Monthly Archives: November 2007

I’m high on Cannelés!

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Cannelés

Oh yeah, they are really addictive those little treasures!!!
When I was seeing them in bakeries or shop around France I never had the urge for them, but that was because I’ve never tried them!!!
Then, some time ago, I saw them again here…
So last time I’ve been in France I finally bought Cannelés mold (because you need special mold to make them like that, of course!): the last step toward a endless love affair that will bring me to the grave, ahead of time, with high cholesterol and diabetes…
But then they could write on my tombstone: “Here lies Piperita, beloved wife, daughter, and blogger. She lived wildly, experiencing all the patisserie in the world (with a special preference for Pierre Hermè creations)…”
And there will be a marble macaron on top of it… Preferably a caramel au buerre salé macaron… But I let the choice up to the tomb maker…
Ok, sorry, I’m getting creepy! ;-)
Back to Cannelés addiction! So, as I was saying, cannelés kept showing up in my life, here and there, from time to time…
And then, one night, watching our new addiction (Brothers&Sisters), Kitty Walker tried to feed her nephew Cooper with them, but what do you think a three years old kid can understand about high French patisserie??? Nothing, that’s it, as even grown ups cannot!
So, Sunday night my parents came to dine to our home. I though it was time: I had to make Cannelés!

Here they are… And you know what? They are simple: you mix everything, chill and then cook it for 1 hour in the oven… I mean: that’s dummies proof, no???
For the recipe, I used the only one I could find among my cookbook library, from Les Classiques de Camille, by Camille Le Foll, Marabout, 2004. (Do you want the recipe? Get the book! Or try hers!)

Following up the rest of Sunday night menu! I started from the dessert because I’m a fond maverick (“What can I say Taylor? I’m a maverick!”) and I do not follow rules! Unless it is Pierre Hermè dictating them: then I’ll even jump from a bridge if he thinks it’s what you need to do to get a dessert right…

Apologies: I do not know where this creepy mood is coming from … I’m crazy, may be…

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Daring Bakers: Tender Potato Bread

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Potato bread focaccia, with mixed cured meat

Warm focaccia filled with Parma Prosciutto: to die for!!!

Last time I’ve seen Annemarie in London, we just ended the Bostoni Cream Pie challenge, and we were a bit disappointed about our Chiffon cake turned out…
Then we moved to one quite corner, and whispering, we spoke about the new challenge. She already had the time to look it up, so she revealed to me what was about. At first we thought: “oh, that’s it?”
But then I remembered that once, the mother of one of my former boyfriends, told me that she was adding a boiled potato to the normal pizza dough, to make it fluffier… And her pizza was one of the best home made pizza I’ve ever tried!!!
So, here we are with this amazing potato bread!
Flour: the recipe was calling for all-purpose flour, suggesting to use an organic one, so I did. Not any fancy big name organic flour, just the Esselunga (the most widespread supermarket chain in northern Italy) organic all-purpose flour. And then for the whole-grain, yet again Esselunga organic whole-grain flour.
Potatoes: recently we’ve been to France, and shopped at the supermarket (I love to shop in French supermarket: you can find so many amazing stuff!!!). So I bought French potatoes and, honestly, they are very good potatoes: in Italy is difficult to find potatoes as good! Quite floury, good for baking, wonderful for boiling, and I would use them for Italian gnocchi too…
Yeast: I’ve used fresh yeast, 25 g. I rarely use active dry yeast, only when I don’t have fresh yeast at home and I have the urge for pizza…
Of course I knead the entire loaf by hand, and, as usually, it was a wonderful moment, very liberating, as if I was detoxifying from the whole working week and free my mind to reach higher level of relaxations…
Of course if “normal people” would read this last sentence they would rather think I’m completely crazy, but all my fellow Daring Bakers would absolutely agree with me: kneading is good for mind and soul!

And I have to say that this recipe, especially the quantities, are just perfect! I haven’t use a single gram more of the indicated flour!

And as the dough was quite a lot, I made:

Potato bread

A small loaf

Potato bread Rolls

Rolls

Potato bread focaccia

Simple focaccia with coarse salt

Incompreso

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Wagamama.jpg

Note: first of all thank for the sympathetic comments of you all! My last post wasn’t an adieu, but just a way to tell you that I want to find a different way to food blog! :-)

When I was little, in Italy they were showing on tv one of the saddest movie I ever seen (right after Remi, the saddest anime of all!!!): Incompreso. Basically it was the story of a motherless child misunderstood by his father… I’m in pain just thinking about it!!!
Anyway, back to my point!
Us, food bloggers: we are a misunderstood specie of this tech world!
How many times have you found yourself taking a picture of some juicy dish in front of you and then feeling weirdly looks all around you??? Many… Too many ;-)

The picture above was taken last september, at one of the Wagamama in London (here my “review”): I was eating alone, as often happens when I’m in London, as I’m there ALONE, working (insert Sara with sad face here), and I had to (I really felt the urge!) take a picture of the (average) food I was eating, to witness the fact that Wagamama is not so good as everybody says (better than the average fast food, but for the price I’ve paid, way too much, I would have preferred a REAL Japanese or Chinese or Thai alternative)…
The place was crowded and I had to share a table with a large group of English people.
Do I have to explain you the weird looks I’ve got???
I’m not form Mars: I am just a food blogger!!!
I even heard someone saying: “Oh my, she’s taking pictures of her food” with a disbelieved tone…
I should find a line to answer to people like that: nice, funny, simple, and maybe that won’t involve any strange word that will mathematically point me out as a foreign…
Ok, I ask to much: let’s stick to a nice smile!!! :-)

I should have…

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Collage.jpg

… so many things to say…
So many recipe to write…
But honestly, I’m pissed off writing recipe!
I write too many for work, so I don’t find any more inspiration to write even more recipes on my own blog… :-(
The only idea of writing “150g of that and 100 g of the other one, mix together…” make me sleepy!
Don’t you find it extremely boring??? Am I the only one???
And I realize that, right now, I find extremely boring even the food blogs, unless they have a different edge and do not relay so much on the recipes but tell you stories, fun stuff…
The picture above is a little collage of all the stuff I should have told you about, but right now they are months old, I certainly do not remember how I made them…
I remember the story behind each, that’s for sure… But that too are months old…

I’m a useless food blogger…

Fell free to add sympathetic comments! ;-)

Franciacorta, Bellavista and Gualtiero Marchesi

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Franciacorta grapes

Foreward: I paid to do what I’m going to tell you about, so I wasn’t bribed. Not that you can say so for what I’m going to tell you! And I’m not a restaurant critic (and I don’t aim to become one), but I have a palate, a mouth and taste… And they are all quite well developed…

My husband is a sommelier, and with the Italian Sommelier Association we went, this Saturday, to visit Franciacorta, Bellavista wine cellars, and to lunch chez the most universally acclaimed Italian chef, Gualtiero Marchesi.
It wasn’t our first visit to Franciacorta, neither our first tasting of Bellavista.
The cellars are huge and very interesting. The tasting a bit less, as we tasted just one wine (the Francicorta brut, a basic product) and everybody would have loved to taste at least three different wines. If not, what’s the use of a wine cellar visit with sommelier???
Then, the lunch.
I cannot say we didn’t eat well, because everything was very good and really well cooked (well, not really everything). And being there in a big number (50) we hadn’t à la carte menu, but a fixed menu, so I won’t judge everything from that.
But… I expected more. Because, honestly, if you are a universally acclaimed chef you should ALWAYS be at your best, even if you serve the same menu to 50 chatting people. And even if this menu is average (well, you, chef, did the menu, so…)… And, honestly, being humble never killed anyone, but I already know the super mega duper ego of the chef… I do not justify it, though…
Leaving alone the whole menu, as first course we had the glorious, famous, worldly acclaimed Saffron risotto with golden sheet.
It was a good risotto, non the less, but not the most spectacular risotto I ever had (about which I won’t speak, because I will ramble about another acclaimed Italian chef who’s just able to make a good risotto (so he’s a chef working in Milan, do you assumptions!), but uses store brought mayonnaise, and that’s not the case, if not I get nasty comments, like “who the hell are you to judge?” (nobody, just a paying costumer! And I can assure you it wasn’t a bargain!) and stuff like that, and that really piss me off)…
And the second course, roasted lamb, well, sorry, mine were slightly overdone…
Well, and the wine matched with the menu weren’t memorable…
The bread, actually, was amazing!!! Best bread I had in a restaurant!!!
Full set of picture here…

Anyway, a good day, wonderful company on the table (we really had fun! And there were even three Chinese, who loved everything and they were very nice! And Edoardo e Mariangela whom were real fun to chat with!!!), and Franciacorta surroundings are always breath taken…

Maybe I’m too spoiled… I don’t know! This job I’m doing it’s spoiling me! I’m not easily amused any more! ;-)

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