Pontormo
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Posts posted by Pontormo
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In the Italian forum, Franci traces the origins of a dessert Maggiethecat's MIL prepares to nearby Lucca where chard is used--as in Nice. I wonder if spinach is Florentine or if it is an early compensation for chard which was not widely available in the US until the past decade or so.there's an Italian (Florentine) spinach/almond dessert in Claudia Rodens´Book of Jewish FoodThe vegetable has already been mentioned, but kudos to Nina C. who prepared a Neapolitan chocolate & eggplant torta last year.
An early Moosewood cookbook has an excellent recipe for a Russian chocolate & sauerkraut torte (cake in this case).
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Re the seafood spaghetti: this is the first time I think I've seen a dish in which the "sauce"--or other ingredients--overwhelms the amount of pasta cooked. Looks glorious!
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ADDED CLUES: a) Another incentive to make the gaped-toothed dinner guest a member of the family: the prospect of lasagna and sardines. b) Takes place on an island, c) in black and white.188. Poem improvised by prospective husband-material at family dinner that begins with a pile of thick strands of pasta sauced with wild fennel:"Snails to eat
And woman sweet--
An incredible treat!"
Or something to that effect.
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Since when is pre-cut fruit whole food?
The major problem is market pressure. I may be slightly less perturbed than others by the kind of Holier Than Thou attitudes that John Mackey represents to many eGullet members, and I rarely eat meals vegans do. Yet, Whole Foods seems to be compromising its original mission at the same time that it is trying to respond to the critique of Omnivore's Dilemma by getting back to the garden. The center cannot hold. (Insert your own pop song-literary allusion here.)
The fact that Trader Joe's is snipping at the heels of Whole Foods is behind a lot of the changes I've witnessed at other locations. While I've never visited Wegman's, I've been told there's a whole lot of prepared food going on that isn't that good.
Food doesn't have to be the same old same old if your supermarket has a wide variety of fresh, seasonal produce, seafood, meat, poultry, cheeses, imported oils, etc., etc. for you to buy at one convenient location. You just have to know what they are and what to do with them.
Other problems inherent in current trends are 1) the unfortunate ignorance of both employees at Whole Foods and their customers when it comes to seasonality, quality and the fundamentals of cooking and 2) the reluctance of both groups to try scary new things.
I say, to hell with teaching nursery rhymes, Latin and Advanced Trig in public school. Start them young with cooking. Teach them how to shop. Make geography and econ culinary. Feed them empanadas after they've declined their Spanish verbs.
ETA: In part this a long-winded way of agreeing with JohnL, though I do think the fancy spirals of marianated stuff fish and meat, the pre-fab fruit salads, etc. are at odds with what drew me to WF in the first place.
As far as D.C. locations go, the Georgetown/Glover Park store seems preferable to the others. However, do note that cut fruit requires labor and the high price of fuel is going to affect a whole lot more that you buy. Wait until peach season to gauge the effect of this year's strange weather and the damage inflicted on so many orchards. Go to Safeway, Giant, etc. It won't be WF alone.
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This past weekend, Lynne Rossetto Kasper invited Sally Schneider to speak on her weekly radio show about improvisational cooking. The basic question: How do you decide what ingredients work well in combination with one another? The reply: In general, foods that you find growing close to one another complement each other perfectly.
It makes a lot of sense. Your reply is wonderful, Maureen, and I'm sympathetic. The very doctrinal side of Italian cooking is very much a presence in this forum, too, especially when it comes to which recipes are authentic or traditional.
Yet, when does a living culture decide that it is set and established, no longer receptive to new forces and influences that are now viewed as corruptive elements? Imagine Sicilian food without Middle Eastern conquest. Puglia without cherry tomatoes. The latter example may simply represent an imported ingredient, but the former so much more. After decades of Chinese, Somalian and Ethopian communities in Italy, slippage is inevitable.
There are certain regions that have a profound affinity for one another and overlaps make a lot of sense even when the regions do not share borders. Given the simplicity of many Umbrian and Tuscan main courses, first courses from other regions would not seem dissonant to me. A light soup, crostini or gnudi are better before vitello tonnato than pesto, perhaps, but pesto before a simply grilled dish...
I also find it interesting to see what Italian chefs do when they come to the United States wishing to share knowledge of their beloved region, yet also facing the expectation that they demonstrate individuality or an orignal flair if they wish to make a name for themselves. Fabio Trabocchi may not be the best example since we had problems with his first and only cookbook, but his restaurant's menu includes dishes "inspired" by Le Marche that might depend on the chef's broader knowledge. In the U.S., he's also free to draw from a wider regional repertoire in proving he's creative.
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Thanks for both suggestions and good ideas. I may just provide some marinated eggplant & zucchini slices since there are bakers bringing bread and others planning on frittatas. But the substitution of fava beans is a good idea since the ones from California are available now; our local ones will not appear until late June or July. (How many pounds of fava beans do you need to get 1 1/2 lbs. shelled?!!! The torta might also be work with local asparagus, but not with porcini or marjoram.)
It's interesting to see how much regionality matters. I first had a platter of salami and figs in a small tratteria in Florence that specializes in curing a wide variety of meats, right at the beginning of the fig season. I thought it sounded like a strange combination, but it proved wonderful. While at least one half of the couple who owns the place is Scottish by birth, it was not simply the aberrant practice of stranieri. Here Marco Lapi describes "classic" salame toscano as being at its best at the end of summer with figs.
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If you recognize this cathedral on the wharf, please correct me if I'm in the wrong town.
It is the cathedral that is named for the boy that died on the door steps? Please help out if you know what I'm mummbling about! Theres an old fort from FedericoII right next door. I desperately need to review my notes on this stuff.
That is in fact the cathedral of Trani, S. Nicola Pellegrino--built on the site of an earlier church dedicated as Santa Maria; the young pilgrim serves as the titular relic. (This is not very culinary so I'll be brief, but I have an exhibition catalog on icons of Puglia & Basilicata. The youth came to Trani from a monastery on Corfu and died in 1094; canonized only five years later which is rare. Calling him Nicholas the Pilgrim distinguishes his cult from that of the established Byzantine saint Nicholas who inspires other pilgrims to travel nearby to Bari.)
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Your posts on lampascione are wonderful!!!
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Great topic, Judith!
Where in Italy nowadays can't you get spaghetti pomodoro e basilico in the middle of the tourist season?
When was it that no one above the Red Belt (pure coincidence, mind you) used tomatoes in their cooking? Wasn't it just three-four generations ago?We've also seen how many regions have cross-pollinated to the point of requiring Sardinian pecorino in Ligurian maro, or finding that Campania and Sicily share otherwise idiosyncratic traditions. There has to be something interesting behind the anchovy's arduous swim up into meals served in Piemonte, the ubiquity of Parmigiano Reggiano or the controversy over who exactly created eggplant parmigiano.
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As sympathetic as I am to preserving and understanding local traditions, there is also something about making do with what one has on hand and not being dogmatic about recipes that also strikes me as respectful of Italian culture, or so it seems to this outsider. What's a recipe, after all, except for an artificially regularized interpretation of one person's version of something made countless other ways by different people at different times?
Short answer: your lunch sounds good.
But honey, sliced tomatoes from New York in May? 
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Since spring is becoming summer and there are so many regional dishes we've prepared that are wonderful served at room temperature, I figured this might be a good topic and useful when making plans. Nothing wrong with fried chicken, watermelon and bacon-laced potato salad with radishes and celery seed, but sometimes pizza rustica, olives, salami and figs sound just about right.
So, please consider this a place to report inspiring menus or document what you've done. Ask for guidance or make suggestions.
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I'm asking for advice since I promised to bring a vegetable dish to a potluck picnic.
Haven't made it for years, but the beauty of one local farm's escarole inspired me to decide to prepare the escarole pie in one of Marcella Hazan's cookbooks in which piles of the green are flavored with garlic, olives, anchovies, capers and pinenuts.
Well, there is someone coming who is allergic to nuts and a whole mess of other stuff that may prove difficult for everyone to accommodate. I don't want to omit the pinenuts and welcome any excuse to bring just a little something else I've never tried before.
So....I came across a Ligurian recipe for Polpettone di Fagiolini, a torte-like dish that is somewhere in between a pastry-less custard and a vegetarian meatloaf. Green beans are cooked and puréed. Garlic, marjoram, Parmigiano and reconstituted dried porcini provide flavor; milk-soaked bread, bulk; and eggs beaten with a soft, creamy fresh cheese, the custardy element.
Sounds like perfect picnic fare. Here's the thing. The list of allergies includes green beans, too! I figure that while green beans may be traditional, the dish sounds versatile enough. Any thoughts?
N.B. Anna del Conte, my source, also has a recipe for a torta di zucchine from the same region that I'd prefer not to make because it involves filo-like pastry and I like the idea of preparing something coated only in bread crumbs. Zucchini, onion and uncooked rice that swells in the eggy filling. Sounds like a great combo, but not necessarily easy to integrate with first recipe since the light touch of rice makes sense with zucchini (vs. bread) and I suspect the porcini that complement green beans would drown out the more delicate squash.
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Actually, the Doc knows better. He says that every time someone posts dishes in this forum that combine seafood and cheese!
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Steve: This is a wonderful documentation of your time in Puglia! What a privilege! Thank you!!!!
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Thanks, Kevin. I think there's also a kind of purée. At any rate, I came across a few things when providing the links at the beginning of the thread. You might take a look there, Foodman.
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I just may forgive you for the adjective. Actually, the best thing Blake Gopnik contributed to The Washington Post is a sneer of a different sort: this assessment of the pandas as well as the donkeys and elephants that preceded them.
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Peter, I have nothing of substance to either ask or contribute. However, your part of Canada looks absolutely beautiful and I have to praise many the photographs, including the affectionate snapshots of family, the food (the crab at least one other person mentioned, but also the tuna above) and even small details such as the perfectly framed dangling fish on the sign. The joyful picture of old-fashioned ice-cream churning brings back memories! I seem to recall an old thread in which you shared your spousal cooking challenge with us, too. You both are well matched in culinary skills!
I would also like to thank you and Sandy for praising part of my heritage and add Ingmar Bergman, loganberries and what may be the world's best system for accommodating working parents and their children.
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^Indeed!
Actually, I am surprised you didn't mention the fritters you make so well. Just occured to me when I stepped away from the computer. The first cookbook from Moosewood has a great recipe for zucchini pancakes in which the eggs are separated and whites beaten stiff, though they're fine without that extra, fussy step. Made with shredded or grated summer squash and scallions, though your imagination could run wild in terms of what you mix in, whether you use white whole wheat flour.
Fresh corn and cornmeal in corncakes in the summer....
Peter the Eater's ongoing blog has a beautiful photo with samon on cucumber rounds. Smoked salmon with scallion-cream cheese is another way to go.
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When rhubarb is in season and available, I prepare a compote with crystallized ginger and orange zest and have that with homemade yogurt and granola at least four times a week.
If someone didn't grow up with rhubarb, it might be easier to convince her to slice carrots into her cereal. It seems as if the only groups capable of sitting through an entire sermon on Eat Your Vegetables without squirming are those over 65 (desire for longevity; recovery from heart attacks) and new or expectant parents. It's not just the fact that no one likes to be judged and told what to do. A lot of people simply are not adventurous when it comes to eating and are even more reluctant when it comes to cooking, let alone preparing a meal for themselves first thing in the morning.
For those who need to lose weight and are reluctant to give up juice, there are plenty of vegetable-based juices they can blend themselves, or here in North America, buy.
If he can get over the sense of incongruity, for someone who likes sweet things stirred into oatmeal on a cold wintery day, half of a baked winter squash, caramelized with butter and a little brown sugar or maple syrup, especially if it's (mostly) prepared the night before.
The idea of leftovers inspires: pizza!! If you've got a cold-pizza-in-the-morning person on your hands, it might not be too hard to draw connections between a slice of pizza and toasted cheese sandwiches with a few vegetables tucked in or flat and filled breads piled with savory, oniony greens. Spread some Vegemite on it, too, while you're at it.
Otherwise, I'd add spinach which goes well with eggs. There are plenty of combinations of vegetables that work well with omelettes, frittatas, tortillas, or baked custardy dishes (cornmeal or rice, not just eggs), including red bell peppers...if you're not worried about cholesterol intake. Ditto on cooking fats. On the occasions when I fry unpeeled [new, ideally] potatoes for breakfast, I chop up plenty of onion, throw in small pieces of mushrooms early enough for them to become gnarled and wizened, and then, at the very end, a handful or two of minced Italian parsley so the potatoes are coated bright green and the parsley cooks for less than a minute, therefore, should still be nutritious.
However, your initial post contains the greatest promise. For the adventurous types, why not get them to go multicultural? I've been intrigued by Bruce (Blue Crab)'s omnivorous takes on breakfast, no doubt inspired by his preference for Asian dinners. Cf. Mizducky, too. I saw a quote recently that said the best vegetarian meals are composed of dishes that were vegetarian to begin with and not designed as surrogates for meat, poultry or fish. Eastern repertoire of savory soups and porridges might inspire.
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What I would suggest has already been said, though I'd like to add that if the timing's right, there is a market street several blocks from Parc Monceau off of Avenue de Wagram (still?) with what used to be a very good Austrian (?) patisserie.
If you're defining Parisian picnics loosely for tourists, I'd like to add that many people take day trips to Chartres and are greeted by a McDonald's right by the train station. A few years ago, my friends and I found little on the short hike up to the cathedral and made do with a rather mediocre sandwich from a non-franchise. I'd advise gathering wonderful things from Paris instead to bring on the train and finding a quiet spot away from all your fellow tourists resting in the open space before the western portal of Notre Dame.
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Russ is the expert here, but long before the merging of Chilean and European types of strawberries, the plants were considered medicinal herbs. Cf. this survey which cites Darrow's history of strawberries. Still viewed as perrenial herbs. You'll find chapters of Darrow's book online, though it was written nearly half a century ago. I also like "Berried Treasure".Thanks for that additional information, Russ. Now, this makes me wonder (I hope it isn't too far off-topic): at what point does a plant part cease to be a fruit or vegetable and begin to be an herb or spice?
Didn't just find it, Smithy, that's the Web site of the farmer's market where I volunteer and buy my local strawberries. I'm wondering if Russ knows more about why the folks at FreshFarm might have classified the plant as a vegetable.Pontormo, that's an interesting web site you've found, there... -
Elie: It's just impressive to me that you had the energy at this point to make eggless pasta by hand... Do you have plans to prepare something from Basilicata with dried fava beans? I bought some for the first time, but need to review options.
Shaya: The lamb looks wonderful, too. And I've made maro just about every week that I've found fresh fava beans at the supermarket. I'm looking forward to the local ones at the farmer's market. Having attempted to use frozen ones from China in a vignarola when the artichokes appeared (this was not a good year, sadly), I discovered there just isn't a substitute for the fresh ones.
Kevin: It is very interesting, indeed, to see how many comprehensive regional surveys are coming out! You were a harbinger of a trend!
Did Mario Batali inspire you, or...? (I also wonder what Micol Negrin thinks, though Ada Boni's book was the first available to English speakers as far as I know.)
I don't know Biba ______ at all, though I've seen the name. Any good?
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I am fine with plunging directly into a thread devoted to the food of the Italian diaspora, but hope we also set up a thread to serve as a coda to this year and a half of cooking the regions of Italy. Cf. the reflections at the end of Kevin's year-long resolution. There have been plenty of comments already about new favorites that are now part of our repertoire.
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Looks wonderful, Elie! Did you use hard durham flour for your strangolapreti? Judith tells me it's difficult to find and I've read it's not easy to work with unless you're used to it.
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Mitch: These threads remain open for augmentation any time you choose, so no need to feel apologetic
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Are we done at the end of May--or at least planning to take a break until tomato season before dissecting gravy, Clams Casino and the essentials of a good "Italian" sub?
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Too lazy to look for the proper thread for adding bibliography, but I recommend looking into Lidia's Italy. Note the choice of Batali-orange for the cover.
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In my defense, I wrote that little smarty-pants line in haste, thinking that Russ was about to correct my original post. Because strawberries aren't strictly speaking berries with seeds on the inside the way blueberries or raspberries are, some folk don't put them in the same category as other fruits.thanks all. i've been staying out of this partly because i've been on book tour the last week and a half.and yes, strawberries are fruits ... well, it's a little complicated ... the fruit is the little dried "seed" on the outside, so strawberries are actually "aggregate fruits", just like raspberries.
Gosh darn it all, but I was unable to find a nice quick explanation for calling strawberries vegetables. Google gave me virtually zilch--with the exception of a highly specialized message board and a discussion of Jewish dietary practices with expired links. Even Darrow & Karp call strawberries fruit without blinking.
However, trust me, Russ, you've eaten at least one strawberry classified as a vegetable (cf. "Spring" in recipe section).
Always argumentative,
Pontormo who loves to read Acknowledgments
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Thanks for the closure. Never would have guessed either since neither works nor artists are familiar to me. However did you come acros the Japanese Cindy Sherman? His source: Cranach.Answer to 24. " The Feast of the Monkeys" by Jean-Baptiste Oudry.And here's 27. Titled "Mother".
More on Yasumasa Morimura.
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Hmmm... mooshy, that does sound nice but wasn't quite what I had in mind. Is there a way to cook the rhubarb without it losing while maintaining some texture?
Some texture, but not much. I'm skeptical about caramelization; the sugar doesn't really have anything to cling to since rhubarb melts at about the same rate of speed as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Here's a recipe for compote from Alice Waters (oven temperature in F). I personally find butter on rhubarb without pastry unappetizingly greasy and do without. However, the short cooking time is key. Try checking early and don't give into the temptation to stir while the rhubarb bakes. You will end up with a few stalks that appear intact, though you'd be surprised by their fragility if you poke them, especially when everything's still hot.
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I've also made a tarte alsacienne with a custardy-rhubarb filling that came out well. The "trick" for preventing the custard from coagulating around pink, watery pools is to coat the cut pieces of raw rhubarb in sugar and let it drain for a while, reserving the liquid to incorporate with other ingredients in the custard. The pieces of rhubarb are then arranged in the pastry shell, sprinkled with more sugar and partially baked before the custard topping is added and baked until set.
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This evening I attended a terrific panel discussion on the Farm Bill 2007 that was organized and sponsored by the Washington, D.C. Convivium of Slow Food. It was the first time I've ever been inspired to attend one of their events and it was incredibly worthwhile. Lots of federal policy wonks and government specialists present in addition to concerned ordinary folk, the advantage of the first two categories being the amount and caliber of information being shared with the passion of conviction if in subdued, decorous tones. It proved an example of genuine terroir in terms of Slow Food taking advantage of "local specialties" and bringing together farmers, journalists and the feds. I'll have more to say about this some time in the near future.I keep that hypothetical shopper trying to feed a family of four on $75 a week (or two -- apparently it's harder if you're feeding fewer mouths, because you can't take advantage of economies of scale, which are also present in the supermarket...) in mind as I read this.Meanwhile, Sandy and others might be as interested as I am in a project announced by someone in the audience. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is helping to address some of the socioeconomic issues that a number of us have addressed here in a variety of topics related to farmers markets. Thanks to a grant, a local community with a large immigrant population is going to launch a market that is tailored to its needs. Since it's late, I'll leave it at that and invite you to read about the national effort here: Project for Public Spaces.
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"Problem" in a nutshell: Model for cheeses in the United States is European and of the truly good ones, largely French.*
You could almost pose the same question regarding wines. (Yes, I am egging on the conversation, but my point concerns Eurocentricity.)
So, it's easy to say that as FDA-regulated American cheeses are pale reflections of that which they mirror. There's no jazz yet in the rather youthful American landscape of cheeses.
*I've yet to have a delicious domestic mozzarella or Grana.
Eating the Boot: A Grand Tour of Italy
in Italy: Dining
Posted · Edited by Pontormo (log)
General advice: I'd also think about packing light when it comes to clothing (in a few places, grown-ups in shorts are forbidden entry as are women with bare shoulders, but maybe friars are being pressured to not discriminate and cracking down on guys too) and leaving a little room for a couple of decent guidebooks: Fred Plotkin's newly revised food lover's guide to Italy or whatever it's called (see a dedicated thread on this subject) and The Rough Guide to Italy if it isn't too thick. As for novels or reading on the train, there are second-hand bookstores such as the Paperback Exchange in Florence and cheap Italian PBs of English-language classics such as *Frankenstein* all over the place along with travelers you'll meet who will be more than happy to swap.
While there is plenty to do outside of museums and eating establishments, you might wish to reserve a ticket in advance by phone or online for popular destinations rather than wasting hours in lines that snake around the block at the Accademia or Uffizi in Florence, say, during the height of tourist season. Some cities have special events during the summer that include free entrance to monuments during the evening when they're normally closed. It's worth stopping by the city's tourist office, usually in or nearby the train station.
I am so envious that you're starting in Sicily. Go see the mosaics in Palermo and the outdoor markets and bring home pistachio paste from Bronte.
Once you move up the boot and hit the big cities, it would indeed be good to escape the crowds and go see Hathor's small town. However, I'd advise plunging back into the crowds for Assisi while you're in Umbria. In Tuscany, Siena is a good break from Florence (Divina's food blog & web sites! Check out Little Ms. Foodie's thread w sandwiches; Andrew Fenton, too) and an hour away by bus; Lucca is a town fewer visit and lovely with food spread on altars if you luck out. In the Veneto, if you have time, pretend you're Yeats in Ravenna and doff your hat at the ugly grave of Dante. Go to Padua and reserve a ticket online in advance to visit the Scrovegni (aka Arena) Chapel, the best thing Italians gave to the world that isn't cheese, pasta, literary, squeezed from olives or prompted by the death of a pig.
ETA: Composed in fits and starts before the previous post was added and therefore abbreviated.