All the time in the world

A beautifully prepared lunch leisurely eaten (versus McDonald's at your desk) is one of the true bonuses of being in Italy. Italians simply know no other way to spend their day than taking a three-hour break at lunch time, dining at around 1 in the afternoon and returning to work about 4. With everything closed at that time, there's really nothing to do but follow their excellent example. Many days, Tom and I have a full-course lunch and today was no exception. I prepared a whole fish, Orata or gilthead bream according to my Italian dictionary. I roasted it the oven with new potatoes and fried up some artichokes which we enjoyed with a beautiful Maremma wine. It was excellent and so easy to make. Here's the recipe:

Orata
Oven Roasted Bream with Potatoes

1 whole bream, cleaned but with head on (about 1 pound, serves 2)
1 lemon, sliced thin
1/2 cup of chopped fresh Italian parsley and garlic (three cloves)
Salt and pepper to taste.
2 slices of fresh fennel bulb
Olive oil
Small potatoes (like Yukon gold), cut in quarters
Red pepper flakes

Set oven at 375 degrees F.
Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of the pan.
Place fennel on top of oil, then place fish on top of the fennel.
Put garlic and parsley mix inside fish cavity with several slices of the lemon and salt.
Place the potato slices around the fish; dust with salt and pepper flakes
Lightly drizzle fish and potatoes with olive oil.
Place remaining lemon slices on top of fish.
Cook for approximately 40 minutes.

Serve with artichoke hearts that have been dredged in a mixture of egg and flour and fried in olive oil. Serve with lemon juice on top and a sprinkling of salt.

On breadmaking days, Tom gets up early and stokes the woodburning stove. He lets the dough rise in the bottom of the oven. I wait long enough in our warm bed before rising, going downstairs, and looking forward to the wonderful crepes he cooks on the top of the wood burning stove for our breakfast. He does this about twice a week, depending on how fast we go through the bread. Inside the crepes we put yogurt. One yogurt I especially like has chocolate pieces in it and is flavored lightly with orange. The chips melt in the crepe and its fantastic. Another personal favorite is plain yogurt with locally-made honey from Chestnut trees. Here's Tom's recipe, but you will need sourdough starter.

Crepes

1 cup starter
1 egg
1 egg yolk (he uses the white for the topping on the bread)
Enough milk to make the batter runner.

Pour into a pan and tilt to spread out thin.
Cook quickly turning to brown on both sides.

While we are at it, when the stove is really stoked, I use it to cook pasta sauce, soup, beans, pasta, or stews. Anything that needs a long cook, it helps to conserve the gas for our stove top which, if we run out, will mean a trip to Montiano to fill our canister. Here's my version of Ribollita, a popular Tuscan soup.

Ribollita
Tuscan Soup

A liter of water
1 can Borlotti beans, drained
1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 leek, 3 stalks celery, 2 potatoes cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Bunch of Italian parsley
Bunch of fresh arugula
2 sausages, cooked and cut into pieces
2 bouillon cubes
1 tbl of tomato puree

Cook for 2 hours, approximately

Serve with a thick slice of Italian bread on the bottom of the bowl and scoops of soup on top.
Top with Parmesan cheese.