Arancini or Arancine— east coast of Sicily says Arancini– and the Palermo side says Arancine. I will let you fight it out– with whatever name they are so worth making! Arancini or Arancine fried rice balls; looking like small oranges. An arancia is orange in Italian. They are probably the most iconic Sicilian street foods. We had…
Special Pasta with Special Students
I love kitchen gadgets, who doesn’t? When I was on my way to Torino one year, we passed Chiaveri which is one of my favorite towns. I already wrote up the story about my visit to Franco, my master of Corzetti stamps. Everytime I make this recipe, I have remember the trip, what we ate and…
The Florentine- a city- a steak
When I tell the story of how I came to Florence and fell in love, first with Florence and then with a Florentine-( my now husband, Andrea), I probably should also mention the other Florentine in my life. The Steak, called Bistecca alla Fiorentina- the larger than life T-bone steak Florence is famous for. Did…
Home on the Range- Maremma
I had a couple of days off and my husband worked so hard moving me while I was in America, I wanted us to have a little get-away. The weather had finally cleared up and spring was in full bloom, so we decided to head for the beach. How to choose which beach? We could…
The Italian Way – Crostata con Pecorino e Pere
Italians have a way with recipes. I was trained as a pastry chef, but since I learned to make the Pasta Frolla pie crust, it is the only crust I use. Now that I have moved my teaching space to Colle Val D’Elsa, I have new inspirations. While shopping for bread at the local forno,…
Charcutepalooza- February- Salt Cure
do you charcutepalooza? When they announed that the February project was the salt cure, perhaps I went a little wild. I did pancetta, the stesa style, which is most typical in Florence for cooking with. Then the bacon, i did not use pink salt, but did the sugar cure which was in the…
Pancetta Progress- Charcutepalooza
You know you are living in the right place when a sign like this is at the exit of the grocery store, to make sure you know about it. At the Meat Counter you can reserve your pork for salting. The cool air in January is perfect for families to age their own cured pork…
Charcutepalooza- First project- Duck Prosciutto- DONE
I came home from my pizza workshop in Rome with Gabriele Bonci and the first thing I did was to check the duck breasts!!! They have been hanging under the attic and were not ready when I left. They were PERFECT. I adore learning new tricks and the challenges from the Charcutepalozza will be a …