Please consider attending the New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival this weekend. Visit this link for more information: www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org

For fish and seafood lover’s only: New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival

 and to find out when and where I’ll be appearing.

Aliza Making Hand-Stretched Pasta at a Slow Food event

With the publication of my new book, Making Artisan Pasta (Quarry Books, January 2012), I will be traveling to the mysterious and wild Maremma in coastal Tuscany and to Italy’s “green heart”–Umbria with a group of 15 pasta lover’s this October. We’ll be learning to make our own fresh pasta and watching artisan pastai hand-stretch pasta for the ultimate in chewy but tender texture and rough surface that perfectly absorbs the sauce as well as touring top wineries, learning chocolate artistry, eating in some of the best regional restaurants and meeting chefs and producers, visiting markets, picking olives, and going on a wild mushroom hunt.

That tour is now sold out but I am starting to take names and contact information for those interested in joining me on my next culinary tour in fall 2012. Our tentative itinerary starts with a stay at a beautiful agriturismo (farm-inn) in the heart of the Maremma surrounded by medieval walled towns, geothermal springs, abundant game and wild mushrooms, and some of the most famous “Super-Tuscan” vineyards.

Antica Schiamadda, Genoa

Romanengo Genoa

From there, we’ll travel to Genoa–a marvelous multi-faceted seaport that is not visited by many tourists and home to superb fresh-herb pasta and fillings. Genoa is a center for artisanal food production and well worth a visit to wander the narrow streets of its walking quarter, home to Pietro Romanengo, which has been making superb candied fruits, bonbons and preserves in Genoa since the 18th century at the oldest candy factory in the world. We’ll be tasting and learning to make authentic  Pesto alla Genovese, Pansotti al Sugo di Noce (triangular ravioli stuffed with white cheese and fresh herbs including borage), Farinata (crispy, thin chickpea flour torte baked in a wood-burning oven) at l’Antica Schiamadda, and Torta Pasqualina (layered Easter pie filled with greens, hard-cooked eggs, and cheese). 

Antique copper pots in Lucca restaurant

 We’ll also visit the small, charming city of Lucca, home of top-quality olive oil, and famed for its intact Renaissance-era city walls as well as the delicious traditional Tuscan fare at its fine restaurants, considered by many to be the best in Tuscany.  Tortelli Lucchese, fresh ravioli made from bright golden yellow egg-rich dough, stuffed with ricotta, and topped with a rich meat ragu is a typical dish.  Also farro (ancient wheat grain), local heirloom beans, rabbit, and baccalà (salt cod). And, we wouldn’t want to miss exploring Tuscany’s Chocolate Valley nearby along the Via Cioccolato.

If you’d like to know more, please send an email message to me on the Ask Aliza tab and I’ll be sure to send you more details.

Buon appetito!

You may have heard of Italian stallions (and I knew quite a few during my years of cheffing at Italian restaurants!) but how about Italian cowboys? The marshy areas of the Tuscan Maremma are home to Italy’s few remaining traditional cowboys, responsible for herding the enormous native Maremman cattle with their lyre-shaped horns, which may reach 2,500 pounds, over double the size of American Angus cattle! Read about the cattle and the revival of this heritage breed and the cowboys who work with them here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/world/europe/05italy.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=maremma&st=cse.

I’ll be taking a small group to visit this fascinating and non-touristy region on my Pasta Lover’s Culinary Tour, October 19 to 29. Just 4 spaces left (www.epicopia.com). You’ll learn to make your own hand-stretched pasta–the ultimate in flavor and texture. You haven’t tasted fresh pasta until you’ve experienced hand-stretched pasta, a specialty of the region along with game and wild mushrooms.  

Buon Giorno,

This fall (October 19 to 29),  I am taking a group of Pasta Lover’s to the Tuscan Maremma and Italy’s “green heart”, Umbria for 10 days of fun, cooking classes and demos, encounters with local producers, market visits, spa day, tours, fantastic local restaurant meals, winery visits and tastings, mushroom hunting, and a fantastic chocolate workshop. I have just six places left for this small group tour.

We’ll be staying a Ramerino, a beautiful, rustic agriturismo located on a farm at the top of a large hill with a 360 degree view of the rugged green forests of the region and complete with olive groves, which we’ll be invited to help pick for the first part of the tour. Then, it’s on to Orvieto, a dramatic walled medieval town with a world famous gold mosaic cathedral (we’ll be staying right on the cathedral piazza), underground caves, and a tradition of rustic game, fresh pasta, and truffle cucina. .

I’ve been working on a new book, Making Artisan Pasta, which brings my love and many years of experience in working with fresh pasta and studying the Italian language together in a beautiful photo-filled book. The book will be published in January of 2011 by Quarry Books. Everyone that comes on the tour will receive a signed copy (one per couple or single). We’ll be learning how to make our own hand-stretched fresh pasta–the ultimate–in classes given by two of my chef-pasta artisan friends in Orvieto, during the second part of our tour. We’ll also enjoy meals at their restaurans where we’ll enjoy their modern take on  local, seasonal recipes.

I have gathered together a great group of people who love food, travel, and all things Italian for our culinary journey of exploration. Please consider joining us. I’m happy to answer your questions. Please write to me at cranberrybean@comcast.net.

For complete tour details, pricing, and registration, please follow this link: http://www.epicopia.com/italy/item/62-italian-maremma-umbria-a-pasta-lovers-culinary-tour.

Arrivaderci!

Aliza Green

Cuisine, Culture and Community:

A dynamic one-day educational event highlighting local food, wine, and spirits in the Delaware Valley, open to everyone who wants to learn more from an array of lively experts.

Date:                Saturday, June 11, 2011, 8:00 am to 5:30 pm

Location:                 The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College  
4207 Walnut St., Phila., 19104;  www.walnuthillcollege.edu

Cost:              Registration $85, includes breakfast, lunch and dessert provided by Dame restaurateurs and caterers, choice of four sessions, and reception    (limited to 100 attendees)

Contact:         Chapter President Aliza Green:  cranberrybean@comcast.net

Registration:  Download registration brochure at www.lesdamesphiladelphia.com. Pay with Paypal, credit card, or check

This unique event features workshops, panel discussions, demonstrations, hands-on classes and tastings. Highlights include: keynote talk by Judy Wicks, international leader in the local living economies movement; talk by William Woys Weaver (Culinary Ephemera); cooking class with renowned chef/restaurateur Susanna Foo; and talk and tasting by Stephen Fried (Appetite for America.

• Meet farmers, bakers, chefs, and artisan food producers. Taste international and local sheep’s milk cheeses, locally-distilled spirits, baked goods made by Dame Pastry Chefs and Bakers, local meats including Linda Geren (HighView Farm), and Michel Cluizel’s bean-to-bar chocolate.
• Participate in panel discussions about food writing for print and electronic media. Learn how to get your artisanal food product to market in a valuable special double-session workshop.
• Explore African-American culinary history with Toni Martin (A Taste of Heritage: The New African-American Cuisine). Learn how local chefs keep their seafood sustainable and best ways of working with local meats in a panel led by local food systems activist Marilyn Anthony.
• Discover kitchen secrets of top culinarians like Cici Williamson (The Best of Virginia Farms), Rozanne Gold (Radically Simple: Brilliant Flavors with Breathtaking Ease), and Ellie Krieger (So Easy: Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week).
• Cook Bangkok street snacks with Moon Krapugthong (Chabaa Thai Bistro, Turkish regional food with Sheilah Kaufman (The Turkish Cookbook), and bread made from local wheat from Pete’s Produce Farm with Chef John Gallagher (The Restaurant School) in these hands-on classes.
• Chat with cookbook authors like Lari Robling (Endangered Recipes), Aliza Green (The Fishmonger’s Apprentice), Tara Desmond (Almost Meatless), Jennifer Linder McGlinn (Gingerbread), and Andy Schloss (Mastering the Grill). Buy personalized signed books. Bring home a special goodie bag.  

 SEAFOOD 101:

FEATURING AUTHOR ALIZA GREEN AND SAMUELS SEAFOOD

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Spots are still available for Oyster House (1516 Sansom Street, 215-567-7683) Seafood 101 event with renowned cookbook author Aliza Green who will teach tips on how to prepare and cook fresh fish from her latest book, The Fishmonger’s Apprentice (Quarry, 2010) on Saturday, April 23 at 3 p.m. 

Seafood 101 will feature a variety of demonstrations from acclaimed author Green, drawing from The Fishmonger’s Apprentice including how to clean and cook calamari and how to pickle mackerel.  Samuels Seafood will also have a fish monger at the event, taking attendees through the challenge of deboning a shad fillet. 

 “Tuition” is $30 per person, and includes a signed copy of The Fishmonger’s Apprentice, as well as samples of dishes being prepared and two full hours of instruction and question-and-answer time. 

“Butchering whole fish is a task that is somewhat shrouded in mystery – but it shouldn’t be,” says Green.  “Preparing and cooking seafood is wonderfully rewarding, and I’m excited to illustrate that knowledge for our guests.”

For more information, or to make a reservation, please call (215) 567-7683 or visit www.oysterhousephilly.com or follow them on twitter @PHLoysterhouse.

 Join Aliza Green, longtime chef in la cucina Italiana and author of 10 culinary books, for a 10-day exploration of autumn culinary delights in the wild, ancient Etruscan Maremma and Umbria, “the green heart of Italy.” Terme Calidario Roman-style hot springs, chocolate workshop with renowned chocolatier Domenico d’Affronto of La Conca d’Oro, tour Italian-Jewish Pitigliano, wild mushroom hunt. Meet Davide Fedele, producer of superb heritage Cinta Senese salumeria (cured meats). In Umbria, dinner at Chef Valentina Santanicchio’s Al Saltapicchio, a day in the country at top winery, Falesco. Meet Chef Velia de Angelis (star of Italian television’s Chef per un Giorno) at her La Champagneria. In anticipation of Aliza’s new artisanal pasta techniques book due in early 2012, we invite you to learn to make artisan pasta hands-on at Compagnia dei Buongustai.

Art of Food, produced by Monica Rogozinski Segment:  The Fishmonger’s Apprentice

Have you ever wondered how the pros learn to take a fish from the boat to the table?  Aliza Green studied with the masters to write her new book, “The Fishmonger’s Apprentice” to be published in January 2011 by Quarry Books. She will go inside Samuel D’Angelo’s Samuels and Son Seafood Company to learn how to clean and prepare a variety of seafood species. During the program, Green will demonstrate how to purchase and prepare the lesser-known species of fish.  Joe Lasprogata, Samuel’s director of purchasing and a marine biologist, will take you on a tour of their new state-of-the-art facility and discuss the wholesaler’s investment in the future of fisheries, oceans and waterways.  According to Green, Lasprogata and D’Angelo sustainability requires a commitment from both the suppliers and the consumers.  Knowledge is the key.

 Friday Arts, a 30-minute monthly arts, culture and entertainment magazine with a strong online component, will spotlight Greater Philadelphia’s arts on WHYY-TV at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3.

 “Friday Arts gives us the opportunity to cast a light on some of Philadelphia’s best-kept secrets in the arts,” said Trudi Brown, executive producer. “We’re looking at paying appropriate homage to the established arts in our region, but most important, we want to bring to our audiences arts, culture and entertainment stories that are off the beaten path. This region is bustling with a vibrant and sometimes even quirky art scene in the visual and performing arts. Our challenge is to present the best stories in the most artistic way possible.”

 Friday Arts features three segments — “Art”, “Art of Life” and “Art of Food” — and a rotation of Creative Campus and Experience video segments. WHYY produces all five segments.

 “Art” features local visual performing artists along with pieces on museum and gallery exhibits. “Art of Life” profiles everyday people accomplishing extraordinary social goals through art. “Art of Food” highlights innovative local food entrepreneurs who are environmentally conscious about food preparation and consumption.

 Friday Arts is broadcast on WHYY-TV the first Friday of each month at 8:30 p.m. Each episode is rebroadcast the following Saturday at 11:30 p.m., Monday at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. on WHYY-TV. Each episode of the program is also rebroadcast on WHYY’s Y Arts channel the following Monday at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday at 8:30 p.m., Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. and Thursday at 10:30 p.m. Episodes may also be viewed at WHYY.org/video. Additionally, regularly updated complementary and supplementary content to the program are available at WHYY.org/fridayarts.

I am pleased to announce new dates for my small group Culinary Turkey Experience!  Please join me and other food lovers on this extraordinary journey May 25 – June 8, 2011.

Turkey straddles East and West culturally, historically and literally. It’s the only country to sit on two continents, Europe and Asia. The whole country is like an open-air museum with remains of successive empires and cultural movements on display at every turn. Turkey is a modern, secular country with an old soul, the meeting place not only of East and West but of past and future as well.

The surest way to capture the essence of a country’s culture is through its cuisine. Turkey, like no other country, is the crossroads of many cuisines. Turkish cuisine features lamb, eggplant, and pilafs. Vegetables are often stuffed with aromatic meat preparations, and desserts usually combine fruits, nuts, and pastry.

I am working with Epicopia Culinary Journeys to offer you this  incomparable Turkish Culinary Experience. Fragrant Fields and Turkish Delights: Exploring Aegean & Ottoman Flavors II features the western region of Turkey as well as the extraordinary city of Istanbul.

We begin our culinary experience on the Greek Island of Chios. Located only seven miles off the coast of Turkey, Chios is the only place on the planet where mastic is cultivated, harvested and sent throughout the Mediterranean countries.

From Chios we follow this precious product into Turkey spending several days in the Çesme – Alaçati and Ephesus region where we visit markets, archaeological sites, dine in traditional local restaurants, stroll the back streets of villages and towns, visit organic farms, meet artisanal craftsmen, enjoy cooking classes with local chefs and share lunches and dinners in private homes of friends and culinary authors.

Behind every door we discover exactly what makes Turkey the “exotic culinary destination.” From the fruit wines of Sirince and the Aydin Valley, the exceptional wines of Bozcaada and Tekirdag, to the sweet, heavy coffees, we will drink Turkey. We gather herbs from the mountainside of Mt. Ida for our cooking class of regional specialties and in Istanbul we learn from the Master Culinary Engineer himself, Musa Dagdeviren the passionate mind behind the famous Ciya Restaurant.

Greece and Turkey have exchanged cultures and peoples for centuries and this explosion of flavors is just one reason I am eager to share her passion and love of this complex and stimulating region. Aliza’s knowledge of regional foods will enhance the hands-on and behind the scenes visits and the cultural and archaeological sites become a seamless adventure along with the local cuisine as we explore the Aegean and Ottoman influences on Turkish Cuisine.

Please join me for this uniquely adventurous Turkish Culinary Experience May 25 – June 8, 2011.

Call today 972.771.3510 or 877.661.3844 for detailed itinerary

Land Package Price: $5995* per person based on two sharing
Single Supplement: $ 1359.00* (Limited availability)

_{*Price based on exchange rate as of October 1, 2010. Subject to revision at 90 days prior to travel date. Rate is based on a minimum of 10 guests traveling together throughout and a maximum of 15 guests.}

Includes:

• 13 nights’ accommodation (hotels listed or similar)
• Daily breakfasts, 10 lunches and 7 dinners
• Welcome coffee and snacks on first day
• Limited local alcoholic drinks (some meals) or non-alcoholic beverages lunches and dinners
• 13 days of sightseeing in a deluxe air-conditioned vehicle with a professional driver
• Walking on Chios with qualified guide
• Bicycles and special bicycle guide for the Kampos bicycling tour (optional participation)
• Participation in all activities described in the itinerary
• Herb gathering from Mt Ida with a professional chef
• 3 very special cooking classes
• Chios – Cesme one way ferry tickets
• Ferry tickets to & from Bozcaada Island
• Olive Oil tasting in Adatepe Olive Museum
• Corvus wine experience and tasting in Bozcaada
• Licensed professional guide in English language
• Wine tasting by Gulor Vineyards
• Private boat to Asian Side of Istanbul
• All transfers and baggage handling
• Entrance fees to museums and sites per itinerary
• Bottled water provided throughout the tours
• VAT and other taxes
• Welcome package
• Hosted throughout by Epicopia Experience Director, Aliza Green

Not included:

• Gratuities to guide and driver
• Meals that are not indicated on the itinerary
• International airfares to Chios and return from Istanbul
• Recommended dinners/lunches and transportation to & from the restaurants not included in itinerary
• Travel Protection and Cancellation Insurance (Must provide proof of coverage)
• Optional night in Athens pre-tour
• Transportation required with Athens stopover

Pierre Wolfe Sipping Wine and Talking Food

Pierre Wolfe, host of the nationally syndicated show, America’s Dining and Travel Guide for more than twenty years, interviewed me about my international baking book, Starting with Ingredients: Baking and my exciting upcoming small group Culinary Tour of Chios, Greece, Aegean Turkey and Istanbul. (Note new dates, May 25th to June 9th 2011). Wolfe shares with listeners his choices for the best lodging, finest dining, and most exciting tourist sites in the country–and around the world. Authors, chefs, travel planners, hotel concierges, and cruise directors are among the guests on the show.

I was honored to be a guest on this popular show and happy to talk about some of the stories behind the making of the book and my extensive travels to gather the recipes. This big fat book is organized by ingredient. Each chapter covers background, history, and culture along with more than 350 international recipes from Apples to Alcohol and Walnuts to Wheat.

If you’re looking to expand your repertoire beyond chocolate chip cookies and brownies, this book is crammed with exciting recipes for savory and sweet baked goods. Mr. Wolfe, a native of Alsace, France was especially taken by some of the Alsatian specialties like Black Kugelhopf and Alsatian Plum Muerbeteig. Some of my personal favorites are Torta Sbrisolona alla Lombarda (Lombardian Crumbly Cake), Spanish Orange and Olive Oil Cake, Lor Kurabiyesi (Turkish Ricotta Cheese Cookies Scented with Mastic), Brazil Nut Cake with Espresso, Spanish Tuna Empanadas with Sofrito, and Sardinian Potato Torta with Sheep’s Milk Cheese and Mint.

Listen to the Interview with Pierre Wolfe on America’s Dining and Travel Guide