Gimme gas!
With the Christmas kitsch in full swing (the first decorations were up *before* Thanksgiving), our holiday open house only a few days away, both our Macs barely recovering from the recent Leopard installation, us sharing a 15-year-old car on its last legs after Ben's car died, and a spate of other minor breakages…
…our electric cooktop reached the end of its useful life. Not only have I been cooking with props(*), but the main ring in front shortcircuited as I was cooking last week. At last, we had to do something about it.
(*) Cooking with props = the four rings were so tilted that I had to prop my pans placing bowls and whatever was handy under the handles to keep them reasonably level. Sheer lunacy.
I hate electric cooktops with all my heart. It just was too much trouble and money to do something about it until now. As I type, contractors are hammering, sawing, welding, etc. around the house to bring a gas line from the basement to the kitchen.
The past few days have been taken up by figuring out what to do and how to do it. Finally, an almost brand new gas cooktop is sitting on the floor waiting to be installed. I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly while I am freezing my butt off 'til we can turn the heating back on. The new cooktop is a display model that comes stress-free with a couple of built-in scratches; that way we were able to afford a better model and I won't stress about the first inevitable scratch. It's a win-win situation.
Preparations for the holiday open house have of course suffered, but I did manage to test a new recipe yesterday afternoon. After spending way too much energy looking for the right ingredients to make panna cotta, I thought I'd go for castagnaccio. What was I thinking? Farina di castagne proved just as elusive as panna fresca. It's not that I couldn't find a deli that carries chestnut flour…I cound't find anyone who even knows that such a thing exists.
Never mind… plenty of Italian desserts to choose from. I like "dolci caserecci", desserts that have a homemade quality: ciambella, torta della nonna, castagnaccio, torta di riso, zuppa inglese and the like. So I went for torta di riso using a recipe that my friend Giorgio in Faenza got from his mom, a seriously good cook(TM). Too bad for me that her notes were meant for someone with some practice and lacked the kind of information I find reassuring, such as cooking time, size of the baking pan, and so on.
Nonetheless, I converted the metric measurements into cups (note to self: get a kitchen scale), spent half a day shopping for basic ingredients that Giorgio can procure simply by going down the stairs and crossing the street to the corner shop, and I eventually baked my first torta di riso. Lots of room for improvement, that's for sure, but none of it will go bad. :)
The plumbers have just finished cutting the tiles on the kitchen counter to accommodate the new cooktop that is 6" wider than the old one. Keep your fingers crossed, too, folks, please. If all goes well, tonight I will cook with gas for the first time since April 1992.
Weeeeeeeeee!!!
Comments
Hi, I have chestnut flour from Italy, and I've also found it (but expired) in an Italian deli in Culver City and in Santa Monica. You can find it!
My husband grew up on pappa di skelt. (I'm sure I spelled it wrong.)
Posted by: Anneliese | December 10, 2007 4:57 PM
How exciting! Good luck!
Posted by: Nonnahs | December 10, 2007 5:22 PM
Oh yay!!!! Gas stove! That's going to make cooking such a joy!
I can't wait until I have a gas stove again. Lucky you!
Posted by: May | December 10, 2007 6:06 PM
I am so glad that you get to make the switch--I hate cooking with electricity--but what bad timing. Hope it goes smoothly.
Posted by: Theresa | December 10, 2007 6:55 PM
Yeah.... A gas stove!!!! I hope as I am typing this you are basking in the glow of flames on the new cook top.
Posted by: kitty kitty | December 10, 2007 7:00 PM
Oh Francesca, the timing with which major kitchen appliances die seems to be like they are malevolent beings who are just waiting to inconvenience us the most, doesn't it?
But just think how wonderful it will be when you have a gas cooktop again! In a week or two, I hope that you are glad that this happened.
Good luck!
Posted by: Laura | December 10, 2007 7:39 PM
I've only once cooked with, when living a summer in Germany as language student, but at that time we ate most out, so I can't remember how it was. The timing for your switch could have been more convenient of course.
For those recipes with wrong measurements I have bought a set of cup measures, in order not to have convert everything. A kitchen scale with your weight system could be a good thing too, or even better, one with both.
I hope everuthing is working ok in your kitchen by now!
Posted by: Maud | December 10, 2007 9:21 PM
I would love a gas hob but there's no gas in our village....my cooker died last week so we went out and chose one that would fit the gap, when it arrived it fitted the top of the gap but not the bottom of the gap so Barry had to almost rebuild one of the cupboards. It looks lovely but now I know why the landlord used a cooker about 10cm smaller than the gap, it fitted in better! Two days ago I put a saucepan on my new halogen hob to come to the boil and noticed a smell but thought it was a 'new' smell until I went back into the kitchen. Something must have stuck to the bottom of the pan, it had melted and burned and made a mess of my new hob. I cried but then Barry came to the rescue and he went out and bought some hob cleaner and conditioner and the mark it almost gone. Guess I'll check the bottom of my pans more now.
Posted by: Marianne | December 10, 2007 9:27 PM
Fingers duly crossed!
Posted by: Karen | December 11, 2007 5:12 AM
Oh hooray! I'm jealous cuz I just gave up my gas stove for an electric. I didn't have a choice, unfortunately. But I can live vicariously through you.
Posted by: The Feminist Mafia | December 11, 2007 7:44 AM
I too hate electrical cooktops. Fortunately, the last time I used one was before my parents remoele their kitchen when I was a child. My dream stove is an Aga 3-Oven. But of course, you have to have the $$$ to afford it. And since we keep loosing out on the lottery . . .
Posted by: Lola LB | December 13, 2007 3:46 AM
I had to laugh out loud when you mentioned 'props', I knew exactly what you meant! I have to do the same thing with our (evil) electric stove. Of course when you prop the pans up, the upshot is that not all of the bottom of the pan is touching electric portion.
I am looking forward to the day my electric stove konks out. Until then, I have to content myself with dreaming while reading descriptions of gas tops (and doing a bit of research into the new generation of induction tops).
With my luck the thing will still be working 20 years from now.
Enjoy the new gastop!! Best, Suzy C
p.s. I really enjoy your blog!
Posted by: Suzy | December 13, 2007 11:24 AM
Gas, it's the only way to cook! If you're still thinking of moving a bit closer to Europe, I'd like to point out that gas stoves are much more common on the East Coast. And I had to laugh at your trouble with the torta di riso recipe--it reminded me of my experience with the new English translation of the Italian classic cookbook The Silver Spoon. No hand-holding there, as in US cookbooks!
Posted by: Peggy | December 14, 2007 1:51 PM
A gas stove, how wonderful for you! I've been using a gas stove for 6 years now, and there's no going back to the abomination of an electric stove for me. Sorry for the frustration of making panna cotta and all the other faves; it's not good when if you live in big place like LA and can't find what you need for certain international dishes. Did you try contacting any local Italian chefs to see if they had any suggestions? Surely, you're not the first to experience this lack of ingredients.
Posted by: domesticshorthair | December 16, 2007 5:53 PM
I am enjoying exploring your blog.
We also searched for hazelnut flour, but ultimately discovered it at the good foods store/coop and the grocery(!). Not sure if it's what you're thinking of, but Bob's Red Mill has a hazelnut meal/flour which is quite nice and that you can get on Amazon.com as well.
Posted by: Laura | December 17, 2007 5:30 PM
I hope you can bake delicious xmas cookies with your new gas stove!
Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo!
Laurence
Posted by: Laurence | December 21, 2007 10:12 AM