The Cute Face of a Passionate Cook

Look at that face, the face of a very cute and excited cook wondering what she will cook, and the paparazzi wondering what he will be eating!!!

This box of goodies was dropped to our window sill this morning as a welcome gift with some of the farms, green zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and grapes plus a bottle of their just pressed olive oil.

The grapes are so juicy and the taste is very different to what I have ever tasted, although I may have a childhood memory of the white grapes that a neighbour was growing and her grapes were a wine taste so as a kid really not impressed. But move on 45 years "ouch" and today all grown up I'm just loving them. To me they taste like a wine in a grape! so win win or is that wine wine at breakfast time.  

This is the back of our villa where the said window is located.
The view out the front window as posted yesterday is to the ocean below.

A Southern different class

Well as we are here our chef is still competing on the master chef completion so ....we have an alternative lesson today.
Checkout the kitchen at the far end is the hillside that features in this kitchen as the whole place is from the 15th Century and was a former water mill.
Stainless Steel meets the rocks it was such  a cool working environment.

This region Calabria is famous for seafood or as they like to say fruita from the sea. The farm we are staying on is a very large oil oil producer and an avocado farm....oh and offcourse it is mushroom season.
So there is todays lesson.


Crostini with Mushroom Ragout

2 tab olive oil
1/3 cup shallots chopped
6 cups of mushrooms
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 cup cream
1 tea rosemary cut very finely as its overpowering and hard
zest 1 lemon
1 cup Fontana cheese grated
1/2 Parmesan cheese grated

Toast about 36 baguette slices set aside.
Heat oil medium heat add shallots sautéed 1 min. add mushrooms till soft and take some colour about 6nmins. stir in garlic sautee for 1 min to keep the flavour fresh and strong....Very southern Italaian...remove from heat add in cream, rosemary and zest .Cool slightly, stir in cheeses add salt and pepper to taste. Serve on toasts.

Ok next Spaghetti alle Vongole

Serves 4-6
450 gms Spaghetti
1400 gms clams in shells
30 gms garlic
1 bottle of dry white wine open set aside 75 mlls drink remaining while you cook :) :) this makes sure its good enough to cook with
25 mgs chopped parsley
250 mls clam juice Hmm may be a little hard to et so fish stock
5 gms salt
90 mm olive oil
15 gms chili flakes
10 gms plain flour

Cook spaghetti al dente in salted boiling water.

While pasta is cooking soft fry garlic add chilli clams and deglaze with white wine and clam juice.
remove clams to stop overcooking and reduce the sauce. Thicken sauce with a mix of olive oil and flour if needed.
Place seafood back in pan toss with parsley and pasta.

Alora ... Italian for next ... or ... Ok ... or relax ... or what ever!!!!

Avocado chocolate moose
Serves 2-4

1 avocado ripe
100 gms very dark chocolate
1/4 cup double cream
1/2 tea vanilla
3 Tablespoons sugar or agave syrup
1 pinch salt

Thickened cream for serving and segmented fruit...Orange mostly used here as we are southern Italy.
Melt chocolate and cream in double boiler or micro stir every 20 seconds and cook slightly. Combine all ingredient in processor and mix till completely smooth. Put in serving bowls and set.

So after todays class some time off the enjoy what the agritourismo has on offer, being the end of summer the pool has its winter cover pulled over and the waste is heated to a nice 26 deg.

The pool cover is made of a metal frame and filled in with polly carbonate that slides in under the hillside when not in use.

Calabrialcubo our home for the next 3 nights

Arriving into the mountainous little town of Nocera Terinese was not without some adventure!

Gloria 2 as it seams also has a sick sense of adventure!

 

We are now a further 100km south of the Harmony Hotel and on a small dirt coastal road and we can see the little town of Nocera Terinese high on a mountain above the main north/south auto strata. But how to get there ... we could go with our gut feeling or keep following Gloria 2, or ask a little man in the farming fields who is tending his goats if he could give us some direction.

Opps sometime I should just keep in the car and stop talking to the non English speaking locals but where is the fun in that!

So after some interesting sign language and pointing to our map it was established that we would follow him.

This old bloke is very old school and has NO English but he was still going to get us to where we were going ... well we think he is!

He tried to see if some of his French speaking African farm workers could speaking any English but to no avail.

When he found out that we were Australian and apparently he has 3 sisters or cousins living in Melbourne who apparently speak better English than he does ... great could we call them? 

We were getting his life history in Italian and I had a feeling he had seen many white faces for a LONG time the he though if he talked louder that we would somehow understand him more. He was just like a teddy bear and he was here to protect us. So we are directed to follow and I though that's great he is going to take us to the next corner and direct us on! No we were his mission and he was taking us to the top of the mountain all we had to do was follow. But 3/4 up the mountain he had been able to call another old bloke friend who apparently spoke a bit more English so we had a meeting on the side of the road to discuss further historical Italian events and maybe a direction or two!  

Great starting to collect more old blokes

the blind leading the blind!

But this old bloke knew the owner of the agritourismo that we were heading to, life saver, its just over there on the end of town.

 

 We have arrived and it is just so Italian mountainously cute

 

The view from our room looking toward the little dirt coastal road and the auto strata between.

 

Calabrialcubo our home for the next 3 nights 

So the sun sets on another great day in Italy with a local Calabria glass of Vendemmia Tardiva

  

 

 

From the Italian description on the bottle this is best serve between 8 to 10 deg

goes with fish of the sea and crustaceans and has flora nose.

So who am I to go off the food recommendations.

 

 

Harmony Hotel in Praia a Mare

"Gloria 2" once she started to talk was a great relief, mind you she is not as talkative as Gloria so a fairy peaceful trip and she kept us on the auto strata. 


After 4 hours on the auto strata and 1 hour coming over and through the mountains (we are in volcano country) and through the many tunnels to the sea on the west coast of Italy now 450km south from Roma. 
I was a bit brain dead from driving so thanks to Sandy for keeping you up to date with the last blog.
From around Naples we drive through the volcanic mountain in the north is Pompeii with mount Vesuvius and to our south is Mount Etna in Sicily so there has to me a bit!! of mountains driving ... unless we hired a helicopter!! hmmm maybe next time.

I just had to find a place to stay as the sun was setting in the west over the Tyrrhenian Sea and I didn't want to miss the sun set.
Gosh Pete ... so romantic ... Noooo I had enough driving and it was getting hard to see and well a glass or 10 of vinos were calling my name ... Loudly!

Sunset from the balcony Harmony Hotel in Praia a Mare.

 

Wow look at that view ... that view hasn't change for the guests looking out over the Tyrrhenian Sea over the past several decades that the hotel has sat proudly here and .....

well neither has the internal décor!!!!

 

 

 

 

 Built in the 60's when like some many of the seaside hotels around this area, so when we stumbled on it! or should I say once I saw the first hotel I was staying there even if it was haunted or owned by a axe murder. 

 

So as usual I left Sandy in the car to protect the luggage and the car park space and I went in to check it out.

With a smile from ear to ear I went out to Sandy to tell here its clean and a little bit quirky and where is the vino as the balcony is calling our names.

 

 

 The owners son was very Italian and I'm thinking his family has shares in a tile company as the varied selection was ... well displayed everywhere! and sometimes side by side!!.

 

 

Tiles are so flexible,

the beauty is if you need to do a repair that you would never pick the subtly differences!

 

 

The bar still looks like the brochure that was proudly displayed on the reception counter but just missing the man with the huge  moustache, thinking he was the original dad owner from the 1970's

Nothing has changed it was like a time warp, just loved it.

They even had a telephono booth the height of 1960's sophistication

 

 

Behind the reception counter were the keys and well let just say we were the only guest tonight, maybe a slow day!!!

 

 

 

 OMG they have done a soft reno since the 60's as these chairs weren't in the original brochure, not sure the colour is a match to the tiles!

 

 

Its the end of the seaside season and all the people have packed up and gone home so we had a nice quiet stay.

 

 

No noisy children, so we were able to get on the rides!!

 

 

 No beach restaurants they are all packed up just the footing to set up on next season.

Last night we found a great little pizza joint and had a salmon and cream pizza with peperinchino well we are in the south in the food region of Calabria and the spices are heating up.

 

 

So after a beautiful morning walk its time to head further south, we have a booking for 3 nights is the mountainous little town of Nocera Terinese to do some cooking classes with a chef who is doing trials for the Italian version of Masterchef.

Ciao for now

 

Adventure and laughs start here

Right, well we arrived early from the cruise 9.30 am and we waited in the amazing long queue at Rome airport for our hire car, this time much more efficient! they only taking 2 hrs!

After a long long walk from the terminal to our car waiting in bay 86 (as instructed) great it was a nice black Kuger, so luggage loaded, car photographed for any scratches, back pack unpacked into the cars compartments, water bottles in holders and we are ready to set the mirrors etc to prepare for take off..

Pete Jumped into the drivers seat and noticed a GEAR STICK NOOOOO, it was to be an auto car and he just don't think he can change gears with his right hand and use a clutch along with all the other complications of driving on the wrong side of the road in THAT Italian traffic...

So back to the car rental desk and a new car was assigned, opps their mistake, should have been bay 53... so back to the car park... now a much smaller Ford Focus happy Pete it's a positive on the little roads.

Right

Next challenge to plug in Gloria and set our direction south.
Hmmmm small problem, Gloria Princess Storker or GPS for short (for those who have only joined the blog) had decided somewhere between being filed away in Venice till now, had a dummy spit, literally, her tiny Italian map sim card had ejected and mysteriously disappeared ... so, two options ... to unpack the entire luggage in the boot to search for the tiny bit of plastic or go back to the counter and hire a " New Gloria" to get us on the road...

Walk back to the counter only to be told the car we now have had a built in system...Great but now to work out how to use it...that's OK I'm sure we can do this.

Walk back to the car and yes there it was ... in Italian! SO walk back to the counter to get further instructions and a little man ...
Ok now all set in English and we were told as soon as we left the terminal we would get a signal and it would work... OK!!!!

So finally we left the terminal ...1 pm. and yes as you expected, silence from Gloria ... and there we were ... out on the road out of the airport using our judgment heading to the notoriously busy Rome ring road.

Breath breath we can do this ... and after a few kilometres she spoke!!! oh we laughed and we were on our way.

We drove around Rome and around Naples and ended up in a tiny place though the most amazing mountains  some 450km south of Rome.

 

Arrived to our first destination Harmony Hotel in Praia a Mare and ... well that's a story for Pete to tell xx

Cruisey Time Over!

So, the party is over ... the "cruisey" cruise has come to an end ...
Goodbye to the soft towels that were turned into cute little critters each night as our room was cleaned for the second time in the day

we were soooo spoiled.
Well that's about to change, now its time to look after ourselves. 

 

I  feel for this little guy just hanging around,

 those clips really hurt ... lucky I had a bit of medicinal help!

The eyes say it all Pete !!!! 

 

Cool somewhere for my glasses.

We will miss the nightly turn down service with chocolates, the late night walks on the decks under the Mediterranean moon Hmmmm, glass in hand with a port or maybe a sherry that had somehow managed to creep on board with whatever little delights that we picked up on land that day, the lavish and beautifully plated dinners is all now a thing of the past and we will have to start to look after ourselves again.

 

  

The water of the Mediterranean was so smooth, it was like floating in melted velvet chocolate!!

 

Well ... I think it would feel like that, I personally haven't floated in warm chocolate ... YET! 

 

It's so smooth that you can see reflections to the horizon...great for my sea sickness.

 

So its back into the car and heading south.

We were picked up by a driver from the cruise and taken the 1 hour to the Rome airport and that's where the fun begins...

Italian driving fun that is!

Back to Italy Tomorrow

Well it’s been a fun, busy, and all-round a great couple of weeks on the amazing ship Koningsdam from Holland America Line traveling port to port from Amsterdam in the north around the coast line of Portugal, Spain, into the calm waters of the Mediterranean Ocean and back into Rome Italy for tomorrow Tuesday 3^rd October. 

The flexibility of the cruise has helped give us a great insight into the different foods and cultures of the regions that we have sailed into. The cruise also made it so easy to attend so many cooking classes in places that otherwise would have been difficult to get to, let alone me drive in!!!! Spanish drivers are worse than the Italians, but at least in Italy I can sort of understand the signage and the language.

The high lights food wise for me was the many ways that the octopus was cooked and prepared as part of the frequent Tapas opportunities we had the delight to consume on the way. The new way that we will now look at sherry as food paring option.

The paella cooking class in Malaga, Spain was such a great day and with the local chef with all her tips, this will certainly become a new dish that I will be able to prepare on the deck back at The Retreat, may need some volunteers … any takers?
 

 

So, looks like we will be doing some shopping for a paella pan too on our return as well as many other cooking gadgets we have seen and used on the way. Saw some great stuff here but as we still have 2 months adventures in front of us it’s just too much to carry!
Tomorrow we pick up a car at Rome airport and restart our Italian food journey and adventures as we head south. Our aim is to end up on the island of Sicily, if you are looking at a map it’s the ball at the toe as they say. We will also spend some time traveling through more of the southern parts of Italy and into the bottom food regain of Calabria, that we didn’t get to on our 2014 trip. 
So, after this southern trip over the next several weeks we will have seen and cooked in 17 of the 20 food regions of Italy. In 2018 from April till July we are returning to get to see the last 3 food regions so Sandy can work on her next cook book. This cook book will follow our past few years traveling and cooking in Italy and her passion for fresh produce and food preserving.

Heading south to capture some of the last warmth of the Italy sun as we are now a month into the Italian autumn. Locals tell us the further south we go the longer the warm weather will be with us.
 
We are also hoping to see how the spicy influences that Morocco and Africa have on the food culture in Sicily.
Sicily is closer to Africa than it is to Roma so looking forward to the Spice. 


The onboard Culinary Art Centre has also been a great spot on our sea days as well as some evening attending cooking classes and demonstration. It’s a shame as the Holland America Line are ceasing this type of cooking activities so lucky for us we were on one of the last cruises that do this. We have befriended loads of the Indonesian staff, as we do! and have manage to get some recipes from their home lands also. Had a great Rendeng the other day and todays lunch was a Balinese Lamb Curry, plenty of time for pasta when we are back on land. We have also managed to get a stash of fish sauce, something that is not easy to get in Italy, this will come in very handy when we are in need of a Thai hit over the next couple of months. 

We were introduced to Chef Ed on board today and he took us through how to make a Kambing Mekuah

 

Balinese Lamb Curry (Servers 10)

Coconut oil 100 ml
Spice Paste 200 grams
Coriander seeds 15 grams, Crushed
Lamb or Goat 1600 grams cut into 25mm cubes
Cardamom 10 grams, Roasted and ground
Lemon grass 60 grams, Bruised

White vinegar 20 ml
Chicken stock 750ml
The better you develop the flavour of your stock the better the end dish.
Coconut milk 1000ml
 
Preparation

Heat coconut oil in saucepan, add Spice Paste, coriander and sauté for 2 mins

Add lamb or goat sauté for a few mins, then add cardamom, lemon grass, vinegar, chicken stock and simmer until ¾ cooked about 40 mins, then add coconut milk and keep simmering for another 20 mins.
Sauce should have a creamy consistency
Salt and pepper to season at the end
Garnish with a generous amount of chopped coriander leaves

Sooooooo good!

 Spice Paste
Chili 20 grams, Seeded
Garlic 30 grams
Ginger 20 grams
Laos 20 grams, Peeled
Shallots 100 grams
Kencur roots 25 grams, Peeled
Turmeric fresh 35 grams, Peeled
Shrimp paste 15 grams
Candlenuts 25 grams
Nutmeg 3 grams, Ground
Cloves 5 grams
Coconut oil 100ml
Water 100 ml
Salt 10 grams
Coriander seeds 5 grams, Crushed

Preparation for Spice Paste
 
Blitz in blender and simmer for 1 hour to make a paste