Archive for January, 2013

Screpelle ‘mbusse – Crepes in broth

Posted January 26, 2013 By Adri


Screpelle 'mbusse


Abruzzesi have a predilection for crepes. They appeared in our region around 1798, during the French occupation, and have remained part of our cuisine ever since. Crepes, called screpelle or scripelle, turn up in scrumptious timballi (timbales), as wrappers (instead of pasta) in cannelloni, and folded around dessert mousses and souffles.

Food and Memories of Abruzzo by Anna Teresa Callen


Some things just say Abruzzo, and this is one of them – light crespelle, filled with a combination of Parmigiano and Pecorino cheeses, rolled and set in a bowl of chicken broth. There are a lot of happy accidents in the world of food and beverages. There’s puff pastry where the chef forgot the butter and added it at the last moment, and voila, my favorite pastry was born. Or the Negroni sbagliato born of barman Mirko Stocchetto’s mixing error – the Milanese barman added Prosecco instead of gin while building his patron’s Negroni. Thank the God of Drink for that one. Read more… »

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I Opened the Window and in Flew Enza

Posted January 14, 2013 By Adri

Or how to feed a fever

 

I had a little bird, and its name was Enza
I opened the window, and in-flew-enza.

Children’s skip rope rhyme, circa 1918

 

Flu season is upon us. No doubt about it. Just look at the CDC Weekly Influenza Report, your workplace or your kid’s classroom and you’ll be convinced. While nowhere near as severe as the great Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919, which killed an estimated 20 to 40 million people worldwide, this year’s flu is nothing to sneeze at, so to speak.

 

Beeton Cover Page

 

Beeton Invalid CookeryThis is a bit like the “Invalid Cookery” chapter out of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, but where in the mid-nineteenth century the esteemed Isabella Beeton recommended beef tea, today’s common wisdom dictates soups based on brodo di pollo – chicken broth. I grew up hearing that chicken soup was good for what ailed you, and science has proven it true. So get a head start on the flu season and stock your freezer with several quarts of brodo di pollo.

A word about chicken broth: I’ll say unequivocally that homemade is best. You can control the flavor, and you know exactly what it contains. If you don’t have a personal favorite of your own, click here for mine. Of the many commercial brands available Stock Options* is now my favorite. It comes in 8 and 16 ounce tubs and is in the frozen section at the market. Its flavor is light and clean, and not at all salty. For boxed and canned versions, I can recommend Swanson Certified Organic Chicken broth. It is supplied in a 32 ounce container.

This trio of light broth based soups is perfect for someone in need, and with brodo in your freezer you are halfway there. The decorated pasta squares in the Quadrucci in brodo, will lift the spirits of any flu sufferer. The second, Zuppa Pavese is a meal in itself – toasted bread topped with an egg and Parmigiano and set floating in a pool of hot broth, complete nutrition at its simple, yet satisfying best. For a cooked egg soup, try Stracciatella, light broth brimming with egg. Keep these in your recipe file. Like the Girl Scout motto says: Be prepared.

 

 

Quadrucci in Brodo

Quadrucci in brodo

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Brown Butter Hazelnut Madeleines – French cakelets with an Italian Accent

Posted January 11, 2013 By Adri

Madeleines


I can hear it now. What’s a French cookie doing in a site devoted to Italian food? Well, the answer is they are good, and I was having a craving, and so I am sharing. Besides, with almond flour from Piemonte and Frangelico, these Madeleines speak with an Italian accent. These small cakelets baked in shell shaped molds have a place of honor in culinary and literary history. They made the city of Comercy famous and Marcel Proust immortalized them in his “episode of the madeleine” in Remembrance of Things Past. Read more… »

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