Mmmmm…….So good!

I have been so fortunate to meet so many wonderful people over the years thru blogging and the internet.  One of the nicest I have had the pleasure of meeting this past fall was Nathalie Fisher.  I met Nathalie and her sister in law this past fall during my annual trek to Rhinebeck.  They joined Anne, Beckie, Kim and I on our annual luncheon trip to the Culinary Institute of America  We had  so much fun laughing and just having a good time in general over a fabulous lunch.

Both Nathalie and her husband work at the CIA, so we were treated to a behind the scenes tour of the facility….fascinating!  It was fun to see all of the young students in their chef hats diligently listening to their instructors and quietly working.

A little while back, Anne did a review of this new cook book from the institute….and I was so impressed.  I mentioned that this would be my CIA purchase on my next trip as I have really taken a keen interest in Italian cooking lately.  Well…….a wonderful little surprise ended up on my doorstep last week and oh my!!  What an amazing treat this book is!!  Amazing!!!  Thank you Nathalie!!

Another really nice person I have met via blogging is Adri Barr Crocetti of the Front Burner Blog.

If you look at the picture of the cookbook, you will see my little Corzetti tool.  If you remember a little while back I posted about this purchase and the recipe that I discovered to go along with this beautiful stamp.

Adri's recipe is the one that I used for the sauce in that blog post.  Since then she and I have chatted back and forth a few times and she asked if she could use my picture on her blog.  I was very flattered, except that the picture was taken in such poor light, that I decided today to play with pasta again.

The recipe that I use for the pasta itself is rich, calling for 6 egg yolks, but it is the one fool proof recipe that I have used.  It never needs tweaking and it always comes out scrumptious.  I will definitely read more about pasta recipes however in the new cookbook for reliable recipes with a little less fat.

When I cooked up the corzetti this time, I opted for the Pesto recipe instead of the brown butter, so that I could use up some of the basil that I saved from last summer's garden.  Adri's recipe for Pesto is almost identical to mine except that I use toasted pine nuts instead of walnuts.  It always makes me smile to take that little bit of summer out of my freezer for dinner.

Mmmmmm…..doesn't that look good?  Corzetti is a bit time consuming to make, but the rewards are SOOOO worth it!  Mangia!