Sicily Lesson #6: Kiss the Cook

ARASK il pranzo Italian Christmas lunch

A Razor, A Shiny Knife's il pranzo Italian Christmas lunch:  
a sous vide primerib replaced last year's deep-fried filets with truffle oil, vino and amaro took the place of aguardiente shots, a surprise Food Network cameo, & the New Jersey head-to-toe leopard look was obviously in this year. Great job A Razor, A Shiny Knife & our amazing volunteers. 

2011 MENU:
Brussels sprout hash, Rosemary potatoes cooked in beef fat, crispy black kale, greens and beans, cannellini apple celery salad, charcuterie platter, panelle, braciole, salsiccia, chicken, meatballs, panzanella salad, cauliflower gratin, ricotta and mint ravioli, Parce's famous polenta, fennel and orange salad, zampone, and a big ass prime rib roast

(Brooklyn, NY - 11 December 2011)
A Razor, A Shiny Knife
www.arazorashinyknife.com

ARASK Feast of 7 Fishes Italian Christmas Eve recap

The A Razor, A Shiny Knife Feast of 7 Fishes Italian Christmas Eve recap: 

The stockings were hung by the fireside while Linda Lou slayed the Christmas eels, Andrew saved a dog's life, Mike Lee took a money shot of bottarga, and Michael tried his hardest to look Italian for the day. 

2011 MENU:
Raw bar with Fanny Bay & Blue Point oysters, cocktail prawns, and half-shell clams w/ caviar, rosemary potatoes, crispy black kale, celery root citrus salad, fennel and orange salad, scungilli, salt cod brandade, sous vide octopus salad, tagliatelle with shaved botarga di tonno, apple celery white bean salad, fried zucchini, panzanella salad, Kentucky Fried eel with aioli, salt-crusted whole branzini stuffed with lemon and herbs

(Brooklyn, NY - 10 December 2011)
A Razor, A Shiny Knife
www.arazorashinyknife.com

Buonasera Signorina, kiss me goodnight

Learn Italian!

Learn a new language!
This foxy lady will show you how.

LIVING LANGUAGE
www.livinglanguage.com

RECIPE: Giovanna's Peperonata

Since the peperoni (that's peppers, not salami) are the main ingredient, this dish was nicknamed Peperonata. The flavor profiles are very similar to caponata with the sweet/sour sauce and slow cooked vegetables. This recipe comes from Giovanna, the woman who allowed me to settle into Sicilian country life at the Case Vecchie estate in Regaleali. With no way of communicating for the first few days while I worked on my Italian, there were a lot of hand gestures and surprisingly enjoyable hour-long moments of silence.

My boss and Sicilian culinary expert, Fabrizia Lanza, is more traditional and tends to stay close to the authentic recipes, so there's no way she would refer to this dish as a version of "caponata". Her family actually calls it canazzo. There are a few ingredients in this dish that would go into a traditional Sicilian caponata but since it's not exact we just wouldn't feel right calling it that.

I ate this with some sliced semolina bread as part of a small dinner that Giovanna prepared during my first week in Sicily. They have THE BEST bread here! It's made from duram wheat and it kicks any bread's ass that I've had in the US. Do loaves of bread have asses?

When I first tasted the peperonata, it reminded me of something savory that I would want with breakfast, almost like homefries. Maybe I'll have to whip up something similar for a Cheeky Chef brunch idea. I've never been a fan of traditional breakfast anyway.

RECIPE: Giovanna's Peperonata
Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:
1 eggplant, roughly 550 grams, cut into 2” chunks (with skin)
2 red bell peppers, about 475 grams, seeds removed and cut into 2” chunks
4 potatoes, roughly 850 grams, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
2 red onions, roughly 275 grams, peeled and cut into 1 inch strips
½ cup canned roma tomatoes
2 tbl salt
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
¼ cup oregano

Process:
In a large sauté pan, place all ingredients together and mix to coat evenly with oil. Over medium high-heat cook, uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper then place a cover on the pan and cook for another 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Serve hot, warm, or room temperature. Season with salt and pepper.

Chef Fabrizia Lanza
Anna Tasca Lanza Sicilian Cooking School
http://www.annatascalanza.com/

RECIPE: Involtini di Carne

RECIPE:  Involtini di Carne
Serves 10


Ingredients:
3 cups of sliced white bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 and 1/2 cup ham, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
½ red onion, diced
¼ cup parsley, chopped
1 cup cheese, diced (use caciotta, caciocavallo, or fontina) 
2 eggs
½ cup pistachios, chopped
1 kilo veal, very tender and sliced thinly (eye of the round cut)

Garnish:
1 red onion, cut into wedges
bay leaves
sliced bread cut into rectangles (3x8 cm)
breadcrumbs to coat involtini
olive oil
salt
pepper


Process:In a sauté pan, cook the diced onion in olive oil then add the small bread cubes and ham. Cook lightly and stir to incorporate. Remove from heat and bring to room temperature. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the pistachios, two whole eggs, chopped parsley, and cheese.

Roll a small portion of the filling and place at the end of the sliced veal. Tuck in the sides and roll away from you into a little bundle. Set aside and repeat with the rest of the pieces. On a skewer, place the involtini, a bay leaf, a piece of red onion, and a slice of bread, then repeat. Dip skewers into olive oil then cover with breadcrumbs. Bake on a sheet tray at 425°F for 20-30 minutes.

RECIPE: Testa di Turco

RECIPE: Testa di Turco
Serves 8

Ingredients for dough:
250 ml water
225 grams lard
250 grams all-purpose flour
6 eggs

Ingredients for ricotta cream:

1 kilo ricotta
250 grams sugar



To make the pate a choux dough, pour the water into a medium saucepan, add the lard and bring to boil. *Using lard instead of butter is important to give a crunchy taste to the cake. Add the flour all at once, stir constantly until the dough comes off the sides of the pan. Put the dough in a bowl to cool completely. When the dough has cooled, add the eggs, one by one, stirring to blend thoroughly.


Preheat the oven to 200°C (425°F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon the dough into a pastry bag and, going around in a circle, pipe two 6-inch rounds, then return to the center to form a turban shape. Bake for approximately an hour until the choux is golden and dry to the touch. Check they are done by picking up the turban and checking if the bottom side is dry. Cut each turban in half horizontally and remove any portions inside that are moist. Make ricotta cream by mixing the ricotta with sugar with a fork. Press through a sieve to make the cream silky. Fill the bottom half of each turban with the ricotta cream. Replace the top and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
 

Sicily Lesson #5

Sicily Lesson #5:  Pick up the local tongue.

Sicily Lesson #4

Sicily Lesson #4: Sardines scream when you gut them.

I finally learned how to clean sardines from the master, Giovanna. We clean them together and she is still twice as fast as me, literally cleaning two for every one of mine and hers are still better. We pinch off the head, scoop out the guts, rinse, butterfly, remove the spine, and small fins, then rinse again. I'm getting pretty quick but there's no catching Giova. 
 
We cook with sarde (sardines) all the time here in Sicily. Sardines are probably the most common fish used here with anchovies and pesce spada (swordfish) trailing closely behind. Here are some of the sarde dishes we have been making.
 
Sarde Allinguate: vinegar marinated fried sardines
Sushi Sarde: cured sardines in lemon juice, olive oil, and oregano
Pasta con le Sarde: pasta with wild fennel, sardines, pine nuts, and currants
Sarde Beccafico: baked sardines stuffed with breadcrumbs and pine nuts
 
During my stage at the Anna Tasca Lanza cooking school in Sicily, I am so fortunate to have an amazing role between my boss and the staff that helps out in the kitchen and on the property. It's a very Upstairs, Downstairs sort of experience. I am lucky enough to learn the basic, homecook, rustic, peasant, true Siciliana cooking from Giovanna and the more refined, professional cooking from my boss Fabrizia. When I arrived at the school, I spent nearly two weeks with just the people who work here and don't speak a word of English. It was a very important time in my training being able to learn from them and get to know the two families who live here.

The Mediterranean is famous for their sardines in Sicilia and Sardegna. Traditionally a sardine symbolizes the feeling of being suffocated and trapped. Just like those ones you all know that are packed into cans. I had a point in the last few years when I felt like this little fish, trapped and trying to hold everything inside and now I'm the one breaking free. It's a very good feeling. Sicily is such a magical place and I feel like I'm learning a lot more than cooking while being here for a few months.

RECIPE: Biancomangiare: Almond Pudding

RECIPE: Biancomangiare / Almond Pudding
Serves 6


Ingredients
500 ml fresh whole milk
65 g sugar
35 g cornstarch
2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) almond extract
Peel of 1 lemon
Garnish options: candied orange peel, cinnamon, pistachios, candied squash, vino cotto



Process
Whisk the cornstarch, milk, sugar, lemon peel, and almond extract together. Cook in a saucepan, whisking constantly to prevent sticking, until thickened but creamy. Remove the lemon peel. Divide custard among glasses. Garnish with a piece of candied orange peel, a dusting of cinnamon, and a sprinkling of pistachios. Let cool and eat chilled with a drizzle of vino cotto (if you are lucky enough to own a winery and make it yourself.)

RECIPE: Zucca in Agrodolce: Sweet & Sour Pumpkin

Here's a yummy dish for the fall season. It's something different you can do with an edible pumpkin or some butternut squash. A perfect example of using local seasonal products in the US while focusing your cooking on travel-inspired cuisine. You can take a beautiful autumn vegetable and instead of making the same old dishes you eat every October, it's so easy to change it up and eat something delish.

RECIPE: Zucca in Agrodolce: Sweet & Sour Pumpkin
Serves 6

Ingredients

1 kilo pumpkin, cut into 1/2-inch slices

300g red onion (1 large onion)

½ cup olive oil

2 teaspoons sugar

¼ cup red wine vinegar

s+p

Process

In batches, place sliced zucca on a dry grillpan over medium heat. Flip the zucca as it starts to cook and leaves grill marks on one side. Season with salt. Remove from heat and place in a baking dish, covered with lid to keep warm. Continue to cook the rest of the zucca until grilled on both sides.

In a sauté pan, add red onion and olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the vinegar and sugar to the sautéed onions. Continue to cook down to caramelize.

Place grilled zucca in a baking dish then top with the red onions and all of the liquid from the pan. Cover with lid while hot and allow aromatics to combine for about 10 minutes. Uncover and carefully stir to mix the onions with the zucca. Serve warm.

A Glass of Sicily

How to Bust a Nut

PISTACHIOS

When to Harvest: The first sign that pistachio kernels are mature and nearing harvest is when the hulls covering the nuts change from green to a reddish color. This color change occurs in late August or early September, depending on the growing area. You can remove the red hull from a nut easily by squeezing the hull between finger and thumb.

Harvest pistachios as early as possible in order to avoid navel orangeworm infestation and loss of kernel quality. You can begin harvest when you can easily pull the nuts from the branches. This is usually within 1-3 weeks of them turning red. It is best to wait until most of the crop is mature and then harvest the whole tree at once.

Harvesting: You can use a pole to knock the nuts from the branches onto a tarp spread underneath the tree but don't let them come in contact with the ground because of possible contamination.
 
"Shooting Blanks": Blank nuts are common wherever pistachios are grown. After removing the hulls, float the nuts in water. The blank nuts will float and the filled nuts will sink.

Hulling and Drying: Remove the hulls right after harvest. If you leave them on too long they might grow mold or stain the shells. You can dry pistachios in the sun on a plastic tarp or screen with good air circulation. Spread them out in a shallow layer. Sun-drying will take about 3-4 days. You can also dry them on a sheetpan in an oven from 140°F-160°F (60-71°C) for 10 to 14 hours stirring occasionally. Pistachios are propperly dried when the kernels are crisp but not brittle.



















Storage: Store pistachios in their shells. In-shell pistachios can be stored in an airtight container for 1 year at 32-45°F. Shelled pistachios can be stored for 1 year at 32°F or up to 3 years at 0°F.

Sicily Lesson #3

Sicily Lesson #3: There's pretty much nothing a bottle of wine can't fix.

Guy Arnone, butcher at Dickson's Farmstand Meats

On Thursday August 4th, I went to a butchering demo at the International Culinary Center in NYC. Guy Arnone did an Italian-style pig butchery demo and served samples of traditional cured meat preparations. He passionately spoke about his mentor Dario Cecchini and work experiences at his family restaurant in California, working in Italy, and in NYC at Eataly and Dickson's Farmstand Meats. He demoed how to break down a side of pork and the various cooking techniques you can use on each part. Guy works with the attitude that nothing should be wasted and smoothly works through the process of butchering while "attacking the bone" without damaging any cuts of meat. He mentions that the pig had already given its life, let's try not to kill it again.

A little bit about Guy...

Gaetano Arnone found butchery at his family's restaurant in Orange, California as a way to save money when his father took ill and he found himself running a restaurant. After studying under the guidance of Master Butcher Dario Cecchini in Tuscany, Gaetano returned to the states and is now the butcher at Dickson Farmstand in New York City, where he continues his goal of communicating to butchers and carnivores the traditions and craft that he has come to respect and love.

Dickson's Farmstand Meats
Chelsea Market
75 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
212.242.2630
http://dicksonsfarmstand.com
 
Dickson's Farmstand is a purveyor of a unique selection of artisanal meat and meat products. Their beef, lamb, pork, goat and poultry are sourced from local farms , hand-picked because of their commitment to producing natural, humanely-raised, high-quality and distinctive meat products.

Guy Arnone
Tweet: @GuyArnone

Frittula Palermitana

"There is some street food that you simply cannot avoid."
- Fabrizia Lanza

Frittula Palermitana, translated from an Italian website

It happens often, walking through the historic center of Palermo, especially in the heart of the ancient markets of the Cape, Vucciria and Ballarò to run into crowds of people clamoring around a basket covered with rags. Someone pulls out something with their bare hands resting on the wax paper and hands it to you. You begin chewing happily and you've come across a frittole seller.

Strictly taken by hand, that a minute ago, have received the money last customer, sold and consumed on the street, at affordable prices for everyone, frittole is derived from processing of the bones and scraps of butchers.

These, made ​​for a long time to cook in large boilers, they detach the meat from the bones remaining the soften calluses. In fact, Frittoli consists mainly of small pieces of meat, cartilage, and parts which are then fried calloused with lard ("saime") and seasoned with fragrant spices: bay leaf, saffron, and pepper.

It is kept in a wicker basket, well covered because it keeps warm, and sold then consumed on the street with a lot of lemon to make it less fatty either in a sandwich or by itself eaten strictly with your fingers.

The Frittoli are one of the oldest and most characteristic dishes of Palermo, his birth dates back to around 500. It is a dish that you can easily prepare at home. For a non Palermitano, it may seem barbaric, but I assure you, not caring much about hygiene, you'll be fascinated by just tasting it.

RECIPE: Turkish Zucchini Fritters

I made this recipe for a Turkish wedding celebration in August. Here is the recipe for a simple summer snack.















RECIPE: Kabak Mücveri - Turkish Zucchini Fritters

Ingredients:
4 medium zucchini
1 large onion, diced
1 or 2 eggs
1/4 cup AP flour
Additional Wondra flour, optional
Pinch of baking powder
fresh parsley, chopped
fresh mint, chopped
fresh dill, chopped
2 t. ground cumin
s+p
sprinkle of red pepper flakes
vegetable oil for frying

Process:
Wash the zucchini but don't peel them and shred on a cheese grater into a bowl.  Add a bit of salt to the zucchinis, toss, and leave in a colander over the bowl. After 15 minutes, squeeze out the excess water from the zucchinis and transfer to a new bowl.

Add the diced raw onion, 1 egg to start, chopped parsley, mint, dill, cumin, a few grinds of black pepper, the red pepper flakes to the strained zucchini and mix well in the bowl.

Add the flour and baking powder to the zucchini mixture. You may need to adjust the amount of flour or egg you put in. The mixture shouldn’t be too runny or too pastey.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and bring to approximately 325-degrees F.

Using a tablespoon, take one scoop of the mixture and form a small patty in your hand. Squeeze out excess liquid. Dust with Wondra flour on both sides then carefully place into the hot oil.

Fry both sides until golden brown. Remove from the oil with a spider then place on paper towels to soak up extra oil. They will be very hot so let them rest a minute or two but try to serve shortly after cooking to keep crispiness.

I served these zucchini fritters with a Greek yogurt dipping sauce called tzatziki.

Sherbeth Festival: Cefalù, Sicilia

Sherbeth Festival: Cefalù, Sicilia

Cefalù is a gorgeous seaside town on the north coast of Sicily located right on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It's filled with good looking tanned Italian men in Speedos and during this week, something a little bit special, the annual Sherbeth Festival. We drove about an hour from Regaleali, in central Sicily, to the town of Cefalù.

As we walked through the streets covered in hot pink festival banners, the old city was so charming. There is a huge old cathedral in the center of town that was built by the Normans. There was a wedding finishing up as we walked up the cathedral so we were able to see the stunning bride and gorgeous wedding party along with her. Yummy men all dressed up in very Italian looking suits, some threaded with sparkly material, slicked back hair and eyebrows that were more manicured than mine (and we all know I have the best in town). 

The Sherbeth Festival was a celebration of gelato, ice cream, and sorbet from all over the world. We bought tickets for 5€ with coupons for 2 coppette and 4 miniconi. We tested a few samples of gelato and sat down for a demonstration from the Carpigiani Gelato University. They showed us how to make Gelato di Fragola (strawberry) and gave out samples for everyone to try. There were vendors from all over Italy and some international ones from South Africa, Spain, Germany, and Libya. We went off on our little sherbeth tasting adventure to watch people churning gelato the traditional way with old wooden barrels insolated with salted ice, and loved watching people walk down the street licking their little mini ice cream cones. Molto sensuale! These are the flavors that we tested out.

Sherbeth Festival samples:
Pistacchio
Corniolo
Ricotta e Pistacchio
Zibibbo e Gorgonzola all'azoto liquido
Fico d'India
Ricotta e Sherry con fichi e mandorle caramellate
Fragola

I was excited to see that a few stands were using a little bit of innovation to create flavors that contained savory ingredients or used techniques or flavors that were non-traditional. Some traditional flavors from Sicily were the Ricotta e Pistacchio, Fico d'India ("fig of india" or prickly pear), Cassata di Modica (ricotta cake with candied fruit) or Canolli. The one that surprised me most was the Zibibbo e Gorgonzola all'azoto liquido (a southern italian muscat grape with gorgonzola cheese) from Sanelli in Emilia Romagna. They made this sorbet using "azoto liquido" liquid nitrogen. It was great to see people thinking outside of the box a little bit since most of what I have seen in Sicily has been traditional traditional traditional. The corniolo is a berry that I hadn't heard of before. The taste was astringent, not very sweet, and similar to a cranberry. 

The Sherbeth Festival was a nice little trip for the day. I'll have to come back to Cefalù to check out the beaches another day. As my boss Fabrizia suggested "Maybe you should get a little boyfriend to take you around, nothing serious, just for play." 

Sherbeth Festival
Cefalù, Sicilia, Italia
http://www.sherbethfestival.it/

Signore Franco Pescatore

I had one of the most exciting days since Ive been in Sicily. A man named Franco Pescatore, surprised us at the cooking school and arrived in the afternoon with a huge crate of fresh fish. Right in the middle of our afternoon cooking lesson and as the guests were preparing for lunch, he arrived with a huge smile on his face to surprise my boss, Fabrizia, the owner of the cooking school. It was fantastico!

I am so in love with seafood, fish, shellfish, fish butchering, and anything related to my near and dear "harbor life".Franco has a restaurant and is a famous fish butcher / fisherman / restaurateur in Sicily. When Franco arrived, with his assistant Giovanni, he quickly took center stage and began gutting, butchering, and cooking up three types of preparations for the fresh lampuga. In Italian, pesce lampuga is a type of small mahi-mahi from the Mediterranean Sea. I had done some research and it seems like the ones we had were very young and small compared to the mahi Ive seen in the Pacific Ocean of the US and Mexico. Franco made three dishes for us in a matter of minutes. He quickly gutted the fish and chopped them into 4 or 5 pieces, dipped in semolina flour then fried in a saute pan, sprinkled with salt and served to us right away. This was the lampuga fritto. The second dish he let me work on some fish, gutting, butchering and skinning the fillets. We made a lampuga crudo with sashimi style slices of raw fish, dressed with olive oil, pepperoncini, lemon juice, and salt. Franco beautifully garnished the plate with fresh flowers, lemon, and mint. The final dish was a filetto di lampuga al forno, cooked in the oven on a sheet pan with just a simple dressing of olive oil, sliced tomatoes, salt, pepper, capers, and oregano. We finished cooking the food we had planned for lunch, beautiful handmade ravioli with ricotta and mint and a sage and almond pesto sauce.

At the end of lunch Franco Pescatore pulled out a crazy instrument from his pocket that looked like some kind of pruning sheers for the garden, put it in his mouth and started playing it like some weird wire string instrument. While playing he managed to cut his lip and started bleeding a little bit at the table. Oh man it was crazy. He just wiped it off and continued playing. After Franco's little performance, the busdriver from the cooking class tour, a lovely Siciliano named Francesco, told us he would like to sing a song. He started singing "'O Sole Mio" at the table and it was wonderful! He explained that his father is a Maestro and he had drank enough wine that he was comfortable enough to sing for us. haha So Siciliano to have the bus driver drunk enough to sing at lunch then take the guests on a tour in the afternoon. It was such a beautiful day and something I won't ever forget from this trip to Sicily. There is a video of Francesco singing....watch here. 

RECIPE: Almond Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Glaze

Ingredients for cake:
1 c. AP flour
1/2 c. almond flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. plus 1T. extra virgin olive oil, high quality like Tasca d'Almerita
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 lemon, zested
1/2 c. orange juice

Ingredients for lemon glaze:
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 c. powdered sugar

Process:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9-in springform pan, set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt together. In a larger bowl, combine eggs and sugar then, whisk together and stream in the olive oil to incorporate. Whisk in the extracts, zest, and orange juice.

Combine dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix with a spatula. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for approx 20-30 minutes, rotate pan halfway through cooking.

Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove and cool completely on a drying rack. Make the glaze while the cake cools. Combine powdered sugar with lemon juice to taste and mix until smooth and shiny. Pour glaze over the cooled cake. Garnish with chopped toasted almonds.

* recipe from Lauren Bennett, former stagista at the Anna Tasca Lanza cooking school in Sicily
http://www.annatascalanza/

RECIPE: Sarde Allinguate, fried vinegar sardines

*Don't be afraid of sardines (or anchovies), buy them from a trusted purveyor and make sure they are fresh, smelling like seawater and not of grandma's panties. Use canned anchovies from a legit company, not something that's been sitting on the shelf in your corner bodega for the last 10 years.

Ingredients:
very fresh sardines, scaled, cleaned, deboned, head/tail off, butterflied
vinegar, red wine vinegar or balsamic
semolina flour
a neutral oil for frying
salt

Process:
Open the sardines like a book, lay in a shallow dish and soak in vinegar for at least 15 minutes. Drain the sardines off and coat with semolina flour. Fry in the hot oil until golden brown then, drain on paper towels to absorb extra oil. Dust with a small sprinkle of salt then serve immediately. They will be hot and crispy.

* recipe from the Anna Tasca Lanza cooking school in Sicily
http://www.annatascalanza.com/

RECIPE: Aroma di Case Vecchie

The herbs here at Case Vecchie are fab! You just walk outside of the kitchen into the beautiful stone courtyard and pick the ones you need. They are growing everything here. Not to mention the gorgeous "orta" vegetable garden.

We'll be cooking and realize we need some prezzemolo (parsley), just go pick some in the courtyard... how about some basil or timo di limone (lemon thyme), it's right there. Let's say it's 2AM and you decide we should have maybe just two or three more cocktails but need to pick a little bit of basilico and menta glaciale for your gin mixers...just sneak out to the courtyard and get it, but watch out for the growling dog.

We made a special blend of dried herbs called Aroma di Case Vecchie. We take all of the fresh herbs grown on the property and dry them in the sun until ready to be mixed. The whole kitchen smelled amazing when we were grinding up the herb mixture. These are some of the ingredients that went into it but in true Siciliano form, they never tell you exactly what's in there.

Aroma di Case Vecchie:
menta (mint)
foglia d'alloro (bay leaves)
salvia (sage)
timo di limone (lemon thyme)
geranio (geranium leaves)
origano (oregano)
sale (salt)

Stigiole, they're fucking with me right?

At the festival in the village of Vallelunga Pratameno, I spotted some street food that was calling my name. It looked like a wrinkly old sausage. Later on in the evening when we craved some munchies at 3AM, we stopped by the vendor to buy some.

They were cooking "stigiole" the most fabulous food discovery in Sicily that I have found so far. It looked like a wrinkled sausage but we knew there was something special going on there. This wasnt grandpa's ol' brasiaola. Stigiole alla Brace was cooked over a hot charcoal grill. It was pecorino cheese, parsley, and onions, wrapped with a coil of lambs intestines then cooked over the bbq like a sausage. We ordered two of them and sliced them into bitesized pieces so we could all share. It was amazing!

At 3AM after a long day driving from Vallelunga to Palermo, walking around Palermo for hours, then driving back and going directly to the festa til the AM it was incredible. The next day we had a large lunch at the house and what did they serve? Grilled sausages and stigioli. We had leftovers for dinner which was stigioli again. Three meals in a row. We found that the ones from the butcher shop in town were much better than what was served for the street festival. Probably saving on costs, but they were still delish. The ones we bought from the butcher for our lunch were stuffed with some lamb meat as well, the ones at the fest didnt have meat inside, just the veg and cheese with the intestine wrapped outside. The food here is unbelievable. This is my best discovery yet but they're blowing my mind everyday with the basic things like gnocchi (which i refuse to eat in America), fresh veg, handmade cheese, and the jarred pantry items that they make right here at the house!

Did someone say Festa?

I went to the town's summer festival in my little village in Sicily called Vallelunga Pratameno. The evening was called Festa di Notte Bianco. The white night party. I'm living on a farm in rural Sicily, when someone says "festa" Linda Lou will be there. We planned on arriving in town at 930 for a film they were showing in the piazza but rolled up and grabbed a few beers at a bar. The town was packed with people and in this tiny town, everyone knows everyone. I had only been here five days and I was already hugging and kissing (double-kissing) people as I walked through town. I went into town with Guy, the photographer at our cooking school currently working on the new cookbook, and his friends. Guy made plans to meet up with his friends in Vallelunga and we planned on dinner at a pizzeria at 1030. We were all walking around town and having a good time at the festa that we didnt get to the pizzeria until midnight (mezzonotte). I am loving this Italian schedule. Wake up early, do a little bit of work, make a fantastic lunch, drink a bottle of wine, take a nap, do some work, rest until 10 then go out for dinner and more drinks.

We ate pannele (chick pea fritters) on the street from a vendor and drank beer in the piazza. For dinner we ate at a place called Pizzeria Nazional and they had a great wood-fired oven for the individual thin crust pizzas. I had a pizza called Goloso, or something like that, with mozzarella, pomodoro, gorgonzola, and salame picante. We drank beers, drank Amara, and ate pizza until 2AM then walked through the festa some more. Mi che buona!!

SICILY: Lesson #2

"When someone in Sicily offers you something....you accept." 
- Salvatore Ricotta 

Yes, his name is real...his occupation possibly a facade.

il pranzo: my afternoon delight

Our lunches in Sicily have been fantastic! A big hearty two-course meal with wine and a sweet snack for dessert. The official word from a man I met here named Vences, pasta must always be the served for lunch. It is absorbed into your system much faster and gives you energy for the rest of the day. However, most Italians here have been resting for an hour after lunch so I guess you don't need much energy for that unless its an "afternoon delight" sort of situation. There's certainly nothing wrong with that kind of day.

The first course for lunch is always pasta then after you'll have a salad, some meat or fish, and always a basket of bread. We drink cafe which is more like an espresso...and we drink them often. Then for dessert, either some fresh fruit or a sweet snack. Il Pranzo is usually the most important and satisfying meal of the day. We have been cooking some fantastic meals so far during my stage at this cooking school and especially when people at the school prepare meals for me it has been unbelievable.

Il Pranzo:
primo piatto - spaghetti con peschi misto
secondo piatto - piccolo peschi fritto, pomodori insalata
dolce - melone e cafe

Il Pranzo:
primo piatto - pasta con pomodorini freschi
secondo piatto - pesce spara impanato, insalata di pomodoro rosso e giallo,

Il Pranzo:
primo piatto - penne pasta con salsa pronto
secondo piatto - stigiole alla brace, salsiccia, polli involtini, pane
dolce - melone, torta al limone

Il Pranzo:
primo piatto - riso e salsa pomodoro e parmiggiano
secondo piatto - polli di casa al forno con azafran, patate, origano e pomodori

I assisted Michael J. Cirino, co-founder of A Razor, A Shiny Knife, with a quick video shoot for the Sundance Channel. It was cut into a short clip for Geico as “What can you do in 15 minutes?” I prepared the traditional Crème Anglaise vanilla ice cream base for the final dish as well as assisted through the cooking demonstration lifting the liquid nitrogen tank, whisking eggs off camera, and preparing all of the “kitchen magic” that happens behind the scenes during a food shoot. The final piece turned out great! Check out A Razor, A Shiny Knife online for more info about their culinary collective and general radicalness.

A Razor, A Shiny Knife

http://www.arazorashinyknife.com/

tweet that: @ashinyknife

facebook: A Razor, A Shiny Knife

Sexy Chef duJour: Chef Travis Lett

I'll admit, I was flipping through the pages of the September 2011 issue of Food & Wine Magazine when I saw the most scrumptious thing! Not a dish, but this yummy Chef from Venice, California. Long hair, scruffy beard...the magazine was practically calling my name!

I read about his restaurant, Gjelina, in an earlier issue of Bon Appétite Magazine and hoped to check it out someday. They've just opened a new location right next door to the restaurant called Gjelina Take Away (GTA).

This is Chef Travis Lett, the Chef & Co-Owner of two eateries on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice. I read up to get Chef Travis's vision for the food at GTA and here's what he says...

“The idea is to take some of the chefly-ness out of food, it’s really just everyday items, pizza’s, salads, sandwiches. We’re really focusing more on the building blocks, baking the bread, making our own pickles, making our own jams, making our own biscuits, but everyday things, very casual. More everyday stuff that your grandma might make, but sourced really well and conscientiously."

LA peeps, let me know if you've had a chance to check out this spot or any info on the relationship status of Chef Travis. How much us a flight from JFK to LAX these days?

Gjelina Take Away
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice,‎ CA‎ 90291
http://www.gjelina.com/


* quote from welovenice.com and photo from LA Times.

SICILY Lesson #1

Sicily Lesson #1:
Never finish your plate of food or they will just keep giving you more. Even if you say "basta, grazie" they will continue to feed you. This sounds just like my family!

Lunch today...


Il Pranzo
Primo piatto: pasta e fava
Secondo piatto: vitello Milanese, pomodori freschi, Peroni birra
Dolce: melone

The Cheeky Chef Jam Sesh

In November of 2010, I planned my first Cheeky Chef Cooking Class as an Apple preserves and pastry class. We made two types of apple-based preserves, desserts, and cocktails. This year, I wanted to teach a jam making class in the summertime to preserve the fresh fruit that was currently in season.

I hosted a Cheeky Chef Cooking Class in my apartment this summer. The 10 students arrived at noon, ready for a full day of jam making. We planned on three jam recipes and the class included lunch and cocktails. I went through a short lesson and gave them information packets including recipes, ingredient info, and canning instructions. We split into three groups to get started on the jam recipes then everyone was able to alternate jobs on each recipe to make sure they had a hands-on experience through every stage of the jam making process. The students cleaned and cut the fruit, prepared the acid and sugar ingredients for each batch, kept a close eye on the jam as it cooked, prepared the jars/lids/rings for canning, filled the jars with jam, and processed in a water bath to seal the lids. The students received the instructional lesson, additional information to take with them, hands-on jam making experience, and a few jars of their products to take home at the end of the day.

Stay tuned for more Cheeky Chef Cooking Classes in early 2012 when I return to New York. These are the jams that we created for the Cheeky Chef Cooking Class and some photos from the event.

BLUEBERRY JAM

STRAWBERRY-VANILLA JAM

PEACH & THYME