Gypsy Kitchens: Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto

A few days ago we made a nice, seasonal dish in our little apartment: shrimp and asparagus risotto. Now, you can go any number of places for a risotto recipe, and many people believe risotto can't really be made well from instructions, so this is really more about the shrimp broth that we made and how we used it. It's only the end of March, but the asparagus is almost past its prime here, if you can believe it. We are in such a tropical climate!

The broth gives the dish a wonderful fishy-ness that can't be attained just by adding cooked seafood. It also uses what otherwise would be lost: all the flavor in the shrimp shells.
Shrimp broth is incredibly easy and uses everything that you don't want from the crustacean - the head, shell, legs, antennae, blood, eyes, etc... Simply put a pot of water on the stove, bring to a boil and shell your raw, whole shrimp directly into it. Actually, let me rephrase that - keep the shrimp, put everything ELSE into the water. Flavoring is a matter of taste, of course, but I added a bay leaf, three garlic cloves, a pinch of coriander and some salt. Also, olive oil and white wine - the wine I added later, though, about fifteen minutes before I started using the broth.
This process should be started long before you plan on cooking the risotto - preferably several hours before. Cook it at a steady simmer right up until you need it, then strain it, discarding the shells and other detritus. Keep the liquid at a steady boil. It needs to be hot to go into the rice.

Steam the asparagus until soft, then wash quickly in very cold water so that they don't get mushy and so that they stay green. Also, cook the shrimp however you'd like. We sauteed them fast in butter.
Like I said, everyone makes risotto differently. I am far from an expert, but here's how we approached the process. Cook a moderate amount of yellow onion slowly in a good deal of olive oil with two teaspoons of lemon zest (we've been on a big zest-kick recently!) When the onions are soft, add a little more olive oil and the rice (really, you should use arborio). Cook the rice in the oil until the grains are mostly translucent, then begin adding the stock, slowly. Add a few spoonfulls of stock at a time, stirring the rice constantly. Wait for the liquid to be absorbed before adding more broth.
Cook like this (stirring always!) until the rice is almost done, then add the garlic and parsley. Keep adding broth (if you run out, start using boiling water) until the rice is finished, then turn off the heat, stir in the chopped asparagus and the cooked shrimp, then let sit for a minute or two. The rice should be moist, not dry. If you like, you can make it even soupier.

Here's the recipe:

1 pound shrimp, head and shell on

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1 cup cooked asparagus

1 cup olive oil (at least)

1 cup white wine

1 small yellow onion

5 cloves garlic

2 tsp lemon zest

1 bay leaf

Coriander

However much parsley you think you should use

Salt

As far ahead as possible (maybe even the day before?), bring about a half gallon of water to a boil. Remove the shrimp heads, legs and shells and place them into the water. Devein the shrimp - discard the veins into the trash, not the water!

Boil the shells for several hours with 3 garlic cloves, a good bit of olive oil, the bay leaf and some coriander. Let sit overnight (refrigerated) if you can.

Before using the broth, strain out all the shrimp bits and other stuff, add wine and bring to a slow simmer.

Cook the shrimp and asparagus, then chop both into small pieces and set aside.

Dice the onion and saute slowly in a large pot or pan with a lot of oil until onion is quite soft. With this, cook the lemon zest.

Add the rice to the oil and begin stirring the rice. Try to stir it the rest of the way, until you turn off the heat. This can be tiring.

When the grains of rice are translucent, add a little salt and begin spooning the broth into the pan slowly. Let each amount of liquid be absorbed before adding more. Cook like this for hours and hours (not really; about 20 to 30 minutes) until rice is almost done. Add the garlic and parsley, and continue cooking. If the broth runs out, use boiling water as a replacement. Don't use cold water - it will separate the creamy starch that has built up in the risotto, and the texture will be ruined.

When the rice is done, turn off the heat and let sit. Make sure that there's a good deal of liquid in with the rice. Stir in the shrimp and asparagus, test to make sure it's all salted well, and wait about a minute, then serve.

Gypsy Kitchens: Squash Blossom Dessert

I will warn you now that this is a very untraditional dessert recipe. Not only because the ingredients are mostly savory, but because its an exercise in baking without any measurements. (And, for us, without a baking sheet - more on that later). Zucchini blossoms pop up everywhere here in Rome, in sandwiches, on pizza, still attached to the squash in the produce section. Stuffed blossoms appear on menus, deep-fried with ricotta inside. This is basically a sweet take on that.
I saw a recipe from New York magazine that featured this dessert, except it called for dried chocolate cake or chocolate cookies for the 'breading.' Opting to go a non-chocolate route, we chose some almond cookies (graham crackers and Carr's whole wheat cookies were our first two choices, but neither were available). A mason jar full of raw honey from our beekeeper friend Josh in Vermont already sat on our counter. So, the other ingredients to buy were eggs (two) some fresh ricotta and basil (which was also not in the original recipe, but I thought would be nice).
The ricotta, basil, honey and an egg white mixed together easily for the filling. The amount of honey you put in depends on your taste. I recommend sampling the mixture before combining in the egg white. You know, to avoid eating raw egg white.
Some of the flowers still had the stamen inside, some didn't. I wasn't sure how delicately I'd have to handle them. It turns out, they're more resilient than their dainty beauty would suggest. Just get a fingertip in between two leaves and they'll all flop open pretty easily. The petals stick to the cheese, which is handy when you're folding them all back together. The natural seal formed is fantastic. Though, I'm sure it also helped that we bought relatively firm fresh ricotta.
The cookies crumbled easily in our palms and - not having a pastry brush - we coated the stuffed blossoms in a beaten egg with our fingertips. It was a very hands on affair. The 'breading' process was made easier by the fact that we'd refrigerated the blossoms after stuffing them. It made them a lot easier to handle. Again, firmer ricotta helped, I'm sure.
A quick google told us that 350degrees farenheit equals about 175 celsius. Fifteen minutes and they were done! The ricotta had become a sweet cake , the cookie had crisped. If you're not into the taste of zucchini, I recommend breaking off the stems. But I actually liked having that weird vegetable element in there. Ours weren't as crispy as they should've/could've been and took a little longer to cook because we didn't have a cookie sheet. Instead, we coated our cast iron skillet with butter and placed that in the oven. That gave the bottoms an unintentionally sauteed quality.

Now for all the ingredients: (sorry for the lack of measurements, but your eyes and tastebuds will do just fine)

squash blossoms- aka zucchini blossoms

ricotta cheese- fresh, fresh, fresh. if you have a choice, go with the firmer one

1 whole egg

1 egg white

honey (real maple syrup would work well, too)

basil (or mint, maybe?)

graham crackers (again - we used Anna's Almond thins, but graham crackers would have been our first choice. plus, they're easier to find - except when you're in Rome)

butter- for pan coating

put them into a preheated 350degree oven for 30 - 35 minutes and you're done! being as the cheese cakes as opposed to melting, they're not too hot to pop into your mouth fresh out of the oven.

Basilica Sancti Petri

Saint Peter's Basilica, built on the tomb of the saint himself, is the centerpiece of the Vatican. It is usually the first thing that any visitor sees of the country, as its towering dome dominates the Vatican and Roman skylines. Its the largest church building in the world (some people dispute this) and is jaw-dropping in almost every way. We go in often - to access other parts of the Vatican, to get up high for views or just to walk around inside.
The basilica is the easiest building to access in the country, even though the line typically looks like this. Unlike the line into the museums, though, this queue moves quickly. If you joined the end, here, you'd likely be inside within fifteen minutes. Admission is free, of course, and one only has to wait to go through the bank of metal detectors at the entrance. If you go, ignore the "guides" who wander the square and tell you that they can get you inside faster. They're lying to you, and the wait won't be bad anyway.
With room for 60,000 people, it never feels that crowded inside. The space opens to the sides and back, revealing nooks and alcoves that pull people away from the center. It's quiet, too. Unlike the museum, or other spaces in the Vatican, most respect the request for silence. On one recent visit, a choir group was singing and the whole structure rang with their voices. The acoustics are phenomenal.
The ceiling is over 150 feet above the ground, and is more finely decorated even than the walls. Above the ceiling, various domes rise even further, with the central dome rising to almost 380 feet above the floor (the whole structure is 452 feet high!). Much is made of the sistine chapel, but it is less impressive in many ways than this. The lighting provided by the cupolas and porthole windows is dramatic, throwing moving spotlights against the curves and facets of the interior.
The structure was built on the site of an older church, erected in the fourth century by Emperor Constantine. The site is the tomb of Saint Peter - which we saw, with a huge bit of luck, when we were able to finagle a tour of the excavations underneath the building. The current altar is placed on top of several older altars, all arranged directly above the burial site. The older church - the first Saint Peter's - fell into disrepair during the period that the Papal residency was in Avignon. In 1506, construction began on the new basilica, lasting for over 120 years until Pope Urban VIII consecrated it in 1626.
The greatest influence on the interior was the imagination of Gianlorenzo Bernini, the sculptor and architect, who contributed a great deal of the marble works and carvings found inside. He worked on the building off and on for fifty years. The statuary tends to be dramatic, oversized and over-concerned with narrative.
Excuse the quality of this picture, there's a metal grate around the inner balcony of the dome. You can access this view on the way up to the cupola, and it's amazing. The dome rises another 200 feet above this point. Standing there, perspective and distance are warped and the curved space seems too vast to be true.
Going to Vatican City can be a daunting endeavor - the lines, the hordes of people, the overabundance of things to see. I'm not sure that I would recommend the museums, for instance, to anyone on a short stay in Rome. Without much time, they are unconquerable and frustrating. Hours are lost in the crush, and there are more images and surfaces than can be processed. The basilica, on the other hand, can be "swung-through." It doesn't take long to get in, it's free, and the scale can be taken in all at once - standing for a moment underneath the great dome is an experience. You'll be amazed, and you can leave after ten minutes or two hours feeling satisfied that you've seen something breathtaking.

HVJ 105 FM

As we were walking in the Vatican gardens, our tour guide pointed out a few radio antennae and some menacingly large satellite dishes. These, apparently, were for broadcasting vatican radio, which the state does in a variety of formats: short wave, medium wave, FM and satellite. It's available in many parts of the world in 47 languages and can be streamed live on the internet here and here.
The channel has a long history, dating back to 1931, when the first papal radio address was a huge sensation. Guglielmo Marconi, a famed radio-technology pioneer and Italian hero, set up the original station at the Vatican (which we saw) and introduced the pope's first speech. We don't have a radio at our apartment, so we haven't listened yet.

Not Taking Pictures of the Sistine Chapel

You can take pictures all throughout the Vatican Museums, except for inside the room that every one of the 4.5 million annual visitors are most likely there to see. I figured it wasn't allowed for security purposes. To keep the flow of traffic moving. However, it turns out that Nippon TV, a Japanese television company, funded the restoration of the chapel's frescoes in the 80s in exchange for exclusive photographic rights. Any book, postcard, print, etc wanting to depict the Sistine Chapel has to buy the copyright from Nippon TV. Talk about a good investment.
Signs like this were everywhere leading up to the Sistine Chapel. Be quiet. Don't fall down the stairs. No photography. Good thing they include that second one, because if someone actually did fall down the stairs, there's no way people would be able to remain silent - or refrain from taking pictures. This picture was taken right before entering, the closest our photo memories would come to capturing the famous work. Or so we thought.
We've seen a lot of rule-breaking in the Vatican. Shorts, miniskirts, flash photography in the Basilica, photography of the Papal tombs. On our tour of the Excavations beneath St. Peter's (which was absolutely amazing), photography was prohibited. Yet, the tour in front of us each took turns flashing away at the box of Peter's bones. In the Sistine Chapel, though, it was particularly egregious. Guards just sat or stood there, not saying a word.
Just how lenient are the Vatican security guards? Well, just look at these people! Carla, our garden tour guide, told us that the man who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II was put in jail only because St. Peter's Square is technically under Italian jurisdiction. Had the crime taken place under Vatican City law, he would have just been forgiven and set free. That may have been an exaggeration... but I am inclined to think it wasn't.
Obviously, I decided to break the rules, too - but focused only on the tourists and not the work. It felt a little more honest that way. Plus, it's not like you need my photo to show you what one of the most famous works of art looks like. By the way, back when the pope was striking the copyright deal with Nippon TV, he apparently gave NBC a shot at it, too. They foolishly declined. How this fact hasn't popped up in an episode of 30 Rock, I'll never know.

Vatican Gardens

About one third of Vatican City's territory is covered by gardens and parkland - all of it off limits to the public. Off limits, unless you sign up for a garden tour, which we did. You can buy tickets online here. A bonus: possessing a tour ticket allows one to skip the monstrously long line into the museums, where the tour begins.

This view is of most of the gardens, taken from the top of the basilica dome. The large building in the bottom left of the photo is the "governatorato vaticano," the headquarters of the country's pontifically appointed government. The small building just to the right of it is the head gardener's residence.

We were led by an enthusiastic, older woman who liked to laugh about things and let us look around mostly in peace. There isn't as much to see as one might think; the gardens, being closed to the public, serve as parking for Vatican workers and as a kind of catch-all place to display gifts from small countries. There was a sculpture from Armenia, another from Slovenia, a replica of the grotto at Lourdes (given by France and very tacky), various Madonnas gifted to John Paul II and a huge colony of monk parrots (appropriate name!) screeching in the trees, a present from some forgotten, South American dignitary.
Another knick-knack: a bell celebrating the 2000 papal jubilee. Our guide reminisced about the good old days when she had been allowed to ring it during the tour. Now, a bar is fixed through the clapper, which she seemed to interpret as a personal rebuke. Also in this picture: red-faced men resting. The grounds are "quite hilly," according to the pre-tour warning given by the ticket office, and some people were having a difficult time. I would call the grounds "pleasantly sloping." You needn't be scared.
There is a crew of thirty-seven gardeners employed there, and we saw people at work all over. The main work is done maintaining topiary and lawn, as there are few extensive flower beds. A state of low-grade anticipation seemed to have taken hold - it's spring, but the climate is warm enough that the change from winter isn't dramatic. There will be more blooms in the future, I'm sure, but it's a gradual transition.
Our guide seemed to think that the group had been anxiously awaiting this sight: the papal heliport. I'm not sure that we were as impressed by it as she was. The helicopter is stored elsewhere. Not much was going on.
Inside one hedge, where we weren't allowed to go, is a small vegetable garden, which has existed off and on since antiquity. This little, papal Ape 150 was loaded up with holy weeds plucked (possibly) from amongst the pope's lettuce.
The gardens are closed in the afternoon, when they are available to the pope for his daily walk. It is the only place, according to our guide, where the pope can walk freely in the outdoors. It was a pleasant place, really, and mostly empty when we were there. The only other people were part of a German tour - which we encountered a few times - the workers and the people who were walking with us. It was a relief after the crowds in the museum and the crush in the basilica. I'm sure that the pope is glad to have a simple, open place to wander in peace.

The gnarled dwarf of a tree on the left, between the palm and the photographer, is an olive tree - one of three planted here over 800 years ago.

I can certainly recommend taking a tour of these gardens. Not because they are spectacular, because they aren't. They are pleasant, rather, and have the feel of a private oddity. A few places are quite beautiful, and it's nice to get a sense of near-solitude.

Being shepherded back into the museum was jarring - so many people, such a rush of shouting and movement.

Pope Sighting #2

I'm not sure we're going to get any closer to the pope than this. Every Wednesday at 10:30am, there is a papal audience in St. Peter's Square. Tickets are free and available the day before at the bronze doors. The doors are found at the top of a grand, marble staircase right after the security checkpoint for the basilica. Two spear-wielding Swiss guards in orange and purple striped uniforms designed by Michelangelo stand at their entrance. I had assumed there would be a ticket office near the roped off staircase, but instead, I was directed to go on up and ask one of the Swiss guards for tickets. So, around the short maze of burgundy ropes I went and up the centuries old marble. For some reason, when I'm not sure if someone understands English, I speak like a robot. "Tickets for pope audience? Two?" He simply walked to a desk through the doors and came back with two blue pieces of paper - like the little girl and her mom are holding above. A tour group snapped my picture as I descended. It was all pretty bizarre.
We arrived at around 8:30am to get a good spot, defining "good" as close enough to the front for a good picture and close enough to the back to sneak out if we needed to. There were already quite a few people there and more steadily streamed in. There was a general buzz of excitement and, now and then, a children's choir could be heard over a loudspeaker. You could tell it was live because of the conductor's whispering and occasional page turn. Among the tunes sung was "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once - which was a little weird.
It was a very sunny morning and people came prepared for the campout. Sandwiches emerged from foil and bottles of water from purses. Some people brought books, others ipods, but the smartest accessories were shading devices. Like umbrellas...
...and hats.
Two hours and an entire issue of The New Yorker later, things really started to happen. Two brides and two grooms took their seats on stage, then a group of bishops, nuns and - as someone so sensitively shouted out behind us - "an Indian chief!" A rotund man in a tailed tuxedo, the Swiss guards and the much more intimidating Italian police all took their places as well. The excitement was really building and even as people jostled into position and pushed their way to secure a good view, moods remained light.

Pope Benedict arrived to shouts of "Papa!" in a very slow moving popemobile. It took him across the front of the stage, then down the far left aisle of the crowd, through the middle, up the side, down the center and then up the side again. He passed just a foot away from me three times in all and I can report that he is better looking in person. Nothing but astute commentary here on MerlinandRebecca.com.

The popemobile putted up a ramp onto the stage and he took his seat (in the shade) to begin the audience. Priests from different countries read from the scripture in various languages and the pope gave a lengthy address in Italian. We didn't wind up staying the entire time, taking an opportunity to duck out during an impromptu song from a visiting school group in the crowd. Apparently, the audience lasts around three hours, which would have made a sum of five hours spent in the sun. Our former-USSR-winter-pallor just wouldn't have survived.

Gypsy Kitchens: Linguine with Clams

Last night we made one of the easiest pasta dishes someone can make. We were feeding three - my brother, Luke, is in town - and didn't want to spend a lot of time on dinner. At the grocery, we picked up a kilo of small "vongole veraci," which are also called carpet clams (an unappetizing name). The other ingredients: olive oil, cherry tomatoes, garlic, parsley, lemon zest, red chili flakes and some kind of pasta. We chose linguine, but this dish was very popular in Puglia, where most cooked it with orecchiette. One other ingredient, a splash of whatever (white) wine you are drinking, can be replaced by water or dry vermouth.
The cooking process is fantastically simple. Begin by putting the pasta water on the stove. While it's coming to a boil, rinse the clams well and discard any that are very broken or have opened on their own. In a large pan (larger, in fact than this very big, Lodge skillet) heat up a generous amount of olive oil (1/3 cup, say) with a good dose of chili and the lemon zest. The spice can be varied to suit your taste, but remember that it will be tempered somewhat by being cooked. 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon zest should be good.

When the oil is quite hot, add the clams and spread them out so that as many of them as possible are touching the pan. Let them sputter and hiss for a minute or two, then splash in a little liquid (wine, water, vermouth). At this point, the shells will begin to open up. You don't have to cover the pan - actually, I would suggest that you keep it uncovered. After a minute or so more, add the cherry tomatoes (quartered), garlic (finely minced) and parsley (however you want it), and stir everything together.
Near the end of the above process, you should have put the pasta into the water. Timing, here, is key - the trick is to undercook the pasta and have it ready to add to the skillet at about the time the clams are done cooking. It NEEDS to be undercooked. This isn't a matter of taste preference, and I'm not talking simply "al dente." The pasta needs to be pretty underdone because it is going to continue to cook in the skillet.

As the clams open up, they release liquid into the pan along with the wine and the tomato juice. It's a good idea to keep the heat somewhat low (medium, really) so that the liquid doesn't boil off. When you add the pasta to the skillet, it's important to mix well so that it gets right down into the juice. The liquid will be absorbed, giving taste and creaminess to the starch.
When the liquid is mostly gone and the pasta is done, scoop it out onto plates and serve right away. The taste is terrific - it's a great way to accentuate both the flavor of the clams and the taste of the linguine (or orecchiette, or spaghetti...) without muddying the dish up with other notes. We ate it perhaps too fast, followed by a delicious salad that Rebecca made: fennel, apple, parsley, pecorino and lambstongue greens.

For those of you who'd like a simpler, more linear version of the recipe-

Ingredients:

2 pounds small clams

1 pound pasta

1/3 cup olive oil

3 garlic cloves, crushed and minced

8-12 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/4 cup parsley

1/4 cup wine, water or vermouth

1 teaspoon lemon zest*

Red chili flakes to taste

- Begin to bring pasta-water to a boil.

- In the largest pan you have, heat the oil with the lemon zest and chili flakes until very hot.

- Add the clams and cook for two minutes. Add wine, then cook further, uncovered, until most clams are open.

- Start cooking pasta.

- Add tomatoes, garlic and parsley to cooking clams, reducing heat if too much liquid is being lost.

- When pasta is about two minutes away from being al dente, strain and add to clams. Mix everything together well. After two to five minutes - or when most of the liquid has been absorbed and the pasta is done - remove from heat and serve.

*Note: when you zest a lemon, make sure that the fruit is either unwaxed or that you have scrub-cleaned the peel under very hot water.

Pope Sighting #1

Every Sunday at noon, the pope recites a blessing from his window. With the marathon just about finished up, we moved into the square to wait for a glimpse of Pope Benedict. A crowd had begun to gather, the largest we've seen in Vatican City so far and they all seemed to be facing toward the same line of windows. We followed their lead and began to wait.

More and more people arrived with heads tilted upward toward the block of curtained rectangles. One window in the corner had a golden curtain instead of a white one and we assumed that signified "papal." I wanted to get it right because I wasn't sure how long the pope-pop-out would last. When I noticed a large film camera focused up higher than my target, I decided to reposition. I figured, if they don't know where the shot is, who does?

Then, there he was! Pope Benedict XVI himself. What a strange thing it must be for a man who submitted his bishop resignation papers three times and was given a promotion instead to hear his name being chanted by a gaggle of tourists and pilgrims. Poor guy just wants to live in a Bavarian cottage and write books, or so he has said.
The crowd really did go wild for ole Joseph Ratzinger. The blessing lasted a little under an hour and groups of people would squeal when he switched into their language. It reminded me of people WOOing at a concert when their neighborhood is shouted out by the performer. Where all my Latin speakers at?!?
Banners were held up and flags were waved. I caught at least one person sobbing. I can only imagine how crazy it must have been when John Paul II, the rock star pope, gave his addresses. It must have been like Times Square during TRL. Man, the late 90s early 00s were awesome.

Then, Benedict went back inside and the crowd quickly dissipated, streaming out of Vatican City down the street where the last marathoners had passed through just an hour earlier.