Italy Part 3

Yesterday, I spent nearly the entire day in the kitchen. Barefoot, hair pulled up in a high pony, red apron tied around my waist, NPR podcasts streaming from my laptop... this is my happy place. Let's start this story at the end with the table spread of Tuesday night's dinner for two. On the menu for the evening: 

Pappa al pomadoro (p. 105)

Parmesan & rosemary crusted veal chops (p. 130)

Salsa Rossa (p. 130)

Rocket and pecorino salad (p. 105)

Lemon granitas (p. 147)

The finished fruits of my labor! I love how beautifully balanced the colors, textures,
and tastes that this meal encompasses. For starters, we dished up a hearty bowl of the
tomato and bread soup, followed by the main entree of pan-fried veal chops with salsa rossa, and
finished with a plate of arugula and shaved parmesan (pecorino) to cleanse the palate
and settle the stomach before dessert. 

I began my dinner preparations with the last course: Lemon granitas! I had to make a quick run to the grocery store down the street to pick out a flat, wide metal dish for freezing the liquid lemonade. This is key, otherwise it can tense up into a thick, stubborn frozen mess that is difficult to manage for the final steps explained later. First, these granitas required a cooking step to liquify the sugar into the lemon juice. Then water is added and the liquid solution is stirred and cooled. Once cooled, the solution (much like lemonade) is poured into the metal pan, covered, and put into the freezer. There is now a series of ice crystal raking steps to get the desired slushy, flakey texture of an Italian granita! 

Preparing my lemon granita concentrate. To do this, heat lemon juice, fresh lemon zest, and caster sugar in small sauce pan until the sugar has melted.  A little word of advice... do not buy caster sugar at the store because it is priced at a ridiculous cost for what it is worth. Caster sugar is just a super fine granulated sugar. It is useful because it mixes with liquids faster than regular granulated sugar because of its higher surface area. To make your own, just pulse granulated sugar in your food processor a few times. Note: do NOT confuse caster sugar with powdered sugar. Powdered sugar is very, very finely ground sugar with added corn starch, usually, to keep the granules from sticking to each other. 

First rake! Still very viscous. Be careful moving yours in and out of the freezer in the early
steps because I almost had a few accidents that would have made for a very sticky cleanup. 

Pappa al pomadoro (Tomato and bread soup) came next. For this dish, head to your local market the day before a pick out a hearty loaf of Italian bread and then leave it out overnight to dry out a bit. I left mine out of the bag to accelerate this process since I purchased my bread fresh and the texture seemed extremely moist. If you want to prepare this recipe the same day, ask the store bakery if they have any day-old stuff and let it sit unwrapped until you add it into the soup. 

This is my share of fresh bread from the store, working very hard on becoming dry and crusty! I noticed after I got home that I had grabbed a French load instead of an Italian loaf. Oops. To be honest, I'm not sure if there is much difference between the two types anyways, except that Italian bread tends to be a bit more soft and spongy (from addition of a bit of olive oil or dairy to the dough). Any bread enthusiasts out there that can explain it to me?

The next steps of the soup involved ingredient preparation with a bit of love, such as for the tomatoes. The tomatoes needed to be bathed in boiling water for 10 seconds followed immediately by a dip in ice cold water. Their bottom sides were scored before the bath, allowing for an easy starting point to peel away the outer skins. Once they were properly bathed and naked, it was time to cut them in half and remove their insides (the gooey seed slime) with a small spoon. The final step, as if they had not been tortured enough, was to chop them roughly.  The following pictures go through this in more detail.

The hot-cold bathing process allowing for easy peeling
 (please excuse the cook's poorly groomed fingernails).

The hallowed tomato remains ready for chopping. Despite how red and ripe their flesh looks, their seeds were not easy to remove. This is a result of the supermarkets' desire to expedite the ripening process of many fresh produce (such as tomatoes and bananas to name a few). They commonly gas them with a chemical agent, known as ethylene, while they are shipped in crates from field to market. This is different than how a plant naturally ripens. For example, have you ever been allured to purchase a bright red tomato that appears to be juicy and sweet, but then you get home and cut it open and it is still bitter, pallid, and hard?  This is because of ethylene. The outside appears ripe but the inside has not had adequate time to naturally mature its texture and taste.

More ingredient prep, including adding the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste to the sauce pan to reduce while measuring out vegetable broth, and de-crusting and cubing of the dry bread.

Once the broth has simmered with the tomatoes for about half an hour, it is time to add the bread cubes! This almost reminding me of my younger years of adding small sponge capsules to hot water to wait to see them fatten into dinosaurs or animals. I didn't know what would happen to the dry bread crumbs but they devoured the broth and grew into large dumpling mush balls. I had to add about 2-3 extra cups of water to the pot maintain its integrity as soup. Final step was to add freshly torn basil leaves and olive oil drizzle.

As the tomato soup simmered on the stove, I prepared the Salsa rossa that would be served along with the Parmesan and rosemary crusted veal chops. This was an easy recipe to complete and required only a few ingredients: onion, red pepper, canned tomatoes, olive oil, chili pepper flakes and salt. There were equal parts onion and red pepper. The onion slices needed to be very thin while the red pepper slices could be about 1 cm thick. The onions were added to the hot oil first to soften but not brown, and then the red peppers were added and cooked to reduce to half the original size. This reducing step took the longest, requiring about about 30 minutes over low-medium heat to keep the vegetables cooking but not browning. 

The onions and red peppers cooking to half their size. Reminded me of my Alma Mater colors.
I wonder what Bucky Badger is eating for dinner tonight...

While the Salsa rossa and soup were on the stove, it was a good time to begin the preparation of the veal chops. It included a new verb, sinew, for which I had never heard of before. From the quick google search that I did, I took away that "sinew" means to get rid of all pieces of the chops that are difficult to chew or uneatable. The chops that I purchased came as T bones, so I carefully pulled the meat away from the bone center to get four pieces of meat. After cutting away excess fat, tendons, other small "sinews" and patting dry with a paper towel, I was left with some handsome, and fairly lean, veal!  After some smashing with a mallet (to 1 cm thickness) they were ready for a 2-step batter process. Step 1: dip in seasoned, slightly whipped eggs. Step 2: Press each side firmly into a breadcrumb, parmesan, and fresh rosemary mixture.

The chops from King Soopers! This was my first time purchasing veal,
and for some reason I was expecting something that the butcher keeps
 behind the glass case. I didn't have time (or a vehicle) to shop around
elsewhere so I took them at face value.

By this time, the Pappa al pomadoro was taken off the stove, the Salsa rossa was simmering on low with the tomatoes and spices, the table was set, and my wine glass was empty. Almost time to feast.... just needed to fry the veal chops. While the butter and olive oil were heating with garlic cloves in a large frying pan, I whisked together olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper for the Rocket and pecorino salad and set aside. When the garlic cloves started to brown, I quickly booted them out of the pan and added the battered veal chops, two at a time, into the hot fat bath. As they sizzled and cracked I tossed the washed and dried arugula leaves with the vinaigrette, divided between two salad plates and placed it onto the dinner table. A quick flip of the chops after 3-5 minutes and it was time to tend to the granitas one last time (pictured below), raking the zesty ice crystals away from the sides of the cold pan into a fine texture. With a deep breath of cold freezer air as I put the pan of granitas back, it was time for the final round of veal chop frying. The first came out beautifully and reminded me of Joe's mother's Slovak pork schnitzel.

The third rake before letting it freeze one more time while
 dinner is consumed. The flaky, solid texture has almost
been reached as you can see.  

Fast forward to the end of the meal. Plates are empty, bellies full, kitchen a mess. Time for a slow Italian stroll around the block to escape the heat of the apartment (made especially unbearable by me having at least two burners on at all times throughout the course of the afternoon). Before our return from a wonderful night in Italy, we decided on a night cap. Not another glass of wine, but a tall helping of sweet and sour lemon granita that was waiting behind freezer doors. This might just be a staple in our apartment for hot summer nights like this one.

Ice cold Italy.... the Lemon Granita!