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Mardi Gras King Cake

Posted February 18, 2012 By Adri

Mardi Gras King Cake

Well, I’ve never been a Mardi Gras reveler, and until today I had never made a King Cake. But Noelle Carter’s recipe in last Thursday’s LA Times Food Section was a temptation I could not resist. And why should I? After all, Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, the great day of indulgence, is upon us.

King Cake season runs from Twelfth Night to Ash Wednesday and comes to us from the Catholic tradition and believe it or not, ancient Rome. The cake represents the Three Wise Men who brought gifts to the infant Jesus; baked in each King Cake is a small charm, most commonly a baby representing the infant Jesus. Less often seen in America is a charm depicting a King wearing a crown. The notion of this trinket has its origins in the ancient Roman Saturnalia banquets where beans were used to elect the King of the Feast. The rite continued, but over time, the voting gave way to the bean (and later a small trinket) being baked into a celebration pastry, and the old gods gave way to the new. Read more… »

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Filed in Dessert, History, Musings, Recipes | Tagged: , , , , ,

Where to buy Corzetti stamps

Posted January 14, 2012 By Adri

More from the Corzetti Files


Corzetti Stamps-640x396-0993_425


I have heard from many of you out there who said you need help finding a corzetti stamp (stampa). While I have included sources for corzetti stamps in my other articles about corzetti, (corzetti stampati or croxetti), here is a list of corzetti stamp makers and how to contact them.


Italian Flag Wingding2-100x16
One can purchase corzetti stamps from Terry Mirri of Artisanal Pasta Tools in Sonoma, California. The stamps are fabricated to order; you can choose from three different styles of stamp, multiple choices of woods and a wide variety of choices in carved design.

Artisanal Pasta Tools
Sonoma, California, USA
707-939-6474 between 9 AM and 6 PM Pacific time

Visit Artisanal Pasta Tools


Italian Flag Wingding2-100x16
Intagliatore Signor Franco Casoni of Chiavari, Liguria. Sig. Casoni will make a custom stamp to order from your own design. He carves his stamps from beech.

Franco Casoni
Via Bighetti 73
16043 Chiavari (GE) Italia

Visit Sig. Casoni’s web site


Italian Flag Wingding2-100x16
Intagliatore Signor Pietro Picetti will carve a custom stamp for you from historic designs or a design of your own. He uses beech, pear, and other hard, fruit woods.

Mr. Pietro Picetti
15 Via Pieve
19028 Varese Ligure
La Spezie, Liguria, Italia
Telephone 0187/842195


Italian Flag Wingding2-100x16

Filippo Romagnoli
3/5 Via Firenze
50028 Tavarnelle Val di Pesa
Firenze ITALIA

visit: Florentine Touch


Italian Flag Wingding2-100x16
This is Part 4 of a series – The Corzetti Files.
For detailed information and photo essays on how to make corzetti, along with recipes, please delve further into The Corzetti Files:

Edible Art, The Corzetti Files – Part 1

The Intagliatore of Chiavari, The Corzetti Files – Part 2

Corzetti agli Spinaci con Gorgonzola, The Corzetti Files – Part 3

Where to Buy Corzetti Stamps, The Corzetti Files – Part 4

Corzetti Stampati – and a Giveaway! The Corzetti Files – Part 5

And if you have questions about this delightful pasta or the tools used to make it, please feel free to leave your inquiry in the comment section.

I have no affiliation with any product, manufacturer, or site mentioned in this article.

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Corzetti Stampati agli Spinaci con Gorgonzola

Posted December 18, 2011 By Adri

Spinach Corzetti with Gorgonzola Sauce

Spinach Corzetti-640x550-0997_427

This is Part 3 of a series – The Corzetti Files
For detailed information and photo essays on how to make corzetti, along with recipes, please delve further into The Corzetti Files:

Edible Art, The Corzetti Files – Part 1

The Intagliatore of Chiavari, The Corzetti Files – Part 2

Corzetti agli Spinaci con Gorgonzola, The Corzetti Files – Part 3

Where to Buy Corzetti Stamps, The Corzetti Files – Part 4

Corzetti Stampati – and a Giveaway! The Corzetti Files – Part 5

Well, it is all about Christmas now, and that means special pasta dishes. In years past I have served filled pastas such as ravioli, caramelle, or sometimes tortellini, but this year I decided to break with tradition and serve corzetti stampati, Liguria’s embossed pasta coins. Also known as croxetti, these embossed pasta circles have a history that stretches back to the glory days of La Serenissima Repubblica di Genova, The Serene Republic of Genoa, an independent state based in present day Liguria. I thought green corzetti would be particularly in keeping with the season, so I decided to make spinach pasta dough for them.

Corzetti Stamps-640x396-0993_425

Corzetti are cut using a most ingenious two piece wooden tool, la stampa. The bottom of one piece is used like a cookie cutter to cut a round piece of pasta. The top of the cutting piece and the bottom of the second piece are artfully carved and are used to imprint the pasta coins. Read more… »

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Maccheroni alla Chitarra con Ragù d’Agnello

Posted November 6, 2011 By Adri

From Abruzzo comes Guitar Cut Pasta with Lamb Ragù

Abruzzo Poster

Abruzzo – from the majestic Gran Sasso to its beaches on the Adriatic Sea this part of Italy has postcard perfect terrain. To walk in the mountains of Abruzzo is to walk the age old route of the transumanza – the seasonal sheep migration, and indeed, sheep figure prominently in the socioeconomic history of this region and its cuisine.

Gaetano Crocetti
Gaetano Alfonso Crocetti
Born 1894 Montesilvano, arrived New York 1913, died 1967 Los Angeles, California

My grandfather, Gaetano Crocetti was born in Montesilvano, Abruzzo. He loved the food of his homeland, and although I have written previously about Ferratelle, the Abruzzese take on Pizzelle, this region has as its most singularly recognizable contribution to Italian cookery an implement known as the chitarra, a tool used to cut pasta. In her book Food and Memories of Abruzzo Anna Teresa Callen writes that this tool appears in manuscripts dating as far back as the thirteenth century.

Pasta Chitarra

Indeed la chitarra is part of Abruzzese culture, Read more… »

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Orangecello

Posted November 3, 2011 By Adri

Orange Cello with Glasses
It’s binge blogging again – and this time the subject is Orangecello from the Ventura Limoncello Company. I discovered this delightful liqueur early this Summer as I was finishing up a purchase at K&L Wines here in Hollywood. The fellow who was helping me, knowing I enjoy citrus liqueurs (my regular readers will recall how I rhapsodized about Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur and Acqua di Cedro), suggested I try a bottle of Orangecello. He told me it was the latest release from the Ventura Limoncello Company, a local concern about an hour’s drive from my home. Local. I love local. Further, it had just won a Double Gold at the 2011 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and was flying off their shelves. Local, a winner and popular – that was enough for me. The slender bottle made the trip home with me. Read more… »

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Mastering the Art of French Cooking – The Revolution was Televised

Posted October 26, 2011 By Adri

Mastering The Art of French Cooking

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1


 
“This is a book for the servantless American cook…” So begins Volume 1 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the masterwork of Mmes. Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck. This month we celebrate fifty years since the book’s publication. Congratulations to all involved in bringing forth this wonderful book. I can not believe it has been that long. I remember when it came out, and did it ever make a splash in my neighborhood.

The dedication reads:

to
La Belle France
whose peasants, fishermen, housewives, and princes-not to mention her chefs – through generations of inventive and loving concentration have created one of the world’s great arts

But the book is not for the French. Not at all, and the authors made that crystal clear in their Foreword when they wrote “In fact the book could well be titled ‘French Cooking from the American Supermarket.'” Their goal was to inculcate fundamental cooking techniques thereby enabling women to “…gradually be able to divorce yourself from a dependence on recipes.” The authors speak of “…a greed for perfection…” that informs the production of a perfectly roasted chicken. But this greed was not reserved to the roasting of a bird. It was this greed for perfection that drove the authors over ten years, countless rewrites and the rejection of publishers, to persevere and ultimately triumph with this masterwork. Call it seminal. Call it revolutionary. This book forever changed the way Americans cook. Read more… »

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