As promised here is the second installment of my Askinosie post, all about how we use this excellent chocolate in our pastry kitchen. At the end of each Petraia tasting we send out a parting gift, an assortment of house-made chocolates we call “ Petraia Rocks”. The name is a play on words of course. La Petraia…

  Here it’s called levistico or sedano di montagna.  This alpine herb loves Petraia and I love it. We throw the leaves into salads to add some mystery and we make lovage sorbet and gelato. I whiz the tender leaves into grape seed oil and strain it to use as a condiment for our fresh lovage…

Introducing Lyle Rose. Lyle recently returned to Petraia after spending four months somewhere. We’re not sure where exactly. Just like the song says, we thought he was a goner. But he’s back with this exciting 2 ½ minute video. Turn up the volume and switch to full screen to enjoy Lyle making his evening rounds in…

It’s the middle of May and Chianti is covered in white blossoms and smells like heaven. Aromatic acacia and elder flowers have taken over the landscape and our roses are in full bloom. Here these blossoms are  fried in pastella, a simple flour and water slurry and the resultant nectar-filled elder and acacia flower fritters are served either lightly…

At Petraia we work with Maria Thun’s biodynamic planting calendar and our sewing, harvesting, pruning and trimming is governed by the different lunar and planetary cycles that affect plant growth. Each month there are different days, and in some cases different hours of the day propicious for planting or harvesting fruit, flowers, leaves or roots. In the orto…

  At Petraia I count on the fingers of one hand the principal staples I use we that we can’t easily produce on the farm. Chocolate, coffee, some of our flour and salt. Food shopping for me is a real luxury and I take great care and pleasure in seeking out the few ingredients I…

Those of you who been following this blog for awhile probably know I love spending time in the Alps and in particular the Haute-Savoie. This département of France is breathtaking, home to the Val d’Abondance, the lakes Annecy & Leman, Mont Blanc and the haunting Aravis massif. It’s also the place where much of France’s most interesting cooking is happening at…

Perhaps I have custard to blame for my vocation. In the era I grew up it was one of the first solid foods given to babies. My mother’s egg custard is one of my earliest sense memories and it made a big impression. Slightly sweet the taste was probably reminiscent of mother’s milk but the…

  Semolina Bread from Sicily (Adapted from Piano, Piano, Pieno: Authentic Food From a Tuscan Farm)   As one ventures into the mezzogiorno or southern Italy, bread takes on a golden aspect as if it has spent more time in the sun than its northern cousins. This is especially true in Sicily where much of…