Mamaliga » italian cuisine

Pasta Pesto

Gabi — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:25:02 +0000

Pesto Rigatoni

In hot and humid Chicago summer days, when the AC is almost always on, (don’t remind me of the electricity bill), the last thing I want to do is spend the afternoon in the kitchen having the oven or stove on. I admit, I need an effort to become creative at whipping out dishes (decent ones, mind you) under one hour. I usually take refuge doing something on the grill, but there are days when I couldn’t bear the sight or smell of barbecued meat (as much as I love it!). So then, what do I do? Start by opening the fridge veggie bins for some inspiration. That quickly turns me off since sometimes all I find are some pathetic wilted scallions or forgotten half bell peppers. I am a very clumsy meal planner, so most of the time I have to improvise with what’s at hand. And oh look! What’s on our counter!! A beautiful bouquet of fresh basil that my brother in law brought over from his garden! My creative wheels start to turn. I open the freezer, there lies a package of walnuts. A jar of sun dried tomatoes in the fridge. Enough garlic to feed an army. I look at the clock – it’s 5:15 p.m. Heck, I might be able to pull it off too feed them for our religious 6 o’clock-dinner-on-the-table time. It’s Pesto!

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Post tags: basil, italian cuisine, liguria, parmigiano reggiano, Pasta, pasta recipes, pecorino romano, pesto, pesto alla genovese

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Home Cured Pancetta

Gabi — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:28:41 +0000

Home Cured Pancetta

Pancetta or pork belly (aka bacon for us in the West), is the easiest meat that can be cured at home even without the need of a curing chamber. Inspired by Jason Molinari’s Cured Meats blog, I mustered enough courage to get this project running along with the others ones that are still sitting in the curing chamber.

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Post tags: all'amatriciana, Bacon, Charcuterie, curing meat, curing salt #2, guanciale, italian cuisine, pancetta, pasta alla carbonara, pork belly

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Panettone – Not Your Momma’s Fruitcake

Gabi — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:08:52 +0000

Panettone

Merry Christmas! This is the second time me baking the Panettone from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice for the BBA Challenge. I didn’t blog about it since there were some things I wanted to tweak and adapt from his original formula (that, with all respect to the man, doesn’t even come close to the quintessential Panettone Milanese). Quite a few changes. Now I know why Nicole calls the BBA Challenge a ‘challenge’…

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Post tags: BBA-Challenge, candied fruits, candied orange peel, Christmas, christmas italian bread, italian cuisine, panettone, Peter Reinhart, sourdough, sweet bread, The Bread Baker's Apprentice

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Mamaliga » italian cuisine

Pasta Pesto

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Home Cured Pancetta

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Panettone – Not Your Momma’s Fruitcake

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