briciole

lenticchie di Castelluccio con avanzi di pollo arrosto e patate al forno / Castelluccio lentils with leftover roast chicken and baked potatoes

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] For our Thanksgiving dinner, I roasted a chicken, one of a batch locally and organically pasture raised by our friend Don (a.k.a. the accidental chicken farmer). The recipe for the roast chicken (pollo arrosto) is not mine but Thomas Keller's and was described in this guest post. Hence, there was no leftover turkey in my fridge, but leftover chicken (avanzi di pollo) upon which to let my creative juices flow. To go with the almost five-pound chicken, I roasted two lbs. of locally grown, organic fingerling potatoes. After carefully scrubbing the potatoes,... Read more →

insalata di pollo con labneh / chicken salad with labneh

Roasting a whole chicken for two means having a certain amount of leftovers (avanzi). Making chicken salad with avanzi di pollo arrosto is not really creative, but using labneh to season it is probably not as common as using, say, maionese (mayonnaise). Why labneh? Because of a photo of it that I saw in this post by Lucy of Nourish Me. The image of a snow-white ball nestled in white cheesecloth stayed with me and inspired me to follow the instructions on this page and get my own snow-white mass of labneh. I decided to be daring and used non-fat, organic... Read more →

pollo arrosto per Paz / roast chicken for Paz

I wrote a guest post for Paz, of The Cooking Adventure of Chef Paz, describing my first attempt ever at preparing pollo arrosto. Fear not, the adventure has a happy ending. Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post: pollo arrosto or launch the pollo arrosto audio file [mp3]. [Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.] Read more →

pâté di fegatini di pollo / chicken liver pâté

The version of this dish I am referring to here is typical of central Italy and is eaten spread over small slices of lightly toasted bread, called crostini. Crostini con pâté di fegatini di pollo are traditionally served as an appetizer and they are featured in the menu of many restaurants. I recommend you try them if you find yourself in the area, and maybe compare the different local versions. It is also possible to purchase fresh pâté in stores. I grew up eating the variation common in Umbria, the region where I was born. My mother would make pâté di... Read more →

pollo arrosto alla Julia Child / roast chicken à la Julia Child

The time is a few years ago and the place is my mother-in-law's apartment in the Chicago area. My mother-in-law is watching TV when we arrive: she is enjoying the program, so we start watching it too. On the screen there is Julia Child preparing a chicken for roasting. That was my first and only encounter with her. Julia's manners and her interaction with her partner, Jacques Pepin, made me overcome my natural aversion to watching television. That was also my first and only encounter with a food program. I don't watch TV of any kind, so this has nothing to... Read more →

pollo arrosto / roast chicken

Talking about Sunday lunch (pranzo) in my previous post made me think of another dish that was only featured in that meal: pollo arrosto. We would buy it at a store, una rosticceria, actually 'the' store, because we had one favorite place. I am not sure whether it is still in business, but I hope it is. As a child, I loved going with my father to the rotisserie to get the roast chicken: I loved the smell of the place and the look of the food that was made and sold there. I usually got to carry the warm bag... Read more →

polpettone / meatloaf

Polpettone comes from polpetta with the addition of the augmentative suffix -one. I have never eaten either polpettone or meatloaf, because both are famous for being particularly demanding on our digestive system, a character I dislike in food. This defining trait of polpettone explains the metaphorical use of the word to describe something muddled and boring. Movies and books are at particular risk of being condemned as polpettoni. Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post: polpettone or launch the polpettone audio file [mp3]. [Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played... Read more →

polpetta / meatball

The word polpetta comes from polpa, meaning lean meat, with the addition of the diminutive suffix -etta. Polpette can be made with meat or fish and are fried or stewed. My mother makes them with the boiled meat leftover from making broth. She fries them and the result is brown nuggets that are almost creamy inside and crispy outside. The next day she stews them in tomato sauce: what they lose in outer crispness, they gain in flavor with the aromatic tomato sauce. I have never eaten spaghetti with meatballs and had never heard of them until I moved to California.... Read more →