Naples - Round 2: February 2012

Salvatore - Chef Extraordinaire

Gnocchi making!

"This is the perfect gnocchi - the ones I made!"

Only fresh basil and herbs will do!

Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina - After the mozzarella is added! Bellisima!

I have been wanting to learn some true Neopolitan dishes to prepare in the years to come.... So, I will share my newly learned "Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina" with you! Recently attended a cooking class taught by "Salvatore" who has been cooking since age 8 --and has been the chef at a famous Neopolitan Restaurant for years. Although we made our own "Gnocchi" dough -- I recommend buying the gnocchi at the store and using the recipe below to make the Italian sauce. Making homemade gnocchi dough is simply not worth the trouble! The sauce can be frozen and then used again for any pasta dish. Salvatore was a bit grumpy -- and none of our Gnocchi dough was quite good enough for his expertise! He may be a great chef - but not so great of an instructor! Not the typical "charming italian" that you would expect. Nonetheless, it was a fun class and I am eager to make this at home! Just thought I would share...... The sauce is delicious!

Serves 10:

Brown and cook 5-6 pieces of veal or beef in large pot with water. Broth should only be about 1-2" in bottom of pot. Add one medium whole onion, and steam with lid on until beef and onion are tender. Broth will begin to get darker. Add bit of white wine and continue to cook/steam.

Use Italian sauce: Tagliamonte (Passata Di Pomodoro) 5-6 jars.

Remove whole onion right before adding sauce. Add 5-6 jars of sauce to beef stock. After adding sauce, add a bit of water to each jar and shake, adding to mixture - to ensure all of the sauce is used.

Simmer on low for at least 30 minutes.

Cut 4 balls of fresh mozzarella di buffala, into small pieces, and add to sauce. Sauce will turn a lighter shade of orange/pink. Continue to stir while mozzarella melts. Sauce will be laden with mozzarella.

Add gnocchi to boiling water until it floats to the top. Drain.

Add gnocchi to sauce, stir, and garnish with fresh basil on plate. Sprinkle with fresh parmesean. Delicious!

If you wish to freeze sauce, use the sauce before the mozzarella has been added to it.

The hunt for the perfect villa…… it truly was like watching the show “House Hunters International”. Yet, we had many more than three choices, and narrowing it down became a longer and harder quest than we had imagined. It’s hard to believe we have been in our international “first choice” since September, 2011! After living in the Hotel Mediterraneo for over 3 months (more for Troy), we were certainly ready to settle down in our own place. Having lived here before, we knew the area, and were far more selective this time around – which actually complicated our efforts as we were searching for the perfect place. There were many trade-offs to our selection, and it was most difficult. We are now completely settled, and are getting to know our area more and more every day we live here. It is really an endless exploration because the history and culture are so immense.

Our top three choices included an amazing furnished apartment on the water’s edge in Posillipo. It included a private beach area, and the view of Vesuvio was absolutely incredible. The downsides were that we would have to pay an additional month’s rent to the realtor, and we would have to put most of our stuff in storage, plus the fact that Posillipo is isolated from any town and we really wanted to be able to “walk out” and explore in the evening and on weekends. Another top choice was a villa compound with a panoramic view and huge yard and garden. It was more of a country home above the town, but had ample parking and the yard area and outdoor living space was remarkable. Hard to come by in Italy where space is limited. Our third choice, and now our home, is a 500 year old Palace (Palazzo Maglione) which has been renovated into 10 separate apartments, with ours being the largest. It is situated in the city center of Pozzuoli, and sits above this ancient town, with sprawling views of the Mediterranean, Capri, the Amalfi Coast, and the famous Via Napoli which runs along the water with restaurants and shops and walking areas. The town of Pozzuoli is right below us and we can walk out to anything we need: restaurants, city life, stores, the park, etc. Our apartment has a wonderful contrast of ancient and modern as it hosts 500 year old frescoes that top the ceiling of our living room, yet also houses a large Italian modern kitchen and interior. The huge doors leading out to the balconies show a constant view from our kitchen and living areas. I can cook and gaze at Capri! It’s an amazing view and the apartment feels grand. One scene within the 500 year old frescoes show that one of the Princes of Spain was born here. The frescoes on the outside stairs leading up to our apartment were painted by Vasari, a famous painter who was here in the late 1500’s. Pozzuoli was founded in 29 BC by some political fugitives from Samos, as “Dicearchia” which in their language meant "just government." The people of the Dicearchia area, fought against the Etruscans and Italic Greek for supremacy in this Campania region of Italy. The Romans soon discovered the strategic importance of this city especially during the Second Punic War, when Hannibal blocked access to the sea. The Romans took the name of Puteoli, which is derived from the abundance of mineral springs, and in 194 BC, “Puteoli”, now modern day “Pozzuoli” became a Roman colony. The port of Pozzuoli had not only commercial but also strategic importance to the Romans. The docks Pozzuoli saw merchants of every country, Syrian ships, tirie, Cypriot, Jewish, Egyptian. The Serapeum, commonly known as the Temple of Serapis (still visible for us today with columns and circular walls) was actually a very elegant covered market, and is the most vivid and convincing evidence of the impressive ancient Pozzuoli trade, which reached its peak during the Imperial period. In the spring of AD 61, from Caesarea in Palestine and to Rome, the Apostle Paul, who, having found some Christians, stayed in Pozzuoli seven days as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 28 "... were found in Pozzuoli having brothers (Christians), they asked us to stay a week, before journeying to Rome ... ". Christianity soon came to Pozzuoli by the merchants, probably Jewish converts, and there was, from the first to the beginning of third century AD, its martyrs who were killed at the ancient amphitheatre, third largest in Italy, only blocks from our palace!

When we walk to the port, we see the fishermen bringing in their nets of fish, and sewing them up by hand to mend them from the morning’s damages. These fisherman are worn and ragged, beaten by hard work and the Mediterranean sun’s intensity on their skin. It’s not hard to imagine that the disciples who were fisherman probably looked very similar.

And so, every day we live here, we are transported back in history. It is a phenomenal place to live. We actually saw “House Hunters International” filming at another palace just a block up the street from us. Our realtor friend was part of the filming, and we cannot wait to see if it will be aired or not!

Living Room - 500 yr. old frescoes line the ceiling!

Pozzuoli - Our city which was founded in 194 BC! Our Palace "Palazzo Maglione" can be seen at the upper right hand corner - the large white building with gray trim.