ambra

Angelo's at 57th and 6th is ok. The best Pizza to me is under the Brooklyn Bridge at Grimaldi's. Surely too far!

Thanks for the replies and the schooling. I didn't know all that about marinades. I've tasted flavorful chicken before and always thought it was the marinade. I will try a brine. I must admit I've never wanted to because I always thought it would be salty. Not in the sense that it tastes salty but in the sense that when you eat something salty you are thirsty for the rest of the night. I guess I gotta get over that! I also want to try that Vietnamese Chicken mentioned above!

I've been experimenting with marinades lately, and while the marinades have wonderful flavours, they never quite penetrate the meat. What am I doing wrong? Is it too much oil? Too little acid? Do I need to be thinking rub instead of marinade? Am I marinating for too short of time? For example, here is marinate from last night. Chicken was cut into pieces and marinated in (I didn't measure anything out, so these are approximate quantities): 1/2 tsp Thyme (dry) 2 bay leaves Salt Pepper 2 TB of Olive Oil 2 TB of Passito di Pantelleria 1 TB of White Wine Vinegar 3 cloves garlic, chopped I marinated for 12 hours. Afterwards, I dumped it all in the pan with potatoes, and roasted it. The potatoes tasted more of hte marinade than the chicken. They were delicious. I had hoped the chicken meat tasted that way. What is my problem? Another marinade: •1 Tbsp. OJ Juice of half a lemon •3 Tbsp. olive oil •1 tsp. sugar •1½ tsp. salt •½ tsp. black pepper •2-3 cloves minced garlic •1-2 Tbsp. water, if necessary In the second marinate, all I tasted was garlic, what about the orange?. Don't get me wrong, they are still delicious, but they don't taste like the marinade!!!! Help! and Thank you!

The party was a hit. The Panzerotti came out the best we've ever made. For lunch I had made sausage from the freezer and some of the little calzone-y type things. Something quick seeing as how I made a cake from scratch, cleaned the whole house, ran the various errands etc. Today chicken breast from freezer and rice pilaf made by toasting broken up pieces of angel hair pasta in butter, and once it's brown-not black- adding the rice and salt and boiling til done. I must admit that I would LOVE to make some yogurt sauce to go with it, but alas, no shopping. I leaving town this weekend, so I am probably going to stop on Saturday. I might try to start up again afterwards, but we'll see how I feel when I get back. Honestly, not shopping up until Xmas, would surely help the Xmas budget. FG, I've been looking forward to your Fried chicken! Wha-happen?

Tonight for dinner I had more left over meatloaf and my husband didn't eat because his mom stuffed him today! I went and did shopping for my party tomorrow, but I think you will all be pleased with my minimal shopping! I bought yeast, mozzarella, lemons, flour and butter. I am making Lemon Layer Cake and Panzerotti for my party tomorrow!! I thought my minimalist menu would go well with this project!! I did by extra sugar and milk as well as fresh fruit for my son as I don't even have any fruit purees left. And I can't live with out my caffe latte in the AM!!

EMERGENCY!! I made the FC Lemon Curd recipe and it came out just toooo sweet. Is there anything I can do to save it? It is going to be the filling for a cake. Is the only option to make the cake less sweet or can I do something to the curd? I just tasted it on Bread and it was still too sweet so short of making a sugarless cake, I don't know what to do.... Thank you!

Well, I had it a couple of years ago. I remember it was good. Sorry I can't be of more help. It's homemade as you wanted. Everything else in that bakery is delicous in my opinion so I'm sure it can't be so bad! Honestly, I would venture to say that most Italians buy the box! In fact, where I live (in Italy) pretty much everyone does! There are good and bad brands though so you have to make sure you get a good one. I think I've only ever had a bakery bought one once in Milano. And it wasn't good and was extremely overpriced! Must be all that butter! Agata e Valentina will probably be selling the boxed version as will all the other Italian boutique stores...what brand had he been getting?

Yesterday, uneventful....Leftover meatloaf (there was a lot!) and Pasta e fagioli made with canned borlotti beans. We didn't even have sides. It was a cold rainy day and we had big bowls of pasta e fagioli for lunch so just the protein was plenty at dinner. We also large cups of tea. Today We've been invited to lunch at my Mother inlaws....I'm excited to eat the tortellini in brodo she is making...

I just realized that I meant to write 180-200 celsius or 350ish F (?) Sorry!

My absolute favorite eggplant dish is meat(less)balls. Basically, fried eggplant balls. I can't stress to you how delicious they are. Better than meat meatballs. Polpette di Melanzane 2 medium eggplants 1 medium (or large if youre a garlic lover) clove of grated garlic Roughly 2 tablespoons (QB) of fresh chopped parsley, 2 small handfuls of grated parmigiano, or pecorino or a mixture 2-4 handfuls of DRY preferably homemade breadcrumbs* depending on your hand size and wetness of eggplant More breadcrumbs for frying 1 egg A drizzle around the bowl of olive oil Salt and fresh cracked pepper QB Oil for frying. (I used Corn oil, olive too heavy) Tomato Sauce for dipping Cut eggplants in half and bake halves at 180-200 until soft about 20-30 minutes. Scoop out and combine with all the above ingredients. Mixture should seem almost too wet to form. If you put too little bread crumbs, they wont hold their shape. But if you put too much, they will be bread balls with a little bit of eggplant. Form into medium sized flat meatballs or shape of your desire, coat in breadcrumbs and fry on medium heat until golden brown. Really, you just have to get a little color and cook the egg which is why I made them flat. Serve with tomato sauce/marinara sauce... Basically its your average meatball (with slight variations) recipe sub eggplant for chopped meat. I also don't usually grate garlic, but I think it worked REALLY well in this recipe. Another optional ingredient is capers. I am not a fan though. *The reason you use dry breadcrumbs as opposed to wet stale bread like in meatballs is because the eggplant is somewhat watery and with the addition of egg, you need to soak up the liquid. You might also consider: Caponata Stuffed Eggplant Or Funghetto (yummy!!)

As I recall, this cake was more than sturdy enough to support some lemon curd. I was wondering if anyone had any other experience with this...I will be making this for the first time in my life for my Mother in laws birthday. Chiffon cake with lemon curd filling. I can't find a copy of RLB's, so i will find a recipe on the internet. But I suddenly became worried that just any recipe, might actually sink. Does any have any experience with that happening or not happening? Also any recommendations for an icing or frosting? Thank you in advance...

Have you tried Sullivan Street Bakery?

Well, it's been somewhat complicated, but extremely useful!!!! I've fed a LOT of mouths. And made a LOT of meals.... Latest meals: Meatloaf Meatballs Orata oven baked with thinly slived potatoes Frozen Foccaccia with Robiola and truffle Oil Soup with beans and grains Pumpkin risotto Peperonata I don't have nearly as much left as I thought I would: Two steaks, one slab of baby back ribs, 3 packs of breast of chicken, one bollito cut of beef, two packs of calzone-type treats, two pieces of bacala`, and a pack of frozen mixed berries. I've got two eggplants that need to be prepared and have just about finished all my base vegetables which will be tragic for me to get through another week without! (Carrots, celery, onions and potatoes.) I am having a party on Wednesday for my son and his grandmother as it's their birthday. I just could not find anything in my storage to feed 13 people. Plus, I ran out of sugar. So I can't even bake a cake. SO, I will take a break and buy something for that party. It's 13 people! My son AND his Nonna's BIRTHDAY!!! I think it's fair. Expecially since I didn't take off for Thanksgiving this year. My dry storage is FULL but mostly of stuff I've horded from the US. We don't find many ethnic foods,and being from NYC, I NEED my ethnic flavours. I am not interested in using all that stuff up too fast. I did use up some dry soup mix, for the soup I mentioned above, and used up all my Risotto Rice as I had made it for 6 people. I have some basmati left, and of course pasta. I broke my camera. So no pics!

Frogprincesse, your menus sound divine.... I was not so lucky with a lamb shoulder I found in my freezer, mostly because I didn't have time to properly prepare it. I actually bought it by accident, thinking it was a leg and threw in in the freezer at least 6 months ago. I had never prepared shoulder before and just didn't know what to do with it. So it sat there. I finally yanked it out and decided to braise in in wine and garlic etc. I did so, and finished it with frozen peas- which I always keep on hand. I didn't like it even though I normally love recipes like that. Oh well, it's out of my freezer. Yesterday, we had bacala` that I had been waiting for a good occassion to fry. However, I let it sit there in the freezer because my husbands cholesterol was a little high, and I didn't want to have anything fried. So I cooked it in garlic, parsley, lemon and butter. I didn't like it. The texture was off. Two more pieces left in the freezer, that I will definitely fry later in the week. The night before we ate two scallopine that my husband coated in flour and cooked in milk finished with a little nutmeg. Sounds gross. Looks even grosser. But delicious. I have some fennel sausage I can't wait to eat. I will prepare those tomorrow. I've been saving them for a special fennel moment because you don't find fennel sausage in my neck of the woods. I'm happy to say that that special moment will arrive tomorrow. haha.

Today for Breakfast: Coffee with Emergency long life milk (no fresh left!) and breakfast cookies. I have enough for about a week. Lunch: I was alone for lunch today, so no bells and whistles. I had a one egg sandwich with ham and sottilette which is the equilvalent to American cheese slices here. For bread, I used ‘Pane in Casetta’ which is like Wonder bread in the US only it lasts longer? Well, maybe it doesn’t but I keep it around for emergency grilled cheese etc. My son drank milk and only milk today as the poor little guy is not feeling well. For dinner, he will have pasta with oil and parmigiano. Dinner tonight will be prepared by my husband as I will be off teaching. Hopefully, he will take some pictures!

THOCK, You might try looking for a recipe for Pizzoccheri like this one. Supposedly, the only kind of pasta that can hold up that kind of condiment is Whole Wheat.... I can't stomach whole wheat pasta either though...

New Oil was everything we hoped for and more. Tomato, salt, (new) olive oil, on Pane Basso (short bread) which refers to the height of the bread not so much a recipe. Tuscan bread generally has no salt in it, and for many it lacks flavor. I myself am used to the saltless-ness. This may not seem like much of a dinner to most, but we are used to eating bigger lunches and smaller dinners. My son had steamed broccoli, potato and grilled chicken. It didn’t go over very well. He likes his Italian baby food (pappa) much better than my American attempts. Thankfully, all of that was already in the house, and I probably won't need to go buy him anything fresh for at least a few days. (I have broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach or chard, and the minestrone I mentioned earlier that he can eat. I only have one chicken breast left though. We'll see!) For dessert we had ‘ciaccino’ with walnuts and raisins that my neighbor brought me. It is basically a (lightly sweetened) foccaccia with raisins, walnuts and sprinkled sugar. There are other versions with actual grapes. More often it’s called ‘'schiacciata.' Sadly, I didn’t get a picture before we swallowed it whole! Off to figure out what to defrost for tomorrow! Am I supposed to list my inventory?

The tarragon chicken over rice was delicious. I must admit that when I first tasted the sauce (I made it last night,) it was disgusting. However, the next day, when I served as suggested in the blog, it was perfectly delicious. I used dried tarragon since I couldn’t go out and buy the fresh stuff. I didn’t add the sugar and I added lemon because my orange was watery and I didn’t have another. I probably could have given my son the chicken but the marinade contained salt. Sometimes, I do cook without salt and add later for us, but sometimes, I don’t. (In Italy, they don’t give salt before one year except for what is found in Parmigiano, and other baby acceptable cheeses. I believe they do the same in the US.) Tonight we are having bruschette made with fresh tomato and another toasted with garlic. Both versions will include the star of tonight’s dinner! NEW OIL! We bought 10 gallons of newly pressed oil. (THIS is the greatest pleasure of living in Chianti.) The sad thing about the new oil is, we buy our bread fresh daily, when I inform my husband that we will not be able to buy any bread indefinitely, he will surely go bananas! I will have to bake some bread in order to enjoy the new oil in the coming days/weeks (and I suck at it!) New oil

Last night I defrosted a package of sausage to make Salsicce e Fagioli and I ruined the entire dish. Because after only a couple of months in the freezer....the sausages were freezer burnt and no amount of cooking covered up that foul, FOUL taste. I realized it's time to defrost and clean out the entire freezer. So I'd like to join. I have one stipulation. I have an 11 month old son who is weaning and eats only homemade baby food. I will be buying fresh things for him. He doesn't eat frozen meats yet, and the only frozen vegetable I make for him is peas. I usually buy and make his food and freeze what I don't use within a couple of days. But it just so happens at the moment, I only have 5 meals worth of minestrone for him in the freezer. I do not use many frozen items (and NO canned) for him because I like to freeze the extra stuff. He also has a ton of food intolerances (beans, tomatoes, fish for example) and seems to be quite picky. He hasn't even been introduced to everything. So that's that. I would like to join, but I am not willing to change the way I wean my 11 month old.... Am I accepted? If so, today, I defrosted two packs of sliced chicken breast (about 700 grams worth.) I am making a recipe for Orange Tarragon Chicken I found on someone's blog. I live in Tuscany, and have been craving non-Tuscan flavors so I have been scoping the internet for non-Italian recipes! I am serving it over Basmati Rice. No vegetables because I didn't have time. My 11.5 month old learned how to climb furniture.....as if already walking wasn't enough!!!! My son is having salt and acid free risotto with peas and parmigiano reggiano.

What a thing of beauty! Thank you!

If anyone could please help...I am trying to make Bagels. In Italy. The recipe I found calls for 1 tsp fresh yeast to make a sponge and then another 1/2 tsp for the dough.... Can anyone tell me what the conversion would be if I were to use FRESH yeast? Thank you so much. I really need a bagel.

Well, I was editing my post up there and the site went down in the middle of it...so the typos up there will have to remain.... This is my best translation: Pan Co` Santi 10 grams fresh anise 100 grams Shortening (The recipe calls for Strutto) 40 grams fresh yeast (lievito di birra) 250 grams of walnuts 250 grams of raisins 50 grams sugar 500 grams flour 20 grams butter salt pepper To prepare the anise: combine anise with 1 small (espress sized) cup of water for 2 minutes. Strain water in a large bowl and combine with the shortening, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, yeast, deshelled walnuts, raisins, sugar and flour. Mix and knead until your hands come clean.If necessary add water. However, if the dough sticks to your hands, you'll need to add shortening. Butter a large pan, Shape into forms you want (book says pagnottine, that's small loaves/panini) place on pan, and cover with a cloth rag. Let the pagnottine rise for 30/40 minutes and then cook in a pre-heated oven for 50 minutes at 180 degrees celsius... FROM: Ricettario di Siena. Testimonianze di cucine e tradizioni di un popolo. Tesi a cura di (Edited by) Sonia Pallai in collaboration with Claudia Buracchini and Laurent Coppini. I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions. You might want to check out Divina Cucina's recipe pages, she surely has a recipe......

I love it. My favorite ones are from Pierini and for a more peppery version, Sinatti.... I have the recipe from a Sienese Cookbook I have. This is my best translation: Pan Co` Santi 10 grams fresh anise 100 grams Shortening (The recipe calls for Strutto) 40 grams fresh yeast (lievito di birra) 250 grams of walnuts 250 grams of raisins 50 grams sugar 500 grams flour 20 grams butter salt pepper To prepare the anise: combine anise with 1 small (espress sized) cup of water for 2 minutes. Strain water in a large bowl and combine with the shortening, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, yeast, deshelled walnuts, raisins, sugar and flour. Mix and knead until your hands come clean.If necessary add water. However, if the dough sticks to your hands, you'll need to add shortening. Butter a large pan, Shape into forms you want (book says pagnottine, small loaves/panini) place on pan, and cover with a cloth rag. Let the pagnottine rise for 30/40 minutes and then cook in a pre-heated oven for 50 minutes at 180 degrees... FROM: Ricettario di Siena. Testimonianze di cucine e tradizioni di un popolo. Tesi a cura di (Edited by) Sonia Pallai in collaboration with Claudia Buracchini and Laurent Coppini. I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions. You might want to check out Divina Cucina's recipe pages, she surely has a recipe......

I live in Italy and spent my entire pregnancy here. The guidelines aren't much different than anywhere else. However, they are slightly less restrictive.... I am not Italian so I followed a lot of American and UK advice as well. My docs recommendations were as follows (keeping in mind some other docs recommended different thing): Cheese. Parmigiano, ok. Mozzarella and ricotta ok cooked or pre-packaged- but only freshly opened. Also, artisanal not ok. Gorgonzola and the like a definite no-no. Meat, no salamis or prosciutto Crudo. High Quality Prosciutto cotto ok in small doses. Meat cooked well done. Big one here! No raw eggs or par cooked eggs. Cooked (small) fish ok, big fish less. Shellfish like muscles-no. (Something about hepatitis.) Raw vegetables need to be soaked in baking soda or some other type of vegetable wash before consumption. However, cooked vegetables no. Alcohol- one glass of wine (or beer only) a few times a week with food or on a full stomach. The veggie wash is a big deal here. I once informed a kitchen that I was pregnant and they didn't even garnish my plate with parsley because they hadn't pre-soaked it in baking soda!! Restaurants are reallllly respectful here. And won't want to do anything to hurt you or go against your wishes. So just inform them of whatever you want or need. On the whole, pregnant women are treated like Royalty in Italy. She'll have a GREAT time. Well, I guess it also depends on where you are going! Buon Viaggio!

Yum, salami and eggs....I grew up eating it with Hebrew National though... My ex mother in law used to make her own salami and she used it in place of bacon or pancetta as mentioned above. She put it in her minestrone and in her meat sauce and it added a dimension that always left people asking, "what is that?" and not in a bad way....