Restaurant Review Rome: Ristorante Bar Del Fico

On Friday night, I got to try a vry tasty restaurant in Rome. It's very popular in historic center and is usually very crowded. In the first weeks I was in Rome a lot of people suggest I try Ristorante Bar del Fico which literally means the "Cool Bar Restaurant". I wonder who had the audacity to name it such, did they name it before it was cool, hoping that it would be? or did they name it after it became popular?
Either way, it has a great atmosphere with wonderful lighting. I really liked the overall vibe and thought that finally got seated we started talking to the guys sitting next to us and we wound up hanging out with them for a good portion of the evening.
the seating was great fun. Large tables are divided between multiple parties so you can converse with your group or make friends with those next to or across from you. In fact, when we
The food was also fabulous. I ordered the special ravioli dish, Ravioli al Pecorino di Fossa con salsa di pere. I almost went with something

traditionally Roman but decided that I wanted to try something more unique and it was utterly delicious. The ravioli itself was cooked perfectly. The cheese just salty enough complemented by the sweetness of fresh pear slices and the delicous pear sauce. It was also drizzled with a beautiful balsamic reduction which really went well with the combination of flavors. I really liked it even though it was a small portion (and slightly expensive at €14). My friends ordered some of the more traditional fare and I got to try a bite of each of their plates and it was quite delicious. Laure ordered the Cacio e Pepe in all its cheesy goodness while her roomie got La Matriciana which was absolutely amazing. The matriciana was amazing, probably my favorite that I've tried so far in Rome. Everything we ate was fresh and delicious and arrived pretty quickly.
We also ordered profitteroles for dessert and they were quite delicious, just the right portion to share

between the two of us sharing.  It was rich and creamy without being overbearing.
However, I do have one lament. The service Friday night was horrible. We waited for almost an hour, which by itself is not actually a problem. The actual problem was that the host told us that the wait would be about 20 minutes and then preceded to ignore us entirely, not giving us any updates whatsoever. It was okay for the most part because we got some drinks and chilled in the bar area but it was rather annoying because we had no idea what was going on.  Unfortunately, the bad service didn't end there. Once we ordered and our food arrived, our waitress disappeared entirely. So when we wanted our check, we couldn't get it. I asked the various members of the waitstaff 4 different times for the bill and still it did not come. After at least a half hour, we finallystood up and put on our jackets. We decided to go ask out front. Lo and behold, our waitress came running over. And finally, asked if we wanted our check. -.-
We were not pleased.
However, I am willing to try the restaurant again to see if the poor service was just a one time problem. The food was great and our company stellar so I'd like to try at least one more time before passing full judgement.

Home For Christmas

I'm home for Christmas!!
I've only been gone for a couple of months but it's nice to be back home for Christmas. It's so nice to see my mom's face and all of my friends faces too.
It is a weird Christmas for me because my brain is still half in Italy. I'm tired, a bit jetlagged and accclimating to changes. So is Mom and I think I'm happier for it.  We exchanged a gift each this morning and now we're just hanging around the house cooking and talking.
Over the last few years Christmas has become a very commercialized holiday. It's about presents and spending and beautiful things piled up under the tree, pretty packages and bows. Expensive gifts, because over the last few years people have been spending on presents like wii and playstations.
Because of this Christmas is not one of my favorite holidays and it hasn't been for a while. I like the idea of exchanging gifts as a mutual sign of affection but recently it's become excessive and we've lost the meaning. We exchange gifts because we have to, because it's an expected practice. We buy things that don't mean anything.
For Christmas this year, I am happy to spend quiet time with my mom and whatever friends pass by. I am happy that we had a simple exchange and that we'll spend the day cooking Christmas dinner and dessert together. We're not going crazy. We're just making ham, sweet potatoes and green beans and then in a bit I'll probably make some kind of delicious dessert.
The whole while I will be thinking of all the good experiences I've had this year. I've met some amazing people and had some wonderful times. I got to meet my half siblings and their families. I've moved abroad again. I'm a teacher. I have the most amazing mother in the world. I have an adventurous baby brother who is living out his dreams and for Christmas I'm home in Jersey with my loved ones and it's fantastic.

I hope everyone else is having an equally splendid Christmas. Enjoy your families and friends. Remember the good in life today and eat some wonderful food!

Recipe: Pomegranate Blueberry Sauce

I love cranberry sauce. Last year, I bought an absurd amount of cranberry sauce for thanksgiving so this year when faced with the impossibility of having any I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. Generally speaking, that's exactly when I become my most creative.
I was in a vegetable market looking around when I suddenly spotted pomegranates. I thought that they would add a nice sweetness but still have enough tang to not be cloyingly sweet.
My main concern was figuring out how to get the liquid out of the pomegranate. There are wayyyy too many seeds so I wasn't sure where to start. Luckily for me, google exists and eventually after a lot of trial and error I found a Rachel Ray recipe that explained how to get the juice out of a pomegranate without going completely mad. Then from there, the rest of the recipe was easy and fun to concoct.
So here it is (complete with how to free the juice from your pomegranate... be warned it was a little messy).

Ingredients:
2 medium pomegranates
500 grams of blueberries (about 2 small containers)
4 tbs sugar
Fruit juice (I found a berry juice at the Italian supermarket that worked perfectly but you could also use a blueberry pomegranite juice from v8 or pom)

Roll your pomegranates on a hard surface. Apply a little pressure but not enough to crack them open.  I rolled my large pomegranate for about 5 minutes and I only cracked the seeds closest to the surface. Keep rolling even longer than you think necessary!  Then over a bowl or a dish, cut into your pomegranate carefull but BE CAREFUL! The juice squirts out and can make a mess (yes, I made a mess). Cut a couple of holes into the pomegranate to make sure you get as much juice out. Then cut into your pomegranate and wonder at how much you missed. :D I wanted to utilize every last drop of pomegranate, so I scraped the seeds into my trusty new blender and blended for a couple of pulses. I then strained the mixture to remove the seeds.
It's a lot of work but definitely worth the effort.
Stir in about a tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt. Start cooking down.  As the juice starts to boil add in red pepper flakes and one container of blueberries washed and whole. Add in about a cup of juice.  Bring back to a boil. Stir periodically and taste as the mixture starts to thicken. Add in another tablespoon of sugar and a little more salt. When the blueberries have broken down almost entirely, add a little more juice and salt to the mixture. Bring back to a low boil and add in the other blueberries.
Let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes stirring periodically.  Keep a close eye on the sauce so it doesn't burn or reduce down to much. At this point you should taste and add more pepper flakes and salt to balance out the sweetness.  Cook down to desired consistency.
It shouldn't be too thick, otherwise when it cools it will form a kind of caramel.  But it should easily coat the back of your spoon.

This sauce is utterly delcious with a hint of spice and a nice rich tanginess that complements turkey, chicken or pork (and probably lots of other things as well).

Welcome December!!

Oh my goodness, I am ridiculously full right now!! I just ate a very large plate of Thanksgiving leftovers and it was delicious!  Except I'm superbly full and dying just a little bit of fullness.
We had an amazing and successful Thanksgiving dinner last night. Although we had a Saturday Thanksgiving, it was a lot of fun filled with food and friends.
My menu changed a little with availability of food items and also for sheer timing issues (I was running around like a chicken without a head).
Here's what we actually served (I made everything with Endira's help unless otherwise noted):
Spicy Pumpkin and Carrot soup
Stuffed Mushrooms
Grandma's Stuffed Artichokes
Mashed Potatoes (By Laure and Sian)
Mashed Potatoes (By Ashley)
Stuffing (By Ashley)
Stuffing
Gravy
Pomegranite Blueberry sauce
Roasted Potatoes and Vegetables
Roasted Turkey
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Crumble
Italian Pastries (provided by the Italians)

We were supposed to have string beans as well but we never got around to making them. Seriously, it was that hectic. I'm going to have to post recipes because everything was so delicious.
I was so glad to be surrounded by so many friends. I think everyone had a great time and enjoyed the food. It was such a pleasure to cook for so many people and so much fun seeing the reactions of the Brits and Italians as dish after dish came out.

A lot of pounds of turkey

The eyes seriously widened at the site of our 15 lb turkey (sans wings and legs because I had to cut them off
to fit in the oven lol).  It was bit on the ridiculous side since I was at a work conference on teaching all Saturday, except I came home for a hour in the middle of the day to throw the turkey in the oven. So in total I walked about 2 hours back and forth, I subwayed for an hour. I listened to about 5 hours of lectures and cooked for the rest of the day. All this after about 4 hours of sleep since I had stayed up till around 4am cooking and prepping, stuffed mushrooms, and the pies. But somehow I made a beautiful turkey that everyone loved. And with the drippings, apple and onion I made a great gravy, thick and creamy after reducing on the heat.
It went really well with the mashed potatoes and stuffing that Laure, Sian and Ashley brought with them. So many levels of delicious. So much stuffing and so much mashed potatoes. Ashley's mashed potatoes were amazingly creamy and delicious while Laure and Sian's reminded me of the mashed potatoes from back home, rich and a little thicker.

The Spicy Pumpkin and Carrot soup was utterly delicious but maybe a tad too spicy. Everyone seemed to like it anyway so I'm content. Then we had Grandma's artichokes. Artichokes are very popular in Rome but I decided to make them the way my grandmother always made them stuffed with

Grandma's Artichokes

parsley and garlic and then steamed. They were pretty popular with the Americans and Brits who typically eat the leaves the same way. The Romans I think were a little confused because the way they are prepared in Rome, you can eat the entire artichoke and not just the leaves. I also decided to make my mom's stuffed mushrooms. Since my family couldn't be in Rome with me, I decided to bring them to Rome in the dishes I cooked.  In fact, I made the turkey the same way mom always makes turkey, with an apple and an onion inside and roasted with carrots, onion and celery.

Stuffed Mushrooms: Mamma Bear Style

My whole plate filled with an incredible quantity of food

They major difference to our Thanksgiving was that I forgot the string beans and that I had no way to get a hold of cranberry sauce.  Cranberries don't really exist in Italy unless you go to specialty stores and I just didn't have time so I decided to improvise. I saw pomegranites at the fruit store and thought that they might over the same kind of sweet yet slightly acidic kick offered by cranberry sauce.  I looked up some recipes, unsure of how exactly to "juice" a pomegranite thanks to all the little seeds and found a recipe involving some spice and blueberries as well and I decided to adapt the recipe accordingly. I pomegranite, fresh blueberries, sugar, red pepper flakes and salt to make the perfect complementary sauce for our turkey mean.  It wound up being utterly delicious.  I was surprised at how big a success my substitution was. The pomegranite blueberry sauce was a big hit with just the right combination of sweet and sour, with a hint of heat from the red pepper flakes.  I was very flattered because Endira's Italian lady asked me how I had made it! When an Italian woman asks you for a recipe, the dish must be good. So I was very happy and will definitely be making it again.

My Pumpkin Pie looked pretty good

Then came the desserts. Everything look and tasted delightful but I have to say that I forgot the eggs in my pumpkin pie. I worked from memory and I really should have doublechecked my recipe. As it is, it tasted delicious... It just didn't set correctly.  It's so silly because I even took the time to make letters with the dough and I somehow forgot the eggs like a big dummy. My apple crumble on the other hand was perfect both in appearance and in taste. It was a bit hit, and there was no alcohol in it this time. Normally, I bake with a bit of rum or brandy but this year no time for a liquor store run so I just made everything traditionally.  It came out really well and got devoured.  No more Apple Crumble left.  We have a couple of pastries left but those were utterly delicious as well and I need to find out who brought them from where because I'd like to get more pastries from there!

Delicious Italian Pastries

Everyone really enjoyed the food and company and the wine so I'm very happy that we decided to throw our Thanksgiving feast. It was absolutely worth the effort and cooking time. And we have so many leftovers! We're going to be eating turkey and stuffing for at least a week. I can't wait!

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
It's that time of year again, to give thanks for the people and the things in our lives.  I am so thankful for my Mother because she has supported me in all my endeavors even though it means that I'm not with her again this Thanksgiving.  I'm thankful for my baby bro and his adventurous spirit. I hope he's having a good hot meal today and making friends somewhere in South America. I am thankful for the siblings who found me one year ago. It's so amazing to have older siblings in my life all of a sudden, and nieces and nephews!  It's crazy! And I'm thankful for my Uncle, Aunt and cousins. We don't talk much but I'm glad to have them in my life.
I am grateful for my friends stateside, especially my Jersey girls because they're always there for me even though they know I'm a little crazy. I'm so happy that you guys are there for me even though I'm not physically present in the Jersey and I hope you know that if you need me for anything, I'm an email, a skype call or a phone call away. I miss you all immensely!!
I'm so thankful I have Endira here in Rome because I have someone to talk to and show me around the city and just because she's awesome in general. And I'm very thankful for this teaching position and my fellow teachers because they are fantastic and hilarious. We make quite the team. What would I do without the suggestions and reminders to bundle up? What would I do without the camraderie? Probably go nuttier than I already am. :D
This year, I'm finally back in Italy and I'm so happy to be here. I'm so thankful to have been offered this opportunity. Teaching is difficult. It's a challenge. It makes me tired. But it's so rewarding and fun even if I don't have a lot of free time.
Actually, my lack of free time also means that I won't be celebrating Thanksgiving with all the fixings tonight.  I'm working till 8:30 and won't have time to cook so I'm having a delayed celebration on Saturday night. I'm cooking with Endira as my sous chef for about 10 or 11 of our friends. We're introducing Thanksgiving to some Brits and to some Italians and it's going to be an amazing.   We're having a pretty traditional feast and I'm really looking forward to cooking a couple of dishes that I've never made before.
For the most part I'm cooking and Endira is going to help. But a couple of friends will be bringing side dishes too. I love that sharing and coming together is part of this fantastic holiday. Honestly, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday all year long.

So this years menu is mostly traditional with a couple of twists mostly because I don't like following recipes and because I can't find everything I would like to prepare here... Italy does not celebrate Thanksgiving so it can be hard to find things like Turkey and cranberries.

Appetizers:
Butternut Squash Soup
Stuffed Mushrooms
Salad

Main Course: 
Roasted Turkey with Apple Cider Gravy and Roasted Potatoes 
String bean salad
Berry Relish (sadly I haven't found cranberries)
Garlic Mashed Potatoes (made by friends
2 kinds of Stuffing (made by friends)
Grandma's Artichokes

Dessert: 
Apple Pie with a cookie crust 
Pumpkin Pie
Tiramisu (made by a friend)

I'm so excited by all of this food and so thankful to have people to share it with. I'll keep you all updated about recipes and post some pictures after the actual meal too!!

I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season filled with family, friends, food and laughter!!

 

 

Recipe: Rigatoni alle melenzane, Eggplant Rigatoni

I really wanted to make eggplant parmesan the other day. Eggplant, mozzarella, sauce and parmesan cheese all baked together to the perfect consistency. You really can't go wrong.
I had the fresh eggplant from the market, pamesan cheese and a tomato base but I was missing mozzarella, egg and bread crumbs to make the perfect "parmigiana".  I wanted to go to the store right after work, but sadly by the time I got back to my area, it was already after 8 and sadly the supermarkets in my area (and in a lot of residential areas in Italy) close at 8pm on the dot. So with no supermarkets open I decided to improvise. I decided to make a dish similar to the sicilian "rigatoni alle melanzane" or eggplant rigatoni. I tried it once, a long time ago in Sicily and I really enjoyed it so I decided to finally try my hand... without looking up a recipe. I decided to work from memory and intuition and everything worked out really well actually.

Now, doesn't that look good?

Ingredients:
1 long thin eggplant
1/2 lb pasta (or enough for whoever you're serving... there were 2 of us)
1 jar of tomato puree (I believe the jar is about 500 grams)
1/2 onion
salt and pepper
1 dried red pepper
oregano and rosemary to taste

Thinly slice your onions and put to the side. Thinly slice your eggplant into rounds. Sprinkle each with a little salt and let sit for a few minutes. The salt should bring some of the water out of the eggplant making it easier to cook.
Put some oil into a pan and heat over a low heat. Sweat the onions and then add your eggplant. The eggplant will absorb a lot of oil so you may have to add some more. Let the eggplant cook slowly until just tender. Add your tomato puree and mix well. Put about a half a cup of water into the jar and swish to get remaining sauce of the sides of the jar. Pour into the sauce pan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then add in about a half a teaspoon of both oregano and rosemaryand 1 dried red pepper sliced into very thin slivers. If you like a lot of heat don't remove the seeds.  Let simmer for about a half an hour, until the sauce has reduced down a bit and the eggplant is cooked through.  I would recommend covering your pan to avoid some of the mess from splatter.
When you've put your sauce to the side to reduce, boil water and prepare your pasta according to the packaging.
When everything is ready you can serve the pasta with a heaping portion of sauce and some parmesan cheese. You can also serve it all mixed together depending on your preference.  It tasted delicous.