Foodie Friday: Balsamic Tasting in Modena

You think you know balsamic vinegar? Think again.

One of my most favorite meals and overall experiences from the honeymoon was in Modena, Italy. It was another recommendation from Anthony Bourdain and it was absolutely worth every calorie!

Pedroni. It’s the only name you need to know. We drove from Florence to the Osteria in Modena. As we walked in, we were greeted by the owner; an older, 80-something man, who speaks strictly Italian. And when I say we were greeted, I mean Mr. Pedroni yelled at us in Italian for a few minutes, picked up a rotary phone, dialed a few numbers, hung up, and then continued to yell at us. If you could only see the stunned look on our faces.. Luckily a woman came out speaking English and was ready to take us on a tour.

We learned all about the process of making balsamic vinegar from start to finish, which, in their case, is sometimes over 25 years! At Pedroni, they do everything in-house, all the way down to the bottling, so while they are making large batches, they only produce 80-100 bottles per year. The rest of the vinegar gets to sit in the wood barrels and continue to age. After the tour was over, it was time to taste!

We started small; balsamic vinegar jam. Holy moly, that stuff was so tasty! The first thing Nathan and I both noticed was that we didn’t get that pucker in the backs of our mouths that we often get from vinegars that we buy at home. It was very smooth and as we continued down the line, it got even better! We tasted four different vinegars; we started with the Italo, aged for 12 years, it was like nothing we had ever tasted before. Followed by the 15-year aged Umberto, this vinegar was aged in oak and juniperwood barrels giving it more of a spicy flavor. The Giuseppe, or the “Extra Old” vinegar, is aged 25 years in oak and chestnut woods. And finally, the Claudio. This cream of the crop “Extravecchio” is aged over 25 years in chestnut and cherry woods. It is so silky, smooth and has a slight fruity flavor. If only it weren’t so pricy, we would have taken home a barrel! 😉

We did, however, bring home a bottle of the Italo and a few jars of the jam. We just couldn’t leave without it; there is nothing that we’ve ever tasted before that could compare. And we will definitely be ordering more when we sadly finish this bottle!

Happily, the tasting didn’t end there. It was lunch time! We started with a bottle of their homemade sparkling red wine. YUM! [We will also be adding that to our online order.] The pasta was served family-style but it was just for the two of us so we had no problem digging right in!

First Course
Fresh ricotta tortelloni drizzled with the Italo vinegar. Have you ever had fresh pasta? It completely melts in your mouth. I could have eaten the whole plate myself!

Second Course
Tagliatelle with ragu sauce drizzled with the Umberto vinegar. Northern Italian ragu is completely different then what you’d expect. It’s more of a meat sauce with just a touch of tomato. Pasta ragu was definitely one of my favorite meals to get on the entire trip. We added a little extra vinegar for those last little bites 😉

Third Course
Chicken with onions, a couple ribs, and frittata drizzled with the Giuseppe. To say that this frittata was the best I’ve ever had would be an understatement. Nathan, who never ate eggs before, asked me if I would kindly follow the recipe and make him one at home. He devoured it!

Dessert
Crema gelato drizzled with the 25+ aged Claudio. Good golly! We practically licked all of our plates and bowls clean, which is a very good thing because Mr. Pedroni does not let you leave without finishing everything on your plate!

And if that wasn’t enough, they brought about 9 or 10 bottles of different liqueurs, one being their homemade grappa. Being the polite guest that I am, I promptly began tasting! I might have had 1/10th of a shot of each.. I don’t think I could handle any more but I sure am glad I tried all of them.

Nathan and I wrapped up our amazing [and incredible filling!] two-hour meal and concurred that this was one of our top experiences of the trip. If we do make it back to the Tuscany area, you can bet we’ll be heading to Pedroni for lunch!

Food for Thought

What is the best experience you’ve ever had at a restaurant?

When you return to a travel destination, do you go back to the same places, or do you try something new?

Guest Post: The Smart Kitchen Crunchy Spinach Salad with Salty Sweet Tahini Vinaigrette

I’ve recently found a new favorite blogger and I knew when I was looking for guest bloggers that she was one I had to share with you! Sarah of The Smart Kitchen is always sharing delicious recipes and fun tidbits of her life. And she’s clearly a nut butter-lover like me.. she even has her own line of nutty butters! [Note to self: buy some soon!]

The recipe that Sarah is sharing with us today sounds so tasty I almost can’t wait to come home to make it! …..almost. 😉

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Hi y’all! My name is Sarah, but the ladies of the healthy living blog world--or at least the handful who consistently read my blog–know me as Miss Smart. I blog over at The Smart Kitchen, where I spend an absurd amount of time using my food processor, shopping at every grocery store in town on the hunt for manager’s specials, attempting to figure out four thousand ways to use the same ingredient, eating an excessive amount of nut butter straight from the jar…and, literally, licking my plate in restaurants. [No. Seriously.]

I was thrilled to have Brittany ask me to submit a guest post as she is honeymooning this month, and while I would rather be honeymooning myself–heck, y’all, I’d settle for a nice boy taking me out to dinner 😉–I am happy to be able to take a little virtual vacation.

I say “submit” instead of “write” a guest post, because what I often like to do when I go ‘a-visiting’ is find and old post or recipe that deserves to see the light of day Google reader again. Today’s recipe and post is a Glee-style mash-up of a nostalgic family favorite, reinvented not once, but twice, both for my blog, and the blog of a local magazine I was writing for last spring.

My aunt Elizabeth is a master hostess. She is the kind of woman who can decide one afternoon to throw a cocktail party for 50, and by 6 o’clock, have drinks at the ready, appetizers laid out, and be dressed and ready to greet her guests with such nonchalance you’d think she’d been preparing for four weeks, instead of four hours.

So when it comes to recipes for entertaining, I always turn to her tried and true formulas--stored (not very safely) in my binder of family recipes-–of ease, taste, versatility and appeal.

And there right on top, in the section labeled “salads,” is the unnamed, known only as “that salad Aunt Elizabeth makes,” deliciousness that once, at a potluck where I served it, inspired a guest to proclaim, “I don’t even like salad, and I’m going back for seconds!”The original recipe calls for a base of spinach and shredded cabbage.As all great hostesses know, what shortcuts you take are between you and the four walls of your kitchen, so you can buy bags of baby spinach AND bags of shredded cabbage and save yourself time. [The original recipe, in fact, calls for that.] Since cabbage happened to be on sale, and lasts for years in the fridge,* I went ahead and shredded half of a head in my food processor.

*I am not a certified doctor. Do not trust me on this.All that’s left to do now is chop up somegreen onions…. …and sprinkle on some sliced or slivered almonds, sesame seeds, and the dry ramen noodles (sans seasoning packet) stereotypically favored by starving artists, twenty-something bachelors, and Brother Smart when he was 15 years old.

Except I forgot the ramen.

I did, however, have a number of green apples that had accumulated in my lunch bag throughout the week as, whenever I walked through the teacher’s lounge it seemed appropriate to take another one. [They were free. They were there. I obviously subconsciously knew I would need them later.] Since I was already changing things up from the original, I decided I might as well just keep on Smart Kitchen-izing the traditional. Once I had photographed the standard salad and dressing, I added the aforementioned apples, and got to work on a NEW dressing.Instead of adding canola oil to the combination of vinegar, pepper, sugar, and seasoned salt…

Aunt Elizabeth would use Lawry’s. Penzey’s was found in my moving boxes first.

…I took a hint from the sesame seeds in the salad and added tahini (and tahini oil) instead!Now the salad was good before. But this Salty Sweet Tahini Vinaigrette concoction? Well that is the stuff of tastebud tantalizing dreams, I tell you!Before serving—and Aunt Elizabeth says to always serve a salad dressed*–whisk it up quite a bit to make sure the tahini has inflitrated the vinegar.

*Makes sense, really. You wouldn’t show up to the party naked, would you?But since this whole ‘whisking’ of dressing in a bowl concept doesn’t really do it for me, I filled up a jar and shook it out instead.

And yes, I did go back for seconds.*

*And pack thirds for lunch!

Crunchy Spinach Salad w. Salty Sweet Tahini Vinaigrette*

*Note: I’ve cut the recipe down here for a 2-4 serving size.

For the salad:

• One half 10.oz-package baby spinach (or regular spinach, loosely chopped)
• 2-3 cups shredded cabbage (or 1/2 package angel hair cole slaw cabbage)
• 3 green onions, sliced (whites and light greens)
• 3 Tbsp. sliced almonds
• 1 small green apples, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
  Ramen noodles, dry, crumbled (optional)

For the tahini vinaigrette:

• 4 Tbsp. tahini
• 1 1/3 cup cider or rice vinegar
• 4 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. seasoning salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Layer salad ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl (or jar), whisk (or shake) together dressing ingredients. Just before serving, whisk (or shake) dressing again and pour over salad!

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Like I said, I almost can’t wait to come home to try this salad. I have a feeling it’ll be a new go-to. Thanks again, Sarah!

Food for Thought

What is your favorite salad combination?

Summer Salad with Peach Mango Dressing

I love summer and of course the deliciously fresh fruits that come along with it!

I’m always looking for ways to spice up my salads and after a nice grocery haul at the farmers’ market last weekend, I had the ingredients to whip up a light and flavorful side dish for dinner.

Peach Mango Dressing

Yields about 1 cup

Ingredients
1 medium peach
1/2 mango
1 tsp champagne vinegar
1 tbsp EVOO
1/2 – 1 tbsp honey to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Directions
Slice up the peach and mango. Throw all of your ingredients into a food processor except EVOO. As the processor is running, slowly drizzle the EVOO into the mixture, allowing it to emulsify.

Be sure to taste as you’re adding the honey, salt, and pepper to be sure you get the right sweetness and saltiness that you’re looking for! It’s that easy!

Summer Salad

As far as it goes adding fruits and veggies to your salads, I always try to choose the freshest ingredients I can get. This week I was able to find strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, tomato, green pepper, cucumber, vidalia onion, and crisp green onion. The lighter flavors of the vegetables I chose really accent the fresh fruit!

Toss it all together with a fresh spring mix (my favorite!) and top with dried cherries, sunflower seeds, and your delicious Peach Mango dressing.

Speak Up!

What are your favorite fruits and veggies of summer?