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Pasta with Tomato and Basil

3/31/2019

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It’s the pasta we daily have. It is extremely easy and fast to prepare.
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Fry in extra virgin olive oil a couple of garlics; do not use a big fire because the garlic easily burn and when it does it is not good any longer.
When the garlic is golden add the tomatoes.

Tomatoes...I usually use the can of peeled or pulp tomatoes. Not the tomato puree.
Best tomatoes are Mutti.

In the meanwhile I already have the pasta water on the cookers.

Add the basil springs to the sauce when it is about ready and set aside..
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By the time the pasta cook the sauce is ready.
When the pasta is cooked, not too soft, drain the pasta and add sauce and the parmesan cheese.
That is it.
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Fried Anchovies

3/30/2019

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They are delicious...
The preparation is quick and easy, even more if the fishmonger cleans the anchovies.

If not: take off the head, open the anchovy and remove the herringbone.
Pass each anchovy in the flour and fry them in boling oil for few minutes. They are ready in less than 5 minutes, as soon as they are golden.


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Soffritto with Garlic

3/26/2019

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I usually clean the garlic, crush it and leave it entire, or at cut in half.

I put the garlic and extra virgin olive oil in the cooking pan without fire, for the oil to absorb the garlic flavor for some minutes, while I am working on something else.

When I am ready, I light the fire and just have the garlic become golden, without burning. When is gold you add the other ingredients.


When the sauce is ready, I always take the garlic away.

Garlic soffritto is required for the pasta sauces with:
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Tomato and basil –but someone use onion

Mushrooms

Porcini mushrooms

Fish

Sea food
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Eggplant
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The Cats Sanctuary in Largo Argentina

3/24/2019

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​Largo Argentina, located in the very center of Rome, is an archeological site. The square was dug in the nineteen century revealing the remains and podium of four republican temples dating from the fourth to the first century before Christ.

​It sound strange, but it is right there that a cats colony resides. Homeless and abandoned cats are taken care in that beautiful setting and admired by the passerby. If a roman want to adopt a cat that is the place where to go. My brother got two cats there.
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The First Step of a Perfect Pasta Sauce

3/20/2019

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The 'soffritto' -fried slightly - is the base and starting point of Italian pasta sauces.
 
There are mainly three kindsof soffritto:
 
With garlic
With onion
With onion, carrots and celery
 
Depending on the sauce we are making we start with either one or the other.
 
Examples:
Basic sauce tomato and basil: need oil and garlic, like the simple but delicious ‘aglio olio e peperoncino ‘ pasta and fish or sea food ones.

Matriciana pasta with pancetta? Oil and onion
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Sauce with meat? Always onion, carrots and celery
When I say sauce with meat, I refer to:
Sauce with sausage, pork spare ribs, pork meat, meat balls, ragù etc.
The  sauce you use with pasta, lasagna, polenta.
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Relics in Saint Peter Basilica

3/17/2019

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Last Saturday,in Saint Peter basilica, I saw something very special.
Due to lent celebrations, there was a procession inside the church following a special mass and the relics were on display on the main altar of the church.

It was the first time I happen to see it and was fascinating by it.
The balcony housing the relic of the Veronica, the true image of Christ, was decorated with a purple drape and the door of the special room was open too.
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The Cats of the Coliseum

3/17/2019

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This is a legend now.

Once, when the coliseum was fully accessible with no tickets, no security line, no crowds there used to be a cat colony inside the amphitheater. I was a child then. It seems a remote past, a mythological era, but the idea of the coliseum cats still persist today.

Since many years the roman cats who are abandoned reside in an another archeological location, in largo Torre Argentina.

It is true that we have a cat inside the coliseum, a fiery black cat I have seen in the venue in the past three years. We are fiends.
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Bunnies on the Palatine hill

3/11/2019

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​Some 4 years ago, I saw the first rabbit on the palatine hill and since then, while touring with my clients the remains of the imperial palaces; I always look around for them.

The palatine hill is the site of Rome origins... where our story started 28 hundreds years ago. It is where Romulus, Rome founder, created the city. Because of this symbolic value, the hill later become the residence of Octavian Augustus and of the later emperors.

The site has majestic ruins and it is fascinating to immerse ourselves in this mixture of history, nature and power.

I love the idea that this historical place has new inhabitants now...the bunnies.

They are big... brown, grey and black colors, very calm, and not scared of people.
I do not know how many rabbits are there, I’m always wondering, as the area is very extensive.
 I saw them first time in 2015. In 2016, I counted four, but the following year I saw none. I was worried, of course. Then I saw them again last year and few weeks ago.
​I just love them.

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Rome’s Animals

3/3/2019

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This year I am scheduling a number of posts on the fauna of Rome.

The living animals, like birds, cats etc., and the symbolical ones associated to my city history, art, and identity.

​In fact many monuments, art works, palace facades have carved animals that have different meanings.


In fact many monuments, art works, palace facades have carved animals that have different meanings.

Animals, above all birds, are a natural presence surrounding us all the time.
​On the other side, the city is full of marble animals to observe that enhance our historical comprehension, aside from being very beautiful too.
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    My Blog

    This blog is aimed to share with you my Roman experiences, reflections and researches. 

    My clients normally fall in love with Rome, as I am,  and on their way back home express the desire of knowing more about its history and artistic treasures.

    This blog is for them and for everyone else that loves beauty, history, art, curiosities…and more, even my Italian recipes!!

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