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rustica RETRO

on the slow trail in Italy

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contacts and links

email me: alicekiandra.adams@gmail.com

click and follow the links to find out more about:

my food styling work on alice adams food stylist

latteria studio and events like market to table

lubriano and renting our house on airbnb

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daily grams

Hanging on to summer with a big bowl of pasta con friggitelli colorati for Sunday lunch. Italians can be a bit funny about the pepper family. They love them, but then complain of digestive problems. The little friggitelli peppers (usually green, here deep yellows and reds) are most often sautéed and eaten whole, but I yesterday I cooked them into a sauce and tossed them through lovely whole grain tagliatelle from @mulino_valdorcia I gently cooked 1 sliced onion in olive oil and added a couple of anchovies, a clove of whole squashed garlic and 6 or so peppers (seeds removed). Cook all of above covered, for 10 minutes or so until soft and collapsing. Add a tin of peeled tomatoes (I had gifted pelati from @ilghiottoneumbro!), a good pinch of salt and cook for a further 10 minutes, adding a little water to help everything blend and reduce. Cook pasta, toss everything in the pan (or a bowl if you need more space) and add grated pecorino and chopped oregano and parsley to serve. This was a hit with all of the family, minus the 100% Italian one with peperoni phobia. #marketinspiration #sundayontheterrace #ifyoulikefrigetelliwhynotwithpasta
Love the energy of a film crew. And getting around to all these corners of Italy waiting to be explored. #onset #sunsetmoments #atravellingfoodstylist #behindthescenes
Per il bene o il male Leonardo and I have chosen to spend our kids-are-on-scout-hike afternoon on a mercatino crawl. He has his head in the record boxes, and I’m cruising for old linen for more aprons for the studio and orders for friends. The afternoon is gorgeous, they are playing the Beatles and everyone has eyes peeled for their little slice of treasure. My list of second hand hunting grounds in Rome can be found on my blog under ‘A Rome list for hunters and gatherers’. Link in profile. #secodhandnerds #onemanstrashisanothermanstreasure #vintagerome #rusticaretro
Celebrating my return to the fruit phone with a snap from the (till now) lost archives. Picking lemons on the Amalfi coast to make afternoon refreshers for the crew @andrea_dilorenzo @joena_ph @valentinaguttuso #thecitruscoast #positano #dreamjobs #fromthearchive #atravellingfoodstylist
Emma keeps asking me, 'Mum, should I dress for Autumn tomorrow?' I'm not sure, days are still warm but the pumpkins have started arriving at the markets. When I first moved to this part of Rome I would sometimes bump into Leonardo's grandmother haranguing stall holders at the market, pint sized Neapolitan force of nature that Rosa was. In those days it would have been a near miracle to spot a butternut on the stalls, but the brilliant combination of the farmers market movement, @slowfood_international and a general interest in varietals has revitalised what is tumbling off the stalls. All that is missing are the people!!! The world needs ACTION to get people out of the supermarkets and buying produce that is #goodcleanfair #buonopulitoegiusto and totally packaging free. #mercatogregorioVII #romanmarkets #packagingfree #everychangecounts
How lucky I was to have one of my favourite cooking pals - and wonderful visual diarist - Vanessa @thehungrychook as part of our #markettotablerome group yesterday. The pictures do all the talking; market fresh produce, happy cooks around the workbench and @carla_tomasi weaving her focaccia and fresh pasta magic. Carla, Rachel and I keep mixing things up on the MtoT menu and yesterday Carla tossed our Borlotti in a red onion and rosemary vinaigrette and I pushed sweet baked plums into a chocolate and hazelnut cake. Grazie cara Vanessa for this story in pictures. #cooktheseason #freshfromthemarket #latesummer
Zucchini alla scapece - alla concia - in agrodolce. A few people asked for the recipe when I posted this last friday at another super #markettotablerome. The Neapolitans call it alla scapece, while in the Roman Jewish quarter it is called alla concia. Whatever the name the zucchini are sliced and fried - I like to shallow fry in extra virgin till golden - and then dressed in herb infused red wine vinegar (mint is best but basil also nice), and more good olive oil. I added a few super fine slices of red onion. Italians harvest their zucchini super small, so they are full of flavour and hold their shape. The vinegar and herbs do the rest. Thanks to the lovely group that joined Carla and I last Friday, this September has been the biggest M to T festa on record. #cooktheseason. #morevegetables #latesummerinrome #zucchiniallascapece
I drove back from Tuscany last night for a #markettotablerome this morning. Grapes were beckoning at the market after I dropped Alberto at his new Scuola Media (next door to the Gregorio VII market, bonus), so the Maritozzo dough became a sort of Schiacciata all' Uva for our morning coffee. Yep, it was tasty, I tasted a couple of slices waiting for @rachelaliceroddy to arrive with today's (as always) super group. We cooked a feaast of late summer veg, made lombrichell and baked a plum tart. More in my stories. Thanks all for coming, and stay tuned for 2020 Market to Table dates if you would like to come and cook with @carla_tomasi, Rachel and me. #cooktheseason #schiaccataalluva #withcoffee
A Tuscan paradise. Fig trees, beckoning vines, a kitchen garden with every herb and more. Stone walls brimming with lavender and aromatics. The rustle of turning leaves. Perhaps the sound of a distant tractor. Day 1 of shooting at @monteverdi_tuscany
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