Italian chef goes Spanish

My good friend and fellow chef Debbie Frangipane is Italian. Very Italian. She cooks great pasta, speak loudly, buy more Gucci shoes than Carla Bruni and travels to Italy several times a year with her culinary travel company: Savory Adventures. Actually, she and her husband Barry lived in Venice for about a year.

But when chef Debbie received her Itinerant Cookbook, she decided on a Spanish classic: Paella. Judging by the photo above, it looks like she did a fantastic job.

Also note that chef Debbie, her husband Barry and I will lead a trip to Provence in June 2010. Make sure you email us on this website or theirs so we can send you brochures.

Here is what she had to say:

“A couple of month’s ago I was asked by a friend of mine, Chef Gui Alinat to participate in the itinerant cookbook project.  Of course I accepted the offer immediately.

So, I received my cookbook, Cooking Know-How: Be a Better Cook with Hundreds of Easy Techniques, Step-by-Step Photos, and Ideas for Over 500 Great Meals, which I was to choose a recipe from.  Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love to sit and just read cookbooks, so this was exciting in and of itself.  Then, the tough part….choosing a recipe, what would it be?  And then it appeared, Paella.  I had always wanted to try making this dish as it is one of my husband’s favorites.  Well, what better day but Father’s Day to try this recipe for dear ole hubby.

I invited over family for the day, both daughters with their husband and boyfriend, and of course my father-in-law.  I decided that this needed to be a family participation day and everyone really enjoyed being an intricate part of the meal preparation.  We decided that our paella should include as much seafood as possible, crab legs, mussels, clams, shrimp, lobster…you name it, if it came from the water, it was included.  We also had to make sure that it contained traditional pieces such as the chicken and decided we should also include a little chorizo as well.

I have to say that although the recipe was described in great detail, it was a little hard to follow functionally.  There is an overwhelming amount of chit-chat and history for each step of the recipe.  I learned quite a bit about the history of paella and its ingredients, the dish was a well received and an enjoyed element of our Father’s Day dinner.  For a few of the guests, it was their first time having paella and it was a dish they said they would definitely have again, so all in all I would rate the experience as a successful one.

I am now passing the book along to a dear friend of mine, Jeff Houck, Food Writer for the Tampa Tribune and TBO.com and also known as The Stew.  Make sure and follow the book with the link provided previously with Chef Gui’s project to see what Jeff chooses to make and his thoughts.”

What is this blog about? Read the first post here.

You can check out and buy all itinerant cookbooks by clicking here.

Where are the Itinerant Cookbooks now?

View Itinerant Cookbook Project in a larger map

Here are the Itinerant Cookbooks:

Started in Tampa, FL with Margaret. Was in Tampa, FL with Noel, in Mt Elgin, Ontario with Rosemary. Now in York, Ontario, with Janice.

Started in Brandon, FL with Dave. Now in Brandon, FL with Dave.

Started in Nice, France with Marc-Antoine. Was in Bar-sur-loup with Faye. Now in Exeter, UK with Judie.

Started in St Petersburg, FL with Janet. Now in St Petersburg, FL with Janet.

Started in Dunedin, FL with Janis. Traveled to Chicago. Now in San Francisco, CA with Liz.

Started in Gainesville, FL with Esther. Traveled to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Now in Tokyo, Japan with Martin.

Started in Plant City with Lynne. Traveled to Ann Arbor, MI with Horace.

Started in Largo, FL with Marty. Was in Madeira Beach, FL with Carol. Now with Sharon in Brandon, Mississipi.

Started in Brandon, FL with Debbie. Now in Tampa, FL with Jeff.

Started in Dunedin with Bob. Traveled to Chicago with Bob. Now in NY with Dan.

Thank you to our book sponsor, Wiley. Please check their website here.