The Mango Lassie

Hello friends! It’s been a while since my last post. That’s because I’ve spent the past two weeks sampling the fine cuisine of Italy and visiting my dear friend Honey Roasted Peanut who has been living in Rome since September. H.R. Peanut is an excellent judge of food and wine (she is in training to be a sommelier) and an ideal hostess.

Rome is magnificent. It is a city that is both as ancient as they come and swarming with new life as evidenced by the crowded buses and trains and the zipping Vespas, called motorinos in Italian. I was repeatedly stunned to be walking down the street and stumble into the ruins of an ancient building tucked between a café and a flower shop. Romans pass marvels like the Coliseum everyday on their way to work without batting an eyelid, but these sights were enough to take my breath away.

Unlike the common perception of Italian cities in the U.S., Romans are not particularly stylish, nor is their city endowed with a inherently delectable regional cuisine. That is not to say, of course, that there weren’t plenty of revelatory culinary moments during my stay. Indeed, the fact that Rome’s cuisine is more understated than the splendors of Emilia-Romagna or Piedmont makes the moments of bliss all the more enjoyable.

Any food lover’s first destination in Rome should be Campo de’ Fiori, the central open-air market. Well attuned to the best places to find high quality Roman food at a good price, H.R. Peanut led me through the winding streets until we reached it. We were too late for the fish market, but it was wonderful to walk by all of the tables filled with beautiful fruits and vegetables and try to guess at the identity of some of the more exotic ones. There were lychee fruit, mini asparagus, fresh chestnuts, oranges and berries of all kinds.

The food made us hungry, so we got some lunch at the Forno Campo de’ Fiori, a somewhat legendary bakery and pizzeria at one end of the piazza. The place was packed and for good reason, it seemed, because the walls were crowded with racks of delicious-looking bread. Most people were in line for the pizza Bianca, Rome’s specialty. This is basically chewy pizza crust with only oil and salt for garnish. Most people order it filled with any number of cheeses, meats and vegetables, but we tried it plain to get the authentic flavor. A savory artichoke pie with flaky, croissant-like crust was our second course.

For dessert we stopped next door at Le Piramidi and had one of the many fine-looking Middle Eastern desserts displayed in the cabinet. One was enough for both of us; these are all very concentrated, filled with nuts and honey. This one happened to be coated with something resembling shredded wheat.

Italy has a wonderful dining tradition called the aperitivo, which reminds me of going out for tapas in Spain. At a designated evening hour many restaurants, bars and enoteca (wine bars) allow diners who order drinks to enjoy buffets of a variety of finger food or complimentary platters of similar treats.

After touring the old Jewish ghetto, the Capitoline and the Palatine and Coliseum, I met H.R. Peanut and her friend Melanzane, another American living in Rome, for an aperitivo at a wine bar called La Barrique in a hip area known as Monti. The place is small and cozy with armchairs and couches mixed in amongst the tables and chairs like some of the independent coffee shops of Portland. The differences here include the fact that the walls are lined with wine bottles and the partially sliced loin of prosciutto that sits near the front bar awaiting the next guest.

We ordered a bottle of dolcetto, which came with a complimentary plate of some tapas-esque items like tortilla española and bread with tomato in addition to brie with honeyed walnuts on toast. We decided to order more and make a meal of it, so we got the mixed antipasto plate, featuring salami, porchetta, prosciutto and three delicious cheeses. For dessert we shared a sort of spongy almond cake with chocolate sauce.

My only caution about the aperitivo concept is that it always makes you too full for dinner even though the idea is something akin to hors d’ oeuvres. I learned this the hard way one night when H.R. Peanut and I shared an aperitivo with Melanzane and her boyfriend Mr. Mozzarella at H.R.’s house in San Lorenzo. We drank a bottle of wine and ate slices of bread with salted tomato, salami, Parmesan and taleggio, a creamy cheese typical of the region. Already bordering on full, H.R. Peanut and I had our hearts set on dining at Marcello, a traditional Roman osteria just up the street from her house, so we went just the same.

Marcello is a true neighborhood restaurant, and it is so popular that it isn’t even open on the weekends. I didn’t take any photos inside this place because the small, crowded space and intimate casual attitude made it seem out of place. As with many restaurants in Rome, the name of this place doesn’t appear on the exterior. The only sign reads “Osteria.”

In addition to the requisite carafe of house wine (which we got for a mere 2 euros), a meal in Italy usually consists of an antipasto, a primo (first course of pasta or soup) and a secondo (a second meat course). We opted out of the antipasti, but despite my fullness I did the Roman thing and ordered two courses. The first was bucatini all’amatriciana, a long, tubular pasta with a sauce made of tomato, chili, onion and sausage. This was hearty and delicious, and a big enough portion to have fed me for two meals. I could have kept eating, but I opted not to finish it to save room for my secondo.

The next dish, stewed oxtail, arrived in short order. Prepared in a tomato and vegetable broth accented by white wine and bacon and ham, it too was simple and filling, with the tender meat falling off the bone of each of the three pieces. H.R. Peanut says she gets tired of rustic food, but the Romans sure do pull it off well. We rolled home feeling uncomfortably full.

Melanzane took us to another favorite neighborhood osteria called Rouge. It is also quite popular and well decorated with a vintage sofa and red painted walls. We ordered a bottle of Negramaro and started with an antipasto of eggplant and caramelized onions with slices of fresh ricotta cheese. This was a sweet treat, spread on slices of bread.

Wisely forgoing the primo plate this time, I ordered meatballs or “sugo.” They came in a tomato based sauce with a choice of salad or broccoli on the side. I chose salad, but after tasting Melanzane’s broccoli, which turned out to be braised broccoli rabe, I wished I had chosen that instead. We shared the tasty panna cotta, an Italian vanilla pudding, for dessert.

Campo de’ Fiori is far from the only market in Rome. Each neighborhood has its own version, some of which have lower prices or specialize in different products. H.R. Peanut lives in a cool, artsy area called San Lorenzo. The neighborhood has its own somewhat unremarkable market, but it is also close to the large, partially covered market in Esquilino, a neighborhood near the Termini train station.

It was very lively when we stopped by the Mercato Esquilino, and the prices were low. This is the neighborhood where many of Rome’s Chinese people live, but the men running the market stands were mostly Bangladeshi. That meant many exotic fruits and even some hallal meat counters. We bought onions, tomatoes, clementines, pears, coconut milk and ginger (for a curry H.R. Peanut hoped to make), lemons, parsley and some fresh spigola (sea bass). We went back to San Lorenzo and cooked the fish in a pan with lemon and parsley for lunch.

One of my major goals when it came to eating in Italy was to sample some premium gelato. For those unfamiliar with this exquisite delicacy, gelato is an Italian form of ice cream made with whole milk and cream for a total of about 4–8% butterfat depending on the ingredients. The ice cream we Americans enjoy contains between 10% to 18% butterfat because more cream is used. Unlike ice cream, gelato ingredients are not homogenized together, and the result is that the product melts faster than ice cream. The best gelato is made fresh daily from seasonal fruits, chocolate, nuts and candies.

Imagine my excitement then when, as I admired the awesome wonders of the beautifully lit Trevi Fountain in the late afternoon darkness, H.R. Peanut informed me that one of Rome’s best gelaterias was just around the corner.

Il Gelato di San Crispino has been extensively lauded by both Gourmet magazine and The New York Times. The inside of the place was very clean and simple. None of the flavors were openly displayed with fresh versions of their primary ingredients to decorate the tops in the way gelato is traditionally displayed in other regions of Italy. Instead, all the gelato was stored in stainless steel containers. The flavors, however, were wonderful. I had banana and chocolate rum in a small cup. It was the perfect treat.

Another delicious dessert I tried was a filled yeast pastry called buchteln a specialty of the Austrian influenced section of Northern Italy. I assisted Melanzane and Mr. Mozzarella a bit and watched as they prepared the dough and let it rise on the heater. They filled the dough with apple preserves and Nutella from the huge vat that Melanzane had received as a gift.

Perhaps the culinary pinnacle of my first week in Rome was the cooking class that H.R. Peanut and I attended. My grandmother Trader Joanna had offered me a class as a birthday gift, so I did some research and found Gusto al Borgo, a cooking school located in the home of Paola Di Mauro, just outside the medieval village of Casperia about 45 minutes north of Rome. We took a train there and Paola’s husband Franco drove us from the station to their house, a beautiful stone building with a small farm in back and an amazing professional kitchen inside. As we would later find out, Franco is in charge of tending to the garden, which yielded some of the food we ate. He also buys grapes and makes wine, which we drank and turns his own olives into oil.

Our menu for the day started with pumpkin lasagna, which we made from leeks and pumpkin grown in Paola and Franco’s garden and pasta we made ourselves. In between the layers of pasta and pumpkin were a béchamel sauce we learned to make and scamorza and Parmesan cheeses. I enjoyed this dish, but thought it could have used more seasoning or a stronger cheese. The pumpkin filling was too soft and bland to stand alone.

Next came stuffed veal rolls. We took thin strips of meat, lined them with thin strips of prosciutto and filled them with a mixture of bread crumbs, parsley, raisins, pine nuts, garlic and pecorino cheese. Then we rolled up the meat, closing each bundle with a toothpick. These were then coated in flour and fried in butter and oil. We added stock and cooked them longer, finishing them off with a dash of vinegar. These were delicious as only stuffed, fried, red meat can be. I might fill them with something stronger next time, possibly even a pungent cheese.

Alongside the veal rolls, were mini broccoli tarts, made with broccoli rabe and potatoes along with some cream and eggs. We used more cream, some garlic and some anchovies to make a sauce to pour over the tops. These were good, but not really much better than simple braised broccoli rabe. Why go to the trouble of making them into tarts? The presentation is nice, but I probably won’t make these again unless I can find a way to spice them up a little.

Dessert was crepes made with rosemary, pine nuts, orange zest and chestnut flour. We filled these with ricotta, specked with candied chestnuts and drizzled with brandy. A rich chocolate sauce was the final element. I liked this dessert because of the way it balanced sweet and savory elements. It would make a sophisticated offering at a party.

We had extra pasta, so Paola made it into fettuccine for us to take home for dinner. We also got extra lasagna, veal rolls and crepes. H.R. Peanut and I brought the our pasta and crepes to dinner with Melanzane and Mr. Mozzarella at the latter’s house that night to augment (as if it needed any augmentation) the pizzas he made.

One week down, and I was already feeling full. But more Roman specialties and Tuscan treats were still to come.

Forno Campo de’ Fiori
Campo de’ Fiori, 22 – Vicolo del Gallo, 14
00186 Rome
+39 06 68806662

Le Piramidi
Vicolo del Gallo, 11
00186 Rome
+39 06 687 9061

La Barrique
Via del Boschetto, 41/b
Rome
+39 06 47825953

Marcello
Via dei Campani, 12
Rome
+39 06 446 3311

Rouge
San Lorenzo
Rome

Il Gelato di San Crispino
Via della Panetteria, 42
00187 Rome
+39 06 679 3924

Gusto al Borgo
Via Roma, 93
02041 Casperia
+39 3493422802