If you want a taste of contemporary Rome, you can’t miss the “Nuovo Mercato Esquilino (ex Piazza Vittorio)”. A galaxy of flavours in the heart of Rome’s multi-ethnic district…
… Take Five :: Rome, The New Esquilino Market – Seafood Stalls
Tag: food & travel
Julia Child’s Way and Turkey Cake
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, there are a few precious days left to plan for the all-important dinner… How to make a cake that looks like a turkey | Lifestyle via The Independent
… Julia Child’s Way and Turkey Cake
Mimmo Arena :: Chef per caso, cuoco per passione
It’s impossible not to be at ease with Mimmo Arena, the owner and genius loci of “The Blue Fish Club” of San Vito Chietino, located in the beautiful coastline of Abruzzo Region.
After having exchanged a few words with the accidental Chef, you are immediately taken by his energy, his optimism, his very active sense of wander and creativity. Click HERE to read the interview, it’s in Italian…
… Mimmo Arena :: Chef per caso, cuoco per passione
Pizza Times :: From Naples, Pizza’s Spiritual Home, to Japanese Okonomiyaki
Pizza napoletana
San Gennaro, aka St. Januarius, is the patron saint of Naples, a coastal Italian city of 950,000 located 140 miles south of Rome… Where To Eat Pizza In Naples, Italy, Pizza’s Spiritual Home via Food Republic
Pizza porn
Let’s start with Okonomiyaki, Japan’s take on pizza, is hardly recognizable when compared to the Italian original… This Is What Pizza Looks Like Around the World via Condé Nast Traveler
Food & Travel
The most sensible approach to the Alpine geological wonderland known as the Dolomites is also the most evocative one… In Italy, Hiking and Haute Cuisine in the Dolomites via The New York Times
Turin could be the blueprint for the post-industrial city of the future. Once Italy’s manufacturing powerhouse… The alternative city guide to Turin, Italy | Travel via The Guardian
Delightfully yours,
OrsolaCK @Appetibilis
Deliciously Abruzzo @ La Grande Quercia
At La Grande Quercia, dishes follow season cycle, so menus change according to the produce available. Don’t forget to ask for their signature lamb dish, “agnello incaporchiato” [anyello incaporkiato]. It requires a few ingredients: a leg of lamb, extra-virgin olive oil, white wine, rosemary, a couple of cloves of garlic.
This recipe comes from the old days when people did not have meat very often, so when there was the chance to cook it, they used to put another pot on top (incaporchiato), so that the smell could not go out and tell the neighbours that something good was on the stove. At La Grande Quercia a heavy lid is used instead, and the stewing is perfect.
The true secret is mamma Maria’s cooking mastery – and the weight of the stones…
Deliciously Abruzzo :: “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone
Deliciously Abruzzo :: “The earth has music for those who listen.” ~George Santayana | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone
Figs, raw ham, pecorino cheese and hot pepper-flavoured honey for a toothsome antipasto at “La Grande Quercia”… | photo: ©Lonza65
Behind the scene @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65
Cooking “agnello incaporchiato” @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65
Antipasto @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65
Spaghetti alla chitarra time @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65
Pappardelle ai funghi @ La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65
Travel Bites :: Love from La Grande Quercia | photo: ©Lonza65
Read more about La Grande Quercia :: Harvesting time and family recipes
La Grande Quercia :: Harvesting time and family recipes
Since I was a child, summer has always been the synonym for two things: school term end and harvesting time. Now that school days are – alas! – a faraway memory, harvesting time still retains its fascination to me, who I was brought up in a small village and I spent my summer vacations at my grandparents’ house in the countryside.
Recently, I had the chance to watch harvesting machines at work in the countryside around Atessa, in the acreage surrounding La Grande Quercia agriturismo (farm restaurant, i.e. a business that raises, grows and cooks its own poultry, livestock and vegetables). A quintessential locavore stop.
The name comes from the majestic oak tree just in the middle of the yard – legend says that the oak offered shelter to the Borbonic troops in the XIX century – but the area surrounding the building is worth to be looked at, too. In front of you, hillsides covered with wheat, interspersed with brush spots and olive tree plots and the village of Atessa just behind your shoulders. My idea of wheat field had to be rethought: how can you call a “field” a stretch of land that is as steep as a mountain slope?
Nowadays harvesting is carried out by means of harvesting machines, which save time and exertion. The job a machine can do is far more quicker than a handful of toiling and sweating man. However, the spirit of this activity remains unaffected: “as you sow, so shall you reap” is to be meant literally.
Lunch break at La Grande Quercia is quite and experience. My suggestion is that you should be fasting a week in advance before booking a table for a meal. Servings are copious – this is an understatement, I tell you – so stop fussing about diet, calories and alike and enjoy antipasto all’italiana, peperoncino-flavoured bread rolls, pappardelle, chitarra al ragù, and all the season suggestions… But this is another story, untill then “Bon Appetibilis”.
La Grande Quercia… | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone
From the shelter of La Grande Quercia… | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone
“as you sow, so shall you reap” … | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone
La Grande Quercia… | photo: ©GiuseppeMarone
Harvesting at “La Grande Quercia”… | photo: ©MateldaCodagnone and ©Lonza65
Harvesting at “La Grande Quercia”… | photo: ©Lonza65
Italy’s beloved “aperitivo” culture and the art of cooking on “fumarole”
Keep it seasonal and try to cook from scratch… … Italy’s beloved “aperitivo” culture and the art of cooking on “fumarole”