Korean BBQ Short Ribs

We had one previous failed attempt at Korean BBQ ribs, but I think we redeemed ourselves with this version. We had ordered some beef short ribs from Artizone, and found an easy, delicious marinade. We marinated the ribs overnight, flipping them once in the morning before leaving for work.

We made two sides -- sauteed plantains, sprinkled with a little sea salt, and softened swiss chard, topped with a dash of sesame oil. The flavors of the sides echoed the marinade, which included soy sauce and sesame oil. 


I'm still a little tentative with my grilling skills, but for something like this -- I think it would be relatively fool-proof to make on my own. However, I'm not sure I'd be forgiven for cooking and eating them without sharing.

Trout Schnitzel with Lemon-Chile Butter

Schnitzel!

We made this dinner a while back, just wanting to try something new. Instead of brioche crumbs, we used panko (which may be why the breading looks much heavier in our photo versus the one accompanying the recipe). While it was different, the flavors didn't knock my socks off. I was also sort of unwilling to go bananas coating the fish the chile butter to try and jazz things up.

However, I did find that I like trout. We've been cooking it (usually steelhead) regularly, especially since it has been the best-looking (while still reasonably priced) fish at the grocery store. The steelhead is similar to salmon in color, and is more flavorful than rainbow trout. 

Grilled Seafood and Vegetables al Cartoccio

It's summer, therefore it's grilling time. I saw this in Food & Wine magazine, and was super excited about cooking up a bunch of seafood. 

The recipe took a good amount of preparation time. You're getting all the seafood prepped (and with oysters, clams and mussels -- it takes a while!) and then all vegetables ready to grill. The recipe says it takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes total -- I think that's pretty close (so about 45 minutes of prep, and 25 minutes cooking).

Grilled broccolini, tomatoes, radishes, onions, carrots and asparagus. Whew!

Getting the "packets" ready

Filled and ready to go!

Finished product!

I thought it turned out delicious. However, it's probably a "once in a while" type dish, since the seafood can be kind of expensive when you purchase it all together. Especially if you have to toss a few of the items ahead of time (i.e. if you can't get the mussels to close up before cooking) or after cooking (i.e. if some of the oysters didn't open up. I couldn't pry some of them open, thought most of them did open on their own). I usually end up buying a few more mussels than they suggest in case I pick up a couple duds (and they are cheaper than clams or oysters, so grabbing a few more can help supplement your dish).

You definitely want some bread to sop up all the awesome liquid that is in the steamed packet. There isn't a ton of "meat" out of the seafood included, but you make it up with a ton of yummy vegetables so you aren't starving within 10 minutes of finishing dinner.

The end of our trip: Rome Part Due

Here are some food photos from our last days in Rome, which was at the very end of our trip. We neglected to take photos of our food the first few days in Italy (silly us).

Suppli!

Fried eggplant. This and the suppli made up our "fried bits" lunch treat.

Mushroom, sausage and pepper pizza.

Some prosecco and pizzette in Trastevere

We pit stopped in this wine bar for another drink before dinner. It was a lively, diverse crowd.

Grilled, marinated vegetables

Gnocchi (i think all'amatriciana)

Penne (I think all'arrabbiata)

Oxtail. We couldn't resist.

I think (a month later) I'm ready to try replicating some of the things we ate on the trip. We've had Italian food since we've been back, but I've been a little nervous to cook, mainly for fear of ruining our food memories by a less delicious replica.

Hope you have enjoyed looking at our photos! Looking through them again to write the post has made me nostalgic for house-made sparkling white wine, perfectly al dente pasta...

Eating (and Drinking) in Montalcino

Paul and I were super excited about heading over to Montalcino while we were in the Tuscany region. We thought the small town sounded like a nice break from the bustle of the cities we'd be touring, and we were super jazzed about tasting some fun wines. Paul's favorite wine of all times -- Brunello di Montalcino -- is from this area. 


We headed out from Florence in our rental car early on Saturday morning, and drove through rain and increasing fog the entire time. As we neared Montalcino, it was super difficult to see much of anything, and the town itself was completely engulfed in fog. We got lost for a while (which is somewhat hard to do in a town that is about a mile long), but eventually found our hotel. 


Since it was raining heavily and foggy, we grabbed lunch and hit up a wine shop to do a little tasting. 

Assorted pecorino cheeses

Diving right in with the Brunello wine

What was left of my boar ragu pasta

Tasting some wines at a local shop in town

After the weather cleared up a bit, we headed back out to try and visit a winery or two, but all the places we stopped by were closed. We hadn't made any appointments ahead of time, which I believe is the protocol there (vs. just stopping in at places like you do in Napa or Sonoma). We instead found an 8th century abbey, and took a short break from eating and drinking. 


After a quick nap, we headed back out into the rain to find a place for dinner. We stopped at Taverna del Grappolo Blu. 

Crostini with pate, melted pecorino, and pesto

Chopped veal in a balsamic sauce -- it doesn't look that appetizing, but it was amazing!

Cinghiale and mashed potatoes

Some grappa (for Paul) and a lemon and pine nut tart dessert. Yum.

Even though it rained most of our short stay there, it was still a great little trip. Life could  have been worse, no? 

View from our hotel balcony

Venice

Venice is well-known for it's seafood, and we certainly took advantage of that! I tried to eat seafood at every meal, if at all possible. 


The photos below are from a lunch at a small, casual restaurant and from a more fancy dinner place, Osteria Oliva Nera. Oliva Nera was recommended to us, but we figured we'd never find it -- as we forgot to look it up before we got to Venice and had no internet service. We were walking around for dinner, turned a corner -- and there it was. We were very fortunate to have stumbled upon it, as it was a great recommendation!

Paul's lunchtime pasta with squid ink. Delicious. 

My lunchtime pasta with mussels and shrimp

Dinner appetizer: fried zucchini flowers with a little cheese on the inside. Paul now loves zucchini flowers.

Homemade olives at Oliva Nera...I don't even like olives that much, and I ate all of them.

Paul's perfectly cooked whitefish.

My rabbit gnocchi. Out of control. 

Semifreddo for dessert, with assorted berries. Absolutely divine. 

There may or may not have been a few free shots of limoncello and orangecello. And we left with a small bottle of their homemade olive oil, which I am saving for some stressful time where I just need to transport myself back to Italy via food. 

Gelato!

Yes, Paul does look like he's giving a new report from Piazza San Stefano using his cone as a microphone. I'll let it slide since he's taking the photo. 

Siena

We spent a day and a half or so in Siena while on our Italy vacation. In addition to strolling around town, we sampled some delicious food -- including a local specialty, panforte. The slice we picked up had nuts and figs. It was sweet, chewy and quite tasty.


We also had started picking up tomatoes, bread, basil and cheese as we traveled around to snack on in between meals. We tried some pecorino fresco early on (I think in Rome? We bought a lot of cheese!), and were hooked. It's a great soft and tangy cheese, aged much less than regular pecorino. I'm on the hunt for it, so if anyone knows where to find it -- please do share!

Risotto with a soft, mild cheese and zucchini

Paul's mushroom gnocchi

The infamous panforte

Some delicious cheese we tasted in a shop, and bought immediately (see below)

Our late afternoon snack!