Let's Talk About Italian Food

Dinner in Montecarlo

This is the food post.  As promised, I have taken pictures and acute mental notes of what I've consumed since arriving in Europe. So, here goes...

Buon Giorno Olio, Arrivederci Burro!

Of course I had airplane food and some airport snacks during my travels, but I wanted to document this particular pre-packaged Butter Brezel.  Instead of the typical animal crackers or corn chips given on US flights, when you're going from Zurich to Florence, they serve a rather large, braided soft-pretzel with a huge slab of butter in the middle.  At first I thought it was cheese it was so large, but alas it was a healthy chunk of butter so large Julia Child would be proud.  Most Italians use olive oil instead of butter (this substitution could account for their generally non-obese physiques), so in my mind this butter-filled snack was a last hurrah(!) during my transition from the buttery world I knew, to one slicked with olive oil.

CAFFÈ!

                                  

I don't really drink coffee on a regular basis unless its provided with our SLC Florence meals or I'm desperate for a little pick-me-up in the afternoon.  The typical coffee drink in Italy is espresso.  If you order "un caffè, per favore," you'll get an espresso in a teeny tiny cup, like shown above.  I can't really handle the strength of espresso, so when I can choose I usually get a caffè latte or cappuccino, which is the cup on the right with the pretty foam detailing.  On a side note, the packaging of sugar in Italy is really interesting.  The picture in the center shows a coconut wearing a straw cowboy hat.  Um, what?

FRUTTA!

Italian cornflakes, pre-toasted toast with strawberry jam, plum, pear, coffee, and blood orange juice.

This was my typical breakfast in Pescia, pocketing one of the fruits for later because we didn't get any snacks.  Cereal, fruit and tea are my usual morning meal, so not much has changed in that department since my arrival in Italy.

 

Fruit is also a common dessert here in Italy.  

This particular bowl had strawberries, peach, kiwi, and I think some kind of melon.

*Fun fact!  On the walk to Collodi, mentioned in my previous post, we came across a fig tree.  I had a bite and it was pretty delicious.

L'ANTIPASTO!

Chicken liver pate, mushrooms, and bruschetta.  This was our l'antipasto in Castelvecchio.  I was a little skeptical of the former because it looks a bit like cat food in my opinion, 

but it was surprisingly tasty. 

*One dish I did not document at this particular meal was a 

vegetable and mayonnaise salad, which reminded me of 

those awful recipes one finds in a 1960's cookbook.  

Thankfully, that has been the only dish I couldn't finish.

These were by far one of the best and most interesting things I've eaten thus far.  They were triangular shaped toasts with some kind of creamy, cheesy something, and then either a slice of lime or red pepper to top them off.  The combination of textures and flavors harmoniously clashed (if you didn't understand that, you've never tasted something this awesome).  Crunchy, salty, tangy, yum.

Some grilled vegetables to start a meal in Collodi.

Red pepper, cabbage, eggplant, zucchini, and a slice

of grilled bread with olive oil.

INSALATA!

 I haven't had too many chances to have salad other than as a small side dish,          but last weekend I decided to order a salad (shown on the left) while the SLC Florence crew were treated to lunch after visiting       the Palazzo Vecchio.  We went to a very cute restaurant called Zà-Zà in the Piazza del Mercato Centrale.  Greens with pear, pecorino, prosciutto, and a housemade spicy vinaigrette.

ZUPPE!

                                                                                 Like salad, I haven't had much soup yet either.  Hopefully when the weather turns it'll seem more appealing to have this kind of hearty soup.  The picture on the right is a minestrone we had in Pescia.  Even though it was still 75-80 degrees, the sky was overcast, which somehow made this combination of pasta, peas, beans, carrots, onions, and potatoes very welcome.  If I was home I probably would have added some hot sauce, but alas...

VERDURE!

As one can plainly see, vegetables in the Italian can come at the beginning, middle, still middle, and later parts of the meal (correct/more acceptable terms: aperitivo, l'antipasto, il contorno, il primo piatto, il secondo piatto).  The picture above is "il contorno," or a side dish, of rosemary potatoes that accompanied the salad previously shown (matching zebra print plates!).

   

This dish to the left was given to us during our dinner out in Collodi.  We were never given a menu, so I don't actually know         the names of these dishes, but it tasted like a very spruced up version of eggplant parmesan.  I believe the eggplant was grilled, which added a nice flavor to the dish... Much better than the eggplant parmesan I made in the microwave this past summer, although that wasn't terrible if you ever want to try.

PANINI!

In the SLC Florence we are responsible for buying our own lunch, unless we are having some kind of field in which case the school pays, and this is relatively easy because we are in the city center.  There are a ton of really delicious places that I would recommend, but I'm only going to rave about one in particular so this whole post isn't full of panino shops.  

The name of the place is I Due Fratellini, the two little brothers, 

and like the sign says they've been in business for over 130 years.  They have a 

selection of almost 30 different kinds of panini, but you can also make your own 

for a varying additional charge, but that hardly makes a difference as all but two on the list are only €2.50 (the two that are €3.00 have "truffle creme" on them, which is definitely worth the extra fifty cents).  They serve them in  paper, usually with a napkin if you 

get a messy one, and my favorite part is the bread is always slightly warm.  This

 little shop is right down the street from Piazza della Signoria, so if you're ever in 

the area I definitely recommend it because it's a better deal and better tasting 

than the touristy food shops in that square. 

*Hint: If there is a line of people and people are standing/sitting on the sidewalk 

eating sandwiches and drinking from tiny wine glasses, 

that's probably where the good stuff is.

PASTA!

Pasta is a staple in Italy, everybody knows it, there are no secrets to this fact.  We were treated to many different kinds of pasta during orientation, and since being at my home-stay it is probably the main thing I eat other than my regular panino at lunch.  On the right is a dish we had in Castelvecchio, ravioli stuffed with ricotta (I think) and sage with a cream sauce.

                                                                          I'm going to categorize this next dish under pasta even though I don't entirely know what it was.  Here's my best guess - a crȇpe stuffed with different kinds of cheese and zucchini, some sauce in and on, melted cheese on top.  I could had had another helping of this it was so good.  The outer layer was slightly browned and on the verge of being crunchy, and this combined with the melting cheese was almost too much to handle.

DOLCE!(!)

Dessert.  Anybody who knows me, knows how much I love dessert.  If I go out to eat I almost always want to get dessert even if I'm full from the main dish.  Since coming to Italy, nothing has changed in that department, and if possible has gotten worse.  The meals in Italy are spread out over the day and with my home-stay I usually have dinner around 8:30,  so what better way to tide myself over than with a small cup of gelato (or a large one) in the mid-afternoon?  The above picture of gelato was our dessert in Castelvecchio, which had strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries to go with it.

This masterpiece of a dessert was served 

to us in Montecarlo.  The outside shell was 

a type of cookie/wafer that had a very pretty imprinted detail that I couldn't quite get on my camera.  It tasted similar to those wafer cookies people have at holiday parties, know what I mean?  Inside was some kind of clotted cream/ricotta/custard

something-or-other that was creamy and deliciously paired with berries that I believe were some kind of current.  As one can probably imagine, I ate the whole thing.

This was a dessert that a friend ordered, but it was just so pretty that I couldn't resist taking a picture.  The waiter told us it was an apple tart, but it also had a powerful molasses flavor, which made it taste somewhat like pecan pie.

Note: Not the typical size,
camera adds ten pounds of
gelato. *Cone not included

The above picture is Vivoli, a gelato shop near Santa Croce, and from what I can tell the best gelato in Firenze.  I've seen the place mentioned in tour guide books and websites, our Italian friend Giovanni took us here and my Signora Sandra told me about it.  All signs are pointing to YES!  Now, understandably the prices are a little higher than other gelato shops, but that is the price for getting the best stuff in town.  I have yet to order a fruit flavor of gelato, but hope I will make myself soon because I hear they're fantastic.  Usually I go in with the intention of getting a fruit flavor and then going for my usual preference for nut flavors, like pistacchio, or chocolate hazelnut (I even tried a pine nut flavor the other day).  Like my mother says, I'm a nut, I just can't help it.  Unlike some ice creams in the States, pretty much anything you order at this kind of place will hit the spot.

                                                            - CAB