Ahh, the Food (and the Wine) Part 6

The Italian Riviera was so amazing that I needed two posts to fit it all in. On our third day, we took the train a bit south to explore the Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a trail of 5 villages that over look the water. Next to Portofino, Cinque Terre is most often what you see in pictures of Italy on the water.

We took the train to the village the farthest south and then worked our way north.We got off the train in Riomaggiore, the southern-most village.

The trail from Riomaggiore to the next village is called the Via dell' Amore. It is the easiest of the trails.

Here's the trail with its beautiful views.

Before arriving at the next village, you pass the lovers statue. Here you can add a lock to the railing to symbolize your love.

The next village is Manarola....more beautiful views.

We loved the counters at the little markets. All the meats and cheeses and olives were so delicious!

We stopped for pizza and beer while in Manarola. As I have mentioned, this region is where pesto was "invented". This is a pesto pizza. It doesn't look terribly appetizing, but it was goooood.

So good, we ate all but one piece.
We then took the 2nd part of the trail to the third village. Holy Smokes, that kicked our butt. Please notice that we started way down at the bottom of that arrow. Yah, that's right. We arrived at Corniglia and then had to take a bus to the village as it sits at the top of an even higher mountain. It is a very small town and none of my pictures came out.

After that we took the train to the last two villages.

Vernazza was our 4th village. It was my favorite; Beautiful colors and a cute little harbor.

Our last stop was Monterosso. It was very different than the other ones. Much more resorty. After a very busy day, we were pooped. We took the train back to Zoagli and rested up for awhile. The Duke was wandering around that evening and he showed me some of his other houses on his property. What an amazing place!

Before we turned in for the night we headed to dinner at this cute little bar in town. Our last chance for pesto and I didn't waste that opportunity.
Pesto Gnocchi!!!

Spaghetti and Fresh Tomato Sauce!!!

Caprese Salad!!!! Nom, nom, nom.

Next stop...Venice!

Ahhh, the Food (and the Wine), Pt. 3

The next stop on my Italian adventure was Florence. I love Florence! It's such an amazing place - all that history, all that art.
After going through my Florence pictures, I realized I had very little pictures of food. We ate very well on this trip and I thought I had documented every tasty meal, but apparently I did not.

I guess with all there is to do in Florence I was either too busy or too exhausted to take pictures of food.

And why would I have time after visiting Santo Spirito, the church where the young Michelangelo self-taught himself anatomy using the corpses from the hospital

Or walking the Oltrarno quarter where artisans (here a shoemaker) carry on their families' centuries-old traditions.

Maybe I was too busy wondering through small churches with frescoes that are hundreds and hundreds of years old, which were created over other frescoes that are even older.

We walked past the Duomo a hundred times I think...

At all hours of the day.

Same with Piazza della Signoria.

We did make time for some gelato though. I think the gelato in Florence is the best that I have had, and we had it a lot!

The gelato counters are beautiful,

And a scoop or two is so refreshing.

The sightseeing continued for three days. We did eat, there are just no photos to prove it.

However on our last night, after another trip over the Ponte Vechhio

For beautiful sunset views

We stopped at this restaurant on the bridge and I did manage to get a picture of the sign.

Next stop: Liguria, aka The Italian Riviera

Tasty Tuesday

This is the last pasta dish for awhile, I promise! (Well maybe I promise). I made this last week and it was super easy. It made a lot too. The left overs were good. I even took a big bowl over to a friend of mine. Be sure to use a very large pan as the recipe seems to grow. It's made with red wine and in case you didn't know, I love to cook with wine! Slainte!

Chicken and Sausage with Bow Tie Pasta

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked farfalle pasta
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 pound spicy Italian turkey sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, al dente.

2. Cut the chicken into large bite size pieces. Remove casing from sausage and cut into large pieces. In a large, deep skillet over medium low heat, put oil and garlic and saute to flavor oil. Remove garlic from oil.

3. Add chicken and sausage to skillet and brown both lightly until they are opaque. Add the tomatoes and the wine. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 20 minutes. Season sauce mixture with basil, rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked, drained pasta to the skillet mixture. Toss and serve.

4. I added some Parmesan cheese to the finished product.

Ahh, the Food (and Wine) pt. 2

The second stop on our Italian road trip was the Chianti area of Tuscany. We left Rome and traveled about 3 hours through Lazio, Umbria, and Tuscany before arriving in Vagliagli, a small town just north of Siena.

Our Vagliagli accommodations...Villa Dievole, a working Chianti winery.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with some wine and fruit. And, no, we weren't charged a fee for opening up the bottle and eating the fruit. What a way to start our time in Chianti.

The next day we took a wine tasting tour through the winery. This was our first wine, a very nice chilled rose. It was quite light and refreshing. We tasted 5 additional wines and they got progressively better, or maybe we got progressively buzzed. If it weren't for having to get them back on the airplane, I would have brought a whole lot home with me.

Lunch on the terrazzo after our tour - we needed to eat something after all that wine so we were able to drive in the car for more sightseeing. One of my favorites...Caprese Salad...

and lunch continued with a baked gnocchi. I was gnocchi crazy on this trip. It was soooo good.

After lunch, we visited a few of the small hill towns including Castellina in Chianti and Radda in Chianti. They were both cute little towns. Of course, we had to stop and have a little wine and with a little wine, we had a little snack. I love that part!

That evening we had dinner back at the winery. The restaurant there was outstanding, but dark, so most of my pictures didn't come out. This is the only decent one. After an antipasti plate with fresh meats and cheeses, I ordered this pasta - sausage and pecorino cheese. The meal was made even better with a bottle of one of the wines from our tour.

The next day we attended a cooking school in Siena. Oh, what fun that was! You will eventually see these recipes in Tasty Tuesday because I plan on making them all now that I am home.

First off, we made pappa al pomodoro - a Tuscan tomato and bread soup. It is a very old recipe which was created by the poor to make use of stale bread and an abundance of tomatoes. Here is how it starts out....

and this is how it ends. It was amazing. Hearty and so flavorful.

To tide us over (because certainly we were starving) while our masterpieces cooked we had some bruschetta.

Here are our Tuscan cantucci (like biscotti). Made from scratch and we sampled them with a little Vin Santo.

After making and hand rolling our own pasta, called pici, we placed it on these neat trays while we waited for the water to boil.

Our cooked pici with pesto sauce. It was so good and so easy to make.

This steak was delicious. It is a Tuscan beef filet with a shallot, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil sauce. It looks rare, but it was actually seered on each side and then wrapped in foil for about 30 minutes. The meat cooked through, but kept its pink coloring. It cut like butter and tasted amazing.

After our amazing meal, we spent the rest of the day in Siena, one of my favorite cities in Italy. We certainly weren't hungry, but needed a glass of wine after a day of sightseeing. These yummy snacks accompanied our wine.

The Chianti region is an area of Italy that I had not been to before (with the exception of Siena), so this part of the trip was one of my favorites. The food, the wine, and the towns were incredible. Plus, who wouldn't love staying at a winery.

Next stop, Florence!

Ahhh, the Food (and Wine)

We had a great time in Italy, but one of the best parts was the food. To pin point one area or one food is impossible, so I want to share the highlights of each city we visited.

First stop...Rome!

Upon arriving in Rome after dark (about 5 hours late) we wandered around the Piazza del Popolo near our hotel, trying to get our bearings and looking for some food. We found a little hole in the wall across the street from the piazza. It was one of the best meals of the trip and the cheapest.

Most of the pizza in Italy is very good; thin, crispy crust. This is arugula and Gorgonzola.

Gnocchi is a funny dish. I have had some really good and light gnocchi and some really bad, doughy gnocchi. This was THE BEST gnocchi I have ever had. I had it several times in Italy and it was all good, but this was the best.

So, did you know that you could eat very well in Italy just by ordering a glass of wine? After a long day of sightseeing ancient Rome, we found an outdoor cafe and ordered some wine and a hot chocolate. In addition to the beverages, we were served chips, crostinis, sandwiches, and olives. We were not expecting it at all.

I'm not the biggest hot drink fan, but there was a chill in the air that evening and a hot chocolate sounded good...hot chocolate in Europe is always delish - very chocolaty and real whipped cream.
Later that evening, we really weren't terribly hungry due to the free appetizers, so we decided to stop at another outdoor cafe and have some more wine. With a glass of red and and a glass of prosecco we were served these little crostinis. "Wow!" we thought, "we could get used to this."

After ordering a second glass of wine and prosecco, our appetizers were upgraded. Please notice the caviar. Yah, that's right, free caviar. I don't eat fish or anything that comes out of fish, but I was still impressed. The crostinis were good, which is why one is missing.

We had gelato almost every day while in Italy. Oh, that is some good ice cream! We spent the morning of the next day in Vatican City touring the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Then we headed to the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. While at the piazza it started to rain a little, so we found some cover and ordered some gelato (cioccolatoe e limone).

We planned on heading back to the restaurant from the first night on our last night, but it was closed. So we wandered around and found another funny little place. Here I ordered pasta alla vodka. It was also yummy!

Next stop, the Chianti region in Tuscany.