Ciao Italia!

We’re going to Italy.

In just over a month, Isaac and I, and my entire family, will be winging our separate ways over the Atlantic to the land of wine, cheese, cured meats and truffles. We’ll be shacking up in a little house in a hill town in Umbria for a week, and then the two of us will spend a few more days, over Easter, exploring Florence, Tuscany and Rome.

To say I am excited is one of the greatest understatements of all time.

I haven’t been to Italy in nearly two decades, and that trip was less than ideal. The tour operator was a proud graduate of some Soviet-era apparatchik machine. Rather than floating through Italy on a cloud of culture and food, we plodded from ruin to museum on a bus, like weary soldiers on a forced march.

Upon reaching our destination,the tour guide would bark at us to enjoy the culture and then herd us back onto the bus. We would then be driven back to our cold, grey hostel were we were fed cold, grey meat and told to go to bed.

My memories of that trip involve hunger, sore feet, cold, snow and a rain.

That is, until we befriended the bus driver. He was an older gentleman with wild, movie star hair, golden skin and sparkling blue eyes. One day, as we were being herded back to the bus in Florence, I spotted him lolling on a fountain surrounded by a bevy of the most beautiful women, all at least half his age, flipping their hair and tinkling with laughter.

My friend Brian, whose family was Italian and thus spoke the language, noticed him too (but I suspect he mostly noticed the ladies) and began chatting with him. The bus driver felt sorry for us. He hated the tour guide as much as we did, and so he started instructing us, through Brian, in ways to ditch her. Our bus driver fomented rebellion.

And suddenly, there it was! Beautiful, romantic, cultured, delicious, wonderful, perfect Italia. No cold, grey, sanitized, Disney-fied, fig-leaf covered, flag-bearing-tour-guide-approved Italy.

Nope.

Suddenly there was gelato and grappa, cute waiters and spicy tomato sauces, bare feet in the Adriatic and hidden galleries in Venice. We were free, and it felt delicious. But alas, this new found freedom came at the very end of our ten-day stay.

I can’t wait to get back to this Italy. I want to try and find that delicious pizzeria in Assisi again, the one that clings to the side of the twisty road down the side of a sheer cliff, to climb once more to the top of that hill in Florence for the perfect view of the Duomo, to again dash madly across a Roman avenue without being squished by a roaring lorry, to sit in a palazzo and sip espresso as the sun sets.

Oh Italy!

But of course, what I really can’t wait for is the food. I’ve read that it will still be truffle season in Umbria. And we’ll be eating dinner each night at the house, so shopping at the local markets will actually be a fruitful activity. We’ll be able to buy vegetables and fish and meats and condiments and not just buy bread and cheese to eat while perched on a wall or on a ferry between islands (which, let’s be honest, isn’t the end of the world and I would gladly do every day of my life for eternity).

In anticipation, I have become even more obsessed with Italian food than usual.

On Saturday night I whipped up Paula Wolfert‘s Acqua Cotta di Maremma (aka Olive Oil Soup from Maremma) and the World’s Best Braised Escarole. On Sunday night we made Short Rib Ragu with pappardelle (which came out perfect, unlike last time, thanks to you guys).

It’s all I can think about. Sugo and cinghiale and lenticchie and tartuffo and porchetta and strangozzi. Is it March yet?

But what I really want to know is if you guys have any suggestions for things to do and places to see in Umbria? We’ll have a car and just under a week, so all suggestions are welcome.

As they say in Italy, grazie!

Head below the jump for the recipes for World’s Best Braised Escarole, Acqua Cotta di Maremma and Short Rib Ragu.

World’s Best Braised Escarole

prep time: 10 minutes ~ cooking time: 20 minutes

• Olive Oil
• 6 cloves of Garlic, sliced
• 2 buches of Escarole, washed, but not dried and torn into bite-sized pieces
• Salt
• 1/3 c Dry Vermouth
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
• Sherry Vinegar
• Garlic Butter or Butter + 1 small clove of Garlic passed through a garlic press
• Grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Heat the olive oil over a medium-high flame in a high sided sautée pan. Add the garlic and cook just until becoming golden. Quickly pile all the escarole into the pan, season with a good pinch of salt and pour over the vermouth, lemon juice and a healthy splash of sherry vinegar. Clamp the lid on and cook until completely wilted. Take the lid off and cook until the liquid is nearly reduced, turn off the flame, add the butter and stir to incorporate. Serve topped with grated cheese. Enjoy!

Acqua Cotta di Maremma (Olive Oil Soup from Maremma)

prep time: 10 minutes ~ cooking time: 45 minutes

• 1/2 c Olive Oil
• 2 handfuls fresh Sage leaves, washed and dried
• 1 Onion, sliced
• 6 cloves Garlic, sliced
• 1 c frozen Fava Beans
• 1/2 c Celery, diced
• 1 c Carrots, diced
• 6-8 frozen Artichoke Hearts, quartered
• 1 dried hot Chile, crumbled
• 6 c Water
• 1 c frozen Peas
• 1 Egg per person
• 1 chunk of Stale Bread or Garlic-flavored crouton per person
• Grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Scatter the sage, onion and garlic on the bottom of a heavy dutch oven or casserole. Cover with the oil. Turn on the flame to medium-low and allow the ingredients to cook slowly until fragrant, 5-10 minutes. Turn the heat to high and the favas, celery, carrots, artichoke hearts and chile. Cook a few minutes then add the water and bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Cook 30 minutes. Add the peas and once they are heated through carefully drop in the eggs to poach. Allow to cook a few minutes then turn off the flame. Place a chunk of stale bread in the bottom of each person’s bowl. Carefully fish out an egg per person and place on the bread or crouton and ladle soup over. Serve with a generous sprinkling of cheese. Enjoy!

Short Rib Ragu

prep time: 20 minutes ~ cooking time: 3 hours

Cook’s Note: This recipe makes enough for at least 6 people, so adjust amounts accordingly or save some for freezing.

• Oil
• 4 Beef Short Ribs
• 2 Onions, sliced
• 3 Cubanelle or Italian Roaster Peppers, chopped
• 1 Fennel bulb, chopped
• 8 Garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 c Red Wine
• 1/4 c Balsamic Vinegar
• Boquet Garni
• 1 large can San Marzano Tomatoes and their juice
• Water
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 large bunches Red Chard, washed and torn into bite sized pieces
• Fresh Pasta, preferably pappardelle (wide ribbons) and preferably homemade
• salted, boiling Water

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Heat a glug of oil in a heavy-bottomed, oven-proof dutch oven with a lid. Add the short ribs and brown both sides well, starting with the meaty side.

When brown, turn off the flame and remove the ribs to a roasting pan. Place in the oven.

Add the onions, peppers, fennel and garlic cloves to the dutch oven. Turn the flame back on to medium. Cook the vege until becoming soft at least 15 minutes. Turn the heat up to high and add the wine and vinegar. Reduce by about half. Add the herbs and tomatoes. Mix well and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer.

Turn the oven down to 325°F. Carefully remove the pan with the ribs and move the ribs into the sauce, nestling them into the tomatoes as much as possible. Add water to the sauce to ensure the meat is mostly covered. Bring to a low simmer. Turn off the heat. Put the lid on the dutch oven and transfer to the oven.

Cook for 2 1/2-3 hours. The meat should be meltingly tender and falling off the bone.

Once the meat is done, carefully remove it and the bones from the sauce and set aside. Turn off the oven. Skim as much fat as possible from the surface of the sauce. Carefully bring the sauce to a simmer over a medium-low flame, season with salt & pepper.

When the meat is cool enough to touch, shred it. Add the chard and cook until wilted and tender. Add the meat back into the sauce and turn off the flame. Cook the pasta in plenty of salted, boiling water. When ready, drain. Serve a few scoops of the sauce over a mound of pasta with some grated cheese. Enjoy!

P.S. The leftover sauce is astoundingly good with a little bit of crème fraîche stirred into and eaten with a big hunk of good bread and a lovely glass of red wine as an after-work dinner on a bone chilling, snowy, sleety Tuesday night.

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