The wifely support of a husband on the Keto diet continues this week as we surmount another family dinner full of tasty temptations. Having just arrived home from Italy I wanted to cook a true pasta dinner for my sister and her family. I chose to make Ragu and homemade pasta which is a pretty hard thing for a husband to pass up, especially my husband who has a particular soft spot for homemade pasta.
While still in Italy, we visited the Marche region and stayed with some friends from South Africa. My friend recently became diabetic and so she shared some of her favorite recipes with me. We loved her cooking style because it is essentially the same diet as “Ketogenic”. Being from South Africa they refer to this diet as “Banting” diet after the doctor who came up with this eating style.
A few days after arriving back home in California, I told my mom “If you are going to make pizza, please let me know so I can plan on it for dinner!” She said “I didn’t think you would want to eat pizza since you have been living in Italy eating the “best” pizza!” I replied “I DO want to eat pizza, I want to eat YOUR homemade Pizza!” So with a little smile on her face she agreed to make me pizza.
So I am back home in California after living in Italy for a year and a half. We will only be home for three months, working and visiting with friends and family before we return to Italy again. As a side point I am enjoying such novelties as a good heater in my house, a powerful shower head in a roomy bathroom and a dryer to dry my clothes!
Cacciatore means “Hunter” or Hunter-Style, it has an ancient history going back to the Renaissance, around the 1500’s in Central Northern Italy. It was usually made with rabbit or fowl that would be caught by the hunter when he was out for bigger game. Chicken Cacciatore is rustic dish made on an ancient hearth or out in the open with ingredients readily available in the forest or the Renaissance kitchen. These would be olives curing in the brine, the ever present wine and herbs such as rosemary and thyme.
When we first arrived in Italy we were invited to a young couples house for dinner in San Felice, by the sea. The husband lives to dive, surf and fish in the ocean and he had caught an octopus and it was featured on the menus that night. It was strange for us to see an octopus being cooked with its strange suction cup lined tentacles and bulbous head. It was even stranger to eat one. But his octopus salad was fresh from the sea and served in a cold salad with celery, lemon and parsley. My husband who is not usually a seafood guy, absolutely loved it and dove right in. You can read the story of dinner that night on my article “Dinner for Six”.
The most common way I have eaten artichokes in Italy is the “Roman Style”. This is reasonable since I am living in the general area of Rome and all cuisine in my area is influenced in the Roman Kitchen . Roman Artichokes are trimmed of all tough parts, with most of the Artichoke discarded. Each leaf is snapped off in such a way that the tough fiberous parts are removed.
(with Keto, Vegetarian & Gluten free Versions)
Nothing warms the body like a steaming bowl of soup! We have been enjoying this French Onion Soup for years! Onion soups date back to ancient times and have always been a staple because onions are cheap and plentiful and you can always find one around even if you have nothing else! The French made this awesome by making it “gratinéed” this means with crusty bread and bubbling melted cheese on top!
During a recent dinner party I felt bad serving Tiramasu to our guests and leaving out my Keto crazy husband. So in an act of solidarity I got busy looking for a dessert he could have on the Keto diet. He had already bought a sugar substitute in the form of Erythritol so I was ready to create something delicious for him.
It’s Wednesday night and you’re asking yourself what your going to make for dinner tonight. This is something many of my friends dread, they hate the monotony of cooking night after night. They tell me they like to cook when they have time and are making something special but to think of something every night is daunting.
