Reviews
Summer Reading List
Written by Team Project Foodie
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Looking for something to do this summer that is relaxing and entertaining? How about reading a good book? Of course as foodies, a good book that is food related would be icing on the cake. That's why we've created the Project Foodie Summer Reading List.
We've included in our Summer Reading List some tried and true, food related literature classics, along with some newer food literature books that we've recently enjoyed. And since we'll also be busy reading (er I mean relaxing) this summer with several books we've also listed some new releases that we're in the middle of enjoying and think you'll enjoy as well.
Unlike the summer reading lists the kids come home with, however, we're not assigning you to read all the books in the list and book reports are definitely not required! (Although, if you want to leave a comment and tell what your favorites are that would be great).
So, if you're looking for a good read (or a few) this summer take a look at our Summer Reading List and then sit back and enjoy a good read this summer. […]
Part cookbook, part love affair "In Late Winter We Ate Pears" tells of husband and wife Deidere Heekin & Caleb Barber's year in Italy. The stories offer a glimpse into the food and life of Italy; while the recipes enhance the stories. If you can't get to Italy this summer, this book will let you feel as though you were there while enjoying some authentic Italian food in your own kitchen. - selected by Foodie Pam
Seven Days
Plate to Page
Summer brings a juicy new crop of local food books
By Suzanne Podhaizer [06.17.09]
In Late Winter We Ate Pears: A Year of Hunger and Love: Seasonal Recipes and Stories From an Italian Kitchen by Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber, Chelsea Green Publishing, 291 pages. $25.
In Late Winter We Ate Pears — a collaborative effort of spouses Caleb Barber and Deirdre Heekin, owners of Osteria Pane e Salute in Woodstock — could be considered a reinvention of the culinary memoir. Drenched in lush descriptions of the cuisine and people of Italy — and Vermont — the book takes a circuitous route through the couple’s travels, their discovery of a passion for Italian cuisine and enticing descriptions of the fare they serve to guests at their own tiny restaurant.
Lacking the chronological structure of most such works, Pears instead bounces back and forth in time and space. One moment the authors are celebrating Christmas at their Vermont home. “We prepared a French tea for our Christmas meal: lobster salad, pâté, tea sandwiches, and tiny cheese soufflés to be tasted with a glass of Sherry,” recalls Heekin, who wrote the chapters (Barber did the recipes). Turn two pages, and the couple is in Venice for Carnevale: “We crossed small footpaths over the canals where gondolas dressed in black and purple glided, a few with seventeenth-century lovers sharing a candlelight picnic … We walked until we found ourselves hungry again.”
Read the whole article here.
myrtlebeachcompass.com
Cookbook Reviews : Hungering and Loving in Italy
By Becky Billingsley
Sunday, May 24, 2009 - For those who've been to Italy and yearn to return, those who've never been and want to go, and anyone who thinks of food as an earthy sensual experience will enjoy In Late Winter We Ate Pears: A Year of Hunger and Love (Chelsea Green, $25).
Authors Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber are the married partners who own, operate and cook at Osteria Pane e Salute, a "boutique restaurant and wine bar" in Woodstock, Vermont. When they married at age 25, they spent a year living in Italy. The book is a series of essays and recipes - intertwined vignettes - about their experiences.
When reading about that year, it's easy to imagine sitting at their kitchen table back in Vermont, listening to them tell the tales. It's like the husband/wife owners of your favorite restaurant are imparting extremely knowledgeable culinary gifts.
If you are inclined to consider the quality of light, the manner of dress of the waiter, the niceties exchanged between host and diner, descriptions of antiques in the room, and the setting by snow-capped mountains to be important to the enjoyment of the food, then you'll love these stories.
Piselli con Prosciutto (peas and prosciutto)
Somewhere on one of the streets behind the Mercato Centrale in Florence we had lunch at a small neighborhood restaurant on a cold spring day. It was drizzly and windy, and once we made it past the impressive display of antipasti in the front window, the warmth of the interior was a welcome retreat. There we had roasted chicken served with peas and roasted potatoes. These are the peas, a classic Florentine contorno, or side dish.
This is the dish to serve people who think they don't like peas. The prosciutto gives it a wonderful smokiness that somehow brings out the sweetness of the peas. If you can't locate fresh peas and you must use frozen, just be sure to choose tiny peas, as the big ones develop an unpleasant mushiness. The cooking time for frozen peas will be only a few minutes, while fresh peas can take up to 30 minutes, depending upon their size. Serves 4.
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup diced prosciutto or pancetta
- 2 cups shelled, rinsed peas
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Freshly chopped parsley
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the diced prosciutto or pancetta and sauté for a few minutes to brown the meat lightly. Add the peas, a little salt and pepper, and stir well. (If you are using fresh peas, add a few tablespoons of water.) Cook until the peas are just tender, correct the seasoning and stir in parsley to taste, and serve.
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