A CHOCOLATE VIEW

Here's a picture of one of the more unique birthday presents Art received this year....a piece of chocolate from SANDRI’S, the wonderul pasticceria in Perugia. The scene is from Perugia, of the famous fountain and beautiful buildings in the centro. Almost too pretty to eat......almost!!

LIFE IN THE STATES AND A CHOCOLATE RECIPE

Under normal circumstances, I would have already written about how much fun we had in the states, about how I indulged in some ‘only in America’ treats, and what special aspects of American life I really enjoyed. But these aren’t normal circumstances. When you’ve been sick so long that you start marking anniversaries, something’s wrong! Today marks the four week anniversary of whatever it is that has a hold of me. I’ve just taken the last of the second round of antibiotics, and although I feel hopeful, I’m remembering all the times in the past four weeks when I thought I was on the road to recovery. Apparently that road is as windy and curvy as the roads in Umbria!

As for what I enjoyed in the states, first and foremost would be the grandchildren. I didn’t get to spend as much time with Nick as I would have liked, but with school, hockey, my health, and his being a teenager, we just never seemed to connect. We did get to have a nice talk on Christmas Day, and I know we’ll be in touch via the phone.

Because we stayed with my son’s family for five days, we did get to connect with the grandgirls, who continue to amaze me. Miss M, at the ripe old age of 3 ½ can count to twenty in Spanish so fast it makes my head spin, is already learning about the presidents of the United States (and can name quite a few of them), and has the sweetest, most endearing personality….except of course when she’s having a meltdown, which makes me think she’s perfecting the “terrible twos” into the “terrifying threes”.

Our little redhead, on the other hand, continues to charm and to take charge. Six going on twenty six. Learning to read, excited about make-up, only too happy to put on an impromptu concert for her guests. Adorable, intelligent, amazing....the same things every grandparent says!


Winters here in Umbria are cold and gray, dreary and drippy. Visits to the United States remind me what a wonderful thing forced air heating is, and how much I love wall to wall carpet on a cold winter’s morning.

It seems that when we’re in Italy there’s always some item missing from my pantry….cilantro, or graham crackers, or grape jelly. Cheddar cheese seems to top the list of many, many expats as the thing they miss the most. And then we visit the states and all of a sudden I’m saying “Hey! I need some good pancetta!” I did take some new olive oil back with me… fresh, spicy oil that I couldn’t wait to share with friends! I guess I can find most of what I need in the states, but certainly not for what I’m used to paying for it! Even with the terrible exchange rate the cost of parmigiano, wine, and DeCecco pasta is double, maybe triple what it costs in Italy, because of course it has to be imported, but ouch!

While we were in the states my friend Judith wrote about her favorite new recipe of the new year: FUDGE PIE. Honestly, you know I was sick just by the fact that I didn’t make this recipe until today! It would have been a perfectly yummy, easy-to-make-in-a-tiny-kitchen-with-few-utensils recipe, but since we didn’t want to infect our friends who might still be healthy, we didn’t entertain like we’d planned to.

Anyway, today after talking with Judith, I decided to try her recipe. After all, if I was going to be sick forever I figured I might as well indulge while I could. If you read the entire post, you’ll see that Judith substituted brown sugar for ½ cup of the white sugar, and since this is something I often do to make my brownies a little gooier, I decided to do the same. I also skipped the 1 teaspoon of milk, figuring that the extra moisture in the brown sugar would cover that missing bit of moisture. I also made one change to the recipe itself before I printed it out, and I’ll mention this one for all inventive cooks out there who make up new recipes: I listed the ½ teaspoon salt BEFORE the ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. I mean, it’s soooo maddening to be following a recipe line for line, ingredient by ingredient, and discover that I now need a measure of a dry ingredient AFTER that same measuring spoon has been used for a liquid ingredient! AARRRGGHH!

And how did we like this recipe for FUDGE PIE? YUM! It was more like a big warm (because of course we ate it while it was still warm!) gooey brownie than fudge, but let’s not get picky, okay? If it lasts long enough to have a piece when it’s at room temperature, I’ll let you know about that too, It’s just soooo quick, so easy, 2 bowls, one pie pan, 40 minutes (watch closely check it after 35 minutes just to be sure), and you’re ready to grab a spoon, snuggle up on the couch with the latest DVD you’ve rented and ENJOY! Let me know what you think…..and you might want to post on comment on Judith’s blog too!

SOMETHING YUMMY

Jerry's been writing about this yummy recipe on HIS BLOG . Originally posted by David Lebovitz on his blog, called, amazingly enough, David Lebovitz , this recipe seems to be taking the Slow Travel community by storm, and believe me when I say that those ST people know good food! The recipe in question, just in case you haven't clicked over yet, is for "Caramelized Matzoh Crunch", and although the idea of matzoh in a decadent dessert sounds a litle strange, in MUST be one of those crazy ideas that really does work...why else would everyone be making (and writing about) this stuff? The recipe's really simple, so maybe you should give it a try....I've been resisting the urge, arguing with myself that I don't have the time or room here in my baby extended stay motel kitcen, but still, how much room do I really need?.....

Oh, and BTW, Jerry has posted pictures of each step, just in case you're feeling a little unsure. Go ahead, try it!

CHOCOLATE DELIGHTS

Today I’m taking a rest, trying to fight off a cold, but when I checked my BLOGLINES NOTIFIER this morning, two new entries practically jumped off the computer screen and begged to be read!

Over on the blog LUCILLIAN DELIGHTS, today’s recipe is from the new cookbook by Gina DePalma, Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen.

BABBO , for those of you who don’t know, is one of MARIO BATALI’S restaurants, and Gina DePalma is Babbo’s executive pastry chef. Her new cookbook is getting rave reviews, and I can't wait to read all the recipes when we go back to the states in December.

The recipe featured on LUCILLIAN DELIGHTS is for CHOCOLATE KISSES, a recipe I’ve avoided because I thought it was too complicated. After reading the recipe and the accompanying notes, I think I need to give it a try!








Also today, over on DAVID LEBOVITZ’S BLOG, David features an easy to make recipe for chocolate ice cream. The only thing I found hard to believe about his EASIEST CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM RECIPE…EVER was the idea that it could stay in the freezer for longer than 4 hours, 5 minutes!



Perhaps these recipes are just the motivation you need to get in the kitchen and start that holiday baking. For me, they’re motivation to fight this cold so that I can taste every last bit of their chocolately goodness! Enjoy!

IT'S CHOCOLATE TIME IN PERUGIA!

It's chocolate time in Perugia! Yes, now through Sunday, October 21 you'll be able to wander the streets of Perugia and see chocolate everywhere! I should have posted this information last week, but honestly, if you're a dedicated chocoholic, and you're in Italy right now, you already know about this, right? Chances are you're in Italy BECAUSE of this festival!

Here's the official website: EUROCHOCOLATE FESTIVAL

BROWNIE OVERLOAD....WAIT! IS THAT POSSIBLE???

Over at ONCE UPON A TART, a yummy, yummy blog, Myriam has declared the winner of her Browniebabe competion, and believe me, we're ALL winners! Brownie recipes abound, each accompanied by pictures that will make you want to lick your computer screen. You can almost smell the chocolate!

My suggestion is to bake up several different recipes, invite a few friends over, break open a few bottles of red wine and let the fun begin!

PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE BARS

There must be a zillion food blogs on the internet these days. Trying to find consistently entertaining AND informative blogs of any sort is a challenge. One of the better food blogs out there is one written by David Lebovitz. (There’s a link to his blog in the left Hand column) I like David because he likes chocolate and because he’s not a food snob.

David’s decided to focus on chocolate this month and has invited his readers to submit recipes using chocolate. The only requirement is that you note the brand of chocolate you used, and why.

Of course the first inclination is to show off, to make something fancy, something showy, something that’s just as much a work of art for the eyes as it is for the palate. But that’s not me. I’m not a chef, I’m a cook. A good cook, yes, but I’ve never been formally trained, never learned the tricks and techniques of the fancy pastry chefs, so why pretend?

Additionally, I wanted to make something that the average person could easily make at home. Something that’s yummy, but simple to put together. I wanted to try a fantastic brownie recipe featured in the cookbook of our friend Jack Roby called “I’m For Easy”, but when I discovered that I didn’t have any crème di cacao on hand, only chocolate liqueur, I looked for something else.

I finally settled on a bar cookie. It’s pretty simple, and uses ingredients that are readily available. With cholesterol-lowering oats, heart healthy dark chocolate, and eggs for protein, it’s almost a health food. Of course it also has sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, peanut butter and a stick of butter, but you know those things will only add to the yummy factor!

The original recipe called for semi-sweet chocolate chips, and if I’d used them I would have gone with Ghirardelli chocolate chips. I love their creaminess. But because my supply of Ghirardelli chocolate chips in Italy is limited to how many bags I can cram into my suitcase, I decided to use something else....no point wasting the chips when the chocolate in this recipe gets melted down! I decided to use some of the Perugina chocolate I was given as a gift. Having a friend who works at the Perugina factory, located not far from us, is a definite bonus!

The chocolate I used was Nestlè Noir, 70%. It comes in thin 'leaves', and makes a great simple dessert, just place a few sheets on a plate, serve with an after dinner liqueur and savor. Maybe 70% is a little more bittersweet than semisweet, but the choice is yours. Play around with it, use semisweet, bittersweet, whatever you like. One of the things I like about the chocolates I find here in Italy is that normally they’re labeled by the percentage of chocolate rather than a general label of semisweet, bittersweet, etc.

Here’s the recipe:

PB&C Bars (Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars)

1 cup butter MINUS 2 Tbsp
1¼ cups light brown sugar, packed
¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

½ cup peanut butter
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate pieces
1 cup chopped peanuts
2 tsp vanilla

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugars; beat until well mixed. Beat in eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. In another large bowl stir together flour and baking soda; stir in oats. Gradually stir dry mixture into beaten mixture. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine the peanut butter, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate pieces. Cook over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in peanuts and 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Press two-thirds (about 3-1/3 cups) of the oat mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Spread chocolate mixture over the oat mixture. Using your fingers, dot remaining oat mixture over the chocolate.

Bake in a 350º F oven about 25 minutes or until top is lightly browned (chocolate mixture will look moist). Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 2x1-inch bars. Makes about 75 bars.


Here's the finished product along with the box the chocolate came in.


These bars were NOT as decadently chocolatey as I expected. Perhaps the recipe needs more chocolate, or just something else to make the filling a little more gooey. Maybe it just needs a shorter baking time. I'll keep working on the recipe and report back...or you can take the basic recipe and experiment for yourself!

Addendum: Over the next two days, the chocolate flavor did seem to be more pronounced. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, as this is to be expected with dark choclate. If you plan to make anything with dark chocolate, I definitely recommend making it very early in the morning if you're planning to have it for dinner, or better, yet, make it the day before and keep things simple. Also, fo r this recipe, maybe just a bit more chocolate next time...14-16 ounces instead of 12. Of course this might make the bars a bit gooier and more difficult to handle, but it just might be worth it!