Slashfood

• The wonderful smell of freshly made, classic egg pasta
  

  Filed under: Italy

  
  Opening up a box of pasta usually isn't a sensory experience, save for the sound of cardboard ripping, or noodles splashing into some boiling water. Heck, even homemade pasta can seem surprisingly bland, even if its made with a myriad of flavorful ingredients. For the most part, it just offers a nice, rich color. But then there is egg pasta, the classic.
  
  For some reason, my forays into pasta didn't start with the egg variety. I started with whole grain and spinach, moved onto beet and plain flour with water varieties, and came late to the egg pasta game. No kitchen hardware was used -- just a ring...
  



• Lasagna with a twist of Pernod
  

  Filed under: Vegetables, Italy, Vegetarian/Vegan

  
  Yesterday, my fridge was in dire need of a cleaning out -- not with disinfectant and a sponge, but with a hungry stomach willing to devour a whole ton of almost-bad veggies. At first, I was thinking about a veggie casserole. Then I remembered that I had dried some homemade egg pasta into fettucini and lasagna noodles. Ding, ding!
  
  Picking up some fennel and cheese at the store, I decided to make a Pernod/Anise-flavored kitchen-sink lasagna. It was oh-so-good (even if I had to wait until 10 PM for it to be done), and shows just how versatile the classic dish is.
  
  Instead of...
  



• The ecstatic effects of hazelnut purée and dark honey
  

  Filed under: Snacks, Nuts/seeds, Condiments, Italy, Artisan Foods

  
  I first experienced the combination of hazelnut purée and dark honey at Slow Foods' cheese festival in Italy. The Piedmont region of Italy is known for its hazelnuts. You can find the most succulent rich hazelnut cakes and cookies. My favorite hazelnut concoction was hazelnut purée and dark honey. My first taste on toast brought about a dionysian state of gastronomical enchantment. The sweet nutty flavors and intensely smooth creamy buttery texture were all so overwhelmingly perfect!
  
  When I returned from my trip, I looked all over NY for another hazelnut...
  



• Cheese Course: Barilotto
  

  Filed under: Cheese, Italy, Artisan Foods, Cheese Course

  
  I am on a buffalo milk cheese kick. It started last week with Burrata. This week, I tried a firm buffalo milk aged ricotta-style cheese called Barilotto. This one is all about its subtleties. It's similar to Ricotta Salata, an aged sheep's milk ricotta that is lightly salted. Unlike the Ricotta Salata, it's not nearly as salty. Instead, Barilotto leaves your mouth with a deep sweet flavor.
  
  Barilotto, like Calcagno, is aged in southern Italy, in Campania at Casa Madaio. It's salted and pressed to...
  



• Midnight Sausage: Ipercoop Supermarket, Italy
  

  Filed under: Beef, Pork, Europe, Italy, Meat

  
  
  Preserved meat counter at an Ipercoop supermarket in Italy. From Flickr user cary b's Flickr.
  
  I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.
  
  Previously-- Midnight Sausage: Donaueschingen, Germany
  Permalink | Dinner, Italy
  
  Yesterday, I set aside a few hours to make pasta, which was a bit of a mess when the eggs toppled over what I thought was a nicely built tube of flour. Once I got it all worked out and rolled out an assortment of pasta, I went about making a spaghetti dinner for myself. But even with a freshly made sauce and pasta, it sounded boring.
  
  So, I set out on an inspiration hunt. A quick peek in the fridge revealed some cheese that I was still meaning to eat. Then I spotted a freshly washed french onion soup bowl in the cupboard. And then...
  



• Cheese Course: Burrata
  

  Filed under: Cheese, Recipes, Italy, Artisan Foods, Summer, Cheese Course

  
  I first encountered Burrata during a trip to one of Genoa's oldest markets - Mercato Orientale. When I sliced into Burrata a luscious cream slowly oozed out from the center. The cream tasted slightly like a fresh ricotta. I spread the cheese over crusty bread and drizzled olive oil over it. Burrata is essentially a creamy spreadable buffalo milk mozzarella. In Italian, the name "Burrata" means "buttered." Unlike Mozzarella, Burrata's center is filled with cooked Italian cream.
  
  Burrata is produced in the southeastern region of Italy, called Puglia. It...
  



• Meaty bruschetta
  

  Filed under: Italy

  
  What do you do when you have old, leftover pancetta that really needs to be eaten, a whole pile of tomatoes, and an insanely tasty baguette? Meaty bruschetta. Yesterday, I knew that I wanted something a bit more than just veggies on bread to go with my salad and mashed potatoes. So I decided to make things meaty, and it was beyond tasty.
  
  Just fry the heck out of some pancetta with some diced onion until it's dark and crispy. Then toss that with some chunks of fresh tomato, a little bit of garlic, and some freshly ground salt and pepper. Meanwhile, give your baguette a preliminary toast with...
  



• Cheese Course: Calcagno
  

  Filed under: Cheese, Italy, Artisan Foods, Cheese Course

  
  When I first started my career in the cheese biz, I had no idea how many pecorinos there were. The category includes essentially all Italian sheep's milk cheeses. Pecora in Italian means "sheep." Most of them are produced in Tuscany and Sardinia. Calcagno is a pecorino that's hand crafted in Sardinia, and then, it's aged in southern Italy in the Campania region.
  
  I find that most pecorinos are nutty and tend to dry out rather quickly. Calcagno is an exception. Cutting into a fresh wheel of Calcagno is like diving into a feathery bright green meadow with vibrant...
  



• Extreme Grilling: Go whole hog
  

  Filed under: Asia, Pork, Caribbean, Did you know?, Islands, America, Italy, Slow cooking, Head to Tail

  
  As I wrote several weeks ago, a pig pickin' is a North Carolina tradition involving a pig, a converted petroleum drum cooker, a bunch of charcoal and a whole lot of time. But a pig pickin' is not the only way to cook a whole hog - cultures across the world have been spit roasting, grilling and burying pigs in hot ash for thousands of years. In many places, pork is the cheapest meal available, making pig roasts an affordable way...