Diane and Davide were the first guests invited to our apartment for dinner. Unlike our last residence, this apartment is a little "thin" when it comes to party accoutrements, like wine glasses, silver, and plates. And when it comes to food preparation, a good set of knives (even one good knife) is really necessary in order to avoid a serious kitchen injury--how I avoided one eludes me! Above is our humble table.
The menu consisted of the following:
Spiced pecans that I had brought with me from the States
Prosecco
Spiced cream of pumpkin soup with a garnish of sauteed Granny Smith apple
Barbecued brisket (well, kind of) with homemade barbecue sauce
Cole slaw
Not homemade macaroni and cheese, not roasted potatoes, but French fries
Lemon-vanilla panna cotta with a lemon marmalade
Several wines recommended to us by the staff at Roscioli's (note: we did not serve boxed wine)
Bread from Roscioli's
Espresso
Grappa
You may wonder why I would even attempt a barbecue dinner in Roma. Well, I like a challenge and Davide likes barbecue.
The preparations started some time ago in the States. Of course, at the time I settled on this recipe, I assumed that I would have an oven. After all, when an advertisement for an apartment says that it includes a full kitchen, wouldn't you expect an oven, too? After we had booked the place and I took a closer look at the picture, I realized the apartment had no oven. Off to my Arkansas butcher I went, explained my predicament, and asked if I could braise the brisket (well, kind of) on the cooktop. Yes, I could, but I would need to add additional cooking liquid. I chose beer--the only time I really like the stuff!
The next challenge was to board a plane carrying a liquid that exceeded the TSA volume guidelines (only by a tenth of an ounce) and that also read "Liquid Smoke" on the label! Somehow, I didn't think the authorities would like me carrying smoke on a plane. I carefully covered the label in my quart-sized baggy with lipstick. Next to my Shalimar, it looked like "Eau de fume"! Fortunately, I got through the USA TSA and Italian Customs looking like just a sweet, innocent thing!
Another pre-trip plan was to identify the cut of meat in Italian. My Italian teacher didn't know--I don't know if it's because she is French or doesn't cook much--I kind of think it's the latter. So, relying on the addage that a picture is worth a 1000 words, I made up the following Word document to show the Roman butcher. In the process, I found out that the Americans and English differ on ideas of what a brisket is--hence, the two cows below. To cover all the bases, I decided to include pictures of uncooked and cooked brisket.
I went to a very nice butcher in the covered market in the Prati district and placed my order for my brisket. Because it wasn't available, he had to special order it, and I was to pick it up the following day. As it turned out, my brisket (well, kind of) resembled a chuck roast, so that's what I cooked...on the stove...with the beer...and the liquid smoke...and the homemade barbecue sauce.
The next order of business was to prepare the cole slaw. I was amused to find mayonnaise in a tube. Fortunately, I had brought packets of herbs and spices with me from the States which was smart because dill is pretty hard to find here.
Most of the time, I can find the products I need at the neighborhood store or at Castroni's, the international food store--except for chicken broth. It does not exist in Roma. They have a reduced demi-glace version that I tried, but like the bouillion cubes, it's far too salty for my taste. So for the pumpkin soup, I first had to make a bean stock from cannellini beans to use as the base for my soup. Fortunately, Castroni's had the canned pumpkin, so after I got the onions finely minced (with a knife as sharp as overcooked spaghetti), I was good to go.
There was just one other ripple in the food preparations. With only two electric burners and an insufficient number of cooking pans, I could not prepare the starch. Prior to our departure, I learned that my homemade mac-n-cheese was out of the question because you can't get cheddar cheese here. I couldn't roast potatoes because I had no oven. Home fries were the answer, but when I arrived and took stock of the limited number of pots and pans, that plan, too, had to be discarded. Instead, I opted for "portare-via" or carry-out. I sent Bill down to a nearby ristorante (where several nights earlier we had delicious roasted potates) in order to bring home four servings. As it turns out, they needed (davvero?) several hours advance notice to fill our order! Bill came home with French fries, which after the soup and before the entree I re-heated in some olive oil. All things considered, the dinner turned out to be pretty good.
Maybe because of the challenge of putting dinner on the table or just enjoying our visit with Davide and Diane, we don't have many pictures. Below is a picture of Diane and me, possibly discussing some pictures on the computer. We'll come back to this picture later.
I like the next picture because I have absolutely no Italian blood whatsoever, but you wouldn't know it by the hand gestures I'm making! I think I was showing (and describing) Crystal Bridges to Davide here (in English--again, no reason for using my hands).
They brought a lovely bouquet of lilies as a hostess gift.
Fortunately, when we entertained the Vitalis, I had not come down with a horrible cold. In the next picture you see what happens when a sick little Tricia has nothing to do but play with Photoshop (hence, Phun with Phlowers) while recovering in bed. The image in the upper left corner is merely cropped. The remaining three views of the same picture have been tweaked through the magic of digital prestidigitation or Photoshop. In fact, I made this little montage before I went to see the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit here in Roma, but it kind of resembles her work.
Back to the picture I showed you earlier. Apparently, Davide is the only one who was aware that Bill had his camera in hand. Thank goodness, someone decided to smile for the picture!
And so, that was our barbecue dinner in Roma with Diane and Davide.
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