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My Tiny Italian Garden

Monthly Archives: May 2010

Things to do with Spring Onions (The Scallion)

23 Sunday May 2010

Posted by Teresa in Cooking

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

cooking, gardening, omeltte, scallion, spring onions, steamed chicken

I love fresh spring onions. I use them in Italian and Chinese cooking. The thing I find frustrating about buying a whole bunch, or even half a bunch, is that I never get through them before the delicate green leaves begin to soften and wilt. (I like them really fresh) This is why I decided I would have them as a staple in my little garden. My dad always had spring onions in his garden and my mother picked them as she used them. Today I headed out in the rain twice to pick some for cooking.

At lunch time I made a very basic omelette my mother would make us when short of time. You simple fry a chopped spring onion and some chopped parsley for a minute add the beaten eggs grate some Romano cheese over the top and cook till ready. You need to use the whole onion because like the Chinese, Italians use the green leaves as well as the white base.

Later in the evening I rushed out again to pick another one to use in the topping for my Chinese Steamed Chicken with Hot Sour Sauce. I’m always happy when I have Italian and Chinese food in the same day.

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Pasta Frank Sinatra

14 Friday May 2010

Posted by Teresa in Cooking

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Tags

Auntie, cooking, Frank Sinatra, Italy, media, pasta, Rome

Rome 1999 and my Zia Franca makes the most satisfying pasta sauce. She tells us its called ‘Pasta Frank Sinatra’. The myths goes like this: Whenever Frank came to Rome he made a point of eating a particular restaurant that served a hearty pasta sauce containing fried eggplant, zucchini, Spanish onions, garlic and red capsicum. The media picks up the story and the pasta is renamed ‘Pasta Frank Sinatra’. Soon everyone is cooking it at home.

When Franca made it for me she told me the key to the dish is to fry all the different vegetables separately so they cook evenly. Only then are they thrown together in a pan and cooked in a tomato passata. When I have time I follow this method and it works beautifully. But I don’t always have time, so I’ve worked out an order in which to add the different vegetables so they cook fairly evenly. I then add the tomato passata. It turns out a treat and is incredibly healthy.

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Pizza Night, Family Night

10 Monday May 2010

Posted by Teresa in Cooking

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Tags

cooking, family dinners, family night, family time, food, gingerbread people, Pizza

I love making pizza because no one can resist a slice. It’s definitely an inter-generational favourite and a great way for me to use my oregano. Following in my mother’s footsteps, I make mine rectangular not round. It cuts into squares which fit neatly into hands of all shapes and sizes. Unlike round pizza, it doesn’t taper off into a thin floppy point that encourages the topping to slide off. My mother made it for us as a special treat. We always had it at birthday parties. The kids would literally lunge at it as soon as it was served up. She was forever warning everyone how hot it was. She’d also make it just for the family. We always ate way too much.

I made pizza last Friday night. The oven was stuck on maximum temperature so it was very difficult to get right. I had to open the door every now and then to stop the pizza from burning. The next day it stopped working all together in the middle of baking some Ginger Bread People I had longed promised Poppet. That was the last straw. I put the rest of the dough in the freezer and promptly went out and bought another cooker. Can’t wait for it to arrive!

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Basil days are over

07 Friday May 2010

Posted by Teresa in Uncategorized

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Tags

basil, cold, cooking, food, pesto, rain, wind

Last Friday the weather turned cold, windy and rainy. I decided I should pick the last of my basil before it got damaged by the cold wind. With a plastic grocery bag next to me I stood out in the drizzling rain and chopped away. Before long the bag was overflowing. Unbelievable!

To quench Poppet’s love of pesto over the winter months I made a massive supply, divided it into plastic tubs and froze it. Lets see how it holds up. I’ve been wanting to post the photo of the last batch of basil for a few days now, but I came down with a virus last Sunday and haven’t been up to it. I wonder if getting ill had anything to do picking basil in the rain?

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