Elegantly humble: Celery and Saffron Risotto

Like a marriage between a nobleman and a peasant, elegant saffron marries with the humble celery leaf, creating a bit of risotto magic.
Shall we yank back the misty veils of history, and get real?
I’m standing in our orto where most of the celery had wintered over and is now very robust. Which meant, I better chop some of this down and start using it!

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Fava Bean & Crispy Prosciutto Make a Seasonal Risotto

Springtime means fava bean time. To the uninitiated, fava bean pods look like string beans on steroids. You don’t eat the pod, you eat the inner, bright green, crispy, flavor packed bean. They are outstanding paired with a soft, white cheese like Robiola or a fresh Manchego cheese. Perfect for a risotto, with crispy prosciutto.

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Apple iBooks is featuring Cooking Simply The Italian Way!

Apple likes “Cooking Simply The Italian Way” so much we’re featured as “New & Notable” in the iBook Store! My name is on the same page as Agatha Christie….mamma freakin‘ mia that is amazing! OK, I hear you, “Uh, what’s a CookVook?”
It’s a cookbook with videos. “Cooking Simply The Italian Way” is a talking cook book that is designed for home chefs who need a little confidence boost and who like good food.

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The Further Adventures of Fennel & Bay

Fennel Field I’m not done exploring the fennel and bay flavor duo. It worked very well with roasted orata (sea bass). The fennel branches and dry bay leaf went into the fish cavity, along with a bit of mint and parsley stems. It totally rocked as base for seafood risotto!

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Best Risotto Ever

Best risotto ever How can I write a risotto recipe that starts with “Roast 1 flock of chickens? Reserve juices.”??

I recently had to roast a lot of chickens, actually an entire flock of them, and as they cooled, there was all this lovely chicken juice in the bottom of the pans. I put it all in a container, not really sure what I would do with it, but certainly not letting it go to waste.

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