hathor

Oh, you two are my favorite heretics!

Parmigiana Reggiano: If I was on a desert island, this is the one thing that I would just have to have! Pecorinos in all their manifestations Sheep milk ricotta Gorganzola!! Dolce and Piquante. Was I supposed to pick one (!) favorite??

I was wondering the same thing: How much has he traveled and grocery shopped in the US? Prices for produce and meats are much higher in the US than they are in Italy, even taking into account the euro/dollar exchange. If he was comparing prices to Italy, he was already way off kilter. I suppose there is no way of knowing how much research he did, and I'm talking out of my hat because I haven't read the book.

Bravo! Home made pancetta and lardo! How did you cure the lardo? In Italy, it's usually snow white, and in a cube or block. I live part of the year in Umbria, and their pancetta is SALTY. I'm fairly certain that the literal translation of the word Umbria is "salted meat".

I'm no longer a member of Slow Food. If they ask me to participate and it's a chance to share my heirloom beans or push my native foods agenda (which doesn't mean no Old World food, just learning and saving New World varierties that are in danger), I certainly would. I think best thing they do is bring like-minded people together and eat and talk and plan how to make the very best food possible. But this is a local thing. ← That sounds exactly like the type of students that I met. If they are touring the world to discuss sustainable ag, you would think there would be a little sympathy & curiosity. Yes, saving New World varieties would be a local thing, and extracting the good things from Slow Food would be to your advantage. Just having this dialogue on eGullet is a positive step toward consumer awareness. Brava Abra! Very clever!!

Apparently she also likes fast food....15 minutes to greet and eat. Charming.

Pontormo: if you want to make pasta without eggs, you need to use a durum/hard wheat. It works fine as long as you've got that hard wheat. I do it all the time when I make a Sardinian ravioli, makes a really white pasta. Have fun! p.s. making cavatelli (sp??) is fun! Use your index and middle finger, cut a small piece of dough, and push/roll firmly on a wooden board. It's sort of zen like once you get going....

Would you be willing to elaborate on your meeting with Petrini? Why did he meet with you? Why didn't it go well? I've been fascinated with Petrini ever since I visited the University of Gastronomic Sciences near Bra. Fascinated in a "watching a train wreck", sort of way. The very sort of clientele: rich, glamorous, dilentante that he mocks in San Francisco, is exactly the same sort that he courts to be students at his University. Rancho Gordo, if you feel that you or other growers need to split from Slow Food, then you should follow your instincts. Or is it better to stay within the group, and attempt change from within?

What happens when you bite into the strawberry? Does it squirt out coffee liqueur, or does the liqueur get absorbed into the strawberry? Just curious, it sounds like a great idea, but I have visions of all sorts of things running down my chin!

Pontormo, I love the Litteri description! But, have you cooked lupini beans before? My sister refers to them as the "never cook" bean. She soaked, she simmered, she waited, she was patient, she lost patience as the lupini never ever softened. Any words of wisdom? Divina: I thought that festival must have been last year, how could chilis be ripe now? It looks fantastic....I still want to go!

The other night, as a primi for my mother's birthday dinner, I made the faro/asparagus dish. This time I took a photo. It's a sort of twist on risotto. Cook the aspargus and puree into a fine cream, cook the faro, then combine and add pecorino to make it all smooth and yummy.

Klary...what a fantastic adventure week!! I couldn't get near a computer this weekend, family stuff, but I kept wondering what you were up to. I love the 'booze museum'! What a great concept, I love the photo of the sniffing bar. Goat sausage...yes! Gnocchi are my bugagoo as well, sometimes wonderful, sometimes a pile of potato sludge on the bottom of the pot. Beautiful meals, beautiful photos, beautiful prose.... I expected nothing less, and all my expectations were met. Thank you! Grazie mille for a wonderful trip to Amsterdam!

Divina, did you just come back from the chili festa? That looks like so much fun! I want to go next year!! The cedro granita looks beautiful as well.

Those sweetbreads look absolutely perfect! Beautifully done! And if that's Amsterdam on a gloomy day.....it looks just gorgeous. All those flowers. Now I'm hungry!!

Nice photos! I think that I like the meat market photos the best! ....pssst......carciofi are cheaper in Umbria!

15 minute braise?? No wonder you were thrown off track. I love costelete and all the grizzly, charred, gnarly bits of lamb; the kind where you MUST have some dental floss nearby!

Should I feel responsible for the sweetbreads? I thought they looked fantastic...raw and poached. The only part I'm not crazy about is cleaning them, but everything else isn't that scary. How will you make them? Sauteed with?? You know...I'm making a big birthday dinner for my mother this weekend, maybe I'll sneak in some sweatbreads. If I tell anyone in advance what I"m making, they'll get all twitchy. Hope you are feeling better! Here's a weird observation: Philadelphia was on sale at the Italian COOP this week. Seems Philly was on sale all over Europe!

Good lord. You did all that in a week??? You know what you have really made me aware of: that 'vanguardism' in Spain is organic. Meaning that it has grown, logically and respectfully from it's traditional roots. This is a critical distinction.

At least I'm consistent.... I'm still waxing rhapsodic about sheep's milk ricotta. Elie, that pasta with ricotta looks like something that I would really enjoy. It has all the elements, sausage, ricotta, ease and speed! Pontormo: are costolete ribs or chops? I thought they were ribs, but it might depend on which part of Italy you come from. I love the sound of your fave beans, that is something else that I can't get enough of. Little pecorino, little olive oil, and all is right with the world.

Come on Klary.....sweetbreads are soooo good, and Dennis would be soooo happy. And I'm being bad!! Those Indonesian shrimp look so good. I'd love to be eating them right now! I made the mistake of catching up on your blog while I was hungry. Now I'm STARVING!!

I went to my big Culinaria book: "Specialita` d'Italia. Le Regioni in Cucina" to see what they say about "Lucanica" Here's my very rough translation: Typical Lucanica sausages come in two basic varieties: both use choice pieces of pork, fillets and leg or haunch meat. One type of sausage calls for the removal of all fat and nerves and is seasoned with salt, pepper and fennel seeds. The other type requires the addition of pork fat, and then is seasoned with salt, pepper, pepperoncino and fennel seeds. Then there is a long passage about the origin of the long, coiled sausage. Those in Basilicata claim it was their invention, but the Lombardia also claim it and claim that the recipe was a gift from Teodolinda in the VII century to the people of Basilicata. But the people from the Veneto say that's not true, they invented sausages. And finally there is a Latin passage from a contemporary of Cicero: "Lucania a lucanis populis a quibus romani milites primum didicerunt". And all I can get from that is the comon name of Lucania come from Lucanis. So, there you have it. A nice, neat, clear explanation of why long, coiled fresh sausages have fennel seeds are called Lucanica.

Hey, nice to see you around Andrew!! Lamb shoulder is just no substitute for lamb lung. But I'll take shoulder over lung, any day. Lung just makes me shiver, and not in a good way! Don't know if this is Lazio specific, but the peas are spectacular right now. Pasta with peas and a bit of pancetta.

Do you think talking to a local butcher would help you find a source for fresh pig blood? Maybe all the press about Chinese contaminants is making twitchy, but I would want a very good, clean source for the pigs blood. Wouldn't it be like organ meat....where you start to question just what the pig has been fed? Oh, just tell me to shut up at anytime....I'm just being paranoid!

Nice looking lunch, Heinz! We haven't had sun in over a week, so I'm jealous. Although today is turning out to be gorgeous. Fresh fava and mint pesto on pasta. I adore fresh fava, and I don't care how long it takes to peel those stupid, slippery, little buggers!