19 Comments

I love the demolition of Italian food history on The Rest is History. Worth a listen for anyone interested in food and history. https://uk-podcasts.co.uk/podcast/the-rest-is-history/484-the-food-that-changed-the-world

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Oh Anne, thank you so much for sending this! I have just bookmarked it in spotify to listen this week. Food and history. I can't think of anything better!

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It’s both very reliable history and quite fun too.

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Cannot wait! It’s first up on my podcast list!!

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Farfalle with salmone was very 80's just as Vodka pasta was! PS acqua al 2 also opened in San Diego! I lived down the street from the restaurant in the 80's! just near Vivoli's with my boyfriend. He adores farfalle and in the 80's everything had panna!!!

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Oooooh I knew you would have the scoop on this pasta and restaurant, Judy!! I love reading the insider low down from you!! You know it's the only recipe I like farfalle in?! I'm going to need to interview you on 80s pantry pastas! I didn't keep a diary then - so it is wild to me that I remember so much about that restaurant and meal. It really made an impact. And that it still exists and I could find it on the internet. Thank you for this fun start to my day! xx

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Lovely story, I make pasta with smoked salmon too but give it a German spin with lots of dill sprinkled on top at the end. Thank you, you made me miss Florence, a lot!

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Oh how gorgeous! I happened to have some dill on my windowsill, so I popped it on for the first time. It was delicious - and now you remind me that it harkens back to my German roots too! Thank you for sharing, Julie! x

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Hi, yes, Oh My God, this experience is super similar to one of mine.

When I went to school in Florence in 1985, the teachers gave us some gastronomic "consigli". Acqua al Due was one of them. When I went back to Florence in 1992 with a Colombian boyfriend who I met in Switzerland where I was living, it was up to me to show him around Florence, and the restaurant that came to my mind was Acqua al Due. It being the only one I recalled a local recommending to me and I led my boyfriend there with happy confidence. We were on a budget just like the one you describe. We were all moony in love just like you describe. And I could swear we had that salmon pasta.

And you know what, even though the restaurant still exists, that was the last time I went there. It remains a place fixed in the world of my twenties and I guess I want to leave it that way.

Loved your story Lolly!

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Oh wow, Chandi. I suspect we are not the only ones!!! I so wonder where I received that recommendation. It might have even just been out of the Lonely Planet book. Your story made me laugh out loud with our kindred experience! Knowing what I know now, it wouldn't be a place I'd return to either. I would never want to taint that innocent memory!! Thank you so much for sharing with me. You made my day! x

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Awww, cool to hear I made your day! I loved the way your story took me back to that long ago day/evening in my twenties and that youthful “in love with Italy and with Diego” sensation that evening in Acqua al Due!💖 (Since I called him Diego in my memoir, I’ll stick with it here)😉

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Am I reading the recipe correctly: cold smoked salmon or cured as gravlax?

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Hi Walter! I am no expert in Nordic fish prep, but I believe gravlax is with salt, sugar, and dill. I don’t know how that would taste in this pasta, but if you try it, I would love to hear about the results! I tested with simple salt cured or smoked - the 2 kinds we have available here in Italy. Both are delicious! In the photo of the ingredients, you can see the package of the unsmoked cured salmon I used that day. I hope this helps!

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Tanti Auguri!!!

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Grazie mille, Judy!! xx

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Why does this recipe mention “broccoli”? Did I miss something?

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Priscilla, you goddess!! Thank you for catching my typo and telling me. I use a template to adjust my recipe notes at the very end of my recipes every time and missed that veggie slip-up.

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Thought that might be the case!

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When we first moved to Rome we used to go to a restaurant near the Ponte Milvio that was older than Italy 😉 & they served a similar salmon pasta! Though, I think it was made with penne.

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