Italy October 2006 It’s definitely true that Italians know how to eat well. Very well, which makes it difficult for me to pick just one food story for the telling from my fall trip to this wonderful country. Even a trip to the beach can be a culinary adventure!
Much of the west coast of Italy is steep and rocky. Wine dark sea meets horizontal rock wall to make just getting to the beach an adventure. A combination of narrow cobbled switchbacks and steps descend several hundred feet from the streets of Sorrento past ancient crèches. There’s not much sandy beach down there so the ingenious Italians have built wide boardwalks on pilings. For several Euros you can sit here in a beach chair in the sun all day and cool off in the salty extra buoyant Bay of Naples as necessary.
And then there is lunch. Tiny seaside kitchens turn out amazing meals right there on the boardwalk. On one visit I ordered potato gnocchi in tomato sauce that really rocked the casbah. The fluffy little pillows of potato had a hint of nutmeg and were briefly baked in a fresh tomato sauce laced with cheese. What do they do to those tomatoes to make them taste so good? Shredded basil added little treats for the nose and eye. Mango gelato followed, but that’s another story.
Spring 2006 Visit to Portland
Portland in the spring is a green and pastel jewel of the Pacific Northwest. Last month I joined its casual, original residents, smug in their conviction that they have picked one of the best spots on earth to live the life they love, as they cruised the sunlit streets. One of my favorite discoveries from this trip was the a la nage halibut served at Bleu, Western Culinary Institute’s student run restaurant.
I enjoyed the halibut so much at lunch; I brought my daughter back for dinner the next day. At Bleu, light pores into the crisp simply decorated interior where you can watch Portland pass by as you dine. The servers were genuine, food savvy young people who seemed truly interested in our every dining need.
The a la nage poaching technique is usually applied to fish. A fillet is gently poached in court bouillon, and then served in a pool of the bouillon on top of some of the poaching vegetables. The halibut was cooked to a perfect pouty doneness, the liquid subtly delicious and the leeks and carrots still had life and flavor. I’ll post my version in the recipe section on this site soon.
Christmas in the Tropics 2004
“What ingredients make up the recipe for a culture? What does a city or state taste like? What is the flavor of Yucatan?” *
My daughter and I spent Christmas of 2004 on my favorite stretch of white sand beach, just south of Cancun, Mexico, where the hardest choice of the day is whether to continue lazing in the sun or drive to Taluum to shop for alebrijes (above). Next on the list are food choices.
Yucatecan cuisine is a delicious mixture drawn from ancient Mayan, Spanish and French traditions with a little Caribbean spice. Fresh local ingredients like red achiote spice, bitter orange and habanero pepper are mixed with European imports like wheat bread, olives and rice to create dishes that are unique to this peninsula.
Chicken marinated in bitter orange and achiote, then slow roasted in banana leaves and served with pickled red onions and a small scoop or rice is one of my favorites. The ceviche served here is packed with fresh flavor and spice - cool shrimp “cooked” in spicy lime juice, then mixed with finely diced onion and tomato is a refreshing snack on a hot afternoon.
Another signature dish from the Yucatan is sopa de lima, lime soup. It’s soothing and restorative and I have added my own version to the recipe page on this site. !Buen provecho!
* Yucatecan Cuisine of the Hacienda Teya, printed in Mexico by Dante Publishers
