Take Me Away to the Via Lattea!

Postcards from our passing 2015 winter

Colle Bergia- Claviere Peak

Though the sounds, smell, and feel of spring are thick in the air, I am just not quite ready to leave this winter wonderland  beauty behind. Having lived and worked in a Colorado ski resort area for many years, when we got to March and April spring's warmth and promise of summer to come would be vaguely in the air, when it wasn't buried under a ton of snow. I found it was such a beautiful time of the year and a wonderful time to ski. Normally that time also coincided with it being our busiest time of the year, so it is nice to enjoy the beauty of winter here in our Italian alps with out all the stress of mass producing loads of bakery products. Instead I am working on my home production of new foods and ideas for our coming season of guests and "Cooking Together" classes. 
Nice change indeed. 

Fabrizio in Claviere and Marla in Mongenèvre 

Fabrizio and I managed to pull ourselves away form our endless projects, got up early and treated our selves to a day on the Via Lattea.  The "Vialattea, Sciare senza confini "which translates as the "Milky Way, skiing without borders" is the largest interconnected ski areas in Europe. 

The Alps stretching out before us from the top of Claviere ski area

It unites 7 ski areas, two of which, Pragelato and Sestriere, are at the top of our Chisone valley, and goes up and over to the Susa valley that runs parallel to us over the mountain behind us and included in these Olympic venues of 2006, is also Mongenèvre in France. So we headed up and over the top of our valley to Claviere and skied in two countries in one day, Italy in the morning and late afternoon and France for top of the hill skiing, with lunch on the deck in France on a clear blue sky kind of day, ooh, la la!

Please note that all the food is served on real plates, cutlery, and glass water bottle. Very Nice!

La Baita --note the name, a mountain house or chalet

A little chalet right on the ski piste

We usually ski across the way at Prali one of our most favorite and closest to home above tree line ski areas, and Sestriere being the next closest. We are close enough for a great day out skiing, but if you are planning a ski holiday where you will ski every day, you would want to be much closer to the slopes than where we are located. Guests at Christmas time have often spent a few days skiing and other days doing other activities, like snow shoeing, site seeing,  cooking or shopping. 

Mighty Mt Chamberton

 It's a great thing living so close to the ski areas, but not right in them. I love that we are moving in to t spring. the primula are poking their heads out of the snow and the birds are singing their little hearts out as well.  I heard a woodpecker today making a bit of racket after all of this white winter quiet. It is nice to revisit and it nice to know that spring is surely on its way, but just for today, we'll enjoy this winters wonderland. 

Fresh Orange Tart- adding a bit of sun to winter

Enrico,  our favorite citrus vendor

This winter the snow has been slow to arrive after a very early appearance around the 26 October when all was green and the leaves were still on the trees. Now that the white blanket of snow has covered up the unrelenting brown of the winter, it's time for a splash of color. My favorite winter remedy would be the luscious citrus fruits from the south of Italy. Our Sicilian citrus farmers send up some of the tastiest oranges, clementines, and mandarins found anywhere. I always look forward to late autumn when the road side trucks laden with oranges begin to reappear randomly and in regular pull off points where they beckon you to buy a case or two of sunshine and sweetness. Drawn to pull over and inspect the vendors goods, unable to resist the siren song of oranges, we come away with a case of oranges and mandarins. Orange indulgences to follow. We've peeled and juiced these globes of desire until I finally begin to use them up in other ways that requires a tad more effort. 

Tarocco or "Tarot" oranges which are called red oranges here never called blood oranges

I made this orange tart to try and replicate it after having enjoyed a fabulous slice at Caffe' Roma, which is one of our favorite bars in Pinerolo,  The cafe is located at the corner of Piazza Roma, where the daily Farmers market usually draws us in on our market visits. Caffe'Roma is owned and run by 3 brothers, of which 2 work in the  bar and one brother, Francesco, runs the kitchen. I frequently run into the chef shopping at this market and that always puts a smile on my face. I actually see a number of local restauranteurs shopping here and that is so encouraging. Caffe' Roma is a popular lunch time choice, as they serve deliciously genuine and reasonably priced food. You can choose to dine inside or al fresco at one of the curbside tables. I love Franceso's orange tart as it is not one that I have made or enjoyed much before coming to live in Italy. His selection of desserts are always enticing. He has shared his talent, teaching workshops at the restaurant, and at Frossasco's Mueso del Gusto. Unfortunately, I have not been able to attend, so I am left to my own resources. My recipe for this tart is pretty simple as he told it should be. Perhaps not the perfection that I found in his balance of flavor and technique, but tasty and worth making when you want to bring a little sunshine into your day.

Crostat di Arance---Fresh Orange Tart

Fresh Orange Tart or Crostata di Arance

Yields: 1-10 inch or 1-25 cm  crust
Oven Temp 200*C /375*F to blind bake the crust then later to 190*C / 350*F

Pasta Frolla

Ingredients:

200g flour, plain flour or Italian 00 (1 1/2 c / 7 oz flour**) 
125g butter, chilled, but not soft or too hard (1/2c / 4.4 oz)

75 g sugar, granulated or castor (6 T / 2.6 oz)

2 egg yolks

Add sugar to the flour and mix.

Cut the butter into smallish pieces and rub the butter into the flour with your fingers.

Make a well in the middle of the dough.

Add the egg yolks, and stir or mix well with your hands till it comes together in a soft dough.

Knead lightly and briefly to get a smooth dough, being careful not to work the dough too much

Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, as it makes it easier to handle.

Roll out on floured surface or between lightly floured parchment paper for ease.

**Cooks notes: I have found the dough might require more flour as weight to volume flour conversions can vary greatly. Add a little flour at a time if you think the dough is too sticky to get it to be a manageable dough and if necessary, be generous with the flour when rolling the dough out.

For the filling:

Orange peel (organic is best) 

1/2 c sugar 

1/2 c  water

500g oranges slices, peeled  (a little over a pound of oranges, after peeled, maybe 4)

Apricot preserves or Orange marmalade,  a goodly amount as needed for covering the crust and glazing the top,

Brandy or rum

Directions:

Mix up the pasta frolla and refrigerate.

While waiting for the dough to chill, prepare your filling.

Wash the whole oranges and wipe dry.

Before removing the peel from the orange, I either zest or use a channel knife to remove the orange peel zest or strips before actually removing it from the orange itself. 

If you hve neither tool, remove the peel form the oranges, making sure to remove the white pith from the orange. If the white pith is too plentiful scrape some off with a small paring knife. 

Julienne (cutting the peel into thin slivers) the peel.

 In a small sauce pan add the water and sugar and heat to boil. 

When the sugar is dissolved add some or all of the peel. You might need to increase the amount of equal parts of sugar/ water if you have a lot of peels. 

Simmer the peels in the sugar water till softened and translucent. Remove from the syrup and lay flat on a plate or waxed paper when cooled to dry slightly. 

Set aside.

Slice your peeled oranges into rounds and set aside also.

Roll your pastry out to fit a 10" or 25 cm removable bottom tart tin.

Place your pasta frolla in the pan and trim as needed.

Prick the bottom of the pastry generously with a fork.

Line the pastry with baking paper and weigh down with beans or another pan that fits inside. 

Blind bake at 200* C / 375*F for about 20-25 minutes, removing the pan partway though the baking so the middle bakes more thoroughly. With beans or weights, i would bake with them on top the whole time. 

Cool slightly.

Mix your preferred preserves with a few drop of brandy or rum to thin slightly. Warm up on the stove top to make it easier to spread. 

Cover the bottom with a thinnish layer of preserves. I used marmalade as I have quite a bit on hand that I make. 

Now cover the bottom with your jam and crust with the orange slices in a decorative circle, slightly overlapping the edges, till all is covered.

Lower the temperature of your oven to 190*C/350*F

Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes to cook through. 

Thin more marmalade with liquor to make a thin glaze and light glaze the whole tart while warm. Let cool at least 15 minutes before trying to cut it. It will be hard to resist the urge to devour it right out of the oven, but do wait or the crust will crumble. 

Great served at room temperature and is just as tasty the next day or so. 

Let the sun shine through!

Snow Time

Bella Baita all in white

At long last winter has arrived with a blast of cold that has set our teeth chattering and running to stoke our wood fired stoves with as much wood as we possibly can. This winter has been so mild that it seemed we would just bypass it all together. My geraniums and lavender have put out new growth while lounging in their winter storage spot. We had a variety of strange weather these past few months, dry and warm like September, leaving the forest so dry that it didn't take much for a wildfire to spring up and take hold, just a few kilometers behind us. It was clearly visible and we watched it warily spread out and become unmanageable due to the ferocious winds that fanned the flames for a couple of days. Alas, the fire was contained, thanks to the effort of many volunteers, and then snow arrived. Peace reigns in the kingdom again. Hurrah!  We received about 1/2 meter or a foot and ad a half or so and now we're still waiting for the promised blue skies, but the sparkly white down comforter is a welcome change, not only for it's beauty, but also with the knowledge that our water supplies will be sufficiently replenished. That bodes well for a bounteous porcino season come spring. That alone makes even the haters of shoveling and cold temperatures warm up to our latest weather.

Now you see why the shoveling isn't so much fun

A walk in the neighborhood

Home again, home again, jiggity jog...

Italian Style Winter Laundry

Last night  about 10 pm, when I saw my mother in law hanging out some laundry I had a little chuckle. I knew and she did as well, that the forecast was for snow today.  For whatever reasons, mostly known to herself, my mother-in-law loves to wash clothes by hand and hang them to drip dry no matter the weather conditions. When asked she shrugs and says she just thinks they get cleaner and enjoys it. Perhaps it is a wee bit of frugality that she won't spin them out in the washer just to remove the major part of the water, but usually they are just hand wrung. Apparently she's not in any hurry to get them dry as the forecast is for snow for the next few days.
It's a winter wonderland out there right now and not too cold, so I think I may need to put the snow shoes on when there is a break in the flakes and wander around the neighborhood.  I think today maybe another nice day for either a thick cup of hot choclate or a Turin classic drink, a Bicherin. We shall see which one wins out.

In the meantime here are a couple of  photos from the balcony.

  

A Brief Winter Reprieve, Time to Work on the Ramie Vines

The past few days have been delightfully sunny, although not all of them have been all that warm. Today it was warm enough, although windy, to bring out the assorted bikes, trikes and strollers, to make a noticeable increase in the number of folks that were out and about. We had errands to run that took us down to Pomaretto, the small village that we gaze at every day and provides us with quite the light display, if not a conspicuous consumer of energy for such a small mountain village. It also provided us with a bit of bare ground and a wee bit of green here and there. The view above is looking back to Bella Baita which is on the right side of the mountains in the saddle there are two little white streaks and we are sitting in that one, but to day we were looking back into it.

It was the kind of clear blue sky that just begs to be enjoyed and we needed to wait an hour for the stores to open back up after siesta, so we wandered up the terraced steep hillside admiring the handiwork of some very diligent wall builders though our only small vineyard in this valley. This only produce 800 bottles a year from the very local grapes called ramie. It's not well know outside or our immediate vicinity, but is has a DOC (denominazione di origine controllata), which is a designation for authenticity for the grape used and area that it is grown on. They are a part of our soon to be inaugurated "La Stada delle Vino Pinorolese", wineries.

The vines have been there for over a hundred years and the terracing of the hill side is a work of art. We wandered to the end of the paved road and followed along the footpath admiring the handiwork of those who tend the grapes. There was evidence of new wood poles to replace the old and worn out or broken ones. Each vine had been recently pruned and freshly applied willow trusses to keep them in place for the coming season.

We came around the corner and there were the workers whose handiwork we had been admiring. They were now enjoying the sun, trying to stay out of the winds cruel ways and having a laugh. The ladies wouldn't hear of having their photos taken as most women always protest, so while Fabrizio chatted away with them in dialect, a slightly different version from the one spoken on our side of the river, I snapped a couple of photos surreptitiously. Pomaretto is on the Valdesian side of our valley, (ie Protestant versus Catholic) where the flavor of the language is more French than the local Piemontese. It's all pretty tough for me to follow. They will be celebrating their liberation day next week. I hope to attend some of the festivities and have a fresh report. In the meantime the vines were tended and the day enjoyed as the cycle of the grape and wine continues on even during the winter, all under an alpine sky.

A info poster in the Frossaco "Museo del Gusto"

"BookMe.com" an easy way to get outta town...

Bella Baita View full winter mode

I've been slow on the up take these days as I ease in to 2009. I have a few recipes and a great story about our holiday guests here at Bella Baita, but just haven't gotten them all pulled together just yet, but they are in the pipeline. As they like to say here, "piano, piano", or all in good time.
The big news has been the non stop snow and digging out yet again (see photos at the bottom). I know some of you out there are starting to think about where and what you might be doing for a holiday break this year and starting to look around, all this talk of snow has fueled the desire to do something about it. Shovel, you say? Heavens no! Get away somewhere, probably.
I know it was just Christmas but that winter time cabin fever starts to sink in as soon as the yuletide fades away. For some it's to ski in some of that fluffy white stuff and for others it's to get as far away from it as possible. Me, I like both. So where to find the best deal and get outta town you may be asking yourself?
A great place to make your way to as fast as you can is quite simply and aptly named "Bookme.com". I recently received a chatty email from a friendly, ambitious entrepreneur touting their website, that helps you easily find the best deals on travel options as well as tickets for concerts, shows and sporting events, so I figured it was a place to share with others bent on making some plans. That would be you.
The founders of "Book Me" were frustrated with trying to book tickets on line and having to "run" all over the Internet to find them. From their frustration this site was born, placing many sites together to give you the convenience and best choice of prices all in one stop shopping. Plus you are also helping them realize their dream to donate a portion of their profits to rescuing pets around the world.
It's incredibly simple to use and it has several options all in one spot to compare and make sure you are getting the best deal around. I gave it a little spin around the block looking for some flights and found several sites that I didn't think would come up on their site as they are European based, but they did, convincing me what a great site this is.
Have a look at their site and I think you will find it is an extremely useful and easy to use site that gives you great results, ie, great prices. My only word of the down side to it is, that if you are looking for off the beaten path and smaller operations like ourselves, then this is not going to direct you to us, but it will give you the best flights and car deals to make your way to get off the beaten path. So give them a spin and make some plans and maybe make your way here while you're at it to the Italian alps and Bella Baita Mountain Retreat while you're at it.

Enjoy some winter shots from here in the Italian alps of Val Chisone.

Bella Baita in full winter snow

Our entrance to Bella Baita from the street

Entrance to our flat

Entrance to the chicken coop

Ciao for now!

Back to Normal

The sun has return for an extended stay, warm balmy weather is melting a little of the over 5 ft of snow we received this past week. The road up to the ski areas are open and it's a beehive of activity here.I don't have time to post a couple of recipes that I had hoped to before Christmas so here are a couple of neighborhood photos.

Nothing like trying to tie up loose ends before the guests arrive.
What that means is that we're running around like crazy trying to get all of the nagging things done in record time. Fabrizio is putting up the last of the stone on the arches in the Olympia room that we have been waiting on materials to finish for the past 3 months. They arrived Saturday and now all that cleaning was for naught as the dust is flying again. Heavy sigh, i'll just keep the baking and prepping going in our flat and whistle while I work and be glad for all when it's done. His parents have the local window installer doing his thing, putting in the double set of doors on their flat that they ordered months ago and arrived for installing today. More dust. Poor guy that had to carry them up our stairs. He definitely broke a sweat. Luckily, they will have their new doors before the next wave of cold weather arrives in a few day as predicted.

How are all of your last minute details going?

Almost 6 Feet Under and Marmelatta di Zucca

They say it was over 1.6 meters in 24 hours, that's 5 ft or a bit more.
It cleared briefly last night but there is more snow on the way.

Our entrance to our flat.


In the neighborhood

Digging his way to to get the chickens

Disappearing chicken coop

The road beyond us toward the garden.

Another Val Chisone extreme weather event.
2 years ago we didn't have any snow or winter and the spring arrived almost a month early. This year we had a fairly normal winter and then we had a very soggy late spring and everything has been arriving very late this year. Now we have a very early winter with record snow.
Latest update. Now it's raining on top of our 6 ft of snow. The rivers are overflowing and they are watching the Po in Torino and all the way down to Rome, where it has been raining non stop whilst we were getting snow. Strange days indeed

So nothing left to do make Pumpkin Jam or Marmellata di Zucca.
Once done, slather some on your favorite tea biscuit or do like Fabrizio's grandmother, and make a sandwich of Pavesini biscotti and dunk them in for tea, or for a more grown up addition, vin santo, marsala or something along those lines.
I actually double this recipe as we have quite a bit of pumpkin and the moment and it made a delicious crostata filling.

Marmellata di Zucca

• 500 g (1+pound) pumpkin or butternut type of solid squash, cut up in medium pieces

• 200 g(1 cup) sugar
  

• zest of one lemon

Other optional additions

• 50 g (1/2 c) toasted walnuts or pecans

• 100 g sultanas or dry cranberries softened in a splash of warm cognac,
  
• Vecchia Romagna, comes to mind

Combine the sugar, lemon zest and pumpkin in a large heavy bottom sauce pan. Gently simmer until soft. I usually smash the mixture after it starts to soften to encourage to break down and cook a little faster. Stir occasionally. Add additional ingredients just before the mixture is done.
Cool completely before storing in the refrigerator.
I never bother to jar it as it usually gets used up rather quickly.

It's beginning to look a lot like winter!

We are starting to have a real bona fide winter here in Val Chisone. The prediction by my father in law that the natural indicators, such as an abundance of walnuts and other folksy type of farmer's almanac wisdom seems to be on the money. Since I have lived here, which is only the last 6 years, we have had early winter dumps of snow, but they usually melted right off as it was too warm to sustain the snow. This year all the conditions are right for this to stick around for the winter. To be honest I don't mind, having come from Colorado high country and use to a long winter season, it's always been some what of a winter tease here at our house. I enjoy winter activities if I can make sure to get out and enjoy them, as opposed to just the never ending prospect of shoveling as a winter discipline. I much prefer, Alpine and Nordic skiing as well as snow shoeing and ice skating, although it's been quite a long time since I slid around on that slippery unforgiving surface. Naturally, further up the road at the ski areas, Prali, Pragelato, and Sestriere, they usually have enough white stuff to keep everybody happy. In fact Prali opened 2 weekends ago and
Sestriere of the Via Lattea, opened this weekend.
Both areas are fun and varied and I do love the buzz that a ski resort has first thing in the morning when the anticipation for powder or simply sliding down the white stuff again is palpable.
Believe me when I say that Prali, is a well kept secret.
Especially when the name of the ski area is Nuova 13 Laghi

This small ski area is everything I like about small areas. Usually, not too crowded, high above tree line with spectacular views of pristine alps, most of them are in protected parks and enough varied skiing to keep me happy. The top to bottom run is a long thigh burner. Have a look at the runs here on their map. I do love this area summer and winter, especially when the price is so right! Winter lift tickets will run you 15€ mid week, when they open full time closer to Christmas and 20€ weekends and holidays, with a 12€ late risers rate that starts at 12:30pm. Summertime they have the main lift open in July -August and weekends in September, for a mere 8€ to get you up and back if you like, with ease to enjoy that high country "Heidi" feel without so much effort. Save it for getting up to where the Genepy grow.

Of course, if you need a break or if not of the ski inclination, there is a mid mountain house that you can get to with a single lift ticket up and down, that affords you a fabulous panoramic view. Enjoy with Italian style hot chocolate so thick you need a spoon to shovel it in or a vin brulé and enjoy catching up on your knitting or favorite book. You can of course wander around in the small village of Ghigo, at the bottom that has a few shops and several bars and plenty of dry walk ways, roads or set Nordic tracks to keep you from sampling too many vin brulé.

Oh well, I need to baking the bread that is about to overflow the bowl that it is rising in and think about strapping my rock skis on a it bit later on. Maybe I'll add some cookies to the game plan as well.