Roasted Medly of Vegetables

roastingveggies1
I loaded a frying pan with fresh new potatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and sprigs of rosemary as the main course, not just the Contorni. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and red chili flakes. Roast the vegetables for :25 at 375 degrees (until golden brown).

Take advantage of what’s fresh at the farmer’s market and what’s in season. I love adding Peruvian purple potatoes, exotic, delicious and makes plating simply beautiful!

The leftover chicken taste so much better next to my peruvian potatoes and sweet roasted garlic! Vino anybody??

maria!

No Two Medium Onions are Alike

onions 101

On Saturday, I gave my first talk about my book “Breaking Bread in L’Aquila” pub date 4/6/2010 at The New York Independent Center which hosts its annual Small Press Book Fair. It was great!
As part of my prep and prop presentation (say that a dozen times), I wanted to bring a couple of props but then decided, another time. With my luck, it would have been a disaster if I put “Pepé Le Pew onions” next to the biscotti. It would have been a clash of flavours!
But seriously, I wanted to make a point about my relaxed style of cooking. For example, how do you pick a medium? What if you don’t like the medium? What if you like two smalls or a large?
In some of my recipes, I didn’t show a conversion ie. one medium = 2 cups. Why? It’s against my philosophy of strict rules but more relaxed and by adding a little more of this or that is fine.
I want you to embrace the concept of using more or less of an ingredient and what you and family enjoy. It won’t ruin the taste when taste is in the eye of the beholder!
ps – we’ll get to desserts later!