Cucina Italiano at Ronnie and Tom's

Tom is celebrating a birthday this weekend and people are coming from all over to join in the celebration. His downstairs neighbors have arrived from Padua, Italy and made a killer meal along with Ronnie.  We got an invite to join them for a wonderful homemade meal.  (I feel like this sounds a bit like something Ina Garten would be writing.)

Barb made her Greek salad as our contribution.

Vittorio made pasta from scratch...

Pasta with 3 P's: Cream (panna), peas and Proscuitto.  

Roasted pork stuffed with prunes.  Exquisite. 

Ronnie made green and yellow squash, Caponata, and Rosemary potatoes.

Barb's Greek salad 

Wonderful berry tart bought by the birthday boy.

Franco.

Dina.

Our hostess, Ronnie.

Tom, the birthday boy.

Fin Bistro: Finest fish dining in a fisherman's paradise

Discovered this place last November soon after it opened.  Had at least 5 or 6 awesome meals there last year.  The fish is mostly from local or nearby waters. Scallops are from New England, but always fresh and delicious.  

Preparations are creative, accompaniments perfectly matched and presentation attractive.

The service is always accommodating, without being obtrusive.  

The new wine list is presented on an I-Pad and organized in a manor to really be helpful.  If you want to BYO, the corkage fee is a very fair $15.

The ambiance is casual, but with a fine dining bent.

Unquestionably the best restaurant on Marco Island. 

   http://Finbistro.com

Calamari, sautéed perfectly with olives tomatoes, garlic and basil.  Use the additional bread to mop up the really yummy sauce.

Roasted beet and palm heart salad with Gorgonzola, spiced walnuts, aged balsamic, and spinach.  This is half a portion since they split it for us.

Grilled jumbo sea scallops. Loved the parmasan sauce that came with it.

Barb had this Herb crusted Gulf snapper. The squash risotto is truly wonderful.

My pix all came out dark, so I will try to retake them at my next meal at Fin.

If you are in the Naples/Marco island area, don't miss it.

Homemade Lasagna at Sandy and George's

First night back in Naples (not quite Napoli), our friends had us over for her homemade Lasagna.  Wonderful friends and a wonderful evening.

Forgot to take pix of her hor d'oevre spread which included hering (he's Dutch), hummus, nuts, Boursin and great cocktails.

The chef.

The commentator.

The culprit. 

The setting.

Can you say "carbo-loading"?

Yum!!!  Barb had seconds and I got the doggy bag.  

Just in case we had room.  I did.

Lemon Chicken Breast

Barb saw this on a rerun of Barefoot Contessa.  Delicious enough to serve to guests.  Recipe is available online.  Used a Dick Vermiel Semillon to cook and accompany the dish. Don't overcook it because chicken breast can dry out quickly. 

Brussels sprouts "healthied" it up.

A veritable cornucopia of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers from our son-in-laws garden, morning after frost.

Scott picked the remnants of his garden veggies this morning. Last night was first frost.  Hope they're edible.  Thinking fried green tomatoes or grilled marinated tomatoes.

Hoping there are some Panko crumbs in the house.

Walter Hansel Pinot Noir

I love when the wine merchant tells me a Pinot Noir is made in the "Burgundian style".  I feel my eyeballs rolling backwards in my head.  Those wines are invariably lower in alcohol or less fruity, but they remind me not at all of the wines I drank on my trips to France.

So I splurged on this $38 wine, not because it was presented as a Burgundian wine, but because the guy swore I'd love this wine and he seemed trustworthy.  

We opened this bottle in Basilico restaurant in Milburn, NJ to pair with braised rabbit over fettuccine with olives, capers and herbs.  Our eyes opened wide and we both agreed that THIS Pinot tasted like a true Burgundian wine. Except the fruit was just a little better. Oh, and the alcohol was 14.5%, seldom or never seen in France.  But it had that funky, almost toe cheesy ( in an acceptable way) flavor with a mellow, long finish.  

Not my typical wine post, bit of you see this bottle and feel a little flush, buy it.

Turkey Meatloaf dinner with John

Invited our friend John for dinner because his wife was away for babysitting duty.

Barb had planned my favorite turkey meatloaf which is always enough to serve  10 people.  Had leftover squash (see last posting) and some onion, pablano, tomato salsa to garnish.  A.P. Vin Pinot Noir was awesome match (pretty much for anything).

Recipe for meatloaf is obtainable on Foodtv.com.  It's the Barefoot Contessa.

Easy and delicious.  

John brought a really nice Merlot and even nicer Chocolate Pot de Creme.