Christmas Dinner 2008

The traditional Christmas dinner at the Peregos started at about 3pm. This year we had the pleasure of being with our good friends and neighbors Jeff and Vauna Stam and Treena, as well as Jenna's sister Julia and her family. Here is the menu we all enjoyed:

Antipasti:
Toasted bread with walnuts spread
Toasted bread with sea-urchin meat (see photo)
Italian cold meats (prosciutto crudo, pancetta, salame di culatello - see photo)
Shrimp cocktail (Italian style)

Primi:
Risotto with safron and sausage
Ravioli with ricotta cheese and spinach filling with butter and sauge sauce
Large rotini pasta with cream and smoked Italian bacon (pancetta affumicata)

Secondi:
Pork roast
Turkey roast
Baby carrots sauteed in butter

Dessert:

Christmas treats from Italy (gianduiotti with pear filling, hazelnut cookies, soft chocolate covered torrone, marzipan treats)

Traveling and Eating Around Europe - September 2008

I have been in Europe for nearly a month now doing several things for work, school and a little also for myself. It has been a very intensive month with lot of traveling, preparing, studying, working, EATING, and with very little quality sleep! It is kind of hard when you have to change bed every one or two nights!! "Luckily" I have been now in Pavia at the university where I am getting my PhD for nearly a week and it has been nice to feel like you don't have to pack and leave the next day. That feeling will soon be gone since I am leaving today to spend the weekend at my parents, returning to Pavia for two more days, leaving for Alghero (Sardinia Island) on Wednesday for a scientific congress, and leaving for the United States the day after I fly back from Sardinia!!! But the words "flying home" are like music to my ears!

I started this month-long trip in Philadelphia, as recorded in my previous entry. After the rocambolesque, but successful attempt to fly to Europe nothwistanding the bad weather, I arrived as originally planned to Italy on Sunday September 7 only to discover that all my luggage did not make the connecting flight in France. That was not good as I was planning to leave the following day for the Czech Republic and I had pretty much only what I was wearing to take with me... Luckily, the luggage did arrive that evening and my parents were so kind to drive the two hour r/t to the airport to recover it for me.

I left as planned on Monday for Wien, Austria, rented a car and drove to Brno, Czech Republic that evening. I was stopped twice by the Czech police late at night. The first time they were just stopping random cars to ensure no one was smuggling anything in the country (interestingly, they removed the custom check point at the border to promote "free exchanges and travel" with other European countries, but then set a police check point about a mile past the border...). The second stop was when I was driving in the historic part of town that was limited to pedestrians and bicycles... One of the two cops had the booklet in his hands ready to give me a ticket, but before he said anything, I jumped out of the car (something that I would probably get shot for in the US) and explained to them that the GPS told me to turn in there and that I was lost on my way to the hotel). The cop did not speak any English or Italian, but I think he got the message. Took my GPS in his hands and in a broken English (more broken than mine!!) exclaimed: "Piece of s***!" and told me to follow their car to the hotel. No ticket was issued!!

The purpose of my short visit to Brno was to attend and speak at the EASR 2008 congress on Science and Religion. Months ago I submitted three abstracts and two were accepted for presentations. It was a positive experience, but the true surprise was to run into Christian Euvrard, who served as mission president in Milan Italy when I was a young child. He was also a presenter at the same congress. It was cool to have two LDS presenting at an interfaith congress dealing with different topics related to religion, but it was even cooler to find a friendly face in a stranger place. I left Brno right after lunch, to drive to Bratislava, where I spent the following two nights.

The drive to Bratislava was enjoyable and fairly quick. The nicest thing was that I could drive in the daylight, not like the night before as I was trying to find my way to Brno. Outside of Bratislava I met with my dear friend Dana, whom I knew from the BYU days. Dana spent two semesters at BYU working toward her PhD. It has been probably ten years since we last saw each other. I remembered that I was the one that left BYU first, going to Italy for a short vacation and Dana returned to her country shortly after. So that was it. I thought we never saw each other again, but there she was again... with her two kids in the car and her big friendly smile! It was sooo good to see her and one of the highlights of my journey through Europe.

I spent two days in Bratislava, meeting with a professor from the Bratislava University about working together to collect Slovakian DNA samples, visiting the beautiful city and eating great food (Dana even made me some Slovakian original Bryndzové halušky). Dana and her husband were wonderful hosts and I truly enjoyed my time with them, their kids and their funny dog Tommy. The only bad thing about this visit was that it was too short. I hope our paths will cross again!

Porcini Mushrooms Extravaganza!

I am a big lover of Porcini mushrooms. In Italy you can buy them at about $25/lb. Here in Utah I have heard of only one place that sells them and the price is about $50/lb. A couple of year ago, a friend of mine told me that they are found up in the mountains, at about 9-11,000 feet. We did in fact find them back then and it was a very joyous day for me. Yesterday, we planned another trip. Ale Achilli came along. We left work at 3pm and were up past Woodland by 5pm. We found the first 4-5 right on the side of the road. After about 3 1/2 hours of walking among the beautiful pine trees, we felt satisfied with what we were able to find.

We did not get down to SLC until about 10.30pm and stopped at a grocery store to buy some fresh egg noodles. Although we were soooo tired, we could not wait to taste the gorgeous Porcini. We divided them in three groups: those that were going to be sacrified tonight, those that will be eaten tomorrow, and those that were a little older to be eaten fresh and that we sliced up and start drying to eat in the future in soups or risotto. It was a Porcini feast!!

Pasta with Porcini Mushrooms (for 4 people):
- 2 packages fresh egg noodles (we got Buitoni brand - ca. 1/2lb each)
- 1lb fresh Porcini mushrooms
- 2 cloves of garlic (peeled)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
- salt and pepper to taste

Boil water for the pasta in a large pot. In the meantime, prepare the Porcini mushrooms as follow: clean the Porcini with a brush or kitchen towel. Remove excess dirt with a knife. Dice the Porcini mushroom and sautee them in a fry pan on medium heat with the olive oil and garlic. Let them cook until tender. Do not overcook or burn them!! Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add pasta to the boiling water. It will cook in less then 3 minutes. Drain and place back in the pot. Add the cooked Porcini mushrooms and stir well. Add more olive oil if necessary. Serve pasta in four bowls and sprinkle with the fresh parsely. Enjoy a trip to heaven!

Ancona, Italy - August 2008

I am in Ancona, Italy... a lovely city on the Adriatic Sea coastline. I have never been here. I am attending a conference called DNA in Forensics. Lot of great researchers and interesting presentations. The nice perks are the room with a view of the sea and an extraordinary dinner at a local Trattoria with more seafood than I could eat (but I ate it all!!). In this picture I am having a local favorite: l'impiccato (the hangman). It is a bunch of fried seafood hanging upside-down from a metal stick. I was happy!

Gnoccone Ripieno

This is a first for me, as I came across this recipe lately, browsing through the pages of a new Italian cookbook I recently purchased. Although it did not turn out just like the picture in the book, I was pretty satisfied and I probably figured out where I could improve. This is basically the same recipe for traditional gnocchi, without the frozen spinach (white gnocchi). Instead of making little potato dumplings, you keep the whole dough as one piece and you flattened with a rolling pin (or wit your hands!) until it is about 1/4 inch thick. It is better if you do it already on a kitchen rag as it might be difficult to move the dough once it is flattened (see picture).

At this time you can place on the flattened dough your favorite ingredients. I went for some sliced white mushrooms cooked in butter and garlic, and then finely chopped into a sauce using a blender. I spread the mushroom sauce on a thin layer of shredded mozzarella e Parmesan cheese and topped it with fresh spinach leafs.

Carefully, I rolled the dough using the rag and then tied the two extremities with a string. Make sure the rag is as tight as possible around it. That will give it a nice and firm cylindrical shape to the final cooked product. Place the whole thing into a large pan with boiling salted water for 30 minutes. Remove it from the pan and let it sit, still in the rag, until it has cool down (15-20 minutes). This is an important step as it will ensure that the large rolled dough keeps its cylindrical shape once you untie the ends and remove the rag.

At this point you can slice it and place the slices in a baking pan. Cover with small pieces of butter and with parmesan cheese and baked at 350F for few minutes, until cheese has melted. Enjoy!

Crespelle

This is a total knockout dish and one you can't ever get tired of, because there are so many little things you can do differently each time. Crespelle is the Italian adaptation of a France classic: Crepes. As you may already know, crepes can be prepared sweet (for desserts) or plain (for main dishes). This is the recipe for the plain (salty) crepes:

- Butter 40 grams;
- Flour 250 grams;
- 2 cups (500ml) milk;
- 3 eggs;
- A pinch of salt.

Sift flour into a mixing bowl with salt and milk (I used my KitchenAid). Mix well until it is lump-free. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs slightly and then add to the mix. Continue mixing for another minute or so, then remove bowl from mixer, cover with a kitchen rug or plastic wrap, and let it sit for 1/2 hour. Melt the butter in the microwave and add to the mix (stir with a spoon). If you have a crepe-maker, this is the time to finally use it... otherwise you can simply use a non-stick frying pan. If you are using the frying pan, place just enough mix to cover the bottom (help yourself with a spoon, but act quickly as it will harden right away). Cook for one minute on each side. Place on a plate and proceed with the next crepe.

After all the crepes are made (you should have a nice stack of 12-15 of them), you can proceed with preparing the filling (or you can prepare it while the crepe mix is resting). Three typical fillings used for CRESPELLE are ricotta cheese and spinach, ham and cheese, or mushrooms. This time I chose mushrooms. I cooked several sliced white mushrooms in a pan with some butter, dry parsley, and a crushed clove of garlic. When the mushrooms where fully cooked, I placed them in a food processor and obtained a nice mushroom paste which was easy to spread. I took my first crepe and spread half of it with a spoonful of the mushroom filling. Then I folded the crepe in half two times (to obtain a triangle shape). Place each crepe prepared this way in a baking Pyrex pan. In a saucepan, prepare 2 cups of bechamel sauce and pour it over the crepes. Sprinkle the top with some mozzarella or Parmesan cheese (or both) and a touch of dry parsley (for looks). Cover with an aluminum foil and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350. Alternatively, you can place 1-2 crepes (with filling and folded) on each plate and pour a little bit of the hot bechamel on them. Enjoy!!

PESTO SAUCE!!!

Here is one of my very favorite and simplest recipes: Pesto sauce!! This sauce is delicious with any kind of pasta shapes, particularly linguini. It can also be used as a spread in sandwiches, on pizza, or with chicken. The ingredients I used made me 9 bags of pesto (I can use each bag with one pound of pasta), but this is what you need as condiment for just one pound of noodles:

- 3 packages (ca. 3 cups) fresh basil leaves;
- 1/4 cup of pine nuts;
- 1/4 cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese;
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (for a low fat recipe, you can substitute half of the olive oil with chicken broth);
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- salt and pepper to taste.

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until you obtain a thick and smooth sauce. Pour on your favorite pasta noodle. Sprinkle additional parmesan cheese on the top of each plate.