Craig Camp
-
Posts
3,274 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Craig Camp
-
-
Campari shakeratos
Is this like a regular cafe shakerato but with Campari?
Sounds interesting...
Jim
Campari with a dollop of gin - shaken on ice in a martini shaker.
-
Cut fresh ricotta cheese into small chunks.
Interesting. Here in NY, fresh ricotta cheese is rather wet and loose.
Do you ever peel the tomatoes, or is that too French a thing to do?
Here is it just solid enough to stay together if you cut it carefully. When I say chunks it is not as in a firm cheese. Just larger barely solid pieces. As soon as you stir your pasta in the bowl is starts to break up. That is part of the wonderful flavor of the dish.
The way I learned this dish is you leave the skins on so there are actual chunks of tomato to pick up with the pasta. Obviously perfect tomatoes are a must.
-
Craig, I favor an offshoot of your sauce above, but I salt the tomatoes (without the basil) in a colander to make them lose the juices rather than saving them. I then add the basil, pepper and EVOO, and let the whole thing marinate for an hour or so. I then toss 1/4" cubes of buffala and that mixture with angel-hair pasta (fresh or dried), and finish it off with a little fresh-grated Reggie-Parmie. Called Spaghetti alla Checca. This does not suck too bad, either. I will save my tomato juice for you.
This is an adaptation of a recipe shown me by an excellent home cook in Puglia. Sometimes the juice is too good to toss. I don't think you can do it with store bought tomatoes and have never tried. They have to come right off the vine. With the tomatoes I make this with I always end up eating one like an apple when I pick a few. They are still warm from the sun and outrageously good.
I have had the recipe you suggest and love it. Happy to eat it at any time.
-
not as bad as the two most common cardinal sins: rinsing the pasta and putting oil in the pasta water.
...aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
-
I have found that removing the pasta from my water with tongs, rather than straining in a colander, improves the taste. Whatever residual water on the pasta seems to enhance the texture and taste. (I picked this up from the Naked Chef.)
Yes, overdraining pasta is a common mistake.
-
My current favorite:
a bunch of ripe tomatoes right off the vine
a bunch of just picked basil
big dollop of EVOO
chop both the tomatoes and basil together trying not to lose any of the tomato juices and mix with EVOO.
add salt and a good dose of finely ground black or white pepper.
Let set for at least 30 minutes.
Cut fresh ricotta cheese into small chunks.
Grate a substantial amount of reggiano and blend into the sauce until it has a very slight grainy texture. Do not blend it into the sauce until the pasta is almost done.
cook your pasta. I like to use Orecchiette with this dish, but others work well too.
As soon as your pasta is done drain and toss with tomato basil mixture and plate it.
Scatter chucks of ricotta over the top of the pasta and garnish with a whole basil leaf.
Serve with a light, slightly chilled red. Vivace barbera is a good choice on a hot day.
WARNING: do not expect much from this dish with crappy ricotta.
copyright 2002 Vino e Cibo.
-
Craig, Bill & Peter - Most packets of pasta I have seen in Italy have cooking times for "al dente" and also "normale" which is softer to the tooth. Although, I have never eaten pasta cooked "normale" in Italy, does not the word it self suggest that this was the normal practice at some point? Also, given the hugh amount of pasta and different types of pasta is it not possible that some pasta is not best served al dente? Although I dislike it, I imagine that Pinci would be better normale, rather then al dente?
Some brands do include this designation, but not many. As far as I can remember those having that designation are large commercial brands of no particular interest. I have never been served any pasta in Italy that was not roundly criticized by the table if it was the least bit overcooked. I just went over to my cabinet to check and out of the 9 brands of pasta in there at the moment only one has the two cooking times and I would not buy it again.
'al dente' is kind a moving target as it slightly different for different shapes.
Please remember there are a lot of bad cooks in Italy: just fewer than in other places.
One of my current favorite home brands of spaghetti is Spaghetti alla Chitarra from Garofolo in Naples. They recommend 14 minutes and it takes every minute of that to reach the al dente stage. It is packed with flavor and excellent with the uncooked tomato sauces we seem to be making everyday in order to be not overrun with the tomatoes in our garden.
-
Does anyone here like Barolo chinato? I have tried several times to enjoy this; I persevered, I showed real grit but I was defeated.
And I love amari and Campari etc.
I think Barolo Chinato is mainly kept around for reasons of nostalgia. I can think of no other reason.
As you can imagine they only select the finest Barolo to abuse this way.
Perhaps it is a good way to get rid of lousy Barolo. There are a lot of grocery store Baroli that perhaps wood be better with a little china root thrown in. -
WINE: COMMITTEE TO SAFEGUARD DOC AND IGT BRANDS
(AGI) - Rome, Italy, July 29 - The 2003-2008 national committee for DOC and IGT wines has been established: the chairman is Tommaso Zanoletti. "The committee has always - said the undersecretary of agriculture, Teresio Delfino - reply firmly to the needs of our appellation controlle' wines, and will pursue initiatives which are already underway (reform of law 164), for a concrete wine policy". The administration will enhance the committee's tools, in order to meet the demands of the wine sector. (AGI)
292034 LUG 03
COPYRIGHTS 2002-2003 AGI S.p.A.
-
What's a Montengro? I think I want one.
Negronis. Yum.
Montenegro is a brand of amaro.
-
In Liguria this year, the older-Italian men were drinking a mixture of Campari, Amperol and prosecco (forget the name, something to do with Italian for "Light"). Seemed like a strange choice, but better then Cynar at least.
Campari AND Aperol? Never saw it. Gotta try it.
-
What's this Cynar hating trend.
I love it with just a splash of soda and a orange twist on the rocks. -
In Liguria this year, the older-Italian men were drinking a mixture of Campari, Amperol and prosecco (forget the name, something to do with Italian for "Light"). Seemed like a strange choice, but better then Cynar at least.
I'm surprised to hear that they drink this in Liguria. When we have been in Venice, this was served to us as a typical Venetian drink, and they called it a "Spritz". One year we actually carried a bottle of Aperol back to the US from Venice, it is so good!! (That bottle was heavy-- and delicate!!)
Aperol is a great product. I love it with prosecco as an aperitif. The lovely orange flavor with the bubbles is a wonderful start to a meal. It is also very low in alcohol so your palate stays alive.
For some reason it is not sold in the USA.
-
Craig... where do you think things like Campari and Cynar (which I prefer to Campari) fall? Would you consider them amari? Or, if not, then what are they?
I love Campari and drink it all sorts of ways. My favorite at home is to mix it with cheap prosecco. I also drink Aperol a lot because of the wonderful orange flavors.
My good friend Roberto drags me out at least once a week for Campari shakeratos which are guaranteed to pump up both your mood and appetite.
My Cynar bottles go slower but I still like it very much. I usually drink it on the rocks with a wedge of orange.
For whatever reason these are not considered amari, but they are certainly in the family.
Italy is a great place to drink.
-
Here's another story idea, Craig: wander around Friuli trying all the home-brewed grappas. When we spent 10 days near Trieste a few years back it seemed like everybody had their own recipe for Italian moonshine.
I did this once, but I forgot where I put my notes - and my car.
My neighbor upstairs makes his own grappa and this year it is damn good. Actually better than you get at a bar if you just order grappa bianca. I have not gone blind yet so he has improved it a lot from his first effort.
-
A repeated question, but i'm still curious - where does Campari fit in all this? Friends currently traveling in Italy have found a Campari and soda indispensible pre-dinner. Although I did try a few times, I couldn't get past the bitterness. Stuck with Bianco and ice, slice of blood orange. 'Tis the sweet tooth talking, there.
More on herbal elixirs, however - for a good, ginger kick, try Becherovka - a Czech drink, comes in a funky green bottle...good for tummies. Also makes a good cocktail, called a Beton - shot of Becher, fizzy water and a lemon slice.
Campari is not an amaro although it is certainly bitter. As far as I know it is only consumed as an aperitif. Italians love bitter drinks. There are a bunch of bitter soft drinks too.
-
Great overview of the big amari producers, but what is the discussion doing in wine???
regards,
trillium
Amaro follows wine. They are intricately intertwined in the universe.
-
If you have several French wines that you don't like, you would say these are French wines I don't like. But a few tastes of New York wines that you don't like will eliminate the entire category from consideration.
To compare the Finger Lakes to France is well ...
My first trip to taste in the Finger Lakes was in 1977 and I had the please to spend an entire day with Dr. Frank. I did not have enough cash with me to buy wine so he gave me two cases and told me to send a check when I got home. I have been back over ten times since then.
Yes there are occasionally very good rieslings that are produced there, but world class ones are the exception not the rule.
You say one of the problems with finger lakes wines is that there is a lot of crap being made there. In this regard they can join every winemaking region on the planet.
-
Just to add another point of data: different brands of pasta vary widely as to the accuracy of the recommended cooking times. I find, for example, that De Cecco pasta is almost always perfect if I have it out of the water and into the sauce 3 minutes before the recommended cooking time, and off the heat 1 minute before the recommended cooking time. I Latini, on the other hand, has ridiculously short recommended cooking times and I find that I often have to almost double the recommended time.
Ditto for me on De Cecco and Latini.
It is all about taste and tasting, but the overcooked pasta loses taste like day old bread pirate.
-
For years I followed the the culinary wisdom dished out by endless cooks on TV and in books, I slavishly timed my dry pasta cooked at home to the dictates of the package instructions. Strangely I was never happy with with the results. The pasta was too firm. I used big pots and a huge overabundance of water. So about a year ago I decided to add 30 to 50% to the recommended cooking times and ended up with tender but not mushy pasta. So I'm culinarily incorrect. The pasta is undoubtedly not "al dente"; too soft to be called that. Rice and risotto next!
You of course have a right to your taste preference. However the al dente concept is mostly about taste. Pasta that is not overcooked has more flavor and is more interesting with the sauce. Perhaps your palate has adjusted to the overcooked pasta served in the USA. I assure you if you give it a chance and let your palate wake up, that al dente pasta is a much better marriage with an excellent sauce. Also you should be finishing your pasta cooking time in the pan with the sauce not in the water.
Sometimes there is a reason for rules.
As far a cooking times on packages they are very useful in giving you an idea of when the pasta should be done. Of course taste is the only sure method. However the same brand in Italy will have a recommended cooking time of about half of what it does in the USA because the additives required by the USA makes the pasta harder and it takes longer to cook. This is a useful bit of information. Pasta cooking times are useful reference points.
-
I've always thought that this was one of the best merlot wines in California year after year.
-
2/17/03
$11 -- TJ Points = 84
I popped this bottle open after finishing off another bottle with bolognese sauce.
Greener in the glass than in the bottle, but maybe it was just the lighting. It seemed more pale yellow in the bottle. Anyway, the nose reminded me of peach blossoms and pears. It tasted of peaches and melons, but really only faintly so. The acidity was more in check with this wine, and thus it seemed better balanced than the Ruffino Orivieto Classico I'd just had. A better wine, but not significantly so. A decent enough simple Italian white, but there are better wines out there for $11, let me tell ya.
$11 bucks for this swill from the coop with a label slapped on it is a rip off. Wines like this sell for 3 Euro in Italy. I really don't like this wine.
-
-
TDG: Wine Camp: Amore and Amaro
in Wine
Posted
Martini Bitter is just a Campari rip off. Yes it is much cheaper but is basically unavailable to those who live outside of Italy. Neither the Martini Bitter or Barbero bitter are Amari.
Brands like those mentioned in my article are at the pinnacle of Amaro production, unlike Mondavi or McDonald's so I do not understand your reference.