3rd Blog for Europe with Pasta with Truffle Oil Recipe

Before heading to our rental in Montefioralle, in the Chianti area of Tuscany, we were in Lucca, also in Tuscany, for their organic Framer's Market. Here's a photo of what one vendor looked like; actually, it was only a small portion of their produce:

Everything was so fresh and delicious. Some of the best tasting tomatoes were the ones up front in my photo, which were not the pretty-looking ones. I usually buy tomatoes in the States and use them for both cooking and in salads. In Italy, you buy tomatoes for each and don't use the cooking ones for salads; therefore, I bought a lot of tomatoes. After we left the market, we drove to Montefioralle and our home for the next two weeks..

We spent those two enchanting weeks in the Chianti area of Tuscany, which is north of Rome. Tuscany was everything I imagined and more. The narrow roads meandering through the hills and valleys, surrounded by large patches of shades of green between the olive trees and grape vines laden with fruit. It was all interspersed with ages old stone buildings, some houses, stores, and many what they called castles, which were mainly the wine and olive oil tasting vineyard buildings.  I loved the medieval villages with their walking streets. The stores had contemporary merchandise in rooms with stone arches or other Gothic details. ( I wrote this before we returned and we're home now. I went to the Apple store today and now can upload photos. "One day, I will have to share all the fabulous photos I took but still can't seem to upload to my blog. Back to the Apple Store when we get return, for a lesson on how to use iPhoto.")

Here are a few of photos from different hill towns:

We've had so many wonderful experiences but too many to write about now. We'll talk when we get home about the fun things we've done.

We're now in Bologna, having arrived late yesterday afternoon. It's an old large city. I had thought that the streets were also walking streets, but you can drive through most of them. We parked before finding out that you could drive, so we did a lot of walking. The architectural details are fabulous. As you walk the streets, it is easy, as there are arcades on most of them, so you can walk out of the strong sunlight. It was in the mid 90s today. Talk about hot! This is about the hottest it's been since we arrived. Most days have been in the high 80s or as much as 90-91. I think the Spring would be a fabulous time to visit, as there would be fewer tourists. The last time we were in Italy, it was almost 20 years ago and it was November; a bit cool but less traffic and smaller lines, although we haven't had too many lines to stand in, only in a couple of places. Then, we had needed coats, scarves, and an umbrella, which we bought in Florence.

This weekend is the biggest religious holiday weekend of the Summer; it's called Ferragosto, which is Assumption Day. So many stores and restaurants take their vacations during this time. I can't even count how many places had signs up saying they are closed until late August. So, on one hand, it's a great celebration ending with fireworks at the shore, and on the other, it's a bit harder for tourists, although so far all the museums and churches have been opened to the public. They do have signs up saying they will be closed to the public during the festival, which is tomorrow, the 15th. So, we're planning on going to Ravenna and perhaps to Rimini as well to experience Ferragosto.


Ravenna is an amazing city. It's known for its mosaics; there are 8 UNESCO Heritage Sites there, but we only got to see four of them. Each was so different than the others and all are fabulous. It's mind boggling to realize that they have been there for over 1500 years and they mostly look brand new. Of course, there are areas that don't look brand new, but for the most part, they're dazzling. George Fishman, a friend of ours who creates incredible mosaics, gave us friends' names to look up; so, we did. Stephanie and Robert, Americans who have lived in Ravenna for over 15 years, met us for a cup of coffee, or in our case tea. We had lots to talk about. She is a tour guide and will put together a private week or longer tour featuring mosaics or anything else you want to see. The two of them create mosaics as well and do many installations of Art in public places in the States as well as elsewhere. We walked a bit with them and looked at one of the Heritage Sites, a Baptistry, which had mosaics producing transparency of cloth, which is kind of hard to do. Then, we went to see other friends of theirs and George and Nancy's; they're a young Italian couple who give workshops on mosaics and have created some really unusual contemporary themes and pieces. 


We left Ravenna and traveled another hour to see friends of our neighbor, Boni, who live in Rimini and own and run a small hotel there. JJ and Mirella come to the States every November and stay for a few months; they're Italian (he's actually American) snowbirds. We've met them in the past when they've been in. Art also wanted to see the sea, and since it was Ferraugosto, we thought there would be fireworks. However, we didn't see any. We had a lovely time with JJ and Mirella and look forward to seeing them this Fall and Winter. Maybe we left too early before the fireworks started.


Today, we traveled to Ferrara, a bit north of Bologna. It's a beautiful city with lots of pink marble. The Este Castle is incredible, huge, and the history is so interesting. I'm getting tired now, so I'm stopping for the moment. I hope to post this tomorrow after I decide which recipe to write.


Rice Pasta with Truffle Oil Sauce
We ate something like this in a wonderful restaurant in Ferrara.


Ingredients:

• 1 medium yellow onion- chopped fine
• 3 cloves garlic- chpped fine
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 stalk fresh rosemary- chopped
• 1 teaspoon truffle oil-- white or black
• 1/4 grated fresh good quality hard raw goat cheese

Directions:

1. Saute onion-garlic and rosemary in olive oil. Make sure onion is golden-and garlic is not burnt.
2. Cook the rice spaghetti according to its package. I use a brand where they suggest it cook for at least 17 minutes and a couple of more minutes doesn't hurt it.
3. When done, drain pasta, toss with onion, garlic, rosemary. Add goat cheese.
4. Toss again and drizzle the truffle oil on top of each individual serving.
5. Garnish with fresh chopped Rosemary--just a pinch.

Delish. Enjoy!