Franci

I don't think is really important. I searched in my files of years of collecting recipes on Italian forums.... Cristina from Sangemini writing on cucina italiana gives her recipe for "picchiarelli" (that is the name used in her area) and she explains that the spaghetto is of different length and thickness is different parts of Umbria. Picchiarelli are pretty thick: 3-4 mm, ciriole (from Terni) are much thinner. Dianella from Spoleto gave a recipe of stringozzi where the dough is worked with egg whites...and she cuts it as for tagliatelle.

And also very milanese way of cooking cardoons. Did you already mentioned in the thread the parmigiana di gobbi? I honestly didn't have the time to read carefully everything... Hathor, after that quails I felt the urge to go and buy some By now you know I love bread! The bread in the picture for the porchetta is called "rosetta". Rosetta in central and south of Italy has a lot of crumb, different than the hallow michetta milanese. For the piadina, picture posted by Hathor, it is not typical Umbrian but from Emilia Romagna, something similar, from Umbria e Marche, is the crescia.

The rind stays soft if kept in hot liquid, once out of the stock it gets cold very quickly, so it's better to cut it in 4-5 cm pieces at most, no need to chop. I really love it. It gives a very good taste to soups.

I am back. We were very lucky to have a fantastic weather. I think we'll visit again, it's a good place to go for the week end and satisfy the urge of fresh seafood. We were staying in La Flotte, so, the first night, we tought of going to the Richelieu. I didn't make a reservation and they were fully booked...but honestly, I didn't feel too bad, we were in the mood for a more casual place and we went back to the quay and had dinner at "Poissonnerie Degustation du Port". We had a plateau de fruit de mer with a bottle of local wine. I can compare it to the Skipper in St Martin where we had lunch two day after. Well, so much better the Degustation du Port and the service was very friendly. We managed to go to Bistrot de Bernard in Ars. It was very good. I had a pave de maigre with mushrooms and my husband the grill fish of the day and a plate of assorted desserts. Couldn't try le Chat Botte (it's closed on Sunday and Monday morning). We had plenty of oysters, stopping at the farms along the way, plus we stocked up on fleur de sel at the cooperative, we stopped at the Confitures du Clocher and I finally got to taste the tourteau fromage. I found many recipes on line, but if anybody has a direct experience on making this cake and would like to spare tips would be appreciated.

I haven't tried the recipe, but I found it in "la cucina piemontese" di Alessandro Molinari Pradelli Tofeja It says that in the past the soup was cooked in the oven right after baking the bread and left in the oven until it was tepid or cold. It was used a special pot in terra rossa from Castellamonte with 4 handles. 200 g of of white dry beans 6 squares of pig skin 6 pork ribs 2 pork feet an ear a tail nutmeg 2 minced garlic cloves minced rosmery a sachet with sage, bay leaf, majoran and thyme salt and pepper Soak the beans overnight. Make a pesto with garlic, rosmery, pepper and nutmeg and spread on the pig skin squares, roll and tie with string. Add all the ingredients in the pot, cover with cold water, cover and cook for many hours. Adjust seasoning at the end. Serve in terracotta bowls dividing equally the beans and the meat. Optional: adding celery and carrots, as well as the pig snout. As for the crusts of parmigiano, it is very common. We always add them to minestrone. Before adding to the soup scape the outside off with a knife and rinse.

Try to call Buonitalia, even if they don't have on the web the might have in the store http://www.buonitalia.com/ I found these guys have tajarin from Piemonte, which brand they don't say http://www.antico-mercante.com/index.html

thing is that I never heard of San Francesco day as a giorno di magro, there are parties all over the country because is patron saint of Italy. Well, and about diet and religion the 90% of the people eat meat on Friday . We are a country of catholics "all'acqua di rose"

that is so interesting. I never thought of it like that. Oh, yes. You will not even see a contorno on the same plate. In many years abroad I still cannot tollerate different foods on my plate. Or too many ingredients in the same dish...

Tonight I made Crescia and Fricco'. Fricco' is usually a mix of rabbit, chicken and pork meat alla cacciatora.

Thanks, I'll report when I get back!

Fogliata filling was simply swiss chard blanched, chopped not too finely and saute' with a clove of garlic. When cold I added only a little bit of grated pecorino. I posted the recipe in the blog you see in my signature. The recipe you linked for crescia fogliata is in fact very similar to rocciata. With crescia, both in Umbria and Marche, they often mean a flatbread. I made crescia umbra (=torta al testo) different times, it's a fast alternative when I run out of bread, it contains baking powder or baking soda (like for piadina) so all it needs is a little bit of resting time, no rising. Actually if anybody wants to help out, especially with sweet and savory cakes, I have some recipe (all from umbrians) rocciata (like a strudel with lots of nuts, dried fruit and little apple) crescionda (cake with biscotti secchi-amaretti and cocoa) torcolo di san costanzo (with yeast) torcolo (completly different, a baking powder cake) pan caciato (bread, little panini, with walnuts and cheese) torta di pasqua (cheese bread, kind of panettone looking ) pasta dolce (sweet tagliatelle made for tutti i santi) ciaramicola (cake with alchermes. I have it somewhere I cannot find) crescia (flatbread, I have different recipes)

Fogliata from Spoleto area. I learnt the recipe from someone writing on the forum of Cucina Italiana. Even on google it I found very little info about it. I'll try to make also rocciata, a sweet version with apple and nuts filling, I have a good recipe which I already tried a couple years ago. This was very simple and good. I made a mini fogliata, wise from me, otherwise I would have eaten the whole thing anyway

That's so true! I am really looking forward to your blog, thanks Judith!

I am looking for reccomedation for restaurants in Ile de Re. Is there any pastry or bread, that is characteristic from there, that is worth trying? What should I bring back home besides salt? Thanks in advance

This is a good pizza oven and relatively cheap, I checked they don't have a distributor in Japan, only in Singapore: Fornetto ferrari

Does a japanese style oven have shelfs and a broiler (grill)?

I also don't add any meat to my eggplants polpette: whole baked eggplants, leave to drain the eggplant pulp, chop, add pecorino, very little garlic, home made bread crumbs, 1 egg, chopped parsley, salt and that it. I don't roll it in anything. And deep fry. For other versions and none with meat: Polpette di melanzane from Campania (sorry is in Italian) Polpette di melanzane fritte alla siciliana

I went back to my notes from school, just to refresh my memory Whole eggs is considered a genoise, yes. Biscuit instead requires separated yolks and whites. They can be both considered sponge cakes. I read that if you bring the egg to 115 F/46 C, the gentle heating partially coagulates the protein and make them more elastic (so they can contain more air). The eggs should not be heated more than 120-125F But I am sure there are people here that know more than me about this.

For the genoise the eggs are warmed up and whipped in a bain marie. I always do my sponge cake with whole eggs but in Italian is called pan di spagna

Weinoo, your pollo alla cacciatora looks really good. Oh, Shaya, I am so, so, happy that you liked the dish!!! It looks so inviting that now I have to make it again as soon as possible!

This is a link with the recipe from Adriano at the Gennarino forum. Can you manage with on line translating tools or you want a translation? I didn't try the recipe, because, I admit, like Pontormo, I am not an huge baba fan but everythig Adriano bakes is alway great.

I think I already posted this link Eggplants and chocolate It's in Italian but the pictures are really good Today I made spaghetti alla nerano, it was my first attempt and never tasted the original, I can improve it

Do you mean an Italian Italian cake or an Italian American cake? In Italian a cream cake could be a Mimosa cake ,an example from Nennaki web site, or a cake (pan di spagna) sliced and filledwith italian chantilly (2/3 of pastry cream and 1/3 of whipped cream) and decorated with cream and fruit , this is very nice from Maria Letizia web site

To me gremolata is: a handful of chopped parsley, a clove or less of minced garlic and lemon zest. Why the easy things are not appreciated? And no tomatoes in the ossi buchi

Vanessa, why didn't you put it on the top shelf? Really, it should be very close to the broiler and I see you can do it in you oven. Thanks for posting the picture, next time I will take some too. Ciao