Hey there...it’s been a while, over three weeks since my last blog entry and for good reason: I got married! We had a lovely celebration on Labor Day, wrapped some things up at work and home, and then headed to Italy for our honeymoon. This was my first time in Italy...I know, seems sacrilegious for a guy whose blog and Insta handle starts with “mangia”, but what can you do? We spent 2 weeks traveling all over the middle section of Italy (mostly Florence to Amalfi Coast) but also hit up a few spots in Puglia as well. We’ve been back now for just about 6 days and I have dreamt of Italy every night. It’s wonderful. I don’t wake up sad, wishing I could be back, but inspired and happy about the experiences my wife and I shared together.
My girls? They’re definitely a bit jealous and are wondering when we’ll take them over. Guess I better start saving now. However, besides the gifts we brought back for them, on Sunday I decided to give them a taste of our Italian honeymoon, by cooking a traditional Italian meal with some of the courses replicating what we ate on our amazing trip. There are a lot of courses, 8 to be exact. We never did a full 8-course meal on our trip, but we did try that many different pizza joints in Naples in less than 24 hours! While I didn’t make pizza for the girls, you can catch my Neapolitan Pizza recipe here. The traditional courses are: Aperitivo, Antipasti, Primi, Secondi, Contorni, Insalata, Formaggi e Frutta, and finally, Dolce (not to forget the Caffè e Digestivo, but this is mainly a food blog). Aperitivo is just that, a little taste (similar to a French amuse bouche), typically served with a cocktail. The Antipasti is the starter, typically charcuterie and other little snacks. The Primi is the first course and typically involves pasta. I’ll describe the remaining courses later.
For the Aperitivo, I tried to replicate our amazing, but way too fast, lunch at Il Riccio on Capri. We were on a day cruise from Positano, had a few hours to kill on Capri and I called and got us the only reservation they had available which would allow us about 50 minutes. However, we were dressed like sea creatures, not like the opulent set that have a 3-hour lunch at this place. So, we had to scramble and buy new outfits. I purchased a complete linen getup and Megan got a new dress and some snazzy sandals, we scarfed down an amazing lunch and raced back to the dock to catch our boat back to Positano. I paired these with a negroni and Megan made the girls a fun mocktail using Blood Orange Pellegrino. For the Antipasti, I bought some nowhere-near-as-good-real-Italian charcuterie from Wegmans and paired it with a type of flatbread snack we ate on Fornillo Beach at Positano from Pupetto Beach Club. If you can make it there, you must have their limoncello mojito. For the Primi, I replicated a tasty pasta dish, dedicated to the chef’s nonna, which we ate at a restaurant we happened to stumble upon during our visit to Matera called la Grotta nei Sassi. How close was my dish? Megan took a bite, put her fork down and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. As for the other dishes? Well, you’ll have to wait until the next blog entry.
Sardines from Il Riccio. Italian flatbread from Pupetto. Pasta from la Grotta nei Sassi.
Negroni (makes 2)
The best Negroni we had was also at what we thought was our best pizza in Naples: Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba. This place has been slinging pies since 1738!!!! That is NOT a typo. While we dined outside, we could hear an amazing opera singer from the nearby Naples Conservatory of Music. Truly magical.
3 oz quality gin like Hendrick’s
3 oz Campari
3 oz Martini Rosso (sweet red vermouth)
Orange rinds
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour over the ingredients. Stir.
Fill 2 lowballs with ice and using the strainer, pour the shaker ingredients among the glasses. Give each glass a light splash of more Campari and using the orange rind, stir once more. Serve.
Lightly-fried Sardines with Caponata
I know...the photo has tapenade, not caponata. I was jet-lagged and couldn’t think clearly about the side. If I made this again, or if you’d like to make it, try this recipe for caponata as it looks nearly similar to the original. The tapenade did work well though.
Sardines (or other small fish)
Egg
Panko breadcrumbs
Tapenade or Caponata
Gently remove any scales from the fish skin. Using a sharp chef’s knife, chop off the head and tail. Preheat some oil in a skillet to about 350 degrees.
Meanwhile, whisk together an egg with a tablespoon of water in a bowl. Pour the breadcrumbs onto a small plate.
When the oil has come to temperature, dip the prepared fish into the egg wash, allowing excess to fall off, and then roll around in the breadcrumbs. Lightly fry on each side until the crumbs turn golden. Set aside to drain on a paper towel and lightly season with sea salt.
To serve, spoon your prepared (or store bought) tapenade or caponata and top with the fried fish.
Italian Flatbread
This dish falls somewhere between a Roman-style pizza, panini, and Spanish tomato bread. Try to pick a loaf that is not too thick.
Loaf of your favorite Italian bread, preferably a day old
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 ripe, roma tomatoes, diced
Mozzarella
Place your loaf (inside a bag, or between clean kitchen towels) on the counter. Place a heavy pot on top of the loaf, for a few hours, to compress it.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spread some olive oil on the foil-lined baking sheet and using both sides of the bread, spread out and mop up the oil. Place the loaf on the baking sheet and bake in the oven until golden and lightly toasted, about 20 minutes or so.
Top the baked bread with tomatoes and season with pepper and sea salt. Sprinkle on some mozzarella and drizzle with a little olive oil. Place back in the oven until the cheese begins to melt.
Let cool slightly and then cut up into serving-sized portions. Serve alone or with some charcuterie and olives.
Orecchiette ode la Grotta nei Sassi
The restaurant uses lamb in their sauce and scamorza (the hanging mozz you see in Italian specialty stores). I used mild Italian sausage and while I did use some mozzarella, I also threw in some pecorino, to keep the dish from getting cheese-stringy like baked ziti.
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 large shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
2 links of mild Italian sausage
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
Basil
1/2 lb dried Orecchiette
Mascarpone cheese, or heavy cream to lighten the sauce
Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Preheat 2 tbsp of evoo in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Sauté the shallot, until translucent, with a pinch of salt. Stir in the garlic until fragrant, about a minute. Then, add in the sausage, first removing it from its casing and mincing into small pieces. Brown the sausage, seasoning it with some Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Stir in the crushed tomatoes, fill the can about a third of the way up with some water and add to the skillet. Bring to a boil and add in a few sprigs of basil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let the sauce reduce.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees and bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and stir in the pasta. Cook until just al dente. Drain.
Taste the sauce for any last seasoning needs. This sauce should be flavorful, but subtle. Stir in a 1/4 cup of the mascarpone cheese until fully incorporated. Then stir in the drained pasta and a little reserved pasta cooking water.
Stir in a few handfuls of pecorino Romano and a light toss of shredded mozzarella. Once everything comes together, pour the contents into an oven-safe casserole and top with some additional pecorino Romano cheese.
Bake in the oven until the pasta starts to brown. Serve.
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Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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