You must be thinking how does imperfection relate to risotto with asparagus? Whenever I’m in Italy I’m confronted with the concept of imperfection and the beauty of it. This time I was reminded of the imperfection because I was preparing a beautiful bunch of thin, long, irregular green asparagus. A big quantity of juicy vegetables for a very reasonable price. How can they compare to the perfectly selected thick, short, green asparagus I find at home in The Netherlands? Both are great but it just shows appearance isn’t everything 🙂 Continue reading
Italy
Inspiration | A Little Tuscan Bite, Spuntino Toscano
StandardTuscany means
Landscape of a paradise
Soft, green and gentle hills
Small, cheerful birds flying high
Tall, elegant rows of cypress trees
Crisp air with a scent of musky smoke
Sun touching your face rosying up your cheeks
Pasta with Broccoli | Orecchiette ai Broccoli
StandardPasta with broccoli. Normally I eat this pasta in Rome and it’s then served with ‘broccoletti’, not broccoli. Broccoletti is a slightly different version of broccoli mostly famous in Rome. The easiest way to describe the difference: it’s a smaller and finer version of the standard broccoli. The taste is also slightly more ‘green’. To be honest I find it just as good as using the standard broccoli. Where I live they sell broccoletti per 5 branches for a ridiculous price so that helped convincing 😉 The pasta itself comes from the region of Puglia, southern Italy. The pasta shape reminds you of a little ear and that’s also why this pasta is called ‘orecchiette’.