Certain recipes bring me back in time, to cooking in Andrea’s mom’s kitchen. Tina was great. She was a simple but fabulous cook and I learned a lot from her and her sister Vivetta who owned a restaurant at the sea. I do several of her recipes often and the Tuscan fried baby artichokes are…
Search Results for: artichokes
Out of the Kitchen into the World- Sicilian Artichokes
I began my culinary professional life in the kitchen of a 5 star hotel in San Francisco, the Stanford Court Hotel. They were open to training me for the position when I told them I wanted to be a pastry chef. While traveling, I always found a job in a restaurant, either waiting tables or…
Artichokes- Leaf to Stalk
I hate waste. We often talk about nose-to-tail cooking meat, but as an ex-vegetarian, often what we clean away from a vegetable is wasted. Last spring, while cleaning fava beans, the bag of the pods was much larger than the bowl I had of the tiny fava beans. I began to do research. In one…
Leo’s Artichokes
I adore shopping at Leo Piazzesi’s stand in the Mercato Centrale. He carries only a few products, all displayed as if at Tiffany’s, each tomato shining, melons cut open for tasting, their profume calling out “Assaggiami…taste me” and the season’s best. Right now, I go to Leo for carciofi, artichokes, layed out like rare flowers on…
Artichokes: The Italian Way
I cannot tell you how excited I am at the market in Spring in Italy. We have so many incredible seasonal treats which are all at their peak. Often people are surprised at the flavors of the food in Italy. I think in the USA often our food is grown in greenhouses and sent miles…
Keeping Kitchen- Artichokes part 2
Once you have let the artichokes sit overnight in vinegar, remove them and let them sit for a day to drain, upside down, on a plate. When they are dry, place then in a jar and cover with olive oil. It’s important to leave the open to remove any air in the jars. Hit the…
Keeping Kitchen- Artichokes
When shopping at the market, as I mentioned, we first enjoy all the the seasons best fresh. As the season goes on, then prices start to drop and we think about buying in quantity and putting up the excess for another season. I saw the first tiny “baby” artichokes at the market yesterday. Usually I…
Leo’s Artichokes
For years, the central market, San Lorenzo, was my home away from home. I was there daily, shopping and picking up recipes from the vendors and when I could, eavesdropping on the people while they shopped, listening to how they ordered, what they ordered and how they were going to cook it. Normally when you…