Parma, Buffalo Mozzarella, & Orecchiette #2

In Milan, after walking somewhat bleary-eyed through the city after landing at 9:00 in the morning and only meeking out a an hour of sleep, we decided a big feast was in order. (This happened to come directly after our 18:30 appt with The Last Supper. Chuckle.) The hotel recommended a neighborhood restaurant that was along the same tram line and within walking distance to Santa Maria delle Grazie. We finished being tourists at about 18:50 and walked through wide and dark streets that reminded me of the upper west-side of Manhattan until we found the restaurant.

Strangely, no one was in there and the lights were off. Ryan tried the door and it didn't open. I know it's Monday night, but... Hm, we walked around the block, and by 19:05 the lights were on and someone was tying their tie at the front desk. Nervously we approached. Part of me felt the big "T" revealing itself on my back, heading to dinner at a little after 7 p.m., "ahh, tourists...American tourists...grab the English menu with the day-old dishes from Sunday night, they'll happily slurp it!"

I tried the door. Pull, pull, it wouldn't move. The guy inside is looking at us a little strange. Push, it opens. Doh, our first intro to Italian street-front door mechanics. We motion for two and he kindly directs us to a cute table by the window in the quiet restaurant. He says some things in Italian, we nod and smile, he gives us the menu and he's off. I reach in my bag and pull out my petite, discreet English-Italian dictionary and start to translate. Next thing I know, a English menu is quietly sat on the table, without fanfare. I'm starting to love this restaurant.

More people came in, eventually, including about 50 children coming to a birthday party in the back; some arriving with parents, some just showing up alone (and probably took the tram alone too). We settled into our groove and not only ordered appetizers, but a primo, and secondo as well. Why not? The food was incredible!

Our favorite - was the Parma and Buffalo Mozzarella we ate for an appetizer. Not only was the Parma the most delicate, melt-in-our-mouth flavor and texture, but the Mozzarella left us speechless. No, it wasn't just sliced up Mozz...some was runny, some was in the middle, all of it was delicious.



Last night, we went in search of a replacement dish. We tried Whole Foods, but they had pulled all of their Parma di Proscuitto because they asked the Italian makers if they used nitrates and didn't receive a response...go figure...so no more Parma there and the Buffalo Mozzarella was $9 for one chunk. We couldn't think of any local Italian deli shops in the entire city...and were about to head to Central Market when Ryan remembered that Costco had some...?? Costco?? To our interesting delight, Costco had a bountiful 12 oz package of Parma for $16. (Remember, in the deli case it's $27 per pound.) While they also had some Buffalo Mozzerella, we had picked up regularly cow mozz at Whole Foods and wasn't sure we were ready for the big Costco package that cost $8 and included several balls.

The results were fantastic...we loved every bit of it...and can't wait to use the extra Parm for a wrapped pork roast or something yummy like that.

Oh, then we made Orecchiette for the second time in a week. F-a-b-u-l-o-u-s. Note the new Le Creuset dish...merry christmas to us! This, along with a new iron (to replace the one I accidentally dropped and dented) made up a functional but fun Christmas.



The pasta was a bit thick and and while Orecchiette technically means "lambs ears" in Italian, we like to think they are pasta contact lenses. Here, Ryan displays the proper application...might want to leave the salt out of your solution.



Tschüß!!