The Best Revenge, Episode 7: Pasta alla Norma
On this episode devoted to "Pasta alla Norma," Thomas Fleming and Chef Garret Fleming talk about Sicilian markets, the history of eggplant, and even the preparation of this classic Sicilian pasta.
Original Air Date: April 7, 2017
Show Run Time: 46 minutes
Show Guest(s): Chef Garret Fleming
Show Host(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming
The Best Revenge℗ is a Production of the Fleming Foundation. Copyright 2017. All rights are reserved and any duplication without explicit written permission is forbidden.
Honestly, I enjoy these podcasts a great deal. I think they should be their own stand alone series available for free through iTunes so folks can subscribe. I think it would be good publicity for the Fleming Foundation and might draw some folks in – come for the culinary chat, stay for the insightful cultural commentary.
This Easter I am going to try the Carbonara recipe you recommended back during the podcast on Spaghetti All’ Amatriciana. I still need to get a Roman Pot, though, for chicken roasting.
We used to make eggplant sandwiches, and I will say that salting them beforehand definitely helped with the bitter flavor. I don’t know why, but it worked.
Is there any truth to the story about Spaghetti Caruso? I heard it was a recipe cooked up especially for Caruso who would eat it after a performance. I’ve heard it is simply massive – enough calories to keep a Marine platoon going all day. Also, was that Maria Callas during the intro? I’m still very uneducated with Opera – aside from a few Mozart, Rossini, and Puccini works I haven’t had enough time (and have too many kids) to enjoy as many other operas as I would like.
These podcasts, as entertaining as they are, have lead me to one conclusion, though. If I ever have the honor of hosting Dr. Fleming at my home, we’re ordering out!
Yes, Callas in one of her greatest roles.
And, if I ever do make it to your house, please do not worry. Unlike our son the chef, I enjoy very simple food and eat it most of the time. Grilled steak, roast beef, fried pork chops and fried chicken, a good hamburger–all wonderful. It is a bit like friends. It is nice have brilliant and wealthy friends who have been around, but one also has friends a bit like an easy chair or old tweed jacket–people who somehow seem to fit.
Sometime we should do a “junk food” podcast, on, for example hotdogs. Garret likes dirty spicy hotdogs, while his brother likes Kosher beef dogs made in Chicago style, while I prefer the true Polish dog of pure veal, as they serve it in outdoor stands in Paris, with a hunk of French bread, some Gruyere melted on top and a little Dijon mustard. Bill Buckley’s most famous column was on peanut butter, though I blush to say he liked the commercial junk where they suck out the peanut oil and replace it with soybean oil and add sugar. We could also do a very polemical show on scrambled eggs and omelettes…
In any event, I am the opposite of a picky or refined eater, except within my own house.
I am probably going to write up a short piece on how I accidentally ruined the Easter lamb by screwing up the oven which meant I had to finish it on top of the stove with a little liquid that steamed the life out of it. The worst part was the hangover I had to endure the next day after trying to drink away the memory of the horror!
I could also do a piece on the one hour dinners I learned to prepare for our family of six many years ago. I’d come home at 5:15 to 5:30 several times a week and by about 6:30, I’d have a pasta course, a meat course with contorni, and a salad. I rarely make dessert, and even in France and Italy I content myself with a little cheese and brandy or grappa. Actually, the cheese is just an excuse for ordering the grappa.