Maggie's Farm

We are fortunate to have a pasta shop nearby. They make fresh daily, and make takeout meals too.

While I have never seen any meaningful difference between dried spaghetti, linguine, and things like that, fresh ravioli and gnocchi do matter.  These Italian guys make excellent ravioli (many varieties, from pumpkin to mortadella, to cinghiale) and the fluffiest gnocchi.

Last night Mrs. BD decided to cook up a nice Italian supper for her Dad who had just been allowed to leave the old folk's home. I think it was also in gratitude to me for getting rid of at least a third of my stuff (excess boots, clothing, etc.) as we slowly move back into our refurbished living quarters. I noticed that lockdowns for old folks are terrible for them. They lose muscle and balance. For no reason, at this point.

Apperitivo:  Olives and marinated artichoke hearts.

Primo: Fresh gnocchi with gorgonzola cream sauce

Secondo: Trieste-style Osso Bucco. It's different.   

Vino:  All I had around was some Pinot. I do not have a wine cellar. 

It's a favorite of diving ducks, and of mine. The US lacks tiny European clams and cockles, but we have Cherrystones - small clams.

Clams, shrimp, squid, scallops, mussels. It's the seafood broth that makes it: Seafood Risotto (Risotto ai Fruitti di Mare)

Best idea is to go to an Italian seaport town, and ask for it. 

Some random norceria, cheese, bread, a glass of wine, and thou

And other amazing holiday hot Hors D'oevres

In recent weeks, I have posted lots of Italian food in Italy. 

Without wanting to be a food snob (I am not a "foodie" - I like burgers and pulled pork), I need to explain again that Italian-American food is not to be found in Italy. The latter is an invention mostly by immigrants from southern Italy who were trying to make do. They used lots of pasta to fill people up, same as they did at home. Not a bad invention.

But, for example, try a pizza in Italy. Inedible. A pizza in NYC can be amazing.  

Depending on where you live in the US, "Italian" can mean entirely different things. Generally-speaking, the fancier the restaurant the better unless you love red sauce. I have made the effort to post some real Italian food here on Maggie's over recent weeks. Northern Italian I suppose. I avoid any tomato sauce. I can make southern Italian killer "pasta fazool." Even Mrs. BD says it's better than her Neapolitano grandmother used to make for her grandfather.

This does not really explain it:  Italian-American cuisine

Since we are approaching Christmas, check out our old post about Italian Christmas Eve food. Fried baccala - great. The feast of the seven fishes. I can't find my own old link right now.

The Atlantic Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) lives from the Northeast US down all the way through the Texas coast.

They grow faster and larger in the south, and, in my view, are tasteless.  In fact, they need to be cooked with something to be any good at all.

Our Wellfleet Oysters are the best in the world, raw on the shell. Some afficionadoes call it "merroir," like terroir with grapes: These oysters grow slowly in mostly cold water, are splashed twice daily with fresh water from the Herring River, and spend low tide in the air. A rare combination of things. They are generally not too large.

Due to demand, they are farmed now in commercial oyster beds, although my father-in-law and I have had some fun snagging a bag of them at low tide because there are still some wild ones. (Wear sneakers.) Don't go near the commercial beds or they might kill ya.

Blue Points are second best, but not perfect.  The history of the Wellfleet Oyster

Finishing up my documentation of some real Italian food from our trip last month. This was a cool supper in Siena. (as I have said, Mrs. and I split each course. We want the tastes.)

We observed that when guys go out for a fun supper together, they have Tuscan steak, cooked rare. They dig into it with gusto, sloshed down with Tuscan wines. Then gnaw the bone. I've had it twice over the years, and it does not compare with a Costco ribeye. 

Our Primo: Poached egg on a cheese fondue with crispy leeks - and a fried pumpkin blossom:

A second primo: Chickpea puree with a chunk of cod, and pancetta. Pancetta is good with cod.

Secondo: Roast Pigeon with foie gras. A little bed of potato puree in the middle. Wow - pigeon is good. It is red meat, like goose.

In parts of Italy (northern, mainly) mashed potatoes are a common accompaniment. I happen to be a big fan of them. Anyway, we happened to have a lunch on the Campo in Siena with some mashed with both courses by happy accident. Classic Italian food:

Primo: Artichoke Pie (wow-good) which came with a little side of mashed. That's pancetta on top of the goat cheese on top of the pie.

Secondo: Cinghiale stew with a side of mashed

Nice lunch. Yes, we share them so it's not as much as it seems. Whatever we order, we split each course. Restaurants are fine with that.

Turkey Hash is pretty good, and so is turkey soup (for which I am boiling a stock from one of the carcasses right now with water, onions, garlic, celery, parsley, herbs, etc - we fight over the carcasses and bones like jackals), but the main reason people in my family cook so many turkeys at Thanksgivings is for the sandwiches for a few days after.

Here's how I make them:

White bread
Smear of mayo on one slice of bread
Smear of cold congealed turkey gravy on the other slice
Slice or two of left-over turkey, white or dark meat (I like the dark)
Generous spoonful of my cranberry sauce
Generous spoonful of turkey stuffing
Salt and pepper

Squoosh the sides of bread together, and cut in half with a sharp knife. Then eat with a glass of beer. Delicious.

Then take a little nap.

How I make turkey stock:

Throw into a large stock pot a whole or chopped turkey carcass, leg bones, wings, etc. Not a bad idea to break the bones with a cleaver and/or to roast the carcass first so some of the bones brown. Cover with water. Take a bunch of celery, carrots, onions and garlic. Chop very roughly with skins on - do not peel - and sautee in butter or cooking oil until browned. (The skins add color and flavor) Then toss them into the pot. Add some cut-up raw potatoes, skins on. Throw in some salt, whole peppercorns. Then parsley, thyme, a little sage and marjoram. A little sugar. A bottle of white wine in there is optional.  Simmer for 5-8 hours, adding water as needed. Then strain. That's a tasty turkey stock. It's man-cooking.

One interesting thing we noticed about Italians is how they go out to dine. Yes, they do that frequently. But we noticed that it tends to be groups of men, and groups of women. Small groups and large groups. Gregarious people who love to go out with pals and have a good time.

Any time we saw couples they seemed to be tourists or young lovers. But young lovers do not eat much of course. One more "real Italian" dinner we had in Siena, before Thanksgiving week when it's different foods.

Primi: Poached egg with goat cheese fondue and caramelized leeks

Second primi (yeah, we share each course): Chickpea puree with a hunk of cod, with crispy pancetta:

And more amazing, rare roast pigeon with some roasted corn and mushrooms, with a fig sauce drizzle. That's Italian:

It's not just for turkey. I have a friend who will not eat chicken without it. Excellent with pheasant too.

This has a zippy flavor:  No-cook cranberry sauce. 

It's the time of year when I stock up on bags of Cranberries and throw them in the freezer.

The canned cranberry "sauce" pictured is garbage. It's just congealed sweetened cranberry juice.

The recipe on the Ocean Spray bags is pretty good, but I cut the sugar they recommend in half. It's nothing but water, fresh or frozen berries, and sugar.

Better yet for Thanksgiving, game, and even chicken, is Cranberry-Orange Relish. Raw berries and an orange. Thanks to the mother-in-law for introducing me to this tangy thing years ago.

A great food, the Cranberry. I love to put them in pancakes (the combination of the sweetness of the maple syrup and the tartness of the cranberries is perfect).

Here's our old post on Cranberry Season and the Heart.

Funny thing about Cranberries: not many animals or birds like to eat them. Maybe bears? I've seen Box Turtles take a bite out of one, but I've never seen anything else eat them. I love Cranberries, as long as they aren't cooked too sweet. Here's a tiny Massachusetts Cranberry bog, flooded for harvest:

 Here's how it's done on a larger scale:

If driving around southern Tuscany, you might want to stop by and see the hilltop fortress the Sienese built against the threat of the Florentines.

Cool little fortress, but it was all silly then. Chess moves. The fortress was a rook. We split a nice snack up there: A pistachio crepe. Amazing. Ever had one? That is Italian. Mrs. BD, who loves to drive in Italia, had a Coke and I had a glass of Chianti.

I like to drive in Italy too, but she just loved to drive that Citroen.

A good supper in a cool cafe (Etruria) in Volterra. As usual, we showed up as the first customers at 7 but the place filled up at 8. It was chilly so we sat inside. No big COVID deal in Italy.

Our Primo: Gnocchi with a pumpkin and sausage sauce. Far tastier than the photo looks. I had a glass or two of Brunello:

Secondo: Roast Cinghiale with a dolceforte sauce (vinegar + chocolate) on a bed of fried polenta, with a cotorno of canellini beans in some tasty broth because they had no spinach that night. Spinach sauteed in oil and garlic is one of my favorites with a secondi, but the beans were just fine.

Go for a nighttime stroll after and get lost as usual. But this can be found. Go for the pistachio:

For dinners, Mrs. BD and I typically order one antipasto, one primo, and one secondo, and share them. That way, many tastes but no gluttony. Sometimes we skip one of the courses. The primi are usually small and tasty (one or two pasta dishes are usually among the primi, never a Secondi - meaning meat course).

Typically a nice dinner for both of us will run around 50-55 Euros, not including a glass or two of wine. Tip? In Euroland, 10% is more than enough.

I plan to do an Italian food post one of these days, but for starters here's a pic of a restaurant's offerings in Volterra. If your Italian is terrible, Pasta al Nero is squid with a squid ink sauce. We will try a pasta as a primo on rare occasions, and only if it seems unique:

Desserts in Italy are not worth it. If you need a sweet, grab a gelato on the street. Or a lemon ice, which the Italians learned from the Arabs who, remarkably, imported the snow and ice from the Alps.

Tiramisu seems to be a popular Italian dessert. I think it's ok, but I rarely eat dessert anywhere.  I had one gelato (coffee) in Italy, and it was disappointing.

The guy who invented Tiramisu in the 1970s has died. 

Yes, you can make it at home but it's always better in a diner.

Many things taste better in a diner, especially breakfast after church.

One of my daughters and her pal caught 12 Porgies this morning from the boat. It is Porgie season in New England.

Last night I made a bowl of Peach salsa from our peaches to accompany Indian take-out, and Mrs. BD made a peach pie (yeah, she always makes her own crust - rolls them out with her grandma's rolling pin). 

Thing about peaches is, for cooking, best if they are firm and far from ripe. For salsa, not ripe but slightly softer and crunchy like an apple. A skewer of hard peach chunks on a grill makes them perfect.

For fresh peach chutney that you don't want to bother canning (I am done with canning - it's a pain), you want to use unripe fruit. Just cook it up and put it in the fridge. Peach salsa and peach chutney go with everything, but especially shrimp and fish. And Porgies.

I told you that in Sicily last Spring we had Parsley Pesto (with grilled swordfish) and Pistachio Pesto (with grilled pork), but we never saw a Basil Pesto. They do love their Pistachios in Sicily - they use them with everything. We brought a small, overpriced jar of pistachio pesto home, but it's fairly easy to make.

"Pesto" means something that is pestado - pounded or ground up, as in English "pestle and "paste." Walnut-Parsley is a popular combination. Also, fresh mint pesto. The Cuisinart is what made Pesto easy. 

More: Move out the way, basil. Cheese + nuts + olive oil + garlic + whatever the hell you want = awesome pesto.

Pesto is for seafood, vegetables, noodles.  

Readers know that we love Italy and Italian cuisine but we do not much care for pasta dishes as Primi - with a handful of exceptions. For one thing, I find tomato sauce to be close to disgusting which might make me a food snob and, for another, I find pasta to be a generally unpleasant experience except in very small amounts.  I deserve some credibility because we have eaten our way through Italy from the Alps to the southern coast of Sicily.

Truth is, the cuisine of the Mezzogiorno is not exactly wonderful. Sicily, unlike southern Italy, is not big on pasta (more couscous and rice), but they make a few pasta Primis that are not bad: alla Norma, con le Sarde, and con Vongole (in order, with eggplant, with fresh Sardines, and with Little clams or cockles.

(The northern Italian pasta Primis I have liked have been Pappardelle con Funghi (only Porcinis)  and alla Bolognese. Given a choice, I'd often prefer a gorgonzola risotto sprinkled with a red wine reduction instead. Or a small bowl of steamed mussels with wine and herbs.)

Reminder: In Italian cooking, Pasta and tons of other things serve as Primi, meant to be small amounts of tasty first courses before the meat or fish Secondi.

When I think of Sicilian food I think first of eggplants, lemons, grilled pork and seafood, and couscous.

Sicily grows lots of eggplant and it is used in lots of their poverty cooking. Many people think alla Norma is wonderful but I think it is just OK, in small amounts.

Here's a recipe. Try it for yourself.