Did I say dolce ???

Monte Blanc

Today a group of us from school discovered this restaurant near Campo Fiori.  It was the best meal I have had so far in Rome.  It was friday so we feasted on traditional Baccala.  Fish ( salt cod) that has been preserved by salt and dried... it is soaked for a long time to reconstitute it and then this particular dish had it cooked with tomato, onions and raisins.  It was fantastic.   (see more about it http://italianfood.about.com/od/fishdishes/a/aa110897.htm A little sweet, (but of course) with a tartness and a saltiness that was perfect.  The texture of the fish was hartier that a fresh fillet would be.  It was flaky with a texture.  I couldn't tell if it was only baked or if there had been an additional cooking method.  The complexity was simply divine. ( I am going to guess the cooking method was far simpler than I fantasize that it was).  I also ordered roasted potatoes, ok, these were wonderful.  The potatoes were sweet, the olive oil infused with rosemary, warm roasted and the residual oil was perfect for the perfectly crust bread that was fluffy inside.  I finished with a Monte Blanc (pictured above).  yum the crunch of the meringue and the soft cream one of my favorite combinations.  Actually, my Aunt Avril in Scotland made meringues once when we visited and served tow stuck together with double cream that was so thick it worked like a glue to hold the two meringues together.  This was so great I can still see them cooling off on the counter in her kitchen. I love double cream I can just eat it by the spoonful! Unfortunately we had to run back to school for an intensive language class in the afternoon so we couldn't linger, which was probably good because I was dangerously close to staying there until dinner or having a second helping of the baccala.

Christmas Dolce ! Panpepato

Ok so this little beauty is a traditional Christmas dolce.  I found this in yet another local bakery/ pastry shop there actually is quite a difference.  The women at this patisserie were wrapping these and I picked one up to look at it and I couldn't believe the weight of the thing.  They told me it had nuts and fruit and chocolate how could I resist.  Plus it would be informational for my blog so I brought this sweetie home.  The price was 20 euro a kilogram the weight came out to an 8 Euro item.  Pretty darn heavy.  About the size of a softball but flat on the bottom like a dome covered in hard chocolate.  I have since seen these without the chocolate,,, but after you go chocolate I am not sure you could go back...

The ingredients, I really wanted you to see the weight but it didn't show. In the US we are required to list ingredients in order according to how much of an item is included.  I will say I was fearful of the rum thing (second on the list...) but there is next to no taste of rum, after an inquiry it would seem that a few of the dried fruits have rum... just like any good fruit cake it is dependent on the artisan.  

The inside solid nuts and fruit!

Dolce !!

Dolce is the word use for Dessert or sweets or sweet in general.  It seems the Italians have put the sw in sweet.  They have a particular way of making even the sweetest of items even more sweet and it has actually been a bit difficult to find desserts or pastries that aren too sweet for my taste, until this...

This fantastic treat was discovered in a supermarket or Carefour.  It is basically a vanilla ice cream with almost shaved chocolate or flaked chocolate in the middle.  It has a slight crunch when you bite into it so it has a doubly nice quality.  The ice cream part is not too sweet it seems just right.  You can see the flaked chocolate in the middle where it crunches through the flakes.  pretty nice to keep this in the freezer :)

I am still amazed at the way pastries are packaged at my local bakeries.  These are two examples...

How delightful this design is with the twisted ends to hold the cardboard together.

A bounty of sweet treats.  (from the upper left) A chocolate covered cream filled profiterole (cream puff), mini tiramisu ( the word for tiramisu actually means "pick me up"), A hazelnut cookie, a baba- is seems to be part custard and part whipped cream some have rum and raisins others are plain), From left again - a fruit tart (or 2) 2 pistachio mousses- kindof an odd texture a mix between mouse and jello really, a mini monte blanc- meringue cream and chestnut, oh above those in the middle are a cookie and another "pick me up".  A sugar overload in a pretty little box.