Italy

Risotto with Asparagus | Beauty of Imperfection

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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

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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’.

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