Italian by birth, transplanted in LA where I live in the “wilderness” with a cast of canine characters, I try to make sense of the disconcerting business of reaching the dreaded middle age by writing it all down. The good, the bad and the food or how to be a non Hollywood woman in the city that glitters.
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The Accidental Chef · Making sense of life with food and words
ciao Claudia, sei proprio tu? Christina Iredale email chris_iredale@yahoo.it o su fb o su skype emmatheteacher kiss
And how did you know it was me???? Will be in touch soon
Good Morning Claudia
I came across your site today – nice job! I read your post about Pistachio Pastry Cream. I went to Bronte’s site. What formula did you use – Pistachio Pastry or Pistachio cream by Norman Douglas. I am trying to make a pistachio pastry cream, I have my own pastry recipe – that we enjoy but wanted to add something to it. Thank you
Janet
Hi Janet, thank you for your comment! I actually used my own pastry cream recipe (you can click it on the Pistachio Pastry Cream post you came across) and made my own pistachio paste. I grounded the pistachios extremely fine in a food processor and then I added about 1/4 cup to the sugar mixture. I then proceeded with the recipe as usual. At the end, I added more while it was cooling down. You will have a bit of a grainy factor – your cream won’t be super smooth but I didn’t mind – the flavor was just right without being overpowering. For a smoother cream, you need to buy pistachio paste – I have it here at work where I use it to make ice-cream but it’s not easy to find in stores. Hope this helps.
Just discovered your blog and I know I’m going to enjoy it after reading just two posts! My husband is of Italian heritage and having just finished his process for dual citizenship, he is now “real.” He’s a great Italian cook (thanks to his Nonna). We visited southern Italy two years ago for about three weeks where we met family, and fell in love with everything we saw and ate! We’re planning a trip back to see the north and start looking for a place we’d like to retire in a few years. (PS, we’ve done LA, too — much prefer the green Northwest!)
Dear Emma,
Thank you for your kind words that brightned a shaky day. I am also enmeshed in the dual citizenship process, which I resisted for a long time, trying to balance the American-ess and Italiane-ess in me. I love my country of origin and also think I will retire there but it is going through a real tough time at the moment and I feel for friends and family having to bear the brunt. But there is no place with better cappuccinos, convivial food and joie de vivre! I briefly scanned your blog before dashing to work and I am looking forward to settling in on the couch tonight and read more. It’s thrilling when you stumble upon like minded people in the big ether world. I know I know where you live is very pretty and bucolic and much more humanly paced than sprawling LA but I did fall in love with this difficult, beautiful and multi-faceted city…
I loved it too, when we lived there, and I went to college there. But, it can be completely overwhelming at times. I much prefer the quieter pace up this way now. Similarly, we loved Rome but I think we’re looking for a little quieter kind of place when we move to Italy.
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