Welcome back.  Hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebration with your family and friends.

Easter in our family is, like in my last post on Easter in Sicily, one  of celebration starting with church and then it is all about the food.  For us, since our nucleus family is scattered and Mom and Dad are no longer with us, it is a mix of old traditions to honor our family, and new ones.  Jenn, Roberto and I have a strong sense of maintaining long held traditions but we are also all about trying new things for our little family, too. 

As promised this post will provide the recipes from our research and our dinner.

So while part of our menu still looks like that of old, we reinvented some old recipes with a new twist that fits into our whole new pattern of healthy eating and have added some entirely different foods based on the Sicilian heritage research.

The DiPiazza-Campus Easter Menu
♥ ♥

Avocado-Tomato-Anchovy Crostoni*
“Crostoni con Avocado, Alici e Pomodiro”
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Spring Pea Risotto
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Lemon Lamb*
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Easter Bread
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Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake Roll
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Spiced Italian Coffee*

*Avocado, Tomato and Anchovy Crostoni
From The Magazine of La Cucina Italiana
Ingredients:
1 baguette
2 avocados
juice of I lemon  (We used only Meyer lemons from their lemon tree )
2 medium beefsteak tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 marinated anchovies, split into 2 filets each
2 tablespoons snipped chives

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut the bread diagonally into 12 thick slices. Place the slices of bread in a single layer on an 11”x17” baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, or until browned and crisp.

2.  Peel the avocados, cut them in half and scoop out the stone.  Slice each avocado in half into 6 wedges; arrange on a latter and sprinkle with the lemon juice to bring out the flavor.  This also helps prevent the avocado from turning black. Cut each tomato into 6 wedges and place ona plate, and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.

3.  Assemble the crostoni by placing a tomato wedge, an avocado wedge and a piece of the anchovy on top of each slice of bread. Garnish with the chives.  Serve immediately while the bread is crisp.
Serves 6.

Spring Pea Risotto – a Leftover Queen Original
Nothing ushers in this season like fresh spring peas. In this dish we decided to pair peas with a risotto to make a nice bed for the lamb.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 ½ cups rice – mix of Arborio and Brown
1 pint chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup white wine
salt and pepper
Parmesean cheese
lemon slices of ½ lemon
Saute rice kernels in olive oil over medium heat until rice is browned – about 5-7 minutes.  Add peas and mix together and begin adding chicken stock ¼ cup at a time and let the rice soak up the liquid each time before adding more.  When stock is gone add butter and start with the wine, then start adding water , ¼ cup at a time until rice is cooked through.  Season with salt and pepper and serve with a nice grating of Parmesan cheese and lemon slices.
*Lemon Lamb
Often in Italy goat is on the menu at Easter.  But also popular and more readily available, in the states at least, is lamb.  While this dish was shown in The Magazine of la Cucina Italiana  with asparagus made into pancakes, we opted to go with the risotto.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil.
12 ounces lamb
1 onion, minced
juice and zest of 1 lemon
¼ cup dry white wine
salt and pepper freshly ground

 In a skillet over high heat, warm the olive oil.  Dd the lamb and onion and saute for 5 minutes. Deglaze with lemon juice and wine; season with salt and pepper.  Reduce heat, cover and cook for 30 minutes.  To serve place the pea risotto on a platter and arrange the lamb on top. Garnish with the lemon jest and spoon any cooking juices on top.  Serves 4.

Bread Recipe

Modified from this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/A-Number-One-Egg-Bread/Detail.aspx
Ingredients:
2 TBS buttermilk
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45
degrees C)
6 egg yolks
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 pinch salt
extra flour for dusting, and as needed during kneading
chocolate chips
confectioner’s sugar
milk
Directions:
Pre-Soak: Place whole wheat and all purpose flour in a large bowl. Mix with yogurt and 2/3 cup of water. Mix and let soak over night.
1.The next day, in a medium bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/8 cup of water. Stir in the yolks, 3 eggs, oil, sugar, and salt. Add about 3 -1/2 cups of flour to make a sticky dough.
2.Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead with remaining flour until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn to oil the entire surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Place in a warm place until double in size, about 1-1/2 hours.
3.Punch down the dough, and divide into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 12 inches long. Braid the three strands together, and seal the ends. Place the bread on a greased cookie sheet. Beat the remaining 1 egg with a pinch of salt; brush onto bread. Let the bread rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
To make Bunny shaped breads, tear off a golf ball sized piece of dough, and roll between hands to make a rope. Then tie in a knot. Even out the 2 long ends, to create ears, and the knots are the face. Place the chocolate chip eyes in place before the rise.
4.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5.Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack. To decorate bunnies, make a simple icing out of confectioners sugar and milk. Paint on ears and nose. You can use red food coloring to make a pink nose.
 ***This recipe can be formed into other shapes as you wish- a braid, rolls, etc.  We like forming them into bunnies.  For small rolls or bunnies, omit the egg wash, decrease the oven temperature to 350 degrees and the baking time to 15 minutes or until the bottoms look brown.

Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake Roll**  (For recipe click here)

*Spiced Italian Coffee

2 ounces chopped milk chocolate – from your Easter egg - in a bowl.  Pour 4 servings hot espresso over, stirring until melted.  Add 1 tablespoon rum, stir well.  Pour in cups and garnish with whipped cream and coca powder.  Serves 4.
Hope you enjoyed our little Easter dinner.  From our home to yours- enjoy!!

I just updated my other blog LeftoverQueen.com with a post about our visit to Venice, Italy !!!

I have been wanting to try The Tasting Room for ages. I have heard a lot of really good things about it and nothing bad. I knew that it is partnered with Opus 39 another high quality restaurant that I am dying to try, so with all of these pros, I thought there was no time like the present to enjoy some fine dining in Saint Augustine.

We have been trying to work our way around some of the local restaurants, and I am sad to say that it has been a while since we had a truly inspired meal. I do have my favorites here in the Oldest City, but I wanted to get more well rounded and try some other places, before getting stuck in a routine. But each time we tried a new place, we were starting to feel like we just wasted some money on a mediocre meal. So I figured that we needed to have a meal to really get us excited about dining out again, and really get our money’s worth, not only in the food, but the ambiance and the staff. All of these needs were met at The Tasting Room.
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Hi All!

Here is an article I wrote for my other blog, LeftoverQueen.com, however, I feel it is relevant material for this blog as well, since it features many local St. Augustine vendors. Hope you enjoy!

I am talking about this post of course. It could be taken the other way too. We are not “old” but we are not kids anymore either, so I guess you can take it however you like it!

However, the point is that we are in our second month of marriage (celebrating 2 months on Thursday) and I am just now getting around to posting about the wedding. It took us a while to get our photos, due to technical difficulties and then there was so much catching up to do when we returned. So sorry it’s late, but here it is! I already gave you a look at the honeymoon, but now it is time to write the story of our wedding day and all the wonderful vendors that helped us to make the day even more special. Plus, I know you are all dying to hear about the food and the cake.

I know everyone says this, but we had the best wedding ever. It was small and nearly everyone that we are close to was there to spend the weekend with us – Roberto’s mom, all of my parents, Roberto’s daughters, Gwen and Rachel, my best friend Jen and her family, and several other relatives and close friends. Just having all the people we love surrounding us, made it an amazing day.

We were married early in the day, so we opted to have a Brunch for our reception. I have always loved brunch – there is something just so classic about it, not to mention very budget friendly.

Since we had a small guest list, we were able to procure a beautiful Spanish style restaurant to host it. Saint Augustine, FL is well known for its Spanish history. Although it was held by the British as well, before the Americans, it is the Spanish who will forever be associated with the place. You can see this influence reflected in the architecture all over town, as well as the street names. It is such a beautiful place. When you are coming over the bridge from the beach into downtown, if it weren’t for the American flag, you would think you were in Spain.
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We have walked past La Pentola (which is Italian for The Cooking Pan) many times on our evening walks and it always looks so romantic and inviting with their tiled courtyard filled with greenery. So a few weeks ago when I was looking for a place we could take my mom to Mother’s Day Brunch, I decided to check out La Pentola. We wanted to take her somewhere special, to thank her for all the help she has given us over the past year and especially during the time of the wedding. So we wanted it to be a place that would show our appreciation. La Pentola had gotten a lot of good reviews on Trip Advisor with special regard to their brunch. Plus it is known as a restaurant using a lot of Mediterranean flavors. So we decided to stop by the restaurant one night, to find out what their brunch menu for Mother’s Day would be. We were told by one of the hosts that there was no set menu, that it really depended on the mood of the chef that day and what he would decide to prepare. I always find these kinds of chef’s to be rather creative, so we took the gamble and made reservations.

We got there a few minutes early, but they showed us to our table straightaway. It was a really hot day that day, so we were happy to see that our table was under the roof. We were still able to enjoy the courtyard without burning to a crisp.

Brunch at La Pentola is a la carte. They had a lot of interesting breakfast options as well as more lunch type fare. I found their menu to be more Latin infused than the Mediterranean cuisine they are known for, but we all like Latin flavors, so we were still happy. We ordered coffee and browsed the offerings. As always, I looked for the dish with the most interesting combination of flavors. I found it in their fried egg selection which was served over corn tortillas with roasted red peppers, peas and a tomatillo sauce. I am a big fan of Huevos Rancheros, so I decided to give it a go. Mom chose the omelette with chorizo and cheddar cheese with a side of grits and Roberto went for the roasted pork shoulder. The coffee arrived with a very cute touch. We each got our own mini pot of French press coffee accompanied by a little stick with rock sugar on it to stir into the coffee. Nice attention to detail there. Our server was very polite, and nice, but seemed really frazzled. In fact, it seemed that they were short staffed for a Mother’s Day brunch. There were about 10-15 tables outside and at least as many as 20 inside – and the servers were individually working tables both in and out.

Soon the meals came. My eggs were cooked to perfection and the tomatillo sauce was delicious. I liked the addition of red peppers, although they seemed to be from out of a jar, rather than roasted at the restaurant. Also the tortillas had been fried and they were very hard to cut through. But all in all, I really liked my meal – it was a large portion and served with a side of tasty home fries, very filling and had that unique flavor combination I was craving. Mom enjoyed her omelette as well. It was packed with chorizo and cheese – although it looked to me like the cheese was not totally melted in the omelette. The grits she said, we “just grits”.

Roberto’s pork was really tasty, it was like a Ropa Vieja and came with a delicious and fresh salad with gorgonzola dressing which was outstanding. Although the pork was tasty, it was not a very large portion. For $17 he thought he’d be saving half to take for lunch on Monday, but he said that if it weren’t for the bread basket he consumed alone, along with it, he would have left the restaurant still hungry.

My assessment is that La Pentola is the kind of place you go to enjoy the small plates, appetizers and salads which are all reasonably priced, and inventive, but avoid the entrees which are pricey and small of portion.

Where did you take your Moms to brunch?

If you have followed this blog for any length of time you know that Roberto loves his pizza. Being from Rome, Italy, although not THE capital of pizza that Naples is, he still knows a thing or two about what pizza should really be like (if you would like to see what we think makes a pizza great, check out this article ). So as always, when we change living locations we are always on the quest for the best pizza around (if you want to see where the best pizza in the US is that we have found so far, check out this article ).

If you live in Saint Augustine, Florida or have ever spent time here, you know there are tons of pizza joints. One night we were in the mood for a slice so we decided to check out Pizza Time’s Brooklyn style pizza on St. George’s Street. Now as you know, generally we are not big fans of New York style pizza. The crust is much more floppy than the classical Italian version and so it never quite meets up to our crunch standards. But Pizza Time displays many of their pie choices in the window and they looked really good. Plus I loved the sign in the window saying: “I’m Italian, I don’t need a recipe!”
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This restaurant which is often touted as a place for tourists is in fact, great for tourists because it has a fantastic view of Matanzas Bay and The Bridge of Lions. You can see seagulls, fish and even dolphins playing in the water below you. But it is also a fun place for locals when you need to get your fix of watching crazy seagulls and attempt to feed them without getting your fingers bitten off! Kids will love it, too, as this place is more than food, it is also entertainment.

We had a great experience at The Santa Maria when my Dad and Stepmom were visiting a few weeks ago. We were going to take them to the A1A Alehouse, so they could get a nice view of the water and city, grab a pint of beer and enjoy the food, but they were closed for renovations. So A1A missed out!By this time we were so starving we didn’t know what to do. The belly was taking over the mind, so we ended up at The Santa Maria. I am really glad we did because I am sure this is exactly the kind of place I would have overlooked since it is right on the water and I have a theory that a good view does not always equate to good food. But I was happy that The Santa Maria proved me wrong.
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They should really call it Italian Restaurant Row. The North End of Boston is full of Italian restaurants, specialty food shops, café’s and apartments. It is a section of town devoted to all things Italian and most of the residents, shop keepers and restaurateurs are also Italian keeping the authenticity alive. You rarely see something like this is America anymore. As I discussed here growing up, when I went to visit my grandparents in Western PA, it was a little like this, although most of the ethnic groups were kind of mixed together even though each had their cultural Mecca’s. But here in Boston’s Little Italy, it is all Italian all the time. You actually hear Italian being spoken in the streets and everywhere you go. The TVs in the cafés have Italian stations playing soccer matches, in Italian. You can really get the flavor of Italy here just walking through the streets, but when you go into the restaurants and sit at the table to eat, it gets even better.

As many of you who have kept up with this blog and my other blog The Leftover Queen,
you know that Roberto and I have been on a quest for the perfect Italian pizza. We have tried making it at home and have gotten close several times. We have also spent endless trips all over town trying each pizza joint, hoping to find a bit of pizza gold! But to no avail…yet. Until we found Pizza Regina in Boston’s Little Italy. We should have expected something good when we saw the line coming out the door and onto the sidewalk. When we got in, the place was packed and full of the hustle of a great pizza place: lots of yelling back and forth between servers and cooks, pizza dough flying in the air as a backdrop and smells of melting cheese and tomato sauce. Roberto and I shared a Napoletana – a huge pie with anchovies, capers and olives. Rachel and Gwen, Roberto’s daughters shared a half mushroom, half meatball.

As soon as Roberto picked up his slice and it held up, with no drooping he was feeling inspired, when he flipped the slice over to reveal the tell- tell sign of flour on the bottom of the crust, he got more excited, and when he took that first bite, enjoying all the flavors of a pizza cooked to perfection, he was in heaven and declared that his search for real Italian pizza in the US was over! Big accolades for Regina’s!

After eating we decided to go for a walk and check out some of the shops. We were on a search for some real Parmigiano-Reggiano and Italian Salami. We checked out the Salumeria Italiana a specialty food shop full of Italian cheeses, meats and non-perishables. There was also a table full of fresh baked bread. We picked up some Parmigiano and some assorted olives for snacking.

We then moved on to Café Graffiti where I enjoyed a deliciously bitter macchiato.

Roberto had a childhood favorite, Crodino – a bright red bitter (that matched his shirt that day!), which to Rachel, Gwen and I tasted like cough syrup (same color too)
and the girls each enjoyed a fruit nectar. Here is Racehl enjoying hers.

Refreshed we spent the next few hours walking around and enjoying the sights sounds and smells.

We stopped by the Old North Church, where on April 18, 1775 the church sexton, Robert Newman, climbed the steeple and held high two lanterns as a signal from Paul Revere that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord by sea and not by land. This fateful event ignited the American Revolution.

As well as St. Leonard’s Church, the first Roman Catholic church in new England built by Italian immigrants. All of these sights can be found in the North End.

Before leaving we had to make one more stop – we had to get Gelato, of course. I have been to The North End before and have always loved the nocciola gelato at Café Vittoria, a historical North End Café, and was dying to have it once more. Much to my dismay, they were out of Nocciola, so I settled for Coffee. Roberto had his obligatory Pistachio, Rachel went for Chocolate Chip,

and Gwen not knowing what to get opted for Spumoni after I told her my Grandfather used to get that for me when I was her age! We all enjoyed it AND our trip to little Italy!

*NOTE*: Some of these photographs were taken by Rachel Campus, Roberto’s daughter, who is a budding photographer. I guess she took after her dad on that one!

I had been hearing about Bella Luna for a while. I heard that is was independently owned, that it had a beautiful ambience and inventive upscale Italian cuisine but what really got me to go and check it out was that I heard they had a beautiful gargantuan Cassata – Sicilian wedding cake – with layers of sweetened ricotta cheese, white cake and candied fruits . I love a good Cassata and it was a night on one of these rare occasions that I was craving some pasta (mostly I am a really bad Italian, as I do not like eating lots of pasta) and in celebration of our pending nuptials that we decided to check out Bella Luna, celebrate a bit with my mom and see for ourselves!
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This is my submission for the
W is for Writing Challenge Jeff has put forth on C is for Cooking

Isn’t it amazing how a taste of something can bring you back to the past? One minute you are sitting enjoying a sweet treat at the end of a pizza and pasta dinner wondering what your angle should be for yet another Italian restaurant review and in the next moment you are an eight year old child sitting in the Italian hall enjoying the same sweet treat with your Pap-Pap. Sometimes, it has been so long since you had that particular taste that you forgot that it even existed. In that same moment that you are tasting this long-forgotten delight, moments in your life you had also forgotten come flooding back – now full of emotion because they had been forgotten for so long you did not realize how much you missed those simple, wonderful moments that you had no idea you would miss so much later at the original time you experienced them.
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