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Archives for January 2015

The Big Cheese

January 25, 2015 by Barbara Leave a Comment

Years ago when I lived in Rome, back when Marcus Aurelius ran the place, you could only grocery shop at these tiny grocery stores known as pizzicagnoli. One sold dairy and eggs. Another bread. Another meats and cheeses. It was fun but it took forever to get food shopping done. One neighborhood grocer would individually wrap eggs in paper, very slowly I might add, and gently lower them into a plastic bag for me to carry home. I lived in the centro storico section of Rome, the historic center, near Campo de’ Fiori. The streets are very narrow. I remember walking home with my gently-and-slowly-wrapped bag of eggs on one of the narrower streets near my apartment when a small car came by a little too fast (surprise, surprise) and its bumper hit my bag of eggs. And turned it into a ready-made omelette. Oh well, it could have been my kneecap.

These days when we’re at our home in Sansepolcro, in eastern Tuscany, I usually just bip over to one of 3 large grocery stores in the area to stock up on provisions when we first arrive. I say provisions because the store, the Coop, not only sells food and alcohol but a variety of other everyday products as well. If you want to buy a tire, go to Coop. If you want to buy a bra, go to Coop. If you want to buy, well, eggs, go to Coop.

So I’m on my way out the door to go pick up a few things at the Coop and my husband, whose food repertoire is a bit narrow, asks if I could buy him some…cheddar cheese. Cheddar?!? Now Italy produces about 450 varieties of cheese, among the best in the world.

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The Coop must sell about 440 of them, including my beloved Grana Padano, the grainy cheese from the Po Valley, that I prefer over Parmegiano.

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Filed Under: Life Italian Style

Pappa al Pomodoro”…or Pupule al Pomodoro

January 17, 2015 by Barbara 2 Comments

Pappa Al Pomodoro is a traditonal Tuscan soup that originated as a means, as many old recipes have, to use up leftover food…in this case bread and tomatoes.  This soup is a virtual staple on any traditional Florentine restaurant menu.  “Pappa” means mush because, well, that is the consistency of the soup.  This Tuscan version is one of many throughout Italy of “pancotto” or cooked bread.  The good folks at King’s Hawaiin Original  Hawaiian Sweet Rolls once issued a challenge to food bloggers to create a recipe using King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls.  I have created a version of Pappa Al Pomodoro, nicknamed here Pupule al Pomodoro, incorporating the rolls as the bread ingredient in this classic Italian dish.  Some versions have used diced carrot or a bit of sugar in the soup to sweeten the acidity in the tomatoes.  But those ingredients are not necessary in my version as the King’s Hawaiin sweet rolls add all the sweetness necessary and impart a delicious, creamy texture to the soup.

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Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Recipes

The Power of Spaghetti

January 10, 2015 by Barbara Leave a Comment

“Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti.”

                                         ~ Sophia Loren

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Me too, only my distribution network has malfunctioned…

 

Filed Under: Life Italian Style Tagged With: Sophia Loren, spaghetti

Creamy Chestnut Soup

January 5, 2015 by Barbara Leave a Comment

Smooth and creamy chestnut soup is a perfect soup for winter.

Let me introduce you to smooth and creamy chestnut soup.  This version is more like a bisque, dressed up with butter, cream and a little booze. But I know, I know.  It’s brown.  You can dress it up, with chopped green onions and crème fraîche, I’ve done here, and talk it up as I’m doing now.  But at the end of the day, this soup is still brown.  But still good!  Made with chestnut purée which I’ll talk about below.  And also made with butter and cream.  But first…

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Filed Under: italian food recipes, Recipes Tagged With: autumn soup, castagna, chestnut bisque, chestnut puree, chestnut recipes, chestnut soup, chestnut trees, chestnuts, italian soup, italian zuppa, winter soup, Zuppa, zuppa di castagna

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Hi. I'm Barbara Francis and I hope you like authentic Italian food as much as I do. It's simple, fresh, seasonal. What's not to like? And it's part of my heritage. So join me in the kitchen of Italian Food Made Simple. Just step right over the dog, she won't move even if you ask her.

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