fake-cation to florence!

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Happy 2021!

I hope you all had restful enjoyable holiday breaks and were able to come into the new year feeling like your phone after a long overnight software update and super-charging session! (Hm… I’m going to keep workshopping that new year greeting…)

We had about the loveliest fake vacation to Florence possible and I want to tell you all about it before I scamper off to filming GMF (season 8!):

  1. We basically just ate a bunch of mozzarella and prosciutto all week that we splurged on from the fancy section of the grocery store (by the bakery, not in the deli section) and it was delicious. We even acquired burrata which I’ve never seen in a grocery in Grand Forks. That was a TREAT! We had it all week long with loads of basil and the focaccia and Tuscan bread from Emiko’s book.

  2. For dinners, we cooked through Emiko’s book and made a great brick chicken, lots and lots of beans, homemade pappardelle, and one of the best homemade pizzas I’ve ever had in my life. It was so simple, just San Marzano tomatoes from the can, fresh mozzarella, and basil… but the thing I loved extra about it was dusting the dough with semolina flour for some good crunchiness.

  3. We celebrated Christmas outside with steamy bowls of ribollita and the weather was perfect. Not that I love talking about the weather but if we’re going to be forced to socially distance on a wintery holiday, we could at least get nice sitting-outside weather and we did!

  4. Our Florentine art exploration included making a “fresco” with Bernie, AKA we taped a big sheet of paper to the wall and drew all over it with crayons and rubber stamps. We made a mountain scene with ducks, so many ducks.

  5. We took a “day trip to ski* in the Italian Alps**” (*sled on a giant inflatable unicorn, **on a hill in town)

  6. We went “wine tasting* all over the hills of Tuscany**” (*swing set testing, **playgrounds of Grand Forks)

  7. Had not one but two blissful spa days, AKA I sat in a coconut tub with a face mask on and read Adam Rippon’s book for the entirety of Bernie’s nap time. Then used a lot of cuticle oil.

  8. Watched some great TV on the “airplane” (couch), including The Flight Attendant, Bobby and Giada in Italy, Bridgerton, Wonder Woman, Big, and Soul. Wow, Soul.

  9. Meditated! I got the Calm app and wow my brain is like “Thank U, self!!” 10/10 recommend.

Where should we fake go to next?? Should we time travel back to the 90s and only eat pizza rolls and dunkaroos all week? Ooh that sounds fun… Alright g2g, figure skating nationals is on!! Bye!!!

-yeh!

cannellini and soffritto pizza with pancetta and parmesan + a pizza party in tuscany!

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we have rules in our house about friday night pizza night:

1. we have to eat pizza every friday (duh)

2. things that have traditional pizza ingredients but aren't necessarily technically pizza count. so, like, cheese on toast with a tomato slice counts. spaghetti with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese counts. a grilled cheese with ketchup counts. this is weird, i am aware.

3. if eggboy and i are apart on a friday or if we're somewhere on a friday night where there is no pizza, we either try to plan ahead and have pizza for friday lunch or makeup for it and have pizza on saturday or sunday.

4. frozen pizza is ok. take-out is ok. planning a day ahead and starting a batch of jim lahey's no-knead pizza dough on thursday night is ideal though. i should have a reoccurring reminder on my phone for this.

5. if we're apart for a week or more, all bets are off. eat as much pizza as you want, when you want, standing over the sink, while watching reality t.v. anytime, anywhere. sending blurry pizza eating selfies and surpluses of pizza emoji are noted bonuses.  

my pizza night in tuscany was a category five pizza night: it was on a monday. a monday! and it was at sunset, with a view of the rolling tuscan hills and a big hunky pizza oven that was part of our home for the week. rebecca, alana, brandiego, and i used herbs from the garden and tons of other tasty things to build soo much pizza, it was fantastic. with some inspiration from the surrounding vineyards, i made a little riff on this prosciutto + grape pizza. it had a grape smiley face.

today, as a little reunion for our tuscany trip, the other davinci storytellers and i are posting pizza recipes inspired by our trip! since i already posted the grape pizza that i made at our party, my recipe today is inspired by the amazing cannellini beans that i ate in tuscany. they were so good and fresh, i think we were there during bean season. beans have never really been at the top of my favorite foods list (unless they were blended into hummus), but with the way these tuscan ones were prepared, with plenty of rosemary, garlic, and olive oil, i saw them in a whole new way. so in the place of sauce, this pizza has a cannellini bean puree, and it's then topped with a basic soffritto and some crispy pancetta. 

and ok, i am well aware that it is not the most supermodel-y lookin pizza, no amount of casually dropped rosemary sprigs or fresh parm or even white truffle oil from the tiny tuscan town of san miniato can fix that. but listen up! it tastes like grandma's chicken soup went on a pizza and it's good. 

cannellini and soffritto pizza with pancetta and parmesan

serves 4

ingredients

1 can cannellini beans, strained and rinsed
1/2 sprig of fresh rosemary (stem removed), plus more for garnish
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for finishing the pizza
Kosher salt and pepper
5 ounces chopped pancetta
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1 batch Jim Lahey’s pizza dough (divided into 2 parts, not 4), or pizza dough of your choice
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

white truffle oil, optional

 

clues

Preheat the oven to 500ºF.

In a food processor, combine the beans, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, a good pinch of salt and a few turns of pepper and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

In a medium skillet, cook the pancetta until crispy. Remove it to a plate, keeping the fat in the pan. You’ll want a thin coating of fat on the pan to cook the vegetables, so pour some off if needed, or if the pan is a bit dry, supplement the pancetta fat with a drizzle of olive oil. Heat the fat over medium high heat and add the vegetables with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, for 7-10 minutes, until the vegetables have softened. Salt and pepper to taste.

On a baking sheet or pizza peel, flatten out half of the pizza dough. Top it with half of the bean mixture, pancetta, vegetables, and parmesan and bake until the crust is splotchy with brown spots. Begin checking for doneness at 5 minutes. Repeat with the other half of the pizza dough and toppings.

Finish the pizzas with fresh rosemary, a drizzle of olive oil or white truffle oil, and more parmesan and enjoy with a glass of davinci chianti!

-yeh!

as a davinci wine storyteller, this post was created in partnership with davinci wine! 

tuscany

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hi, tuscany is no joke. there really are rolling vineyards everywhere you look, the focaccia does have grapes in it, and people actually do sit outside for beautiful timeless lunches with wine and prosciutto and dreamy conversation. that stuff's not just in the movies, it's all real. and really tasty.

my tuscan days began with crisp morning walks through the vineyards with alana or hilltop pilates class with rebecca and ended with pitch perfect 2 c/o brandiego (and his pitch perfect 2 obsession which gives me inspiration in my everyday). in between, we harvested grapes, visited montalcino for a vertical davinci brunello tasting and a gelato photoshoot, stood in the birthplace of leonardo da vinci, ate tons and tons of pizza, blended chianti, and made friends with some cows and their cheesemaker owner. note to self: make more friends with cows and their cheesemaker owners. we slept in a handsome yellow casale that was built in the 1600s.

on our last day, alana and i ate tuscan rice pastries with the wonderful emiko before zooming off to malta!

it was so magical and exactly what i imagined tuscany would be. i arrived craving pizza and pasta and left with, yes, a belly full of pizza and pasta, but also: enough wine knowledge to not look like a complete doofus when i taste a new wine, a deep affection for cannellini beans, farro and panzanella goals, and new amazing blogger friends.

every day since returning i've wondered just how expensive it would be to take up a wine hobby. so there's that. does anyone wanna coach me through this?

-yeh!

as a davinci wine storyteller, this post was created in partnership with davinci wine! davinci was started in vinci in 1961 when 30 winegrowers created a farming co-op. today, davinci includes 200 winegrowers in tuscany whose grapes produce varietals like chianti, chianti riserva, pinot grigio, and brunello.