Franci

I'm originally from Apulia, in the south of Italy. A traditional way for us would be to make marretti, some innard rolls, or we cook gnumeridd, bits of liver, lungs and sweetbreads. Here a link on how to make those, from the italian food and cooking

I use two different kind of pastry dough with olive oil. One it's very traditional in Liguria in Italy and also around Umbria. It is called "pasta matta" and usually made with flour 00, salt, water and EVOO. Let it rest under a bowl for an hour and roll it thin and then stretch like a strudel dough. I used to have a blog, in English, which unfortunately I abandoned, but you can find two examples there: Torta di riso e cipolla rice and onion tart. Very good. A common variation is rice and zucchine trombetta, or rice and zucca (farinata di zucca) or rice and chards. Closer to the French border this torta (torta verde) has a sturdier shell and less rice. But in the Ligurian tradition you have many more examples, focaccia di recco, the famous pasqualina. Also some examples in Umbria, la fogliata from my old blog. Where I'm from, in Puglia, there are examples of pastry dough with EVOO, much thicker though and often white wine substitute water. I recall one in an old cookbook of mine: a savory pastiera, very tasty. One of my favourite sweets, a small calzone from back home, is made with pastry dough with EVOO (flour, EVOO, salt and white wine, also with black pepper) and a filling of thick grape jam and walnuts. In Abruzzo they do something similar with a filling of chickpeas and cocoa.

Monaco, Cote d'Azur. I shop almost every day, I'm trying to shop every other day. There is a daily street market in France, 10 minutes walk from my appartment, within distance, there is a decent butcher and a good enough supermarket (hearing complaining about british supermarkets, in this regard, I miss Waitrose in the UK, sooo much better than Marche U! and Borough market so much better than my local street market) Prices are much higher and quality much lower than nearby Ventimiglia, Bordighera or Sanremo, Italy. I used to shop there one or twice a week but I have a 4 yrs old and a 6 months old now, so I cannot spend as much time for shopping as before. Fish is a problem, I need to go to Italy for decent. So, I have to go to Carrefour once a week for fish, I'd rather go to Italy for it but now I cannot make it. I'd prefer to shop daily, but with young children is really impractical.

Thank you, Nikkib. I'll give it another try.

I was hesitant to get this book and you helped make up my mind. I'll get From my home to Yours. I'm sure it's going to be well received. Thanks a lot!

Hello. I bought a package of Moghrabieh, I never cooked it before but I had it different times what is called Israeli couscous in restaurants. I use it for this recipe but I didn't like the texture, after 15 minutes it felt soft outside but raw inside, not al dente. Too much cooking and didn't have a nice bite, like a pasta made of soft wheat. It is just a matter of brand? I bought Alwadi, or I'm expecting to behave like pasta and it's not the case? The fregola, the Sardinian couscous, has a different texture. The times a had it in restaurants was always pleasing. Thanks for any tips on this. I was planning to use it in salads not steamed in the traditional way,

Hello. I would be grateful if anybody could advise on buying a book. It is a present for an Italian friend. He is not a novice baker but I wouldn't call him experienced . I'm pondering buying Rose's Heavenly Cakes for him, I don't own it myself (I'm not into cake baking), but I think she is very detailed and it could be a very good resource for him to learn. I'm just worried the flavors in the book are too far from the European taste. But I don't own the book. Any thought? I was thinking as an alternative Baking: From My Home to Yours by D. Greenspan or Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes by D. Lebovitz Thanks

Dear Kate, I'm coming to check your blog every morning with my cup of coffee. I'm really enjoying it! Many sighs from looking at the beautiful pictures of markets and the butcher!!! OMG. Love it! Living in the south of France, I get crappy fish(!), believe it. I have a superexpensive butcher where employees are funny like a kick in the teeth (pardon the italian expression), in my local supermarket I pay 4-5 euros for a disgusting mango and 1.5 euros for 3 green onions. I can send you tons of zucchini flowers and lemons from Menton, though. Love also your breakfasts. I'm Italian, so I grew up with very little and sweet breakfast, and marrying a Chinese I was taken aback at my mother-in-law breakfasts (like fried dumplings first thing in the morning) but 10 years later I'm converted! Should try the savory oatmeal when temperature drops.

Thanks FrogPrincesse, I'm enjoying your blog very much! A couple years ago from London we were going to move back to the States and San Diego was an option, I even posted a message on this board! I was worried about the quality and the abundance of good produce. Well, I can see clearly from you blog that it wouldn't have been an issue.And I'm very jealous of your spacious kitchen... We ended up on the Cote d'Azur. I have the feeling that, strangely, here people are not so focused on food (like me) and I have to travel far to get what I want. Saba, we called vincotto, in the part of Italy where I'm from. I had a sardinian roommate at University. The pan' e saba she used to bring from home was FANTASTIC. I tried to replicate it many times with little success.

Hi. I've been owning a Sauter induction cooktop since last August. Two days ago I simmered a veal stock for 12 hours, yesterday that burner blew off. Do you think it's normal? I think I should be able to use my stove for as long as I want.

Hi. We are leaving for a cruise in few days, we are going to stop one day in Athens and one day in Santorini. Likely we are going to have our meals on board but I'd be very interested to buy food that I could easily put in my suitcase (we are fliying back to Nice at the end of the cruise) and I'm particularly interested in biscuits, breads, candied fruit. Any particular good youghurt place where to bring the children? And a place for good snacks? Of course we are short of time, so location is important, we are going to have barely the time to visit the most touristy parts of town. Thanks

Reporting my second attempt. This time I bought a smaller duck, only 1.3 kilos. I steamed it for only 1 1/2 hours. It was cooked through but still firm. The skin was definitely not as soft and it was somewhat drier. I followed A. Nguyen advice and cut in half and I used her recipe for a starch slurry to coat the duck before frying. It definitely was firmer, strangely enough I found the first duck juicier and the I liked more the soy sauce coating with flour than the starch slurry. This time although I fried twice, didn't crisp as much but my parents and my husband loved it. Mmmmhhh, I guess the trick is really in steaming it for the right time. I'll try again in the future

Thanks Jo-mel. Hopefully I can give it another try this week. I'll let you know how it goes. P.S.: Look how beautiful is this one here. I contacted this blogger and she did steam for 3 hours at very low heat, she said her duck was cooked but not as tender as in my case. Duck type or steaming? Or both? I'll try to steam mine just until done.

Thank you Sheetz. I think next time I'll try that Be I don't think that is quite the case. Peking duck has as much fat as any other kind of ducks. Actually, I must correct myself. Muscovy is much leanear than Pekin and have bigger breast which leads to a higher meat per weight ratio. I took A. Nguyen words for granted when she says in her blog that Muscovy duck has bigger breasts but it's fattier...I should have remembered better from my cooking school days.

Hello. Is it easy to find a Pekin duck in France? I've seen around at my butcher and/or local supermarket just canettes...I know that around Antibes there is a big Asian market, it's kind of far and I would prefer to be able to find it locally. I live in Monaco. Thanks

Hi there. Today I attempted my first Szechuan Duck and it was good for the taste but the presentation and the skin far from ideal. I consulted Barbara Tropp and Irene Kuo. The recipes are the same, although Irene Kuo doesn't mention the duck air drying after steamining. I do not have access to a Chinese market so I relied on a French canette, that if I'm not mistaken is a female duck (?), the weight was just below 2 kilos. I marinated it for 2 days, then steamed for 3 hours and let dry on a rack for 3 hours. Unfortunately, I don't have a fan. My wok was not big enough to accomodate the duck so I had to fry it in a big pot. The duck was so tender, that I was afraid it would fall apart in the oil, but it didn't. The duck lost a leg when I tried to flip it over on the breast side. I didn't even attempt to fry a second time. The taste was good. But the skin, expecially on the breast side was not crispy and the duck was very very fragile. After 2 hours of steaming the duck was already tender, but after the last hour of steaming I still found a good amount of fat and liquid in the steaming bowl, so likely it was necessary to render more fat. I guess a Pekin duck doesn't have so much fat but what about the cooking time? Irene Kuo says that the long steaming is necessary otherwise the inside will not be juicy and the skin not crunchy enough... I consulted also A. Nguyen here and she steamed the duck for 2 hours. Any experience with this preparation? Thanks

Almost forgot. Hot pepper oil made from dry pepper flakes, since they are dry, should be safe, right? I broght the oil almost to smoking point let it cool a little and poured over the flakes.

This is very old post...but I need to ask a question. Today I made a scallion oil from a recipe of Eileen Yin-Fei Lo. Basically you cook the scallions in peanut oil until they turn brown. Drain the scallions and filter the oil. She suggests to keep in cool place not in the refrigerator an she doesn't give an expiration date as for another oil she uses (coriander oil). I think home made oils are still at risk of botulism and plus I'm pregnant so I really don't want to take any chance. How long would you keep it? What's the downside of refrigerating it? Does it get cloudy? Thanks

Hi. I decided to sprout my mung beans and I'm going through my first attempt. Before starting I consulted: *Barbara Tropp, the Art of Chinese Cooking. She suggests to soak the beans overnight, then put in a mason jar, cover the opening with a double layer of cheese cloth kept in place with a rubber band and keep in a dark corner of the kitchen or cover (except for the mouth of the jar) with a towel to keep the beans in dark. That's necessary to have white, thick sprouts. She tells to rinse the beans with warm water, through the cheese cloth and keep the jar on the side for good drainage. *Irene Kuo, The Key to Chinese Cooking. After soaking the beans overnight, she instead suggests to wet with warm water two pieces of double-layered cheesecloth. Put one on the bottom of a colander, add the beans and cover with the second cheesecloth. Wet with 1/2 cup of warm water, let drain, put in the colander on a shallow container and move to a closet. Spray the colander 4 times a day with warm water, for 4-5 days. The ideal temperature for spouting should be 75 F. *sprouting mung beans. I read this blog after starting. What is interesting to me here is the suggestion to weight the beans down to have thicker sprouts and also for the same reason says that beans shouldn't be moved much when rinsed (so, Irene Kuo's method is of using a colander have the merit of not shaken the colander). I also got scared about the part: "Since commercially produced sprouts have been identified as a major source of food born illness, you want to be fairly confident in your seed source." I basically followed Barbara Tropp's directions but cover the jar with aluminum foil. Now I'm at day 3 of sprouting and I can see the sprouts are turning a little purple at the head and my jar is definitely too small. Nothing I can do right now to fix the color but maybe I can transfer the sprouts somewhere else. Anybody is willing to share their experiences and findings in spouting mung beans? Thanks

I was still a little concerned about this, so, I scrubbed everything off and re seasoned my wok with the Tane Chen's oven method. I was very happy about the result because the finished wok looked very different than before. After re-seasoning I deep-fried in the wok for 2-3 times but after washing, when drying the paper still comes a little grayish. Is this normal?

Well, thanks everybody! There were two things bugging me: food shopping and gas stove. Now I feel much better

FrogPrincess, Kalypso, thank you very much! It sounds I could really enjoy SD. At the moment we don't know yet what to do but after so much moving around I'd like to stay in a place for sometime and food is a very important component for me being comfortable. If we end up in SD, I'm sure I'd become a regular of this section of egullet. Thanks again!

Thank you, Dougal. That's was I was planning to do, before the possibility of a imminent relocation came out. Now, if we move and we like it, I'm sure we would rent for some time and eventually buy. So, that's why I asked the question. If I don't have other choice I would definitely buy induction, but I'd prefer a mix gas and induction Anna, your system is ingenious! I'll consider it. Too bad that the voltage is different, otherwise I'll copy your idea and buy something like that right now.

When I lived in SF, 10 years ago,the majority of the stoves were electric and since then, besides some short periods, I've been cursed with the electric stove plague. Now we are thinking of relocating to SD. How is the situation there? Condos have electric stoves and houses gas? Thank you

Hi! My husband is thinking of accepting a job in San Diego and I've been reading this topic a bit and I got somewhat scared of what I'll be able to find there. I'm now in Monaco and used to the fresh vegetables and fish from the French riviera, before we were in London, prior to that NY. 10 years ago, when I first moved to the US, I lived in San Francisco and I was struggling to find my Italian products but maybe now it's different. What about asian markets around San Diego? And fresh fish? Thanks