hathor

Last night: elderberry jam in 2 versions: one with honey, one with sugar basil because I was making a large vat of pesto really stinky French cheeses how is that for olofactory (sp??) confusion? this morning: coffee simmering veal for vitello tonnato

Marelena, funny you should mention Castello dei Sorci, we were just at the COOP in Sansepolcro and they carry their wines. Thanks for the recommendation, a Sunday lunch there sounds just fine! And a trip to Anghiari is always fun. Ciao!

WOW! Fantastic as always... and I know why Kellytree is crabby. Its HOT here, and air conditioning is only a vague concept.... The duck recipe looks especially intriguing. I've never cooked with vinegar, always used it as a finish, but in Italy, they cook with it all the time. Its been fun to experiment with it. I've done potatoes roasted in the salt/egg white mixture, and they look really cool when you crack into them, but I didn't think it enhanced the flavor very much. Sometimes when I want to do the salt crust, I'll lay the fish on a bed of salt in saran wrap (pellicola! I just love that word ) making sure the salt is on both sides, give the saran a twist so that it presses the salt into the skin of the fish, remove the saran wrap, and then just roast the fish on a light bed of salt. It gives you the same hard outside skin crust and steamed interior that the egg white crust gives you, and its a lot less work. You can also stuff some orange slices and aromatic erbes into the belly of the fish before you seal it in the salt. I'm thinking its Sicilian with the addition of the oranges and herbs. What do you think?? edited because I'm too hot to proofread....

U.S. customs has a real problem with stinky, un-processed food. and I have a real problem with U.S. Customs...!

Almost makes me want to come and work in an office again...almost...! What a fun time. Isnt' great when you have a whole kitchen full of happy people? And what a rush to have your brand new kitchen function just the way you dreamed it would. Complimenti!!! p.s. the summer truffles in Umbria have been particularly abundant this year, wish I could send some your way because I'm sure you would appreciate them. Ciao!

I love the digestivi! Just wonderful. I'm curious, what did you use as the base alcohol? In NY, grain alcohol is illegal so I would use vodka, but it just doesn't have the same kick. Here, you buy plain alcohol in the grocery store. Two observations: when we made the arancine, we put the ball into a bowl of bread crumbs and literally squeezed the bread crumbs onto the ball to make them adhere. One other cool thing we did with the left over arancine, should you have any left over arancine, is we took a cooked hunk of it, and pressed it paper thin, then microwaved it for a few seconds, and voila! arancine chips! I actually liked them better than the balls themselves. The other observation, when we made the panelle, we took the batter and dumped it onto a stainless steel counter, then spread it maybe 1/4" thick, then let that cool, cut it, and fried. Just a variation on the panelle theme, I'm sure. No cheese on ours either. Guess it depends on what side of the island you're from. I think you're right, its going to be hard to do Sicilia in just a month. Ciao!

Staximo, I'm glad somebody asked you the melanzie question, as I was curious about those too, they look delicious! Tried out a different 'carbone' on the grill, with much better success. We had heat...1 1/2 hours later, but by the next try, I'm going to have this grill thing licked Quickie dinner again as we are still running out to the film festival: grilled salmon (woo-hoo! I said grilled!!) with a parsley, lemon butter sauced spiked with some leftover fume, parsley potatoes and the ever present insalata. Our orto has this magically reproducing salad heads, you chop them off at night and by morning they're back. Its a little scary. Served with a very light Cannanou. ...and then we bolted to the piazza.

Grazie Alberto! I just put that on my 'to buy' list.

Prisicilla, your lardon salad is one of my all time favorite meals. Sometimes, its breakfast, sometimes its lunch or dinner. I also think pink wines have gotten a bad rap, sometimes they are just about perfect with a summer meal! Last night was a mad dash for me as well, we have a little film festival in the piazza and we had to eat before dark so we wouldn't miss the opening cartoons. So it was Kevin72's "sex on a plate' fried cacciocavallo to start, then a simple sole sauted in lemon, butter and capers, and yet another cucumber from the garden. Dessert was a cognac in the piazza while we watched some very cool animated shorts. Tonight we have some fresh black summer truffles that a friend hunted up for us...lucky us!

Alberto, I was hoping you would have some input here. I was rather counting oon you! Slow Food has an excellent reference book on Italian cheeses that I want to get my hands on. In the meantime, we are lucky to have you!

The provo-cavallo wasn't sharp at all, it was just perfect. Nice anitpasto dish! Thanks!

Not knowing my silphium from my asafoetida, I did a little googling, and now I"m even more confused. Why would asafoetida be considered an alternative to silphium? Other than both being abortificants (sp??) what else do they have in common? They don't look alike, or belong to the same family, and asafoetida seems only to be commonly available as a resin. It also seems too bad that we lost silphium, it was a cure-all and a perfume! thanks!

I got some killer cacciocavallo at the market today, can't wait to try that fried cheese plate tonight. But when I was at the cheese guy this morning, and I asked for cacciocavallo, his wife gave me this blank look, they talked it over in Italian that was too rapid for me to catch and then the guy said oh yes, we have it. So, I asked what was the other name that he just called the cheese...and he said 'provolone'. hmmm..... He insisted it was the same thing. All the I've ever seen cacciocavallo comes in that round ball shape, but this was a wheel, but who am I to argue with a man who's apron says "I am the king of parmgiana". I also got some un-smoked scormoza, so it does come un-smoked, or naturale, but apparently that is the exception. And that was this morning's cheese adventure. So, Kevin, what's for dinner tonight??

Curlywurlyfi your back! I miss your humor!! I finally have my own kitchen back...after 10 weeks at school and then some travelling around, its good to be home! We thought we'd celebrate the 4th by having a little inaugural BBQ. My dear sister gave us a 45 pound grill that sits in your fireplace, and my very strong and patient husband lugged it all the way back from NY to Italy. Unfortunately, there must be something to Italian 'carbone' that I haven't figured out because the carbone gave off zero heat. We had nice little lamb spedini marinated in lots of herbs from the garden, and around 10:30 we gave up and threw them under the broiler. They were still pretty good, along with some bietole and a buttara/tomato/rucola salad. Buttara is just too good, I need to avoid eating that delicacy too often! Oh, and some home made olive bread. And that's how 2 ex-pats celebrated the 4th of July in Italy!

Here you go, "gambero rosso" from when we were studying Sicily. We ate them raw, but with two different sauces: one with a sauce of raw, uhmmm, head juice, I suppose you would call it, and the other version was cooked head juice. I'm sure there is a proper culinary term for the stuff you squish out of the head part of the shrimp, but I dont' know what it is!. When we were in Palermo a few weeks ago, they were served everywhere (cooked) and they were fantastic! The cous cous we had in Sicily almost resembled a bulgur wheat, it was irregularly shaped and dark wheat grain color. Not the pale, sort of pasta like crumble you normally have in the states, and nothing like Israeli cous cous at all. Now you have me wondering why they are such different variations on 'cous cous'. Our chef at Ital.ccok tried to make cous cous in a blender at school, taking the whole wheat grain, but it didn't work, just made a racket and bounced the wheat around. Apparently he has a mill at his restaurant that he uses. By the way, that sex on plate cheese dish looks pretty damn sexy! I'm going to the mercato tommorow and getting some cashcavallo! My oregano has already gone to flower so I'm all set! See, you cannot talk about Sicily without mentioning sex. Its simply impossible. Oh, forgot to mention to you! The mint/roasted eggplant dish was a hit with the crew! Thanks. Next up is the sott'ollio.

Thanks for the book recommendation Andrew, it looks interesting. Maybe my hummingbirds are hawkmoths, which would mean no hummingbird tongue dinner for me! I'll try to take a photo, but now that I've said that, you know I'll never see one again!

woo-hoo!! Sicilia!!! I'm with you on the spices and anything goes kinda thing...everybody seems to have inhabited Sicily at one time or another. I'm wondering, can you find real Sicilian cous cous in Dallas? Its much grainer than the refined stuff I remember finding in the States. And if I could, I'd get you some real gamberi rossi. Ahhhh.... Sicily....sex and spices ! Your gelato looks delicious! What about trying some almond milk? Weirdly refreshing... I thought it was too cloying and then decided it was just about perfect. Perfect timing...Sicily in July!

Ciao tutti! Daniel: are you sure about no hummingbirds in Europe?? The reason I'm sceptical is that we are innundated with them, particularly in the red geraniums. They are thriving here in Italy...must have been a awful lot of them escaping from somewhere. Adam: you're not 'supposed' to eat the root of the duck tongue...I was always told to just chew around it. Not for the squeemish on a first date, I suppose. And coincedentally, the subject of 'vomitoriums' came up last night at dinner, so I got to show off my new found knowledge. Grazie!

For your falling apart potatoes:boil them the night before and let them chill in the refrigerator overnight. They behave better that way! Thanks Kellytree: great idea...sott'olio! I'm trying the mint idea tonight, and maybe tommorow we'll make the little balls...and the night after that...we'll eat the cucumbers I've been ignoring! Oh, Abruzzo was fun!! Where we going next??? Are we there yet????

Mrbigjas, you have Abruzzo saffron??? Treat it like gold!! Its the most beautiful color....think Campari. Lucky you!

Ciao! Thanks for the melanzanie recipes...I'll have to give them a go. I just havent' worked myself up to starting a grill yet...it's too damn hot! Man, if this is June...but I digress..... Since I also have some excellent mint overproducing at the moment, I'll have to do some experiminting (I couldn't resist the pun....sorry) with mint and eggplant. Grazie mille!

Kim D: your cassoulet looks fantastic, and it was a good 'experiment' to see if the duck was a proper perservative...but your store top looks amazing! What kind of range is that?

Alberto: legumi! OK, that makes sense. But what a great word, "pulses". someday, if I'm ever on a real internet connection, I would look up the etymology of that word. Thanks. Kevin, the choices you've made regarding which region to do when make total sense. I think your 'project' or mission is interesting, excuse me, is totally perfect just as it is...but you don't have to cook the specialty dishes, I'm completely enthralled as you try and capture the spirit of each region. That being said, artichokes/Rome/spring was total genius! But what I'm trying to say, is that the big signature/holiday dishes are one thing, and they are fantastic, but a simple grilled fish with some fresh oregano. or a saffron dish would be completely in keeping with your project. Put the 6 pots away! If I had a source for some Abruzzo saffron I would surely send it your way. Are you familiar with it? The most amazing color and one of the best flavors in saffron I've ever tasted. and sort of off topic: what would a good Abruzzian do with melanzanie? My orto is over producing and I need input and you have a far better cookbook selection than I do!

What is a 'pulse'? What can 'seven left over pulses' mean? OK, Kevin, you know I love being the devils advocate, or chef's advocate as the case may be. But, its hot as hell over here right now, so what do you think they are eating right now in Abruzzo? How would you adapt your Abruzzo cooking to reflect a Dallas and an Abruzzo heat wave? Fortunately I'm far enough from you that can't pop me one!! But, I'm kinda of serious, its one thing to recreate traditional recipes but how does seasonality affect your cooking? (p.s. I'm mastering the art of feeding people many different types of cold dishes...it feels like the depths of August here...so forgive me if I sound a little cranky). Your Abruzzo feast looked just delicious! Ciao!

Nice blog Chromedome! Not sure how old your children are, but you are spot on when it comes to making time to eat together. The payback came when our son was in high school, and he would bring all his friends over at dinnertime. We wound up with a large extended family that I wouldn't trade for anything. Dinnertime is sacred...especially when everyone is busy and going in different directions. Those eclairs look very yummy! And didn't you just love the Decameron? Those stories hold up well. And your garden looks great! What's the growing season like? I mean when you can you plant tomatoes? lettuces? When do you typically get the first frost? We are in the process of trial and error with a new 'orto' (vegetable garden in Italian), dealing with hefty winds, strong sun and not very much water. So far...its been ....ok and educational. The only total loss was the watermelons. Somebody ate them all in one night. Blog on!