Risotto with Asparagus | Beauty of Imperfection

Standard

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

Pasta with Broccoli | Orecchiette ai Broccoli

Standard

Pasta 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’.

Continue reading