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Category Archives: Best Pasta
Liguria: Plotkin’s Paradise, Panizza’s Pesto
Paradise is a word never to be employed lightly, it being too special to be devalued by mis-use. I’ve been in touch with a man who uses the ‘paradise’ word with every last gram of passion and meaning that it is due - and I … Continue reading
Posted in Basil, Best Pasta, Coffee, DOP, DOP Basilico Genovese, Food travel, Genoa, Il Genovese Restaurant, Ligurian, Memories, Mercato Orientale, Pesto alla Genovese, Pesto alla Genovese, Real Italy, Terroir, Veal, Vitellone
Tagged 'Il Genovese' on Via Galata, 'Recipes from Paradise', Basil, Brown and Company, Byron, Camogli, Charles Dickens, Cinqueterre, DH Lawrence, DOP Basil, Fred Plotkin, La Spezia, Little, M&S Deli's, Mercato Orientale, Pesato alla Genovese, Pesto Rossi, Roberto Panizza, Shelley, The Gulf of Poets
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Praise be, where praise should be
When an English actress called Rachel who chooses to live in Rome contacted me yesterday for my preferred way to dress puntarelle little did I know there’d be a chain reaction. Puntarelle is a deliciously bitter tasting leaf adorned with what look like … Continue reading
Posted in Alliums, Anchovies, Basil, Best Pasta, Black Peppercorns, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Chicken, Faella, Fish, Food of the Ancients, Genoa, Pesto alla Genovese, Real Italy, Risotto, Stocks and Stock Making
Tagged Anchovy Fillets, Brocolli, EVOO, Faella Pasta, Garlic Cream, Lemons, Pestle & Mortar, Sicilian Sea Salt, Spaghetti
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This Lent’s Seeming +40 Days
I am not a man alone in feeling the Lent just past seemed to run for more than 40 days and nights. Friends who denied themselves of their favourite indulgences were unanimous in remarking Lent 2013 seemed longer and so harder … Continue reading
Posted in Alcohol, Basilicata, Best Pasta, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Cocktails, Dry Martini, IGP, Lenten traditions, Real Italy
Tagged 40 Days Fasting, Carre d'Agneau, Chabichou, Chaource, Confits for Cheese, Fasoldo, Fried Quail Eggs, Gallucci & Gilmour, Gorgonzola Dolce, IGP Fagioli di Sarconi, Lent, Lindt Conching, Lindt Easter Bunnies, Lucania, Martini Cocktail, Mosto, New York University, Peppe Zullo, Prof Marion Nestle, Puglia, Quince Confit from Lucullus, Turkish Honey
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‘Al Dente’ can become ‘Al Dante’
‘Al Dente’ must be two of the most misunderstood words in the cooking world. Italians talk noisily and knowingly about their pasta and risotti having to be ‘al dente’ to be perfect. Some outside Italy even talk of vegetables being cooked ‘al … Continue reading
Posted in Best Pasta, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Cipriani, Classic Rice Dishes, IGP, Latest Trends, Latini, Pastificio G De Martlino, Real Italy, Rice, Risotto, Sensory Cooking
Tagged 'Al Chiodo', Abruzzo, Al-dente, Antonietta Kelly, Beatrice Ughi, Bronx, Bronze Dies, Cipriani Pasta, Dante's Inferno, Faella, Frascati, Gragnano, Gustiamo, Gustiblog, Italian Trade Centre, Jo Wennerholm, Joy Davies' Noodles and Pasta, Latini Pasta, Pasta Making, Pastificio Di Martino, Pistoia, Rome
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Ambassadors with Molto Gusto
Let me share with you a little known secret. In the lower ground floor of a fine townhouse in one of London’s most exclusive squares, there is a tiny restaurant which completely changes its theme near monthly. Two flags hang above … Continue reading
Posted in Alcohol, Basil, Best Pasta, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Ligurian, New Chefs, Nonna's Cooking, Origins of our food, Real Italy, Rice, Simple Food, Southern Italy, The Moors, Wine Making and Viticulture
Tagged Albergo's, Carlo Presenti, Culatello, Farinata, Gelati, Genoa, Italian Cook Schools, Italian Cultural Institute, Italian Kitchen, Italian Provinces, Italian Regions, Liguria, Ligurian Olive Oils, Ligurian Wines, Nino Bergese School (Genoa), Over-run American style Ice Cream, Pesto alla Genovese, Pinoli, Ragu, Ravioli, Salsa di Noci, Sicily, Tocco, Trofie, Via Sotto Ripa
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There’s ‘Pesto’ and there’s ‘Salsa’
Back in Genoa for the shortest 24 hour pit-stop, I fitted in so much stuff. I was there mostly to talk tuna – posh, top end tuna c/o of my local interpreter and fixer, friend and architect, Sheila Opezzi. This is tuna which we’ll … Continue reading
Posted in Aubergine, Basil, Best Pasta, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Cicchetti, DOP, Fish, Harry's Bar, Ligurian, Pigeoneau, Real Italy, Salad, Terroir, The Food Business
Tagged Aperol Spritz, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Borlotti Beans, Carloforte, Ciccheti, DOP Basilico alla Genovese, Ersatz Pesto, Farinata, Genoa, Gustiamo, Liguria, Lord Byron, Mercata Orientale, Pesto Rossi 1947, Prosecco, Ristorante Il Genovese, Sotto Rippo, Via Galata, Via XX Septembre
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Love Apples, Fakery and Greed
When the tomato was first brought back from the New America’s to Spain – and nearly a century later diplomatically ‘gifted’ to Naples by the Spanish Court - it was thought to be highly decorative, but poisonous. It was a daring courtier who … Continue reading
Posted in Basil, Best Pasta, Black Peppercorns, Blue Collar Gastronomy, DOP, French Markets, IGP, Ingredients, Nonna's Cooking, Real Italy, Simple Food, Southern Italy, supermarkets, The Food Business
Tagged Basilico, DOP San Marzano Tomatoes, Home Grown Tomatoes, Love Apples, Mouli-Legumes, Mount Versuvius, Naples, Passata, Pizza, Pomodoro, San Marzano tomatoes, Sarnese-Nocerino, Sugo, Supermarket Chillers
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