Delia's Book!

To begin, an exciting tangent: Delia Turner, one of my mother's neighbors, wrote a fantasy novel a few years ago and sent it off to a Publisher Who Will Remain Nameless whose editors sat on the manuscript for two years, then asked for more time to consider when she asked them to make up their minds. When I asked her what had become of the tale she fished it from her closet and gave it to me to look at; I found it delightfully whimsical and gave it to my agent, who sent it to Del Rey. Well, Nameless Magery was just released, and Delia's second book will be out in February! If you like fantasy tales this is a cut above the average; you can order it from Amazon.

Espresso: Lemon peel or no?

John recently wrote, 'Being IBM (Italian by Marriage) and unfamiliar with such things, I recently asked my in-laws how the tradition of the lemon peel served with the espresso came to be - they actually didn't know, but did remark that it could be a regional thing, as they had often been served espresso in the homes of Italian friends without the garnish of the lemon peel. Can you supply any details to this topic?'

Unfortunately, not many. The only person I've ever seen drink coffee with a twist of lemon peel in Italy was a young lady who was desperately trying to sober up after drinking entirely too much wine at a beach party -- she claimed she'd heard somewhere that the lemon augmented espresso's restorative powers, but it didn't work for her. Quite the opposite; she became violently ill.

In terms of direct experience, I've never encountered lemon peel & coffee anywhere in the Peninsula, nor have friends from other parts of Italy ever mentioned the possibility. I have seen it in New York's Little Italy, however, when it was served to my father-in-law (we were in the US for the Christmas holidays). He shook his head and it returned to the bartender, as did my mother-in-law's cinnamon-laced cappuccino. So what, do you wonder, do Italians put in their espresso? Purists put nothing at all, and will tell you that caffé amaro, bitter coffee, is the only way to go. Others, myself included, like a bit of sugar, generally about a teaspoon. Another possibility, which is especially nice in the afternoon, is the caffé macchiato, an espresso that's spotted (macchiato means spotted or stained) with a dollop of milk foam from the pitcher that's heated for making cappuccini. The final addition some people make to their espresso is a dash of grappa, cognac, or some other spirit -- this is called a caffé corretto, and is generally drunk by older men.

As for cappuccini, the only addition Florentine bars offer other than sugar is a dusting of cocoa powder. So far as I know this holds true for the rest of the Peninsula as well, at least for now, though a new trend could emerge at any time.

Sun-dried Tomato based sauces for pasta

Moving on to other things, Eleni recently requested a traditional sun-dried tomato sauce for pasta. I'm a bit out of my league here, since sun dried tomatoes are more of a southern thing, and when I buy them I generally eat them with slices of bread, either in the course of a picnic or during a quick meal based on cold cuts and salad.

Winding down, this week's feature is dedicated to frittate, which are one of the tastiest ways there is to stretch a few eggs into a meal sufficient to feed a number of people. Though the recipes presented in the feature are all savory, one can make a sweet frittata for dessert, and they were indeed quite common in the past. Here's a recipe translated from an Italian site I came across a few months ago:

A Sweet Frittata, to Serve Four:

• 6 eggs
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 ounces freshly made or canned fruit cocktail (drain an 8-ounce can)
• Butter
• Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Lightly beat the eggs with the tablespoon of sugar, the cream, and the vanilla extract. Drain the fruit cocktail and mince the pieces, then stir them into the egg mixture. Heat a pat of butter in a skillet and add a quarter of the egg mixture; cook it until the bottom firms up, then flip it (cover the skillet with a lid, flip the entire skillet while pressing the lid against it so the frittata comes to rest on the lid, and then slide the upended frittata back into the skillet) and cook a few minutes more, then roll the frittata up and put it on a serving dish. Repeat the procedure three more times, dust the frittate with the confectioner's sugar, and serve.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Thanks for visiting, and have a wonderful day!
Kyle Phillips

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