Musings Archive

Win a Cavatelli Maker


Ricotta Cavatelli with Sausage and Swiss Chard



We have a winner!

The winner is SippitySup of the website SippitySup.com!

Congratulazioni, Greg, your Cavatelli Maker is on its way!



I wrote about handmade cavatelli a few months ago, and I was surprised and touched by how many readers commented that it reminded them of childhood memories dished up by moms, aunts and grandmothers. In particular, a number of you mentioned ricotta cavatelli. So here is another childhood favorite, this time with some ricotta in the cavatelli and a sauce made of sweet Italian sausage and Swiss chard. Read more… »

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Negroni Float – Barman meets Soda Jerk

Posted March 29, 2014 By Adri

Blood Orange-Campari Sorbetto in a Negroni splashed with Prosecco


Negroni Float

The bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other.

– Orson Welles on the Negroni



The Negroni (nay-GROW-nee) is perhaps the quintessential aperitivo – one part gin, one part sweet vermouth, one part Campari, all of it over ice, with an orange round. Classic cocktail lore tells us the Negroni is a direct descendant of the Milano-Torino, a drink now known as the Americano. It happened like this: in 1919 at Florence’s Caffe Casoni Count Camillo Negroni asked barman Fosco Scarselli to add a bit of fortification, un ‘po piu robusto, to his Milano-Torino. Sig. Scarselli acquiesced to his patron’s wish, adding gin in place of seltzer. The deed done, Sig. Scarselli realized the two drinks looked quite alike. With a barman’s panache he substituted an orange garnish for the Milano-Torino’s lemon… Read more… »

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My Old Le Creuset 9qtOven


With apologies to Tammy Wynette, singer and co-writer of the country standard Stand by Your Man, I’m calling this one Stand By Your Pan. This is a good news story, that in our age of lax, unconcerned customer service and “throw it away and buy new” mentality, I am both proud and pleased to relate. Read more… »

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We Are Moving!!

Posted July 3, 2013 By Adri


We Are Moving



It’s Tuesday and I am moving to a new hosting company!!

I’m hoping for faster load times and less downtime.

It may take a few days for everything shake out.

So be patient! Thanks!!!


UPDATE: The move is now complete.

If we broke anything in the move…

Please, click here to let us know.


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Third Anniversary Celebration and Giveaway

Posted June 24, 2013 By Adri


Solerno Cocktail


My site is three years old this week. It has been an endless source of enjoyment and enrichment far beyond what I imagined. I have made friends and through them more friends, a real network – gli amici degli amici .

As a thanks and to celebrate, I’m having a giveaway, of what else, Italian food products! The winner will receive a gift certificate for Olio2go valued at $100.00 from AdriBarrCrocetti.com. And, Olio2go has generously added a 5 bottle Fonte di Foiano Sampler Gift Set (retail value of $55.95.)


The contest is now closed.

Read more… »

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More with Pace da Poggio Etrusco Extra Virgin Olive Oil


Fava-Pea-Ricotta-Crostini


The baby vegetables are in the Farmer’s Markets. The herb garden is planted, and tiny peas in their pods have made an appearance. My mint plants are already giving forth, their new leaves packed with fresh flavor. Spring has arrived, and with it have come the fava beans.


Travails with Fave or Size Does Matter


Vicia-Faba



Preparing fave (FAH-vay, plural of fava) is a labor or love, or so some people say. The preparation of this member of the Fabaceae (bean family) is a point of great contention among the cooking community and for a time, a source of plunging self-esteem for me. To peel or not to peel? That is the question. The Great Fava Bean Debate of 2013 rages on. For years I labored (or not, depending on one’s point of view) in blissful ignorance of the aforementioned debate, happily zipping open the fava pods, removing the tiny beans from their downy resting spots and eating them. For me there was no third step. You know the one, the part where you peel the beans.

 

 

In the garden or at the market I selected firm, bright green pods, free of marks or blemishes. Patient harvesting or careful shopping rewarded me with tiny beans, sweet and tender, about the size of my little fingernail. I never bothered with the larger beans, having always thought them better suited to the compost heap than a diner’s stomach.

 

 

However there came a point at which I realized that everyone, food writers and friends alike, even food writing friends, was talking about peeling the fave. A terrible unease set in, the kind of self-doubt in which I specialize. Could I possibly be so rustica, so out of touch with civilized culinary technique? It seemed that everyone peeled those little beans before consuming them, whether raw or cooked. Then one day just a few weeks ago I was rescued from the ignominy of bean preparation inadequacy by none other than food writer Nancy Harmon Jenkins. She came down on the side of not to peel. Despite some formidable opposition, chief among them Paula Wolfert, Nancy stuck to her guns. There is no need to peel, she declared. It is simply a matter of knowing how to pick fave, and you should pick them young. Thanks, Nancy. A girl needs her heroes. Read more… »

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