Archive for the ‘food’ Category
no cooking today–
mom’s here!
If you’re looking for What’s Cooking Wednesday, tune in Friday when I’ll be hosting La Buona Cucina Americana . . . and making something American with my mom! She’s here! Woohoo!
But for now, can I interest you in seeing our very first homegrown artichoke? It’s a cross between a normal artichoke and the wild kind, thus the interesting spiky look.
Can you see an unwanted guest? Look closely!
Enjoy your Wednesday my peeps!
La Vucciria Market in Palermo, Sicily
I intended to only write one post combining the markets and gardens of Palermo. When I started it, though, I quickly realized that I can’t. There’s simply too much good stuff to try to cram it all together.
So today won’t be the last Palermonday after all! Today we’ll hit the markets, and next Monday, the gardens, OK? And if you *really* want, perhaps we’ll even explore the Catacombs as well.
So tell me, would you like to see dead people?
Palermo’s markets are famous, and just from what we saw, I have to say–with good reason.
Unfortunately for Cherrye and me, our time in Palermo was limited, so we only had a quick pass through La Vucciria market the morning before we left. The other markets are Capo, Ballarò, and Borgo Vecchio, and then there are tons of little markets, or mercatini, on various days throughout the city.
La Vucciria is split up into food items and then everything else. Here’s a glimpse of part of “everything else”; sorry for the lighting. Didn’t catch the angles of the sunlight well I’m afraid, but you can still get a feel for the streets of the city, right?
There was a lot of nice knock-off stuff that was better quality than at our markets here, and yet I came home with souvenirs from an Indian shop of all places. What can I say? We don’t have any Indians in my village.
The food part was full of lovely sights and smells (except the fish, which doesn’t smell so good). The colors sure were pretty though.
We loaded up on spices but realized later that we should have grabbed some fruit for the train ride home. Lesson learned.
I would go back to Palermo just for the markets, I tell you.
Come back next week for the gardens!
P.S. I should warn my faithful readers that from now until at least early July, I will be cutting back on posting to three times a week. My mom is arriving shortly, and I want to have as much time with her as possible. Woohoo for mom visits!
What’s Cooking Wednesday: Pennette alla boscaiola
Drawing inspiration from Cherrye’s recent Pazzi for Porcini post, this week’s What’s Cooking Wednesday dish is Pennette alla boscaiola, pasta with porcini mushrooms, pancetta, and heavy cream. It’s supposed to have prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) in there too, but I got to the store too late and the slicing machine was already cleaned. Next time.
You should know that P and I both love mushrooms. He loves them so much that he goes out looking for them. He’s brought me itty bitty ones like this and monster ‘shrooms like this:
And on *really* good days, he makes my kitchen table look like this:
All the above photos are from the fall, prime mushroom picking time. For this recipe, I used dried porcini, which are truly lovely, especially since you get the added bonus of using the liquid you used to reconstitute them.
In fact, from the original recipe (in Italian), I cut out the butter and used liquid from the porcini instead. This dish is a *big* winner in our casa. So fast, easy, and delicious . . . a new favorite!
Pennette alla boscaiola
(Penne pasta with porcini, pancetta, and heavy cream)
- Dry pasta (I recommend penne/pennette or tagliatelle/fettucine) for two
- 30 g (about 1 oz) of dried porcini mushrooms
- 1/2 to 2 cups water to reconstitute mushrooms
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 150 g (about 5 oz) of pancetta, diced
- 200 ml (about 3/4 cup) heavy cream
- 50g (about a 1/4 cup) of grated cheese
- Salt to taste
1. About an hour before you’ll start cooking, put dried porcini in bowl and cover them in water.
2. When you are ready to cook, put the pasta water on to boil.
3. Use a fine strainer to drain mushrooms, placing another bowl beneath the strainer to catch the water; you’ll need it. If you want to chop the porcini into smaller pieces, do so now; I just leave them as is.
4. In a pan large enough to hold the pasta as well, heat oil over medium heat and then add onion. Let sauté for a few minutes until starting to turn translucent.
4. Add pancetta and let cook for a minute or two.
5. Add mushrooms, about 6 tablespoons of the porcini water, and salt and let cook on low-medium heat for about 15 minutes. If you see that it’s starting to get dry, add porcini water as needed.
6. In the meantime, prepare the pasta so that it’s still rather al dente (it will cook some more with the cream) and drain.
7. Test porcini mixture for salt (if necessary, add more), and then add pasta to the pan, giving it a few turns with a wooden spoon to combine with the pancetta, mushroom, and onion mixture.
8. Make sure the pan is on low heat and add cream, stirring to combine everything.
9. Sprinkle in cheese and stir until mixed in well.
10. Serve hot with extra grated cheese.
Buon appetito!
what’s cooking wednesday: gluten-free banana pancakes with orange honey sauce
Before we get to the recipe, for those who are still wondering what the photo of the cheese-like substance was in yesterday’s post, Jeff in Puglia got it right–it’s homemade olive oil soap!
Now, the recipe. Remember when I made Gluten-Free Chocolate Coconut Muffins a few weeks ago? I had some almond flour left over so I went looking for recipes for another experimental installment of What’s Cooking Wednesday.
I also wanted to use a banana that was past its prime, and by searching for “almond flour” and “banana,” I found a recipe for Banana Hotcakes with Orange Honey Sauce. I made some adjustments to the recipe, including adding mashed banana to the batter rather than simply setting slices on top of the ‘cakes.
The pancakes *with* the orange honey sauce were really good, and I’ll definitely make them again when I’m in the mood for a breakfast healthier than white flour pancakes and maple syrup (yes I have the latter flown in). These definitely had a different consistency than “normal” pancakes (a bit more grainy and chewy) but that’s to be expected with the change in flour. I was used to it and even enjoying it within two bites.
Honestly though, when I tried one of these without the syrup–um, not so good, but then again, regular pancakes aren’t very tasty without anything added either (at least to me). If for some reason I were going to eat these without syrup, I’d definitely add some sugar to the batter.
Also note that this recipe didn’t make very many pancakes–about six small ones–but *a lot* of sauce. No worries for me on the pancakes as P wasn’t home when I made them. I had plenty for my breakfast.
And the leftover sauce? I used it that afternoon in my tea and then the next day for breakfast with fresh ricotta and more strawberries kind of like this. YUM!
Gluten-free Banana Pancakes with Orange Honey Sauce
Orange Honey Sauce
- 1 cup honey
- Juice and zest of one orange
Pancakes
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 overripe banana, mashed
- 1 small pinch baking soda
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1. Prepare sauce by combining honey, orange juice, and zest in a saucepan and simmer until it’s thickened to syrup consistency. Put through fine sieve before pouring over pancakes. Serve warm.
2. For pancakes, whisk together egg, oil, vanilla, and bananas. Add baking soda and then almond flour a bit at a time until it gets to the consistency of pancake batter. If it gets too thick, add a bit of water or milk.
3. Pour batter in (your preferred) pancake-sized circles onto hot, greased griddle.
4. Cook 2 minutes on first side until you see bubbles on top. Flip and cook another thirty seconds or minute more.
5. Serve warm with orange honey sauce on top.
Buon appetito!
thank heaven for great (italian) neighbors
I’ve been so lucky to have been blessed with great neighbors.
Growing up, Sylvia, the Italian woman next door with four kids of her own, used to bake me a birthday cake *every* year–fancy ones like with a Barbie standing in the middle and stuff.
Even now, she still finds time to send me cards for my birthday and Christmas despite having many, many grandchildren (I’ve lost count!).
Well my buona fortuna continued when I moved here.
I’ve told you about my neighbor Anna Maria before, but I really can’t express how lucky I am to have moved in near her. She is one of the kindest, most generous people I’ve ever known, always giving me something–literally just about every day it’s something new.
Other than the usuals like olive oil, vino, red wine vinegar, lemons, oranges, clementines, and Brasilena, she also supplies me with some special harbingers of the seasons like:
Berrylicious homegrown strawberries and blackberries!
Just look at these gorgeous fragole:
And she also brings me this:
Want a closer look?
Anyone know or care to guess what it is?
(I know some of you know!)
Also, if you have great neighbors you’d like to brag about, do share!
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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