ITALY - Milan

[lulu]

Hi all,

we aare moving to Milano, my husband goes on Monday, yep, short notice! I will follow later. Anyone got and Milanese recommendations? Looking for simple, mid week light suppers really.....till I get a kitchen and get cooking with great Italian stuff! By complete coincidence (this was not even a thought then) I made my first ever pasta last weekend.....by hand! It was pumpkin ravioli!

 

[wavex_p]

wow... milan is a nice place, hmmmm... i've been there before, but just for vacation.. lulu you can try Spaghetti Starter...

Ingredients:
Fresh Spaghetti. (Quantity to suit number of diners.)
300 mls (1/2 pint) of fresh cream.
1/2 Cup finely chopped chives (Could use half quantity of dried chopped chives)
I Tablespoon of unsalted butter.
Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Method:

Boil saucepan of water, when boiling add salt and a dash of oilive oil.
Place Spaghetti into boiling water and allow to boil until Al Dente. (Al dente is just done and not over done.)
Strain Spaghetti.
Using the same saucepan place butter in the bottom and allow to melt over a gentle heat.
Add Spaghetti.
Add Cream
Add chives and keep tossing the Spaghetti until it reheats.

Serve Spaghetti Starter immediately witha chilled glass of dry whit wine. - I like a Sauvignon Blanc.

(`-`)
​

 

[urmaniac13]

You must be soooo excited, Lulu!! And I hope you can join your hubby very soon. And you will enjoy all the Italian experience to the max!! I have never been to Milano personally, but ask RDG for advice, he is a proper Milanese!!
I hope you can visit Rome and many other wonderful places while you are there, too!!

 

[Banana Brain]

I think Milan would make a pretty name. Milana for a girl, Milano for a guy.

Oh, and congrats on your move of course. I wish I were you.

 

[Lynan]

Ciao Lulu...I lived in Italy for 10 years in the Valtellina which is a beautiful valley above Lago di Como. Was in Milano 2 months ago in transit for Paris and ate at Mickey Dee's so cant give you any recommendations from that trip!! There are many amazing places to eat in Milan and you sure will have fun discovering them. If you come across Bresaola, Pizzoccheri ( buckwheat noodles with fontina) or Polenta Taragna do give them a try! They are specialities of the Valtellina. Good luck, and if you would like the address of an online expat community in Italy, PM me and I will give it you, the people there would be of enormous help for everything from where to find the cheapest English ingredients to where to buy the best washing machine!

 

[ChefJune]

Lucky you! i'm sure it will be a grand adventure. Be sure to keep us posted while you are there!

 

[urmaniac13]

If you come across Bresaola, Pizzoccheri ( buckwheat noodles with fontina) or Polenta Taragna do give them a try! They are specialities of the Valtellina.

Oh yes, Pizzoccheri, I love them!! I make them from scratch and here is my recipe...

Pizzoccheri

Ingredients:
200g/6,5oz of buckwheat flour
100g/3,5oz of regular flour + extra for dusting the board
water
pinch of salt
200g potatoes, peeled and diced
300g of spinach or cabbage, shredded. (also chopped broccoli or brussel sprouts are also delicious)
200g of mixed semi soft cheeses which melt well, fontina, taleggio, gouda, edam are great, finely diced or sliced
100g of grated parmigiano or grana padano
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
100g butter
dash of white pepper

-knead vigorously together the flours with a pinch of salt, adding just enough water. (you need to play around the amount of water, adding little by little for a right consistency) Keep on kneading well for at least 15 minutes until it attains a smooth somewhat elastic texture (but not as elastic as the egg based pasta).
-roll out the dough on a flat surface well dusted with flour, stretch it out with a rolling pin to about 3mm thickness (a bit thicker than regular fresh pasta) then cut into short strips about 1cm x 5-7cm (1/3 inch x 2-3 inch).
-Bring plenty of water to boil in a big pot, cook the potatoes, veg and pasta for about 7 minutes, skimming out the white residue that may float on the surface as needed.
-at the same time in a small skillet, cook the garlic in butter, taking care not to burn it.
-drain the pasta/veg well, then quickly toss them in a big bowl with the garlic/butter mixture, cheeses and dash of pepper until cheeses are melted and well blended in.
-serve it piping hot.

One time I also mixed porcini mushrooms in it, that was soooo good... btw buckwheat flour is called in Italy "Farina di grano saraceno", you can find it in a large supermarket, or you can also take a short cut and use a ready made pizzoccheri pasta, it should be readily available in the north, this is a must try, I also love polenta!!

 

[SizzlininIN]

I am just so jealous of you right now. Italy is one country that I dream of visiting in this lifetime.........probably won't happen but a girl can dream.

 

[jennyema]

I've only been to Milan once. We went to a small cafe-type place for lunch and had these AMAZING panninis and we ate there maybe 4 times. I also remember having some very mediocre chinese food there.

But mostly I remember the CRAZY driving and even CRAZIER parking!!

Buy insurance and have FUN!

 

[ChefJune]

I also remember having some very mediocre chinese food there.

Why would you eat Chinese food when you're visiting Italy?

 

[RDG]

I've only been to Milan once. We went to a small cafe-type place for lunch and had these AMAZING panninis and we ate there maybe 4 times. I also remember having some very mediocre chinese food there.

But mostly I remember the CRAZY driving and even CRAZIER parking!!

Buy insurance and have FUN!

Never been in Rome or Naples, I think.......

 

[RDG]

Lulu, I've met your huisband, but in these days weather has become worse: today, 42 degrees.....
Light supper? FRESH supper....
Ham and melon, ham and figs, Pasta salads, Buffalo mozzarella or burrata (do you know? I've explained Michael where to buy). A suggestion: try the open markets on the streets. (F.I, on Thursday morning, in Ampere street, underground Metro "Piola" Stop) and walk inside banks.
After six p.m, in bar there is the "happy hour": you can drink a cocktail or a beer and eat a lot of appetizer for a cheap sum (already done, with Michael: we say "when the cat is absent, mouses are dancing..".. )

 

[Lynan]

Jennyema....I remember being so happy to hear a Chinese restaurant had opened in Sondrio ( a town further down our valley) that I dragged the whole family there to try it out. Unfortunately, they had added olives to their fried rice!!! Probably to give the locals some kinda comfort food. Imagine Chinese pickled eggs in your pasta dish. The meal was very mediocre and my brother in law got us some take out from there a few weeks ago. Nothing has changed.

 

[Lynan]

urmaniac13...good on you for making pizzoccheri from scratch. I had the luxury of either buying the noodles fresh, or my dear departed suocera made them and she was a maestra I can tell you! We can buy buckwheat flour in NZ but it is of inferior quality I am loath to admit. Also, I adore the dish with Bitto cheese. Lawdy what I would give for a hunk of that right now!

 

[lulu]

Well, I finally arrived here, just as the Milanese left for their holidays, but even so I have eaten well! Vitello Milanese at a trattoria opposite our apartment, literally buried under a salad of rocket and the sweetest most frangrant cherry tomotos I have ever eaten! At the local Esselunga supermarket they smiled at the le inglesi buying four different types of tomato, which I am simply slicing and sprinkling the barest amount of salt and strong black pepper on before devouring for supper. I'll explore restaurants more when their owners return from the beaches and mountains, right now the supermarket is my shrine and there is so much to taste. I have not even got to my first Italian pasta, gnocchi or pizza because they quality of the basis ingrediants....the fruit and the vegetables is just so amazing. I could give up cooking at home if the fruit and veg tasted this good un-cooked and un fussed with!

 

[mudbug]

sounds like you are having fun, lulu. I'm envious.

 

[Lynan]

Hey Lulu!! Good to see you have settled in with the natives.
And you are right, the flavours of the fruit and vegetables are amazing...especially at this time of year.

Did you get the link I sent you for the Expat site??

 

[RDG]

hihihi.... I'm one of the "natives".....
Lulu, pls, no pepper on tomatoes: only oregan, salt and oil.
Try this: pasta al dente, and over it pour a salad made with cherry tomatoes, minced salted ricotta ("ricotta salata", in order to find it at the Supermarket), fresh basil and just a bit of garlic. Oil and salt (here just a bit of pepper is allowed). Everything uncooked: hot pasta must be refreshed by salad.

 

[Lynan]

Ooooooo RDG...I wouldn't be welcome at your table!! I love fresh ground pepper on my tomato's. And quite a lot. Also, I always prefer un po' di basilico rather than oregano with fresh ones but its all a matter of taste. When I was in Italy last, I ate that many Sardinian /Sicilian tomato's that Im sure I nearly turned into one They are WONDERFUL!!! They are the ones that are small, look a little wrinkled and have greenish tinges and stripes on them. I nearly wanted to smuggle some seeds back home.

 

[RDG]

Lynan, pls...all is a matter of taste... . Of course, welcome to pepper, if you like it.....
There are yet hot days, where you live? Try this: it is a recipe by the youngness of my father, in the deep south of Italy...
A dish with some iced water in.
A big, round, ripe and sun-warmed tomato.
A nearly same dimension bread, possibly two o three days old.
Cut horizontally the bread, and put the two parts in the water: leave them for some minutes: they must become soft, but yet solid .
Put some oil and salt (nothing more) on each half tomato, and join each of them with the correspondant part of bread, like a sandwich. Eat.
Rememeber to clean the shirt, after eating.... . Nothing better, if you are thirsty.....