiano (the good stuff that Simo brought).
• Chicken milanese: with pecorino romano, Greek oregano and herbes de provence in the bread crumbs.
• Insalata di rucola e spinaci: with a few chopped tomatoes and simple balsamic dressing. I sprinkled anise seeds on it as well.
• Tiramisu gelato: from Mama Italia brand at Aldi.

It feels so normal to eat dinner in company. Wish I did so more frequently!

It’s been a month and a half since I bought cheese! Scandalous!

I’m heading to Pittsburgh next week, and expecting a trip to Penn Mac, so the visit to the Wegman’s cheese counter was less exciting than usual. I saw the quadrello di bufala I liked so much, but went for a cheese I had never heard of: trugole. Here’s a description:

An Italian cheese originating from the mountainous region of Asiago where the altitude and lush meadows provide excellent pastures for the cows to develop their milk. Produced as a cow’s milk cheese, Trugole is formed into washed-rind wheels weighing from 1 to 6 pounds. The cheese is allowed to mature for 2 to 3 months developing a straw colored semi-firm paste that provides a mild fruity flavor. Trugole Cheese is an excellent cheese for snacking, for serving with crusted breads or for use in melting over various foods. (Text grabbed from here.)

The chunk I bought was produced by Agriform, the largest cheese producer in Veneto. Known mostly for grana padano (a semi-hard cheese similar to, yet younger than, parmigiano reggiano), Agriform (with its member dairies) has been producing, maturing and selling DOP (Denominazione d’Origine Protetta) cheeses since 1980.

I sliced it and ate it with rosemary bread. Its flavor is reminiscent of fontinella, a cheese my father used to call “stinky cheese”. Trugole isn’t stinky, or even very flavorful for that matter. While I’ve satisficed for now, I really can’t see any reason to buy this cheese again.

Ate dinner at Carlo and Roberta’s new apartment tonight, and got reprimanded for failing to write in my blog much over the past few weeks. I do have lots of interesting stories to tell, but have been telling them in person. Though I didn’t have my camera tonight, I can explain the secondo here.

They baked cod fillets with sauteed fennel and gremolata (lemon zest and bread crumbs), and served it with some thinly sliced sun dried tomato for color. For an appetizer we had zucchini and mint, served with a few shrimp, and the contorno was an insalata with pear, walnuts and goat cheese with fig. For dessert we ate a chocolate almond orange cake that Pat made. Conversation was great, food was better. What a lovely evening. Grazie a tutti!

I’ve gone out a few times with this really interesting man who’s got a greenhouse. On our date last night, he brought me a gift of herbs: mint, rosemary and bay leaves. Oh dear. I was inspired to use the rosemary in a risotto. It was the best one I’ve made in months. Here goes:

B2 Risotto – with butternut squash and butter beans

Saute chopped shallots in a bit of oil and butter until softened.

Add copious amounts of chopped rosemary, and marvel at the aroma.

Throw in a few handfuls of cubed, uncooked butternut squash

Then a handful per serving of carnaroli rice.

Cover with homemade chicken (or vegetable) stock and cook away until the rice is both glutinous and al dente.

Shave on some parmigiano reggiano and call it a meal.

I ate this alone tonight, wondering if I could modify it for the man who brought me the rosemary. He’s a vegan. And he doesn’t eat pasta. I still don’t understand the not eating pasta thing, but will get to the bottom of it if he’ll let me. I’m really surprised I genuinely like him anyway.

I’m really looking forward to my trip to Italy in December. Will go to Eataly and buy some more rice from this Piemontese producer.

According to the web pages of Eataly, Falasco rice is produced by the Cirio family, who’ve been cultivating rice for six generations.  Planted in April and harvested between September and October, Falasco carnaroli rice is dried and stored for about a year before it’s prepared for the vacuum pack. Traditionalists agree that Falasco makes the best carnaroli in Italy. This year I’m going to buy some Falasco venere nero rice as well.

Driving from Malpensa a Milano to Torino takes you right through the rice fields. When I first arrived in Italy in ‘89, I remember being surprised to learn that Italy produces more rice than anywhere in Europe. I don’t know why I can’t buy Falasco rice in the States. Still feel duped that the Eataly in New York did not open as planned, but read earlier this year that it is supposed to open by late 2009. We’ll see!

I really like Panzano restaurant. Really. It’s not really the authentic Italian I tyoically go for; it’s much more a nouveau American restaurant that’s heavily influenced by Italian techniques. Take, for example, the rosemary pasta:

It was served with pine nuts, goat cheese, dried cranberries, microgreens and and a lemon nage. It was fabulous, both light and savory. Inspirational cooking at its best.

Am at a conference in Denver this week, completely over-stimulated by all the ideas and conversations. Though typically extroverted – especially when surrounded by thousands of handsome men – I find myself completely worn out, wanting nothing more than to sit in the hotel room. So that’s what I’m doing. I got room service!

Prosciutto, arugula, mushrooms, fontina

Thank you. Dressed perfectly, with goat cheese that transcends the mundane.

Panzano is impressive. Can’t wait to eat real food there.