Franci

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

Lunch: zuppa di patate e baccala'

Shaya, can I suggest you a recipe? I tried it last year and come out very good. It's from Elisabetta Cuomo (forum of Cucina Italiana) I wanted a cleaner look on the plate so instead of baking the all thing I cooked the pasta almost all the way through, I stuffed it and I assemled already in the plates and put under the broiler to gratinee'. But if you prefer can stick to Elisabetta version Stuffed paccheri with eggplants 300 g paccheri De Cecco or Setaro 1 kg eggplants 150 g fiordilatte 200 g provola affumicata (NOTE: if you like, I hate smoked provola or mozzarella) 75 g grated parmigiano 150 bechamelle 10 basil leaves 750 g of cherry tomatoes (or 1 and half can of the cherry, one can 400 g) 200 g passata evo and garlic Cut 750 g of the eggplant in long slices 1 cm thick, the rest cut in cubes and put under salt. Rinse, dry. Flour the long slices and deep fry. Fry the eggplants cubes. Dry well on kitchen paper. In the mixer pulse the eggplant slices with the bechamelle and the basil. Transfer to a bowl, add the cheeses in very small cubes, the parmigiano, add the cubed fried eggplants. Cook the pasta 4-5 minutes. Fill it with the eggplant stuffing. Make a sauce with the garlic, oil cherry tomatoes and passata and pour on the paccheri in oiled baking pan, sprinkle with a lot of parmigiano and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. More basil at time of serving.

Matthew, how is your italian understanding? Try this one pizza Adriano dal forum di gennarino Pictures Pizza di Adriano I would traslate for you but I am leving for Italy tomorrow , if I can manage to leave London ← Here I am with the translation form Gennarino.org website of Adriano's pizza. I still don't know how many thanks on all the Italian forums we owe to Adriano. His pizza is fantastic to bake at home. The dough is great and his tips for baking work very well. He suggestes to put the baking stone on the top rack of the oven as close as possible to the grill (broiler). Turn the oven at the hottest temperature possible, well in advance. When is time to transfer the pizza on the stone, turn the grill on. It will bake perfectly in 4 minutes. The night before prepare a poolish with 500 g of very high gluten canadian flour, 500 g water and 3 g fresh yeast and a teaspoon of malt if you have. Let proof overnight. The next morning put the poolish in the mixer and add little by little 270 g of bread flour and 80 g of durum flour, at the end during the mixing add 30 g of evo and 25 g of salt. Let rest 30 minutes. Divide in 200-250 g balls. Put in tapperware kind of container in the coolest part of the refrigerator. At night, 2 hours before baking take out of the fridge. In this link of Gennarino look for pizza di Adriano, right under the picture there is also a video on how to shape the pizza: filmato stesura pizza. I really think is very, very good. Next time I try it, I'll add a picture.

In fact, he loves calamari, but not in umido. Or fish with pasta , or many other things... like the great danubio I baked tonight and I had to freeze to eat in solitude It's filled with some provoletta and prosciutto cotto

Calamarata. Ok, I cheated here, no calamari with the sauce because my husband would not eat it.

Our cooking club was called (Bibmamachef), I miss it so much. A stuffed dessert? Something like this: pozzi d'amore which I guess could be translated in wells of love (ehm, in Italian just sounds better). Or the pesche that you can see on the lower side of the picture

Then try this one 30 ml white wine vinegar 30 ml sour cream (or creme fraiche) 85 ml corn oil and 85 ml walnut oil chives, chervil, tarragon and parsley chopped (parsley a little more than the other herbs) salt and pepper Careful because this kind of dressing can break easily. If it happens just use very little sour cream and incorporate the broken sauce (like for mayo)

Ah, I forgot! I haven't try this one yet Pelati di Motticella given how much they cost better be good. If I think they come from my area and that all my neighbours are busy with the yearly production of peeled tomatoes make me think of the ironies of life

I was buying fresh baby San Marzano from Sicily at Borough Market and you can still buy fresh regular size San Marzano. But the canned one are not easy, meaning yes, I can find them easily but I am not totally satisfied. The passata from puma conserve (not the peeled) at Portobellofood is still my favourite but it's quite expensive.

I am a psycho about my peeled tomatoes. Since I moved to England every time I see a different brand I need to buy to check the quality. So far I haven't find my ideal brand but I still have a couple untried cans in the closet. If you go to www.portobellofood.com they have the "puma conserve brand", I tried they underoils in the past and are the best strore bought I ever had, so I ordered their peeled tomatoes, I am not totally convinced. Their passata instead is very good. I am getting to the point of trying to order from Italy my favourite brand...

What is a northern mozzarella , sorry Andrew

This is a very interesting subject I do refrigerate eggs (I have high cholesterole and try to use little eggs) butter (I don't spread it on bread) cheese (I wish I had a cellar for the little cheese I use) milk green vegetables stocks sauces (especially tomato sause) my fridge is always pretty emty I like to buy daily Outside the fridge Oil fruit (unless is 40 Celsius) tomatoes potatoes/onions/garlic bread (would not even cross my mind to refrigerate) cakes (unless has pastry cream or cream) left overs (unless is something with stock) Who said that Italians don't refrigerate fresh tomato sauce , concentrato yes could be kept outside with oil on top. Difference is that in Italy a lot of people have a cellar to keep wine, cheese, underoils etc. except when I was leaving in NH I never been so luck to have a place for storing food.

For the bulb: slice very thin with a mandoline, salt, tons of black pepper and good extravirgin oil. It's addictive. The outside fibrous parts of the bulb are very good for stock (especially fumet) or you could use for a veloute' (pass it with the chinoise). The fronds could be used as decoration or even added to cooking (I don't like them very much, pour substitute of wild fennel)

Il pagnottiello. Same dough than pizza. Thanks for the ispiration to Adriano. His tips for pizza making at home are just great!

We were talking about this in the Italian forum. Italians just use two oils for frying: extra virgin (I don't want to get into this topic ) and peanut oil. Peanut oil is very cheap in Italy, it withstands higher temperature than other veg oils and has a pretty neutral taste. So, I am very curious to know, why is so expensive in the States or even here in the UK? In the past, I bought peanut oil from Asian stores in the States and to me it has a strong peanut taste, I am guessing it depends on how the oil gets refined. Any toughts?

Yes, I'll take your advice. I bought peanut oil from Asian Market in the States, it really smelled like peanut especially when heating it up, never happend to me using peanut oil bought in Italy. I will ask in the general food topics.

Nardo'! Porto Cesareo, it's beatiful there. Buy some friselle d'orzo. If I recall correctly there should be a nice pastry shop there.

Thanks, Origamicrane, now I really need to go there! I passed in front of it and I didn't stop and I ended up going to a nearby place where I had a very cheap and satisfying lunch for 5 pounds (eggplants rolls stuffed with lamb and pickles plus rocket salad).

Shaya, I am happy I inspired you! I think it's a wonderful treat for the season. Did you make two layers or you just topped it with grapes? As Ludja was saying I heard some people sprinkle some aniseed on top, but I asked around and I have been told the tradition it's for a very simple and rustic sweet bread. It was the first time I baked this schiacciata and I was very happy with it, I love rustic and unsofisticated sweets.