hathor

Mike, I think your foccacio looks pretty darn good. How are you dimpling the batter? Just use your fingers and stick them in there, 1st knuckle deep, lots of times. Did I mention I like to fool around with gooey things?? The gnocchi look perfect, and your thumb was exactly the tool you needed for the job. Pontormo: Cozze Fan Tu Way! This all sounds pretty good to me.... even the marjoram. Does marjoram make your tongue tingle? It almost makes my tongue feel like I've eaten something dangerous. Kevin, that calamari looks really, really good! I adore whitebait, can't wait until I get back and its a cheap, cheap meal. Next time you try the shrimp fritters, maybe try chopping up the shrimp so that you get a more consistent fish presence. The pesce looks excellent as well. What a good idea to add raw celery to the salse verde....

I admit to mortar envy as well.... There is some baccala sitting downstairs in water...hopefully, by tommorow it will be golden brown food, with little green accents. (Fried, with parsley)

Sformato di cardoon! What a great idea! Thanks for the play by play account. I particularly like the "I picked them up across the street from the Colombian embassy"...sounds like the opening line to a thriller novel/ The exotic cardoons peeping out of the bag...well done! I have to find some and join the carddon challenge.

Every time I open this thread, it automatically opens to Marc's cassolet pictures, apparently my computer is chanelling/feeding my obssession for that wonderful crock.......

Fi, what no jello?? Surely, a good jello for desert.....! (was that really ham??)

What a fantastic meal!! I've been lobbying for the smell version upgrade of eG for years! Everything looked just lovely....I'm impressed that you took all the pictures. That adds a bit to the stress level, doesn't it? Deep fried olives....very impressive! I'm a fan of the anchovy stuffed ones as well, but that's one dish that seems really 'fiddly'. Your ravioli look just beautiful, all 160 of them. And....this is May...so Happy Birthday to you, whenever you celebrate!! Brava Klary!

Pasta roller-outers are for weeines!! Seriously, the only time I use the pasta roller outer is sometimes for ravioli, when I want a very even consistency. Otherwise I find the hand kneading and rolling works better than the machine...and its way more fun. Those greeen raviolis look really, really good! FoodMan, you are in the US, what flour are you using? Ok, OK, I see the recipe says semolina...did you use 100% semolina? Edited befire FoodMan sees I didn't follow his link! P.S. NYCMike, didn't you say you just started cooking??? Your meal looks fantastic!! Bravo! P.P.S. Pontormo, I made sformato this weekend too...potato and leek. Must have been something in the air. Can you tell my cappucino is kicking??

Go for the poussin with the garlic/lemon cream...its amazing!!! Beautiful straw potato cake!

Great looking food! That walnut sauce looked wonderful Kevin! What did you think of the chive subsitution? Pontormo: any leftover sardines??? I'm a whizz at cleaning them next time you need help! My food processor seems to be getting the biggest workout this month. I keep making all kinds of fresh herb mixtures as sauces. Not complaining, just observing. Klary, what party? I missed a party? Damn! I STILL haven't tracked down the Ligurian oil. I never quite venture above 14th St...at least not without shots and a passport.... I didn't even try for the wines this month. I might try once I'm back in Italy. Not that Umbria is known for 'importing' wines from other regions.... PS Happy Belated Mothers day to any mothers out there.

Something Mrbigjas said upthread, and reading thru lots of Ligurian recipes, it seems to me that the ‘essence’ of Ligurian food is freshness with an accent on vegetables and herbs. Most of the recipes I’ve found seem fairly ‘intuitive’, things like the tortes, or simple salad combinations like fennel with orange and walnuts. So, inspired by Chufi’s sea bass and finding some beautiful bass in the market, last night we had roasted sea bass (in a salt crust, with a few pieces of orange stuffed inside) and I served it with a simple sauce of marjoram, parsley, basil and a little bit mint. Here’s the fishy fellows before they got covered in salt. Looking a bit Oriental…. I took the photo on the floor as the dish was too big to put anywhere else! Up for lunch today is nice big pot of minestrone soup. Can’t say that we aren’t getting our vegetables this month.

Gorgeous foccacia Alberto!! I made so much of it last summer that I can't quite work my up to making any right now.... but, yours makes me wish I had some biga growing right now! Left over maro?? We had this the other night and it was very good: orzo with fresh peas and a few spoonfuls of maro. The peas had a nice 'pop' to them and the maro was a nice 'carrier' flavor. Kevin, you are right...this thread moves along very quickly!! Regarding fried ravioli, these are not in the fried "Twinkie" category at all. This is a crowd pleaser, and makes a nice nibble. I use tiny raviolini, basic cheese, nothing fancy and give them a quick boil, then a fry in olive oil until they are crispy, add a little sea salt. Then I serve them with a slow roasted cherry tomato dipping sauce: whole cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic, capers, olives and olive oil. Could be Ligurian given the ingredients, certainly Hathorian!

Last night was ‘moro’ night. I had the fava beans, the mint, but I want to serve it on those twisty trofie and I wanted Ligurian olive oil. Finding the trofie was no problem, but I certainly share Pontormo’s frustration with finding Ligurian olive oil, I’ve read more olive oil labels in the past 10 days than I care to admit to. Why is it, that the more ‘exclusive’ or ‘expensive’ the olive oil, the smaller and fainter the print on the label?? The only Ligurian oil I’ve found so far was truffle flavored and that’s not what I want. So, I went home with some really nice Sardinian oil, figuring that Liguria was once part of the Sardinian empire. Moro is really good stuff. Maybe if fava beans were quicker and easier to deal with, this would be a more popular sauce. I served it alongside a small veal cutlet that I prepared “meuniere’ style….once again figuring that Napolean Bonaparte would have appreciated this combination when he was conquering Liguria. And even if M.Bonaparte never had the opportunity to taste this combination of flavors, I highly suggest it! Maybe today I’ll find some fish that can be treated to a simple Ligurian preparation. This region is one of those that requires very high quality ingredients as the preparations are pretty simple, deceptively simple. Just in case you were wondering if I actually shucked my favas. And here is the moro:

Shaya: your pizza looked beautifu! You could almost smell it! Mrbigjas: really, how much thinner could your crust get?? Its looks just about perfect. In case you hadn't guessed, I'm a little dough challenged...so I'm prone to dough envy... All in all, your meal sounds pretty Ligurian to me. I want to dig around in my pasta books to see if I can find some visuals on the old-style trofie. Sounds like something that could be fun.

So, that's what trofie look like! We made something similiar by wrapping the pasta around either a wheat stalk or an umbrella spoke. They are fun to make, but can take quite a bit of time. Beautiful pesto. I like to serve it with cherry tomatoes too. Ok, Ok, I'll try lettuce salad. I have no problem with wilted or braised lettuces, its just the soup thing that gave me pause....

I googled a bit and found several sites (e.g. this one) that explained that arbanelle is the cylindrical glass jars that is used for preserving the anchovies in slat. The jars are then sealed with a thin slate stone. ← Well, then, I still don't understand. Did the traders eat the glass cylinders? Kind of like eating a balloon of drugs? YUK.

Klary, as usual your meals look fantastic. What type of lettuce did you use in the soup? I keep having this mental picture of wilted, melted iceburg lettuce and I can't get pass that to try these lettuce soup recipes. (Holdover from a childhood experience...what can I say? )

And now for the history, geography, and etc. post! As Rome dominates the region of Lazio, Genova dominates Liguria. This sliver of a region in northwest Italy is the third smallest region of Italy and is bordered by France, Piedmonte, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and the Ligurian Sea to the south. If you are geographically challenged (as I am) or just plain curious: the Ligurian Sea lies within the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is located in the northern Mediterranean Sea. Got that? The development of Liguria really begins after the Romans enter in 2nd century BC as they develop fortified villages, ports and roads. By the 13th century, Genoa is a major marine republic. In 1796, Napolean Bonaparte conquers the Republic of Genoa, reorganizes it as the Ligurian Republic and it is annexed to France. By 1815, Liguria is united with the kingdom of Sardina (remember this when we get to pesto). In 1869, the Suez Canal opens and Genova port traffic increases tremendously. La Spezia, is founded in 1886 as a military port. By the 1960’s ocean cargo and passengers decline and so does the prosperity of the region. Now, tourism replaces the importance of heavy industry, and in July and August, the population swells 10-15 times its normal size. Although dominated by the sea, the actual level of fishing is quite low due to scarce fish resources and pollution. According to the people at www.pescedimenticato.it, there are 550 available species of fish in the Mediterranean, but only 50 are actually harvested due to lack of knowledge. (This is somewhat off topic: but these people are promoting that we go in and eat everything? Seems a bit short-sighted to me.) The fish varieties that do show up commonly on the Ligurian table are anchovies in all their varieties, baccala (salt cod), stoccafisso (air dryed cod) and the usual suspects: squid, cuttlefish, and octopus. Most meats, with the exception of veal, is less important, and for once, pork does not play a big role in the cuisine. What is important are vegetables and herbs, which are abundant in quantity and variety. Traditional herbs include basil, marjoram, borage, sage, parsley and rosemary. The ever present anchovy is a chameleon, one day its served fresh, battered and fried, another day its prepared salted and finally, as has been done for centuries, preserved in oil. Each way, the anchovy takes on different characteristics and uses. Now here is something that needs to be researched: Salted anchovies were highly prized as was the salt itself. In order to avoid paying a salt tax, the ‘arbanelle di acciughe’ would eat the salted anchovies and “once the traders had arrived at their destination so did the salt, tax free.” (quote from www.deliciousitaly.com/liguriandishes5.html). What does that mean?? Were the arbanelle people or some sort of animal? How was the salt retrieved? I did a quick google but didn’t come up with much. Any historians care to comment…come on, Pontormo, this is right up your alley! If the most famous son of Genoa is Christopher Columbus, then the most famous dish is pesto. Allegedly created by sailors to avoid scurvy, this popular dish has been around since about 800. Apparently, since its inception, there have been arguments about the proper way to prepare the sauce, the basic ingredients are: basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and 50/50 parmigiana and pecorino cheese (pecorino is simply referred to as ‘sardo’, as in being from Sardina). Traditionally the pesto must be hand ground (slowly, never with force) with a marble mortar and pestle. Only heretics will make their pesto in a food processor. For once, I side with the heretics. Pesto di Genovesse has actually just attained DOP status and if you check their website, they will inform you that pesto can ONLY be made from basil from Genova as all others simply will not be pesto. We are dealing in the realm of tradition, bordering on fanaticism, so tread lightly when discussing ‘authentic’ pesto. Here is a Genovesse saying regarding pesto, that I came across, but cannot translate, or least cannot make sense of my translation: “quando i forest sentan o gusto do pesto, no se ne van ciu da Zena!” Can someone with better Italian than mine please help out? My curiosity is getting the best of me. Also coming from Genova is very high quality, delicate olive oil with “Riviera Ligure” being a designated DOP product. Another traditional Genovesse seasoning or sauce is “il tocco”: made from a sauce of veal with onions, celery, parsley, tomato, mushrooms, white wine, stock, and spices. L’agliata or agiada is also a popular sauce in Liguria, made from garlic, bread crumbs and vinegar, it is served with fried baccala, soup or a condiment with calves liver and goat. Another famous dish, that makes use of the region’s abundant vegetables, is minestrone. For a fine recipe for this formidable soup, look up Pellegrino Artusi’s recipe. As usual, his recipes come with a good story, and his parting line for making minestrone: “I should warn you that this is not a soup for weak stomachs.” Pasta plays an important role in Liguria, although wheat pasta seems to show up later in the cuisine, as earlier pastas were made from chestnut or chickpea flour. Earliest recipes for troffle and linguette or trenette both call for chestnut flour. Le fritelle of friscio are popular throughout Liguria. Basically fritelle are fried dishes of either baccala or ‘bianchetti’ which are the tiny, semi-transparent baby anchovies. Another category of dishes are the “torte”, which are delicate tortes made from any available ingredient: artichokes, spinach, rice, etc. An interesting side note: the crust of the torta would be so fine and delicate because wheat flour was hard to come by. For all you ever wanted to know about “cappon magro’, including pictures, go to this website.website: It’s in Italian, but its pretty easy to get the gist of the dish. From the province of Savona, a local speciality is “polenta coi cavoili” made with ‘black’ cabbage. Savona is also the home of the piquant fish soup “ciuppin”, and buridda, which must come from the French bourride. See Adam’s post upthread, I also had trouble deciphering the few different recipes I came across. The use of dried oregano to flavor tomatoes is a pronounced flavor in the region around the port of La Spezia. Fortunately Brad has already filled us on the wines from the region, although I did find one rhapsodic comment about the limoncello from the region. The city of Monterossa even has an annual lemon festival. For a tiny region, there is certainly an abundance of flavors and dishes that should keep us happy and occupied for the month of May!

Fantastic start to this thread!! I've been having wicked computer problems. No...I'm not in Italy yet. But we should FINALLY be packing up and leaving in the next few weeks....some personal and business stuff just held up captive. Fava beans: here's a tip from Paula Wolfert. Steam the whole pods in small batches and then toss in an ice bath. The length of steaming time depends on the size of the pod. Then you can pop the bean out of the pod and slip the outer shell off the fava in nearly one quick motion. If you do it right, you can aim and shoot fava beans pretty far across the kitchen. I've been told that the outer shell of the fava bean (not the pod) can cause allergic reactions in people. I started making pesto last week...I think I could eat it on Cheerios and be happy. Chufi, that meal looks just about perfect! The fish is gorgeous!! FoodMan, I'm with you. I don't quite get the construction concept of the capon magro. I'm going to dig around for some photos and see what I can come up with. p.s. I want to publically lobby for Umbria in October or November. Its truffle season! Anyone want to join us for the Festa del Bosco, last weekend in Oct.....

Ciao tutti! Arreverderci Roma! What a lovely month. We had some carciofi giudea last night as a sendoff. Remind me to drain them better before they hit the oil. Delicious but boy did I make a splatter-fest mess! We've been moving things around and I haven't had internet all week...and my eGullet settings somehow got screwed around and no e-mail messages from anyone. Ach! It was lonely without you guys!! Sorry, I needed to bellyache for a minute. Now I'll go back and check up on what I've missed and start doing the Liguria research. Geez....seems like a month wasn't long enuf for Lazio!

I'm just catching up....so....what happened with the cardoons, Pontormo??

I thought the same thing, but 'Ricette d'Oro" listed it as carciofi romana so that was good enough for me! Ciao Natasha and Calimero!! Bienvenuti! Calimero, right now I'm in NY and I can barely find ANY edible artichokes. Its torture not to have access to all the varieties all artichokes that are commonly available in Italy. (Not to mention this week's obssession: fava beans). Mike: you just started cooking? Bravo!!!! Keep those kids in the kitchen, I can't tell you how cool it is to now have my college son call me up and get refinements on a recipe that we've made together. Its all good. Very, very good.

Thanks Pontormo for the complimenti...you made me blush. The recipe for artichokes was nothing special, just what you would expect. NYC Mike, it goes like this. Step 1: trim the artichokes. Allora... this is somewhat easier said than done. If you have a globe (big, round artichoke), tear off ALL the outer leaves until you get to the inner area where the leaves will yield to slight pressure. (There is a lot of wastage here...hence the potato/artichoke puree that showed up later in the dinner...if you can find baby chokes,you have a lot less wastage.) Have a bowl of acidulated (lemon or splash of vinegar) water near by. Give the chokes an occassional dunk as you work to keep them from turning brown. Trim off a fair portion of the stem. When you are down to the soft yieldy part, halve, then quarter the choke. (Keep the parts you are not working on in the acidulated water). Now trim out the interior/spiky/hairy/thorny parts and discard. Throw back in the bowl until you have cleaned and trimmed all the chokes. Depending on their size, you can quarter or eighth them. Make a batter of approximately: 2 eggs, 5 or 6 Tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper and 3-4 T of flour. Drain the chokes well and toss in the bowl, coat all the chokes with this nice batter. In small batches, fry in 'abundant' olive oil...that's how the recipe describes it. Sprinkle a little salt immediately after removing from the pan, and drain on absorbent paper. E voila`! Mangia bene!! Uh...Mike...you did want a full breakdown of the recipe right? Or did I just get carried away with artichoke rhapsody? Let me know how you make out at Murrays. I was planning on heading there if I had the time. ciao!

Complimenti and brava to Pontormo for her Golden Gulley award!! Not to mention making that Fettucine all Romana...that sounds fabulous!

Pasca all Romana Sunday was a gorgeous day in Westchester, NY. The original plan was to have aperitvo and nibbles outside and dinner inside, but the day was just too delicious to go inside, so it was Pasca Romana al Fresco! To begin we popped a Proseco cork and nibbled on dates wrapped in bacon drizzled with honey. Not particularly Roman, but Mediterranean and delicious. Then we moved on to carcofi alla romana. I used the basic recipe from Cuciana Italiana Ricette d’Oro. Now it was time to begin the meal in earnest, and start using some silverware. Primi: coda di bue cappeletti (oxtail stuffed pasta) with a spiced broth and fresh fava beans. So, my mother is helping me make the raviolis, and she wants to know: If you never see ox meat in the store, what do they do with all that ox meat and why do we only eat the tails?? Are there herds of tail-less ox wandering around? Secondi: Agnello alla romana. A combination of the recipes from Ricette dl’oro and from Artusi’s “Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.” Artusi’s book could use a shorter title. Basically it was leg of lamb on the spit, using rosemary branches as the brush to apply many layers of a wine/vinegar/salt/pepper mixture, and then for the last 15 minutes basting a rosemary/anchovy/garlic/olive oil/vinegar mixture. Have to say, it was simple and excellent. Contorni: roasted asparagus and spring onions Purree de patate con carcofi. I took all the outer leaves that get discarded when you are making the fried artichokes and scraped off the ‘meaty’ parts, braised them in chicken stock until they were mushy and then pureed them along with potatoes. Subtle artichoke flavor…worth the trouble. Desserts were some very good key lime pie and berry tart. I didn’t make them. I suck at dessert….what can I say?? All in all, full bellies and smiles all around.

i looked this up when i made it the other day, and i think what i found was that which it was called had something to do with where people are from. like, in central italy it's referred to as bucatini, and in the south it's perciatelli? something like that, anyway. there are a bunch of pastas with different names depending on region, aren't there? ← yes. yes and yes. In the way of Italy...as confusing as it possibly can be!