Buongiorno, my Friends!
Real Italian recipes from an Abruzzese nonna's kitchen, at 5,400 feet in Colorado. A new episode every Thursday.
Episode 1 · Thursday, October 15
Green Tomatoes Before the Frost
The first frost is coming to the mountains, and the last tomatoes in the garden are still green. Nothing gets thrown away in Celestina's kitchen: she fries them the Italian way, with flour, egg and breadcrumbs mixed with Pecorino.
And at 5,400 feet the oil needs a little trick.
Meet Celestina
A nonna from Abruzzo, cooking in the thin mountain air
Celestina was born in Torricella Peligna, a village in the mountains of Abruzzo, and in 1975 she followed Domenico to Colorado. Fifty years later she still cooks the way her nonna Filomena taught her, adapting every recipe to the altitude of Mintville, the small town at the foot of the Rockies where she lives.
Thirty-two years behind a deli counter taught her every trick at the grocery store. Domenico tastes everything. Pecorino, the dog, hopes something falls.
Ciao ciao!
Every Thursday in the kitchen
What's in the basket
One basket, one ingredient of the season, one real recipe you can cook tonight.
Mile-High Kitchen
Water boils early up here. Celestina adjusts times and temperatures for high altitude, and tells you why.
#GuessTheProverb
Every episode ends with an old Abruzzese proverb, never translated. Guess it in the comments: the answer comes the week after.
Follow Celestina
@celestinasbasket
Celestina is an AI character. Her videos and pictures are made with artificial intelligence by Gerbiq Productions. Celestina, her family and the town of Mintville are a work of fiction: any resemblance to real people is coincidental.
The recipes are real. Each one is checked against trusted written sources and adjusted for high altitude before it reaches the kitchen.