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Category Archives: Seasoning
Katie or Kate’s Great Legacy
The world of food and cookery writing lost a hero a few weeks ago. Much saddened as we are to lose a friend, we lost Katie’s writing about a decade earlier when she retired from the mainstream. In what was to … Continue reading
Posted in Seasoning, Sensory Cooking, Simple Food, Stocks and Stock Making, Subsidised Food Production, Techniques, Terroir, Watercress
Tagged Anthony Blake. Cuckfield, Cookery Writers, Daily Telegraph, Fideua, Food Writers, Katie Stewart, Le Cordon Bleu. Avenue Foch, Longhouse Kitchens, Longhouse Workshops, paella, Risotto, Roll and Diamond Cutting Chinese style, Simpson's-in-the-Strand, The Guardian, The Times, Watercress Dinners, Watercress in Hampshire
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Fiddleheads and Pig Cheeks
Friday morning and up well before 06h00 to prepare and cook Pig’s Cheeks so we have special dinner when our boys and a school friend come home tonight – and we return from a very cold East Sussex. Follow the thread and … Continue reading
Posted in Alcohol, Alliums, Kitchen Tips, Memories, Seasoning, Simple Food
Tagged Bracken, Braising, Cartouche, Cornichons, Cottage Pie, Fern Fronds, Fiddlehead Ferns, Katie Stewart RIP, Lancashire Hot Pot, Les Joues de Cochons, Les Joues de Porc, Maine, Nicotine, Oregano, Pickled Red Cabbage, Pickled Walnuts, Pickles, Pig Cheeks, Sauteing, Shepherd's Pie, Wild Sicilian Origano
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Feta that’ll not Make you Feta’r
You all know the expression in English ‘as different as chalk and cheese’ – I’d reckon it must have been dreamed up to describe Feta cheese. Most Feta on sale is one-dimensional, chalky, overly saline and utterly pointless. The original barrel-aged Feta, … Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology and Food, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Citrus Fruit, DOP, Food of the Ancients, IGP, Ingredients, Origins of our food, Real Italy, Salad, Salad and Digestion, Seasoning, Simple Food, Southern Italy
Tagged Al-dente, Ancient Rome, Barrel-aged Feta Cheese, Cretan Feta, Cretan Lifestyle, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome, Farro, Mediterranean Diet, Mint, Neal's Yard Dairy, Pelopennese, Rosie Barron, Sicilian new season Tomatoes, The Roman Army, Thesaloniki, Unwaxed Sicilian Lemons
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‘Crudo’. The Word to Look For in the Market
March and April are a joy across mainland Europe. After the winter months of living off root vegetables and top crops imported from the Southern Hemisphere, here we go again with our own. Blue Collar Gastronauts wear a particularly broad … Continue reading
Posted in Alliums, Basil, Black Peppercorns, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Farmers Markets, Food travel, French Markets, French supermarkets, No Compromise Shopping, Nonna's Cooking, Real Italy, Risotto, Salad, Salad and Digestion, Seasoning, Southern Italy, Spanish Cooking, supermarkets
Tagged Asparagus - white or green, Asperges a Liegeoise, Baby Artichokes, Broad Beans, Crudo, Hop Shoots, New Season Produce, Paella Verde, Peas, Petits-Pois, Pistou, Primeurs, Risi e Bisi, Tourangelle, Violet tipped Asparagus
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Judgement Day at Genoa’s Palazzo Ducale
Throughout my life I’ve experienced some lucky breaks. You could say I am blessed – and just back from Mass in a tiny church on the seafront in Genoa, I feel that way too. I have been invited to be a … Continue reading
Posted in Alcohol, Alliums, Basil, Best Pasta, Blue Collar Gastronomy, DOP, Food Scams, Food travel, Kitchen Must-Have, Ligurian, No Compromise Shopping, Norway, Origins of our food, Real Italy, Rice, Risotto, Seasoning
Tagged Arrigo Cipriani, Campari, Carrara Mortar, Cross of St George, DOP Basilico Genovese, Espresso, Farinata, Focacia, Gen', Genoa, Harry's Bar, Il Genovese Ristorante, Ligurian Basil, Ligurian Olive Oil, Mafia, Mercado Orientale, Palatifini, Palazzo Ducale, Pestle & Mortar, Pesto al Mortaio, Pesto alla Genovese, Pesto Rossi, Prosecco, Prosecco con Bitter, Riviera dei Fiori, trenette, Trofie, Venice, Via Sottoripo, World Pesto Championships
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Confit Comfort for A-Star Cooks
Be honest, how often do you have the food almost ready for the table and you taste the sauce – and there’s something missing, like a mis-fire in a finely tuned performance car. I know about that, I have a … Continue reading
Lemons are the New Salt
Modern day Greeks and Turks use fresh squeezed lemon juice to season their food – the Ancients didn’t have them. It’s as hard to imagine their food without lemons as it is to think of Italy without the tomato, or Spain without the … Continue reading