March 2014
No. 59; Winter Photo Contest Voting and Roasted Artichokes
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Welcome!

Spring is officially here and, for many, the new season and all it brings will be especially welcome after this winter. But before we fully say goodbye to winter, we need to wrap up our winter photo contest! The finalists have been selected, and now I hope you'll help us choose our winner – details on the contest and how to vote are to the right.

The springtime brings spring cleaning, and we've been doing a little of that on the marketing front at Forno Bravo. We've updated the format of our oven datasheets to make them clearer and more thorough for those interested in learning about our residential and commercial wood-fired ovens. Read more below.

One of the new datasheets is for the commercial Roma oven, which we introduced in last month's newsletter. A quick update: The Roma has been selling very well – we obviously struck a good chord with this one. There are a lot of restaurants, caterers and food service companies in search of a serious wood-fired oven that looks good, can be moved, and can be used indoors and outdoors. We're excited about building many more Romas over the coming years.

Finally, you'll find a recipe below for a springtime favorite: the artichoke. This dish would be perfect as an accompaniment to lamb, or as part of an antipasti spread.

We hope you will stay in touch through the Wood-Fired Blog, Forno Bravo Forum, Facebook, Pinterest and our other online sites. Of course, you can always just call us at (800) 407-5119.

James

P.S. The photo on the right side of this newsletter's header was sent to us by a Forno Bravo Facebook friend with the caption "Victory Paella, Liverpool FC Style." Good stuff!

New Forno Bravo Datasheets

Napoli ovens

We have significantly improved the format for our oven datasheets and released a series of them, including datasheets for three residential ovens (click link to view PDFs: Giardino, Casa2G, Premio2G) and four commercial ovens (Modena2G OK, Professionale OK, Napoli, Roma). And more to come! 

You'll see that there are a number of improvements. The new datasheets look a lot better, and we worked hard to make them thorough and clear. Our ovens have definite advantages over competing ovens in the marketplace, so in a sense, our task was to make those advantages obvious and understandable.

We also incorporated updated photos of our ovens. For example, the Napoli datasheet has a new photo of the standard cherry-red and gloss-black Napoli tiles, included above right.

We hope you find these resources helpful. As a reminder, you can always find just about every type of documentation related to our ovens you could wish for, from installation and operation manuals to the above-mentioned datasheets, in the Forno Bravo Library.

Recipe: Roasted Artichokes With Capers, Chevre and Herbed Breadcrumbs

This recipe is from the Forno Bravo Community Cookbook. Browse recipes for pizzas, breads, appetizers, meat and poultry, fish, vegetables, rice and pasta, and desserts. You're sure to find some great ideas for your next meal. You can also share your own wood-fired oven recipes and photos.

artichokes

Ingredients:

  • 4 globe artichokes, or 10-12 baby artichokes
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 4 T dry breadcrumbs
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp fresh chopped parsley
  • 1 tsp fresh chopped thyme
  • 1 T vegetable oil
  • 2 T capers
  • 3 oz fresh chevre (goat cheese)

First comes the hard part – cleaning the artichokes. If you've never done it, refer to the full version of this recipe for details on the process.

Once your artichokes are clean and waiting their turn in the oven, mix together the breadcrumbs and the olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in a small skillet and toast the breadcrumbs in your wood oven, stirring frequently, until they are golden brown and crispy. Remove and allow to cool, then stir in the parsley and thyme. Set aside.

Preheat a large sauté pan in your wood oven. You want a pretty hot oven for this preparation. Drain the artichokes, add the vegetable oil to your pan and then add the artichokes. Season with salt and pepper, then place in the oven and roast, stirring occasionally, until the artichokes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 10-12 minutes.

Squeeze the half lemon into the pan. Stir in the capers and then dot with the goat cheese. Return to the oven and cook for another 1-2 minutes until the cheese has started to melt into the artichokes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.