Buttermilk Pancakes - It's What's For Breakfast

Buttermilk pancakes. What’s not to like, right?  I mean, haven’t we all, at one time or another, under the influence of something or other, hopped into the car (with a designated driver, of course!) and headed to our local IHOP or Denny’s or wherever for a stack of these tasty treats?  I know I have – but that was many moons ago, and at this point in my life, I’ll probably never enter an IHOP or a Denny’s again, unless under extreme duress. Or with a designated driver.

So…that means when I want buttermilk pancakes, I gotta do what they did back in the old days, and make ‘em myself.  But there’s usually a small problem when I want to make buttermilk pancakes, and that’s that I don’t generally have buttermilk in the fridge.  I also don’t want to go shopping before eating breakfast…not gonna happen. What to do?

Enter this stuff, which I found at my local favorite store that everyone loves to not like…

Yep - buttermilk powder – and all you add is water!  Works great. Also, it keeps for a long freaking time; this container has a “USE BY” date of sometime in 2015, so figure it’s as healthy as a Twinkie, right?  Anyway, whip up your favorite buttermilk pancake batter, follow the directions on the package, make sure your griddle is the proper temperature and ladle the batter on. When they look like this, turn them…

When they look like this on both sides, they’re done…

And, use the good stuff to top ‘em. If you’re using Log Cabin, stop reading this damn blog, fools…

Happy New Year from Significant Eater and me.

That’s Amore, Roman Style

PIZZA!!

There - do I have your attention? Pizza always gets everyone’s attention. I mean, New Yorkers will argue over who makes the best pizza as if it had some sort of greater meaning in the universe, as if it was as important as something along the lines of who was the greatest Knick of all time. Seriously. 

I wonder if Romans do the same thing…argue about pizza, that is.  Because on our recent trip to Rome, we got to try some of the highly-touted pizza being served up by one Gabriele Bonci, as well as the pizza at a place we first tried maybe more than a dozen years ago – and which I’ve been recommending ever since.  In between, there was a sandwich or two at Roscioli, another old fave dishing up classic Roman pizza bianca by the meter, sometimes sliced in half and stuffed with delicious mortadella, as a matter of fact…

Bonci, if you haven’t heard, might be Rome’s answer to Dom DeMarco, and at his emporium Pizzarium, you may wait close to an hour to sample the wares, just like you do at Dom's Di Fara’s. Only in this case, the wait is worth it, because at Pizzarium, once you’re lucky enough to get up to the counter, you’ll want to taste everything. Look at how beautiful it all looks…

Significant Eater and I were trying to be reasonable (and leave ourselves room for a big dinner), so we only tried 3 of the perhaps dozen or more varieties of pizza al taglio offered on this particular day. It’s fun, because you tell ‘em (or point to) how big of of a slice you want, and it’s priced by weight. We spent around €20, could’ve eaten more, but walked away feeling good.

Just like at home, I prefer my pizza with less on top; that way I get a better idea about the crust, which is basically my favorite part.  Here’s the assortment we, ummmm, inhaled…

And we both decided that this slice of zucchini, fresh ricotta and orange zest was our favorite…

Signore Bonci is a star. I mean, once Bourdain has been to your joint, you’ve been anointed, haven’t you?  Well, maybe, but more important to me are the opinions of Katie Parla, Gina Tringali and Elizabeth Minchilli, all of whom have written extensively about the man.  And they say go, so do I and so do they...

Our final night in Rome was a melancholy one, as it often is when a vacation ends. We took a long walk, past the Pantheon…

Through Piazza Navona…

By Chiesa di Santa Maria Della Pace…

To our final destination…

Da Francesco is a ristorante/pizzeria that Significant Eater and I “discovered” on our first trip to Rome a dozen years ago. I've been suggesting it to people since back then, when for around $10, you could load up your plate with a selection of antipasti from a serve yourself antipasto bar.  We often laughed watching guys the size of American football players go back to their tables with plates piled high with so much food that it was a wonder it didn’t spill all over the floor.  That’s no longer an option, as they were probably losing money on every plate, but the pizza, as it was back then, is still very good. I decided on the porcini mushroom pie…

This is real Roman pizza, thin-crusted and crisp...you can nearly see through it...

And it’s damn good.  Sig Eater had sausage on her's…

Then, after a nice, satisfying meal, we wandered on back to our apartment, passing this poor bastard along the way…

As well as the French Embassy, better known as Palazzo Farnese…

Rome's pizza offerings are certainly more extensive now than they were back during our first visit.  So I suppose, just like here in NYC, there will be arguments all around as to whose pizza is the best.  While I don't think you can go wrong at either of these two places, please leave me out of the discussion as to who was the greatest Roman soccer star - I've got no idea.


Pizzarium  - Via della Meloria, 43   T: 06 3974 5416
Da Francesco - Piazza del Fico, 29  T: 06 686 4009
Roscioli - Via dei Chiavari, 34          T: 06 686 4045

The Full Monty, Roman Style - Trattoria Monti, That Is

Arriving in Rome after a mid-morning flight from Palermo, Significant Eater and I  found ourselves significantly hungry. It was the heart of the lunch hour, popular restaurants are pretty full at lunch and if you show up without a reservation, you take your chances. But after we checked into our apartment and got a quick tour of the pad and how to turn on the heat, we took off to a popular restaurant without a reservation, because after all, I like taking chances.   

The place we were heading to came recommended via a variety of sources; you know - bloggers, boards, books, you name it - they all say go. Of course, it has its detractors, or at least those who say it isn't as good as it used to be, or that they recently went and the service was awful...and so on. What should a couple of hungry tourists do?

In this case, we headed up the hill to the Esquiline, and Trattoria Monti. Guess what awaited us?  A full house, but after a little begging and pleading (and perhaps some name dropping) we were told to come back in an hour and they’d be happy to serve us. So we headed down the street, took a walk around the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, and when we returned we were greeted like old friends and seated at a table with a view of the kitchen and the duo of female chefs (always a good sign, imo).

I don't know about the detractors, but the food we had on this Thursday afternoon was good...really good.  Incidentally, Trattoria Monti doesn't serve "Roman" food.  The family is from Le Marche and much of the food is informed by that region, which lies to the northeast of Rome's region, Lazio.  We started with a shared antipasto, and it included all manner of fried goodies, including meat stuffed olives (wow!), zucchini flowers, slices or artichoke, a little sweet nibble and Significant Eater and I were already settling in nicely.  Oh, did I mention? The place is run by some of the nicest and best looking Italian guys in the biz (that's according to Sig Eater) - and I’d have to agree, even though I liked the olives more...

Following up on our antipasto, we shared the special risotto of the day, with fresh porcini. The kitchen split our order (it actually looked as if they’d made two orders) and we were soon enjoying one of the finer risotti we’d had in recent memory…the rice perfectly cooked and the mushrooms adding their earthy flavor. No need for any truffle oil here, thank you.

For our entrees, I had a roasted squab, stuffed with more squab meat and it got me thinking – I need to make squab at home...it's delicious. Sig Eater went with the roasted pork shoulder, a hunk of meat more suited to Fred Flintstone, which worked out well, since I ate half of that too. Delicate, crispy skin, moist meat and just-right salty. We eat our fair share of roast pork – it’s one of my go-to dishes when feeding a crowd at home, pernil is a neighborhood specialty, but to approach Trattoria Monti’s, I have some practicing to do.

Since we liked lunch so much, we decided to come back again – this time with a reservation, for Sunday lunch.  I ordered the same fried app for a starter but Sig Eater ordered a house specialty for a starter – sformato of eggplant napped with a sweet tomato sauce.  Light as air, we fought over the last bite...

We both had pasta for our primi; SE had rigatoni with crumbled sausage and oil, while I went with another specialty of the house, the tortellone...a giant ravioli-like creature filled with ricotta, spinach and yes, an egg yolk, making for an utterly delicious combo...

And lucky for us, there was another roast on the menu…this time, it was lamb and it gave the roast pork we had on Thursday a run for its money. A really good run, all crispy skin, gamy lamb and little bones to nibble on, atop a ration of potatoes...

After all that food, do you think there was room for dessert?  Well, it being Sunday, dessert was necessary and we decided to share another sformato, this one of apple and napped with an awesome zabaglione, a delicate custard made with sweet Marsala wine...

Go?  Well, only if you want some of the most delicious food we ate over the course of a week in Rome.  Served by some of the nicest staff you'll ever meet and try to communicate with.   After all, how happy does this Significant Eater look?