In 2006 I was living in the heart of Florence and attending culinary school. The best class I took was the regional Italian cuisine course with Marcella Ansaldo — we made a few typical dishes from pretty much every region in Italy throughout the semester. One of the recipes was for Fritole – yeast-based Italian doughnuts from Venice, traditionally eaten for Carnivale.

I posted about Fritole back in November of 2006–a few months after returning from Florence. I remade these delicious treats this morning; it is Easter Sunday and it made for a peaceful, tasty breakfast treat for the two of us. It’s a typical day in SF; the weather doesn’t know what it’s doing and it’s somewhere between heavy fog and rain, with a little bit of light poking through. We looked over our wet garden with some good coffee; fritole made the whole thing come together.

Note: You can prepare the dough the night before, leaving in a room-temp spot (not warm) overnight. Simply stir/punch down the dough in the morning, and let rise 30 more minutes before frying. It makes brunch a breeze!

Italian Fritole Recipe

1 1/2 C all purpose flour (200 grams) + 1 Tbsp
1/2 C brown sugar (60 grams; can use granulated too)
1 egg
1 packet yeast (8-10grams; fresh brewer’s yeast is great too)
1 C milk, divided (up to 200ml milk; any type)
1/4 C golden raisins (50 grams; can use other types of raisins too)
1/3 C dry sherry (or brandy, whiskey, flat champagne, etc)
1/2 tsp salt (generous three-finger pinch)
high-temp oil like peanut, safflower, or pine nut (most traditional) for frying
powdered sugar for dusting

Optional Ingredients (non-traditional):
1/2 tsp orange blossom water (add with milk) or
1/2 tsp cinnamon/nutmeg (add with flour) or
2 T chopped almonds (add with raisins; you might consider a few drops of almond extract w/ the milk too)

Combine the raisins with the sherry. You can substitute boiling water if needed. Microwave for 1 minute to warm combination and set aside to plump (5-15 minutes). Once plumped, drain the raisins and toss them with 1T flour until nicely dusted.

Warm 1/2 C of milk to about 110 degrees; add 1 tsp brown or regular sugar and stir. Add the yeast (mixture should be warm when adding). Set aside to bloom (at least 10 minutes).

Combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Whisk well. Use more flour if needed. Add the egg and dusted raisins, stirring gently but not thoroughly with a spoon. Add the bloomed milk mixture and stir until just combined. If the mixture is too dry (it should be sticky but combined, not runny), add more milk as needed, up to 1/2 C more. Cover the dough with saran wrap and let sit 1-2 hours in a warm spot*.

Prepare a large plate with two-three layers of paper towels (a draining rack is ok too, but the towels might remove more oil). Get some chopsticks or heat-resistant tongs ready. Put a light dusting of flour over the top of your batter to make preparation easier.

Heat oil in a wide pan with sturdy sides (like a high sided sauce pan) to medium high heat; the oil should be at least 1.5 inches deep. Once warmed, test a small dot of batter–it should rise to the top immediately and bubble around the batter, but not burn it in the course of a minute**. Using two large spoons, section just-smaller than an egg size scoops and gently place into hot oil. When deep golden brown, flip each doughnut over and cook; remove when evenly colored and cool on paper towels.

Serve with powdered sugar on top.

Makes 15 golf-ball sized fritole. 3 per person is sufficient.

*If the dough sits more than 2 hours, simply stir around to deflate and let rise 30 more minutes. This can be repeated twice if necessary.
**If the doughnuts seem to be cooking too quickly or getting too dark before you can flip them, lower the heat slightly and allow them to cook longer or else they will be gooey inside.

Mostly my mom’s food:

-brioche bread pudding (brunch)

-bulgogi lettuce wraps with apple, carrot, cucumber

-mini reubens

-Pizza Out

-french style eggs with tarragon

I was reading the Times a couple of days ago and saw an article about whole wheat pasta and its merits. Yeah, it’s merits. I haven’t tried the stuff in years and 100% agreed with the starting sentiment of the article–it’s icky stuff, and I’m a pasta traditionalist, picky as hell about my Italian food in general.

But the author won my trust as I read and knowing I could get their “favorite” brand at my neighborhood grocer, I grabbed some when I was at the store later in the week and gave it a go. It’s really non offensive. It even has a nice texture. We’ll try rigatoni next time.

Also, I just returned from a fabulous trip to Mexico with my S.O., and am seriously craving some pasta! We ate pretty much meat, and a little bit of vegetables, and a lot of coconut milk and wine (oh come on, not together!).

Pasta with Goat Cheese for two:

12 shrimp of your preference (blue Mexican gulf prawns for me, until they don’t have them next year..)
2 T butter
2 tsp olive oil
2 T goat cheese
3/4 C vegetable stock
1/4 C heavy cream
120 grams spaghetti (I used bionature whole wheat organic spaghetti)
1 tsp chili flakes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp mixed Italian dry spices
salt & pepper

Start your water to boil and chop the garlic finely. When you add the pasta to the boiling water, warm a skillet to medium high heat and add the butter and oil.

When the oil and butter are hot, reduce to medium and add the garlic. When the garlic is fragrant, add the veg stock, cream, chili flakes and spices.

De-vein and peel your shrimp, patting dry and tossing with a little salt. When the sauce is bubbly and slightly reduced, add the goat cheese until incorporated, and then immediately the shrimp.

The pasta should be about done; drain and add it immediately to the sauce*. If you should need to wait for it to finish, DO NOT over cook the shrimp–take them out slightly underdone and set aside, re-adding them with the pasta. Simmer a bit as you see in the picture above and serve it up!

*You could also add some swiss chard, kale, or spinach to this dish at the end, throw a lid on it to wilt and serve.

*In my opinion, the trick to really good home pasta is to simmer the pasta a bit in the sauce, getting it really hot.

The beets and rainbow chard are growing well since I planted them about a week ago. The beets seem as if they’ll do especially well.

Over the weekend I purchased the last of the plants I intend to grow in the coming months and managed to pot everything. Now it’s a learning curve of what each plant needs and monitoring for pests.

Yesterday was a bit of a food adventure, a day-trip to the east bay, a stay-cation. I took a good friend with me over the bay to Oasis Food Market–among other delights, they make their own middle eastern pastries including the filo itself. This is rare. And delicious. We met up with the owner and had lunch, and were introduced to our new favorite pesto-family item, a Turkish spread of almonds, pistachios, and red bell pepper. I managed also to score some harissa to make Smitten Kitchen’s carrot salad with feta and mint. We made our way to Cactus Jungle (bad name, great staff) where I purchased some pots and the lemon cucumber plants a friend told me I might find here.

All and all, the organic vegetable container garden now has:

- Early Girl Tomato
- Little gem lettuce
- Green lettuce
- Red lettuce
- Arugula
- Thyme
- Basil x 3
- Rainbow chard
- Red beets
- Spring onions

All of which I’m very excited about and hope not to kill. Here are some pictures to help me watch it grow (or putter out):

I have made a Florence google map guide to my favorite places and picks for accomodations, shopping, restaurants and wine bars in Florence along with extensive notes for each marker and some suggestions for what to pair the stop with. I hope you’ll find it useful!

He made his way home from India. I’d asked him to bring me something, anything, preferably not malaria or bedbugs. He can’t be named because he’s now an international food smuggler: I received a beautiful silk scarf and even more exciting the following:

Star anise

Cardamom

I have no idea what this is. Please help me. I got smart, and asked my friend Scarth who once ran a restaurant & cooked in India for several years. It’s Mace.. Well, the part of the nutmeg that surrounds the actual nut but is inside of the fruit.

The recipe from Smitten Kitchen was rather perfect (if not caloric–mine, the way I followed, served 12 peices, each I figured out has 260 calories, 12 grams of fat (2 are saturated), 60mg of cholesterol, 145mg of sodium, 1mg of potassium, 33 carbs (20 are sugar), 5 grams of protein, 2% vit A, 4% calcium, 3% iron (based on 2000 calorie diet). I used Face Greek Yogurt (full fat) and organic, wild frozen blueberries.

As you can see, even with all the calories and fat and sugar and oh my!, two of us managed to nearly kill the damn loaf in a matter of two days. Yeah, heathens.

I haven’t been posting as much because there has not been as much worth sharing lately. My produce shipment has been much the same (chard, oranges, apples, blah), and most of our meals have been grilled this and that and nothing terribly exciting or new. (Last night we had some sockeye salmon in a lime-cilatro marinade that I wouldn’t make again grilled alongside some zucchini and swiss chard with caramelized shallots).

I did make my way to the Ferry Building in San Francisco this morning for the first time in probably a year. It happened to be one of the 6 Sundays a year the mayor decides is “good for business” to shut down the embarcadero and allow bikes, skateboards, and walkers to take over the street in front. I was chatting with the gentleman who helped me at Cowgirl Creamery (I found half a mt. Tam, some pecorino genero, and a small goat-looking cow’s milk cheese from the soft case that tickled my fancy at the moment, thanks for asking) about this and then we both stared at the 3 sets of double doors which had not seen a single body enter them for several minutes. I commented that Mr. Newsome probably does not buy his hair gel at the ferry building, and the gentleman added “even when he is in town.” ;)

I very rarely shop at the building because despite the quality, there is hardly anything I’d consider a bargain. The $1.80 I spent for a grapefruit macaroon from Miette? Probably the best value of the day.

I picked up some organic russets to add to the leeks that came last week in my shipment, some ginger, some garlic, some shortbread and a Pain Epi from Acme. I grabbed a beautifully trimmed pork tenderloin (you’ll perhaps see him later this week), and some very thick bacon. I came home, we gorged on Mt Tam with our Acme, went for a run, then a long bike ride (the man managed to kill a tube on his bike again so he walked half the way), and then proceeded to make more Potato Leek Soup, sans 1/2 the butter and thankfully with homemade stock from the attempt at chicken pot pie I made last week (sorry, no pictures). So alas, all I can do today is point you towards old and other recipes (I made Katie’s artichoke and chard dip yesterday for an afternoon snack with Rainbow Grocery‘s flax tortilla strip chips. It turned out great but I used Canadian cheddar and imagine the mozarella would have been better).

So as you know from my last entry, Thanksgiving this year was a big, cooperative event. What follows is a photo entry of the action and dishes. I don’t have all of the recipes, but will follow this post with 2-3 of them. If there’s a specific recipe you’d like, please post a comment and I’ll be sure to acquire it for you.

“Mommies 2″ – my host had invited me to join her mother, her mother’s best friend, her daughter, and others. The two daughters–one of them being my friend and host–call their mothers who are best friends “mommies squared” to indicate the amplification when they’re around each other.

Potato-Leek Soup

Home-made Chicken Liver Pate

Pepper & Onion Cornbread Stuffing

Oyster Stuffing

Roast Turkey Carving

Cranberry Orange Ginger Relish

Sticky Toffee Pudding, before topping

Sticky Toffee Apricot Pudding

Pumpkin Cheesecake layered on Pecan Pie

We made our way up to Mendocino to meet a friend of mine and her extended family for Thanksgiving. The occasion called for some serious brevity as our setting was as such: two nights and one and a half days of smart, sharp, opinionated women (ages 13-60 something) and the sole male representative I brought with me (who held up handsomely, I might add, and who definitely deserves some kind of serious achievement award).

Our setting was a mish-mashed home of happiness in the woods with one of the most practical and welcoming kitchens I’ve ever had the pleasure of participating in. We made turkey, we made ham. We made oyster stuffing, pepper stuffing, broccoli, green beans, yams, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, cranberry relish, gravy, salsa, mixed squash, apple crisp, pumpkin-pecan pie cheesecake, and apricot sticky-toffee pudding. I made potato-leek soup and everyone ate it as a snack before the real feast began.

We torched a ham, and several hours later felt compelled to torch “one of the desserts.” There was a disproportionate interest in pyrotecnics when compared to the level of estrogen in the household.

A sampling of recipes and photos will follow this post as soon as I recover fully from my food coma.

Updates have been slow lately, despite that I’ve been cooking lots of super-fresh pasta primavera, pestos, grilling, and making fresh lemonade just about every day. I’ve been traveling, and there’s more ahead.

I took a trip to the south and ate, and ate, and ate. I only managed to grab pictures of the last day, so I have some of crawfish (the bottle tops are from the local beer we snuck into the restaurant):

And I’m outbound for a big overseas trip tomorrow–my first trip ever to this particular location–so you can expect, potentially, even some updates from abroad since I’ll have internet access while I’m there, unlike while I was in the south (really, truly, in the “sticks”).