R wrote - B (Husband) says you can never have too many cookbooks. There is always the trunk of your car or the basket on your bicycle to store them. Although he prefers that you stick with Italian as that is the true food of the earth. I am looking forward to my little herb garden this summer with fresh basil, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Oh dear, I feel a song coming on.
Clara - these are my favourite Italian cookbooks.
Plus there are other unconfessed stashes, apart from the magazines under the couch. There are two large folders with recipes cut from magazines, Good Living etc, then there is an envelope folder with cut out recipes ready to be filed or put in the Recipes folder on the net.
One of the aspects that bother me about this (and G brings it up occasionally) is that one of the symptoms of ageing (ie apart from the dreaded upper arms and emerging gigantic hairs on the chinny chin chin) is that some of us collect newspaper articles or tie up bundles of magazines and keep them. Can you ask B if this is the next step please as I may need to buy some more string.
Re - Silver Spoon - the recipes are relatively simple but the methods cater for the Italian housewife of the past whose main role in life was to cook perfect pasta (many would not trust a new wife and would remain sceptical that even after many years, that their precious son was being fed as well as she fed him. A whole new concept of MOG Mother of Groom.)
Now I, Clara, on the other hand, have some handy hints to bring this splendid book up to date.
Firstly, I rarely cook a chook, preferring thigh pieces for their ease and juiciness.(Sorry but what can I do without Spell check? Talk to Mr Google)
Here there could be memories of Dad decapitating a beloved hen. I was attached to all of them as I fed them their steaming aromatic mix each morning, the smell of which remains with me; and had names for them all. BUT - OK it was Christmas. Alright I didn't actually see him do the deed but saw the outcome ie a headless chook running around the yard, which is really spooky. It may seem two-faced when I say that we didn't mind playing with the dismembered feet of the unfortunate chook and learnt some biology by pulling the emerging sinues(?) to delight in how the feet closed and opened.
OK - Chicken pieces which I would cook in the oven. Oven - a whole new subject. I love ovens!!! Why is this so? Because even though I am passionate about cooking I also choose to have a life. The oven allows me to do my thing with the food, occasionally sealing and reducing the wine content or drinking it, adding herbs, sauce etc, then wop it in the oven which then takes over then I can do other things. (I haven't forgotten about Time Management, just haven't had time). G cooks a fantastic meal once a week usually from Silver Spoon and follows the recipe ; let me tell you SNAGS, coming home to the fragrant aroma of reducing wine with garden herbs has to be an aphrodesiac (?)!!
But he has learnt from me - and wops it in the oven to finish the magical process.
Moving on with our recipe - I know my BIL, brother in law Umburto from Tuscany, would disagree with me here, but I usually reduce the oil or butter, not quite as much as I used to because I know it adds so much flavour - however I still like wearing tight jeans. If you sear in a little butter and oil the flavour is still there and (sorry Umbi) I don't believe that adding too much more is worth the extra trip to the gym or whatever one does.
I question removing the garlic - a true Italian surely would not do that and complete my critique by saying where are the herbs?
My philosophy on herbs could go on for ever but another time and place. Enough to say "Why just do it if you can overdo it?"
I wonder if there is a can of baked beans in the pantry - to me creating wonderful meals is an act of love and G is in Vietnam.
Cheers Clara
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