Thank goodness things have calmed down from the book tour. Now I can continue sharing recipes and telling you about the garden. But I would also like to hear from you about what you’d like for me to include in the blog: any particular kinds of recipes? More garden tips? More stories about Calabria? Let me know, and I’ll get right on it.
Here is a video that was shown last Tuesday on Eye on the Bay, a local tv show on the Bay Area channel, KPIX. The show featured my book, my dad’s garden and my mom cooking along with me in my kitchen.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
I adore your book. My husband’s family is from Calabria & I loved reading the history in your book. The pictures are magnificent and I will not hesitate to purchase your next one! You are working on another right??? I became addicted to your blog & kept telling my husband about you and your father. Mainly because it reminded me of my father in law Vito. Please keep your blog too. I LOVE reading all your recipes.
Tried 9 recipes from your book the first week and all worked. The bread was a little rough, but I will learn. Sincerely, thank you. Jenny
I love your cookbook, Rosetta!
I would love if your blogged about more authentic Calabrian recipes, especially preservation recipes for pickling peppers, eggplant and olives, etc. If you ever find the recipe for mini eggplants stuffed with a potato bread misture like they are prepared in the towns of Siderno and Gioisa Ionica in Reggio Calabria, I’d be very happy!
I also love to read your stories about Calabria!
Since my mother and father were from Calabria also, I enjoy the stories about Calabria, the garden tips and anything about figs? I pre-ordered your book and I am enjoying it.
Ciao, Tony
Rosetta , I saw you on Martha Stewart and loved it! You were so good : )
I already love everything about your blog and personally love my nonna’s stories about when she was in Bova Marina! I love the history and culture behind our foods and eating traditions : )
Rosetta,
Great book! I read it from cover to cover as soon as I received it in the mail, and have tried several recipes.
Now, about your blog: yes, yes, and yes!! More recipes, more garden tips (esp. how your father saved all those seeds from Italy that he brought to America!), more stories about Calabria (my grandparents came from Calabria), more food storage tips: canning, root cellaring, cold rooms, etc.
Back to gardening: how to fit food crops into existing landscaping if you don’t want to cut down trees or dig out bushes. Also what food crops can grow in containers for people who have small/nonexistant yards. Maybe what you need to do is more videos of your garden. Much easier to see than still photos. Love your blog! Keep up the good work!
Diane P
Indiana
Olá!
Graças a Deus!!!!
Continue assim, bem natural, tudo que diz e faz é como se estivesse falando diretamente comigo, como uma amiga que está passeando, cuidando do jardim, participando com a família.
Amo tudo que você faz e mostra. Apesar de não conhecer, já adoro Calabria rsrs
Sobre as receitas, gosto de todas , mas acho interessante também ,receitas antigas ou tradicionais, como dizer…. caipira.
Estou sempre atenta a tudo que escreve, parabéns!!!
Um grande abraço
Rosana Leite/Brasil/Brasilia
Buon Giorno, Rosetta. Mary Lynn and I saw your show on Eye on the Bay. Fantastico!
I don’t think that I speak only for myself when I say this, but I wish you had your own show on TV. Nick Stellino and Lidia Mattichio are great, but they don’t do Calabrese, the soul of Italia.
We were very, very close of going to Verbicaro to visit my relatives, but family comes first and we are supporting our son, Francesco, in his culinary schooling at CCSF.
Ciao, ciao
Mario Lucchese
Mario,
I would love to do a cooking show based on the cooking of Calabria. It would also be fun to do a show from Calabria. I am up for it if we can find someone that is interested in paying for it.
Rosetta
I would love to see more videos, particularly of the preserving you do. Cleaning sardines and anchovies like you describe in your book, and a visual of how you repack anchovies in salt to avoid spoilage after the tin is opened. Also preserving under oil as if not done correctly there are warnings of botulism. I know all these are described in your book (love it), but videos of these processes would be a great help. I can lots of produce and meat and fish, but have never preserved under oil, or done salting and it intrigues me and I would find visuals (like videos) extremely helpful in making sure I do it right
Rosetta,
I received your cookbook for Christmas and love it. I don’t know what I enjoy more, the stories or the recipes. I’d like to see more stories about Calabria, where my mother’s family is from.
I am trying to expand my small garden this year. One thing I love to make with the garden’s bounty is caponata. Do you think it’s possible to preserve it? I know it has a lot of low-acide vegetables in it.
Regards,
Jim
Jim,
I have never preserved caponata in a jar. I typically make enough to last a week and keep it in a jar refrigerated.
Maybe someone that has done it can chime in and let us know how they do it. I would think that if you have enough vinegar and use a pressure cooker you should be able to preserve it.
Hi Rosetta
I would love love love to see more on gardening techniques. My grandmother moved to Oakland and later the Oakland Hills from Silvano d’Orba in 1943 and both she and my dad always had huge gardens…growing up, I never knew people went to stores to buy vegetables. My grandma seemed to have magical powers when it came to growing food. Now that I have a place of my own with a decent sized yard, I want to recreate that for my family. I’m so intrigued by the way your father grows his tomatoes for example, and want to give it a shot this season.
Thanks! So glad you will be blogging again!
Katy
Rosetta!
I absolutely adore the book, stories, and receipes! So many memories flood my mind when I put together your recipes. Like,”Oh, so that’s what Grandma was doing!”
I love reading up on your blog!
I think it’d be great fun to follow your father through the planting and harvesting seasons in the garden. Such as transplanting, drying the peppers, curing the onions, seed storage, and the customs and wisdoms (possible superstitions?) your father has adopted to ensure his garden produces to it’s fullest. To me, that is some fascinating stuff and really makes the traditions shine!
Salve!Sono una ragazza calabrese che vive a Roma.Anche io nel mio piccolo sto cercando di rispettare e salvare le tradizioni della nostra terra imparando a cucinare i piatti calabresi : i dolci di natale, il pane fatto in casa,le olive con l’aglio il peperoncino e i semi di finocchio, i pomodori verdi in salamoia..Mi riempie d’orgoglio sapere che molti italiani che vivono all’estero non hanno dimenticato le proprie origini.Complimenti per il blog, il libro e i corsi di cucina che organizza.Volevo gentilmente chiederle se esiste una versione italiana del suo libro e in caso dove posso trovarla.Grazie.Distinti Saluti.Angela.
Angela,
Mi dispiace ma purtroppo non e stato pubblicato in Italiano.
Si puo comprare in Italia sul sito di Amazon.it
Sona contenta a sentire che mantieni le tradizioni della nostra Calabria anche a Roma.
Rosetta
Tom,
I will give it some thought about following my dad through the planting season and posting some videos on the blog. It would be an easier way for you to see what he does in the garden.
Rosetta
Si ho visto.Appena posso lo comprerò lo stesso anche se è scritto in inglese, un pò lo capisco. Grazie A presto.
Rosetta,
Do you have any recipes using Colatura? This particular product does not apper to be well known in the USA.
Tom
Tom,
I would add a couple of tablespoons of colatura to my recipe for spaghetti with aglio e olio e peperoncino.
Hello – I am living just outside London, England but manage to grow Italian vegetables (Franchi Seeds) for about 8 months of the year . I have visted Puglia and Campania and enjoyed cooking recipes from these areas but your cookbook of recipes from Calabria is fantastic – last weekend the chicken with potato and tomatoes baked in the oven was wonderful – so simple but such a great flavour. So recipes and gardening tips would keep me very happy I really hope ther is a 2nd book coming……………
Claire,
That chicken recipe is everyone’s favorite. No plans for book #2 right now. I will continue to share all the recipes that didn’t make it in my book so you will have lots of Calabrian recipes to try.
Rosetta
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article.Much thanks again. Really Great.