I was up at 6am Saturday and from the window I saw the full moon setting with a reflection in the Tiber. I went out in the cold in my nightgown to snap a picture. Brrrrr. Mornings are still very cold here.
But, Saturday was sunny and warm in the Piazza. We headed out to do some errands and visit our local market to see what was to be seen. I bought a few things at the market. Broccoli/broccole and Cauliflower/cavolfiore are always around this time of year. Some fresh eggs. And I got the ever present Cavolo Nero or black kale. Luther bought six bottles of vino bianco from our local winery. The nice lady there is always so excited when we come. I don’t think she sells much 😞 So we are happy to support them and the wine is good!
We also drove to a store and bought some pellets for our stufa, and visited the grocery for some supplies. I bought carciofi romana…artichokes …because I saw a picture of someone cooking them and it made me drool…🤤
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Carciofi Romana Why have I never made this before! It is so good. And really not so hard. I had four artichokes and I cleaned them and prepped them for the pot. Then I rubbed them in garlic, mint, salt and pepper.
I put them into a pot and poured the olive oil over them, then added the water and brought to a simmer. I put a lid on the pot to let it cook.
After thirty minutes they were done. Very yummy and garlicky. I served them as a first course before our hamburgers 🤣😂
The ingredients are few. I did four artichokes but you can do as many as you want. You can look on the internet to see how to trim them if you haven’t done it before. You’ve got to be pretty ruthless. Most of it goes in the trash. If you’re not cooking right away put them in a bowl of lemon water so they won’t discolor. Chop about a tablespoon of mint and garlic fine, add a teaspoon of salt and some pepper. Rub the artichoke cut parts in it. Put them face down with stems up in the pot. Put the heat on medium. Pour about half a cup of olive oil over them. Add about a cup of water. Lower heat and simmer 30 minutes. Serve warm.
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Moderately good news. Umbria has gone back the Orange Zone. This does very little for us except people can sit outside a cafe for coffee, and the dress shops will be open again. I think that’s about it. We still can’t leave our Comune. I don’t mind telling you, we are all bored out of our gourds here. If they’d let us go into a Zone Yellow we could at least travel in the region of Umbria and the restaurants could open for lunch. Maybe soon 🤞🤞
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Italiano for today. “Ho incontrato un amico in piazza e abbiamo fatto due chiacchiere” In English, “I met a friend in the square and we had a chat.” Pronounced — oh in-con-trah-toe un ah-me-ko in pee-ahtz-zo A ahb-bee-ahmo faht-toe dew-ay key-AH-key-err-ray. The word Chiacchiere is a really hard one for me to pronounce. They really accent the second syllable. And they roll all their Rs. Really roll them which I cannot put in my pronunciation. Many English speakers have difficulty rolling their Rs. When I was little I used to do a lot of sound affects with my toys. So rolling my Rs is natural! 😁
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Stay safe everyone, buona domenica! 🌈
The artichokes were very yummy! I love them fried too! I’m glad you like the Italiano sentences. You can thank a friend of mine for asking me to do it.
A couple years ago while visiting Roma during Easter we gorged on artichokes! It takes me back to Castroville when we rode the AIDS bike ride and stopped off at Pezzini Farm for fried artichokes. Thanks for the lesson on frying these gems! p.s. I’m loving the daily Italiano lessons!
Hi Marjorie, is it the Snow moon? I had wondered, they all seem to have a name nowadays. If the EU approves the J&J vaccine it might get to Europe. They say here maybe by April. Right now we have Moderna, AstraZenica and BioNTech. And they won’t give AstraZenica to anyone 55 and under. 5% of EU population have gotten it as opposed to 14% in the US. People are angry.
Gorgeous picture of the “snow” full moon over the Tiber– definitely worth the foray outside in your nightie!!..and the alla romana artichokes are MOUTH-watering!! Hang in there..maybe there’s hope for your vaccines now that J&J’s has been approved for emergency use.
Hi Liz. I hear there will be a second season. Maybe he will come to Umbria. There are copyright issues here. I’m sure that’s why we can’t see it yet. Someday!
Yum. Hopefully you will soon be able to see Stanley Tucci on CNN. Last week he filmed artichokes made in the Jewish section of Rome. Mark and I were there before we came to visit you in Umbertide. This week I think he is in Bologna.
Hi Dori, I’m willing to bet if you got them in Rome they were this recipe. It is one of the signature dishes of that city. I used to make them steamed and didn’t trim all the leaves either. Then I ate one leaf at a time dipped in butter. Not eating the pointy part. But this recipe wants you to take off all the outer leaves until you can cut through the whole thing. Then cut the top HALF off. Leaving just the bottom of it, and you peel, and eat, the stem. Try them I bet you’ll love them!
I had wonderful, garlicky artichokes in Rome, and wonder if this is how they were cooked? I’m going to try this! When I roast artichokes to eat the leaves, I don’t trim off the pointy leaf ends. I used to, but it’s a lot of extra work, and we don’t eat that part anyway.
Congratulations on the vaccine Shirley. We still wait. I love artichokes in most any form. I just wanted to try them alla romana. They were so good.
Your moon photo is beautiful. I LOVE artichokes and when I see them I buy them. I cook mine differently, I clip the tops of the Leaves before cooking them. Then tear off each leaf and dip in Garlic Lemon Butter. This week I received my second CO”VID vaccine. I am so happy that part is done.