Local peppers can still be had. Look for Quebec peppers at the box-super-markets (not the corporeal ones that say Tabarnac, rather, the green and red vegetable variety-known in French as poivron) This recipe is simple and fast, just like this article. I should also mention that there's a lot of bacon in this dish-now I got your attention.
Pasta With Bacon And Peppers Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
6 Bell peppers, diced (any color will do, I like to mix red and green)
Half a pack of bacon, chopped (Buy the low sodium variety)
3/4 cup white wine (chicken stock will work too.)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Chili flakes, to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
450g to 500g Pasta, long or short it's up to you.
Directions:
Add the olive oil to a large, heavy bottom sauce pan set over medium heat. Add the diced peppers to the pan, give the pan a shake.
Sprinkling the chopped bacon evenly over the diced peppers-DO NOT STIR.
Cook for 8 to 10 minutes without stirring. (The lack of stirring action will allow the peppers to properly brown, while at the same time allowing for an even fond to form on the bottom of the pan; also, the heat will cause the bacon fat to drip in and around the diced peppers, which will confit the peppers.) Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes. At this point, start cooking the pasta. Your (salted) water should already be boiling, add the pasta to the water and cook until al dente.
After about 10 minutes of not stirring, give the ingredients a stir and continue to cook until bacon is golden but not crispy. Add the wine or chicken stock, turn the heat to high and using a wooden spoon, scrape the caramelized brown bits (see picture above) that have formed on the bottom of the pan until dissolved and liquid is reduced by half, at this point, shut the heat off. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and stir well. Serve immediately with some freshly grated Parmesan.
Fig.1. Pastina the way my mother made it. The pasta changed with her moods and the specials of the week but she always used a small pasta.
The longer you are disconnected from ancestry, the more you
connect with a way of life that alienates oneself from the past. Food, however,
is one of those marvelous vehicles that can help you reconnect with not only
tradition, but with an emotional state of childhood bliss lost in the recesses
of your adult mind: a Rosebud winter stew, a Proustian Madeleine, or in my
case, a pastina soup made with chicken, carrots, celery, and of course, pasta.
Fig.2. The guy on your left is thinking about gnocchi. The framed guy on your right is thinking about his aunt's madeleines and tea. Ref-Portrait de Marcel Proust, Jacques-Emile Blanche 1892. Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
Marcel Proust, in his epic work, In Search of Lost Time (also published under, In Remembrance of Things Past, and originally in French as, A la Recherché du Tempe Perdu) addresses (among many other things) the notion of food and memories.The
narrator, in Volume one of Proust’s epic, is reminded of his past while eating
a madeleine soaked in tea.This
madeleine triggered an event the narrator describes as, An Involuntary Memory, which is defined by Oxford as: a
subcomponent of memory that occurs when cues encountered in everyday life evoke
recollections of the past without conscious effort.
Based on this
definition, an involuntary memory cannot be planned. Now here comes the
conundricle (I just made this word up) paradox: If I suggest, like I often do,
and by the very nature of this article, and indeed, the right existence of this
blog, that you go and connect with your culinary past and cook something
traditional, the experience will be voluntary, thereby evoking a Voluntary
Memory; rather, what I want all of you to do is simply to be aware.Awareness comes in the form of many guises,
but the best pretext of all is the one that come unexpectedly. So the next time
you’re eating something home-made, empty your mind of
disconnecting thoughts and allow your attention to transcend into a netherworld
of trapped memories. I don’t know how to do this, but according to Proust, it
will happen on it’s own if you let it.
And another
thing, if you’re a parent, pay attention to what foods you’re offering your
child in moments of distress, these comforting foods are the very triggers your
child will involuntarily experience 30 years from now when they themselves are
assaulted by life’s grievances. Food that will reconnect your child to you long
after they have lives of their own and become disconnected with you in the
paternal sense.It’s in your child’s
best interest that they involuntarily recall something you made from the heart,
rather than from any reactions that might derived from a Twinkie.
Pastina is soup
derived from stock. The very word pastina amongst Italians connotes
comfort.It’s what our grandmothers and
mothers made us when we were sick or throughout the cold winter months.If I needed extra soothing, my mother would
cut up hot dogs and add them to my pastina. Any stock will do.
Ingredients:
Chicken bones
4 chicken
thighs
6 carrots
6 celery stalks
1 large onion
5 cloves
garlic, whole
4 Bay leaves
Salt and
pepper, to taste
Cooked pasta
(use something small)
Directions:
Put all of your
ingredients in a large stockpot and cover with water. Bring to a light boil and
simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Make sure you skim the fat periodically. Let the stock
cool overnight in the fridge. Remove any fat that has congealed on the surface
and remove all of the ingredients from the stock.Pass the stock through a sieve to remove any
floating particles. (I don’t always do this. Floating particles do not bother
me nor do I weigh the want or appearance of consommé upon my culinary shoulders.)
Cut up the chicken, carrots, celery and onion, and discard the bay leaves,
garlic and chicken bones. Add the pasta to the broth and what you’ve got is an
Italian Pastina alla Nonna.
Fig.3. Watch Anton Ego have an Involuntary Memory. (I always cry when I watch this.)
I have always held the position that finding a pizza outside
of Italy that tastes like it does in Italy is impossible.Bottega was the first pizza joint to make me reconsider
my opinion. While the pizza at Bottega came pretty close to una vera pizza
Napolitana vis a vis the crust, the flavor of the tomatoes and the freshness of the cheese still
lacked compared to the red and white stuff grown and pulled in Italy. Enter
FCO di Fiumicino, the pizzeria that makes it easy for me to imagine a dolce vita with every bite.
Fig.2. Actually, it tastes better than it looks.
FCO di Fiumicino is the brain-child of Dino Palmieri, and his
idea was as brilliant as it was logically obvious: If you want pizza to taste
like it does in Italy, get an Italian to make it; and not an immigrant-spawned,
Montreal-Quebec-Canadian-Italian like myself or Dino, but a real bona fide Italiano.
The Mediterranean species who take great pizza for granted because they can buy
pizza at a gas station in Italy that’s better than most of the pies we have
here in Montreal. The bona fide Italians in this case are Filomena and Sacha, (both of who hail from the province of Frosinone) and to say they make
great pizza is an understatement.
The
pizza style served up at FCO di Fiumicino is known in Italy as Pizza Al
Metro-which translates to, pizza by the meter. And while you don’t have to eat
a meter in one sitting, you might just want to when you taste it.“There’s more to Italian pizza than pizza
Napolitana” says Palmieri. Indeed, pizza styles in Italy vary from region to
region: pizza in Rome and pizza in Sicily are both different and equally delicious.Palmieri was inspired on his
many trips to Italy, especially with the pizza al metro made in and around Rome. Lucky for us all, he brought this pizza
formula back with him.
Fig.3. Lots to choose from.
On my last visit to FCO, I ate a pizza topped with mozzarella
and tomatoes that was so freggin good, I thought I was in Italy. It was only when I finished eating the pizza, that I remembered I was in Montreal. (In case you’re wondering what the name of the
restaurant means, F.C.O is the designated airport code and Fiumicino is the city
in which you’ll find the Leonardo Da Vinci Airport, Rome’s major international
airport.)
But what about the, ‘ingredients here not being as good as
in Italy' argument? Palmieri's way around this quandary is equally as simple: use
Italian ingredients that travel well—such as 00 flour—and top the pizzas with
seasonal and local ingredients, such as cherry tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms. As for the cooking
vehicle, FCO’s oven hails straight from Italy—Les Marches to be exact. “It’s
all stone on the inside” says Palmieri “The stone maintains a consistent heat, it’s
the only one of its kind in Quebec.
Fig.4. Entrance to pizza heaven.
Fig.5. Don't know whether to eat it or frame it.
Seeing and tasting the pizza at FCO di Fiumicino, you can’t help but
notice something that transcends taste: It’s a visual cacophony of color and
design, an exactitude enacted upon each slice of pizza in which one can’t help but
notice a beautiful symmetry of ingredients.It doesn’t matter if the pizza is sparse or laden, all it takes is one look to know that Signore Palmieri is proud of his
pizza, and rightly so.
Fig.6. Best gelato in Montreal, hands down.
I also want to point out that I could have written the same
article about FCO’s gelato. Replace the word ‘Pizza’ with the word ‘Gelato’
in the above article and you have yet another reason to stay in Montreal. (Also, gelato doesn’t go in the oven so remove
the oven paragraph.) In my opinion it’s the best gelato in Montreal hands down.
Also, this month is pizza month according to some, but, if you're like me, every month is pizza month.
FCO di Fiumicino: 451 Viger Ave W Montreal, QC H2Z 1G6 (514) 861-3636
Summer is coming to a close which means zucchini flower
stores are diminishing fast.The Birri
Brothers in the Jean Talon Market still has the flowers available and I suggest
you pick some up and get some summer into your mouth before potatoes, beets,
squash and cabbage dispense a hostel take-over on the Birris.
There was a time when delicacies such as Zucchini flowers
were only available for a few short weeks, now, because of greenhouses and
restaurant demands; the flowers are available all summer. But all good things must come to an end so get
some before they’re gone and make an omelet.
Fig.2. Use a non-stick
Omelet With Zucchini Flowers, Potatoes and Onions.
Some people remove the inner part of the flower. I’m
referring to the stamen or pistils in the center of the flower, the part
covered by the pedals. I generally eat them. I do, however, look into each
flower just to make sure no ants are napping in there. Eating an ant will not
hurt you, like my son likes to say, ‘it’s protein’.
Fig.3. Mis-en-place
Ingredients:
5 tablespoons of olive oil
6 small potatoes, diced small
1 onion, chopped,
6 to 8 zucchini flowers
4 eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste.
Fig.4. Prepped
Directions:
Add the oil to a large, non-stick pan set over medium high
heat. Add the potatoes and onions and cook until potatoes brown slightly, about
15 to 20 minutes. (this part is important. Getting your potatoes golden brown
will make them taste like French fries, make sure you stir occasionally. That’s
why I add 5 tablespoons of olive oil, because the potatoes need to be cooked
proper.) Add the zucchini flowers evenly about the pan but don’t stir. Whip the
eggs until they homogenize, lower the heat to medium-low and add the egg.Cook until the surface of the omelet
solidifies but doesn’t dry up. Add salt and pepper and eat. Great for lunch the
next day in a Panini.
I have a passion for Maine that lies in her sandy beaches,
hides in her misty mornings, and is fed by her ocean of seafood.
As a child my parents would do the trek down to Old Orchard
Beach every construction holiday, my sister and I along for the ride. I
remember the smells of the boardwalk, my father’s longing for lobster, and my
mother’s craving for fried seafood platters.My parents may have unwillingly instilled their longings and desires for seafood into
me (as well as some issues demanding serious therapy) because the flavors of
the sea draw me to Maine, and this year, the yearnings got the better of me.
If my pictures below make you want to head to Maine, then my
intentions will have been fulfilled.
Fig.1. First stop, the Portland Lobster Co, located on the docks of Portland Harbor. Recommended by locals.
Fig.2. Ordering in the rough. It's a term used in Maine. It means you're in a seafood restaurant in which you order your food at a counter, at which point you're given a number; you pick up your food at another counter when your number is called.
Fig.3. The dangers of eating outside and harbor-side in Portland, Maine.
Fig.3.5. Lobter roll and fried clams.
Fig.4. Clam Chowder (on the thick side) and steamers. (Basically steamed clams. You dip them in water first to wash off the sand and grit, then dunk them in drawn butter.)
Fig.5. Crab sandwich, fried clams, and chowder.
Fig.6. The artisan coffee craze has also hit Portland. Coffee beans roasted over wood, a first for me. The espresso was bitter (in a good way) and on the strong side (in a good way) and rather expensive. (In a bad way)
Fig.7. Later that morning, we went lobster fishing.
Fig.8. Captain Dan from Lucky Catch informs us deckhands on the rules. The lobster he's holding is a 'keepa'
Fig.9. J's Oyster located along Portland harbor.
Fig.9.5. The freshest and best steamed clams I've ever had. J's Oyster has four clam steamer ovens specifically designed to do nothing except steam clams.
Fig.10. The freshest oysters I have ever had. Great place.
Fig.11. If you're in Portland and want to cook your fish or seafood yourself, Harbor Fish Market's the place; the ocean is literally 50 feet away from this place.
Fig.12. The Clam Shack in Kennebunk. The best lobster roll and fried clams in Southern Maine.
Fig.13. The Clam Shack's lobster roll; fresh and perfect. Plump, fried, fat-bellied clams, and freshly squeezed lemonade. My dinner companion claimed this to be, "a perfect meal" I would have to agree. (except when I need a plate a pasta.)
Fig.14. We went to the Maine Diner based on the recommendations of a book I bought, and because they appeared in Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. The seafood chowder was fantastic: tasty and none too thick. The accompanying cornbread also good. The rest of the meal best forgotten.
Fig.15. The next night's supper much better. Fresh Lobster at The Cape Neddick Lobster Pound in Neddick.
Fig.16. Breakfast at Pie in The Sky in York.
Fig.17. Plethora of pies.
Fig.18. They don't make mixers like this anymore. The baker informed me it's close to 100 years old.
Fig.19. Best blueberry muffin ever at Pie in The Sky. Robert Deniro approved.
Fig.20. Bib-wearing-lobster-eater and proud of it.
