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Pontormo

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  1. Pontormo

    Fresh fava beans

    Tripe with fave? Sausages?1) Maro--scroll down to Chufi's post (#20): a type of pesto flavored w mint. I like it w a little lemon zest as suggested by this recipe (scroll down to 2nd antipasto). Great w pasta, but also spread on crostini. 2) Vignarola, a Roman stew that is often served as a vegetarian dish (sans guanciale, etc.) w artichokes, fava beans, potatoes, onions and potatoes. A few additional ideas from the Italian forum. Note the raw preparation as salad w slivers of fennel. * * * The dried fava beans are a whole 'nother story. Amazing for someone new to the ingredient to see how rapidly it disintegrates. (Discussion continues in Stevarino's thread, focussing on 'ncapriata.)
  2. tupac: I thought I had sent a PM about the trains, cars, etc., but many of the towns you think of as "little" are not to Italians, so there will be reasonable train rides to most of your destinations. You really, really would benefit by picking up a used copy of last year's Rough Guide to Italy or something along those lines to read the basic information up front at least. For the faster trains, you'll have to pay a surcharge if you have any sort of rail pass or a regular ticket. (Make SURE you've paid full fare before you board the train, including the "supplemento" or surcharge since there are financial penalties for not doing so.) In addition to the paperback train schedule (orario) you can buy, you'll find big posters in just about every station w info concerning all trains that stop there--sometimes next to the platform for each track (binario) in larger stations--which will help you judge which trains are worth taking. If you don't have a good general guidebook, you'll catch on quickly enough or learn from fellow travelers you're bound to meet or perhaps share meals and excursions with. At any rate, there are many Italians who rely exclusively on the train and bus systems to get just about anywhere they don't travel to on Vespas or Zio Mario's motorized three-wheeler. As in the U.S., there are municipal buses and bus services (such as SITA to get from Florence to Siena) that link other cities and towns more conveniently than certain train routes such as the ones that Kevin warns you about. As for gelato, there are write-ups here somewhere about Rome, surely. And look at Divina Cucina's Web site if you don't have a chance to meet her; you should go to Vivolo's natch--it's traditional and at this time of year still open, I'm pretty certain (I think it closes mid-July or some ridiculous time for a gelato place), and try the pear (pera). But many believe there are better gelato places in town and I kinda think it's your duty to eGullet to compare. As is the case with pizza in Naples. Mozzarella di bufala. Olive oils. Cheeses and cured meats you can't get over here. At markets, look for cool fruits and vegetables you've never seen before and take pictures of those in addition to the gorey and gross. * * * And to demonstrate just about EVERYTHING is online, look what I just found: Cliff Notes on Italian Trains. Then to get you psyched about the fact that it is one of the alternate years (? I think that's how these things go) for pistachios in Bronte, you can watch YouTube and listen to 'Retha. (Would that be 'nretha? ) And ya, here's Professor Fenton's lecture on Roman gelato * * * Have a fabulous time!
  3. FYI, here's the same purée, only presented with its Sicilian name, macco which one of Gennarino's members says may derive from the Latin for crushing, kneading or mashing (macerare) which eventually became an Italian word "maccare". In "The Etymology of 'Macaroni', 'Macaroon'", Edward A. Stephenson turns to a "consideration of semantics and Greek religious rites" to "clarify the...debated etymology." Cf. American Speech, 39 (1964): 75-77. ETA: According to Wikipedia, in the 14th century "maccum" was used for a siimilar dish of cooked fava "polenta" or minestra. The same entry interprets the etymology of Puglia's "'ncapriata'": It resembles the Greek "kaporidia" which Aristophanes serves Herakles in "The Frogs". Click. Cf. this where it's noted that chicory used to be mixed into the fava purée, though I can't tell if the implication is that the beans were therefore "in capiata" in the same way that fave mixed with bread is "inpanate". (okay, i'm done.)
  4. Always dangerous to guess, but "capriata" means "truss" according to my Garzantini and "'ncapriata" is a contraction of the word "incapriata". So, how do you figure out what's in a truss or if the word derives from something utterly different, related to goats or Capri? "Truss" can refer to bundles of hay or "a compact cluster of fruit or flowers growing on one stalk". In March in Puglia when fave first ripen, fieldworkers uproot a number of the young plants and just leave them there on the ground to dry, according to Anna Del Conte. Come June, the fields are a sea of straw hats with women in the hot sun, bent over all day long, picking them up. Looking like bundles of hay themselves? Doubtful. * * * Stevarino--Trust me, I know what shelled fave look like now, I really do!
  5. I soaked simply because the skins start separating from the beans within hours and it makes peeling easier if time-consuming. I literally did watch a movie during the process; you should have seen the pile of empty hulls building... Probably the only reason for soaking. I had also been wondering about aromatics and read about adding potato, so Stevarino, I appreciate your input!
  6. Oh, well. Took forever for me to find a source for dried fava beans in D.C. to begin with, next time, I guess, I'll go out to the suburbs. Thanks for the rest of the information! There's a baker that shows up at a farmers market this evening that is rumored to make a really good Pugliese bread, so my timing is perfect.
  7. PEAS--Bus, if you make your way down to Penn Quarter or send a friend, Sand Hill Farm grows them. I can't vouch for their pedigree or dates scheduled for appearance, i.e. not sure if they'd say "shhhedeweled" or not were they to pronounce the third verb in this sentence.
  8. So, I gave in and soaked an entire pound of dried fava beans and peeled them last night. Never will I complain about peeling fresh fava beans again--they just pop out of their skins when blanched. But, man, you could watch an entire movie and then some while husking the dried legumes (and the odor is rather pronounced even when you have a cold)! Before I cook and purée about half of them,* I just wanted to ask if there was anything special in the way they were prepared. *Judith, you want the rest?
  9. Yes, indeed! However, it would cost bundles to stock up on the amount you picked, so the report is appreciated.
  10. Details!!!* * * I have yet to post anything about the local Slow Food Convivium's panel on the Farm Bill 2007, but I'll add that Jim Crawford of New Morning Farm participated as did your buddy, Mark Toigo, the latter in long white shirt sleeves, the former not. Meanwhile, everyone reading this, just go to the link in my signature line. It leads to one of many local groups devoted to agricultural policy and it provides info regarding marker bills (i.e. drafts for revisions that will eventually be cut and pasted, integrated and whatnot before a new version is presented for voting in September). The reason I mention this? One of the most exciting bits of news was from someone in the audience who said that Langley/Takoma Park was one of the areas to be awarded grant money from the Kellogg Foundation so that the immigrant population in the area can become instrumental in designing and contributing to a farmer's market that can fulfill its particular culinary desires as well as the community's needs. Here's the link to the description of the project as a whole; the verb chosen for the common goal of all awardees is "diversify". The direct link to the extremely informative Web page of The Takoma Park Market is here. * * * Just caught a brief announcement on the news this morning, but there is an Amish farmers market in the area that lost its space and is looking for a new home, too. * * * As for the quest for fresh English peas, the memory of good ones worth shelling is a dim as ones involving apricots. Sometimes frozen is better than fresh. Wonder why.
  11. Naftal: Welcome to eGullet and the Italian cooking forum! Your instinct to select one of the ten individual cooking threads devoted to northern Italian regions was good. Why not spend some time reading through the posts not only in this thread, but also the others? Usually Kevin and Hathor sum up the principal components of each region's dishes at the beginning of the threads. It's hard to generalize and best to stock up based on specific types of meals you wish to prepare. Jot down notes as you find discussions of Ligurian olive oil, types of rice from Lombardia and the Veneto or the flour that goes into making fresh pasta from Emilia-Romagna. Perhaps it's time to splurge on Italian butter or Sicilian anchovies when preparing dishes from Piemonte. I'd invite you to spend time in Southern Italy now that summer approaches. However, I'd also consider taking advantage of the fact that there are a number of Italian cookbooks that provide overviews of all regions. Cf. Lidia's Italy or Micol Negrin's Rustica; Anna Del Conte & Marlena de Blasi have written books just on the north. Often such books provide the kind of guidance you require and at the end, recommend sources for ingredients that may prove hard to find. You'll find references to these books and an excellent index in Kevin72's year-long cooking resolution, a font of good information linked in the signature line of all his posts.
  12. Pontormo

    Wild Asparagus

    My questions, exactly! Our farmers markets in D.C. have a number of venders from W. Virginia, so I wonder.Meg, your dish looks beautiful and the asparagus, just like the Italian. Pan: some folk are trying to cultivate ramps--especially given laws against picking wild ramps in federal parks. (Your question also applies to wild rice since much of what is sold as wild rice isn't wild at all. I guess common-use labels are retained for plants we eat, though concern about sustainability attaches the word "wild" to fish to distinguish the wares of certain fishmongers from farmed seafood.) Regarding Latin names to help distinguish the different types of asparagus from one another, this somewhat familiar-sounding blogger offers a brief narrative account while there is also this mind-blowing list.
  13. It is hard to decide to choose which cooking thread to append at times. I could have just as easily added to the one devoted to Puglia, but figured that there are so many recent posts on that region, it made sense to revive this one instead. Yesterday I made Pizza di Scarola for the first time in over a decade, consulting Marcella Hazan's recipe, if changing a few things to accommodate the fact that we can find fresher, local escarole long after she wrote her book, so I cut back on the amount of time my four heads boiled away before being squeezed and dried and also based on my marginal notes, added a tiny bit of sherry vinegar to the sautéed mix of greens, garlic and capers and then, chopped olives, pine nuts and every last salt-packed anchovy in the house. (I found the instructions for grinding black pepper into the dough interesting though I'm not sure it made much difference.) It was indeed good for an outdoor spread and definitely deserves returning to again since it's perfect for those who like grilling sausages or an entire herb-crusted lamb. In trying to find online references to the appropriate region, I found that Campania was mentioned more, though recipes specify slightly different fillings, for example, adding grated cheese. This is close, though there is no garlic and it's a bit miserly with the anchovies: Click. This is closest to Marcella Hazan's dish and also sanctions my vinegar by including a spoonful of wine; as the URL suggests, the site is devoted to Italian witches vs. cooking, though. I'm having trouble copying the link I chose as an example, but in general, Puglia's version includes raisins.
  14. Gorgeous! You know, Hathor, I can credit your recent comments about frying peppers for groceries this week. Beautiful large, long, tapered in bright yellow, and two different varieties of pale green. Will fry them up with onions to serve with Stevarino's purée of dried fava beans.
  15. Gorgeous! This has been a hard year for finding decent artichokes. If packed carefully, they'd be wonderful picnic food.
  16. Wonderfully personal story, Stevarino. * * * Two endings at the same time for fans of "The Sopranos". Ever since my recent trip to a nearby Italian-American grocery store, I find myself intrigued by the relationship between Greek and Italian cooking in the United States. I'd like to learn more about the role that new cultures played in altering the diets of Italian immigrants in addition to other forces we might not be aware of in the development of new hybrid dishes and food practices. We referred to some of these issues in the thread on the Spaghetti Code, but I'm still haunted by the idea of the US Government telling newcomers to stop featuring vegetable dishes in family meals and to incorporate more meat for the sake of nutrition. The role that non-Italians play in appropriating and changing the culinary traditions of this particular diaspora are also interesting. Risotto as a side dish. Focaccia at the dinner table. Paninni sandwiches. Cardoons at Chez Panisse. Lasagna with dried noodles made in every state in the US. But also those who care about traditional food, who help popularize cardoons, make ingredients some of us never encountered while growing up common, etc.
  17. tupac: when you get to any major city/tourist destination in Italy--or international airport--chances are you'll find Plotkin's book in English. In Florence, for example, I'd try Edison's.
  18. P.S. Who knows if there is a general list of all regional sagre (festivals, including ones devoted to local food)? However, this site has useful information for travelers, including food festivals in Italy that it lumps under the category of "Lifestyle": click. Main page on Italy: here.
  19. Pontormo

    Chicken Gizzards

    Never bought them separately, but you may know it's common to use them to make gravy when they arrive inside a bird you intend to roast; just simmer them w the usual aromatics until you get a flavorful broth. Concentrated, the cooled liquid could be used for lots of other things instead of stock. There are also plenty of ways to use gizzards to top pasta, especially when chopped up into bits and combined with chicken livers and other bits of meat such as diced pancetta. Get your hands on Lynne Rossetto Kasper's The Splendid Table or check out her web site to see if recipes are online. * * * Question: anyone know how long they last in a fairly aggressive freezer? I have some scraps, including half a pound of chicken livers leftover from making a ragu fairly early in the spring. Toss?
  20. A copy of Fred Plotkin's latest might come in handy on questions like this. Or PM people who have made inquiries about an upcoming trip to Siciliy yet never reported back. E.g., an inquiry made in the past year about what Sicilian foods to bring home from vacation. Alberto hasn't shut down his blog and he's expressed a love for Sicily repeatedly, so conduct a search for Sicily at Il Forno, though you'll have better luck tracking down pastry and other baked goods such as his entry on Noto which refers to NYTs article by Burros. Re the same town: scroll down for Corrado Costanzo.
  21. As someone less carnivorous without an outdoor grill or smoker, I just want to say that this thread proved nonetheless valuable to read, especially in nudging me to try out something in mind: using some of the underused sumac in my freezer as a spice rub. Thank you. I combined it with a little pimenton, afraid the Spanish powder would overwhelm, and just a little bit of Turbinado sugar, S & P. No brining. Let this sit in fridge for 2 1/2 days before putting it in a slow oven for hours and finishing it off at 500 F as per Bittman's advice, too. No sauce first time around since I like things simple. The thing about the mixture: I think some of the methods of starting with wet, doing the rub and then adding something wet after would have enhanced the tang of the sumac, i.e. with citrus or vinegar. Perhaps the pimenton interferred though the spice didn't strike me as strong. I made sure there was leftover meat since I plan to mix up just a little BBQ sauce with pomengranate molasses (also underused) and lemon. I have some spongey Italian-American bread in the freezer and plan to assemble Soul on a Roll since there's also leftover coleslaw to stuff into a sandwich.
  22. Pontormo

    Rhubarb

    So much better than clay; thank you for this!
  23. Ummm. I believe you. Reminds me of that wonderful swordfish impanata from Sicily, only more saucy. I think the time has come for me to buy lard.
  24. Shaya: I'm so glad you are enjoying Micol Negrin's book, too. I've taken it out of the library countless times during the past year, but think she does a particularly good job on regions that are under-represented. Elie really inspired you well! (I had to add eggplant parm to the other dishes I made, but it's not worth more than to say I liked baking the slices instead of frying them for a change and Foodman's right about pecorino. I still say leftovers tucked into a baguette w lots of chili flakes and extra mozzarella is the ultimate fusion dish.) Short note to clap for the burst of oil-glistening activity at the end of the month, especially for the sleep-deprived man who started this wonderful series. I'd say we all should start saving up for an anniversary potluck high in the Umbrian hills.
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