Portofino is a lovely little town on the Italian Riviera – just south of Genova – Genoa and with only 500 inhabitants. The bay, or rather cove surrounded by mountain/hills all around it makes it a very pretty setting for a day trip or even a romantic weekend.
Here are my Top 5 tips for enjoying your trip to Portofino.
1. Beware of the Low / End of Season
If you’re thinking of visiting Portofino in low/end season (end of November, March), beware that you might save money but you’ll miss out a little on the Portofino experience and find a bit of a ghost town. On one hand, the bay won’t be clogged with yachts anchored away in concentric half-circles, but on the other hand, many local (and high fashion) stores will be closed so shopping and buying necessities will be more difficult.
At the end of November we stayed in a hotel which was literally closing for the season (reopening in March) the day we checked out. A visit to Portofino when most of the inhabitants are gone is not impossible, but finding services like hotels and restaurants becomes difficult.
2. Don’t miss the Golden Hour at the St. George’s Church
If you’re thinking about climbing up to the Chiesa di San Giorgio (St. George’s Church) I strongly suggest going during the “Golden Hour” that is, the hour right before sunset as it really lights up the yellow church and provides a great place to take some potraits or play with silhouettes as the sun goes down.
The church itself is a small structure that you can peek your head into, but explore the grounds around and in front of it for those picture-perfect opportunities.
With the church at your back, there’s a little terrace on the left that gets the last remaining rays of the day, long after darkness has fallen on the Portofino bay.
There’s a telescope if you fancy having a lookout.
But above all, have fun with the setting sun and ask some friends or some strangers to model for you and snap away!
3. Take the climb to Castello / Castle Brown
Portofino is a tiny town, so after you’ve seen the church, you should also make sure you see the Castello (Castle) Brown. It’s a healthy climb that winds through the hilltop neighborhood that is fun to take, and the grounds directly underneath the castle can be explored even without paying for the entrance fee to go into the castle. I recommend taking the path from the San Giorgio church to the Castle, and then winding down around the grounds back down to the bay. You’ll get a great shot of the bay this way, too!
4. Eat at your own Risk, and your Wallet’s
Food in Italy is fantastic, delicious, and simple. But not always a guarantee.
I have to say one of the worst culinary experiences I’ve ever had was while I was in Portofino. It wasn’t just the cost (which was astronomical) but the quality was terrible and when compounded with the price, it just twisted the knife even more. Is there anything worse than a terrible AND expensive meal? I think much worse than a cheap, terrible meal.
This particular restaurant (again, I’m sure it was getting ready to close for the season) served us the worst plate of pasta I’ve ever eaten – and it was just pesto! Pesto is pretty difficult to mess up – it’s just basil, olive oil, cheese and pine nuts. The pasta must have been cooked in cups of salt as it was extremely salty to the point of being inedible, and we ate just enough to get us through the evening and left the rest. To top it off, drinks were not listed on the menu and when a few in our party ordered cans of Coke, at the end of the evening they paid the hefty price of 7.50euro (USD$10!!!) for a simple coke. Not even a slice of lemon in sight. We paid the bill, on the edge of violence, and decided to leave and never look back, and not ruin the rest of our time in the city.
So, my story is a caveat for eating in Portofino, and I know not everyone will have this experience. But eating in Portofino will be expensive (the restaurants that we saw all had similar, expensive menus) and it might not even be good. I suggest really investigating and getting some suggestions from someone who’s been there (but not me). Otherwise, I strongly recommend spending your mealtimes outside Portofino, perhaps limiting yourself to an aperitivo and heading to Santa Margherita Ligure on the bus for dinner, especially in those low season times.
5. Skip the taxi, take the bus from Santa Margherita Ligure to Portofino
Bus schedules are pretty regular, and you can get easily to Portofino from the Santa Margherita Ligure train station with a local bus that will cost you a Euro or so for the trip. Buy a few extra tickets while you’re at it so that way you can make the trip back to Santa Margherita without having to search for an open ticket stand. If you prefer taxis, there’s a taxi stand just outside the train station.
Make sure you get back in plenty of time to make your train! Maybe you’ll even have time for a nap while you think about all the memories you’ve just made in Portofino.
Have you been to Portofino? Leave your own tips and tricks in the comments!
When people think of Italy, they focus on the food, the wine, and the wonderful historical monuments that are in every corner of the country. But if you look closer, you’ll notice some small details that are a big part of Italian culture. What, exactly? Watch to find out.
Before I grew to love the broccolo romanesco, Roman broccoli / cauliflower (or as I sometimes hear it being called cavolo romanesco, Roman cabbage) as much as I do, I was freaked out by it. A vegetable that’s vivid, electric green and has all sorts of spiky formations all over it? It looks like something you’d see in a futuristic movie instead of at a vegetable stand in Italy.
You’re not sure whether to take a ninja sword and chop it up so it doesn’t spontaneously reproduce and take over your living room with its spiky cones, or so that you can boil it and smother it in olive oil. I have a personal recommendation: do the second, but use the ninja sword in either case.
This broccoli is actually part of the Botrytis Group of the Brassica oleracea species which is in essence wild cabbage. Botrytis means really nothing to me, but it does add to the alien life form theory. I would go as far as to say that broccolo romanesco is the most geeky vegetable we have, winning over regular white cauliflower because of its color and coney spikes that are in a fractal formation.
As far as pairing broccolo romanesco with pasta, I have to give credit where credit is due – Rachel from Rachel Eats, a blog from a British woman living in Rome, is the blog I’m currently living through quite vicariously. Winter is especially tough on a food blogger like myself who spends her days in an office. We need really good, natural light to make those photos sing unless we want to invest in a lightbox or artificial lighting that’s good for photography. And I don’t. At least, not yet. Rachel’’s cooking and blogging about it, much as I’d like to if I had access to my kitchen in daylight hours, which I don’t unless it’s the weekend.
So in these winter months, I have a choice: either I use those few daylight hours to stay in the kitchen and photograph, or I go out and do something with them. Guess which one I’ve been choosing?
But back to Rachel. W hen I saw her post about pasta e broccoli, I knew I had to try the simple pairing immediately. Now I have weekly requests for this dish!
If you see steam rising from this photo, it’s not a trick – it was hot and waiting for me to devour it after I finished photographing it, which I promptly did. I can’t wait until next week.
Broccolo Romanesco, Roman Cauliflower with Pasta Recipe
Note: I like to use as much of the broccolo romanesco as possible. I suggest cutting up the more tender parts of the stalk into small cubes.
A head of broccolo romanesco (around 1 lb or 1/2 kilo), separated into florets
Extra virgin olive oil (for cooking)
Extra extra read-all-about-it virgin olive oil (for the finishing touch)
Pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano, to taste
Salt
250g of your favorite pasta
Boil salted water in a pot big enough to hold the cut-up broccoli.
Rinse the broccolo and separate it into florets and cutting the larger stalk pieces into cubes. When the water starts boiling, add the broccoli and boil from 5-8 minutes over medium-high heat (but don’t overflow your pot!) The broccoli should be very tender and starting to fall off your fork when pierced.
Remove the broccoli from the salted water, but do not drain it – save the water for the pasta! Bring it to a boil again, adding more water if needed for the amount of pasta you’re cooking, and cook your pasta al dente according to the package directions.
While the water is coming to a boil or the pasta has just been added, in a large frying pan, heat up a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and a clove of garlic if desired. Add the broccoli florets and saute them over medium-high heat, starting to gently smash them with your wooden spoon so they get nice and creamy.
After the pasta is drained, mix together the pasta and the broccoli off the heat and add an extra touch of the extra-extra very good olive oil so that the crude, uncooked olive oil taste comes through. Serve and add some grated pecorino romano cheese or parmigiano reggiano.
Serves 3-4 people, or two very hungry ones.
Some of the liquid gold I topped off this pasta dish with:
We’re already considering what a 5th year anniversary of World Nutella Day might look like – what about you? If you have any suggestions, please feel free to pass them along via comment, tweet @nutelladay, or on the Facebook fan page (8,500 fans and growing!).
On to the rest of the community…..in no particular order, there were so many of your entries! We’re going to add all of these great recipes to the World Nutella Day Recipes page sometime later this week.
David Lebovitz pulls out all the stops and makes his own version of Nutella with a homemade Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread. Grazie, David!
Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice tells you to step away from her Nutella and offers you a Nutella Ripple Cheesecake instead. Grazie, Ivonne!
Cheryl from Have your cake and eat it! tries to figure out what kind of Nutella lover she is and makes Individual Nutella Tiramisu – I can’t wait to be a guest! Grazie, Cheryl!
Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once gets naughty with bananas and Nutella and wraps them up into Nutella and Banana Pastries! Grazie Haalo!
F_A from Seelensturm (soulstorm) makes some really yummy Nutella Mozart Cupcakes with almond marzipan, pistachio marzipan, nougat and chocolate. Grazie!
Vanessa from Chefdruck Musings asks how do you worship Nutella? And answers: with Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Bread. Grazie, Vanessa!
Lizzy from Geek Chica had a breakfast of champions to celebrate the day – with Nutella, of course! Grazie, Lizzy!
Karen from The Shock of the Old shares a good way to eat Nutella when you aren’t alone, but don’t want to share: the Grilled Nutella sandwich. Grazie, Karen!
Isabelle from Eat my Cake now takes a crumble and adds a magic flavor to it to give us Nutella Fudge Squares. Grazie, Isabelle!
Raymond from Holland shows us how to make his famous Raymonds Cocktail – orange juice, passion fruit alcohol, eggs, and Nutella – only for the very brave!
Betty Squirrely from Bad Manors Squirrel Diner had her squirrel friends make a special tribute to World Nutella Day: Although we couldn’t use the actual Nutella (squirrels + chocolate = badness) we did EAT all the Nutella, then have the squirrels celebrate the day SAFELY.
It’s our 4th year celebrating and every year we’re surprised by the level of excitement and participation – be sure to head over to www.nutelladay.com to see what’s happening around the globe! Be sure to come back here and Bleeding Espresso.com on Monday, February 8th for the round-up.
This year I was craving little tarts…little chocolate tarts…filled with Nutella, and just in case it wasn’t rich enough for you, mixed generously with mascarpone so that biting into one feels like eating the inside of a Lindt Lindor truffle – you know those truffles with an inside that melts? That’s what this is.
I suggest mixing it up with some salted nuts, too, to contrast and make it oh, so, sweeter.
Nutella & Mascarpone Cream Chocolate Tarts Recipe
Note: this is close to a pate brisee or pasta frolla recipe, with the addition of the cacao powder. You are welcome to make this with a food processor, but it’s important that the mixture is not overmixed or heated up too much as the butter will melt. Try handling it as little as possible. Also, I used mini tart pans, so be sure to roll out your dough to fit your pan.
For the Chocolate Crust 170g flour
30g cacao/cocoa powder
100g cold butter, in small cubes
66g sugar
1 egg and 1 yolk
1 pinch salt
Cut the butter pieces into the flour and cocoa mix with a pastry cutter or use your fingers to create the consistency of large crumbs. You don’t want the butter to get too warm and start to melt, so work quickly.
Make a well in the middle of the crumb mix and add the egg and extra yolk. Continue cutting the mixture until the egg has been incorporated and distributed. With your hands, start to form a single mass – if the mixture is too crumbly you can add a small amount of cold/ice water and mix that in. You don’t want to work the dough too much.
Flatten it into a disk and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and preheat your oven to 350F (175 C). On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin, being careful not to add too much flour as it will change the composition of the dough. Roll it out until it’s between a 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick (around 1cm).
Depending on what pan size you’re using, you’ll want to cut the dough to fit or try to fold it in and fix it with your fingers. You’ll want it to come up the sides of the pan evenly, and I like a little to peek above the top of the pan. Otherwise you can put it just even with the pan top.
Next, we’re going to blind bake them – cut out a piece of parchment paper larger than the tart pan, enough so that it sticks up above the pan edges, so you can remove it easily later, and fill the center with dried beans or lentils that will help keep the crust from rising and deforming.
For small tarts, bake 8-10 minutes, keeping a close eye on them that they don’t burn. Remove the pie weight and return the tarts to the oven for several minutes (3-4). Remove the tarts and let cool completely before filling.
For the Nutella & Mascarpone Cream Filling
Start with a 1:1 mixture of Nutella:Mascarpone. In this recipe I used roughly 125g of Nutella with 125g Mascarpone. I whipped the Nutella for a minute or so with an electronic (whisk) mixer so it would incorporate easier with mascarpone. Mix in the mascarpone and mix for a few seconds until completely mix. Taste, a little, to see if you want to add more Nutella at this point, or more mascarpone.
Refrigerate the mixture for 20-30 minutes, then fill the tarts just before serving, so the crust stays crisp and the filling stays cool. The tarts can be refrigerated after filling, but the crust will lose the snap so it’s best to serve them the same day.
To contrast nicely with the Nutella flavor, I recommend chopping up some salted pistachios or peanuts and sprinkle them on top, or add a little filling to the tartlette, then a layer of chopped nuts, and then the rest of the cream on top.
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