salutistagolosa

Hi all, I think the best ossobuco recipe is the one from here, which is as close as the real thing as you'll ever get (as you know, the traditional way to have ossobuco is on top of saffron risotto). Unfortunately it is in Italian, but the pictures are self explanatory. The first thing I would add to what was written above is that tomato is very rarely found. In In Italy we generally cook it in an alluminium pan. The "standard" way to prepare it is to flour the shanks lighlty, put onions and carrots in a mixture of both oil and butter to soften, then remove them and add the veal, browing it on both side. Then add the white wine, salt, white pepper, a tad of tomato concentrated paste, then the carrots and onions. Turn the heat to minimum, cover, and let cook: they are ready when the meat falls off the bone. Check regularly to make sure it does not stick to the pan, addina a spoon or two of stock if needed. Three minutes before serving add the gremolada (crucial), as indicated above, cover, and serve on top of risotto. We fight over the marrow of the bone

do you read Italian? if not, you may just skim this for restaurant names. These two posts refer to restaurants around Carso: http://www.gennarino.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13509 and http://www.gennarino.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13536 at any rate the names of the places visited are 1) ristorante Gruden, San Pelagio (http://www.myresidence.it/ita/ita_1.htm) 2) Krizman a Monrupino/Repen (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Albergo+Ristorante+Krizman+Repen&sll=45.719814,13.799901&sspn=0.013663,0.038624&ie=UTF8&z=15) 3) Trattoria/Gostilna Suban di Ternova Piccola (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=suban+trieste&ie=UTF8&ll=45.768002,13.714972&spn=0.027302,0.077248&z=14&iwloc=D) I have not been here, but I can vouch for the two guys who reccomend them. In addtion, apparently Max in Opicina is terrific, too. In Sauris/Zahre they produce excellent IgP prosciutto, and of course San Daniele. Apparently Cormòns is well known for wine.

If I understand your implication well, your best bet would be a place like Spaghetti house! But if things are not as bad, then for me it must be Latium, Latium all the way! I find Zafferano is higly overrated: nice room, but the food is really unimaginative (and incidentally, you would never find it in a michelin star in Italy). I think Latium is the best Italian in London. Then you may also want to try Semplice and Locanda Locatelli (while I would stay well clear of Refettorio, sampled just a couple of days ago). Locatelli is definitely more traditional that either Semplice of Latium, although to an Italian it feels slightly "passé".Via Condotti is also ok, but probably somehwat below these, at least for me.

Yes, Giuseppe Tentori, as noted on Boka's website. Their menu sounds great... ← I checked out their webpage, and is one ofe the very few ones without prices (at least, I could not find them): should I worry? i am going to Chicago in a couple of days, and I am tempted by Boka among others...

I bet you have solved the riddle by now, but just in case you have not: in Italy we classify flour by the extraction percentage: so you have wholewheat, then 2, then 1, then 0 and lastly 00, the more refined. This is what you would use for cakes, or pasta, but also fine bread and rolls. However, refining is one thing, proteins quite another, so there can be low gluten 00 and high gluten 00. The latter is what you would use for e.g. panettone and pandoro, that need a long fermentation times, while the former is what you would use for crostata and biscotti. If you want to be more precise, in Europe in general and in Italy in particular the thing to look for are the W and P/L ratios.I've expanded a bit more on these terms here. You should feel free to ask for the details, as any good "mulino" would send you the technical sheet for each of their flours.

if it is not too late: Latium in Berners street, has lunch at a steal at 15.50 for two courses and £19.50 for three. At dinner, two courses at 24.50, and three courses at 28.50, including canapes.

Hi Alex, I have been at N.12 and it is not bad at all! if you are interested, here are some impressions

Crostata. I've got some lovely quince jam that is just crying to be put into a crostata. oh well, I guess you are done by know, oatherwise I would have suggested 200 g flour 100 g butter 30 g sugar one egg I hope I am not breaking any rules, but if you want to check out a rather remarkable technique to work the dough so that it develops as little gluten as possible, I suggest you have a look at this link: Maurizio Santin It is in italian, but what matters are the pictures and above all the videos. The dough is one of Maurizio Santin's recipes for pasta frolla, which starts with butter at room temperature.

couldn't agree more: the idea is, make a sauce as you would for a pasta, only keep it with more moisture, and then use it alternating it to your pasta layers, adding either parmesan, or mozzarella, or bechamel (or combinations of the above). One of my favourites is with artichokes (no tomato). Juast have fun. And, unless your sheets are ultrathin, I would too recommend htat you boil your pasta first.

sorry hathor, what do you need it for, cookies or do you want to make a crostata with it?

sorry hathor, what do you need it for, cookies or do you want to make a crostata with it?

really savouring this, but after reading the whole thread, feels quite a bit of a let down... very very useful, though, as usual

Hi, you must try il pocho: it is about 40 minutes drive from Erice (maybe less), going towards Palermo. Spectacular views from the terrace over to teh sea, I suggest going in the evening. You cannot choose the menu, but they will tell you before hand what is on offer. If you happen to go on the cuscus nigth, it is a real treat - and on the morning of the cus cus night, you can see how it is done (by hand) in Marilu's (the owner) kitchen. Still have fond memories of my various visits last summer...

noted: next yer it si goign to be ours well, I would not want to put you off too much. The cooking is fine, if you can stand the attitude of the manager (and maybe he just did not like us)

I can suggest a nice restaurant called "Il Sole": one Michelin star, seriously good. Only problem, it is not actualy in town, you'll need a taxi. The contact details are Antica Locanda del Sole, Via Lame, 65 40013 - Trebbo di Reno, Castel Maggiore (BO) Tel: +39 051 6325381 Tel: 051 6325298 Bang in the centre a very reasonable trattoria is La Cesarina.

ehm... you mean these?

many many thanks!

hi, sorry if this is very late, but I am a newcomer. I have three quick questions on the beautiful loaves of the middle section of the post. 1) when you say, after the first autolyse phase "9.00 am Add salt, and knead gently on a flour-dusted work surface for 1 – 2 minutes. Cover and leave for 1 hour. 10.00 am Repeat above 11.00 am Repeat above" do you mean that in both the "repat above" phases you actually re-knead the dough? I am asking because jackal10 mentions "folding" rather than kneading. 2) loaves should bake first at 220 covered in aluminium: then there is a reference to a note, but I could not find it. Did you mean that you have to put a square of aluminium foil on top of the loaves to prevent burning? 3) then they should cook for a further 30 mins at 190. So this makes it a total of 70 mins per 800g loaf: is this really what you meant? I wonder solely because I have never dared to cook my similarly sized loaves for more than 45 minutes, but of course I am very willing to try longer if it is better! Many thanks!

By the way, I too like your blog. I've cut and pasted many, many well-written suggestions from you into my "Bolzano" and "Trento" files! Thanks. ← I think I am going to blush big time

Hi sunbeam, hope i did not sound too aggressive, but you see I have a problem with the Italian restaurants in the UK, above all with their perceptions: it is mostly the fault of countless anonymous places, so that as you mentioned above it seems almost impossible to have "fine dining" and "Italian" go together. But even here in London it can be done, thankfully it is done in some places, but still I have the feeling that many restaurant critics do have a problem with chefs venturing beyond carbonara (ok, I am exaggerating a bit here), and are all to happy for them to stick to grilled sausage as "authentic" italian fare (which, frankly, it ain't). You see, I have been living in London for about 15 years, and being not too bad in the kitchen myself, I always refused point blank to go to Italian restaurants: "why pay such ridiculous amounts when I can do as well at home?" was my thinking. Then I was dragged to Latium, and it all changed: the flair, the lightness of touch, the creativeness. To give you an idea, he served us a buffalo ricotta mousse with candied artichokes: sublime! well, I am so glad you like Latium, too, I am so utterly fond of what the chef can do and how the all operation works. ok, I guess enough of advertising, too

uhu sunbeam, you really risk to get me going I could not disagree more, though I admit that on average Italian restaurants here (in the UK I mean) lack that bit more adventurousness that one can find in italian restaurants in Italy: it seems to me that expecially restaurant critics tend to have an idea of Italian food which is definitely not up to date, but has the unfortunate effect of conditionaing chefs... enough of my personal gripe! But as for good food, in the St. James area I can suggest two places to eat well (and no, I would not recommend Franco's either), Semplice and a little further east Latium. I find Via Condotti also reasonable.

you definitely read me correctly - and the guy at "due spade" was soo very pushy! I wish I knew his name, too, though I am pretty sure we are talking about the same chap. Anyhow, if you happen to go back, you'll be able to check, as the one I am talking about has his face on big posters outside the restaurant in some kind of publicity stunt for his place - O am not sure he is going to be a great success in soliciting customers... /glad you like the blog!

Sorry, I didn't want to make corrections on your posts. I just browsed my Italian cookbooks for a recipe for frigerelli and didn't find any. Just the one I mentioned. The recipe neapoletana "friarielli con salsicce" and that's fried broccoletti with sausages. I did a Google search and I found it. Here it is the answer ← yes, regional variations just drive everybody's crazy: so, as far as I know in Campania, "friarelli" refer to the green peppers above in summer, and to broccoli in winter! In Abruzzo they are also called "friggitelli", again from "friggere"/to fry (generally deep fry). I think pimientos del padron are much smaller than friggitelli, and shaped a bit different.

wow, that's the most useful artichoke-related video i've ever seen. ← really glad you like it! That (geenarino, I mean) is actually a pretty good site (I declare my interest, I am a moderator there), pity it is in Italian...