wAYS: 2010

6 Aralık 2010 Pazartesi

Risotto Ai Funghi

My sister got some wild mushrooms from organic bazaar. Sure we did somwthing that would go well..

Some mushroom (any kind)

Some rice

Some white wine

Salt..

An easy plate for emergency cases.

18 Mart 2010 Perşembe

History of Coffee and Consumption Statistics

At the first place boiled coffee leaves where used as a medicine in Ethiopia. Probably accidently it was roasted and then got the today’s form of drinking. For a long time it stayed where it was and then transported to Yemen, where the first coffee plantation got started. On fifteenth century it was spread through Sufis to Mecca and as far as Cairo where it got popular in Muslim world. Sufi’s used coffee for religious practices an even in A Thousand and One Night it was called as “Arabic The happy”.

“Coffee made its European debut in the mid-seventeenth century, where it was taken up in fashionable circles as part oof the craze for all things Turkish.” (Alain Stella, Coffee, 2001, Flammarion)

After that coffee arrived to Europe it was cultivated in Asia by European colonies. It got accessible to people by time. It was transported to the ports of Yemen by camels and transported to Cairo. Then to Alexandria, to Istanbul and to India. As it got more popular the cultivation areas got wider, the area between tropics of Capricorn and Cancer were under control of European Coffee Companies. The major points for exportations were Marseilles and Amsterdam.

Coffee consumption statistics(2002)
#1 Norway 10.7kgs
#2 Finland 10.1kgs
#3 Denmark 9.7kgs
#4 Sweden 7.8kgs
#5 Netherlands 7.1kgs
#11 Italy 3.2kgs

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_cof_con-food-coffee-consumption

16 Mart 2010 Salı

Sea urchins of Sardinia

For sure you can eat sea urchins for free if you have a friend whose breath is strong to dive and get the urchins and also clean them for you.

But if you somehow get some urchins, here is a recipe for spagetti ai ricci, spagetti with sea urchins.

Spagetti ai ricci:

1 kg of sea urchins
400 gr. of spaghetti
1/2 glass of olive oil
1/2 glass of white wine
2 garlics
3 mature tomatoes
a bit of salt and pepper

Make the spagetti.

With low heat, fry garlic with olive oil.

Take away the skin of tomato and add it to oil with wine.

Add the spagetti and add the urchins.

24 Şubat 2010 Çarşamba

Prohibited Cheese- CASU MARZU

Casu Marzu in Sardinian language is "rotten cheese" It's a local cheese that is banned by Italian laws.

You can't get it in a shop or a market but since Sardinians love it it is possible to find it in black market. Shepherds are producing it in small amounts and selling it only to the costumers that they trust.

Production part is really interesting; they cut the upper part of Pecorino Sardo and leave it in open area for cheese flies to lay eggs in it. So what you eat actually is the cheese with worms in it.

Sardos while eating are covering the cheese with their hands for protecting their eyes from jumping worms. For those who doesn't like worms there is also another type which they seperate the worms.

19 Şubat 2010 Cuma

San Miguel-Madrid

San Miguel Food Market, at the back side of Plaza Mayor, Madrid.
Where you can find cheeses, olives, vermouth, sangria, desserts, olives to taste.
It was an old market from 1916 when it was constructed and on May 2009 it reopened.
It is still an argument of renovation.

PECK- Milano

I have been to famous gourmet shop Peck-Via Spadari.
Really beautiful place where everything costs a lot. They have a big spectra of products.
Since you can buy anything you want of the best quality, the prices are reasonable in my idea.
We got some Tronchetto with carbon, Castelmagno and so on.
Here is a photo of Tronchetto with carbon.

Social Wine Houses-Italy

Before the regulations of I dont know what had started there were "Social Wine Houses" where people use to go with their own bottle and buy fresh wine. On my trip to Venezia, I found one. The idea is you go there with your bottle or they give you one and you get as much as you want. Prices are so economic.

HomeMade GlutenFree Pizza

25g. yeast
3dl water
4 spoons of oil
7dl gluten free powder

400ml of tomate sauce
1 tomato
a bit of oregano and cumin
3 garlic cloves
just a bit of salt

400grams of grated mozzarella-ish cheese
100grams of grated Grana Padano
Ruccola
2 Tomatoes