The Perfect Bite

Pick One Today

On a crisp October day I find nothing more satisfying than heading to an apple orchard, climbing a few ladders and eating many apples just off the tree.  Apple picking could be my best sport yet.  Last Saturday, with eager eyes, a distended stomach and a huge bag filled with Mutsu, Cortland, Jonagold, Red Delicious and Empire apples, I knew that cooking was in my immediate future.  I have already baked two apple cakes, one a major disaster the other a sweet success.  I’ve also made my famous adult applesauce.  Recipes to follow!  So dear blog readers who are tired of me only posting dessert recipes:  pick one today.   Serve the savory onion applesauce with a main course of Berkshire pork chops.  And then, cap off your meal with a slice of buttery apple cake and perhaps a glass of Calvados. -CY

Adult Applesauce
Ingredients:
5 apples, cored and cut into large slices
1 onion
3 Tablespoons butter
pinch of salt
Dash of bourbon or dark rum
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

Method:
1.    In a saucepan, melt the butter and sweat onions without browning, 3-5 minutes.
2.    Add sliced apples and 1/4 cup water.  Cover and let simmer until apples have totally collapsed. 
3.    Season with a pinch of salt and a swig of booze.  Puree.
4.    Garnish with a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

All Butter Apple Cake
Ingredients:
½ Pound of Salted Butter, soft
1 Cup sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
4 eggs
2 Cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
salt
2 apples, cut into chunks

3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Method:
1.    Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with paddle attachment. 
2.    Add the eggs one at a time.  Add the vanilla.
3.    Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.  Paddle until combined.
4.    Pour the batter into a greased pan, bundt, round or other shape.
5.    Press the fruit into the batter. 
6.    Combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon.  Sprinkle the cake.
7.    Bake in a 350° oven until tester comes out clean, about thirty minutes. 

Out With Figs, In With Walnuts

In rereading an email I recently sent to a West Coast friend, I thought I would also post it below. It paints a nice picture of the seasonal changes underway in Tuscany and much of the excitement that has been rustling up at Spannocchia.  Otherwise, this has been a crazy/sobering week in the "transformation room" butchering four pigs that I've been feeding since I arrived here in late August.  And tomorrow Carrie is driving us interns two hours off-farm for a truffle hunt! Pictured left is the sweet little lamb we've adopted as our mascot.  Sadly, her mother did not survive the birth, so we've been bottle feeding her for one month.  Here she is, just two days old. 

...Spannocchia is settling into fall. The figs are officially finished, but the walnuts are ready for cracking and the acorns are dropping in such volume that the pigs are actually skipping meals.  We had a sort of animal anarchy the other weekend with horses, piglets and cows on the loose, plus two chickens went missing for a day.  While chasing the huge Calvana cattle back, one of them actually leapt over a wall!

There was a wild boar hunt last week, which I helped butcher. And the first of the pigs (Crooked Face's siblings) will soon stock our freezers. The orphaned lamb is about to reintegrate with the flock, but none of us want to let her go. And the fruit on the persimmon tree is changing color every day. Wild crocus are blooming all over the place, like little yellow cups across the lawn. Which reminds me of our other big project - saffron cultivation. It's a different variety than wild crocus, but we planted the bulbs and expect blossoms in November.  Because of how labor intensive it is to harvest the stamens, saffron is supposedly more expensive per pound than gold!  So we're all keeping a close eye on that one. 

The olive harvest should be just around the corner, and the grape harvest fell in late September this year, lasting four incredible days long.  Of course, we began the same day the skies decided to open up and end the punishing drought.  But we couldn't delay hand shearing the fruit, as our new wine making method required dry ice that was already fogging up the cantina. Luckily, it all worked out - 2007 is bottled and the vin santo grapes are dangling like a laundry line, coincidentally in the wash room...  -sy

Honey Harvest

Pictured left is Spannocchia’s own honey, which Heather and I helped harvest last Tuesday.  We met beekeeper Gabriello by the town mushroom statue in Pievescola and followed him to his honey lab.  There we spent four hours processing 200 kg from just 12 bee boxes.  Our honeys are typical of Tuscany:  hay-colored acacia honey that’s light and sweet; bitter chestnut honey in the same ominous shade as molasses; and golden millefiori, or “thousand flower,” honey.

We worked all morning, breaking only to snack on local pecorino cheese with honey, naturally.  The straightforward process began by dislodging nine sticky planks from each box.  The most labor intensive step was unsealing the wax that covered the individual cells of the honeycomb.  Machinery helped, but there was still a good deal of hand work with metal picks and a mini saw/knife.  After centrifuging and filtering, the liquid gold drizzled into a barrel for one week of allowing the air bubbles to surface.  We should be bottling any day now. 

The whole morning was amazing, from the sticky, popping noise of pricking the cells, to tasting the range of varieties right from the honeycomb.  I’ve been eating an insane amount of the stuff since I came to Spannocchia – spread on toast, mixed into oatmeal and tea and even straight from the spoon.  Here in Italy we don’t have the mysterious disappearing bee problem that the US is experiencing.  But a drought has halved production nationwide.  For the country’s best, look for acacia or chestnut honey labeled Miele della Lunigiana PDA.  -sy

Satisfied Shopper

Joigny, a tiny town in the middle of Burgundy, is home to a lovely market.  The three days a week it is open, it becomes the buzzing center of town, dominating traffic patterns and providing social interaction for locals, expats and the few tourists the town can hold.  The covered building is packed wi th a worldly spice stand, a handful of butchers who cut meat and make charcuterie, local chevre sold by children, a complete cheese cart, a rabbit stand (nothing live), three bakers, a woman who sells eggs and a dozen produce spreads.  While I was living one town over, in the Chateau du Fey, market trips were the best part of each week.  It was rewarding to make friends with the egg woman who encouraged me to bring  back the egg cartons for re-use and visit the husband & wife team who sold organic produce each week.  Best of all, I learned the names of lettuces, cheeses, vegetables and fruit as the seasons changed from summer to fall.  -CY

Spannocchia

Yesterday I fed 81 Cinta Sinese pigs from flour that I had milled the day before.  Today I cleaned the salumi locker and collected eggs that hold the most brilliant yolks I’ve ever seen.  And tomorrow morning I will bike out to a flock of Pomarancina sheep to see a newborn that was discovered just hours ago.  This is the life I traveled to Italy for, and I’ve never consumed less nor enjoyed each day more. 

For the next three months I get to wake up as a Spannocchia intern – one of nine here to learn from and contribute to a “living museum of traditional rural life in Tuscany.”  The 1200 acre property rises up out of the hills, as a wildlife refuge that has been farmed for more than 800 years.  It is a unique place, certainly, where conservation of natural resources is the cornerstone.  Not only are the organic gardens tiered with heirloom varieties, but the sustainable forestry program rotates through a 20-year harvesting program and the farm animals are rare heritage breeds.  But what impresses me most is the community.  Everyone, from year-round staff to B&B guests, interns and volunteers is entirely different.  We’re all thinking in the same direction toward responsible living, but the backgrounds, ages, interests, fields, and perspectives spin the conversation and keep it interesting.  We come together each night, after a day of work or play or painting or study, to gather at the same table under the stars and enjoy traditional Tuscan dinners.

Spannocchia smells like heaven and looks like a fairytale, and I cannot believe that I am here.  Earlier this evening I sat in the purple flowers pictured left, just to watch the bees and smell the wild mint.  It’s not at all the way I’m used to living in Boston, and it is entirely refreshingly.  Because I am part of the animali crew here, I hope to post more about the pigs and the prosciutto in the months to come.  Fall is also the season for the grape and olive harvests and porcini mushroom hunting in the forest.  The fig trees are already in full swing, and the chestnuts will follow.  I'm loving the updates from friends and family - please keep them coming!  -sy

No Cones at San Crispino

Hidden in city center Rome, San Crispino holds such high standards for its gelato, you can’t even see the options when inching up to the counter.  Each pure flavor is guarded under a shiny insulated lid to keep it at just the right temperature and free from cross contamination.  Good thing, because a visual of gray banana might deter you from trying what would be the best ice cream of your life.  There’s nothing but all-natural ingredients here, made from scratch and scooped out as ordered.  Just be sure the flavors go together because the owners are so serious about their craft, they will outright refuse clashing combinations like bergamot and pistachio.  And don’t dare ask for a cone, which they “consider unhygienic” according to one NY Times article.  But forget the rules.  The actual gelato is stunning, in familiar flavors that I’ve never tasted with such intensity: Valrhona chocolate, bourbon vanilla and plum sorbet.  Their honey-infused signature is Il Gelato di San Crispino, but lemon cream was my personal favorite.  

Il Gelato di San Crispino has three Rome locations, including the one I went to at Via della Panetteria 42  near the Trevi Fountain.  Definitely toss a coin in the fountain (to guarantee your return to Rome,) but don’t look twice at the countless gelaterias glowing neon. San Crispino is just around the corner and sufficiently far from the mob of tourists.  I’m thrilled that I found the place, and I’m thrilled to visit such an amazing city layered with more history, art and religion than one person could ever adequately absorb.  In two days I travel to Tuscany, where I’ll be studying sustainable agriculture for three months!  Next stop, Siena.  Then, on to Spannocchia.  -sy

Don't plant peas...

When I shop at the local farmers' market, my first stop is Farmer Al's stand, pictured left.  His blueberries are the perfect bite while making my rounds.  Truthfully, though, it's the running commentary that keeps me dropping by every Wednesday.  You never know what he'll say.  Sentences typically start with, "young people these days..." or, "this is a democracy, buy as many pints as you want..."  Blueberries are the main attraction here, but you might also find specialty greens, tomatoes, red onions, or Al's own blueberry drink at 25 cents per cup.  A few copies of Farmer Al's Seeds of Wisdom are usually for sale, too, full of stuff that makes me smile.  For example, "Don't plant peas and expect to harvest potatoes."   

Lately I've been collecting pictures of my favorite people and places.  After six wonderful years of living in the Boston area, I find myself preparing for a big trip.  Not to the Middle East, which was seeming a real possibility.  And not a permanent move, at least for now.  Rather, a long pause in a place where people actually breath the seasons.  Undoubtedly, it will be a turning point.  As someone wise once said, "The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."  More trip details in an upcoming post, but it is Wednesday and I am out of blueberries.  -sy   

A Crisp a Day Keeps the Fruit Flies Away

If you have any summer fruit that needs to be used immediately, this post is for you.  Make a crisp.  Most stone fruit, stalks and berries shine in this SIMPLE dessert.  Tons of combinations work, and these are my favorites:  strawberry & apricot; cherry & berry; rhubarb & raspberry; nectarine, blueberry & peach.  Pictured left is a cherry, rhubarb & strawberry crisp I made for the 4th of July.

First, cut the fruit into similar sized pieces - or not at all if you’re using berries.  Pit any cherries.  Next, toss the fruit with a quarter cup of granulated sugar and a couple of tablespoons of flour or cornstarch to thicken the juices.  This is a very casual dessert, so feel free to eye these measurements.  Place the fruit mix in a baking dish, allowing a half inch for the topping.  Generously cover with the crisp topping and bake until it is brown and bubbling.  Serve warm, cold or for breakfast.  Pair with ice cream, whipped cream or coffee. 

Crisp Topping

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. of butter, cold and cut into pieces
2 C all purpose flour
1 C brown sugar, loosely packed
1 t kosher salt
*Optional:  ½ C oatmeal, ½ C of pecans or almonds, pinch of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg

Method:
1.    In a food processor with the blade attachment pulse the dry ingredients.
2.    Stop the machine.  Add the butter chunks and pulse again, until crumbs form.  When the mixture has combined it will resemble pebbles and coarse sand.
3.    Use enough topping to generously cover the fruit.  Store any extra topping in the fridge or freezer for another crisp.

-CY

Market Profile: Maxixe

Maxixe, pictured left, looks like nothing you’d want to wrap your lips around.  But the egg shaped vegetable with spiky skin turns out to be all bark and no bite.  Crunchy and refreshing, it's exactly the snack I reach for while sweating it out in an 80 degree heat spell.  Related to the cucumber and thought to have originated in Africa, Maxixe [ma-SHE-shee] is today most widely grown in Brazil and the West Indies, used in soups and salads.  Contained in a taught skin, the interior is lightly sweet and absolutely jammed with seeds.  The handful that I bought at the Davis Square Farmers’ Market went, diced, into a summer quinoa herb salad with sautéed squash and sweet corn. 

As one discovery often points to another, the growers behind my locally grown Maxixe turned out to be part of an incredible training operation.  Located in Lancaster, MA, the Flats Mentor Farm teaches small start-up farmers from a range of ethnic backgrounds how to raise vegetables using sustainable methods.  They concentrate their 20 acres on Asian produce, though each project in the Northeast Network of Immigrant Farming Programs (NNIFP) has a different angle.  The Flats Mentor Farm sells at 16 Boston area farmers’ markets and co-ops, but I did not see a single sign where I was shopping.  Just look for stands selling other rarities like Amaranth, Taro Leaves, Yau Choy, Lemon Grass, and Yard Long Beans and Fuzzy Melon.  -sy

Don't be a tart.

If you’re looking for a quick cookie, try making this thumbprint version which made a last minute appearance at our neighborhood champagne toast.  The dough can be prepared and stored in the fridge for several days, so I try to keep some around for such occasions.  I use the exact same dough as a shell for summer tarts. It is simple because, when baked, the dough doesn’t require pie weights.  Rather, it benefits from a cold blast in the freezer and a quick docking (piercing with the tines of a fork) during baking. 

Almond Pâte Sucrée

INGREDIENTS:
½ lb. butter, softened
2/3 C sugar
pinch of kosher salt
½ t vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
1/2 C almonds, ground
2 C All Purpose flour

METHOD:
1.    Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment.
2.    Add the salt, vanilla extract and egg yolks.  Mix until combined.
3.    Add the nuts and flour.  Mix until just combined.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and push together using the palm of your hand. 
4.    Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for several hours.
    a.    At this point, the dough can be rolled on a floured surface and pressed into a tart shell.  Freeze         for twelve minutes.  Bake, without pie weights, in a 350°F oven, docking after 15 minutes.  Continue      baking until golden brown.  Cool before filling with whipped cream and blueberries or lime curd, for     example.
    b.    At this point the dough can be used to make thumb print cookies.  Using your hand, roll the dough into one-inch balls.  Next, place on an un-greased pan.  Press the center with your thumb, creating a     crater. Sprinkle with sugar and bake in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and add any     delicious jam to the crater.  Bake for at least five more minutes or until golden.  Cool before eating.
-CY