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.

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.  

Restaurant Review: Via della Pace

One of my favorite Italian Restaurants in NYC

When I came back from Florence the first time 6 years ago, I didn't know what to do. I love Italian food, but it's so hard to find Italian food in the States that tastes like Italian food in Italy. There's a difference in the quality and freshness of ingredients as well as preparation. Most Italian food (like any food that comes from a different country) has been Americanized. Over time the food shifts with availability of ingredients and also adjusts to the palates of the majority. 

At first, I found this adjustment quite difficult. I wanted bufala mozzarella that tasted like the mozzarella in Florence.  I wanted things to be the same when it wasn't possible.  It's just the nature of going someplace different.  

But over time I was able to find certain restaurants, certain delis, that, although not exactly the same, were soo close to the food I found while in Italy.  My friends that had studied abroad and I finally found some places that we could really say were true to the Italian spirit of food.  One of those places was Via della Pace in NYC. It's on the lower East Side right off of 2nd Avenue almost directly across from the Pommes Frites. 

My friend Suzie found it and we have used it often as a fantastic reunion spot.  All of the food that I've tried is amazing and quite good for the cost. It is not super expensive but delicious. The flavors are big and fresh while the service is quite lovely.  The waitstaff is friendly and quick to give advice on wine pairings. They'll even bring samples for you to try.  

It also has a great atmosphere inside. The lighting is low and the tables are relatively close together but comfortable. The moment you sit down, there is bread to eat. The waitstaff will also bring some amazing olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip into while you wait for your food.  It's really relaxed and it is very enjoyable to eat there. No one rushes you out  but the food is served relatively quickly and hot. 

Rigatoni del Pirata

This past Sunday I introduced some of my non Italian friends to this little restaurant and they were quite pleased with the result.  We each ordered something different and then tried one anothers' dishes.  Everything was really, really good.  

I ordered the Rigatoni del Pirata which is baked rigatoni with sausage, mushroom and mozzarella.  It was my absolute favorite thing of the night and probably my favorite thing that I've ever ordered there. It was fresh and a little creamy with a slightly woodsy flavoring from the spices. I paired it with a great light red wine (not too dry) from Montepulciano. 

Ravioli d'Aragosta alla Vodka

My other favorite of the night was the fantastic Ravioli D'Aragosta alla vodka which was an utterly delicious ravioli filled with lobster and creamy ricotta served in a beautiful vodka sauce with red caviar.  I think I might be developing a lobster addicition. I never used to like it but very slowly as I try these new dishes, I love it more and more. These ravioli were perfect. They weren't too heavy with the perfect balance of lobster and cheese. The vodka sauce was also great without being too heavy.  

Fusilli al Pesto del Cinque Terra

Another friend tried the pesto which was light and creamy and surprisingly not too heavy on the basil. The asparagus in that pasta also added a nice crunch and surprise to such a traditional dish. The other surprise dish of the night was the Fettucine Mamma-Nonna Munda which is one of the restaurants signature dishes. I had never tried it before but it was fantastic.  It's homemade fettucine with a meat sauce and it's served with sausage and pork ribs.  The sauce was great and the pork ribs practically fell off the bone. My friends ate it all up!  

Fettucine Mamma-Nonna Munda

We feasted and still had a reasonable bill at the end of the night. Via della Pace also has a great dessert menu but we were so full from a day of munching that we decided to hold off until we could have a nice long walk to burn some calories and make some room.  I do remember some of my friends absolutely LOVE the tiramisu.  And I know they have a wonderful collection of after dinner drinks like amaro, limoncello and grappa!  I'll definitely take my friends back again and make sure they have some space for dessert and espresso!

A little Italian Reminiscence

I miss Italy, especially Florence. But too much. I can't even begin to explain how much Italy really became a part of me in the last 3 years. I studied, I taught English, I lived the life that I really wanted to live. And then, I had to come back to NJ. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be here, with my family and friends. But Italy calls to me...

Maybe it's the air. It's clean, less pollution in Florence than here in the states.
Then there's the atmosphere. The atmosphere is truely incredible. There's the art, the earth, the hills of Tuscany. The city is alive. The people are in constant motion but not like here. They don't run all over the place. Each Florentine moves calmly, at least until there's a soccer game or a historic soccer game. I have lots of Florentine friends now. They're incredible. They're all characters, funny, nice, kind, ridiculous and often very, very particular. I miss them a lot.

And then there's the food. That might be what calls to me the most, or maybe it was the first thing that called to me from childhood. I grew up in an Italian household and my grandmother cooked up traditional Neapolitan fare. I learned later on that my grandmother's style of cooking was particular to her region and then occassionally influenced by American cuisine.
As Americans we often imagine that Italian food is exactly like what we find in Italian-American restaurants. We have this vision of a homogenized food that remains the same through the small peninsula. In reality there are 20 regions in Italy, and each region has its own completely unique dishes. Here in the states we most commonly think of lasagna, pasta alfredo (a plate that doesn't actually exist in true Italian cuisine), eggplant and chicken parmigian, pastas, ravioli, bruschetta.
These plates exist in portions of Italy, but there are so many more dishes as well.

If you look at Florence, there are some wonderful plates that are rarely if even seen in the states. There is bread made without salt especially to dip into sauce and clean your plate. There are unforgettable starters like "crostini fiorentini" which are chicken liver pate over grilled bread, crostini with black cabbage, and "pazanella" which is a bread salad made with tomatoes, fennel and other fresh vegetables. For first courses there are a ton of different types of risotto and pastas that don't exist in the US (mostly because the Italian food here is generally southern based). There are dishes like "pappa al pomodoro" which is stale bread cooked in fresh tomato sauce, "ribollita" also made with stale bread but cooked with broth and vegetables, polenta (similar to grits) with black cabbage, "cannelloni" a pasta shell with a ricotta based filling sometimes with spinach, and "pappardelle sulla lepre" a broad based noodle with a hare (rabbit) sauce. The second plates are superior. There's Florentine Steak, which you should absolutely order "al sangue", rare to medium rare. There's also "cinghiale" wild boar, grilled fillet, "lampredotto" which is stomach lining (I know, as Americans, first thought, gross but trust me, it's delicious, if a little heavy).
There are even more delicious options but I have to stop, I'm seriously starting to get hungry... And since it's not possible to eat most of these dishes in Jersey, it's best I stop. ;)

The list of food to try in Italy is long. Each region has its own specialties but what I remember most about eating in Italy is the freshness of the food. In restaurants, supermarkets, all of the food is super fresh. Each vegetable has a taste. Here in the states, I can't find the same tastes, the same freshness.
Until I was 19 I didn't eat tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant, stringbeans, asparagus, pumpkin, ect. ect. Honestly, let's just say that the list of what I wouldn't eat was considerably longer than what I did eat. And then I went to Florence for a year with SLC and I lived with a Florentine family. I loved living with them and ate with them each night. In that year, I learned how to appreciate almost all of the food that I didn't like before. In part I liked to eat the food because my host mom was a great cook but also because each vegetable was actually delicious. It had the right texture. Nothing grown in mass, nothing with a ton of chemicals. Very little is imported from far or frozen for prolonged periods.

The food was delicious. Cooking is an art appreciated by all. I couldn't make a mistake with any of the food there.
Here I often eat vegetables with less taste (or overseasoned to compensate for the lack of natural vegetable taste)  or food cooked quickly. There is an entirely different approach to food and the culture of food.

--Raspberry Truffle