During the time I spent in Lisbon over the past year, there was a noted dearth of fresh vegetables in my diet. The food in Lisbon is wonderful, but it’s not particularly fresh. One night I stumbled upon a tapas restaurant that served a fava bean salad and it quickly became my go-to vegetable dish when I was craving something light. It was a cold, simple salad of favas, tomatoes, olive oil and herbs. I couldn’t tell you exactly what was in it, but it hit the spot.

I tried to recreate this salad for this week… and totally missed the mark. But, what I did make turned out wonderful. Nothing like that particular tapas dish, but delicious nonetheless. It has a lot of Spanish flavors – smoked paprika, jamón, tomatoes – that all meld together in a warm, homey dish. It ended up being my favorite of all the fava dishes I’ve made for this week, a total surprise hit. Try it with a few slices of crusty bread or a bowl of pasta for a comforting spring dinner.

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More Fava Bean Recipes…

Avocado Toast with Fava Beans and Pecorino

Fava Bean Soup with Mascarpone, Mint, and Pancetta

Fava Bean and Mascarpone Ravioli with Truffle Butter Sauce

Spanish Fava Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Jamón

A warm tapas dish of sauteed fava beans, fresh tomatoes, and jamón. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4
• Cuisine: Spanish

Ingredients

• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 small red onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 cups of shucked and peeled fresh fava beans
• 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 1 medium heirloom tomato, roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
• 2 thin pieces of jamón serrano or prosciutto, torn into bite size pieces

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes more, stirring frequently. Add the peeled fava beans, lemon juice, tomato, and smoked paprika. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down and the fava beans are tender.
2. Push the beans to one side of the pan to expose the bottom of the pan. Add the pieces of jamón to the bottom of the pan and fry for 1 minute, just to crisp up. Mix the jamón into the beans and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm with crusty bread or warm pasta.

The post Ingredient of the Week: Fava Beans // Spanish Fava Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Jamón appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’m so happy that I’ve had this week at home. I expected fall to be over by the time I got back from Portugal last Friday night, but instead, I woke up early Saturday to find a brilliant, glowing fall morning. I went for a walk at sunrise (jet lag problems) and reveled in the pink sky, the orange leaves tinged with sunlight, the blue-green frost on the grass, the smell of woodsmoke, even the cold, which is still exhilarating and festive feeling, and not yet the menacing cold of January and February. All week I’ve been marveling in the outdoors, as well as in the simple pleasure of being home. It’s weeks like this that make me think I will always end up back in New England, no matter how far afield my adventures take me.

This week was also a bit of a roller coaster, for many. In my circles at least, there was a lot of negative emotion being dumped into the world – shock and anger and frustration. No matter what your political opinions are, it’s difficult to be surrounded by people who are upset. We all absorb each other’s emotions – empathy is a critical component of being able to function in our society – but when that emotion is overwhelmingly negative sometimes I feel the need to withdraw. So this weekend I am taking things slow, taking care of myself, fighting off the beginnings of a cold before I get on a plane again tomorrow night. And part of that care is this soup, into which I crammed as many autumnal flavors as I could. The base of this soup is roasted pumpkin and carrots tossed with curry powder, then pureed into a light and creamy bisque and topped with fried prosciutto and sage. I’m glad to have gotten at least one pumpkin recipe up this fall before we transition into holiday flavors (is it possible that there are only 7 weeks left this year? How absurd). I hope you enjoy the soup and these last few days of autumn!

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Curried Pumpkin Bisque with Prosciutto and Sage

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Serves 4-6.

• 1 medium (3 lb.) sugar pumpkin or acorn squash
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into one inch pieces
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder, divided
• sea salt
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 large onion, peeled, halved, and sliced into thin half moons
• 8 sage leaves, divided
• 1 TBS minced fresh ginger, from a 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1/3 cup heavy cream, plus more for garnish
• 3 thin slices prosciutto, torn into pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut the top off the pumpkin and set aside. Carefully slice the pumpkin in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and pulp and discard or save for roasting. Cut the pumpkin halves into thick wedges and place on a large rimmed baking sheet, along with the carrot pieces.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 TBS of the olive oil, 1 tsp curry powder, and about 1/2 tsp sea salt. Drizzle over the pumpkin and carrot, using your hands to rub the oil onto both sides of the vegetables. Roast until the pumpkin and carrot are tender, about 30-40 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Use a spoon to scoop the soft roasted pumpkin flesh away from the skin, saving the flesh and discarding the skin.
3. In a large soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and saute until translucent and tender, about 5-7 minutes. Roll 4 of the sage leaves into a cylinder and thinly slice, then add the slices to the onions and butter. Add the minced ginger. the remaining 1/2 tsp curry powder and the cumin seeds to the pot as well and saute until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the roasted carrots, roasted pumpkin flesh, and chicken stock to the pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for for about 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and add the heavy cream. Transfer the soup to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend until very smooth and creamy. (Always be careful when blending hot liquids! If your blender is not designed to blend hot liquids, wait for the soup to cool to room temperature before blending). If necessary, thin out the soup with more cream or chicken stock until it reaches the desired consistency.
4. Before serving, heat the remaining 1 TBS of olive oil in a small frying pan. Roll the remaining 4 sage leaves into a cylinder and thinly slice, then add to the olive oil. Fry sage until crispy, about 3-4 minutes, then add the prosciutto pieces and fry until prosciutto is crispy, another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. To serve, divide the soup between bowls. Drizzle with a little cream and top with the fried sage and prosciutto. Serve immediately.

The post Curried Pumpkin Bisque with Prosciutto and Sage appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

In summers past, Trevor and I, lacking outdoor space of our own, have made a project of tending the garden and orchard at my parent’s house. Almost every weekend, we’d put on our gardening jeans, load compost or shovels or seedlings or harvesting baskets into the car, and make the 30 minute trip north of the city just to get our hands dirty. There was something extraordinarily fulfilling about spending a morning doing something physical, about emerging from the tomato patch smelling of greenness, about picking 10 pounds of blackberries despite the dozens of tiny scratches you were bound to get on your arms. About being dirty and sweaty and tired. But after a while it became somewhat impractical to tend a garden so far away, that we could only visit on weekends. So last summer, when we bought our house, the first thing I did was put in a little herb patch, and this year, it has quickly extended down the length of the house to include four raised beds for veggies, a row of strawberries, and a trellis for melons. I have a feeling it will continue to expand, wrapping around the house, using every little bit of sun we have.

Someday, when we have more time and more space, I hope we’ll have an expansive garden – a blackberry patch, rows and rows of strawberries, apple and cherry trees, and pumpkin vines running rampant over the ground. I’ll put up jars of tomatoes and jam and pickles, and we’ll fill the root cellar with potatoes and carrots. But for now, I’m happy with our little urban garden, our tiny wavering apple tree in the front yard, the handful of strawberries I can munch on after my morning run, the melons climbing up their trellis. I like that I can check on it every day, picking tomatoes at the exact moment that they are perfectly ripe, harvesting herbs minutes before adding them to a bowl of pasta.

A few weeks back, I shared a recipe on Hither & Thither for Ashley’s “In Season” series. From a choice of grapes, mulberries, melons, cucumbers, eggplants or collards for July’s featured produce, I chose to work with melons, primarily because I’m holding out hope that this will finally be the year that we have successful melon plants. Of course, in Boston in mid-July, our melons were still tiny little nubbins, but I figured this recipe would give us inspiration when (fingers crossed) all those lovely melons become ripe at the end of August. Melon is not a very frequently used recipe ingredient. When it’s really good – sweet and fragrant and juicy in the best way – it’s eaten by itself in dripping slices. And when it’s not good, it tends to languish at the bottom of the fruit salad bowl. The one savory application of melon I’ve seen is the classic Italian pairing of melon, prosciutto, and mozzarella. So I took that combination and turned it into a grilled pizza, complete with a light alfredo sauce and a pile of creamy burrata on top. It’s a gorgeous pizza – creamy, a little sweet, salty, and smoky from the char of the grill.

Thanks to Ashley for inviting me to share this recipe on Hither & Thither, and for the inspiration to work with a new ingredient!

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Grilled Melon, Prosciutto, and Burrata Pizza

A grilled summer pizza. Topped with a thyme-scented white sauce, mozzarella cheese, grilled melon, prosciutto, and creamy burrata, this is not your everyday pie! A great savory use for melon.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 4 oz. firm mozzarella cheese, cut into small slices, divided
• Black pepper
• 1 pound fresh pizza dough, preferably homemade
• 1 tsp olive oil, for brushing
• ¼ small melon, cut into very thin wedges and rinds removed and discarded
• 1 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto
• 4 oz. fresh burrata cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat a grill to medium-high heat. Let the grill heat up while you prepare the sauce and pizza toppings.
2. To make the alfredo sauce, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the minced garlic and thyme leaves and saute, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the flour and stir to fully mix into the melted butter. Cook, stirring, until the better is just starting to brown, about 1 minute, then slowly drizzle in the milk, stirring or whisking constantly to incorporate the flour into the milk. The milk should thicken as it mixes with the flour. Once you have added all the milk, cook the sauce for 2-3 minutes longer, still stirring, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove the sauce from the heat. Stir half of the sliced mozzarella into the sauce until it is fully melted, season sauce to taste with black pepper, then set the alfredo sauce aside.
3. Stretch the pizza dough into a large, thin rectangle, using your hands to work the dough into the proper shape. Brush one side of the dough with olive oil, then transfer the pizza to the grill, oiled side down. Grill one side just until dough is partially cooked through and crust is slightly charred, about 2-3 minutes. Remove the dough from the grill and set aside.
4. Use tongs to place the melon wedges on the grill, taking care not to drop them through the grates. Grill for just 45-60 seconds, or until grill marks have appeared, then flip the melon slices and grill for 45-60 seconds on the other side, then remove the melon slices to a plate.
5. Arrange the pizza toppings on the side that has already been grilled: spread the alfredo sauce thinly over the surface of the dough, then arrange the prosciutto slices, grilled melon, and remaining mozzarella over the top of the pizza.
6. Return the pizza to the grill, raw (uncooked) side down. Close the lid and cook until the mozzarella has melted and the bottom of the crust is starting to blacken, about 3 minutes, then remove from the grill. Tear the burrata into pieces and scatter over the top of the pizza.

The post Grilled Melon, Prosciutto, and Burrata Pizza appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’m back in Latin America this week, and headed out now to enjoy a day of wine tasting in Chile (work travel isn’t so bad…). But before I go, I wanted to share some other wine-related news: this summer, I’ll be developing four recipes for La Crema Wines featuring pairings of pork and Pinot Noir. Since I’ve been traveling so much and am always discovering new flavors and cooking styles, the series is going to have a global theme. The first stop on our Pork and Pinot tour – Italy.

This stuffed and rolled pork tenderloin may not be strictly traditional, but it takes all of its inspiration from Italian cuisine. The tenderloin is butterflied and filled with layers of sage and rosemary pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese and prosciutto, then rolled up and roasted to juicy perfection. Slicing into the finished tenderloin reveals a beautiful pink, white, and green spiral, and the herbal, salty flavors of the filling permeate each bite of pork. It’s an entrée that looks and tastes “fancy,” but really requires very little effort – the perfect dish for impressing dinner guests. Serve it alongside a bottle of La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, and perhaps a platter of simply roasted vegetables, and your next dinner party menu is taken care of.

Stay tuned for more Pork and Pinot! Next up, Vietnam …

Find the recipe for the Prosciutto, Mozzarella, and Sage Pesto Stuffed Pork Tenderloin over on the La Crema blog!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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The post La Crema Pork and Pinot #1 // Prosciutto, Mozzarella, and Sage Pesto Stuffed Pork Tenderloin appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Last year, I decided that I wanted to be into wine. I knew that I liked drinking wine in general, and I liked drinking wine with food, but beyond that, my knowledge was pretty limited. If I had to choose a glass of wine at a restaurant, the only thing I knew I liked was Merlot, and I started feeling boring pretty quickly always ordering the same thing. So I started learning. The wine world can be pretty daunting at first, especially because it has something of a reputation for snobbery. But the best way to get past that is just to dive in and start tasting, so that’s what I did. I began trying new wines, writing down whether or not I liked them, and trying to determine why I liked them, using whatever words came to me and not worrying about whether they were real “wine” words or if they were accurate (I use Vivino to keep track of what I’ve tried and how I felt about it). I started going to the tastings at Bacco’s after work and asking whoever was running the tasting a lot of basic questions about each bottle. At IFBC I signed up for all the wine events possible – tasting sessions and winery tours – and paid close attention to the details of each presentation (well, I paid attention at least through the third glass). I discovered that tasting 4 or 5 wines in a row really helped me pinpoint the differences between them, and that if you’re paying attention to it, food can make a huge difference in the way a wine tastes.

And after all this learning? I know that I like Merlot and Chardonnay. But also a really yummy, smoky Pinot Noir from Chile, and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that’s loaded with grapefruit flavor. And that there are some wines I really don’t like. I feel like I’m just beginning to scratch the surface, but it’s less daunting now, and mostly just fun. And I want to share that fun with you, so I’m starting a “Wine Dinner” series here, where every once in a while I work with a winery or regional wine board to put together a little dinner party focused on the wine they promote, and recipes to pair with them. I kicked things off last weekend with Alamos Wines, an Argentinean winery that I connected with at IFBC. They sent me two bottles of wine and I invited my roommates from last year, Allison and Jane, over for a little dinner – they seemed like safe first guests since they already know that I’m weird and take a lot of pictures of my food. It was so fun to see them, and to come up with the recipes, and to evaluate the wine – but it turns out I need to practice my dinner party photography! Don’t judge me too harshly, I’m still learning.

Wine #1: Torrontés – For the first course, Alamos sent me a bottle of their 2012 Torrontés. I’d never tried Torrontés before, but I read that it’s a fairly sweet white wine, sometimes compared to Gewürtztraminer and Riesling. Pairing suggestions included sweet fruits, rich meats such as salmon and foie gras, and spicy food. I went the sweet/rich route and prepared an arugula salad, lightly dressed with a Meyer lemon and maple dressing, then tossed with poached quince, manchego, and prosciutto. Most of the quinces available in the U.S. come from Argentina, so it seemed like an appropriate ingredient. I was really into this salad – sweet, salty, bitter, and rich, it hit all my flavor high points. The Torrontés was indeed a bit sweet, but with a crisp, dry finish. The Alamos wines are on the lower end of the price scale, with the Torrontés coming in at under $10 a bottle, so I wasn’t expecting very much complexity, and didn’t find it, but for a $10 bottle of wine it was full-flavored and very drinkable. No complaints here.

Wine #2: Malbec – Malbec was the varietal of choice for the second course. Another wine that I don’t have a ton of experience with, Malbec is frequently characterized as an intensely fruity wine with berry and plum flavors, and a good budget alternative to Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. I liked this particular bottle – my first thought was “mmm, tastes like Merlot” (I was relieved to see other writers compare it to Merlot, as well). Another good value, this medium-bodied wine would make a good everyday red. Since Malbec pairs well with rich flavors, red meat, and aromatic herbs, we served this with a beef short rib braise and potato gnocchi. Argentina’s cuisine has a lot of Italian influence, so the gnocchi aren’t at all out of place in this dish, and the pillowy dumplings soak up the beefy red wine sauce really well.

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Disclaimer: Alamos provided me with two bottles of wine to use in this post, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Arugula Salad with Poached Quince, Prosciutto, and Manchego

Adapted from Food52. Serves 4.

• 3 quince
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 4 c. water
• 1 Meyer lemon
• 1 TBS maple syrup
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 oz. baby arugula
• 4 oz. manchego cheese, cut into small cubes
• 2 oz. prosciutto, sliced into thin strips

1. At least 3 hours before you’d like to serve the salad, poach the quince. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the quince, then very carefully slice the fruit away from the core and seeds  in wedges – careful, quince can be kind of slippery. Place the sugar and the water in a large pot and bring to a simmer. Place the quince wedges in the simmering syrup, and place a plate over the top of the fruit to keep them submerged. Keep at a gentle simmer until quince have turned rosy and are very tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Add a little more water if the syrup gets too low. Pour the quince and their syrup into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until chilled.
2.  Cut the lemon in half and remove as many seeds as possible. Squeeze the lemon juice into a jar or small bowl. Add the maple syrup, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover jar with lid and shake to mix dressing, or whisk vigorously if using a bowl. Set aside.
3. About 15 minutes before serving, add the arugula to a large salad bowl and gently toss with the dressing. Let sit for a few minutes, then divide dressed greens between four plates. Top each plate with a few slices of quince, cubes of manchego, and strips of prosciutto. Serve immediately.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Inspired by Bon Appetit and Emeril Lagasse. Serves 6-8.

• 2 TBS paprika
• 2 TBS sea salt
• 1 TBS garlic powder
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 1/2 tsp cayenne powder
• 4 lbs. bone-in beef short ribs
• 2 TBS vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, peeled and diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 TBS flour
• 2 TBS tomato paste
• 2 c. red wine
• 8 sprigs thyme
• 2 c. crushed tomatoes
• 2 c. beef stock
• Potato Gnocchi, to serve (store bought is fine, too)

1. In a small bowl, stir together the paprika, sea salt, garlic powder, black pepper, oregano, and cayenne until evenly combined. Rub this spice mixture all over the short ribs, covering all sides. Heat the vegetable oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add as many short ribs as will comfortably fit, and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes total per rib. Once browned, transfer the ribs to a plate and set aside. Repeat until all the ribs are browned.
2. Discard all but 2 TBS of the fat from the pan, and return to the heat. Add the diced onions and carrots and cook for 5-7 minutes, until onions are translucent, stirring frequently. Add the flour and stir to coat the veggies, and allow to cook for 1 minute. Then stir in the tomato paste, and slowly add the red wine, stirring and allowing the mixture to thicken slightly between each addition. Once you’ve added all the wine to the pot, return the ribs to the pot. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and let simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
3. After the ribs have simmered for 25 minutes, add the tomatoes and beef stock to the pan, stir to combine, and cover with a lid. Place in the oven and cook, turning every hour or so, until ribs are very tender, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Remove from oven, and skim as much fat from the surface as possible. If you want a more elegant preparation, remove the ribs, strain the sauce and discard the vegetables – this is optional, and we served this rustic-style. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper, and serve the ribs and their sauce over freshly cooked potato gnocchi.

The post Alamos Wine Dinner // Arugula Salad with Quince and Prosciutto, Beef Short Ribs, Potato Gnocchi appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Last week was a bit of a whirlwind. A stressful whirlwind. Work was busy enough that by the time I got home every night, I wasn’t good for much beyond pouring myself a glass of wine and zoning out in front of the TV, so I didn’t do a lot of cooking, or, needless to say, blogging. Next week promises to be equally as busy, but for now I’m checking out to enjoy the weekend. And a stressful week, while not conducive to blogging, is certainly ripe for reminiscing about a recent vacation, so I’m here (finally!) with pictures and stories from the second half of our trip to Italy in April. (For the first part, click here.)

1) Poppies near our B&B; 2) The abandoned abbey at San Galgano

Although I very much enjoyed wandering the streets of Florence and Rome, the part of our trip I was most looking forward to were the four days we had planned in a rural region of Tuscany called the Maremma. In general, I’m more of a wilderness lover than an urbanite, and the same holds true when I’m traveling. What initially attracted me to the Maremma was a big green spot on google maps – the Maremma Regional Park. A little internet digging and I was sold on the lush, green region, located halfway between Rome and Florence, with its promise of beautiful coastline, natural hot springs, agriturismos, wild horses, and plenty of open spaces to explore.

1) A view from the road leading to our B&B; 2) Trevor napping outside our apartment; 3) One of Norbert and Grazia’s chickens, whose eggs we enjoyed every morning

There are a lot of small inns, agriturismos, and B&Bs in the region, but I couldn’t have been happier with the one we chose – B&B At Home In Maremma, located centrally in the region only a 20 minute drive from the coast. We were the only guests, and our hosts, Norbert and Grazia, were immensely helpful and friendly. As soon as we pulled into the driveway and stepped outside, after 15 glorious minutes driving through rain-drenched fields of poppies and olive groves, they both welcomed us with a cold beer, stories about their time in Grosetto, and suggestions for our stay. We chose to stay in our own stand-alone apartment, with a private patio and it’s own fig and olive trees – although we didn’t spend much time actually in the apartment, it was a perfect home base. And the breakfasts that Grazia made for us each morning were amazing – on the first night, when she suggested that we might be tired of sweet Italian breakfasts and offered to make us bacon and eggs, we jumped at the chance to eat farm fresh eggs every morning. By the third morning of sunny side-up eggs cooked in a cup of prosciutto, served with fresh juice, rolls, chocolate cake, and espresso, we were pretty much the fattest, happiest little travelers. Although I did need to take a few weeks off prosciutto after this trip.

1) The natural hot springs at Petriolo; 2) Trevor standing beside the abandoned abbey of San Galgano; 3) The sun finally comes out while walking the wall at Massa Marittima; 3) An olive grove surrounded church at Massa Marittima

Our first morning we were disappointed to awake to rain, but decided to make the most of the day anyway and marked out a loop on our map. The first stop were the Terme di Petriolo, natural hot spring pools formed beside a river. We spent a relaxing hour lying in the steaming springs, plunging into the icy cold river from time to time, sitting side by side with some Italians who seemed to have nothing better to do on a rainy Thursday. (The Italians made me feel transparently white. Trevor confirmed this to be true). Sitting in the hot water while the cold rain plodded down around us was a wonderful way to spend a rainy morning – and free, too! After we were adequately soaked, we got back in the car and headed to San Galgano, an abandoned abbey, where there was also circular chapel where San Galgano used to live. And get this – there was a real-life sword in the stone there. Very cool. Or “a very mystic place” as Norbert told us. Our last stop of the day was the city of Massa Marittima, where we enjoyed a late lunch with a lot of German tourists, did some souvenir shopping, and walked the path along the city wall just as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. I love walking along city walls – they’re always so beautiful and wild. Dinner that night was at an amazing place called Chicco Magico – and it was the highlight of the entire trip for me – but it’s such a good story, I’m saving it for it’s own blog post. Just to be a tease.

1) The view from our hike; 2) The ruined medieval abbey in the middle of the trail; 3) Trevor enjoying the beach; 4) The Mediterranean sea

 Our second full day we had reserved for a trip to the Maremma Regional Park. It was a bit complicated to get inside, but we eventually made it to the trailhead and started a pretty, but steep hike up the coastal hills. There were only a handful of views, but looking out across the treetops to see ruined towers hovering above the sea was a pretty unique experience. Half way through the hike, we reached a ruined medieval abbey in the middle of the trail, and spent some time poking around that before forging on to the beach. After a crowded bus ride (that also included about 50 German retirees decked out in full mountaineering gear), we made our way a few minutes down the road to the beach that is located within the park. Although there were a few moments of panic as we frantically tried to communicate to the parking guard that we didn’t know how to get a parking ticket, we eventually figured it out and found a spot on the sand. Trevor relaxed and I dove into the water. I was probably the only person above the age of 6 who was swimming, but to someone from New England it was so amazingly warm, even in early May. I love the ocean. I could swim and bob and body surf all day, and I’m so glad I got to go in at least once so far this summer! That night we were pretty beat, so we picked up some bread to go with the last of our venison prosciutto and ate on our patio – where we were joined by every cat within a mile, all very keen to get in on the feast.

1) Horses on the way out of the regional park; 2) A wild fig growing on the wall at Massa Marittima; 3) Me standing outside the wall of Porto Ercole

On our last day we had to drive back to Rome, but didn’t need to return the car until 6pm, so we decided to take it slow and stop in Monte Argentario. I was initially unimpressed with the somewhat touristy town of Porto Ercole, but we followed our instinct and walked up a crumbling staircase to find ourselves hiking on a cliff around the old fort. The views were amazing, and as we continued down, we spotted a few rocky beaches that it looked like we could get access to. And we could. They were very neat – lots of pockmarked igneous boulders to climb on – but neither of us felt like getting salty before our drive back to Rome, so we stayed out of the water. After a quick (overpriced) lunch in a pirate themed restaurant (well, actually, everything in the town seemed to be pirate themed) we hit the road back to Rome.

And that was our trip to Italy! But most of you probably didn’t come here to read all about my vacation – you came because you saw a picture of that pizza. Carbonara pizza was the first thing I ate upon arriving in the Maremma, so that’s what I’ve recreated here. As soon as we arrived, Norbert and Grazia made reservations for us at this little pizza place in the tiny town of Istia d’Ombrone for dinner that night. We were both quite tired, but this pizza hit the spot after a day of public transportation, waiting around the rental car lot, and driving in the rain. After dinner we walked around the tiny walled town in the glow of the lamplight, only passing two other people as we walked.

I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about making a carbonara pizza, but I knew it had to have prosciutto (rather than bacon or pancetta), since we ate so much of it during our trip, and I knew I wanted the base sauce itself to be as close to a true carbonara sauce as possible. I have to say, I like my version of this pizza even better than the one we had on our trip – the sauce came out perfect, packed with oniony, cheesy, prosciutto-y, garlicky flavor, and with the extra strips of crisped prosciutto and a just-set egg on top of the bubbly, chewy crust, I couldn’t stop myself from eating a third slice even after I was full.

Carbonara Pizza

Serves 4.

• 1 TBS butter
• 1/2 c. finely minced onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
• 1/4 lb. thinly sliced prosciutto, divided (about 8-10 slices total)
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 4 eggs, divided
• 1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese, divided
• cornmeal (for dusting pan)
• 1/2 recipe pizza dough
• 1/3 c. freshly grated pecorino romano
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 TBS finely chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add diced onion and stir to coat with butter. Finely dice half of the prosciutto (about 4 slices) and add to the pan with the onions and butter. Saute, stirring occasionally, until prosciutto is crisp and onions are golden brown, about 6-8 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute 1 minute longer, then stir in heavy cream. Cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
3. In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk together 2 of the eggs and 1/2 cup of the grated parmesan. Slowly pour the hot cream sauce into the eggs, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so to prevent scrambling. Once all the cream has been added, whisk the mixture for 30 seconds, then set aside.
4. Sprinkle a small amount of cornmeal on 2 baking sheets. Flour your work surface and a rolling pin and roll out the pizza dough into two small (or one large) crusts. Place one on each baking sheet. Spread the cream sauce on top of the crusts up to 1/2 an inch from the edge. Don’t spread the sauce so thickly that it runs over the edge – you may have a few tablespoons left over.
5. Mix together the remaining 1/2 c. parmesan cheese and the pecorino cheese. Sprinkle half of the mixture over each crust. Layer a few strips of the remaining prosciutto on top of the cheese. Carefully crack one egg into the center of each pizza. Bake the pizzas for 12-15 minutes, until crust is golden brown and egg is set. Sprinkle the hot pizzas with freshly ground black pepper and the parsley.

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Basically, when I ask him nicely, Trevor throws a few slices of onion in a pan with olive oil and a healthy sprinkling of dried basil and sautees it just for a few minutes. This creates the most amazingly delicious smell. Today I threw in a handful of spinach for the last minute to try and fool myself into a serving of vegetables. Then he does the egg bit – two or three with a splash of milk – adds the onions (and pop-eye sneak-attack veggies), a small handful of pecorino cheese, and two slices of prosciutto. Fold, trying not to break it but usually breaking it anyway, eat, feel better.

To recap: omelette – basil on onions, eggs, pecorino, prosciutto. Expect greater things from me in the future.

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