Sunday, February 12, 2006
The Silver Spoon Feast
Finally, this webblog is back on track! No more entries about bean soups (yes, I have read your emails on this.... >smile<). Below are several dishes that I created from the newly published book, The Silver Spoon cookbook. (See pictures below) I started with a first course dish from page 308, Polenta with Ricotta. The main entree was Chicken in Almond Sauce from page 919 with a side of Asparagus with chopped Egg which is a version of the Parmesan Asparagus from page 402. Lastly, I attempted the Cake with Orange Frosting on page 1067. Ok, unlike my past reviews of this cookbook these recipes were tasty and a hit. As with my other reviews (see past posts) the recipes suffer from limited direction. For example, when creating the Cake with Orange Frosting the directions called for a cake pan, well, what size? Also, most Americanized Italian food here in the states tend to have big bold flavors of garlic, olive oil, tomato and such. Yet, after careful scanning through this book it is hard to find many Italian recipes with spices. Only the odd Indian or other world cuisine that is represented in this book have spices listed. My impression so far, is that the Italians like simple food, less fussing and not overly saturated with flavors. Seems like the Italians are very happy with the delicate almond flavor in the Chicken with Almond Sauce without needing to gunk it up with nutmeg, garlic and needless other spices. This is all very interesting and confusing to this American writer. See the reviews and pictures below:
Finally, this webblog is back on track! No more entries about bean soups (yes, I have read your emails on this.... >smile<). Below are several dishes that I created from the newly published book, The Silver Spoon cookbook. (See pictures below) I started with a first course dish from page 308, Polenta with Ricotta. The main entree was Chicken in Almond Sauce from page 919 with a side of Asparagus with chopped Egg which is a version of the Parmesan Asparagus from page 402. Lastly, I attempted the Cake with Orange Frosting on page 1067. Ok, unlike my past reviews of this cookbook these recipes were tasty and a hit. As with my other reviews (see past posts) the recipes suffer from limited direction. For example, when creating the Cake with Orange Frosting the directions called for a cake pan, well, what size? Also, most Americanized Italian food here in the states tend to have big bold flavors of garlic, olive oil, tomato and such. Yet, after careful scanning through this book it is hard to find many Italian recipes with spices. Only the odd Indian or other world cuisine that is represented in this book have spices listed. My impression so far, is that the Italians like simple food, less fussing and not overly saturated with flavors. Seems like the Italians are very happy with the delicate almond flavor in the Chicken with Almond Sauce without needing to gunk it up with nutmeg, garlic and needless other spices. This is all very interesting and confusing to this American writer. See the reviews and pictures below:
