My Fair Verona

Some of my favorite 'life journey' movies take place in Italy: the 'Eat' of Eat, Pray, Love and Under the Tuscan Sun, both amazing find-yourself-movies and both involve eating whatever you want. So naturally, before I went to Verona, I did some movie research by watching Letters to Juliet and watching Italian week on The Great British Bake-Off. Beyond that, I didn't know what to expect of Verona so went with a group and was not disappointed. Pretty much everything you eat in Italy will be amazing but if you find yourself in the beautiful and quiet city of Verona, definitely check out some of these sites and restaurants!

1) Ristorante Pizzeria San Matteo Church  - It's pretty hard to pick a bad restaurant in Verona when it comes to food. That may apply to all of Italy. But we closed our eyes and picked random restaurants all weekend long and the food was great. Ristorante Pizzeria San Matteo Church though was a recommended place for pizza on the cheap. Some of our group were splurging on a posh dinner so the rest of us elected for a plebeian experience instead. Our group was initially 12 and that was the overestimated number. That quickly grew to 17...like as we sat in the restaurant and more people met us until we had to be like 'you can't sit with us!'. But the restaurant took it like a champ, accommodating us all. The pizza was amazing all around with everyone finishing their pizzas (they also have gluten-free options). There were three pages of pizzas to choose from so I went for the San Matteo because when in Rome/San Matteo's! The restaurant is inside a converted church so I was expecting some kind of dim churchy atmosphere but it is exactly the opposite. While there are some pieces of the original structure exposed, the walls are painted pink with smokey mirrors where the church windows once were. It's also decorated with 80's style technicolor masterpieces and ceramic/glass/metal sculptures so that was a bit odd. The waitstaff was very nice and patient with our large group and the wine was flowing so if you're in Verona, definitely check it out! It's a little hard to find but on a side alley near Porta Borsari.

2) Sfogliatella - If you're a fan of The Great British Bake-Off, you will recognize this pastry from Italian week which was the week I left for my trip. Un seigno de Dio! And if you're not a fan, get on it. This was the signature challenge, one I will not be attempting, made of many layers of thin pastry and stuffed with chocolate or creme or cheese. Since it's so time-intensive, it didn't seem to be available in all bakeries or shops but I did find it at Tarantella Foods, in the shadow of the Arena. They serve other food there as well, not just pastries, and have English menus. The woman working there asked me 'how is your height?!' when I walked in which was endearing coming from a small Italian woman.

3) Adige Rafting - For a unique view of the city, we took a rafting trip down the Adige. Taking a bus outside the city, we then paddled and floated our way back to the city center, getting a history lesson along the way. The guides were very fun and we had a little race at the end (my boat won, for the record) and it was not a strenuous activity at all with only a couple of rapids when going under some of the bridges. Don't forget to wave 'ciao!' to the people on the river banks!

 

4) Giardini Giusti - I went on this trip with my choir so we had a couple of impromptu performances, one of which was in the Giardini Giusti. Complete with fountains (one has a large family of turtles living in it, another a family of koy fish), a labyrinth, old chapel, look out point, it's a beautiful gem that's quiet and charming. There was a wedding photoshoot happening before we started singing and the setting couldn't have been more perfect. While I can't promise there will be a lovely choir singing when you visit, it's definitely worth taking a rest on one of the stone benches here.

5) Casa di Giulietta - Prior to my trip to Verona, I watched the Amanda Seyfried romcom Letters to Juliet which naturally, takes place in Verona. The premise is Amanda Seyfried is in Verona with her fiance and visits Juliet's balcony (which is not authentic but was installed in the 30's for tourism #itworked) but finds the courtyard filled with women writing letters to Juliet herself. She then sees someone collect them and discovers The Juliet Club who collects and responds to all the letters left for Juliet. Well, it's a romcom so Amanda Seyfried answers a letter she finds hidden in the wall from 50 years ago and falls down a romantic rabbit hole around Italy to reunite lost loves. Well, the wall does exist and people DO leave notes, often attaching them with gum which is unfortunate (and not allowed), and The Juliet Club does answer them (allegedly, I'm anxiously awaiting my reply!). People also leave love locks and touch the statue of Juliet for luck in love. Okay, they grope the statue because it's specifically her boob you're meant to touch for luck. Jury's out on the effectiveness of that tradition as well, FYI.

I was only able to spend a weekend in Verona but the city is an easy bus ride away from Lake Garda and a train ride away from Venice or Bologna. Adventure awaits!!

Great British Bake-Off Week 4: Millionaire Shortbread

We'll get back to Week 3, the terrifying bread week, at a later date. My efforts to make bread have not been very successful, fail proving! So I'm taking it to the pros, more to come.

Something I do know and enjoy, unlike Prue, are sweet things! I'm not sure you should confess to not liking sweet things when you're the judge on a BAKING show. Just sayin'.

Anyways, a friend of mine makes something similar to this shortbread but it uses crackers and some peanut butter chips instead. So it's a low maintenance version of this and it's amazing. But I'm also sworn to secrecy so I'll do the British version instead. This isn't really a common thing in the US but shortbread is a known, as are caramel and chocolate, just as separate entities.

I've made caramel once before and learned the hard way, don't poke the hot caramel. Like for real, even when it's out of the pan and is spilled on your counter, it's not safe. Blistering will happen. Much pain and sorrow WILL HAPPEN. Just don't do it, okay? Okay.

In theory, this is a simple recipe. The shortbread consists of cubed butter (no softening required!), flour and sugar which is mixed together by hand and then pressed into a square baking tin. Once it is browned, you can add the caramel which is just melted butter, golden syrup and condensed milk. And once the caramel is set and cooled, you just add melted chocolate. Simple.

But when the caramel ingredients are melting and you take a moment to enjoy the sunset and then realize you've left the caramel unattended and even though it's supposed to boil, it's somehow burnt a bit and you can tell from stirring that you've burnt the pan as well--well, then it becomes more complicated.

Never fear though, the caramel was salvaged. If there's one thing I learned from Bake Off, you don't throw the whole baked Alaska out with the soft ice cream, ammiright? True fans know what I'm talking about. So I used the caramel anyways which had the nice flavor of toasted marshmallow. The only problem was it never fully set, it stayed as a thick goo. So when I cut the squares, it became a caramel sandwich which oozed out.

In a bin. This is not a recommended serving suggestion for Baked Alaska. #GBBO #BINGATE pic.twitter.com/FqgNX9f5Lc

— BBC One (@BBCOne) August 27, 2014

They were still tasty and they were still mass consumed by my colleagues as well. I brought them in to raise funds for a charity half marathon I'm running in less than 2 weeks! So maybe they ate them out of charity, twice over.

Recipe
Crust

• 225g plain flour
• 175g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 75g sugar

1. In a food processor, pulse together the flour and cubed butter until crumbly. Alternatively, mix by hand in a medium bowl until the butter is well incorporated and the mixture is crumbly.
2. Add the sugar and mix to combine.
3. In a parchment lined square baking tin, dump the dough and press evenly to fill the pan.
4. Bake in the oven at 150C (300F) for 15-30 minutes until slightly browned.
5. Allow to cool before adding the caramel.

Caramel

• 150g unsalted butter
• 379g condensed milk
• 100g golden syrup

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter, milk and golden syrup together.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently, until it is a golden brown and has thickened.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. Once cooled, pour the caramel over the shortbread, still in the baking tin. Allow the caramel to cool and set completely before adding the chocolate layer.

Chocolate

• 350g dark chocolate

1. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate.
2. Pour on top of the caramel.
3. Allow to set before cutting into squares. The easiest way to do this is to lift the mass out of the tin by the parchment paper edges and cut on a cutting board (rather than cutting in the tin).

Great British Bake Off - Week 2: Biscuits

Here in good ole England, biscuits are cookies and cookies are not a thing. But biscuits are not the exact same thing as cookies in the US, they tend to be harder and crispier, ideal for tea dunking. Everything I've learned about biscuits, I've learned from Great British Bake Off. For example:

1. Biscuits must not be soft, they are meant to be softened by a cupper (that's what the local kids call cup of tea). 
2. Two is the number of thine dunking, no more, no less. Three dunkings is right out! And also catastrophic as the biscuit will pull a Titanic, break in half and be lost to the deep depths of your tea.
3. Biscotti means twice-baked. 10 points to Gryffindor (the name of my next pub quiz team, for sure)! But actually, that did win my trivia team points in a food-themed quiz. 
4. I'll never be able to make biscuits as pretty as Biscuiteers (unless I take their icing course where I assume I will become an icing wizard) so I'll just take pictures and stalk them on Instagram instead. 

   
5. I think gingerbread houses could really take some lessons from the biscuit show stoppers from last week's episode, like for real. Those were masterful and I can barely get a ready-made kit to frost together long enough to be the centrepiece of a Christmas spread.

Anyone have a strong biscuit recipe? I may just stick to gingersnaps until then! 

Great British Bake Off - Week 1: Swiss Rolls

It was at the end of the Great British Bake Off last year that I thought it would be cool to go along with their weekly themes and I realized I'd have to wait a full year to implement this idea. But here we are; GBBO may be on a new channel and I don't know anyone's name except Paul Hollywood but we're moving forward with this weekly challenge.

The first week's theme was cake. I've learned a bit more about the preparation for the different rounds and I think I could maaaaybe get through the first two challenges but holy guacamole, show stoppers. Definite weak spot. Initially I was going to just make a cake and be all sorted. But instead, I opted to go for the technical challenge.

 

I made a yule log a couple years ago (I shudder as I link you to that ancient post with terrible photography and lighting...not that I've improved much) and this seemed very similar, just smaller. The commercialized version of this is a ho ho in the US so there's that too.

These would definitely not pass the criticism of the bake off judges as they are definitely not symmetrical although they do have a nice swirl, in my amateur opinion. I also just couldn't bring myself to make more dirty dishes and melt white chocolate for the drizzle. We'll live.

Other things to keep in mind:

• Yes, you need parchment paper even if it means going back into the store and waiting in line again
• Yes, the egg whites will eventually become stiff peaks even if you've been beating them for 10 minutes already and think it will never happen
• Yes, you need a bigger bowl
• Yes, you can lose some of the crunchy edges to make the cake easier to roll
• No, the world won't end if there's no white chocolate drizzle

Recipe 
from GBBO website

Cake

• 30g butter, melted (keep the wrapper for greasing)
• 60g cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 Tablespoon boiling water
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 150g sugar (divided into 100g and 50g)

Filling

• 150g butter, softened
• 300g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or not if you think it will taste like toothpaste)

Topping

• 200g plain chocolate
• 200g milk chocolate
• 100g white chocolate (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a deep baking dish (or jelly pan or brownie pan, just don't fill it all the way up) with butter and parchment paper. Also grease the parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, mix the melted butter with the cocoa powder, boiling water and vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl, beat together the egg yolks and 100g of sugar until smooth. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat until incorporated.
4. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites for eternity until stiff peaks form. The egg whites need room to expand and become fluffy. Add the 50g of sugar after the peaks form, whisking until combined.
5. Mix 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture to increase the volume and loosen the cake mix. Fold in the remaining egg whites until incorporated.
6. Pour the cake mix into the prepared pans (if you only had one pan, use half the mixture and then repeat for the second round). The cake mix shouldn't spread too much on its own so spread it evenly in the pan. The mix will rise during baking but then settle back in so will be relatively thin and as deep as you pour it.
7. Bake until firm, 15-20 minutes.
8. Allow the cake to cool completely before doing the filling and rolling.
9. For the filling, beat together the butter, icing sugar and peppermint until fluffy.
10. Once cooled, place the cakes on a cutting board or other clean surface. Carefully peel back the parchment paper and discard.
11. Spread the filling evenly across the cakes. 
12. Gently roll the cake from the short end 2-3 times, until you reach the middle. Repeat on the other side of the cake so one sheet makes two rolls.
13. Cut the cake rolls where the two sides meet. Cut the rolls into even sections so you have 6 mini rolls per pan.
14. Allow the rolls to set while you prepare the chocolate topping by melting the plain and milk chocolate together in a double boiler.
15. Pour the chocolate over the rolls to coat. It's neatest to do this on a cooling rack with a tray beneath to catch the excess chocolate.
16. Lastly, melt the white chocolate on its own and pour into a piping bag (or ziploc bag with the corner cut off). Drizzle each roll with the white chocolate.
17. Enjoy! And put your feet up because this is a lot of steps.