May 28, 2006
Cacao & Zucchini Absorption Pasta
Chose promise, chose due*, here is my take on absorption pasta, or risotto-style pasta. The idea of this technique is to coat the pasta with a little olive oil, add just enough liquids to cover, and cook until desired tenderness. According to Virka -- who read it in the Italian paper La Reppublica so it simply must be true -- this cooking technique dates back from the early 13th century, and was in fact the only one that was used before it was ...
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May 22, 2006
Parmesan by the Hunk
Earlier this year, I received an email from an Italian blogger named Massimo, who announced to me that C&Z; had been voted Best Non-Italian Food Blog in the awards he'd been hosting on his website, Peperosso* -- I'm sure that having an Italian word in the name of my blog helped. And since Massimo puts his mangoes where his mouth is (Lost, season 2:episode 17), there was a prize for each of the winners, and the prize was a 100€ gift certific...
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May 15, 2006
Macadamia Maple Granola
When I was little, I had long and exclusive relationships with my breakfast menus. For years on end a particular food item was all I would have in the morning, until suddenly and without warning, a new monomania came to replace it.
The earliest phase I remember involved pain de mie (white sandwich bread) and Nutella. Two slices of bread would be toasted until lightly golden (if it got too brown I had to find someone who would eat it, and start...
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May 8, 2006
Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking
I have a special bookshelf where I keep the books I plan to read. Some of them I've bought myself, and some of them I've borrowed, mostly from my mother or from my neighbor Patricia. At latest count -- let me get up from the couch and count them for you -- there are thirty-two books there. As you will infer, I am a bit of an unread-book hoarder, and I don't feel quite serene unless this stash is well fed.
Perhaps my most cherished moment in th...
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May 1, 2006
When your sister gives you lemons
...make almond lemon curd.
I like it when I can count the degrees of separation between an ingredient and myself, especially when I only need the fingers of one hand to do so. In this case, there were just four degrees of separation between me and three large lemons: my sister Céline has a boyfriend I adore, named Christian. Christian has a father, who lives not far from Nice. And this father has a bountiful lemon tree, currently overloaded wi...
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