Cucina Fresca: 2011

We challenged ourselves to do more recipe creation in 2011, and more importantly, to document our results. Improvisational cooking has never been a challenge for us, but writing recipes that can be shared and recreated was not our strong suit. So we made a list of goals — ways in which we wanted to learn and grow in the kitchen — and challenged ourselves to 3 new recipes per month.

We named it the Cucina Fresca Challenge of 2011. That’s Italian for “fresh kitchen” for those of you keeping track of our fake Italian-isms. With only two months to go, we’re (mostly) on track, and writing our own recipes has been a boon for our kitchens, our tummies, and our taste testers. There have been a few missteps, of course, and a lot of creative scheduling.

As the blog went bi-coastal in the summer of 2011, our recipe planning, and even some of our cooking, became an activity accomplished largely through the power of video chat and other technologies. Still, we roll with the punches, and we think you’ll be pleased with the results.

January’s Cucina Fresca challenge was based on a few of our challenge goals: 1. Cook fish 7. Try our luck at sauces, from different ethnicity’s and with different bases 12. greens, greens, greens! 25. Seasonal vegetables Our main ingredient? Mustard. …

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The vegetable of the month is KALE. Gorgeous green, leafy kale. Just look at how beautiful it is. Last week, we got some in our magical CSA box. Gleefully eschewing all responsibility for recipe creation, we threw some on a …

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Ladies and gents, family and friends: The time has come to announce our plan for 2011’s challenge. We’re calling it Cucina Fresca, which translates to “Fresh Kitchen” in Italian. The votes have been tallied, and a vast majority of you …

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