It's Not Always Italian Food for the Tandem Spirits!
Homemade black bean soup and southern-style corn bread
Everyone knows that Italian cuisine is the best food in the world! So, you would imagine that Virginia and I have adopted the local lifestyle and eat mainly Italian food. Well, yes, we eat a lot of the classic dishes which include pastas, meats, pizza, risotto. What one finds in this country are the highest-quality raw materials you can imagine. The choices are endless and endlessly good! BUT, we haven’t adopted a strict Italian menu at our house. If I can find the right ingredients (often a challenge), I will cook a wide variety of dishes.
Breakfast is a perfect example. We simply cannot have an espresso or cappuccino and a pastry. This is what Italians generally have for breakfast. It’s simply not enough. Most mornings we have cereal or oatmeal and coffee.
Asian Dishes - Finding the Right Ingredients
Perugia, which lies about 30 minutes north of us, is home to a large international university so there are several small Asian grocery stores that carry a nice selection of products. There, I have found Thai curry pastes, Asian noodles and some hard-to-find ingredients such as miso paste, hot sauces and spices.
We are very fond of Thai curries and noodle dishes. Below are some of the things I’ve made recently. By the way, I make my own stocks and broths from scratch!
Chicken Thighs in a red Thai curry sauce with coconut milk and vegetables
Ramen noodles in a spicy broth with vegetables
A variation on the Ramen noodle theme with chicken
OH, this was really good: noodles in a rich broth with sauted kale and vegetables and a hard-boiled egg
Spicy butternut soup with green Thai curry
Some Other Fun Dishes
Here are a number of other things I’ve prepared. As I mentioned before, living in Italy gives you access the most amazing, high-quality ingredients possible. For example, the pork and beef I used for the meatloaf (below) was freshly ground by my local butcher literally minutes before I popped it in the oven.
Black bean cakes are definitely not on the Italian menu; however, we live in a region where a huge assortment of beans are cultivated and, yes, the black beans I buy in the store are local! The canned chipolte chilies in the recipe I brought back from a trip to Germany where they are easier to find!
Black bean cakes with grilled vegetables, corn, rice and topped with creme fraiche and a chipotle sauce.
Sfoglia Things
Sfoglia is a type of pastry dough that’s similar to puff pastry. It’s quite common in the grocery stores and it’s incredibly easy to work with. The Tandem Spirits have become quite fond of the various appetizers and sweets you can make with this dough.
I made these rolls with a mix of sauted greens and parmesean cheese
I made this sfoglia with a sweet puree of butternut squash
These are sfoglie filled with ham and provolone cheese served with a saute of green beans, carrots, fava beans and shallots.
And Finally, Something for Dessert!
I’d like to end on a sweet note! There is nothing better for dessert than fresh fruit (with a couple of extras). Right now the greengrocers have fresh strawberries from southern Italy. I prepared them with a dollop of Mascarpone cheese and drizzled them with Traditionale Balsamic Vinegar!
