Day Twenty - Italy

Ciao, and welcome to Italy! We come to this tour stop with a lot of experience with it's cuisine, and honestly, who doesn't?  Of all the countries on this month long global food tour, Italy is probably highest on the list of most popular ethnic food, or at least the one that's most familiar to everyday Americans.  A quick Google search of Greensboro shows that there are over 60 Italian restaurants within the city limits (granted, that includes the one that has an unlimited breadstick policy).

I'm willing to bet, however, that most of our experience with Italian cuisine is pretty cut and dry. Pizza, spaghetti with meatballs, lasagna...and that's about it.  Maybe a few variations of those dishes, but the vast majority is relatively the same.

I wanted to do something different this month, however, something outside the norm. Luckily, one of my colleagues, Carene Kelsey, was able to help me out with this.  Carene's grandmother is Italian, and Carene gave me a couple of her family recipes.  Neither of these recipes are something I normally get at an Italian restaurant or make for Italian nights at home, which was perfect and was exactly what I was looking for.

Gnocci with pomodoro sauce

5 medium potatoes

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 eggs

2 1/3 cups flour

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1 large can diced tomatoes (28 ounces)

2 cups Parmesan cheese, shredded

To start, I first made mashed potatoes (I was already liking where this recipe was going).  I chopped and boiled the 5 potatoes, and then mashed them and mixed them with the heavy cream.  I let them set in the fridge for the rest of the day.

When I was ready to prep dinner, I got the mashed potatoes out and mixed two eggs into them.  I then gradually added the flour, making a dough.  I used a potato masher to mix everything together until it was a little sticky.

I then rolled the dough out into finger wide "snakes."

I cut the snakes into inch wide "pillows," and then put these into a pot of boiling water.  Once the gnocchi rose to the top of the water, I took them out and set them in a bowl to rest.

While this was going on, I heated up the oil in a skillet and then cooked the garlic until it was dark brown.  I then added the pepper flakes, and then finally added the can of diced tomatoes.  I let this simmer for 5 minutes.

Once the gnocchi had been boiled, I put them in the sauce and covered it with the two cups of Parmesan cheese.  I let this cook for 15 minutes.

Tiella

5 medium potatoes, sliced

2 zucchini, sliced

1 onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, diced

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups Italian style bread crumbs

2 cups Parmesan cheese

2 cups  chicken broth

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon basil

This felt very much like assembling a lasagna, only instead of noodles, it was vegetables.  In a casserole dish, I put a layer of sliced potatoes down first.  I topped this with breadcrumbs and a layer of cheese, and then a little salt and pepper and garlic powder.

I then put a layer of zucchini down, and topped that with breadcrumbs and cheese, then salt and pepper and garlic powder.

Next, I put a layer of the onion/pepper mix on top.  I repeated this process (potato layer, zucchini layer, onion/pepper layer), until I ended back with a final potato layer.  I covered this with breadcrumbs, cheese, and basil.

I then mixed the oil and broth, and poured this mix along the sides of the casserole dish and on the top.

I covered the dish and put it in the oven at 350 for about 50 minutes.  I then removed the cover and cooked it for another 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

The result...

...was pretty spectacular. It was unlike any Italian food I'd had before, and I'm glad we went this route as opposed to the tried and true recipes I've made in the past.  The sauce for the gnocchi was great, with just the right amount of spice. I've never been a huge fan of gnocchi, but these were tasty and I could see making this one again.

The tiella was the real star of the meal.  The vegetables were crisp yet tender, and the broth brought out a lot of flavor in them.  I could see this as an awesome side dish, not just for an Italian night, but for anything.  It was also very simple to make.  Over the course of this month, I've found a few recipes that I know I'll end up making for years to come, and this is one of them.

It was great to see a different side to Italian cuisine, one that was even more flavorful than what I was accustomed to.  It makes me all the more excited to visit "the Boot" one day, knowing that there are all of these other dishes to try.  Arrivederci, Italy, for now!