Dining at Cucina da Enzo

Barb and Karen's Italian Escapades - in Rome

Last week, Barb discovered a blog called heartrome, written by an Australian with Italian parentage, named Maria Pasquale. She transplanted herself to Rome and decided to start a blog to share her Roman life with friends and family back home, and now has around seven hundred followers. Funny, sassy and observant, Maria captures the essence of everyday Italians; their mannerisms and habits, their joie-de-vivre and laissez-faire-ness....Okay I'd rather know the Italian for these sentiments...maybe just Italian is good :)....

Anyway, Maria lets you live in Rome vicariously through her insights and adventures, and she, of course, loves food and writes about it too. (I really love her stories about grocery store cashiers and bagging groceries...) The most recent blog she posted before we left was about a trattoria called Cucina da Enzo in Trastevere, a Roman district (rione XIII), and recommended the burrata and the pasta carbonara.... So Barb and I were determined to find it.

Barb and Karen's Italian Escapades - A Roman Holiday

In our Italian Escapades, Barb is co-blogging and adding her comments in Italics :)

Having said goodbye to tearful (Barb’s) and somewhat indifferent (mine) children and husbands - we headed off to the airport.  (--Elinor's random made up song, sung before I left: " My mummy cannot play with me..she had to go to Italy."  Sob! --B.) My mum droves us which I was especially thankful for since I woke Sunday morning with eyeball pain. It wasn’t excruciating, but would have made driving difficult….. Waiting in airports, and train stations, and just that “getting there” process is like limbo, or purgatory. It seems endless until you are finally on your way to what you hope will be heaven. Waiting areas in the travelling world are uninspiring and dull, at best; at worst they are scary, and dirty, sometimes extremely smelly and run down (Termini Subway station), however, it’s obviously all worth it....

Pina Colada Chicken with Spicy Rice and Beans

Pina Colada Chicken with Spicy Rice and Beans

Steve and I have been lucky enough to be able to travel, courtesy of Loblaws and the retailer conferences they organize every two years, to the Caribbean several times. In February of 2007,  we went on a cruise, where at one Port of Call, in Puerto Rico, we went to the restaurant which claims to have invented the Pina Colada. True or not, it was the BEST pina colada I've ever had. Lots of fresh coconut flavour, and not overwhelming with pineapple.

My Favourite Cookbooks,Tropical Fruit, and Movies??!!

This past Christmas, my mother-in-law told me to go buy myself something with a specified amount of money, and it took about two seconds to think "oooh...cookbooks..." Despite how much I love to cook I don't really own a lot of cookbooks, although I always love to drool over those belonging to friends. I usually like to wing things, or adapt food I've tried elsewhere.

 My friend Pam, whom I met in university, once took a year of culinary school and is a huge foodie, and some of my fondest food memories come from living at her house one summer. Her mother, an Austrian lady named Elke, is a wonderful cook, and wonderful person too. She welcomes everyone with open arms. (Her schnitzel was the best, and so was her pasta sauce, and so was her peach pie, and her amaaaaazing Dutch apple pie....Okay, I'm salivating now).... I think between Pam and I, those were the only things we requested over and over and over..... They have a nice garden in their backyard, and when I visited Pam last summer we went out and picked berries to go in our morning yogurt. I vaguely remember picking our own potatoes too, but I'm not sure if we did, or we just talked about it.  I also love their grape arbor.... Okay, back to cookbooks. Pam has a GREAT collection, is how I got started on that subject. My brother Martin also has an amazing cookbook collection, he likes to collect old ones too, so it's pretty neat to see the old recipes in them.

The Ultimate Spaghetti Sandwich

When Barb informed that it was National Grilled Cheese Day (ummm., yesterday....) our brains went into overdrive, and seeing that we have Italy on the brain our results won't surprise anyone, since anyone who knows us knows that we have NINE MORE SLEEPS until we leave for Italy. For two weeks. I'm sorry if you're jealous. I would be too. I'm jealous of me, and I'm going. I know that I am extremely fortunate to be able to go and leave our awesome husbands with our awesome children while we take ourselves to awesome Italy. 

What I did make last night for dinner, on the day of National Grilled Cheese, was the Ultimate Spaghetti Sandwich. While we normally have garlic bread with spaghetti, or a spaghetti sandwich, I decided to combine the two. I actually remember the first time I ate a spaghetti sandwich. I was about fifteen, and we were camping with friends of ours, the Allens, who we camped with every summer at Killbear Park. Anyway, Garfield (we called him Gary back then, but his actual name was Garfield, before anyone had ever met the famous cat of that name), made a sandwich with his spaghetti, and I thought it was the weirdest thing. But then I tried it, and I almost always make one when I have spaghetti, unless we have garlic bread. I love it when it melts the butter, and the bread is all soft and squishy, it's so yummy. Steve puts Cheez Whiz on his, which I don't like. It would probably surprise you, if you know me at all, that I actually do eat Cheez Whiz, on exactly two types of food. I like Cheez Whiz on a toasted bacon sandwich (no egg, though), and I like it on celery. I think it's the saltiness that I like, but it is the only case where I don't prefer real cheese.

Really, the best thing would be to make sure there is extra spaghetti, which happens pretty much every time I make it since I always think it's never going to be enough, and have your nice spaghetti dinner, and then THE NEXT DAY make your Ultimate Spaghetti Sandwich, because it ended up seeming like way more food than usual, and I actually ate a small plate of spaghetti followed by this sandwich, which meant that I was way too full for the dessert grilled cheese I had originally planned, and I had to force myself to finish the sandwich. It was one of those times where you really are starting to feel sick, but it's so good, you hate to not eat it.  

Make your favourite pasta sauce, and cook spaghetti...Then, mix some of the pasta with sauce. You will probably need about half a cup of pasta per sandwich. Then I melted more butter in a frying pan and pressed three cloves of garlic into it, and cooked for a minute or so, then I added two slices of French bread, and this is where a bit of foresight came in handy, I put the cheese on first (I was planning on topping the spaghetti with it, kind of like you do when you have a plate of it), but I thought, oh, that will be so messy, it might not stay put, so I put I nice layer of shredded cheddar on the bread (slices of cheese would probably  be good but I had some pregrated mozarella and cheddar blend, but please do not think of using processed cheese. I guess if you love it, it's your problem, and you might as well go ahead. Real cheese is better). Anyway, carefully top with spaghetti, I actually managed it pretty well. Then top with the second slice of bread, let it cook at a fairly low temperature so that the garlic doesn't burn, then flip it over and cook until golden on both sides. I'd recommend buttering the top slice before you put it on the spaghetti. The first one I flipped worked pretty well, but the second one came apart a bit, but I plonked it all back together.

Anyway, it was pretty good. This is great because you just add whatever you like, I used cheddar mozarella blend, but you could use whatever you like and whatever you have on hand....So then it was like a nice big grilled cheese, garlic bready spaghetti sandwich. Very very delicioso, but very very filling.
You all probably have your own way of making spaghetti sauce, but here is how I make mine:

I sautee about 1/2 cup of onion and 1/2 lb of mushrooms in olive oil and butter, remove from heat, then fry hamburger with seasonings, including cinnamon when I think of it, and when mostly cooked I add the mushrooms and onions back in. Then I add one small jar of PC Original Pasta Sauce. This became my favourite sauce in university, back when we were all the master chef of the Spaghetti Sauce and Oriental Stir Fry. I can't remember eating much besides thoses things. Anyway. I love this sauce the best, and I don't like sauce with added chunks of meat (it's just too suspicious, not to mention rubbery), or mushrooms or any other flavourings. I like to add my own fresh herbs or cheeses or veggies, so I stick to plain sauce. Then I add a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar, and a small can of tomato paste, and stir it and cook it while the pasta boils. That's it. Cinnamon and brown sugar make a areally great spaghetti sauce, and if you've never tried it, well, you should.

Green eggs, and Ham, and Beets, Oh My!

Easter dinner at my mum's house was so much fun, and we had my Uncle Rosaire's beer ham, famous in our family, and the smell when you walk in the house has you drooling until you get to sit down and eat it. Not everyone loves ham, but this is always so good. The eggs came in the form of pavlova, which we had AGAIN, with CREME BRULEE too, my two favourite desserts in one evening, and yes I did eat them both. How could I resist? And we really had green eggs.....read on.


My contribution to Easter dinner was a three-colour scalloped potato concoction. The flavours were inspired by one of the best meals I've ever had, at  the restaurant at Inn on the Twenty, in Jordan (home of Cave Spring Cellars, which is an amazing pairing as far as wine and food dining go), I highly recommend a visit there, not even if you're driving by the area, but on purpose. Go. Just to have wonderful food. Actually, if you look up their websites, there is often a food/wine duet of vineyard exploring and a meal afterward. Sounds like a recipe for bliss..... (And if you ever follow Canadian Food Network Chefs, Anna Olson (who is maybe the only famous person I follow on Facebook), from Sugar (and now with a new show "Bake" coming soon, once was the pastry chef there....I like to think she was there when I went there the first time many years ago, but I don't really know...she is so fabulous, I love her, I could be her best friend, and we could eat brownies and pavlova, and OMG I just looked up her recipe archive and she has lemon thyme ice box cookies.... Lemon and thyme are the star ingredients in the recipe I'm about to talk about!!! See? We could totally be BFFs, lol, it has nothing to do with the fact that lemon and thyme is a classic combination).

Homemade Maple Syrup, and Crumpets of Heaven

Maple syrup, that sweet sign of change between winter and spring, when cold nights yield to warmer and trees begin to bud....and so delicious, it goes with EVERYTHING. Seriously. We've given it a lot of thought....remember my maple vinaigrette for salad in my Garlic and Brie post? Maple syrup goes with meats, vegetables, fish, fruit, desserts, and well, just about anything you could want it for. It's nature's gift to humans. Humans smart enough to discover it.... (Wikipedia has some history and background of how it came into being, there are lots of tales, I'm sure)....and we are lucky to live in a country that is a primary producer of maple syrup, and they grow right in our backyards, so if you've ever wanted to make your own maple syrup, my mum has written a guest blog for me to tell you how, but here's a quick recipe you could whip up and enjoy while you read :)

Pavlova

If you have never had Pavlova, you have been missing out big time!!! It is probably my favourite dessert, although creme brulee gives it a good run for its money. The big differences between the two are that after a big meal, Pavlova is so light, I can always eat seconds, it's like it doesn't take up any room in your stomach. It is sooooooo good. Creme brulee is so rich, it is definitely more enjoyable after a lighter meal. The other big difference is that Pavlova is very easy to make, while I have never been able to make a good creme brulee, although I will rededicate myself to that effort now that I'm writing more about food!!

Pavlova is known as New Zealand's national dessert, but it is famous in Australia as well (check out Wikipedia if you want to know more). It was named after a Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, while she was on tour there. Inexplicably, the name is pronounced differently when it is dessert. I don't get this, since it is named after her, but whatever. Who cares. Let's get to the dessert.

Brie and Roasted Garlic Toasted Sandwich

Barb and I took a trip to Boston two years ago, where her sister was spending a week or two at Harvard, to complete workshops to accompany a distance program she was enrolled in. She kindly invited us to stay in her hotel room with her, and a road trip was born. Not only did we want to go see her sister, and Boston, but it was an opportunity for Barb to add to her Wordstock photography repertoire. We drove down through New York, where I wanted to take Barb to a winery I had visited once in Hammondsport, but it was not open. Wanting to stop for dinner one night, we checked our GPS and saw "Garlic Bob's", and well, we both love garlic so we decided to check it out. Like the Velvet Hammer in North Carolina though, (mentioned in this post) it was nowhere to be found, and in fact seemed to be a derelict mechanic's shop. So we settled for a pub in the basement of a fancy looking place, and I couldn't tell you what I had. But, I've always wondered what Garlic Bob's might have yielded, so I decided to write about one of my all-time favourite garlicky foods

Many years ago, (I'm going in a completely different direction now), Steve and I were visiting our friends Dan and Tammy in Toronto, and they presented us with one of the most delicious snacks I've ever had, which I sometimes just make for lunch. It was roasted garlic served with slices of baguette, melted brie, and raspberry puree (they even strained out the seeds for us). It is that simple. And delicious. I just crush the raspberry myself, I like the seeds too, and I also thinly slice a Granny Smith apple as an alternative flavour. The method is to spread a clove of roasted garlic, sweet and fragrant and soft, on your piece of baguette, smear a bit of melted brie on that, and drizzle with raspberry (or top with apple).  I wanted to change it up just a bit, and turn these ingredients into it a fancy grilled cheese sandwich, so here is what I did.

Chicken with Grapes (Volaille Veronique)

I dug out my French Recipe Cookbook last night, sadly it seems to no longer be in print, but you can buy it used at amazon.ca/French Recipe Cookbook, (if you can get one) and mine was printed in 1995, and so it was brand new when Steve bought for me for Christmas. While I mostly make the pepper pepper steak from  it, and the Boeuf Bourguignon, this is a recipe I have always wanted to try. There are so many amazing recipes to try. I don't want to do the Julie and Julia thing, but French cuisine is magnifique, n'est-ce pas? They don't overwhelm with truckoads of ingredients, and let a few ingredients shine and work their magic.

Books 2 Eat (Part 2; our recipes)

While Barb and I spent many hours preparing pretzels and dips for Books 2 Eat on the weekend it took place, it was really the tip of the iceberg, as there was a lot of practice before hand, and ideas tossed around. Much pretzel-eating was enjoyed by our husbands and kids. (And for us it was usually dinner as well on our practice days). The pretzel recipe I used can be found here: soft pretzels. Since there are a lot of recipes, which I found online, that were used for this event, I am just going to provide the online links, since it will make this post super-long otherwise.

Adding a melted butter and egg wash to make the pretzels
super golden

Books 2 Eat (Part 1)

Barb and I heard about Books 2 Eat (Midland Library - Books 2 Eat) a few months ago, from our friend Nicole DiPinto, who owns Grounded Coffee Co.with her husband Scott Campbell. Nicole organized this event with Scott Cooper, a great local musician who also works at the library. And loving books AND food, we decided to enter. I had almost forgotten all about it, but Barb had not, and she came up with the idea to make Golden Rings of Power, from the Lord of the Rings. We were going to make doughnuts at first, but during a cooking session at my place, making pretzels, decided to make pretzels instead which could be made into ring shapes, and made individually for the 200 people who bought tickets to the event, in aid of our local library.

So we spent a lot of time practicing and getting our technique down, and deciding what sauces we would make. I worked mostly on sauces and made a few batches of pretzel dough, but Barb quickly got the knack of twisting the pretzels into cute round braided-like rings, where mine ended up mangled and misshapen. Barb drew some great maps of  Middle Earth, and I got place cards ready (with cool Hobbit Paintbrush font) and a bunch of quotes from the book to scatter along our table. We placed one ring of power on the display. We had made quite a few practice models of really huge braided pretzel rings, but when it came to our actual display it didn't really work out as well as we'd hoped, and we knew that with 150 pretzel rings of power, there would be enough rings for mortal men....Unfortunately, no elf kings or dwarf lords were present. I spent a lot of time organizing
the text and photos in this post, and no matter what I do, when I publish it, it all changes and
it does not look as nice :( I'm not sure why, but this will have to do.