Archive for the ‘food’ Category
How to Brew Coffee in a Stovetop Moka Pot
Coffee brewing in a stovetop moka pot
Happy National Espresso Day! While the “National” refers to the US (apparently Italy celebrates espresso in April), I say we make it International Espresso Day — and I’m going to help you celebrate by finally doing the post I know some of you have been waiting to see at Bleeding Espresso:
How to Brew Coffee in a Stovetop Moka Pot
First things first. The word “espresso” refers to the way coffee is brewed not to the coffee itself. Espresso is brewed by water that is forced up threw finely ground coffee because of steam pressure; in America especially, “coffee” is generally made in a percolator or via the drip method. The latter actually ends up having a higher concentration of caffeine, while the former tends to be thicker and richer in flavor.
Put another way, espresso is always coffee, but coffee is not always espresso. That said, it is important that if you want to make espresso in a moka pot, you get finely ground (often called “espresso grind”) coffee as other types are too coarse.
Some people might argue that coffee made in a stovetop moka isn’t *really* espresso since it doesn’t tend to create the gorgeous layer of golden brown “crema” on top, but really since it is indeed brewed via pressure coming up from the bottom, it is.
- Parts of a stovetop moka pot
It’s not going to taste exactly like what you get in a bar (remember in Italy, the place where you get coffee is called the “bar”), but quite simply, for many of us in Italy and elsewhere, making this type of coffee at home is just the most cost effective choice — we also find it quite delicious as well.
Where did the moka pot come from?
The moka pot was created by Bialetti and rose to popularity in Italy in the 1930s; the basic design has been copied ever since, and there are also different moka pot looks, so feel free to experiment. Moka pots also come in different cup sizes (ahem), so it’s not uncommon to see several different sizes of moka pots in an Italian house for use with different numbers of guests.
Now, finally, the easy peasy directions for how to brew coffee in a stovetop moka pot:
1. Fill the bottom with fresh, cold water up to the middle of the safety valve; as you can see in this photo, my moka has a line that marks that level in various places around the bottom, which makes it even easier to tell where to fill to.
Bottom of moka pot filled with water.
2. Put the basket in the bottom, and spoon in the coffee. This part you can experiment with, depending on how strong you like your coffee. As you can see, we like ours pretty strong, but you can fill yours considerably less — the most important thing to remember is not to pack it down.
Basket really full of coffee.
3. Screw the top onto the bottom creating a super-tight seal. I use a towel for extra traction to really get that last turn tight. Then put the pot on the stove on low heat.
Moka pot on low heat.
4. The top part of the moka will begin to fill with coffee. When you start to hear the sputter and gurgle of the coffee, remove it from the heat. P.S. Don’t lift the lid as I did for the sake of photos. There is very hot coffee spurting out of there, and it doesn’t care what’s in its way.
Coffee just about ready.
5. Serve hot, with or without sugar, with or without steamed milk, just however you like it.
Steaming cup of espresso made in a stovetop moka pot.
When cleaning the moka, I have been told to never use any kind of detergent on it at all, so I don’t (just hot water and my hands). I have seen recommendations online to use a mild detergent, but I’m going to stick with what the locals here tell me. I do, however, take a scouring pad to my moka pot now and again to keep it looking mildly shiny, but as you can see from the photos, mine isn’t exactly new.
Ah, and that’s another thing about using a moka pot — throw out at least the first batch of coffee made by it, possibly even two or three batches. The flavor is just going to keep getting better the more you use it, so if your pot starts experiencing problems (the coffee is leaking out the sides at the seal or the top part isn’t filling up with coffee), I’d say to change the rubber ring that creates the seal. The replacement ring costs 15 cents (here at least), and it’s well worth a try before you start over with a new moka pot IMHO.
How do you drink your espresso?
Escarole, Bean, and Pancetta Soup – Zuppa di Scarola, Fagioli e Pancetta
Last week Vince at Scordo posted a recipe for Escarole and Bean Soup. It looked tasty to me, and just as I was tucking it away in my memory, wouldn’t you know my mother-in-law gave us a bunch of escarole the next day?
I more or less stuck to Vince’s basic recipe but added some pancetta — and then P wanted some soup pasta with it so we threw that in as well (although that’s not in the photo below).
This recipe is super easy and delicious, especially if you use canned beans. As Vince mentions, your own soaked beans inevitably taste better and are less expensive, though, so give them a try sometime as well.
Overall, I have to say, if you’re looking for a hearty, warm-your-soul kind of meal, this is a wonderful choice.
Escarole, Bean, and Pancetta Soup — Zuppa di Scarola, Fagioli e Pancetta
Just grab a spoon and a hunk of bread!
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, each cut in half
- 1 peperoncino, cut into a few pieces
- 40 g of pancetta, cubed
- Bunch of escarole, washed and coarsely chopped
- 2 cans of cannellini beans
- 1 liter of water
- Salt to taste
1. Heat olive oil on medium heat in a large soup pot and sautée garlic, peperoncino, and pancetta for a few minutes.
2. Add escarole and sautée until wilted, being sure to coat thoroughly with the oil mixture. Add a bit of salt as well.
3. Add water, beans, and a bit more salt. Cover, turn down heat to low, and let simmer until the escarole is done to your liking — at least 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Serve hot with fresh chunky bread; although it’s not very Italian of me, a slab of butter on the bread and then dipped in the soup just makes everything right with the world.
Buon appetito!
Love Thursday: An Adorable Little Nuccihra of Love
P and I don’t have grand birthday or Christmas celebrations; neither of us are fans of giving gifts only because it’s expected, although “just because” or “I was thinking of you” tokens are always welcome around here.
And we do tend to exchange little, thoughtful things year round — often simple gestures like one of us taking over cooking duties or running to the store when the other is exhausted. There are some physical gifts, but they tend to be of very little monetary value. In our house, it truly is the thought that counts — it always warms my heart to know that when P was “in giro” (out and about), he saw something and thought of me.
Over the years, he’s brought home tiny rosebuds, almond blossoms, old lire coins, a big bluish green lizard (!), porcini mushrooms, and even some saffron flowers.
And most recently this little nuccihra (noo-CHEE-ruh) arrived:
An adorable little nuccihra of love
It’s a type of hazelnut (nocciola) here in the mountains of Calabria –“nuccihra” is Badolatese (local dialect) for little hazelnut . . . an adorable little nuccihra of love if you ask me.
Happy Love Thursday!
My Calabria by Rosetta Costantino
My Calabria on Amazon
Rosetta Costantino was born in Calabria and moved to America with her family at age 14. Although they left behind much of what was familiar to them, the Costantino family never lost their culinary traditions — and now Rosetta shares them with us in My Calabria: Rustic Family Cooking from Italy’s Undiscovered South.
When paging through My Calabria, you feel like an honorary member of the family at the table as you learn about how Rosetta’s father recreated their Calabrian garden in Oakland, California; how various members of the family make the same dish; and also the 11 ingredients every Calabrian pantry should have on hand.
Rosetta also shares information about the historical and cultural influences on Calabrian cuisine and lifestyle, so aside from being a wonderful collection of recipes (150) that includes appetizers through dessert, My Calabria is simply a wonderful resource book on the region — you’re getting so much more than a cookbook here.
The recipes themselves are authentic as they come and easy to follow — one of the best things about Calabrian cooking is that it’s user-friendly as it uses so few ingredients — and the book is just gorgeous. There are plenty of full-page and other sized color photos throughout, not only of recipes but also of various sights from around Calabria.
From a personal standpoint as someone who has been making Calabrian food ever since I could cook — first from my grandmother’s recipes and now also from P’s mom’s — I give this book five very full espresso cups out of five. Rosetta is a wonderful tour guide through this region’s food, history, and culture, and I highly recommend My Calabria for anyone who is interested in Calabria, southern Italy, or southern Italian cuisine.
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You can find out more about Rosetta, her book, and her culinary tours at Cooking with Rosetta and her blog, Calabria from Scratch. You can also listen to Rosetta’s interview in the Eye on Italy podcast, which I co-host.
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The Colors of Fall in Calabria
**This is my entry for the She Who Blogs Three Signs o’ Fall & a Photo Contest; four prizes of $25 Amazon gift certificates will be given out — two to She Who Blogs members, and two to non-members. Deadline November 13, 2010. Hurry!**
We do get some leaves changing color here, but fall in Calabria actually is quite colorful besides those warm autumnal hues I grew up with in the mountains of Pennsylvania:
Fall in Calabria on Flickr
1. Saffron flowers, 2. Chestnuts, 3. Persimmons, 4. Drying peperoncini, 5. Prickly zucchine, 6. Melagrane dal giardino, 7. Eggplant, 8. Hanging out, 9. Zucchine flower, 10. Lemon blossom after the rain, 11. Zucche, 12. Some of our olives in September, 13. Pomegranate seeds
Many of us expats in Italy have written about being more in touch with the seasons here than we were in our home countries, mostly because our routines are so much more ruled by what the weather is like outside. Over the past month or so, for instance, many of us have been busy gathering wood, picking olives, preserving the summer’s bounty for enjoyment all winter, and thinking about all the soups, stews, and dishes “al forno” we’ll be making for the next few months. The first “signs o’ fall” if you will.
And yes, for me, there have been other changes in the routine, like feeding the goats and locking the hens in the henhouse just a little bit earlier in the evenings and also picking back up some habits that had fallen by the wayside over a busy summer — wonderful daily commitments like yoga and working on a dusty old manuscript, and also weekend projects like finding little ways to make the house that much cozier.
We’ll be spending quite a bit of time in here in the coming months, after all.
Yes, fall here always inspires me to dig back into the good, warm, comfortable, and cozy . . . which comes first, the cooler weather or the nesting mentality? I don’t know, but I’m not complaining.
What says “fall” to you?
Remember you can still enter the She Who Blogs contest until November 13th!
Michelle Fabio is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer living in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy and savoring simplicity one sip at a time.
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