Australian Politics Forum - Vegetable of the week thread

Grey

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #150 - Feb 10^th, 2012 at 7:49pm

Annie Anthrax wrote on Feb 10^th, 2012 at 5:11pm:

It's hard to chop finely though without missing any chunky bits.

In this instance at least, Italians do it better Tongue

That's my beef, it's the ONLY instance that English does it better. Everybody agreed too. You couldn't even find Italian parsley in Italy a few years ago. Then along comes a tv chef and the big change happens.

If the texture is like a scourer you've picked leaves to old. All parsley is biannual, it flowers the second year. You grow your own and chop the center out when you use it for soft mild iron rich parsley. Tongue

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Frances

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #151 - Feb 10^th, 2012 at 10:46pm

Grey wrote on Feb 10^th, 2012 at 7:49pm:

You couldn't even find Italian parsley in Italy a few years ago. Then along comes a tv chef and the big change happens.

I don't believe you. My in-laws have been using Italian parsley for years and I'm pretty certain they didn't find out about it from TV Who is this TV chef anyway?

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muso

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #152 - Feb 11^th, 2012 at 8:59am

Grey wrote on Feb 10^th, 2012 at 4:55pm:

Quote:

These days if I put a dish on the table that has curly parsley in it, I feel as if I have to explain why I haven't used Italian parsley.....

Exactly - group think baa baaa. And 'Italian cuts up easier'. It's nuts to suggest that. With a curled up anything you cut more for less .

Herb scissors. I picked some up at the General Trader in Adelaide. They are great. Does anybody else use them?

(Don't worry about Grey, Frances - he's just trying to do a good National Party supporter impression - and it's hilarious)

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« Last Edit: Feb 11^th, 2012 at 9:07am by muso »

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Annie Anthrax Gold Member Offline Posts: 7062 Gender:	Re: Vegetable of the week thread Reply #153 - Feb 11^th, 2012 at 9:15am I'm going to have to get a pair of herb scissors. They look great - especially for any stalky bits. I chop a lot of parsley and if it's not done finely for things like kefta, the meat can fall apart while you're putting them on the stick thingies. I use a curved knife like this now:
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Dsmithy70 Gold Member Offline ire futuis vobismetipsis Posts: 13147 Newy Gender:	Re: Vegetable of the week thread Reply #154 - Feb 11^th, 2012 at 10:11am Italian parsley for plate garnish English for chopped. 12 inch Chef's knife for chopping on wooden board. To get rid of claggy chopped parsley, chop on board, put in tea towel, form a ball then twist. All excess juice will be expelled & then you have lovey chopped parley you can sprinkle like salt
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Grey

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #155 - Feb 11^th, 2012 at 10:35am

Anyway thing to remember about parsley is that it's a flavour-out good for freshening breath and taking out bad bitter from soups stews and sauces.

Quote:

Who is this TV chef anyway?

Antonio Carluccio, whose 'Southern Italian Feast' is one of the most useful cook books around actually. But perhaps because he found fame as a restaurateur in London, he was always banging on about Italian is best. Great cook and lovely guy though

Whilest we're on the subject never forget chervil, (winter parsley) much under used IMO

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muso

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #156 - Feb 11^th, 2012 at 11:01am

It's interesting how we put a uniquely Australian slant on Italian cooking. In Australia, they tend to chuck in the whole herb basket (Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, etc plus red wine) for Spaghetti Ragù, and totally overdo it. In Italy, they keep it far simpler and use the best ingredients. If you've tried buffalo mozzarella, you'll never go back to plain mozarrella.

The same goes for Tiramisù. Here, some people try to make it very 'authentically' using marscapone and cream. Ok, sometimes it's made that way in Italy, but In most cases in Italy (at least in Northern Italy), they use custard, but sometimes add marsala to the coffee in the base.

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Annie Anthrax

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #157 - Feb 11^th, 2012 at 8:39pm

Dsmithy70 wrote on Feb 11^th, 2012 at 10:11am:

Italian parsley for plate garnish
English for chopped.
12 inch Chef's knife for chopping on wooden board.

To get rid of claggy chopped parsley, chop on board, put in tea towel, form a ball then twist.
All excess juice will be expelled & then you have lovey chopped parley you can sprinkle like salt Wink

I'm going to give your way a try and see if kefta sticks easier with it. Not for a while though - my husband made it today and I over ate, so I don't even want to look at any kind of parsley right now.

I'm parsley'd out.

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Frances

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #158 - Feb 11^th, 2012 at 10:39pm

muso wrote on Feb 11^th, 2012 at 8:59am:

Herb scissors. I picked some up at the General Trader in Adelaide. They are great. Does anybody else use them?

News to me - I've never even seen them before. Are they easy to clean? They look like they might not be.

When I chop up parsley I cut the leaves from the stalks, put them in a large mug and cut away with a pair of ordinary scissors until the parsley is the way I want it.

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Grey

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #159 - Feb 13^th, 2012 at 3:41am

muso wrote on Feb 11^th, 2012 at 11:01am:

It's interesting how we put a uniquely Australian slant on Italian cooking. In Australia, they tend to chuck in the whole herb basket (Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, etc plus red wine) for Spaghetti Ragù, and totally overdo it. In Italy, they keep it far simpler and use the best ingredients. If you've tried buffalo mozzarella, you'll never go back to plain mozarrella.

The same goes for Tiramisù. Here, some people try to make it very 'authentically' using marscapone and cream. Ok, sometimes it's made that way in Italy, but In most cases in Italy (at least in Northern Italy), they use custard, but sometimes add marsala to the coffee in the base.

I don't think there's any such thing as an 'authentic' recipe. Any person who loves to cook loves to make a recipe their own. Wikipedia says that tiramisu evolved from Zuppa Inglese which in turn came out of The English Elizabethan dessert trifle.

A lot of fun to be had surfing desserts Grin

A pound of sugar was worth 2 pigs, vanilla is a mexican orchid, (I always thought it was Asian) Sugared fish was big when it first came to Europe and cane refinery started off in India.

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Frances Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 3577 In a Castle in the Hills Gender:	Re: Vegetable of the week thread Reply #160 - Feb 13^th, 2012 at 9:10am I can't say I've ever come across a tiramisu made without mascarpone. It could taste nice, but it wouldn't be the same. Maybe it's a Northerners thing.... Grey wrote on Feb 13^th, 2012 at 3:41am: A lot of fun to be had surfing desserts Sounds a rather messy pastime.
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muso

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #161 - Feb 14^th, 2012 at 10:32am

Frances wrote on Feb 11^th, 2012 at 10:39pm:

muso wrote on Feb 11^th, 2012 at 8:59am:

Herb scissors. I picked some up at the General Trader in Adelaide. They are great. Does anybody else use them?

News to me - I've never even seen them before. Are they easy to clean? They look like they might not be.

When I chop up parsley I cut the leaves from the stalks, put them in a large mug and cut away with a pair of ordinary scissors until the parsley is the way I want it.

I never have a problem with cleaning them. If they are just used for herb leaves, you can wash them up either manually (eew) or in a dishwasher.

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Frances Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 3577 In a Castle in the Hills Gender:	Re: Vegetable of the week thread Reply #162 - Feb 14^th, 2012 at 11:01am Fair enough - I just thought that they looked as if they would be difficult to clean. I suppose a dishwasher would make it nice and easy, but we don't have one - and there's no room to put one in the kitchen at present....
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muso

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #163 - Feb 14^th, 2012 at 11:40am

Grey wrote on Feb 13^th, 2012 at 3:41am:

muso wrote on Feb 11^th, 2012 at 11:01am:

It's interesting how we put a uniquely Australian slant on Italian cooking. In Australia, they tend to chuck in the whole herb basket (Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, etc plus red wine) for Spaghetti Ragù, and totally overdo it. In Italy, they keep it far simpler and use the best ingredients. If you've tried buffalo mozzarella, you'll never go back to plain mozarrella.

The same goes for Tiramisù. Here, some people try to make it very 'authentically' using marscapone and cream. Ok, sometimes it's made that way in Italy, but In most cases in Italy (at least in Northern Italy), they use custard, but sometimes add marsala to the coffee in the base.

I don't think there's any such thing as an 'authentic' recipe. Any person who loves to cook loves to make a recipe their own. Wikipedia says that tiramisu evolved from Zuppa Inglese which in turn came out of The English Elizabethan dessert trifle.

I suppose "standardised version" is the closest - the type that a professional chef would fall back on.

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Frances

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Re: Vegetable of the week thread
Reply #164 - Feb 14^th, 2012 at 12:01pm

Leaving Italian food to one side for a minute (and that's not easy to do), speaking of trifle, the best trifle I've ever had was not in England, but in Scotland. I'm not an expert on trifle though, so I have no idea how "authentic" the recipe was. It was at a restaurant in The Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Not only did they serve up generous helpings of everything, the food was very reasonably priced too. Unfortunately the last time I was in Edinburgh, I went to go there for a meal and the place had closed down. I ended up going to Rocco's Italian Restaurant, one block away, next door to St Giles Cathederal.

There I am, back on Italian food again.....

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