Cibreo's Yellow Pepper Soup

Years ago when my daughter was studying in Florence, I had a transformative dining experience there. I ate at Cibrèo. That first dinner at Cibrèo stayed with me forever, so when my brother-in-law and sister-in-law invited me to be their guests at a villa in Florence this month, I knew Cibrèo also had to be in my future. 

After eating dinner at Cibrèo twice in the last two weeks, I'm happy to report that the food is just as good as ever.  But you don't have to fly to Florence to savor one of Cibrèo's signature dishes. Just make the recipe at the end of this post.
In a one-block corner of the city, you'll find several Cibrèo eateries, including the fancy, linen-tablecloth Cibrèo restaurant. Dine there if you want to go more upscale. But to eat the same food at half the price, in a more casual setting, go to the Cibrèo trattoria across the street. No reservations taken, so it's best to line up twenty minutes before it opens at 7 to get a seat. Because it's small and it's not exactly a secret.

There's nary a pasta dish or pizza on the menu, but what does come out of the kitchen can only be described as divine, including their yellow pepper soup, or passata di peperoni gialli.

 If silk and sunshine were edible, this is how it would be done. 

Start the evening at the Cibrèo cafe with a glass of prosecco or an Aperol spritz, to get you ready for the main event.  Maybe you'd prefer to spend the evening at the Cibrèo dinner theater, where it helps to know Italian.

Fabbio Picchi is the mastermind behind all these delicious eateries, and you'll see him constantly scurrying back and forth among diners to make sure everything remains to his high standards.

 I have to confess when I showed him photos from my recent preparation of his yellow pepper soup, he scolded me because I had roasted and peeled the peppers, instead of running them through a food mill  to separate the skins from the pulp. Italians frequently use this tool (a mouli) when making tomato sauce too.

 But since I don't own one, I roasted the peppers and peeled the skin. Sorry Fabio.

The soup was just as good as what I remembered eating at Cibrèo, even if I adapted the recipe to suit my lack of a mouli. It freezes beautifully too, so you can stockpile some for when company's arriving, or when you've got a busy day and don't have time to cook. A little heavy cream makes it luxurious.

Everything on the menu at Cibrèo is really special.

 The polenta is one of my favorites. I don't how they manage to get it so soft and creamy. I just know I had to have it, with its dribble of olive oil and scattering of parmigiano on top. So I did. I would happily eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This ricotta and potato sformato was pretty darn special too, served with a rich ragù on the side.

And who'd have thought that crab soup would be a specialty you'd crave in Florence? Well, take my word for it, it may look drab, but any other crab soup you've had will pale beside this intensely flavored version.  

The main courses were equally delicious, including this casserole of sausages and beans - a classic Tuscan dish.

The roast pork loin with potatoes and spinach looked delicious too, but the one criticism was that it was served at room temperature.

I have to confess the stuffed chicken neck (replete with chicken head in the presentation) didn't sound too appealing, but it tasted like a very good chicken paté. Be prepared - so much of the food at Cibrèo is mousse-like in texture.

But I couldn't say no when I heard that stuffed rabbit was one of the night's specials - with sweet cipolline onions on the side. It was tender, flavorful and I would order it again in a heartbeat. Actually, I did order again on my second visit in two weeks.

The desserts were also every bit as delicious as I remembered. The cheesecake smeared with orange marmalade was a standout.

But then again, so was the cream-filled tart topped with the tiny strawberries (fragoline) that are a specialty in Italy this time of year.

But this was the dessert I had been dreaming about since my last visit - a coffee flavored bavarian cream smothered in dark chocolate. One bite and you're in la-la land. It's light and luscious and rich all at the same time.

I didn't think Cibrèo could top that, a new dessert on the menu comes close - a vanilla bavarian cream served with a puddle of reduced, sweet grape must called saba.  Now I've got a real problem. What to order for dessert next time?

Cibreo's Yellow Pepper Soup

printable recipe here

Total time: 45 minutes

1 red onion

1 carrot

1 stalk celery

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 yellow peppers (I used 3 and roasted them, then peeled them)

4 medium-size potatoes (I used 1 large and it was plenty)

2 cups water or chicken stock

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 glass of milk (It's good with just milk, but use heavy cream if you want a really rich taste)

2 bay leaves

Homemade croutons to garnish.

1. Chop onion, carrot and celery. Fry them in olive oil until golden in a heavy casserole large enough to hold all the vegetables.

2. Devein and chop peppers. (I roasted the peppers and peeled them, then added them to the blender along with the other cooked vegetables) Peel and chop potatoes. Add to casserole along with about two cups of water or stock (or half water and half stock), enough to cover vegetables. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Simmer 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Pass the vegetables through a shredder or a Mouli to remove skins. Puree in a blender or food processor. (After soup has been liquified, it should not be boiled again or it will lose its color and taste).

4. Return soup to heat and add milk, which will remove any remaining acidity in the peppers and give the soup a smoother consistency. Add bay leaves. Heat through without boiling. Correct seasoning and remove from heat.

5. Take out the bay leaves. Serve soup in heated individual bowls garnished with croutons. If you need to reheat the soup, heat it in a double boiler.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Calamarata

It's fun to try new pasta shapes, especially when they mimic the main ingredients you're pairing with the pasta. In this case, it's calamarata, which closely resemble the calamari, or squid, that I cooked with them. In the past, it was nearly impossible to find calamarata here in the states, but nowadays, I have seen it not only in Philadelphia and New York, but even in my hometown of Princeton, N.J. The brand I used was "La Fabbrica della Pasta di Gragnano," an excellent artisanal pasta made with extrusion machines that employ the traditional bronze dies. In case you can't find this brand, click here for a couple of other brands available online.

Try to find squid that are on the small size. They're more tender. These were only about three inches long. Pat them dry and cut them into rings. Dry them again before cooking with them. They'll release a lot of water anyway.

Saute the scallions and garlic in olive oil, then remove them when they've wilted.

You should be roasting the tomatoes too. Use a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet to make clean up a little easier. Roast them until they have burst open and have taken on a bit of color.

Toss the tomatoes together with the squid, the pasta and the remaining ingredients. All you have to do now is grab a fork and dig in.

Calamarata with calamari
printable recipe here

1 lb. calamarata pasta
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs. squid, cut into rings

1 pt. grape tomatoes
a couple of tablespoons olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic salt

6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. chopped scallions
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 lemon, squeezed
red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1/4 cup minced parsley
small handful of basil, minced

Place the grape tomatoes on a cookie sheet (I put parchment paper down first). Pour a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over the tomatoes and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Roast in a 425 degree oven for about 20 min. until they start to turn color.
Start the water boiling for the pasta, adding some salt. While you're boiling the pasta, make the sauce by placing 1/2 cup olive oil in a large saucepan and adding the chopped scallions and minced garlic. Sauté until soft, then remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside. Turn up the heat, add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and add the squid rings, tossing and sautéing for only a few minutes. Do not overcook.  Squid will get tough if you leave it in for more than a few minutes. Remove the squid and set aside. Add the wine to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes in the pan with the liquid that the squid released. Drain the pasta and add that to the pan, also putting back in the sautéed scallions and garlic that you had set aside. Add the roasted tomatoes, juice from 1/2 lemon, salt, pepper and enough red pepper flakes to give it the spiciness you prefer. Sprinkle the minced parsley and basil on top and serve.

Amaretti Crostata

This may look like a drab, brown tart, but I assure you, once you try it, you'll be licking the plate clean. You're familiar with the crostata - a tart made with jam that's a standard dessert in any Italian housewife's repertoire. This one takes it a step further, adding amaretti cookies and almonds and some liqueur to the mix. The recipe comes from my friend Lilli, who got it from a cookbook that came with a kitchen apparatus called a "bimby." 

Years ago, she bought one of these super-duper machines in Italy. You can use it to make anything from risotto to sorbet. All you do is dump the ingredients into the machine, press a button and it does the work for you. It mixes, it cooks, it knows when everything's done - nearly as good as having your own chef in the kitchen. It's an expensive item so you won't find it on every kitchen counter, the way you do a toaster. As fate would have it though, Lilli's "bimby" broke after a few years, but the recipes she made with it still work. It just takes a few extra steps to do the mixing by hand.

Make it in a pie plate or a tart pan, whatever you have on hand. The recipe calls for a pan with a diameter of 30 centimeters, or about 12 inches. You may not have that large a pan, so just adjust to the size you've got. Don't use the entire recipe for pasta frolla, for example if your pan is not that large. Even if it is, you'll have extra. Save what you don't use and freeze it. Cut back on the marmalade too if your pan is smaller. 

Then again, you might want to go out and buy a larger pan. Because you're going to want to eat every last morsel.

Amaretti Crostata

for a pan of 12" diameter

printable recipe here

Pastry - pasta frolla 

This makes enough dough for a large tart, with leftover, or for two smaller tart shells.

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 t. vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 or 3 T. ice water, if needed

Place the dry ingredients in a bowl or food processor, add the butter and mix until it looks like coarse sand. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the water) and mix only until it holds together. If it's too dry, add a couple of tablespoons of cold water until the mixture comes together. Do not over mix or your dough will be tough. Bring together into a ball.

filling

200 grams (about 7 ounces) plum jam

200 grams (about 7 ounces) apricot jam

200 grams (about 7 ounces) amaretti cookies

1/4 cup sliced almonds

a tablespoon of butter

flour

a little cognac or brandy

a little amaretto liqueur

Mix the plum and apricot jams with the brandy cognac. Roll the dough into a disc and place into a tart pan that's been buttered. Spread half the jam mixture over the pastry, then place a layer of amaretti cookies over the top. Sprinkle with a bit of cognac, then add another layer of the jam mixture. Finish with another layer of amaretti cookies, sprinkling with amaretto liqueur.

Spread the almonds on the top. 

Bake in oven for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Raw Artichoke Salad

Raw artichokes? Yes, raw artichokes. Cast aside those thoughts of chewing through cardboard. That might be the case if you used regular artichokes. But this salad is made with baby artichokes - the ones that measure only about three inches long and are in markets right now. 

Even so, you can't just bite right into these artichokes. They do look a bit foreboding with those prickly leaves, don't they? There's a bit of prep work to do first, including stripping off all of those pesky outer leaves. For those of you who might be thinking what a waste that is, you can recycle the leaves by cooking them in water and making vegetable broth to use in risotto, soups or stews. Once you've stripped off enough leaves to get down to the very tender interior, trim the stem all the way around.

Then slice off the top section of the artichoke to get rid of the prickly part.

Cut the artichoke in half. At this point, if you were trimming regular size artichokes, you'd have to scoop out the center choke. But in these baby artichokes, it's still quite tender, so leave it in.

Cut into very thin slices.

Have ready a bowl of acidulated water (water with lemon juice or vinegar), or the dressing you're going to use for the salad, and immediately drop the slices into that. Otherwise, the artichoke will oxidize and turn brown very quickly.

Then prepare the other ingredients: wash the arugula, slice the mushrooms and shave some strips from a piece of parmesan cheese (I use a vegetable peeler to do this). Toss everything with the dressing and I promise you, cardboard will be the last thing on your mind.

For a tutorial on trimming large, globe artichokes and a recipe for artichoke risotto, click here.

Raw Artichoke Salad

printable recipe here

It's hardly a recipe, just a list of ingredients mixed with a vinaigrette.

arugula

baby artichokes

parmesan cheese

white button mushrooms

extra virgin olive oil

lemon juice

salt, pepper

Prepare the dressing by mixing 1 part lemon juice to 2 parts extra virgin olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Wash the arugula and mushrooms. Slice the mushrooms. Trim the artichokes and slice thinly. Toss the artichokes, the mushrooms and arugula with the dressing and mix with shavings of parmesan cheese.

The Cheesecake Chronicles

The perfect hairdresser and the perfect cheesecake recipe are two things that I can never seem to find. I keep trying one after the other, and while I have found some good ones, something's always missing. So I keep searching - and trying. Naturally, when I saw a cheesecake recipe at the end of a post from one of my favorite bloggers - Mozzarella Mamma - a American journalist who works in Rome - I had to give it a go. She calls it "FOOLPROOF, FRAZZLED MAMMA CHEESECAKE" because frazzled pretty much describes her life lately. The foolproof part? Well, not so much.
During the resignation of Pope Benedict and election of Pope Francis, you could say she was the poster child for all working mothers pulled in umpteen directions by home and work obligations.  I was always amazed that she found time to blog about the historic events happening at the Vatican after putting in long hours of work at Associated Press (AP) in Rome, a competitor to the company I worked for in New York.  I secretly envied her being able to report on a piece of history as it unfolded, but at the same time, I didn't miss the minute to minute deadlines of working for a wire service.

So back to the cheesecake and Mozzarella Mamma (MM), otherwise known as Trisha. She writes a terrifically engaging and interesting blog, which hints at what a great reporter she must be for the AP too. But at writing recipes.... well, let's just say, "Trisha, don't quit your day job."

The photo above is not Trisha's cheesecake recipe. The photo below is. It looks pretty good, right? Well, as the saying goes, you can't judge a book by its cover. Keep reading.

Trisha's recipe calls for 12 ounces of chocolate chips, which I used. But they all sank to the bottom of the cheesecake. I served it to my Italian chit-chat group anyway, and they all thought it was great. But to me, it was like eating a hard candy bar on the bottom and cheesecake on the top -- and a rather sweet cheesecake at that. So I emailed Trisha and asked about the snafu, who wrote back saying "Oh I forgot to say you have to melt the chocolate chips." 

OK..................................................... 

So I made it again, melting the chips. I wish I had a photo to show you of the second cheesecake, but let me just say that the melted chips formed a solid chocolate mass at the bottom of the cheesecake. Again, I served it to a group of friends at a monthly "food salon" I'm part of. They all ate it with gusto, but I was sure it still wasn't what Trisha had served her family. No fail cheesecake? I don't think so.

 I didn't bother emailing Trisha again for more explicit directions, but I had the feeling the chocolate was supposed to get mixed with the rest of the batter, creating a chocolate cheesecake, not one flecked with chocolate bits. However the directions were vague and I didn't want to take any more chances. 

On the other side of the country, fellow blogger Adri of Adri Barr Crocetti.com, was having the same experience as I with the cheesecake recipe. But she continued to fiddle with MM's recipe at least two more times, while I gave up and looked elsewhere for a different recipe - partly because I prefer the "tang" of sour cream in a cheesecake, rather than the sweetened condensed milk MM's called for.

I found just what I was looking for amid the dozens of cookbooks on my shelf -- in an old plastic spiral bound cookbook from Hershey's. The chocolate didn't sink to the bottom. Instead, it blended beautifully as I swirled it with the vanilla portion. 

The recipe doesn't call for it, but I decided to envelop the bottom of the springform pan in aluminum foil and bake the cheesecake in a hot water bath, also known as a bain marie. It helps bake the cake at a more even temperature, avoiding a ridge along the outer edge that can occur if you don't use a hot water bath. I say this from experience, having made a fourth cheesecake without the hot water bath for Easter dessert. As you can see, it didn't bake nearly as evenly as the one made with it. The graham cracker base was a little burned too, something that didn't happen with the hot water bath cheesecake. OK, confession here - so maybe I left it at a high temperature too long before lowering it to 250 degrees.

We scarfed it down nonetheless, but the one baked earlier, in a hot water bath, was just about as perfect as you can get - in both taste and appearance. I think my cheesecake search is finally over.
But that hairdresser? I'm still looking.

Hershey's Marble Cheesecake
printable recipe here

•  Chocolate crumb crust (recipe follows) - or use a graham cracker crust if you prefer
• 3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese , softened
• 1 cup sugar , divided
• 1/2 cup dairy sour cream
• 2-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract , divided
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3  eggs
• 1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Directions

  
  

  1 Prepare chocolate crumb crust. Increase oven temperature to 450°F.

  
  

  2 Beat cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, sour cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla in large bowl on medium speed of mixer until smooth. Gradually add flour, beating just until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

  
  

  3 Combine cocoa and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in medium bowl. Add oil, remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1-1/2 cups of cream cheese mixture; stir well. Spoon plain and chocolate batters alternately over prepared crust, ending with spoonfuls of chocolate on top; gently swirl with knife for marbled effect.

  
  

  (At this point, I wrapped the pan in aluminum foil and baked it in a hot water bath.)
  

  
  

  4 Bake 10 minutes. Without opening oven door, reduce oven temperature to 250°F; continue baking 30 minutes.

  
  

   Turn off oven; without opening oven door, leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes. 

  
  

  5 Remove from oven. Immediately loosen cheesecake from side of pan with knife; cool to room temperature. Refrigerate several hours or overnight; remove side of pan. Cover; refrigerate leftover cheesecake. 10 to 12 servings.
  
  Chocolate crumb crust: Heat oven to 350°F. Combine 1-1/4 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (about 40 wafers, crushed), 1/3 cup powdered sugar and 1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa; stir in 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter or margarine. Press mixture onto bottom and 1/2 inch up side of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 8 minutes; cool completely.

  
  

Quick and Easy Manicotti/Cannelloni

I'm a big fan of manicotti, including the ones that use a crepe batter as the wrapper, like the ones I posted years ago here. But my favorite are the ones made of pasta, like the ones in the photo above.
Now, those of you who have eaten cannelloni may be wondering what's the difference between manicotti and cannelloni, two very similar dishes. Well, you'd be hard pressed to find manicotti on a menu in Italy. It's cannelloni you'll see there, and they are fresh pasta tubes or sheets of pasta rolled into tubes (canna means reed in Italian) usually stuffed with either meat or cheese and topped with a béchamel sauce. Manicotti are frequently made with a crèpe dough and called crespelle in Italy. In the U.S., manicotti are typically made with ridged pasta tubes (manicotto means "muff" in Italian) that are sold dry in packages. They're usually stuffed with ricotta and topped with tomato sauce. Whether you call them manicotti or cannelloni, the word police aren't going to come after you, so long as the food tastes delicious -- and this certainly does.
You can make your own pasta or go the easy route, as I did, and buy some packaged fresh lasagna sheets at the grocery store. For the stuffing, I would normally use a mixture of chopped spinach and ricotta. But it's the season of wild mustard greens and I've been busy, as you can see from the sinkful I foraged last week. For more information on what to look for before the season vanishes and how to prepare them, click here. After blanching, most of them went into the freezer, but a bit of them were destined right away for these manicotti.

I cut the lasagna sheets in half and filled them with some of the ricotta and greens mixture. The dough is already really pliable so just a short soaking for a couple of minutes in hot water was all the softening it  needed.

 They'll cook more once you cover them with sauce and bake in the oven.  

Sprinkle with more mozzarella cheese, or parmesan if you prefer. They're so easy to make and such a hit with everyone, the only problem is making sure you have enough.

Quick and Easy Manicotti/Cannelloni
printable recipe here
makes about 12

1 cup chopped and cooked wild greens or spinach
1/4 cup chopped onions
2 cloves minced garlic
2 T. olive oil
a handful minced parsley (about 1/4 cup)
3 cups ricotta cheese (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 eggs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups mozzarella

1 package of fresh lasagna pasta (The brand I bought weighed 8.8 ounces)
about 1 - 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

Sautè the onions and garlic in the olive oil until wilted, and add the greens or spinach and the parsley. Let it cool, then put in a bowl and mix with the rest of the ingredients, reserving about 1/4 cup of the mozzarella. Cut the lasagna sheets in half and fill with the ricotta mixture and roll up. Spread a little tomato sauce on the bottom of the casserole; place the manicotti in the casserole and spread more tomato sauce over the manicotti. Sprinkle the reserved mozzarella on top and bake for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes at 350 degrees until cooked and heated through.