Shortcut Chicken Parm Subs

What you need:

Tyson frozen breaded chicken patties

Jar of tomato sauce

Medium red onion

Garlic

Good quality olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Fresh basil

Large french baguette or similar

Fresh Mozzarella

Grated parmesan-reggiano cheese

Salt, pepper, crushed red pepper.

1. Cook chicken patties on a foiled baking sheet at 400' for 20 minutes. With 2 minutes remaining, sprinkle a bit of parmesan over the patties.

2. In medium saucepan saute the red onion (thinly sliced) in a tablespoon of olive oil. When well cooked, add a dash of salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Mix in 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and let it cook out for a minute. Add the jar of tomato sauce and bring to a slow simmer.

3. In a small saucepan, head 1/4 cup of olive oil over low heat. When warm, add in 4 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil, dash of salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes but don't let the garlic brown.

4. Cut bread into individual serving sizes. Slice across but not all the way through. Spoon garlic mixture on both sides of the bread, wrap in foil and bake for 5-10 minutes until lightly crispy. (put bread in as chicken patties come out)

4. Assembly: remove bread from oven, slice chicken patties in half. Place patties on bread, top with scoops of tomato/onion sauce, layer with thick slices of mozzarella, top with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Enjoy!

Agriturismo 2

Jake and I spent a night at a vineyard/agriturismo this weekend and were the only guests. We had an amazing private dinner and a tour of the winery the next day.

*We had the entire restaurant to ourselves - literally. Once we were on to our second bottle of wine, the chef was ready to head home. He gestured to Jake to follow him, showed him where the light switch was, and left us! We moved to chairs by the fire and had quite a romantic time, it was lovely.

Dinner Party For Three

I wish I could take credit for the recipes but they came mostly from Food & Wine Magazine’s Quick From Scratch Italian Cookbook.

Menu:

Carrots with pine nuts and basil

White-bean and prosciutto bruschetta

Lentil soup with tubetti and bacon

Roman style chicken with bell peppers, capers, and prosciutto

Roast potatoes (ok, those came from a frozen bag)

Limoncello

Not to mention the sampling of various Prosecco and white wines.

Trapped on a Navy Base

*View from our bed room window

Things to do on a navy base while your husband is at work:

1. Go downstairs to the caffe for a double espresso and a giant brioche.

2. Read cnn.com for an hour or two.

3. Plan a huge dinner to cook throughout the day to kill time.

4. Realize your husband accidentally took your military ID to work with him so you cannot enter the grocery store.

5. Panic

6. Return a movie, rent a movie.

7. Plead with the man who guards the super market to let you in. He does!

8. Realize you don't have the one euro coin required to rent a shopping cart.

9. Lug a really heavy basket around and get grumpy.

10. Buy a sandwich roll made out of pretzel. Happy again.

11. Run into 2 people you know because there is nowhere to hide here.

12. Realize that there are no parking spaces anywhere near the hotel.

13. Ponder what to do for the next 5 hours....

Caserta Palace

Caserta Vecchia

Agriturismo

Walking tour of Spacconapoli

Recently

So after a huge scare with the housing office where they told us we will have to live on the base, Jake and I are set to sign a pre-contract for the apartment this Wednesday. Recent successful dinners: Risotto with Radicchio and Smoked Mozzarella; Sausage, Potatoes, and Artichoke Hearts in Tomato Broth. This weekend we spent a night in Naples and did a walking tour of the churches in the historic district. While waiting for our table at another famous naples pizzeria, Sorbillo, we went into the Enoteca next door and bought a liter of wine, tapped from a huge wine keg for 3euro. We were given plastic cups and drank wine on the sidewalk surrounded by serious Italian pizza eaters as we waited to be seated. On sunday we went to an agriturismo (a restaurant/hotel that only serves food from their own farm or surrounding farms) with a large group of navy officers and their wives. After touring the land and taking in the stunning view, we sat down for a four hour parade of food. We had roast peppers with capers, a meat and cheese platter, marinated zucchini, a potato and ham thing, a zucchini and egg thing, potato skins, rigatoni in a creamy tomato sauce, gnocchi in a mushroom cream sauce, roast pork with broccoli rabe, chocolate almond cake with fresh fruit, espresso, limoncello, not to mention endless bottles of their house red wine. We were sure full!

Falling in love...

Yesterday, I fell in love with an apartment. After seeing a bunch of duds the day before, Jake and I were beginning to despair of finding a place that had at least a few of our hopes- a view, a terrace for the BGE (big green egg grill), a parking space, good location, some sort of charm etc. A realtor called Jake at work to tell us that a lady had just lowered the price on an apartment in a great location. The owner's niece picked us up and drove us through narrow, twisty streets up and up a steep hill. Before going upstairs to see the apartment the niece took us in to meet her aunt, a 89 year old Italian woman who spoke very little english. We entered into a beautiful room with antique furniture, intricate wallpaper, lace, china, silver, paintings. We were invited to come back down and have coffee after going upstairs. We climbed up a few narrow carpeted stairs...It was beautiful. Tall ceilings, wood floors, etchings in the glass door panes, bits of stained glass, wood carvings around the door frames. I actually started tearing up! Outside, there was a huge terrace with a view of the water. The building dates from 1800. Back downstairs, we were served coffee in beautiful china espresso cups with tiny silver spoons and embroidered tea napkins. I was in heaven. The pictures don't do it justice but here they are. We meet with the housing office today to hopefully begin working on the contract. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Naples Ate My Shoes

Jake and I did a lot of stomping around the city this weekend. On Friday, we finished up a week of Navy orientation (safety, environment, housing, car, driving, cultural relations etc.) with a field trip out in town. During our free time from the group Jake and I walked up the major ritzy shopping street of Naples. We found my favorite Italian handbag store Coccinelle and Jake bought me a beautiful black leather wallet. The other highlight of the day was stopping for lunch and having a broccoli rabe and smoked mozzarella panino. So tasty!

On Saturday we drove ourselves into the city for the first time (aided by our lovely gps TomTom) to meet with a landlord and look at an apartment. The realtor set up the appointment and all we knew was that we were meeting an older man in a hat in front of a coffee shop at 11am. We were warned to be punctual. Well, 11 rolled around and we had not yet been approached. Jake started boldly approaching old men in hats (probably about 10) to no avail. Meanwhile, I made eye contact and smiled at passing gentlemen. Finally, we called the realtor who said that our guy had missed his train and would be 30minutes late. It worked out in the end because we saw a lovely newly renovated and very safe feeling apartment. We celebrated by going out to lunch to a place that had been recommended by a friend, and had the best meal thus far. It was a tiny place with 6 tables, mismatched wine pitchers, and shelves and shelves of wine. From my position I was able to see into the kitchen and watch as the chef slowly began peeling eggplants for our appetizer (a ball of fried mozzarella, a ball of fried potato, and a thin eggplant rolled around some kind of ham). We both ordered pasta. When mine arrived, I was startled to see that my shrimp still had their heads! AH! They still had their entire shell! Not being a huge seafood eater, I had never shelled a shrimp (or whatever that process is called). I did my best to get the little guys out of their shells without attracting attention...

On Sunday, I was resolved to buy new shoes. The 8hr day or walking on Saturday nearly killed me. All Italian women wear boots. So far, we have seen only one or two ladies in sneakers and for all we know they could very well not be Italian. When we set out on Saturday morning I wore my black boots with medium heels. By the end of the day I was holding back tears- my feet were roadkill and my boots were destroyed. Ladies, when you come to visit make sure your shoes have a chunky heel. Otherwise, you will slip between the cobblestones and totally scrape of the leather on your boot heel. Plus, it is hard climbing up quaint little streets with boots with no treads! On Sunday Jake and I drove to "Shoe Alley," an open air market with hundreds of booths selling shoes, purses, and clothing. It was crowded, pushy, and loud, but I did find a pair of nice brown boots for 10euros.

In other news, we found that Italian wine magnums are 2l instead of our 1.5. On Saturday we bought a 2l bottle for 2euro and it was actually drinkable!

Recent Exploration