Risotto al limone e gamberetti Since I’ve been recovering from a mild illness, or busy, or both, war zone cooking has been limited to soups, which probably deserve their own write up, especially as I’ve been experimenting with way to allungare them, often transforming them into hearty, often porky, and thus wholly un-Italian dishes. But today’s post features shrimp …
Author Archives: hnbjr
M&M Enterprise Cooking, Vol. XIV
Someone leaving post left out some canned organic pumpkin, and having just come from the belpaese, where mighty round and gnarled zucce are at every produce stand, I knew I had to do something with it. Now, my wife’s true cooking talent, I’m convinced, is in her minestrine, zuppe and passate. Her version of pumpkin …
M&M Enterprise Cooking, Vol. XIII
Sono ritornato. War zone cooking is back. I’ve been sick, so a lot of the war zone cookery has been hearty bagged frozen soups, a classic of the diet of the workingman in northern Italy, but really not much to write home about. My first couple of non-dining hall, non-frozen soup dishes — a Caprese on …
M&M Enterprise Cooking, Vol. XII
Caponata Siciliana – September 17 This will be the last for a bit, as I’m off to the land of good and accessible food soon enough. I found myself with far too many good fresh vegetables and jarred items the other night, so I improvised a caponata. There are a lot of regional variations, but …
M&M Enterprise Cooking, Vol. XI
Penne con cozze e melanzane With one eggplant from last weeks’ veggie haul left, and some frozen Chilean mussels, I decided to adapt this. The idea of seafood plus eggplant is clearly a southern one, but one I’m starting to appreciate more. Started by slicing and salting the eggplants early this morning while I …
M&M Enterprise Cooking, Vol. X
Srpska salata It’s been a few days of rich and bountiful eating, so I decided to go for something lighter, not to mention the cucumbers and tomatoes, so fresh a few days ago, were in danger of getting overripe. It’s immediately obvious to me what to do with these two delicious and cooler summer vegetables …
M&M Enterprise Cooking, Vol. IX
Gumbo all’afghana – September 9, Martyr’s Day It’s a long weekend, so another day to cook. We’ll deviate from the usual Italian theme due to availability of local produce. Having come into a large quantity of okra, I was at somewhat of a loss as to what to do with it. Of course, as a …
M&M Enterprise Cooking, Vol. VIII
Fusilli con gamberi e melanzane – September 8 Cooking, being an inexact science, sometimes surprises and sometimes disappoints. It reminds one of musical improv or other strange mixings where sometimes, you can follow the instructions and end up with an inferior product, and sometimes, it all just works. If yesterday was the former, today was …
M&M Enterprise Cooking, Vol. VII
Peperonata all’Afghana – September 7 By dint of kindness and good luck, I obtained three bags of fresh veg lately — eggplants, fresh tomatoes (thankfully, since the ones flown into here are a crime), okra, peppers, onions, and cucumbers. So what to do other than to make one of the delicious Mediterranean eggplant and pepper …
M&M Enterprise Cooking, Vol. VI
September 3 — Pasta con bietola e pancetta Warning: this dish looks much healthier than it probably is With the leftover pancetta from the amatriciana and some frozen bietola, I had a couple of options. Basically an amalgamation of these two recipes. I did a soffritto with EVOO, frozen onions (working on obtaining fresh ones) …