Granita for ice-cold comfort

Italy in the summer time is hot, hot, hot. Almost as hot as July and August in Minneapolis has been this year. With our AC on the fritz, I am learning to cope. But barely. However, a couple years ago when my best girlfriend, Angie, and I visited Italy, we learned that Italians cope with the heat in a most delicious way.

In Rome, at Caffe Tazza d’Oro,** it’s printed on the glass door as you enter: “Granita Caffe con panna.” After the second visit, we had the routine down: go to the register, pay and get your receipt for the granita, take the receipt over to the guy behind the counter, present receipt, wait, receive your coffee granita, go outside, indulge (and cool off) while people-watching in front of the Pantheon (it’s right around the corner from the cafe). Repeat as necessary.

Granita, an exquisite powdery ice, is usually flavored with espresso or fresh fruit and often topped (or layered as at Caffe Tazza d’Oro) “con panna,” (with whipped cream).

But you don’t have to go to Italy to enjoy this icy sweet treat—it’s easy enough to make at home (and just a bit more economical—although perhaps not quite as exciting). Plus it makes a great and cooling and light (depending on how much whipped cream you’re into) finale to a spicy bbq, late night porch supper, or as a poolside refreshment (even if your pool happens to be the inflatable kind).

**Via degli Orfani, 84 (Pantheon) - 00186 Roma
Tel. +39.06.67.89.792 +39.06.67.92.768

Coffee Granita

1 cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
3 cups brewed espresso coffee (or 3 cups regular coffee that has been brewed double strength)

In a 1 ½ to 2 quart saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil over moderate heat, stirring only until the sugar dissolves. Continue boiling for four minutes without stirring. Remove pan from heat and let syrup cool to room temperature.

Stir in the coffee and pour mixture into a 12 x 9 inch pan.

Freeze the granita, stirring and scraping the icy crystals in to the center of the mixture with a fork approximately every 30 minutes or so until completely frozen, about three to four hours. The finished granita will have a fine and snowy texture.

Serve with a dollop of Kahlua-flavored whipped cream.

Kahlua Flavored Whipped Cream

½ cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons Kahlua

Whip cream until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in liqueur (try Bailey’s as well)


Strawberry Granita

1 cup water
½ cup sugar
2 lbs. fresh strawberries, pureed (you can use less, but I find this amount gives a rich strawberry essence)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a 1 ½ to 2 quart saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil over moderate heat, stirring only until the sugar dissolves. Continue boiling for four minutes without stirring. Remove pan from heat and let syrup cool to room temperature.

Clean and de-hull the strawberries. Put half of them in the blender and pour in half of the cooled syrup plus the lemon juice. Blend. Do the same with other half.

Pour mixture into 13 x 9 inch pan.

Freeze the granita, stirring and scraping the ice crystals into the center of the mixture with a fork approximately every 30 minutes until completely frozen, about three or four hours. The finished granita will have a fine and snowy texture that is a bit more slushy than the coffee granita.

To serve: In a chilled stemmed glass (try a martini glass), layer some of the granita, then whipped cream, granita, ending with whipped cream. Top with a fresh whole strawberry. You can use plain whipped cream, sweetened with 1 tsp. granulated sugar or try the following liqueur-flavored option.

Kirsch-Flavored Whipped Cream
The following yields enough for approximately four servings, depending on the size of stemmed glasses used.

½ cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons kirsch
1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Whip cream until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in liqueur and sugar, whip until stiff.

(this story with recipes was originally published two years ago in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by yours truly)

Black and white cookies from Boston

I just realized I mentioned I'd be writing about regional sweets today. It is a rainy dreary day--and the dewpoint is going up. I am holed up inside the house and wishing I could bake, but it is just not a baking kind of day, if you know what I mean. If I was in Boston, where my oldest son and his wife used to live, I would put up an umbrella and walk to Fiore's bakery (it's actually in Jamaica Plain) and get one of these black and white cookies. They are the size of a dinner plate--well, okay, a large saucer. I always bought one (or two) when I visited. I have tried to find a recipe for them ever since, and always failed. They are almost like a cake texture--and then of course, frosted half vanilla and half chocolate. Last time I was there they called them a Half Moon cookie. So far, I have read that they are more commonly known as a black-and-white cookie in New York. Whatever they are called (I plan to research later), I need one.

Official Desserts!

FYI: Check out the July/August issue of National Geographic Traveler for my story on "Hometown Desserts". I'll be posting more on Friday about regional sweets.
PS: The bizcochitos are the "official dessert" in the photo here--not the guy holding them.

Loving Missy's Pies: Lexington, Kentucky

When the original Ramsey's Diner opened in 1989 on

High Street in Lexington, Kentucky, its tiny kitchen

was soon overwhelmed with business--all that comfort food: meatloaf, hot browns, and homemade pie had found a following. As a result, the story goes, when the small space next door became available, owner Rob Ramsey purchased it to set it up as a pie shop for his lead prep cook, Missy. Before Missy ever set foot in the shop, however, she decided to follow her heart to Connecticut (to marry). But the name stuck, and even though there was never a "Missy" in the pie shop, nor was she ever heard from again-- the prize winning pies commenced being produced--and are still being turned out today in 2011. You can get a slice at Ramsey's Diner, or stop in Missy's and take a whole pie home with you--or tuck it in a basket and take it for a picnic in the beautiful bluegrass hills nearby. My favorite--the MayDay pie is a take on the chocolate pecan number known as Derby Pie (a trademarked name). I'm searching for a recipe as we 'cyber speak'--and hope to find one. Otherwise I've got to make another trip to Lexington soon. For more information about the Lexington area, check out my story today in the Minneapolis Star Tribune travel section: "A gallop through bluegrass." And for a perfect mint julep recipe--look for a blog post here soon. Or even better, just head over to Jonathan's at Gratz Park for quite possibly the most perfect mint julep I've ever tasted. Best of all, it's served in the traditional silver cup. It's icy, refreshingly delicious--and beautiful to boot. (Oh, and that'd be a riding boot in this horse country.)

Chocolate Indulgences: Spanish Style

This story appeared-- and even won a writing award--a few years ago as the result of one of the best and most fun Spain trips ever! (Thanks Patreethea!) The places mentioned are still open and thriving as far as I know.

Spain is a country that adores its chocolate so much they not only eat it and drink it, they sculpt copies of their famous monuments out of it. They dedicate museums to it; they serve it at places called chocolaterias. They melt it and work it into a healing body massage: “chocoterapia” or chocotherapy. They even craft it into jewelry.

Perhaps all the preoccupation with chocolate is natural; Spaniards, after all, were the first to realize what a treasure the cocoa bean is—bringing it to their country from Mexico in the 1500s.

For those in search of the “food of the gods” today, however, there’s no better place to start than in the Spanish town of Villajoyosa. Vibrantly colored facades, narrow streets, and flower filled balconies make this one of the most charming spots on Spain’s eastern Costa Blanca. It’s also one of the sweetest smelling: Villajoyosa, meaning “joyful or happy town” is the location of the Valor chocolate factory and museum. Since 1881 Valor Chocolate has been produced here.

Outside the factory, you can smell the intoxicating scent of chocolate from the parking lot--and nearer the museum entrance, watch as workers unload huge burlap bags of cocoa beans. Inside, learn how Don Valeriano López Lloret, known as Valor, began a life “dedicated to the pleasure of working for pleasure”--commencing with a friendly English-speaking guide demonstrating how beans were originally crushed by what looks like a rolling pin and ending on a catwalk overlooking today’s hi-tech factory where conveyor belts loaded with bonbons circle a football-field-sized room.

Afterwards, an art museum-like (and temperature controlled) setting with chocolate sculptures includes a version of Spain’s Santiago Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences appropriately and painstakingly re-created in white chocolate. Through the next door, the factory’s bomboneria and gift shop serves hot chocolate and sells all of Valor’s products. (My fave buy: several bars of Valor’s 70 percent dark chocolate “con naranja”( with orange).

I wish I had bought this sweet little chocolate cup and saucer set that the hot chocolate was served in.

Following the Mediterranean Sea further north near Tarragona, a stay at the stunning Hotel Ra Beach Thalasso Spa yields yet another way the Spanish indulge their love of chocolate. Only this time, it‘s not about bonbons being covered with melted chocolate. Instead, at this seaside spa, YOU are the bonbon.

Called chocotherapy, it’s one of the resort spa’s many special offerings. And I admit, I was a shade apprehensive about the whole me as candy bar experience. Even more so, when my male masseuse showed up--and his only English consisted of one word, “Relax". But as it turned out, he only had to say, “Relax,” once. After that, I discovered there was no reason not to. A warm melted chocolate mixture is drizzled over your entire body, then professionally massaged in.

Later, after being wrapped up for a few minutes in a warm plastic-like sheet (think: candy bar wrapper), it’s rinse off time, followed by an application of subtly scented chocolate lotion. Then you’re sent off to the tissanarie for a cup of fragrant chocolate tea by the Zen garden waterfall.

From Tarragona, it’s not far to Barcelona. Aficionados of xocolata (as it’s known in Catalan) won’t be disappointed in this bustling city. Besides Cacao Sampaka-- an elegant shop where you can sip dark rich concoctions and purchase chocolate bars and bonbons in amazingly varied flavors, there’s a wealth of other wonderful chocolate places to check out. In fact, I spent my final day here doing nothing but following my own loosely organized chocoholic route.
Pastisseria Escribà is an artful marvel of a shop. Located along the Ramblas, it serves chocolate for drinking as well as chocolates for eating. These tidbits are cunningly showcased in small black boxes within glass cases–similar to expensive jewelry (with prices to match). It’s worth a stop if only to admire the displays.

Opposite the Liceu Opera House, the gilded Café de l’Opera dates back to the beginning of the 19th century. Justly famous for its xocolata amb xurro, the hot chocolate is dense, sweet and delicious—and the horseshoe-shaped churros (for dipping in the chocolate) arrive steamy, crisp and golden.

Granja-xocolateria La Pallaresa on the Carrer de Petritxol is known for its xocolata desfeta a suis (thick hot chocolate topped with whipped cream). The day I was there my pudding- thick cup of chocolate was accompanied by a stack of light pastries tasting a little like angel food cake for dunking in the chocolate mixture.

On the corner in the Barri Gothic and not far from the Ramblas, my route also included the beguiling Xocolateria Fargas. Opened in 1827, this chocolatier still has its original cupboards, counters and stained glass. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived there after two previous stops for hot chocolate and sweets, I could only wander in and gaze about in a chocolate sort of drug-induced stupor.

The day’s grand finale was Barcelona’s Museu de la Xocolata-- just around the corner from the Museu Picasso. Promoted by the Provincial Guild of Pastry-Makers of Barcelona (a pastry school is adjacent to the museum), this marvelous museum shares the story of chocolate through interactive exhibits (in English too). But it’s the chocolate sculptures here that are astounding—including a huge Sagrada Família, a bullfight scene, a bust of Don Quixote atop the book, even a replica of Gaudi’s Drac of Park Güell.

Exiting the museum brings you back to where you started—at the chocolate bar and the gift shop. Here’s where upscale museum offerings are for sale: Boxes of bonbons, t-shirts, jars of cocoa jam, bags of cocoa powder, artsy coffee-table-sized books devoted to the subject of chocolate, and tiny expensive but exquisite golden earrings in the likeness of what else? Cocoa beans.

I still regret I didn’t buy a pair.

Easter greetings!

La Boulangerie Bakery's French macarons

No, they're not Easter eggs; they're macarons from La Boulangerie Bakery in Chicago's Logan Square area--one of many fabulous sweet shops I visited while in the Windy City. From the baguettes, croissants and traditional crepes or galettes (swirled fresh in front of you) to the little handwrapped homemade caramels sold by the register (their caramel filling goes in one of the macaroons), to the lovely tiny bags of lavender buds, the Parisian-styled shop is a feast for all the senses. Tip: "Eat the caramel at the same time as you have your coffee; it all melts together," advised the manager. He was right.

If I lived near here, this is where I'd come every morning to purchase a baguette or two (like the woman in the photo below).

Or actually, if I really lived in the area, I'd sign up for their Bread Flix: and have my bread delivered to my door twice a week (by a cute guy on a cute imported bike).

La Boulangerie, 2569 North Milwaukee Avenue, at Logan Boulevard (773-358-2569).

Chicago: A Windy City visit

I'm heading to one of my favorite cities this week: Chicago! It's for a writer's meeting and I am excited to check out some more new spots. I was just there a few weeks ago for a story I wrote for the Minneapolis Star Tribune: Winter in the Windy City. (I don't know if it is still available online--although you can try clicking on: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/travel/116915968.html if you're interested in reading it.)

As you can see from the top blog photo here, I was working quite diligently while there. When you work that hard, it is important to reward yourself. So I did. At Chicago's Garrett's Popcorn shop. There is nothing like the "Chicago mix" they pop up there--cheese and caramel corn mixed together. While I was there, I also ate at the acclaimed Sable Kitchen & Bar where I love just about anything chef Heather Terhune prepares. (She used to be at the Atwood Cafe in the Hotel Burnham --I'll never forget her chicken pot pie there, her bread pudding, or her French toast with warm chocolate sauce. Decadent.) Anyway, I stopped in the Sable bar one afternoon as well (for research purposes, of course)--and discovered their Cocktails 101 "menu" booklet is as fun to read as choose a drink from: chapters are titled: "Hot. Gentle. Round. Bold. Complex. Trust Me..." As it turned out, I ended up staying an extra day in the Windy City during that visit because the weather turned nasty. But this week coming up is supposed to be spring-like. I'll bring my umbrella.