La Dolce Vita
Recipes for a cozy movie night...
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Quaintrelle is written by me, journalist-turned-sommelier and party host, Erin Henderson. If you have food and drink lovers in your life, please share this post with them.
Hoisted By My Own Petard
I woke up this morning to discover my fridge hadn’t properly closed last night. The door was left an inch ajar, but luckily, my groceries are still cool, so I think still in the safe zone, but definitely not “fridge cold.” I will now be spending the rest of the day cooking anything that might be on the edge of perishable. This wasn’t on the agenda for my first week back to work, but here we are.
This is also why I like to work ahead. My life seems to constantly come up against hiccups, disruptions, and interruptions, so the more I can have already in the can, the better I feel.
Although in today’s mishap, this make-ahead theory may have worked against me. I had a few friends over for a New Year’s lunch last week. I served lasagna Bolognese. But because lasagna is always such a multi-hour production, I always double or triple my ragu, which I store for a later date to take some of the pressure off Future Erin. I have the recipe scheduled to share in February, but take that little BTS as a prelude.
Today’s post offers some foreshadowing to that upcoming lasagna Bolognese post. We are indeed celebrating la dolce vita this week, with a solid Italian, or maybe slightly Italian-Canadian, menu for a cozy movie night.
Last week we talked about a winter’s walk in the woods, which I still think is a super fun way to get together with friends and embrace the healthy vibe of the new year, but it’s a wind-whipping -15°C in Toronto right now, and I’m getting some push back on this friluftsliv adventure.
I’ve been properly admonished, so my mea culpa for this weekend’s get-together is a cuddly and cozy movie night indoors. My vote is for real classics like La Dolce Vita, La Strada, and Roman Holiday, but, since I’m in the bad books, I’ll settle for vibe-setting Under The Tuscan Sun – or even Moonstruck.
If you’ve just discovered Quaintrelle, January’s theme (lightly) supports many of the resolutions/resets/challenges that are popular right now: Dry January, Veganuary, lower carb intake. I’m not doing any of these things, but I’m happy to rise to the occasion and share some recipes that I have found wonderfully satisfying and cozy for a mid-winter’s meal, while still breaking bread with the people you enjoy most.
This Friday night at the movies, I’m making:
Classic chopped Italian salad in red wine vinaigrette
Stracciatella soup (with a flavour-boosting hack, if you don’t have really good stock in your freezer)
Vegetable Bolognese (I want to hear ZERO blowback on the authenticity of this)
Zero-Proof Pear Rosemary Bellini (with a few fortifying options for those dragging behind the wagon.)
Italian Restaurant Chopped Salad
When I was about 16 years old, my hometown of Guelph, Ontario, got an East Side Mario’s right across from Stone Road Mall. (Bonus points if you just read that and chanted, “hey, batta boom, batta bing!” in your head.) This casual, family, chain restaurant was designed after the old school Canal and Mulberry Street vibe of New York City, and had all the red tablecloth kitsch that goes with that theme. But we thought it was both fancy and cool – like Olive Garden’s sexy rebel cousin.
Anyway, a big draw was the all-you-can eat salad, which, TBH, is still something that would make me book a table. Served family style in big red plastic bowls, brimming with black olives and spicy pickled pepperoncini, servers would hand-grate Parmesan cheese – as much as you wanted! – right at the table, in big, billowing, never ending blankets. It was marvellous.