little story about petit fours

To continue on the community oven's path

PETIT FOURS

means little ovens

at the time when there were only a community oven

for a all village,

people where cooking smaller pieces once the oven

was cooling down.

Temperature less hot, the small pieces were cooking

evenly and perfectly

In our days

exixt petit fours sales (salted)

petit fours sucre (sweet)

selections and  qualities are fantastic

Specially in Italy and France

another italian dinner when you dont want to cook for dinner

That is called TORCETTO

It is a specialty from where I from :Piemonte

Before that everyone had a stove or an oven people were cooking the bread in the community ovens.

Torcetti wre created with the bread dough, rolled in the honey or a lot of sugar and than cooked at the front of the oven and that give away to the childre while waiting their parents cooking the bread loaf.

At Rivarolo Canavese, where my aunt leave you ca buy them in big size and that is what you can eat with a caffe latte some night if lazy to cook

the perfect light dinner

dont want to cook tonight?

Well that is such  good solution

In Italy or France it is the plan B by ecellance for dinner

Recipe:

Toasted slices of bread of your choice

Butter the top after toasted

Add a shaved slice of ham

1 raw egg

when water boil gently drop the egg inside and make it boil for 4 minutes

Take it out

Put on the egg holder

cut the egg like in the picture

Add salt and pepper at your taste

Dip your toasts

enjoy!!!

Dont have the egg holder?

take a piece of allumminium and mold it around the egg ( a raw one easy to handle...)

panetteria

OMG, every day you can have a differant kind of bread....still not at the supermarket....I am talking about real shop, where people are talking, recognize you and say hello

the perfect 4 pm snack for a kid (I will be always a kid for that one!!)

You might say that I have funny ideas....well this one is from my Gandmother Albina.

1 banana / person
sugar
1/2 lemon
knife and a fork

easy and good

open the banana, slice it in a bowl, squeezed the half lemon on top of it, sugar at your taste, smashed everything with the fork.
I love to eat that with bread...yeah bread...such as baguette, ciabatta, pugliese.

At my grandmother town

Me (Daniela Peira Bouneou)
going to Pont Canavese by train , to visit my grand mother....
In this picture I was...16-17 years old

Down  family picture
From the left:


my aunt (Rolando Nella)
my mother (Rolando Fioralba)
me (Daniela Peira)
my grandmother (Albina Rolando)
My grandfather (libero Rolando)
my other aunt (Vera Sartore)


In this picture I was 10 years old

my grandmother town: PONT CANAVESE

This is the church were my grand mother got married....and in October 2009

she past away .

She was 98 years old......I loved her a lot...she was a great cook, a great grand mother and as much I know a great mother and friend.

on the left side of this street was the cheese shop, on the right the bread stick bakery

So many sweets souvenirs

The town is now calm, almost empty, everybody left for cities....

but maybe will get alive again...people are getting tired of big cities....I am

salumeria

A unique and fantastic smell.
I promess all those smells are in my mind and they will stay forever!
Here you buy your what you call deli.
Shaved prosciutto, salame cotto or crudo, and cheese.
going to buy the cheese:


Another souvenir in my grandmother town...before to buy cheese you must buy the bread, and that in one particulary bakery, than going to buy grissini (breadsticks)in the second particulary bakery (the bread being in a bag the second bakery will not got jealous that you bought your bread somewhere else)
Breadstick are so big.... that you must buy as second ingridients because you cannot hide them....
Once the bread stick were in our hands we could go visit the cheese shop.
They had huge log of cheese, we wre litteraly sitting on it!
The owner will make you taste the cheese that you will enjoy with THE BREAD STICK, yeah and sometime the owner will serve you a glass of wine!!!!!!
To me too...and I was little , maybe 10?
But Inever like wine when I was little, now...it is another story

THAT'ST A BUTCHER

Oh yeah this is what I miss the most....to go in my neighborood shop and buy and hamburger that I will cook at home! Yes in Italy we love hamburgers.....no bread with it , I mean not the bun...

Just served in a plate , cooked ...well see recipe....

Anyway, when you enter in those shop the first thing that you wil remember later on (especially when you will not see it for a long time) is the smell.....it smell clean...it smell healthy...it smell meat.....

When I was little and going to visit my grandmother in Pont Canavese, (TO), we were going to visit the butcher and he was make me try the sausages, I loved soooo much those sausages...raw...yes raw.....
But she will not buy all her meat in one place, with years of testing and knowledge she will decide which one had the best sausages and which one will be better for the veal roast....

Same for the bread, vegetables.....
IN THAT WAY EVERYONE WILL GET SOME OF HER BUSINESS
You see the picture look how beautiful and full are the windows...this is because they do have a clientele for that!!! People in Italy have neighborood shop, that you will visit some time every day...buy your dinner.

talk to the butcher, ask him for advices, recipes, he is a SPECIALIST, A SPECIALIST OF MEAT and it his job and interest to make you happy and you will come back to see him!!!!!!!

another market, this time in south of France

Nice, South of France

The French Riviera

every morning starting I believe at 6 am the market open.

Saturdays are more busy, more vendors comes, is more alive and more choice.

There are separate areas, farmers in one side of the market that will sale a variety of cheeses, breads, organic vegetables.

the rest of the market are vendors that sale products mainly from Spain....not a very good reputation....those vendors buy their product to another "wholesale market" very early in the morning and than come to set up their tables at he Cours Saleya....

Product from Spain are cheaper, but very often tasteless....but you can get lucky....

You can try to taste the product, nicely you will ask the vendor if you can.....good luck...once I want to try cherries...I asked...it ends in a "dirty italian come back in your country!!!!!!!'

diversity is not baD, anyway not everyone can afford the price of the organic vegetables, right?

So the market allowed differant type of vendors to come as far they pay their fees.

At 12pm like in Torino, vendors will start to sale their products at 1/2 price

do you see in the picture those alluminium bowls?

well those will be filled with lemons, bell peppers and more and at this time of the day you will be able to pay them....few euros only

so around 11:30 it is a good time to go

Italian market

Porta Palazzo, Torino

Europe's larget open air market

Over one thousands merchants and 700 street vendors.

Food, food,food

here you can find so many veggies...at areal good price...and around 12 pm most of the vendors will sale full baskets at 1/2 price.....

It is nice, alive, colorful.

You might want to be careful though....

suggestion take the bus or tramway to go to this market.

Parking could be hard, and car can get broken.....

Balon of Torino

Saturdays

in addition of the regular vendors there is

a part of the market that sale antiques...very nice, intersting

mora than 250 outside vendors, 50 shops

You must speak italian, or go with an Italian (higly recommended)

Fennel recipes

Fennel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"The Florence fennel is a cultivar group with inflated leaf bases which form a bulb-like structure. It is of cultivated origin,[6] and has a mild anise-like flavour, but is more aromatic and sweeter. Florence fennel plants are smaller than the wild type"

This is one of my favorite vegetables.

because there is noway that you will find this vegetable in any santa fe street market......go to Albertsons...

the funny is that when you buy at the supermarket, cashier very often dont know what that is!

It ususal cost $2/3 each, which for someone from Europe is EXTREMLY expensive...anyway...

FENNEL SALAD: (veg) 4 SERVINGS

Utensils this recipe:

1 medium bowl, 1 knife

INGREDIENTS:

3 fennels

extra virgin olive oil of good quality

balsamic vinegar

salt, pepper

HOW TO DO IT

Once is at your home....cut off the tips (that green part) , and the bottom, but very a thin slice just to take the hard part away.

Cut than the vegetable in a half.

You ' ll notice that is made of several layers, they are now all good.

All what you need to do is to wash it.

Once clean cut them in pieces the way how you like

( that is going to be your salad so moUth pieces!).

Put the all thing in a bowl, topped with good extra virgin olive oil, a little bit of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

YOUR SALD IS READY serve with fresh ciabatta bread.

COOKED GRATIN: 8 SERVINGS

Utensils and cooware for this recipe:

Lasagna pan ligthly buttered, sauce pan with boiling water, cutting board, knife, cheese shredder, a preheted oven 350F

INGREDIENTS:

butter (for the pan)

2 Fennels

8 thin slice of ham (of you choice, the best is the simple cooked ham),bechamelle, a piece of gruyere cheese that you will shred.

HOW TO DO IT:

Boil the fennel for about an hour with some salt in the water.

After one hour take them out, cut them in 1/4.

Roll each of them in a slice of ham.

Put them in the butterd lasagna pan.

Cover with the bechamelle sauce, and topped with as much gruyere cheese you want

(do not exagerate!)

It is almost ready, put in the preheated oven for approx 25 minutes.

Serve it, love it, looking for TORINOS' next recipe!