Tonight we are making pizza… yay!!! I think we’ll make three kinds: 1. Quattroformaggio: we have local pecorino, gorgonzola, fresh mozzarella, and parmesan. 2. “Gourmet Garlic Chicken”: David’s favorite! I have one more chicken breast that needs to be eaten, and lots of garlic & rosemary, along with a bit of chopped red onion and […]
is an ancient grain… This NY Times article gives a good background to it. Most of Italy’s farro is grown in Garfagnana, where we are now! But I’d hardly call this a ‘relatively poor’ region… Just walking down to our village you pass through amazing villas and plantations of olive trees and vineyards. This area […]
It worked! My friend Mike from work, who’s also a chef, suggested I make sun dried tomatoes with the half-kilo I had left from Bagni di Lucca… First I put them in the sun today, then finished them in the oven after baking the torta…
Last week, I bought a kilo of peaches in Bagni di Lucca. Last night I still had over half of them and I thought.. mmmm pie. And then I said, ugh… I hate making pie crust. And my pie crust maker friends aren’t here… What to do with all these peaches? David Lebovitz saves the […]
Bella loved the other night’s chicken so much we did it again. This time I wanted to keep it simpler: we took one breast, pounded it out a little, and filled it with mozzarella di bufala, garlic and fresh basil. Rolled it in beaten egg, then bread crumbs from Bella’s focaccia, mixed with a little […]
Pasta: 100 g white flour 1 egg olive oil, water Bella’s filling: Pecorino Mascarpone Pepper Garlic Basil Mine: Garlic Beets Sage Apple Red Onion Parmesan Pecorino Mascarpone Pepper Salsiccia Toscana Pomodori Vino rosso nostrale Green salad with beets, almonds, sage, peaches, tomatoes Granita di cocomero
The italian yeast I bought turned out to be not exactly what I thought it would be… It’s supposed to be just mixed with the flour and sugar, not with warm water first. So I wasn’t sure what to do. Bakeries in Europe must have some special line on yeast and baking powder because what […]
Bella and I each stuffed our chicken breasts: hers with fresh mozzarella, basil and garlic; mine with beets, almonds, garlic and sage. Then we breaded them with leftover whole wheat breadcrumbs, rosemary and polenta, and baked them in lemon juice and broth. We also revitalized the rice pudding from the other night with a bit […]
Monday Dinner, made possible by a generous donation of eggs from Giuliana (after Bella took blueberry muffins over to her) Lasagna noodles 50 g farina di semola 25 g farina integrale 25 g farina 1 egg, 1 T olive oil, 1 T water Layer with: Tomato-Meat sauce (from Saturday) Ricotta-Garlic-Basil-Red Onion-Egg-Pepper Sauce Stracchino Sauce zucchini […]
Or at least that’s what the dictionary says. Muffins are pretty American, about as unlikely a find in Europe as brownies. But fresh blueberries were on sale (99 euro cents for 125 grams!) and I even found Italian-made bran cereal. The recipe is based on one from epicurious: Mix together: 1 egg 1/4 c sunflower […]