Frittata alla Mentuccia recipe

This is a first.

For years, I've been a cynical anti-Valentine advocate. I posted about my unsympathetic stand towards the lovers' holiday in this post. I still find the commercial exploitation revolting, but this year I decided to wipe away the cynicism and support the Amore occasion with the naïvety of a blushing girl's first crush.

And what better way than with a delicious demonstration of my feelings?

While throngs of lovers exchange sappy cards, gifts and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, I will break my celebratory embargo with an unconventional savory treat:

Frittata alla Mentuccia - Peppermint Frittata

Ingredients
50 g (1/4 cup) bacon, cut in matchsticks
A bunch of fresh peppermint
1 clove of garlic, minced
Dash of Pecorino cheese, grated
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
6 eggs


Soak the peppermint in plenty of water and a fistful of baking soda to eliminate traces of field dirt and unwanted chemicals. Rinse several times and pat dry. Trim away stems and chop finely, to yield about 1/4 cup of minced leaves.

Film a large skillet with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the bacon with the minced garlic. Remove from the skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside. Leave the bacon drippings in the pan, you'll be cooking the frittata in them. Yes, I know – I'm drooling too.

In a mixing bowl, break the eggs, add a fistful of grated Pecorino, and break the yolks with a fork. Stir, folding in the chopped peppermint and crisp bacon, and mix well. If the eggs are superfresh and thus rich in "gluey" albumen, I usually splash in a drop of milk to dilute the eggy mix. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and let it sit while you put the skillet back on the stove to heat the bacon drippings.

Pour the blend in the skillet and reduce the heat to low. Cook slowly for about 5 minutes, or until you can lift the bottom of the frittata off the the pan with a spatula. If you can flip omelets like a perfect French chef, go ahead. I slide mine from the skillet onto a flat, wide lid; and flipping that over the pan in order to cook the other side, accident-free, for another 2-3 minutes.

Adjust seasoning, slice in large wedges and stuff in warm ciabatta bread. Pack the sandwiches in a picnic hamper, along with a bottle of wine, some aged cheese, juicy pears, and a thermos of piping hot espresso. Take the rest of that day off, folding spacious blanket underarm, ready to go make out in the park with your significant other. And not just because it's Valentine's Day.

Torta al cioccolato recipe

Straightforward chocolate cake is the Marvin Gaye of desserts: classy, smooth, sensual. This particular treat conceived after many delicious variations and tastings, features rich crusty chocolate with a moist heart, and a touch of bittersweet. Just like romance.

Image © Buttalapasta

100 g (1/2 cup) cake flour
100 g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
50 g (1/4 cup) pure cocoa powder (don't use Dutch processed cocoa in this case)
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
50 g (1/4 cup) 70% dark chocolate, broken into pieces
200 g (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
4 regular eggs (or 3 large), separated
300 ml (1 1/4 cups) drinking water
300 g (1 1/2 cup) packed dark brown sugar
100 g (1/2 cup) sour cream
5 ml (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
A pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180°C (356°F).
Butter and flour a 12-inch springform pan (best if with 2-inch high sides).

In a bowl, sift together the 2 flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Break up the chocolate into 1/2-inch pieces and combine with the cacao powder and espresso powder.

Bring the water to a boil and measure out 1 1/4 cup. Pour over the chocolate and whisk gently until the chocolate has completely dissolved. Using water heightens the chocolate flavor of the mixture as opposed to milk. (Try tasting chocolate melted in warm milk and compare it to the taste of chocolate melted in water. The milk-based hot chocolate will feel thicker and richer, but the water-based hot chocolate will have a surprisingly strong chocolate flavor. Hence the Laura Esquivel novel/film title "Like Water for Chocolate.").

Once the flour has been sifted and the chocolate melted into boiling water, you must cream the unsalted butter with a flat beater. Add the sugar and mix until butter and sugar are evenly mixed.

One at a time, add the egg yolks and beat on medium-high until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Mix in sour cream and vanilla extract.

On low speed, mix in one third of the flour mixture followed by half of the chocolate liquid. Repeat with another third of the flour and the rest of the chocolate. Finally, mix in the last third of the flour. Stop the mixer once the batter has just combined, resisting the temptation to lick the batter.

In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Initially pour only 1/4 of the whites into the batter, then fold in the remaining whites until just incorporated. After that, the trick is to gently stir the egg whites, folding them over with a spatula in the same direction, and with a sweet smile on your face.

Pour the combined batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the top is risen and crusty, 25-30 minutes according to oven, or until a toothpick or a dry spaghetti strand thrust into the center of the cake and withdrawn comes out clean, or covered in dry crumbs. The center should be decadently soft and moist.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool for 10-15 minutes. The top will fall a bit, but go ahead and remove the pan sides. To do this, loosen the cake’s edges by running a knife along the circumference of the round to release the cake from the pan, unbuckle the spring and sensually slide the torta onto a serving plate. Dust the warm cake with confectioners’ sugar, cut into messy slices, top with optional whipped cream and prepare to find religion.

Image © Celiachiamo

I won't wish you happy "lucrative-greeting-card-business" day because I don't believe in it. You may remember how last year I put forward my arguable reasons for this aversion. Every day is Valentine's Day in my home, not just today.

♥

Valentine's Day protest

Merely a therapeutic exchange of bacteria and germs? According to a group of wild European scientists, kissing is a very healthy activity, much like going to the gym. I love to kiss, whatever the health consequences. A good kisser is a gem, and finding one that can live up to my osculation standards is not an easy task.

It must be true, what the doctors say. Kissing does make you fly. Making out lifts your mood and reduces cholesterol, your ticker pounds with excitement while cutting down the risk of heart attack. Trading saliva causes the migration of a gazillion bacteria that stimulate the immune system. And it works like natural plastic surgery: 25 facial organs are employed in a passionate French bisou. This of course if you’re not in Zambia, where kissing is forbidden! The reason lies somewhere between soul-stealing and magic.

A recent survey announced that the majority of kissers (64.5%) bend their head to the right when engaging in an ardent smooch, an automatic reflex developed in early neonatal age. The kiss is ageless and pure.

This long preamble is my convoluted way of protesting. I stand by the rights of lovers but I will not celebrate Valentine's Day. I will not honor the Saint of consumerism. I’m not game for the global scale marketing trick to sell flowers, cards and chocolates. Today, February 14th, metric tons of lingerie will be sold to stupefied customers worldwide. G-strings, brasiers, lace bustiers, thongs, culottes and whatnots will generate an enormous flow of cash and giant display of cellulite.
Computer viruses will peak today, be sure to save a back-up of all important files before the cynical hacker of the day infesting cyberspace lures you into opening chain letters and promises of instantly delivered love and sex.

Hectars of characters will be punched by cell phone keypads all over the world to send instant messages. Pennies and more will be spent on sms epistolaries filled with enough acronyms to nauseate a bureaucrat. The common Italian Valentine’s Day sms lingo revolves around the quintessential TVB for "Ti Voglio Bene," TAT: "Ti Amo Tanto," or TVUMDB to say the complex "Ti Voglio Un Mondo Di Bene," which obsucrely translates to I love you in the the quantity of the world.

In Italy 15 million red roses will be purchased, plus 5 million among orchids, African daisies, tulips, violets, etc. The money payed for this monumental gesture flirts with numbers close to 70 million euro. In this horrid moment of economic crisis, at least florists will be smiling. Transporting the flowers sold on this festive occasion all over Italy will cause the release of more than 4 tons of CO2, another reason why I will not celebrate.

There are two stories that account for Old Val's election to patron saint of lovers. One ancient legend narrates that the nosy bishop overheard two lovers quarreling and interrupted the brawl bestowing a red rose. Another less consumeristic version holds that the martyred Valentine became patron saint of lovers because he dared to celebrate the marriage of a Christian woman to a pagan Roman legionary.

I for one will celebrate *tomorrow*. San Faustino is the saint honored on Single's Day: The Revenge. And although Faustino’s sappy mission is to find for each girl the perfect boyfriend, I will celebrate Feb.15th as my day as I have been doing for the past years. I will gift myself with a potted plant, perhaps an olive tree or a lemon tree and watch it grow and produce goods of my own. I will enjoy a candle-lit dinner with not one but four or more male friends, with whom there has been and never will be any “history.” I’ll paint a wall a new different color and rearrange the furniture in my bedroom to let in some positive Chi. I will buy only books and music, read poetry and elevate my soul with fair trade chocolate and copious amounts of bold red wine. I will reduce my carbon footprint by riding my bicycle and eating locally farmed goods.

On this festive non-Day I will not be considered a zitella, a spinster. I'll be the rotund, fun-loving and sexy single mom I love to be.