Tag: italian

Two fun food posts that might surprise you

Here are two food posts that might surprise you as much as they surprised me. They were also fun to read.

First up is a piece where the writer confesses that everything he thought he knew about Italian food was wrong. Not just a few things about Italian food, either, but plenty of things. Second is a piece on how all those secret family recipes passed down across generations are often just copied from common places like the back of food packaging and other common places!

I liked the Italian piece because it conformed to my belief that food culture is much more fluid and vaguely defined than some like to state. And that doesn’t just go for Italian food.

As for handed down recipes, ask yourself: how unique can that cake recipe or that cookie recipe be? Sure there are some rare ones, and maybe your gramma’s famous dessert is one of those. Or maybe you just have a sentimental attachment to something she copied from the back of a box. And that’s ok. 😊

Friday night cocktail: the negroni. A classic

I’ve become enamored with negronis these days! The 5 pound negronis at Brutto sealed the deal. The crimson cocktail has pushed aside a martini as my go to cocktail (though I still love a good martini, and a sazerac, and a G&T on hot days, and French 75s let’s not forget them).

The recipe for a negroni couldn’t be simpler:

  • 1 ounce gin
  • 1 ounce Campari
  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth
  • Garnish: orange peel

For me, the garnish really makes a difference. That hint of orange. As does having it ice cold on the rocks. Delicious.

Over at uncrate they have more to say on it, based on this book:

It’s an easy drink to start a love affair with. Thanks to Brutto and the Art Counsel for that!

(Top image is mine: I took it at Brutto. Second image from a link to uncreate. Recipe from liquor.com)

Bon Appétit pays homage to red sauce restaurants

Bon Appétit has a rich list of articles and photos paying homage to red sauce restaurants in America. You likely know this type of joint. It has:

The oversize portions. The red-and-white-checked tablecloths. A carafe of the house red. Old-school Italian-American restaurants, a.k.a. red sauce joints, are the kind of institutions you’ll find, with very few deviations, in just about any city in America. But as we discovered upon reaching out to dozens of writers, chefs, and celebrities, these restaurants are about a lot more than a plate of penne alla vodka. Whether or not you’re Italian, red sauce likely means something to you—about family, or home, or history, or politics, or class, or citizenship, or selfhood, or otherness, or all the above, or a million other things. And that’s what this package is all about. Welcome to Red Sauce America.

For a feast of this type of dining, see here: Welcome to Red Sauce America – Bon Appétit. 

 

The easiest of minestrone recipes is…

.. this: Minestrone Soup Recipe – Bon Appétit Recipe | Bon Appetit.

Purests would argue it isn’t minestrone at all. Let’s say it is in the style of a good minestrone, and it opens you up to make it with whatever you have and whatever you feel like.

This recipe calls for Sambal Oelek. If you don’t have it, but you have sriracha or chili-garlic sauce, then you are in business. (For a good run down on how each of those three sauces differ, see this.)

Enjoy!

4 p.m.: Wednesday risotto recipes

Risotto had (has still?) a reputation of being difficult. You do have to attend to it, but otherwise it is quite easy. If anything, I find tending to a risotto relaxing, slowly adding to it, stirring it, tasting it. I highly recommend it.

If you haven’t made it, or you want some new ideas, here some recipes to get started. I really liked this Caprese risotto recipe.

A small tip: when adding the garlic, I also added some diced red onion and sliced cooked sausage. I also used spicy vegetable sauce instead of tomato juice, and around 1 tbsp of dried basil as I was adding the liquid.

Here’s a number of other risotto recipes I came across that look appealing: Classic parmesan risotto, Seafood saffron risotto with fennel, Porcini-mushroom risotto, Cheat’s orzo risotto with olives and feta, Asparagus and brown-rice risotto

And if you have left over risotto, then you want to consider making this: Crispy mozzarella risotto cakes

How to pair Italian wines with pizza

Over at HisAndHerWine.com they have two great infographics on how to pair wines with pizza. I picked the one above because it focuses on specific Italian wines, but the other infographic and alot more info can be found here: 16 Best Wines to Drink with Pizza.

The best wine to drink with pizza may be the one open nearest to you, but if you want to be precise and have a better pairing, check out that site.

4 p.m. recipe: Marcella’s butter tomato sauce

Onions, butter, tomatoes. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. And yet, delicious. Also beats the stuff in a jar, of course.

Once you have a great tomato sauce, then there is a wealth of possibilities for dinner, from pasta to veal to eggplant to….whatever needs a great tomato sauce.

For more on the recipe (and where I got the photo), see: Stacey Snacks.