The Food in Italy, It is Bad

As alluded to in an earlier post (it's the one with clams), I recently traveled to Italy thanks to the Thrifty Sifter and her parents. Honestly, the food was generally so good that we didn't stop to take photographs most of the time. However, I wanted to share a few snapshots with you. 

Most of our time was spent in Tuscany, however we took a side trip to Ferrara to visit childhood friends. I lived there for three years when I was a kid and the bread above is one of my fondest memories. Coppia is the characteristic bread of Ferrara, with not too strong a flavour and an incredibly interesting shape reminiscent of crabs. 

Our base of operations was in a villa in Gaiole in Chianti. The first night we were there the housekeeper prepared dinner for us. Above are some pears in a balsamic reduction with a local cheese. 

This are spinach and cheese stuffed ravioli cooked in butter and fresh sage. 

The housekeeper called this turkey, but I'm 99% sure it's actually pheasant since it didn't quite taste like turkey and pheasants were running around the fields. It's stuffed with eggs and herbs, then roasted.

Here I am enjoying the pears, water, and a homemade chianti with the Sifters. 

Our menu for the first evening with a local table wine.

Some chianti classico we had in Siena. There are some minor differences between chianti classico and chianti. 

With some local bread. Personally I found a lot of the Tuscan bread to be tasty, but somewhat bland. This is, from what I hear, on purpose so that you can add flavour with olive oil or making a bruschetta. If anyone cares to enlighten me further, please do!

Your soundtrack for this entry: Furykane - STFU.

The Glorious Chicken

I've been crowing up and down about this dish since I made it last night. So, yes, that's not a long time, but I did incredibly well with it. It was made off-the-cuff with mostly ingredients for which I had a hankering.

The Glorious Chicken
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsps ground coriander
1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 tsp salt
4 dried, red chilies, crushed
cider vinegar to coat breasts for marinating (about a cup)

The Glorious Poblano Sautee
1 poblano pepper (diced)
5 - 6 baby portabella muschrooms (sliced stemwise)
2 pearl onions (sliced)
1 tbsp olive oil

Place chicken breasts in a deep dish or tupperware container. Coat the chicken in all of the ingredients and mix. Place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Flip once.

Heat a large pan or iron skillet on medium-high (if using a pan add 2 tbsps olive oil). Spoon some of the marinade mixture, especially the fresh sage, over the breasts. Cook for fifteen minutes. Then flip and cook for another 7 minutes.

Mmm...pre-sautee. You'll want to pre-heat a pan, the add the olive oil. Start with the onions until slightly translucent. Then add the poblano for a minute. Finish off with the mushrooms. Should take no more than four minutes total.

Alongside this dish I served an inexpensive Chilean carménère from Natura. It was an excellent wine and only lost me $9.

The final product was fantastic, with a wonderful interplay of coriander and red chili. Tender chicken with plenty of juiciness served with a complementary spicy side of a different flavour. Damn I did good. 

Your soundtrack for this entry: Agalloch - The Black Lake Nidstang

The Dragon's-wort Chicken with Baby Spinach Salad

Tonight I decided to try my hand at making a couple of dishes introduced to me by my friend Lauren. It's been a lazy weekend and, apart from hitting the gymnasium, the Thrifty Sifter and I only had one plan: dinner with Lauren and her husband Bill.

That I once said she could throw down in the kitchen is completely true. Practically everything of hers I've tasted has been fantastic and last night was no exception. Sipping beer (after being told my help wasn't needed, of course!) I watched dinner preparations. The resultant dinner was so good I wanted to try it myself today.

My version's a bit different in that I only used tarragon (sometimes called dragon's wort) and dried sage while eschewing the use of garlic. Okay, I didn't choose not to use the garlic so much as forget to put it in.

Dragon's-wort Chicken
- 4 chicken breasts (with skin)
- half a stick of unsalted butter cut into 6 - 8 slices
- three sprigs of fresh tarragon
- dried ground sage
- salt
- fresh ground pepper

Place the chicken breasts in a glass casserole dish or iron skillet. Place a pat or two of butter on each one (two for the larger ones). Next coat lightly with sage, salt, and ground pepper. Last strip the leaves from the fresh tarragon and place on each breast.

Pop that puppy into an oven pre-heated to 450 degrees. Cook for 40 - 50 minutes or until skin is a golden brown.

Damn, I need to clean my oven. 

Lauren's chicken was good, but her baby spinach salad was fantastic. Made with sliced almonds, gorgonzola, and a poppy seed vinaigrette, I woke up thinking about it today (along with a horrid hangover).

My version includes:
- 2 ounces of almonds toasted and chopped (about 12 almonds)
- 3 cups of baby spinach
- 2 ounces of gorgonzola cheese
- 1/2 cup of dried cranberries

For the dressing I used the following ingredients and kinda eyeballed the portions.
- 1/2 cup of white wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- dried ground sage
- fresh ground pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp hot paprika

While I was making the dressing it was time to pull the chicken out of the oven. Don't they look delicious? I wasn't going to forget them like I forgot about going to bed last night. 

Shake, shake, shake!

Chopping the toasted almonds. 

I think the Bel Gioso Lauren used last night was actually a better gorgonzola, but this was tasty. 

Dinner is served. 

As I mentioned at the beginning, I intended to use garlic with the chicken and will remember to do so next time I make this. Still, the chicken was quite good. My dressing was a little too heavy on the vinegar, so I'll avoid that much in the future. I actually intended to use balsamic, but for some reason I couldn't get the bottle open.

Your soundtrack for this entry is Men at Work's "Who Can it Be Now." I'd like to dedicate this to Harlan and Jen, who I didn't get to say goodnight to last night due to drunken passing out. Seriously, someone take the beer away from me next time!