A Few Last Moments In The Kitchen, Umbria

  Still here for a few more minutes….which means a few more bites.

  

  I do enjoy making a simple meal…and have had some good opportunities with some great ingredients!

  Take some locally baked bread, a few olives and good local pecorino cheese….You have a lunch to write home about!

No, I didn't make this bounty..
A wonderful local baker did. Thanks, Lia!

Just add olives, marmalade and pecorino...A perfect lunch.

  I do a lot of veg roasting. It's easy, and there's always something yummy to roast just a few moments away at the local market up the street.

  This year, we also purchased a couple of weeks of veg boxes from the local CSA, Sticky Farm. One included a nice head of Romanesco broccoli and half of a big cabbage, among other goodies.

  A nice match up, roasted veg and coleslaw!

Romanesco broccoli is one of my favorites.
Roasted with garlic, of course.

  

Dinner. 

  Another night, I added some tomatoes from the market, goods from the CSA box and left over local bread for a dinner of salad and more roasted veg. 

  What can I say, roasting is just too simple, helps warm up the house and tastes so damn great.

  

Tomatoes from Yolanda's market..

Potatoes and fennel from Sticky Farm CSA.
Thanks, Ruth & Tonino!!

Salad with home made croutons from Lia's bread...

One plate of goodness from many local hands...

  It seems like I didn't cook as much at home here in Umbria this year, But Johnny says I did. Maybe it's the wine…? I'm just glad I did take a some shots of things when I remembered to get out the camera.

  Anyway, one of the CSA boxes had leeks, which I must admit…I don't cook with much. 

  Well, why not roast them, too? Split down the middle, drizzle with olive oil. 

  Best. Thing. Ever.

  With carrots and potatoes, more coleslaw for good crunch. Dinner. Done.

  

  

More goodness from the market and CSA.
I will be using leeks a lot more, friends.

  Ok, it's not all roasted vegetables, honest…we do love our pasta, right?

  I got into making sauce from the jars of tomato puree that our dear friend/hostess Katia gave us. What a wonderful gift…

  I liked making a sweet/spicy sauce, with a little cinnamon, red pepper flakes and even cabbage chopped with onions. Throw in some herbs from my little "stoop garden", and it was a most tasty treat.

I'll be making this sauce back home, but it
won't be the same without Katia's tomatoes!

Served super simple with penne pasta and good parmesan cheese, of course.

  Sometimes we'll just get some fresh pasta and sauce, this time trofie and pesto, from Linda's market. So close…it only takes a minute to walk there. Ad some rucola with a squeeze of lemon and a splash of olive oil…parmesan again, and it's a five minute dinner that tastes like heaven:

  One evening, we got to our house and found an exceptional gift…wild asparagus, ready to be made into something special.
  Ok! I'm up for a challenge!

Thanks, Katia! 

  These wild asparagus are so tasty, but they tend to be pretty woody at the back end. I just trimmed them down, saved the inedible bits for broth, and went ahead with a leek and asparagus pasta.

  Never made it before, but why not try?

  I chopped up the leeks and the trimmed out asparagus and tossed in a pan with olive oil...

  After cooking down for awhile, I added some cream. Yes, cream…and I mean heavy cream. Hey, I'm on holiday, right?

Ooooooh…creamy.

  Toss with a pasta shape you love, throw some parmesan on top, and you have dinner. Tasty, tasty, dinner.

Seriously good…I must say.

  And the eggs…Love the eggs.

  Again, thanks Katia. All our eggs came from Katia's grandmother, and her chickens. Love these ultra orange and yellow eggs. 

  One night, I thought I'd make a big omelet to share between Johnny and I. It started out great...

Onions, tomatoes,  pecorino cheese, a little garlic..toss in the scrambled eggs..

  Somewhere along the line (perhaps after a glass or two of wine) I realized I was kind of burning the bottom? But, oh was it good!

Some would say burned.
I say caramelized…In a very good way.

  There were lots of frittatas, of course...

Agretti, yellow pepper, onions and cheese. Yum.

  But as the season changed well into spring, we went crazy over our fava bean and pecorino nights.
  We love this local tradition of peeling the fava beans, eating them raw with young pecorino and a little salt. Olive oil is always a nice add on. Everything is fresh and raw. Nice.

  Our addition to the party was honey from Sticky Farm and a nice fig jam, too.

The espresso cup holds Maldon salt I brought from home.
A very nice touch.

Some friends eat the whole bean, but I always take the outer skin off.
I just nick it with my thumb nail and squeeze out the "pea" inside.

The remains of a pile of fava beans.
A perfect light meal.

  Writing this now, I am in bed in a hotel in Florence. Last night in Italy for now. Head home tomorrow.
  Lots more to blog about over the next months…lots of food posts on the way.
  Thanks, Umbria. Miss you already!!
  See you soon!