Restaurant Review: Ristorante Antico Carlone

Two Saturdays ago for lunch, I got to try a wonderful little restaurant called Ristorante Antico Carlone.  It’s in Trastevere which is a lovely part of Rome on the other side of the river. The restaurant is a little out of the way and a little hard to find but it is authentically Roman.  My friend’s father treated us and it was a really great afternoon of food and conversation.

The restaurant was small and quaint and once lunch got rolling it was quite bustling with sounds and smells.  Our waiter (and quite possibly the owner) was very friendly and I thought quite funny… but also quite slow. It’s a good thing that we weren’t in a hurry (honestly when eating in Italy, it’s best never to be in a hurry, because inevitably the waiters will take their time).

When we sat down we only one menu so I asked for another. Our waiter brought exactly one another menu…  I was amused and a little perplexed. Next time I’ll just have to be more specific with my Italian. Honestly, I’m not sure if it was a linguistic issue on my part or a logic issue on his part. Either way I thought it was kind of funny. 

In any case, on to the food!!

Endira ordered “carciofi alla giudea” for us to share. They are a specialty in Rome that originally

Sorry, not the best picture. It was prettier in person.

stemmed from the Jewish Ghettos hence the name alla giudea. I love artichokes prepared most ways and these were no different. They were quite delicious. These artichokes were on the smaller side and fried whole, stem and all. The looked beautiful on the plate, like roses just in bloom.  The nice thing about these artichokes is that you can literally eat the whole of it. It’s not as time consuming as the artichokes that I’ve always made where you can only eat part of each leaf and then have a plate full of the remaining carcasses. I ate every last bit, stem and all.  The leaves were crisp with a hint of salt while the heart was soft with a bit of the artichoke’s natural sweetness.  I could eat ten of them… In fact, I may very well do that at some point, if I ever learn how to make them at home. 

I also tried cicoria or chicory for the first (I’m writing up a blog about it as we speak!). It was delicious. Cicoria is a wonderful Roman specialty that I had never seen before even when living in Italy. It’s similar to spinach but with a greater depth of flavor and a hint of bitterness. In Rome it is usually boiled briefly and then sautéed in oil with garlic, salt and occasionally red pepper flakes.  This particular chicory was pretty bitter but I liked it, even though it didn’t include red pepper flakes. Since then, I’ve tried more chicory where the bitterness has been less present. 

mmm Cacio e Pepe

For my main course, I tried the Cacio e Pepe, another Roman specialty. It used Tonnarelli  which is a thicker noodle similar to spaghetti found in Rome. Cacio e Pepe itself is a super simple dish but amazingly tasty dish.  It is pasta with lots of pepper and Cacio a type of pecorino cheese.  The cheese melts down and coats the noodle entirely. I had tried it once before in NYC at a restaurant called Cacio e Pepe down near the village.  At this restaurant I really enjoyed the hardiness of the tonnarelli  and the bold flavor of the cacio. The flavors were really well balanced with just the right amount of bite.

Endira and her father both got meat seconds and those als looked delicious. I took a bite of Endira’s veal scaloppini and it was quite tender in a lovely lemon sauce.  Our only complaint was how long it took to arrive. The veal arrived at least 15 minutes after everything else hit the table. In theory, this was because it takes a while to cook, but I’m more inclined to think that our waiter forgot to put the order in.

Overall I liked the restaurant  and I think I’ll definitely go again to try some of the house specialties which seemed really interesting and unique.

Recipe: Pork Marsala

Let me start by saying that I don’t know how to make marsala… or better, I didn’t know I could make marsala. 

When I started cooking the other night I simply thought I was going to make a crispy pork served with sautéed mushrooms.  Endira was going to make her salad and I was going to make a simple (mayoless) potato salad. 

Somehow or other I made a Pork marsala, or at the very least something that tasted very similar.  Endira loved it and said that it was “restaurant quality”. I don’t know if I would go that far, but the sauce was creamy without being heavy with a nice, crisp, refreshing bite from the wine.

And it was also surprisingly simple to make.

Pork Marsala

Ingredients:

4 thinly cut slices of fresh pork (you can use a thicker cut, just sauté on each side for a few minutes longer)*

½ cup flour

Red pepper flakes

Basil

Salt and black pepper

Olive oil

500- 1000 grams of sliced mushrooms

1-2 cups  white wine (marsala if you want authenticity)

Coat your pork with a light drizzling of olive oil. This will help the breading stay on the pork but won’t be as heavy as an egg wash. Then pour your flour into a small bowl and mix in salt, pepper, basil and red pepper flakes to taste. I tend to be a little heavy handed with this because I like a lot of flavor but you can use less and still wind up with delicious pork.  My general rule of thumb is

Just a hint of golden brown

that you should be able to see bits of spices evenly dispersed in your flour when it’s mixed. 

Dredge the pork in the flour mixture. Make sure each piece is completely and evenly covered. 

Coat your pan** with a layer of oil and heat over a medium flame. When the oil is hot, place your pork carefully in the pan. If the oil is hot enough there will be some sizzle. Depending on how thick your pork is, you should cook for a minute or 2 on each side. I was cooking thin pieces so they didn’t need much time at all. The edges should be golden by the time cooking is done (a thicker piece will be golden brown all over). The flour should really help hold in the moisture. 

When cooked through, place on a paper towel to cool and collect any excel oil.

At this point, you’ll notice that the oil is cloudy from excess flour. It’s supposed to be, so add in your mushrooms. Sauté for a minute or so. If you see that the oil is almost gone, add in another drizzle of olive oil.  In another minute, pour in the wine, a half cup at a time. I only used about a cup of wine and 500 grams of mushrooms because I was using a small pan. It was the perfect

Just starting to cook down the sauce

amount for 2 people.  If you’re cooking for more people use another cup of wine and at least 500 more grams of mushrooms. 

Stir continuously and add in about a ½ tsp of the remaining flour mixture if the sauce is looking thin.

When the mushrooms have rooked down some and the sauce has thickened (it should easily coat the back of a spoon) remove from the heat.

Serve on top of your pork with a generous heaping of mushrooms. We also served ours with a light potato side and a scrumptious salad with chick peas, tomatoes and cheese. 

This was so delicious. The pork practically melted in your mouth with the creaminess of the sauce. I was very pleased with how this little experiment turned out. 

It was a great meal to end a particularly long day of work.

*Note: This could easily be made with chicken or veal instead.

**Note: I would recommend making this in a deeper pan or a pot. It will stop the oil from splattering onto the stovetop. I used a small regular pan and made a bit of a mess. Also if you’re using a larger pan you can make all of your pork at once instead of in rounds like I had to.  

Vegetables and Markets

I mentioned open air markets a couple of weeks ago. They’re a great source of fresh produce across Italy.

In Acilia, where I work, the market is on Tuesday and Friday which works pretty well for my schedule. However’ there are dozens of markets that crop up across Rome (well, in most Italian cities) that are similar.

But what happens when you want fresh vegetables on days without an outdoor market in your area?

Well, there are 2 solutions.

1. Go to a regular supermarket. It’s not quite as fresh as the open air markets but it’s still really good. It can also be a little more expensive but sometimes there are more options because they have things that have been imported.
2. Otherwise there are small fixed vegetable/fruit markets. They specialize in fruits and vegetables. Everything is still very fresh and generally speaking, very cheap.

When I was staying with Endira, I went to a closed vegetable market and I bought a lb of green beans and 2 red peppers for €0.50 total.  Yeah… Vegetables can be that cheap.

I turned the green beans into a steamed side dish for two one evening and then sautéed the peppers to eat on salads and sandwiches. 

Such a good use of fifty cents!

Restaurant Review: La Taverna del West

So yesterday, I wrote about the beauty of eating regional Italian food. This, of course, was promptly after I ate at a non Italian restaurant with a friend of mine.
Three nights ago, after a long day of work, Endira and I decided to get the easiest, most convenient food available right by my train stop.  We decided to try La Taverna del West   Another friend had mentioned it had Mexican food and at the time, it seemed like a good idea. It is literally right under the train station near Basilica San Paolo (so not in center).

Cutte and yet, I just had to laugh...

Teepees in a restaurant... Yes, I wanted to sit there lol

The exterior and interior were decorated in a way that can only be descrived as stereotypically Old
Western, Texas, at the peak of cowboy and indian films.  I really enjoyed the decoration, certainly not for its accuracy, but because of the sense of fun. I really wanted to sit under one of the teepees.  We didn't simply because those were the tables for 4 or more.

The menu was an interesting compilation of traditional American food i.e. hamburgers, potato skins, onion rings etc, plus pizza, pasta and quite randomly Mexican.  Maybe because Texas and Mexico are close to one another?  I think they were trying to appeal to a diverse group of people, traditionalists and younger people alike.

Endira and I probably should have ordered hamburgers like all of the Italians but we weren't quite in the mood. Instead, we ordered a liter of beer (Carlsberg), potato skins and 2 burritos del sol.  The beer was quite refreshing and the first I've ordered since being back in Italy.  I usually drink wine so it was a nice change of pace.
The potato skins I rather enjoyed. They were served with sour cream (which is usually hard to find

in Italy) and guacamole which was quite good but strange to see served with potato skins. I think that the guacamole was probably not fresh avocado but a frozen or a premade mix. The cheese was delicious and melted perfectly while the potato was cooked well.  However, out of the 4 halves of potato only one had bacon on it. It had a lot of bacon on it, which was quite tasty... The rest of the potato would have benefitted from the moisture and flavor it provided.
The burritos were pretty good but nothing like a traditional burrito.

It didn't quite look like a burrito...

They were covered in melted cheese which reminded me more of enchiladas but I liked it with the cheese. It added to the overall flavor which was on the bland, heavy side.  The inside of the burrito on the menu was listed as chicken and an herbed tomato sauce.  I saw no traces of tomato on the inside but did find bits of unidentifiable vegetable that Endira thought was pepper and I thought might be zucchini... If it was pepper, it was severely overcooked. If it was zucchini, it was still slightly overcooked and I would wonder what it was doing in a burrito.  The chicken itself was juicy, and based on the consistency of the filling, I would guess also fried. There were also beans inside the burrito, not refried or black but some kind of red bean that I rather liked. It was served with a great salsa, guacamole, sour cream and plain lettuce. I covered my burrito with the extras and ate it all up. For a "Mexican burrito" it was rather bland, I would've preferred some kick of spice but I was hungry. The only thing I didn't eat was the yellow rice. It was undercooked and bland. It had a whiff of some random spice that I couldn't identify, but completely lacked salt.
I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. The food was okay but not great, and Endira did wind up with a stomach ache afterwards.  The food wasn't super authentic but maybe the hamburgers would be better.
However, it was guick and close to the train with a very friendly and helpful staff.  I will say, I was hungry and the food arrived quickly.
If you've been living abroad for more than a few months I would say give it a shot, because in a pinch it will cover a strong craving.
If you're just visiting for a short time as a tourist there are far better options. Definitely go for some of the Roman specialties.
In this post you'll find some suggestions of foods to look for on Roman menus.  If you're in center I highly suggest trying Cul de Sac and also keep an eye out as I write other reviews of restaurants here in Rome.

Foreign Food and Roman Specialties

Normally when I'm in Italy I don't eat much food that isn't Italian. I go out with my girls and we have Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Mexican food in the days before I leave so I can minimize the cravings once I'm here.  In the US, on a regular basis I eat foods from around the world. One of the nice things about NJ is that I've grown up with such a fantastic exposure to foods from different cultures.
I love food and I love trying all sorts of flavor combinations.
When in Italy, however, I generally stick to Italian food. There are a couple of distinct reasons for this. The first reason is simple. There are a majority of Italian restaurants. The kind of variety that exists in the North East specifically NYC and my area of North Bergen, does not exist around the globe. I hazard that it doesn't exist all over the United States either. Certain areas have a larger influx of immigrants and therefore have a larger availability of different cultural cuisine. Italy is no different in that sense.  Certain cities in Italy do have more availability of different types of food. For example Rome and even Florence have more Chinese, Japanese and Mexican available than in other parts of the country. They have larger populations of immigrants and tourists passing through and therefore have more availability of different foods. Rome is surprisingly filled with a lot of options for foreign food. That being said, there is still a majority of Italian restaurants even here.  Italians, I have found, tend to eat more Italian food. It is a deep part of their culture, unlike when you talk about food in the USA, which has less tradition and therefore more variety.  
Another reason that I don't often eat foreign foods while in Italy is because what does exist here does not taste like what we find in the US. It has been Italianized, just as most food in the states has been Americanized.  Because I grew up in New Jersey I like most of the Americanized versions better. Also, because many of my friends are of different nationalities I was fortunate enough to be able to try homemade Korean, Chinese, Japanese and various other cuisines.  Homemade is very different than what you find in any restaurant.
The other reason that I don't often eat foreign food in Italy is simply because I love trying new kinds of Italian food. there are countless regional specialties that we as Americans have never tried. We don't even know that they exist.
Most of the Italian food in the states has been Americanized and also comes from certain southern regions. We know some specific dishes from Naples, Sicily and Rome, but they are versions of those original dishes.  However, those are only 3 of 20 regions. each region has it's own speciaties and the majority have not made it stateside.
For example, Lazio, the region where Rome is located, has a ton of specialties that I didn't even know existed. All I had heard about was Spaghetti alla Carbona.  Who could forget the creamy egg based sauce rich with bacon? In Rome, they don't use bacon (bacon as we know it does not quite exist in Italy) but pancetta (pig's belly) or guanciale (pig's cheek).  Both are similar to bacon but are perhaps a little leaner.  However, there are lots of plates we rarely, if ever, see in the states

• Spaghetti al "Cacio e Pepe" - one of the most simple yet delicious dishes made with Pecorino "cacio", pepper and either olive oil or lard
• Bucatini alla Matriciana - this spaghetti like pasta has a hole through the middle and is served with a red sauce made with lard, bacon, onions, tomatoes, wine and Pecorino cheese 
• Tonnarelli alla Gricia - tonnarelli are a thicker kind of spaghetti and really compliment the hardiness of some of the Italian sauces, alla gricia is like the matriciana except it has no tomato base 
• Gnocchi alla Romana - these gnocchi are much larger than what we are used to in the states and are baked with butter, cheese and nutmeg
• Carciofi alla Giudia - fried artichokes, soft and tender on the inside and crispy on the outside, you can eat the entire thing and you should!!
• Carciofi alla Romana - baked with mint and garlic
• Suppli - are fried and breaded balls of rice in Bolognese sauce filled with mozzarella cheese (they have a Sicilian counterpart called arancini)
• Fiori di Zucca - deep fried Zucchini flower filled with mozzarella and anchovies, they are literally bursting with flavor
• Cicoria - 
• Porchetta - suckling pig roasted with laurel herb, garlic and black pepper, delicious on sandwiches and often found in markets
• Veal Saltimbocca (veal scallopine with ham and sage) - saltimbocca literally means "jump in your mouth" which is what should happen if it's prepared well, it is thinly sliced veal topped with ham and sage cooked in whit wine, butter and seasonings.
• Coda alla Vaccinara (Roman Oxtail Stew) - oxtail stew is one of the traditional preparations of sweetmeats in Rome, the offals are slowly cooked with vegetables, red wine, garlic and spices

I haven't tried all of it yet, but I'm certainly going to.  I have lots of time here in Rome, so I'm going to make the most of it, and my stomach will love me for it. Then, when I get a bit homesick or long for exotic flavors I'll try some of the foreign cuisine available to me here, or I'll just wait till I'm back stateside for Christmas.  

Recipe: Pesto Chicken and Potatoes with a light String Bean Salad

Since being in Italy I have cooked a few times.  Soon I will start cooking more. Before I was just trying to settle in and get used to my new life.
That being said, the few things I have managed to cook have come out really well.
My first week here I tested out a new recipe on Endira because she's awesome and will eat my experimentations (it generally works out for both of us because we split the groceries, I get company and she gets yummy home cooked food).
On my first weekend when I was still crashing at her place I made Pesto Chicken and potatoes with a light string bean salad. It was quite delicious and everything very tender. I will complain a bit about the string beans, but only because they were a particular Italian type and had a slightly different and tougher texture. Still they were good and fresh.

The finished product or "why Endira let's me cook" :) 

Ingredients:
4 or 5 chicken legs (fresh or fully defrosted)
4 medium sized potatoes
1/2 a large onion
1 lb string beans (enough for 3 medium servings
salt and pepper to taste
Pesto sauce (normally I would make my own but this time I cheated and got a ready made at the store)
oregano
Oil and vinegar
Red pepper flakes
1-2 cups water

Preheat your oven to 350°F.  Drizzle a small amount of olive oil into a round baking tin.  Cut your potatoes into small chunks and toss into the olive oil. Dice your onion and mix into the potatoes.  Season with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.  Don't overdo it on the salt, because the pesto from the chicken should have enough salt already.
Slather each chicken leg with 1 to 2 teaspoons of pesto. Make sure each drumstick is covered completely and lay on top of the potatoes.  Sprinkle with a little more red pepper flakes if you want some extra kick.
Cover the potatoes entirely with water and place in oven uncovered.  They should bake like this for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Check on the chicken every twenty minutes or so.  I didn't turn the chicken so one side got very crispy (without burning) and the inside retained a lot of moisture.
As for the string beans, bring a pot of water with a little salt to boil after cleaning the green beans. Boil for about 10 minutes but keep an eye on them, because they're start to loose their vibrant green if they cook for too long. Drain and immediately put into the fridge or into a cold bath of water so they stop cooking.  In a bowl dress with olive oil, a small amount of vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper.  I like to serve the string beans cool, but they're good warm as well.
Serve all together on the plate when the potatoes are fork tender!