Pontormo
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Here's a thread on a related, broader topic from a while ago:
Lidia's Nice Silk Blouse: Kitchen Fashion.
ETA: My apron features Australian animals, sent as part of a Blog By Mail exchange. Bib, of course. While I could understand the whole French-maid thing on a certain level, I just don't get the 1960's TV Mom trend of tying a half apron around one's waist--or the practice on cooking shows that prompted the earlier thread. Professional chefs wear jackets for a very good reason.
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At the end of the season, especially when the weather is hot and the ramps grow bigger with tougher leaves, West Virginians make ramp mustard.Tell me more about pickling them, please! -
Babies or region?* * *
Hathor: I might have been searching for something to say as well, but the fresh oregano was not a pronounced taste. While dried oregano dominates many Italian-American dishes, I just have not prepared many Italian recipes that require oregano. The Ancient Greek heritage of Basilicata and Calabria probably have something to do with the use of the herb. (A similar cross-pollination is apparent in old-fashioned grocery stores such as Litteri where the shared culinary traditions of Italian and Greek immigrants account for the inventory.)
The sauce was extraordinarily good the following day, as is often the case with eggplant. Allowing the vegetable to stew into mush with copious amounts of olive oil was key. Preferred this to the classic recipe from Marcella Hazan that I've been making for years since it is also good with a little feta (from French ewes) mixed in.
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Patate Raganate (Repeat that ten times, fast
.)The cucina povera of Basilicata features a number of main courses in which vegetables are layered in repeated strata, drizzled with olive oil, topped with bread crumbs and baked like a gratin. Near the coast, mussels might be included. Since eggplant is also traditional, I made this dish as a kind of contorno to use up the rest of the Calabrian pasta sauce along with thin slices of potato, Spanish onions and canned plum tomatoes. The crumbs were tossed with grated Pecorino, olive oil and fresh oregano before baking for over an hour. Good--even better, I'm sure, once tomato season arrives.
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Just a quick heads-up: The Secret Life of Mrs. Beetson
Unfortunately, sensationalism and sex dominate this kind of show these days--historical material just isn't juicy otherwise.
However, anyone interested in the history of cookbooks should TiVo or watch. The Web site has some interesting background information, including a link to a Web site where you are able to read one of the early editions of the Beetson household manual.
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Well, the heat down here in Calabria is getting to me, so I will be uncolorful except when it comes to highlighting fonts.
1) The spaccatelle with turnip tops (short-cut use of manufactured pasta) were great, right up Mrbigjas's alley with all the greens boiled first in the water used to cook the pasta. I under-cooked the latter to add to the mess of chili-flecked greens and a little of the cooking liquid as a finishing touch. I currently can't get enough of those sweet little white Japanese turnips and slivered some to mix with the garlic and greens.
2) Used Rustico to prepare:
Bucatini con Melanzane Spappolate
La Carne 'Ncantarata dei Fratelli Alia
The former requires a long stew of stubby slivers of unpeeled eggplant in too much olive oil with lots of garlic before tomatoes and fresh oregano are added. At least it seemed like too much oil until the tomatoes went in. (It's been a while since I used fresh oregano in any of this project's dishes.) Once the sauce is done, tear fresh basil leaves and add them along with seasoning. Nothing remarkable, but absolutely delicious.
Since I had an enormous eggplant to use up, I baked slices and layered them with basil leaves to use in a parmigiana or maybe pecoriano. (Micol Negrin, BTW, says Calabria's eggplant parm requires battered, fried slices, hard-boiled eggs, meatballs, mozzarella....Whenever I read "hard-boiled eggs" as an ingredient in a layered dish, my stomach taps on my shoulder and warns me to turn the page.)
The recipe for the second dish compensates for the lack of a certain type of salted pork you can get in Calabria. It also acknowledges our lack of wild fennel. I imagine it would be spectacular with the two. Nonetheless, marianating boneless pork loin chops for several days in a spice rub (ground fennel seeds, paprika, salt & chili flakes) flavors the meat. I ignored the instructions for cooking since Niman Ranch's pork would have turned into leather, but the chops were seared and baked with orange juice & olive oil. Reduce pan juices with orange-blossom honey
(Spanish) and more paprika to sauce. Contorno: fava beans, purplish spring onions and yes, baby turnips. -
Funny. Granted, it's been almost four years since I've bought groceries in Italy, but at least in Florence, prices for most things were often higher, especially for meat, poultry and seafood if not wine, top-quality cheese, farro, honey, Greek yogurt, the most amazing butter...sorry, I'll end the nostalgic longing.I was wondering...How much has he traveled and grocery shopped in the US? Prices for produce and meats are much higher in the US than they are in Italy, even taking into account the euro/dollar exchange. If he was comparing prices to Italy, he was already way off kilter.I suppose there is no way of knowing how much research he did, and I'm talking out of my hat because I haven't read the book.
Look, the guy was obviously an elitist, chauvanist snob as well as a jerk while visiting California, and Slow Food has a lot of damage-control ahead of it.
For me, much of the hypocrisy or ugliness lies in the realm of socioeconomics or class and since I do not wish to transgress rules of decorum when it comes to good manners and sensitivity to others myself, I will be tactful.
I don't know enough about Petrini, let alone the history of Italian agriculture and groceries to write as informed a post as I would like. Please correct me where I am wrong and forgive gross generalizations.
However, based on what I've seen and the little I've learned about the subject, aristocratic families produce wine, and in some cases olive oil. There is wealth and lineage here if not in every facet of wine-making. Preserving the regional integrity of prized wines--terroir--is dear to Slow Food--so I am inclined to believe Petrini is familiar with wine makers. The major families wear Burberry, speak several languages and own the kinds of dogs formerly associated with princes (Cf. thread on the movie "Mondovino"). The "new money" of major manufacturers and businesses? I know nothing. So-called "artisinal" products such as prosciutto or Reggiano? Ignorance there, too.
When it comes to the people who grow wheat and vegetables down South, from the little I've read, I gather that much of the agricultural system was virtually feudal until only 3-4 generations ago. Now a chef here in the United States, Fabio Trabocchi suggests that the threat of poverty drove members of his family out of farming and into new trades. The people from whom I've purchased food at markets, little grocery stores, bakeries and supermarkets do not seem to enjoy the same privileges or professional options that Petrini seems to have had, nor the advantages of the well-heeled shoppers who pick up a little something here or there on their way home in the evening, although rarely at the places I frequented.
I have to wonder if the idea of a college graduate or laywer chosing to become a farmer, or selling beans at a market seemed a bit odd to Carlo Petrini. Was there something about the ways farmers and their regular customers chatted with one another that didn't correspond to his own interactions with the folks who produce the local regional specialiities that his organization champions?
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Rancho Gordo's latest blog entry makes one point in particular that strikes a chord with me: the fact that in Italy food culture is deteriorating and in the United States, we've already been there and are trying to do something about it.
First, I am sure the resentment felt towards the United States stems not only from fast food franchises, but also the supermarkets and U.S.-style work-schedules that draw shoppers away from market places and into Essalunga at night. Second, because we have already been there, and because we are just starting to embrace the food culture Italians are trying to retain, it makes sense to keep SF an international organization. As far as I'm concerned, SF has to do a lot more to strengthen its appeal even to the converted.
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In his biography of Sigmund Freud, Peter Gay reccounts a moment when the Austrian's adult daughter, Anna, was overheard murmuring "Strawberries!" in her sleep. An accomplished analyst herself, the alert dreamer interpreted this as a sign of lingering immaturity.
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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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Hi, Tela. Is this what you found lacking while searching: Virginia Association for Biological [!] Farming?General question on FMs in the DC area - the links I've found on the internet don't appear to have been updated so I'm getting some conflicting information. I live down near Mt. Vernon and I've been to the Alex FM on King Street and the Del Rey FM. What are the other top markets - Mount Pleasant Farmers Market? - Dupont? what about Green Spring? - hours/days? After moving to NoVA from Northern California - I really need to get my feet wet with these things, jonesin' for good home-grown veggies! Any help would be appreciated.Here's my bookmarked guide from The Washington Post, but it's last year's: Post, 2006.
Busboy's reference to the market at Dupont Circle refers to FRESHFARM Markets whose principal market is on Sunday mornings at that location. It was started just over ten years ago to support small local farms in nearby PA, VA & MD and is what is called "Producer Only"--meaning everything there is from small farms in the area. As Russ Parsons points out in his current book-signing tour, it's not the most efficient use of the farmer's time, but usually one of the farmers will be there.* Here's the Web site with the schedule and locations: FRESHFARM.
The reference to the market at Capitol Hill is to The Eastern Market where community support is strong these days. Not all the vendors are selling their own local produce on Saturdays & Sundays, but there are many fine ones who are and especially in the height of the growing season, it's pretty clear which of the gazillion strawberries or tomatoes are worth buying.
In addition to the established markets, there are other options. If you get to know and like specific farms, you might wish to join a CSA. For example, Heinz Thomet of Next Step Produce sells to the general public only at Dupont Circle on Sundays--and to his CSA members.
Another one of my favorites, New Morning Farm, sells at different locations throughout the week once there is more produce to be had.
*According to Chris Rock, on the other hand, movie stars get paid to sell the product, not to make it. Market regulars get a little bit of a buzz talking weather, crops, Farm Bill and seasons with the growers and most are savvy enough to humor us.
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As for fresh beans, Busboy, I was surprised to hear a local restaurant is serving them. Usually they're around when the weather's sticky, months from now. Spring Valley was selling shell beans as late as September or October last year. Get your favas at Whole Foods or Balducci's otherwise.
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I understand the dilemma now...See! I *knew* someone would get it as soon as I added another clue! Carrot Top - can you think of another way I could have provided a clue to that piece? 39 Influential Women, maybe?28. Ladies Women Who Lunch Dine
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I'll have what she's having, in a different order and on a different kind of island where nothing gets too melty unless I want it to.* No toma. Nothing esoteric. But:Parmigiana Reggiano: If I was on a desert island, this is the one thing that I would just have to have!Pecorinos in all their manifestations
Sheep milk ricotta
Gorganzola!! Dolce and Piquante.
Was I supposed to pick one (!) favorite??
1) Sub mozzarella di bufala for the piquante (if I have to give one up) and
2) Bump Gorgonzola up to second place.
3) If I settle for a single aged pecorino (Locatelli), please add Montasio, Medio. I fell in love with frico last year and now I can't buy Montasio ANYWHERE nearby since Whole Foods says it doesn't sell and they won't order it anymore.
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Sub for ricotta made from sheep's milk: in a pinch. Please excuse me if it's heretical and hardly ricotta, but Whole Food's does sell a very creamy, mild French feta made with the milk of ewes. Good mixed with pasta.
*Marble in a nice, big modern kitchen somewhere in Sicily, perhaps, with as many special gadgets as Franci owns.
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It is considered a species-at-risk and as such has some legal protection. The plants and their habitats are protected from disturbance. Collecting them to place in a home garden would not be ethical nor acceptable. ...
The "Ramp Lady" in the market in Ottawa has her stand only Thursday, Friday and Saturday so maybe she's spending the rest of the week gathering the endangered little busters... It made me think that
may not be such a terrible thing.uninformed transplanting of rare and endangered species, for personal useI believe it is a criminal offense to pick these in Quebec...Since it can take 7 years for these plants to reproduce, they went alomost extinct in the south of the province. I have heard that things are much better now.
Increasing urbanization has also diminished supplies of a plant that once ran rampant across much of North America.
In fact, the wild leek inspired the name of Maggiecat's beloved Chicago. The city takes its name from the Menomini's word for ramps: "pikwute sikakushia" or "skunk plant". The Windy City grew in land beside Lake Michigan rich in ramps and therefore called "CicagaWuni" or "shikako", i.e. "skunk place".
In Tennessee's national parks, I believe, there are laws preventing visitors from gathering ramps. However, if they grow on your own land...
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The following clues refer to works of art (paintings, sculpture, photographs, collages, prints & mixed media) that represent food, cooking or dining:
STILL UNSOLVED
5. Naked sailor with long blond hair*
*Only part of him becomes food.
Further clue, revised: Spielberg would buy this portrait (yes, really) were it for sale.
17: 1984 vice presidential candidate enjoying the fish at daybreak.
Further clue: Reference is to US campaign. Do not read clue literally--author is "messing w you".
21. Oysters for the masses - with bottles of Champagne, of course.
24. See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil and a cohort dine on a ham (among other things) as the god of wine beams down upon them.
Further clue: 18th C, sold at Christie's 2000. (Sounds pretty obscure...)
27. Japanese Archimboldo Cabbage Headed Killer.
If you think you know the answer, please provide a link that illustrates the work of art if at all possible. Do not cut and paste a reproduction of the image, sculpture (etc.) directly into your post.
Start your response with the number of the clue. Then reply with the name of the artist(s) if known & title.
Should you wish to provide clues of your own, conduct an image search to see if there are online reproductions; this would also help you decide whether or not the work of art might be familiar to other Society members. Nothing cinematic; go to the other game for that sort of thing.
If you add a clue, please check back and confirm whether or not a response is accurate--or suits the clue, but is not the work you had in mind.
Any additional clue should be designated its own, new number, beginning with "28".
Make sure your clue refers directly to food, dining or other culinary matters.
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In the cooking thread devoted to Abruzzo/Molise, members discussed different types of imported dried pasta. When the name De Cecco came up, a number of posts concerned the differences between the products sold in Europe and the United States.
I found something relevant that I thought you might enjoy, but first let me explain that I recently visited a new source for Italian groceries and brought home a number of unfamiliar shapes of pasta. I now have a new favorite which you can find here: spaccatella. Apparently, it's Sicilian and brilliantly designed so that the cooked noodle resembles a Chinese soup spoon--except the entire "handle" is grooved to accommodate extra sauce.
I've linked up De Cecco's official Web site here since it was one of the first links I came across. The bag I brought home is from a different manufacturer.
What interested me about De Cecco's site is the INCREDIBLE variety of shapes and types of pasta available to Europeans. If the link I tried to capture is stable, you just looked at a photograph illustrating one type of noodle available in the U.K. At the bottom of the Web Site, you'll note, there are different flags for European nations that you click to change the language. So, if you go to the section called "Product Catalogue" and click on "Pasta", you'll see a range of categories and then sub-categories that include regional varieties, basic lines and specialities. Whether German or French, you seem to be able to order whatever an Italian might buy.
Click on the flag of the United States and the site changes utterly. There are hardly any choices. I'm sure all the shapes are familiar to you, sold by other manufacturers as well. The corresponding recipes begin with pasta salads (!!!) and reflect a conservative restraint that you don't find in recipes translated for cooks in Soissons or Leeds. When selling their product over here, De Cecco doesn't merely alter the recipe and emphasize nutritional value over quaity of grain. It tells us what it thinks of American taste.
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BTW, Her Majesty does not care for strawberries ("The Crowning Touch" in The Washington Post, May 7, 2007.)
Careful research in preparation for Queen Elizabeth II's trip to the horse races focussed on organic ingredients, instead, so she might have skipped the salad. "Food Fit for a Queen". Courier-Journal, 5/02/07.
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First, Kevin, my apologies for completely overlooking your post when I recorded my recent meal. I am sure the photo registered somewhere in the back of my mind when I picked up Rustico and went shopping for red chilies and bucatini in the first place and ended up buying sausages as well. I think the mint is a good touch and might have added greater interest to the dish since I wanted a contrast to the chilies and garlic that just wasn't there as much as I appreciated the method of slowly sautéeing whole garlic cloves and adding crushed garlic-salt at the end before making the paste.Then we had bucatini with chili paste:
This had a long, slow heat build to it. Didn't seem hot at first, but you got a whallop a few seconds later.
We then had homemade grilled "lucania" style sausage....
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Has anyone here made fresh pasta without eggs? I have so much dried pasta in the house now that I don't want to bother, but I am planning to make this tonight and am curious.
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The following clues refer to works of art (paintings, sculpture, photographs, collages & mixed media) that represent food, cooking or dining:
STILL UNSOLVED
5. Naked sailor with long blond hair*
*Only part of him becomes food.
Further clue: Spielberg would buy this were it for sale.
13. Thomas Edison meets half of a "Surf and Turf".
17: 1984 vice presidential candidate enjoying the fish at daybreak.
18. Chickens in a basket - a pie or two in the foreground with eggs behind.
19. A bounty of vegetables and the lady is busy shelling favas.
20. Lots of hanging meat and game, some being roasted on a spit in front of a fire, a few children enticing a cat, and an effusiveness of jocularity.
21. Oysters for the masses - with bottles of Champagne, of course.
22. Lots and lots of scary-looking fish but the additional hint is the cat trying to steal a freshly-filet'd cross-section of very red fish.
23. A way to drink a tisane never dared look so unladylike. Except in the eyes of this one lady's rendering.
24. See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil and a cohort dine on a ham (among other things) as the god of wine beams down upon them.
25. Pop! Goes my luncheonette meal.
26. My mom made it with milk and served it with grilled cheese sandwiches.
If you think you know the answer, please provide a link that illustrates the work of art if at all possible. Do not cut and paste a reproduction of the image, sculpture (etc.) directly into your post.
Start your response with the number of the clue. Then reply with the name of the artist(s) if known & title.
Should you wish to provide clues of your own, conduct an image search to see if there are online reproductions; this would also help you decide whether or not the work of art might be familiar to other Society members. Nothing cinematic; go to the other game for that sort of thing.
If you add a clue, please check back and confirm whether or not a response is accurate--or suits the clue, but is not the work you had in mind.
Any additional clue should be designated its own, new number, beginning with "27".
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My gut level feeling is the US group (and all others) need to cut ties to Italy and let each country evolve on its own, without Mr Petrini's help.
Your post is indeed interesting and I don't blame you for being offended, especially by what you present as convenient fictive caricatures of farmers at a market you know so well.
However, I don't think cutting ties with the Italian organization for the sake of forging a superior American institution, especially on the basis of this one incident, is the answer.
I like the idea that a hot-headed Italian chauvanist accomplished so much in the name of the principles he passionately supports. I also like the fact that Slow Food has developed into an international movement which it really should be.
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Ummm.....! What a wonderful daughter you are!
I never got around to cooking from this region and you provide an incentive!
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^Thanks for the warning on the lupini. I didn't buy any and have never prepared them, so perhaps someone else like Divina has tips. I picked up some dried fava beans a little earlier in the week since they're popular in Basilicata (alas, too late for falafel that I had to make Israeli-style last week) and one new jar of dried legume is quite enough in my over-stocked cupboards!
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Since I am so lazy about this sort of thing, I'll tidy up and organize a list of unsolved clues some time tomorrow, but would like to make a plea for current and future clues:
Please include an explicit culinary reference in the clue itself to help us clueless folk along.
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Bingo! The prize is a ham, of course6. Strategically placed Tootsie Roll PopJust What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?
U-Bet-Cha.
Richard Hamilton was on to something. Fer Shue-Er.
, Karen, and not only as a nod to pop iconography!
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DINNER
• Bucatini al Fuoco (Basilicata)
• Grilled sausage
• Peperonata (Calabria)
• Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
• Green salad w frisée from the farmers market as my chicory
Micol Negrin's surveys of both Southern Italian regions are as interesting as her choice of recipes, so I am finding Rustico a good source to consult.
While it might be Fred Plotkin who calls pasta a once-a-week luxury for some families in Basilicata, the primo is a spare, fiery take on olio e aglio. Bits of dried chili peppers are sautéed with whole garlic cloves and a garlic-salt paste before the cooled mixture is spooned into a mortar and ground. I combined dried chilies with the new chili paste. Results were what you'd expect. Not worth reproducing, though perfectly okay.
What I truly enjoyed was a main course reminiscent of the messy, packed sandwiches of American street fairs, only without all the grease, the gooey strings of cheese, extravagant piles of mushrooms and limp onion rings. According to Negrin, Calabrians prize a kind of meaty, golden bell pepper. Her recipe makes do with a mixture of colored peppers cut into large, 2-inch squares and sautéed with cubes of red onion, red chili bits [or paste] and a little diced garlic. Distinctive is the addition of tomatoes which turns this contorno into a sauce of sorts, seasoned with fresh basil and a drop of red vinegar (optional) at the end. Best room temperature, perfect with sausage.
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Shopping Calabria
Each time we've turned to a Southern Italian region, I've been meaning to visit Litteri, known as the oldest Italian grocer in Washington, D.C. While we have nothing comparable to the Italian-American community of Philadelphia, for example, masons responsible for carving marble on national monuments were Italian and around town, ATMs will help you withdraw cash in their native tongue.
Over the years, the store has become Zia Teresa Luisa, the tiny little bird of a woman wearing a flower-print dress, hunched over her Scotch in the corner at the big family reunion. The entrance is marked by a narrow strip of dark green paint above a concrete loading dock and the kind of aluminum screen door you're likely to find on porches in Astoria or Queens. At the edge of more than a block of wholesale warehouses, it is dwarfed by neighbors with Asian, Latin and African customers loading up with produce, seafood and meat. On a humid, sunny day at noon, you can tell how busy the morning has been; the air smells of what has ripened, rotted and been crushed underfoot.
Inside, Litteri is cool and packed. Students from nearby Gallaudet queue for subs. Carting infants in one of those car seats that make Transformers seem like educational toys, regulars snatch up pizza dough and wine. Then there are the tourists who move slowly, like me, down narrow aisles and towers of bottles, jars, boxes, bags and cans. No one's speaking Italian.
This is where I should have come months ago when searching for wines from various regions—when I was calling store after store for the right olive oil to make maro and pesto. Its old-fashioned Web site boasts of a great selection of olive oils. I wish I had researched the names of Calabrian brands before my visit since I saw more from Sicily and Puglia than any other Italian regions, quite a few classified as DOP. Among the dried beans, lupini which I'm not sure you can find anywhere else in town. Whimsical shapes of dried pasta. White-flecked Sicilian curls. Thin hollowed strands of fusili. Eggy quills.
Over the years, Litteri has retained more of its Italian-American legacy than it has changed. There were few concessions to the past three decades of culinary trends, though I recognized one of the fancy cotton bags of farro Dean & DeLuca sells across town. No Rustichella d'Abruzzo. I was happy to glimpse a sign for Caciocavallo, but it was for a domestic brand. Same with the Calabrese-style salami.
Behind the counter, I also noticed a plastic tub filled with green olives from Calabria. I brought home a container of these along with fresh sausages seasoned with garlic, fennel seed and red flecks of chili peppers.
Another sign of a long pattern of making do was the degree to which the inventory appropriates the foods of other cultures. Italian-Americans must have felt solidarity with Chinese emigrants who preceded them. While I was on the lookout for hot red chilies from Southern Italy, I found only one item worth buying. However, the tube of red chili paste was engulfed by spicy Asian goods, fiery pickles from the American South and jars of tiny red chilies imported from Greece.
The Cooking and Cuisine of Basilicata and Calabria
in Italy: Cooking & Baking
Posted
I may have researched Basilicata more, but of the seven dishes I prepared, four are Calabrian. Then, there are all the beautifully photographed eggplant parmigianas...