Molly woke up with the best intentions: just being kind with the new room mates.
They met a couple of days before, in the waiting space of a rental agency. Four girls looking for a location in the very city centre of Florence.
Only one minute to decide to live together and share the expenses
- ….. I’ve got an apartment not quite far from the centre, in borgo Allegri, actually it’s by Santa Croce.…. –
Propose the woman behind the counter, when it was their turn.
- I know where it is. This is not my first time in Florence. – Molly replied, almost overlapping the employee’s voice.
- …. and this is available just since… tomorrow .- the woman said.
Only one day to move from their expensive hotel rooms.
- Perfect! Do not worry girls, I will be your guide, if you do not know how to move there… – Molly said, turning the head forward the new mates and nodding.
- Well, I see you are interested. – The woman continued – If you have some minutes, my collaborator will take you there to view the apartment, after that, you guys, if you enjoy it, would come back here, sign the contract and get the key. –
The four girls left the agency behind the agency employee, a nice “Italian looking” young man, three of them wondering with half suspicion and half happiness about how easy it was! And also this guy, wow! So nice and so… yummy!! Was that luck or…. what?
Molly smiled.
- This is Italy, girls! You will learn how easier is to live here. And the food?… Oh, my…. So good! I know Italy pretty well since I started to come when I was almost a child. –
The apartment was clean, airy and nice. The price was not that honest, but doable in four. They took it. The next day they brought all their things to their “Italian residence” and went to the supermarket to fill the refrigerator.
Before dinner time, at about 7 pm, exhausted for the long day, they went to take a deserved aperitif and came back at 1 am after more than one glass and several laughs throughout the narrow and charming streets of the medieval city centre.
Now Molly, who woke up while the other three girls were still sleeping, went down in the street, walked a few steps to the coffee bar at the corner, entered and made her way toward the crowded counter with half closed eyes, a hoof on the head and the neck fitted into the shoulders.
- May I have four coffees, please?
- …. All for you? – Asked the coffee guy.
- No, they’re for my room mates. Can you put them in disposal cups?
- Sure!
The guy turn back, forward the coffee machine and gave her the coffees after twenty-two seconds.
- What are they? – Molly asked
- Didn’t you ask me for four coffees?
- Yes! I did. Exactly I asked for four coffees.
- Here they are! – Replied the guy with a bit of perplexity.
- No. they are not four coffees.
- One, two, three, four! Yes, they are! Are you still sleeping?
- They are four, yes. But they are not coffees.
- …you joke?
- They are just…just … shots of black tar! I want four REAL coffees! Are you dumb or what? I can come behind the counter and teach you how to make coffee!
- You do not know what you are talking about, RAGAZZINA! I have been doing coffee since before you were born. Here they are four coffees. You owe me three euros and 60 cents. Good morning. And be fast, you are occupying the counter since too long!
Molly paid, took the four shots and went up to the apartment. The girls had started to stroll in the house with their night gowns.
- Hi…… I am really sorry girls… I wanted to wake you up with a compliment but the guy at the bar…..oh my!… I do not understand why Italians hire people who are not able to do their job… this guy was so awful…. He was so rude to me…. I asked politely for four coffees and he gave me these ridiculous shots! –
The girls looked at her with an interrogative expression.
- Thank you! So nice of you! This is a good espresso. It is what you get in Italy as you ask for a coffee…… – said one of the room mates
- ….. Have you ever taken an espresso in your earlier trips to Italy?
For an Italian espresso a real good espresso machine is needed. You find a bar with coffee machine at every corner in Italy (not like this one in the photo, which is the original coffee machine used at Caffé Vergnano).
For the following dish you need a little skill, patience and time then for making an espresso. And you do not find it at every corner because it is a recipe of my own. Try it at home and serve it as first course. I find the aftertaste left by this combinations of flavours, simply delicious-ly well matched
COFFEE TAGLIATELLE WITH ARTICHOKES
Ingredients for 6:
for the pasta:
2 eggs
200 gr ( 6 Oz) white flour
50 ml ( 3tbs) Italian coffee (liquid)
salt
Make a ring with flour on the wooden board. Put the eggs and the coffee in the middle. Sprinkle a pinch of salt. Start to beat the egg and coffee with a fork, incorporating the flour a little at a time. As the batter becomes harder, knead by hand. Work to obtain a soft but not sticky dough. Wrap it in a plastic film and let it rest for 30’ before stretching it very thin with the pasta machine. Then roll it up. Cut the pasta roll perpendicularly in strips, 1/5 inch wide. Keep the tagliatelle well spread and floured on the board until the time to cook them, or freeze them.
For the sauce:
6 small tender artichokes
1 lemon juice
60 ml ( ¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tbs minced fresh parsley
salt to taste
½ tea spoon soluble coffee
2 tbs fresh cream
Clean the artichokes, discarding the tough leaves. Cut them first in quarters then in further halves. Soak them in water and lemon juice to prevent they get dark soon.
Drain them and put in a saucepan with olive oil, garlic, parsley, a pinch of salt, ½ cup of cald water. Cover the pan with a lid and cook on medium heat for about 8 minutes, depending on tenderness of the artichokes.
Add the soluble coffee, stir and cook 1 more minute. Add the cream. Stir and turn off.
Cook the tagliatelle in plenty boiling salted water. Drain, reserving some cooking water.
Toss into the sauce on medium heat, adding some of the cooking water to have a creamy but not dry consistency.