Rachel Roddy

Rome

Writer at The Guardian

Writer at Freelance

Writing, mostly about food, in Rome.

Articles

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for asparagus, pea and rice soup-stew | A kitchen in Rome

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Rachel Roddy

According to the Guinness World Record’s official website, 351.7cm was the length of the asparagus presented by Harry and Carson Willemse at the Port Elgin Pumpkinfest in Ontario, Canada, on 2 October 2004. Sadly, however, the Pumpkinfest’s own archives hold only the records of master growers and weigh-offs dating back to 2017, and are almost entirely pumpkin-related.
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for chicken scaloppine with mushrooms and marsala | A kitchen in Rome

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Rachel Roddy

The term escalope is borrowed from the old French escalope, meaning “shell or carapace”, which is likely to be borrowed from the old Norse skalpr (“sheath”) or Middle Dutch schelpe (“shell”). This explains the shape, and why the word evolved to describe a slice of meat that has been pounded until it’s the same slimness all over.
‘Crunchy inside, flabby on the outside’: Rachel Roddy tests supermarket spaghetti

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Rachel Roddy

I’m looking for four things in pasta. First, its ability to hold up during cooking: good pasta retains structure and form, which helps it retain flavour and digestibility, which are the second and third things I look for. If the opposite is true and the pasta is not muscular, there is a good chance it will be flabby one minute and pudding-like the next, which adversely affects flavour, digestibility and – the fourth thing I look for – its ability to hold sauce.
Rachel Roddy’s homage to Anna del Conte and Vincenzo Corrado’s fennel with pistachio, lemon and anchovy sauce | A kitchen in Rome

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Rachel Roddy

I am looking after a pile of cookbooks at the moment. They belonged to the late cook and teacher Carla Tomasi, who wanted them to be useful, so gave them to the Latteria cooking studio. However, until the studio has more shelves, I have 15 of Carla’s 60 books sitting by my desk. They are a well-loved pile, but five in particular stand out as having been used and used.
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for almond and potato cake with lemon curd and mascarpone | A kitchen in Rome

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Rachel Roddy

Writing in 1891, in his cooking manual La Scienza in Cucina e L’arte di Mangiar Bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well), Pellegrino Artusi introduces the potato as a tuber from the solanaceae (nightshade) family that was native to South America and introduced to Europe in the 16th century.
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for pasta (or gnocchi) with aubergine, chilli, lemon and salted ricotta | A kitchen in Rome

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Rachel Roddy

I have joked in the past about the peeled flesh of a baked aubergine and how, when sitting in a sieve balanced over the sink, it looks like a damp, grubby dishcloth. Well, a week or so ago, I lived this joke when I reached for a dishcloth that was, rather oddly, sitting on a plate, and for a nanosecond I thought that things really had reached a low for the cloth to be not just grubby, but slimy. That was before I realised I was about to pick up an aubergine and future baba ganoush.
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for sausages with braised chicory | A kitchen in Rome

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Rachel Roddy

From Tuesday to Saturday, Andrea Legri makes approximately three kilos of sausage a day for his stall on Testaccio market. At about nine on any given morning, he may well be in the back section of the stall, which is visible through glass, his hands steadying the tabletop machine that feeds the minced pork into opaque casings.
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for pasta with peas, cream, lemon and cheese | A kitchen in Rome

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Rachel Roddy

Peas freeze quickly because they are small. And, because they are small, so are the crystals that form when the water in their taut cells (imagine many minuscule balloons) turns to ice. And small crystals cause far less damage, puncturing and ripping to cell walls, which means that, when the pea defrosts and the ice returns to water, the cell walls are able to hold it, resulting in a firmer pea.
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for mushrooms stuffed with anchovies, breadcrumbs and herbs | A kitchen in Rome

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Rachel Roddy

Among the endless brilliant advice in Jane Grigson’s The Mushroom Feast is a note about size that is really helpful. It is in relation to the cultivated mushrooms readily available in greengrocers and supermarkets, the controlled development of which she reveals to be as every bit as fascinating as the mysterious appearance of wild ones. Grigson reminds us that small button mushrooms are exactly that: small and immature.
Weekend cooking projects

2 months ago | bbc.co.uk | Donal Skehan |Rachel Roddy |Hugo Harrison |Mary Berry

These delicious little savoury parcels are so dainty but so moreish – try them once and you’ll be hooked. Choose from two delicious options: go meaty with pork mince or try a crab and prawn version.

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Rachel Roddy

Rachel Roddy @racheleats

27 Nov 24

For polenta and my Bluesky account https://t.co/AJj09lHTfM

Rachel Roddy

Rachel Roddy @racheleats

27 Nov 24

Morning - I have opened an account on Bluesky and will be posting my column there, now, and closing this one in December. Looking forward to exchanging message about potatoes there!

Rachel Roddy

Rachel Roddy @racheleats

27 Nov 24

Ha, good work! Looks ace. That kilncraft is wonderful - did you have cups too? X

Helen Segebarth (A981194)

Helen Segebarth (A981194) @helenterrapin

This week's @racheleats Polenta with mushrooms https://t.co/dDJSax72kw My first go with polenta- really easy to make & tasted delicious. Used quick cook polenta so no need for an audiobook/wine/legal cannabis! Ooh, the plate... reminds me of Kilncraft Bacchus from my childhood! https://t.co/ScqqkV8asL