food, photography, italy
Everything is pumpkin-flavored these days and you probably already had butternut squash cooked in any possible way this season…but have you ever tried Butternut Squash Ravioli (Ravioli di Zucca)? They’re delicate pockets of thinly rolled pasta hiding a delicious filling of sweet and nutty squash, bitter-sweet amaretti and savory Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Back in Italy, we typically toss them in a lovely aromatic butter sage sauce. They’re pretty much impossible not to love!
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Have I ever told you my mom is a serial baker? She bakes bread, pizza, focaccia, and cakes of all kinds in such an effortless way it makes me doubt we share the same genes. Not long ago, her oven door broke and she had to send it out for repair. Needless to say, she was desperate. Like what-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life kind of desperate. Baking for her comes so naturally that even during that time when she was “oven-less”, she put her usual auto-pilot baking mode on and made pizza dough, only realizing a little late she couldn’t bake it. Oh, how much I love her!
When it comes to cakes, she’s sneaky: as soon as one cake has been eaten up by whomever comes through her kitchen (cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, me), another freshly baked one reappears in the morning at breakfast time. I don’t know how it is in your family, but it’s impossible to say no to my mom’s cakes….
As my little Italian tribute to Oktoberfest, I managed to put some fine dark beer in the most iconic of all Italian desserts: tiramisu’!
…and what do you get when you use BEER to make TIRAMISU? An unconventional, aromatic, delizioso BEER-AMISU’!
Does it sound crazy? Not really. Back in Italy, this interesting take on the traditional Italian trifle is actually well known and it’s definitely something beer lovers get a kick out of. As you may imagine, the most important part of this recipe was choosing the right beer that would go well with coffee. I didn’t have to look too far because the very Alexandrian award-winning Port City Brewing Company, had the kind of dark beer I was looking for: a robust Porter featuring bittersweet chocolate and roasted coffee notes. PERFECT!! (…even if not so Oktoberfest-ish!) If you get the chance to get a hold of their Porter, make sure you grab more than this recipe calls for, because, rest assured, you’ll definitely want to enjoy it separately (it won the silver medal in its category at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival!)….
Last year, around this time in September, I was in Italy picking apples from my dad’s orchard with mom, my then 2-year old nephew, and my sister-in-law. I remember it as if it was yesterday: the sun setting behind the mountains, the crisp air, and the joyous feeling of being together and reaping the fruits Mother Nature generously gifted us with. Oh, how much I miss sharing those moments with my family! Those apples ended up in a delicious old-fashioned apple strudel.
This time around, I don’t have such a romantic harvest story to share as I got my apples at Wegmans!
Nonetheless, I’m super excited about this post because those delicious organic apples were used by someone very special to make an amazingly delicious apple cake in my kitchen. Who is it??? I’ll give you a couple of hints:…
