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Punch Abruzzo Float for Father’s Day

Posted June 16, 2012 By Adri

William Crocetti

Well, Father’s Day is here, and I hope you all spend a wonderful day with your dads. My dad, William Crocetti, passed away many years ago, but I think of him often. That’s him in the photo. He enjoyed fountain specialties, so I thought I’d create something special in his honor. Of course, I looked first to Punch Abruzzo, the wonderful liquore from Italy. It is great over ice cream, and with its rum and coffee notes, spice and orange, is perfect in a float.

Here’s to you Dad. You would have loved this! Read more… »

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Gioacchino Rossini

Posted February 29, 2012 By Adri

Gioacchino Rossini by Giorces-465x640-535

Gioacchino Rossini
b. February 29, 1792 – d. November 13, 1868

A leap year baby! Born in the Italian city of Pesaro and known as “The Italian Mozart” he is one of my favorite composers. I am just nuts about his vocal compositions – just another of those little things Bart and I disagree on! Composer of 39 operas including Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il viaggio a Reims, La cenerentola, La scala di seta, Tancredi, La gazza ladra, Semiramide, Il turco in Italia, L’italiana in Algieri, La donna del lago, Maometto II, and more, he is also well known for his songs and religious works. His Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age) is a fourteen volume collection of solo piano music and compositions for voice with piano accompaniment. A most prolific composer he retired from the composition of opera at the age of thirty seven, some thirty nine years prior to his death. After his retirement he followed his second love, food, eventually moving to Paris where he died in 1868. In 1887 his remains were moved to the Basilica di Santa Croce, in Firenze. He is regarded as a master of opera buffa, and his operas and other vocal works remain in constant repertory.

Rossini is said to have described himself as a “third rate pianist, but the world’s greatest gastronome.” Remember Tournedos Rossini? Click here to see Chef Andre Soltner prepare this classic of French cuisine.

Check the links below to hear two of my favorite vocal artists sing his delightful music.

Click to hear Cecilia Bartoli sing three songs about the Venetian regata La regata Veneziana.

Click to hear Marilyn Horne sing Di tanti palpiti from his opera Tancredi.

Gioachino Rossini Stamp-172x200-536

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

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Croccante di Natale – Almond Brittle for Christmas

Posted December 13, 2011 By Adri

Croccante di Natale

Croccante di Natale or Croccante di mandorle (Almond Brittle) is Abruzzo’s classic Christmas confection. You will find it in every Abruzzese home, on every dessert table and under every Christmas tree. My grandmother, Angela Barra Crocetti, made Croccante throughout the Christmas season. With the American holiday of Thanksgiving behind her, she went to work shelling bag after bag of fragrant almonds. I have never smelled almonds like the ones she used, and to this day I do not know where she bought them. As magnificent as the almonds smelled in their burlap bags, their true wonder was revealed as they toasted in her oven. Even still the perfume of roasting almonds transports me back to her kitchen. 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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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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My Calabria by Rosetta Costantino with Janet Fletcher

Posted September 11, 2011 By Adri

A Book Review

My Calabria Cover
My Calabria: Rustic Family Cooking from Italy’s Undiscovered South

 
I have mentioned it before. I am a cookbook addict, an avid collector. I love the genre, and my shelves are overflowing. Positively, absolutely overflowing. The truth is the books have begun a slow walk across the library floor, down the hall to the side of my bed. Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you. It is only fitting that the books have made their way to my bedside since cookbooks are my preferred bedtime reading. But with all those books I have had to become highly selective with my purchases. This one, however, was the proverbial no brainer. As soon as I heard that Rosetta Costantino had written a book on the cooking of Calabria, I knew I had to buy it. Ms. Costantino was born in Calabria, and at the age of fourteen came with her parents to the United States. She and her family live in Oakland, California where she teaches cooking. Her book was released late last year. I apologize to you all for keeping it to myself. Its 416 pages are filled with the food and culture of Calabria, all from the very personal viewpoint of Ms. Costantino. This collection of recipes, reminiscences and cultural background will have you reaching for your Post-It Flags. Read more… »

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