Kemp Minifie clears it all up:
Do you get confused in the canned tomato aisle of the supermarket? I sure do. Canned tomatoes come in so many different forms—whole peeled tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato purée, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, etc.—that it’s enough to drive you crazy!
It’s National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month!
Peanut butter is delicious on its own, but it’s also great at lending its creamy, crunchy nuttiness to a wide variety of dishes. With popular preparations like cookies, pies, PB&J sandwiches, puddings, and cakes, it’s hard to choose just one. But, we want you to tell us:
What’s you favorite thing to make with peanut butter?
Olives of the Roman Countryside
If you could fly like a bird over the campagna romana where it fades toward the hills, you would see it clothed in a broad, silvery gray cloak of olive leaves. Those trees are the pride of all Italy’s oil production.
For the ancient Italic peoples, the olive tree symbolized not only the fertility of humans and of the earth but also peace and a serene life. Thus, it easy to understand why this plant has traveled the centuries clothed in an aura of sacredness. The oil produced by its fruit was an essential food on poor tables, ever since the time of republican Rome; its oil served to light the lamps, its dregs were a good fertilizer, and its wood, considered precious, could be burned only on the altar of the gods. And the olive tree is indissolubly linked to the advance of Mediterranean civilization. In the imperial period, the tables of the Roman gourmands made a distinction between the sapid oils of Sabina and the lighter oils of Liguria¹The strong, heavy oils from Spain and North Africa were primarily used to fill lamps.
Souffléed Gnocchi
Serves6
- Active time:35 min
- Start to finish:2 hr (includes chilling)
April 2005
Souffléed and pillow soft, gnocchi cooked in a variation on alla romana puts to rest this starch’s reputation as a heavy hitter. If you’re making this entire menu in a single oven, put the souffléed gnocchi in the oven to bake after the fennel and carrots have been roasting for 10 minutes.
- 3 cups whole milk
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup semolina (3 oz; sometimes labeled “semolina flour”*)
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (7 tablespoons, see Tips)
-
Special equipment:
a 2-inch round cookie cutter; a 2-qt shallow baking dish
-
Bring milk with salt to a simmer in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat. Add semolina in a slow stream, whisking, then simmer, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, 12 minutes (mixture will be very stiff). Remove from heat and stir in eggs 1 at a time, then stir in 6 tablespoons cheese and 3 tablespoons butter. Spread gnocchi mixture into a 1/2-inch-thick slab on an oiled baking sheet using a lightly oiled rubber spatula, then chill, uncovered, until cool to the touch, about 10 minutes.
-
Cut out rounds from gnocchi mixture with cookie cutter dipped in cool water (incorporating scraps as you work) and gently transfer rounds (they will be very soft), slightly overlapping, to buttered baking dish. Chill gnocchi, uncovered, 1 hour.
-
Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 450ºF.
-
Melt remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons butter and brush over gnocchi, then sprinkle with remaining tablespoon cheese.
-
Bake in upper third of oven 10 minutes, then switch dish to lower third of oven and continue to bake until gnocchi are slightly puffed and lightly browned, about 10 minutes more. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Cooks’ notes:
- Unbaked gnocchi can be chilled up to 1 day, covered after 1 hour.
- *Available at Italian markets, specialty foods shops, and farawayfoods.com.
Not just for breakfast, old-fashioned oatmeal adds crunch and character to everything. But also excellent for breakfast.
recipe here
Our friends at Epicurious have an epic slideshow of deviled egg recipes for Deviled Egg Day!
Happy Friday!
These beauties pictured above are Beet Pickled Deviled Eggs
Happy Deviled Egg day!
Who knew there was a day devoted to deviled eggs?
Here’s one of our favorite recipes for deviled eggs
