briciole

Women's Power Strategy Conference

Life is full of surprises and of sources of inspiration.

This story starts with a book and a bowl of beans. The book is Harlot's Sauce, A Memory of Food, Family, Love, Loss and Greece. It was the Cook the Books' Club choice in the fall of 2011. I read it and loved it and was inspired by it to prepare a dish with glorious beans I had just brought back from Italy. Patricia Volonakis Davis, the book's author, enjoyed the recipes the Cook the Books Club members prepared so much that she added them to her web site.

meeting Patricia at the Conference (3/24/2012)

Not long after meeting virtually thanks to my fagioli, Patricia and I met in person at the first Women's PowerStrategy™ Conference that she organized.

The Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference is

a gathering of leaders from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise who are joining forces to educate and inspire women of all ages to believe and invest in their own talents, skills and potential. [more details on the About page of the conference web site]

Patricia's organization of the conference was inspiring and so were the people I listened to there, from the organizer herself, of course, to Red Room's founder Ivory Madison, from literary agent Verna Dreisbach to pastry chef Marisa Churchill (whom I interviewed) to name just a few. A mishap made me miss the inspiring keynote speaker, Malissa Ferruzzi Shriver, but fortunately her speech was videotaped, so I enjoyed it later.

The second edition of the Conference is coming up this Saturday, June 15, in a bigger venue (the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, CA), with a larger program and a list of speakers that makes my head spin every time I read it. As the announcement I have on the side bar says, I have the honor to be in great company.

The program is full of interesting panels and interviews and, above all, people. If what happened last year is any indication, conference participants will laugh, be moved, make connections, and learn about wonderful individuals and organizations and the difference they make in this world.

Like last year "for every adult ticket purchased, The Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference will sponsor one girl or woman who could otherwise not afford it, to attend the entire conference, meet the speakers, and enjoy a delightful lunch, free of charge." [more details on the About page] Isn't it wonderful?

Hope to see you there!

Pasta Please: il riepilogo / the roundup

It's time to showcase the pasta dishes that I have received as contributions to the May edition of Pasta Please, a pasta-centric event created by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes.

The theme I chose was homemade pasta. Readers of this blog know that for the past year I have been on a mission to explore handmade pasta shapes from the Italian tradition. My wish in choosing the theme was to invite food bloggers to experiment with pasta dough at home. I was delighted to see that a number of them accepted the invitation.

For each contribution, I will give you the official information (author, blog name and post title) and a short quote or brief description — a teaser that invites you to follow the link to read the relevant post. Make sure you come back to this post and savor all the homemade pasta dishes that it includes.

Rita of Rita Cooks Italian prepared Lagane in a purple sprouting broccoli sauce
"Lagane are similar to Tagliatelle but have an irregular shape and a rustic texture thanks to the durum wheat flour... I enjoyed this pasta with a simple sauce using purple sprouting broccoli."

Lisa of Tum Tum shares with us her Adventures in Making Pasta with Children
In which you'll admire Lisa's daughters at work with the dough and learn about the challenges of making things work. Don't worry, the post has a happy ending.

Caroline of Caroline Makes prepared Fresh Homemade Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce
Caroline put to very good use a gift from her boyfriend and made a nice amount of fresh spaghetti for which she prepared a rich Bolognese sauce.

Lucia of  "So what are you making for dinner?" shares with us Eggplant Balls with Pappardelle
"The Pappardelle was part of the batch I made on Friday night, I put half of the batch... in the freezer. Homemade pasta tastes so much better than store bought whether it is fresh or frozen."

Siri of Cooking with Siri prepared Homemade Orecchiette with Roasted Tomato Sauce
"I wanted to make some of my own pasta for a really long time... By the end of the day I was super thrilled with the fantastic results."

Barbara of Bread & Companatico made Buckwheat Orecchiette
"For my first attempt... I took a recipe calling for semolina flour and substituted most of it with buckwheat flour and a little of it with soy bean flour (which actually resembles semolina)."

Cinzia of Cindystar shows us how to make Hungarian Galuska — "typically dumplings made with egg and flour to be added to soups, mostly Gulyàs. But they can be suitable for any sort of stew, vegetable soup, or... with your favorite pasta sauce."

Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook made Fresh Croxetti with Black Olive, Basil and Pine Nut Oil
"There is something fascinating about the historical intrigues of the designs, not to mention how those textures get a good grip on the sauces that are ladled over them. "

 Simona of briciole presents

handmade pezze rigate
 "The presence on my working surface of my gnocchi board gave me the idea of rolling the pieces of pasta dough on it to get a ridged surface and pezze rigate were born."

AND

sagne incannulate with lentils in tomato sauce
This pasta from Puglia, also called lasagne arrotolate and lagane incannulate, starts as a strip of pasta dough and ends as a long spiral that keeps its shape during cooking.

And that concludes my roundup. Many thanks to all who contributed to produce a beautiful collection of pasta dishes for this edition of Pasta Please.

On June 1, the new edition will start, hosted by Karen of Lavender and Lovage.

I do hope I have not left anybody out of the roundup. If you find that, notwithstanding my best intentions, I actually have omitted a post, please send me a note. Also, I hope you like the page divider I have used in the post. I downloaded it from this page (though it seems that not all the dividers are still available).

Arrivederci a presto

sagne incannulate con lenticchie al sugo / with lentils in tomato sauce

elegant shape

I am not surprised that the authors of the book "Pasta by Design" were fascinated by the geometric shape of sagne incannulate. This pasta from Puglia, also called lasagne arrotolate and lagane incannulate, starts as a strip of pasta dough and ends as a long spiral that keeps its shape during cooking. On this page, you can see some lasagne arrotolate.

Reading the description in Orietta Zanini De Vita's Encyclopedia of Pasta made me search for additional information and then run to the kitchen to make some eggless pasta dough.

Zanini De Vita mentions the use of a round stick as a support for rolling the pasta, and I tried to use the thickest of the dowels I bought during my garganelli research, but I didn't have enough details to be able to reproduce her description.

Among the few videos that I found, the most helpful was this one, where the pasta strip is rolled around its long axis on the working surface to fold into a spiral. This other video shows a method that I find rather tricky, since the dough can stick to itself when rolled.

With the information acquired, I set about devising my procedure for making this beautiful pasta shape. The photo above shows my first sagne incannulate. And the video shows my hands at work:

 

Ingredients for the pasta:

• 100 g / 3.5 oz. semolina flour of good quality
• 50 g / 1.75 oz. warm water (I recommend weighing the water)
• A pinch of salt

Ingredients for the lentils:

• 100 g / 3.5 oz. / 1/2 cup lenticchie di Castelluccio, picked and rinsed (or other small lentils, like de Puy or black beluga)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons / 270 ml water
• 1 garlic clove, unpeeled (uno spicchio d'aglio in camicia; literally: with the shirt on)
  
• 1 small bay leaf
• A pinch of sea salt

Ingredients for the tomato sauce:

• Olive oil
• A shallot, minced
• Leaves of a sprig of thyme
• A small garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 2 cups strained roasted tomatoes (thawed, if frozen)
• Sea salt, to taste

How to make the dough and shape sagne incannulate
Make a dough with the pasta ingredients and knead until nice and smooth. Let the dough rest, well wrapped to avoid drying, for half an hour or so.

Shape the dough into a thick disk, then cut it into quarters. Roll each quarter into a wide strip, thicker than when making tagliatelle. With my hand-cranked pasta machine, I roll the dough down until the third thinnest notch.

Zanini De Vita does not say how long the strips of dough are, while this page says 30 cm (12 inches). At the beginning, you may want to limit yourself to 10 inches (25 cm), so you can gain familiarity with the movements involved. I suggest not to exceed 12 inches (30 cm) of length.

Cut each piece of dough into strips about 5/8 inch (1.5 cm) wide. With one hand, roll each strip along its long axis to make a tight spiral. Use the other hand to guide the strip so it acquires the right shape. Make sure the working surface offers a bit of traction when you make the initial roll. If the surface is floured, the strip will slide rather then start folding onto itself.

Depending on the length of the resulting spiral, fold the rolled sagne incannulate in half or into thirds (like the bottom sagna in the top photo). Set them aside to dry on a kitchen towel or a floured wooden kneading board.

Knead together strips too short to roll and mishapen sagne and flatten the dough again into a wide strip to be cut. Repeat until all dough is used.

You need to let this pasta dry at least a day, longer if possible, before cooking. This will ensure that when you move it, you don't smash it and that the pasta will keep its beautiful shape when cooked. A kitchen towel under the pasta absorbs some of the moisture and so does a wooden kneading board.

How to cook the lenticcchie
Place all the ingredients for the lentils except the salt in a small pan. Bring to a boil and cook gently until lentils are tender. Check after 15 minutes and estimate the time necessary to complete the cooking (it should be a few more minutes). If the pan is dry, add a bit of hot water.

When done, add salt, stir and set aside.

version one-pot meal

How to prepare the tomato sauce
In a small saucepan, warm up a bit of olive oil, then add the shallot and thyme. Cook gently for a few minutes, then add the garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 7-8 minutes. Adjust salt, to taste. Add the lentils to the tomato sauce (draining them first, if there is some water at the bottom of the pan) and stir well.

Note that this will make much more sauce than you need to dress the sagne made with the amount of dough above, but once you have the sauce ready, I am sure you'll find ways of using it, like making more handmade pasta.

How to put it all together
Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, then toss the sagne incannulate in it. The time needed is a bit variable, depending on the size of sagne, how dry they are, etc., but it is not short, as the pasta is rather dry. Taste and stop the cooking when the sagne are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain the pasta. Place in a bowl, then distribute some lentils in tomato sauce and toss. Serve immediately.

Alternatively, while the pasta is cooking, place some lentils in tomato sauce in a small skillet and warm up.

Note: When I prepared the batch that I then photographed, I used a good amount of lentils to make a piatto unico (one-dish meal). When I serve the pasta as an Italian primo piatto (first course), I use less sauce. 

Taste the pasta and stop the cooking slightly earlier than usual. Drain the pasta, leaving just a bit of water clining to it, then drop it into the skillet with the sauce. Stir well over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Plate and serve immediately.

Note: if tomato season is ongoing in your area, you can make tomato sauce using crushed tomatoes, adjusting the cooking time to get a sauce of the right consistency.

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This is my second contribution to the current edition of Pasta Please, a new pasta-centric event created by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes and hosted this month by Simona of briciole. The theme this month is: homemade pasta.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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This is also my contribution to MLLA #59, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen, and hosted this month by Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

sagne incannulate

or launch the sagne incannulate con lenticchie al sugo audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

handmade pasta, lentils, tomatoes, semolina flour, Italian cuisine

Related articles

pezze rigate / handmade pezze rigate

annuncio / announcement: Pasta Please

kifli / panini ungheresi / Hungarian bread rolls

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

my version of kifli

When we start a new chapter of our trip across Europe using the alphabet and visit a country I have never been to, it's like arriving in an unknown city and researching a place to eat. I usually start with the wikipedia article on the nation's cuisine and see if anything catches my attention. In the case of Hungary (Ungheria), our current stop, my eyes were immediately drawn to the photo of crescent rolls on this page.

Another wikipedia page told me a bit more about kifli and strengthened my resolve to make some. A bit of research, informed by the wish to make the savory version of this treat, made me arrive at a recipe for sonkás kifli. I was not interested in ham and pickles, so I opted for using just cheese (kifli al formaggio). The Trappist cheese mentioned in the recipe is a washed-rind cheese. Instead of it, I used some of the dill Havarti I made recently and it worked out well.

let the rolling begin!

I also divided the amount of flour given by four, to minimize the loss, in case the experiment's outcome was unsatisfactory. I made a couple of additional changes to adapt the recipe to my baking style. The kifli were fun to make, bake and then taste. So I immediately repeated the experiment to get the precise quantities and the photos you see here.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for cheese kifli

Ingredients for the dough:

• 1/2 tablespoon ground flax seeds + 1 1/2 tablespoon / 22.5 ml warm water (as substitute for 1/2 egg)
• 100 g / 3.5 ounces KAF all-purpose flour (this is the flour I use to make all my bread)
• 25 g / 1 ounce whole-wheat flour (freshly milled)
• 25 ml lukewarm milk
• 2.5 g / 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
• 25 ml lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoon / 22.5 ml olive oil (olio d'oliva)
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Ingredients for the filling (ripieno), chosen based on what I had in my refrigerator:

• Dill Havarti cheese (instead of Trappist cheese)
• Kefir cheese, plained or flavored (instead of sour cream); the kefir cheese I used was flavored with calendula petals and cacao nibs

Additional ingredients:

• 1 egg at room-temperature beaten with 1 teaspoon water (use the leftover in a frittata or other egg dish)
• Poppy seeds (semi di papavero), or other seeds of choice

As mentioned previously, the freckles you see on the dough's surface are due to the special whole-wheat flour I use, which comes from locally grown hard wheat freshly milled by my friend Rhonda of Beck's Bakery, a bakery with an onsite stone mill (mulino).

In a small ramekin, stir the warm water into the ground flax seeds and let rest for at least 10 minutes.

Measure the rest of the dough ingredients, place in a bowl and add the flax seed and water mix. Stir well and then knead until you have a soft, homogeneous dough.

Oil a bowl or dough container and place the dough in it. Cover and let it rise until doubled in a draft-free place. The time needed depends on the room temperature. (In my case, it was almost 1 1/2 hour.(

Towards the end of the rising time, prepare the filling. Shred some dill Havarti and mix with a small amount of kefir cheese. I did not weigh the ingredients, but simply estimated the amount needed, about 1/4 cup total.

point side down

Line the back of a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the dough into a circle of 8 inch / 20 cm diameter. Divide the circle into eight even triangles with a pizza cutter. Place a dollop of filling on the wide end (base) of each triangle, making sure it is 1/2 inch / 1.25 cm inside the sides of the dough. Don't be tempted to be too generous here, otherwise you won't be able to roll the piece of dough.

Fold the wide end over the filling and roll toward the point, making sure there are no escape routes for the filling. Place the roll point-side down on a the lined baking sheet and give it a slight crescent shape. Repeat with the other seven triangles. Cover the rolls with a kitchen towel or plastic film and let them rise until a dimple made on the dough with your fingertip persists (60-75 minutes, again depending on the room temperature).

30-45 minutes after the beginning of the second rise, place a rack in the middle of the oven, place a baking sheet on it and preheat to 375 F.

Brush the risen crescents with the egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds (or other seeds of choice). Take out of the oven the hot baking sheet and slide the parchment paper with the rolls on it. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top and bottom. Remove baking sheet from the oven and transfer the rolls to wire rack to cool (at least 15 minutes). 

cute kifli

By all means, taste them warm! Or reheat them gently in the oven before eating. As you can see from the top photo, when you break off one of the points of the crescent, you see a nice cavity lined with cheese. My filling's mild flavor made the kifli not only a delightful snack but also a nice dinner bread. At this point, I have run out of my dill Havarti, so the next time I make kifli, I will experiment with a different kind of cheese. I can't wait.

My kifli participate to the seventh installment of the Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea (European Community Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 26 countries of the EU (all except Italy) using the alphabet as guide. G like Gulyàs (Hungary) is hosted by Cinzia of Cindystar.

This page contains the recipe of Gulyàs in English and the list of recipes contributed to the event. 

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I am sending my cute kifli to Panissimo a biweekly event created recently by Barbara of Bread & Companatico and Sandra of Indovina chi viene a cena?

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I am contributing also to the May edition of Bake With Love! (formerly Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Roxana of Roxana's Homebaking.

And finally, I am sending it to Yeastspotting.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

kifli

or launch the kifli audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

[jump to Comments]

homemade bread, roll, whole-wheat flour, Hungarian cuisine

kifli / panini ungheresi

la mia versione dei kifli

Quando ci fermiamo per una nuova tappa del nostro tour europeo attraverso l'alfabeto e visitiamo un paese dove non sono mai stata, per me è come arrivare in una città nuova e cercare un posto dove andare a mangiare. Di solito comincio conl'articolo di wikipedia sulla gastronomia della nazione e vedo se qualcosa colpisce la mia attenzione. Nel caso dell'Ungheria, tappa in corso, i panini a mezzaluna su questa pagina (in inglese) hanno subito fatto centro.

Su un'altra pagina di wikipedia ho trovato ulteriori informazioni sui kifli e ho deciso di provare a farli. La ricerca di una ricetta per la versione salata mi ha portato ad una ricetta per i sonkás kifli. Non ero interessata a prosciutto e sottaceti, quindi ho usato solo formaggio. Invece del formaggio trappista elencato tra gli ingredienti ho usato un po' dell'Havarti con aneto che ho fatto di recente e ha funzionato bene.

e si comincia ad arrotolare!

Ho usato un quarto della quantità di farina della ricetta originale per ridurre al minimo la perdita di ingredienti preziosi nel caso di fallimento dell'esperimento. Ho apportato un paio di altri cambiamenti alla ricetta per adattarla al mio stile di panificazione. Preparare i kifli è piacevole. E lo è anche mangiarli, quindi ho ripetuto subito l'esperimento per fissare le quantità e fare le foto che vedete qui.

Ingredienti per la pasta di pane:

• 1/2 cucchiaio (7,5 ml) semi di lino macinati +  22,5 ml acqua calda (come sostituto per 1/2 uovo)
• 100 g farina forte
• 25 g farina forte integrale (quella che uso io è macinata a pietra)
• 25 ml latte tiepido
• 2,5 g lievito di birra secco istantaneo (vedi Nota in basso)
  
• 25 ml acqua tiepida
• 1 1/2 cucchiaio / 22,5 ml olio d'oliva
• 1/8 cucchiaino sale fino

Ingredienti per il ripieno, scelti in base a quello che avevo nel frigorifero:

• Havarti con aneto tagliato a filetti (al posto del formaggio Trappista)
• formaggio fresco di kefir, semplice o aromatizzato (al posto della panna acida); quello che ho usato io era aromatizzato con petali di calendula e granella di cacao

Ingredienti addizionali:

• un uovo a temperatura ambiente leggermente sbattuto con un cucchiaino d'acqua (usate quello che rimane per fare una frittata o un altro piatto a base di uova)
• semi di papavero, o un altro tipo di semi a piacere

Nota: da un punto di vista dell'utilizzo, la differenza tra lievito [di birra] secco (in granuli) e lievito [di birra] secco istantaneo è che il secondo non ha bisogno di essere riattivato e può essere aggiunto direttamente agli altri ingredienti e inoltre se ne utilizza una quantità minore. Questo per lo meno si applica ai prodotti in vendita negli USA. Presumo che quelli in vendita in Italia siano comparabili. La ricetta si può realizzare con 3,1 g di lievito di birra secco previa riattivazione oppure anche con il lievito di birra fresco, ma in questo caso non so darvi indicazioni precise, dal momento che io non lo uso mai. 

In una tazzina, mescolare i semi di lino macinati e l'acqua calda e lasciare riposare per almeno 10 minuti.

Misurare gli altri ingredienti della pasta di pane, metterli in una ciotola e aggiungere i semi di lino con l'acqua. Mescolare con una spatola e poi impastare a mano fino ad avere un impasto omogeneo.

Oliare una ciotola o contenitore idoneo e riporci l'impasto. Coprire e far lievitare fino a raddoppiamento in un luogo riparato. Il tempo necessario dipende dalla temperatura ambiente. Nel mio caso, poco meno di un'ora e mezza.

Quando l'impasto è quasi pronto, preparare il ripieno. Tagliare a filetti dell'Havarti e mescolare un po' di formaggio di kefir. Non ho pesato gli ingredienti, ma ho stimato la quantità necessaria, circa 4 cucchiai (60 ml) di composto.

la punta del triangolo rimane in basso

Foderare una placca da forno messa sottosopra con della carta da forno. Stendere la pasta lievitata in modo da ottenere un disco di 20 cm di diametro. Con l'aiuto di un coltello per pizza, dividere il disco in 8 triangoli (proprio come se fosse una pizza al piatto). Mettere un po' di ripieno dalla parte larga (base), assicurandovi che ci sia un bordo di 1,25 cm tra il ripieno e i lati della pasta. Non eccedere con il ripieno, altrimento non riuscirete ad arrotolare il triangolo di pasta.

Piegare la base del triangolo a coprire il ripieno e poi arrotolare verso l'apice, assicurandovi che non ci siano vie d'uscita per il ripieno. Porre il rotolino sulla carta da forno con la punta sotto e modellare le punte laterali in modo da formare un po' una mezzaluna. Ripetere con gli altri sette triangoli. Coprire i kifli con uno strofinaccio o della pellicola e lasciar lievitare fino a quando una fossetta fatta sulla pasta col la punta del dito persiste (60-75 minuti, anche in questo caso, a seconda della temperatura ambiente).

30-45 minuti dopo l'inizio della seconda lievitazione, posizionare una grata al centro del forno, mettere una placca da forno su di essa e preriscaldare il forno a 190 C.

Spennellare la superficie dei kifli con l'uovo e cospargere con i semi di papavero (e altri semi a piacere). Tirare fuori dal forno la placca rovente e far scivolare su di essa la carta da forno con sopra i kifli. Cuocere in forno per 15 minuti o fino a quando i panini sono dorati sopra e sotto. Sfornare e trasferire i panini su una gratella. Lasciar intiepidire almeno 15 minuti.

carinissimi kifli

Assaggiateli pure caldi, oppure riscaldateli in forno prima di mangiarli. Come potete vedere nella foto in alto, quando rompete una delle punte della mezzaluna, l'interno è cavo. Il ripieno che ho usato ha un sapore delicato e rende i kifli non solo un delizioso snack ma anche un ottimo pane da servire durante i pasti.

A questo punto ho finito il mio Havarti con aneto, quindi la prossima volta che faccio i kifli proverò ad usare un formaggio diverso. Non vedo l'ora.

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Con i miei kifli partecipo alla settima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare i 26 paesi della Comunità Europea (eccetto l'Italia) usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. G come Gulyàs (Ungheria) è ospitata da Cinzia di Cindystar.

Questa pagina contiene la ricetta del Gulyàs e la lista delle ricette contribuite all'evento.

Se siete interessati a partecipare, questo post contiene la lista completa di paesi, blog ospitanti e scadenze.

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Mando i miei anche a Panissimo un evento bisettimanale creato da Barbara di Bread & Companatico e Sandra di Indovina chi viene a cena?

Questo post contiene la raccolta dell'evento.

scone alle carote arrosto / roasted carrot scones

with the first pink rose from my garden

I have sometimes thought about the menu of my own small café. I don't believe it will ever exist outside my imagination, but I enjoy adding to the list something that I think would go well there, like these scones — or the ones with red beet, apple and pistachios I made recently.

I love scones, I always have, from the day, many years ago, when I tasted my first one during my first visit to the UK. They are flavorful and not sweet, nourishing and versatile. They prefer to charm you with their flavor and texture rather than polished looks. I could bake a batch every day. When I do bake a batch, I feel like the day starts on the right note.

The theme of opening a café is present in the book we are currently reading in our Cook the Cooks Club: The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe. I wish I could find an elegant way to say this, but I didn't like the novel — and I don't like macarons, which feature prominently in it. The scones were inspired by the novel in the sense that they were a reaction to it. They are unadorned, crisp outside and tender inside, a bit rustic, a bit surprising with their nuanced flavor of carrot punctuated by the small pieces of candied ginger, simply irresistible. Scone are traditionally served with tea and without roses, but I was too excited about cutting the first pink rose of the season from my bush not to share it here. 

Today's scones start with two pounds of freshly harvested small carrots, which I prepared using this simple yet lovely recipe by Lynda of TasteFood with a couple of minor adjustments (see below). The result was very much appreciated at the table. As I was putting away the leftovers, I thought about using some to make scones.

The morning after, I had to solve the problem of turning the roasted carrots into a form suitable for scone-making. After some deliberation, I decided to chop them and add them to the food processor after the butter had been cut into the flour. It worked and the scones were a success, so the following week, when I found more carrots in my CSA share, I was ready to repeat the sequence of roasting followed by scone making. As an aside, this time I had a smaller amount of carrots, so I added to the pan a mix of baby turnips (rape novelle) and radishes (ravanelli), a great duo of root vegetables (I will soon share a recipe featuring them).

Ingredients (see my earlier post for additional information on the original recipe and the ingredients; overall, I halved the quantities):

1. 3 ounces (85 g) leftover roasted carrots, chopped
2. 3 1/2 tablespoons (1.75 oz.) unsalted browned butter (or 4 tablespoon unsalted butter and no ricotta)
3. 2 tablespoons buckwheat flour + 1 tablespoon cornmeal + 1 tablespoon teff flour + enough all-purpose flour to make 1 cup OR 1 cup (130 g) all-purpose flour
4. 1/2 cup (65 g) whole-wheat pastry flour
5. 1/4 cup finely chopped uncrystallized candied ginger (zenzero candito)
   
6. 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
7. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8. 3/8 teaspoon sea salt
9. 1 teaspoon ultra-fine or granulated sugar
   
10. 1/2 tablespoon ricotta or plain kefir cheese or cream cheese
11. 1/2 cup (120 ml) homemade kefir; original recipe alternatives: buttermilk (latticello), plain yogurt or sour cream (low-fat or non-fat is fine)

How to roast the carrots
The evening before I baked the scones, I prepared the carrots using this recipe with the following minor adjustments:

• I used thyme leaves rather than whole sprigs
• I used only 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• I did not add the sugar in the last step

Since my carrots were more like toddlers than babies, I cut the bigger ones lengthwise and/or crosswise, and it took me some 25 minutes to get them to the tenderness I desired.

You can, of course, choose your favorite method for oven-roasting carrots.

The morning after, weigh the amount of carrots needed for the scones (making sure to incude a nice amount of thyme leaves) and chop them. Set aside.

golden mix

How to make the scones
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle flour over the surface.

Take the browned butter out of the fridge and let it soften slightly while you prepare the other ingredients. Measure the flours and set aside a tablespoon or so to flour the pieces of candied ginger, so they stay separate when you add them to the dough at the end. Put the rest of the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar into the food processor fitted with steel blade. Cut butter into pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times for several seconds until the flour mix resembles coarse meal.

Add the chopped carrots to the food processor and continue pulsing until you see that the carrots have been finely chopped into the flour mix, which will turn into a delicate golden color (see photo above).

Pour dry ingredients into a bowl. Add the floured candied ginger and stir to distribute. In a small bowl, whisk together ricotta and kefir, then add them to the drier mix. Stir with a spatula until ingredients are just combined.

Turn dough onto the lined baking sheet and, with your hands, shape into a 1/2-inch thick square. With a bench scrape, cut into four lengthwise and then crosswise to get 16 small squares. With the help of the bench scrape, separate the pieces, so that they are at least one inch apart. If the corner pieces are much smaller than the rest, join them, so you'll end up with 14-15 scones of comparable size.

Bake for 16 minutes, then check the bottom of one scone: if it is golden brown, they are ready, otherwise, bake for another two minutes and check again. In my experience, these scones take a bit longer to bake than other types of scones I made with the same base recipe, so besides checking the bottom, I also tap on the top to make sure it is crisp, before deciding that the scones are ready and I let them sit for a minute on the baking sheet before moving them onto a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature (temperatura ambiente).

These scones are perfect for breakfast and I like to serve them for dinner as well, as a bread substitute, with creamy homemade kefir cheese or a spread, like my roasted red pepper and almond dip. As I said above: they are simply irresistible.

Once cooled completely, the scones can be frozen. When I want to serve them, I put them straight in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes.

This is my contribution to the current edition of Cook the Books, hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. You can find the guidelines for participating in the event here, and here is the announcement.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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I am contributing my scones also to the May edition of Bake With Love! (formerly Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Roxana of Roxana's Homebaking.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

scone alle carote arrosto

or launch the scone alle carote arrosto audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

scone, carrot, ginger

pezze rigate / handmade pezze rigate

experimenting on the kneading board

I am determined: One day, I will invent a new pasta shape. As an intermediate step, I have created an innovative variation of an existing pasta shape called fainelle. I decided to give my pasta a different name, because it is made quite differently from the inspiring one (see details below).¹

According to my source, the "Encyclopedia of Pasta" by Oretta Zanini De Vita, fainelle are typical of Foggia (Puglia). The word fainella in dialect refers to the fruit of the carrob tree (in Italian, carruba), to which the pasta shape resembles. I was not able to find a reference to it outside of the page in Zanini De Vita's book, so the idea I have is based on the drawing and the text on that page.

Fainelle belong to the strascinati family of pasta shapes and are made with a sferre: "A typical knife of Puglia used to make many types of pasta. It has no handle, so it can also be used horizontally to make long strascinati." To approximate the shape, I decided to roll the dough with one of the pieces of dowel I had purchased during my experiments to make garganelli. I realized that using a mini rolling pin meant my pasta would not be a type of strascinato. (A sferre is now officially on my wish list.)

The result reminded me of a patch made of cloth, in Italian pezza. I made a couple of pezze and then the presence on my working surface of my gnocchi board gave me the idea of rolling the pieces of pasta dough on it to get a ridged surface and pezze rigate were born.

Then I thought about a variation: instead of placing the cylinder of dough parallel to the board grooves, I placed it a bit angled and as a result the ridges on the surface of the pezza came out oblique.

You can see my hands at work on both versions in this short video:

 

Based on Zanini De Vita's description of the flours used for this pasta shape, I decided to make a blend of whole-wheat flour and semolina flour. I could have used farina di grano arso, also mentioned in the book, but I wanted to vary.

first batch of pezze

I am reading a cookbook for an upcoming review that is all about using flowers in the kitchen. I had some calendulas (calendule) I had obtained to make one of the book's recipes and I added some of their petals (petali) to the pasta dough.

with calendula petals

Pezze rigate are probably not the best choice to show off the use of flowers in the kitchen, but it was an interesting experiment and I will certainly work more on the idea.

Ingredients for the pasta:

• EITHER 25 g / 1 oz. stone-ground whole-wheat flour + 75 g / 2.5 oz. semolina flour of good quality
• OR 100 g / 3.5 oz. semolina flour of good quality
• 50 g / 1.75 oz. warm water (I recommend weighing the water)
• A pinch of salt

How to make the dough and shape pezze rigate
Make a dough with the pasta ingredients and knead until nice and smooth. Let the dough rest, well wrapped to avoid drying, for half an hour or so.

Shape the dough into a thick roll, then cut it into 5-6 pieces and shape each one into a roll about 3/8 inch (1 cm) in diameter. Cut each roll into approximately 1 1/2-inch (4 cm) long pieces, then place each cylinder on the gnocchi board with the long sides either parallel to the board's grooves or slightly angled. Run the mini rolling pin — a piece of dowel of 3/8 inch (1 cm) or 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) in diameter — over the piece of dough 2-3 times to thin it and "stamp" it. The resulting pezza rigata will be about 2 inches long. Lay out to dry ridged side up on a surface lightly dusted with flour. 

Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Lightly dust the gnocchi board as needed to prevent the dough from sticking too tightly when you roll it.

ready for the fork

Cook the pasta
Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, then toss the pezze rigate in it (what in Italian we call: buttare giù la pasta). The time needed to cook is a bit variable, depending on the size of pezze, how dry they are, etc. Taste and stop the cooking when the pasta is ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain the pezze.

Place in a bowl, distribute some sugo di pomodoro (tomato sauce), reheated if necessary, and toss. Finally, sprinkle some Parmigiano-Reggiano on top and serve immediately.

Alternatively, while the pasta is cooking, place a few tablespoons of the tomato sauce in a small skillet and warm it up. Drain the pasta and drop it into the skillet with the sauce. Stir well over medium-low heat for a minute. Sprinkle some of the cheese and stir one last time. Plate and sprinkle a bit more cheese on the top. Serve immediately.

The recipe makes two small portions (served as Italian first course).

I will add this recipe to my growing collection of pasta shapes. Please, do let me know if you try your hand at making any of them.

1 If you are aware of another pasta shape that is similar to (or the same as) what I made, please let me know.

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This is my contribution to the current edition of Pasta Please, a new pasta-centric event created by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes and hosted this month by Simona of briciole. The theme this month is: homemade pasta.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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The top photo is my second contribution to edition #84 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted this week by Simona of briciole.

The photo was shot in color and then converted to black and white (Lightroom preset Split Tone 1).

On this page, you can find out who is hosting the current and future editions of the event.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

pezze rigate

or launch the pezze rigate audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

handmade pasta, semolina flour, whole-wheat flour, Italian cuisine

Related articles

annuncio / announcement: Pasta Please

sagne incannulate con lenticchie al sugo / with lentils in tomato sauce

Havarti con aneto / dill Havarti

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

just sliced

Traveling with the Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea (European Community Culinary ABC), we've arrived in Denmark (Danimarca). Finally, we are in a country I have visited, albeit briefly.

It was in Denmark that I first experienced the long days characteristic of summer in northern Europe. One August, years ago, three friends of mine and I drove from Italy to Norway and back, a wonderful trip that brought us to seven countries: Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. 

On our way up, we visited Copenhagen, where I enjoyed our walk inside the Kastellet, "one of the best preserved star fortresses in Northern Europe." We paid a visit to the Little Mermaid (Sirenetta), but didn't see it well, because shortly before we arrived close enough to get a good look at the famous little statue, a busload of tourists descended upon the poor girl, all but blocking her from sight.

We spent the night in Roskilde, famous for its music festival. The window in our room did not have a serranda, the tight-closing shutter common in Italian homes, but not, as I already knew, elsewhere. Looking at the window from my bed I noticed that, even when my watch indicated a late hour, the sky was not completely dark.

In Helsingor, "known internationally for its castle Kronborg, where William Shakespeare's play Hamlet is set," we took the ferry to Helsingborg, in Sweden. I have some photos from that trip but due to some moving of stuff that happened in our house recently, they are in an unidentified box, so I cannot share them here.

a view of the curds

To celebrate our stop, I decided to make a Danish cheese (formaggio danese) that has been on my to-do list for a while: Havarti. Sometimes a cheese with bold flavor is desired, but other times, a mild flavor is called for and then Havarti is a nice option.

I have several recipes for Havarti in my various cheese-making books. I chose to make the version in Mary Karlin's book, "Artisan Cheese Making at Home," because it has an option to eat the cheese fresh (i.e., not aged), which allowed me to make the cheese, taste it, and write about it within the limit of our sojourn in Denmark.

I followed the recipe almost as given in the book. The home cheese makers among my readers may be interest in knowing that for this cheese, I tried something I had read in "The Joy of Cheesemaking" by Jody Farnham and Marc Druart, namely, I used a blend of pasteurized non-fat milk and pasteurized heavy whipping cream (as an approximation of milk that has not been homogenized).

I don't yet have dill from my little herb garden, but got some as part of my spring CSA share. Since the recipe calls for dried dill and I had fresh dill, I dried a few sprigs in the microwave (my first time doing this) following these instructions. Dill being a delicate herb (erba aromatica), you want to be particularly careful in monitoring the process to avoid burning it. 

the moment of truth

It is always with a bit of trepidation that I plunge the knife into one of my cheeses. In this case, the result matched expectations: my dill Havarti has a mild, fresh flavor of milk with just a light note of dill. It is a nice cheese to put into a sandwich, or to eat plain with my panini quadrifoglio, or with this flatbread. I also used it successfully in my famous roasted strawberry frittata (instead of French Neufchâtel).

I will make this cheese again and this time I will age it a bit. I don't expect most of you to follow me in the making of this cheese, but if you see in in the case of your cheesemonger, why not give Havarti a try?

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My dill Havarti participates to the sixth installment of the Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea (European Community Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 26 countries of the EU (all except Italy) using the alphabet as guide. F like Frikadeller (Denmark) is hosted by Leonilde of Le affinità elettive.

This page contains Frikadeller's recipe and the list of recipe contributed to the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

Havarti con aneto 

or launch the Havarti con aneto audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

[jump to Comments]

Havarti, cheese, dill

Havarti con aneto

la prima fetta

L'Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea ci porta in Danimarca. Finalmente siamo in un paese che ho visitato, sebbene molto brevemente.

In Danimarca ho fatto la prima esperienza delle giornate lunghe caratteristiche dell'estate nel Nordeuropa. Un Agosto di un po' di anni fa, io e tre amici abbiamo fatto un bel giro in auto dall'Italia alla Norvegia e ritorno, toccando Svizzera, Austria, Liechtenstein, Germania, Danimarca e Svezia. 

Nel viaggio di andata abbiamo visitato Copenaghen dove ho gradito una lunga passeggiata all'interno del Kastellet, antica fortificazione militare a forma di stella che oggi è un parco aperto al pubblico. Siamo andati dove si trova la statua della Sirenetta, ma non siamo riusciti a vederla bene a causa dell'arrivo poco prima di noi di un autobus pieno di turisti che hanno invaso lo spazio aereo intorno alla povera ragazza bloccandone la vista.

Abbiamo pernottato a Roskilde, famosa per il suo importante festival della musica. La finestra della stanza dove ho dormito non aveva serranda, solo una tenda di stoffa. Dal letto ho notato che nonostante l'ora tarda segnata dal mio orologio, il cielo non era buio.

Ad Helsingor (Elsinore), che è sede del castello di Kronborg, dove William Shakespeare ha ambientato Amleto, abbiamo preso il traghetto per Helsingborg, in Svezia. Ho delle foto del viaggio ma a causa di un recente trasloco interno sono in una scatola priva di identificazione e quindi non sono in grado di condividerle in questo post.

controllo della cagliata

Per celebrare la nostra visita ho deciso di fare dell'Havarti, un formaggio danese che era sulla mia lista da tempo. Talvolta vogliamo un formaggio dal sapore forte e deciso, ma altre volte preferiamo un sapore delicato e in questi casi Havarti è un'ottima opzione.

Ho diverse ricette per fare l'Havarti nei miei libri di arte casearia. Ho scelto di fare la versione nel libro di Mary Karlin "Artisan Cheese Making at Home" (in inglese), perché offre l'opzione di consumare il formaggio fresco, cioè non stagionato, il che mi ha consentito di fare il formaggio, assaggiarlo e parlarne in un post nei limiti di tempo del nostro soggiorno in Danimarca.

Non avrei problemi a tradurre la ricetta in italiano se fossi sicura che potete trovare gli ingredienti per farla, ma mentre so che è possibile acquistare il caglio in farmacia, a quanto ne so in Italia non si trovano i fermenti per inoculare il latte. Se qualcuno scopre che non è così, vi prego di farmelo sapere. [Alcune ricette per fare il formaggio in casa usano lo yogurt per inoculare il latte, ma per fare l'Havarti ci vogliono batteri diversi da quelli che si trovano nello yogurt (ammesso che lo yogurt che usate abbia fermenti lattici vivi).]

Non ho ancora piantine di aneto nel mio orticello e quindi ho usato un po' di quello che ho trovato nella mia cassettina. Dal momento che la ricetta richiede aneto secco e il mio era fresco, ne ho seccati alcuni rametti nel forno a microonde sequendo queste istruzioni. Dato che l'aneto è un'erba aromatica delicata vi consiglio di monitorare con attenzione il processo di essiccamento per evitare di bruciarla. 

il momento della verità

È sempre con un po' di trepidazione che affondo la lama in una delle mie forme di formaggio per tagliare la prima fettina. In questo caso il risultato ha soddisfatto le aspettative: il mio Havarti ha un sapore delicato di latte con giusto una nota di aneto. È un formaggio adatto per fare un panino o da mangiare al naturale, magari con uno dei miei panini quadrifoglio, o con questa schiacciata. L'ho anche usato con successo nella mia famosa frittata con fragole arrosto (invece del French Neufchâtel).

Farò questo formaggio di nuovo e stavolta lo farò stagionare un po'. Spero che il mio post vi faccia venire la curiosità di assaggiare l'Havarti, magari, se lo trovate, quello con l'aneto.

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Con il mio Havarti con aneto partecipo alla sesta tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare i 26 paesi della Comunità Europea (eccetto l'Italia) usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. F come Frikadeller (Danimarca) è ospitata da Leonilde de Le affinità elettive. 

Questa pagina contiene la ricetta per Frikadeller e la lista delle ricette contribuite all'evento.

Se siete interessati a partecipare, questo post contiene la lista completa di paesi, blog ospitanti e scadenze.

annuncio / announcement: Pasta Please

In the sweet month of May, let's make pasta at home.

This month, I have the honor of hosting Pasta Please, a pasta-centric event created by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes.

Pasta comes in a myriad shapes, some as simple as tagliatelle, other more complex, like cappellacci dei briganti, some plain and some stuffed, some made with egg dough and others without eggs, like orecchiette. It is not a stretch to say that there is a pasta shape for everybody. And the same holds for the sauces with which to dress the pasta. 

Are you ready for a little challenge? For this edition of Pasta Please, I will give you free rein in terms of sauce, but I will ask you to try to make your own pasta. If you have never done it, I recommend you keep it simple and small, i.e., choose a simple pasta shape and make a small amount to begin with. Then, as you gain confidence, you can increase the quantities to feed more guests.

There are plenty of pasta shapes that require only your hands. If you have a pasta machine, use it for rolling and/or shaping (for example, to cut tagliatelle), but try kneading the dough by hand. Or you can do the reverse: let the machine do the kneading and try you hands at shaping. Don't be afraid: I hope you'll discover that it is a satisfying experience.

If you have a shape in mind that you've always wanted to try, go for it. And if you could use some inspiration, I have a list of pasta shapes that I have described in my blog on this page. Many of the posts come with a short video that will help you as you take the first steps.

To summarize, here are the simple rules:

• Create a recipe that includes some kind of pasta you make at home (see details above).
• Write a post and add it to the list using the linky at the bottom of this post (if you have problems with the linky, leave a comment or send me an email at simosite AT mac DOT com.
• One entry per blog.
• Submit by May 28.

In your pasta post:

• Link to the current host.
• Link to Tinned Tomatoes.
• Use the Pasta Please logo.

Additionally:

• If you use Twitter, tweet your post with @tinnedtoms and #PastaPlease and Jac will re-tweet it to her followers; if you add @SimonaBriciole, I will do the same.

Above all: have fun!

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Related articles

Pasta Please: il riepilogo / the roundup

lorighittas al sugo piccante / lorighittas with spicy hot tomato sauce

ready to dry

Inspiration often comes unexpectedly. When I followed the link to read this post by Aioulik of Trattoria MuVarA (in Italian), I expected to be reminded of some of the great dishes typical of the Sardinian cuisine. The photo of the lovely pasta shape resembling a miniature wreath or an earring made me search immediately online for information. Shortly afterwards, I was at the kneading board. Later, I posted this phost to my Instagram feed:

from my first batch of lorighittas

I think it was not bad for my first try.

According to online sources, lorighittas are typical of the Sardinian town of Morgongiori (province of Oristano). As explained on this page, the name comes from sa loriga, a Sardinian word that indicates the iron ring fixed to the wall of a house to which horses or donkeys were tethered. 

In this video (in Italian), the woman interviewed talks about the tradition of making lorighittas. She adds the salt to the water rather than the semola (in this post, there is a brief discussion of the various products obtained by milling durum wheat) and calls that battezzare (to baptize). She says that the pasta is fully dried, a process that takes several days. I assume the drying is done for storage. 

Other interesting things from the video are the beautiful basket on which the lorighittas are laid out to dry and the repurposed meatgrinder. Instead of a basket, I used a cookie sheet lined with a cotton kitchen towel (see top photo). I then covered the lorighittas with another towel.

To make lorighittas you roll the dough into a string that is thin enough, but not so thin as to break during the shaping. The meatgrinder made a lot of sense, so I decided to try using it. Unfortunately, the disk I have (only one, since my meatgrinder is basically an antique) does not produce smooth strings, so my experiment did not end satisfactorily. I went back to rolling with my hands.

Shaping the lorighittas requires a bit of attention. In this video, you can see my hands at work.

A quick comparison with the hands of the women in the previous video shows that I have a little way to go before I can contemplate making lorighittas for a large party. But I am determined to improve with practice.

Considering that I had chosen a complex pasta shape, I thought I would go easy in terms of sauce. Having missed last month's edition of Pasta Please, I wanted to comply with this month's theme, chili peppers, so I made simple tomato sauce using my strained roasted tomatoes and I spiked it with peperoncino.

See this bunch of peperoncini? I have had them for some time and I can assure you they've lost none of their potency.

bright red peperoncini next to big zucchini blossoms

I bought them during my only visit to the farmers' market in Milan, shortly after they opened it. I had a mixed experience there, but walked away with, among other things, a pretty bunch of peperoncini, fiery in both color and flavor, which I have been using ever since.

Ingredients for the pasta:

• 100 g / 3.5 oz. semolina flour of good quality (see the post on orecchiette for details on products of ground durum wheat)
• 50 g / 1.75 oz. warm water (I recommend weighing the water)
• a pinch of salt

Ingredients for the spicy tomato sauce:

• Olive oil
• Two garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 cups strained roasted tomatoes (thawed, if frozen)
• A red chili pepper (see below for details)
• Sea salt, to taste
• Freshly grated fiore sardo, to taste

Make lorighittas
Make a dough with the three ingredients and knead until nice and smooth. Let the dough rest, covered, for at least half an hour.

Roll the dough into a thick salami and cut it into pieces. Keep them covered while you shape the lorighittas. You don't want the dough to dry out. Roll each piece into a thin string, not thicker than 1/6 inch / 0.4 cm diameter (see Note below). Wrap the string around the four fingers twice then break the dough and join the two ends by pressing lightly. Note: if the rings come out too long and you have trouble with the next step, try using only three fingers. Thread one loop into the other a few times until the two strands are woven into a sort of two-strand braid.

Continue until all the dough is used. You may want to dust lightly with flour the surface where you lay the shaped lorighittas, to prevent them from sticking. And you may need to wet your hands if they get too dry while shaping the pasta (it happened to me).

The first time I made the pasta, I cooked it a few hours after I had shaped it. The second time, I dried it for a couple of days to see how it looked. Note: someone whose mother is from Morgongiori kindly commented on FB that the string of dough must be thinner than it appears in my version of lorighittas. I am aware that in my first rendition the string of dough was a bit thick. Also, the perspective of the close-up photos is somewhat tricky. Finally, I learned by myself, just watching a video, so I make no claims about the authenticity of my lorighittas. As I mentioned above, the dough should be thin, but not so thin as to break when you roll it around your fingers. I am sure my technique would improve if I could spend some time in Morgongiori with the pros and if I am ever in Sardinia, you can be sure I'd visit the town and look for a mentor.

just shaped

Prepare the spicy tomato sauce
In a small saucepan, warm up a bit of olive oil, then add garlic and chili pepper. Choose the chili pepper's size and how you cut it based on how spicy you want your sauce. In my household, the preference goes to mild spicyness, so I chose a smallish peperoncino. I left it whole and snapped off the stem and the small cap to which it is attached.

Cook gently for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 7-8 minutes. Remove garlic and chili pepper. Adjust salt, to taste. Note that this will make more sauce than you need to dress the pasta, but once you have the sauce ready, I am sure you'll find ways of using it, like making more handmade pasta.

If you find that the sauce is too hot for your taste, make another batch without peperoncino and then blend the two.

Cook the pasta
Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, then toss the lorighittas in it (what in Italian we call: buttare giù la pasta). The time needed is a bit variable, depending on the size of lorighittas, how dry they are, etc. Dry lorighittas take quite some time to cook, so be patient. Taste and stop the cooking when the lorighittas are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain the lorighittas. Place in a bowl, distribute some tomato sauce (reheated if necessary), and toss. Finally, sprinkle some cheese on top and serve immediately.

Alternatively, while the pasta is cooking, place a few tablespoons of the sauce in a small skillet and warm it up. Drain the pasta and drop it into the skillet with the sauce. Stir well over medium-low heat for a minute. Sprinkle some of the cheese and stir one last time. Plate and sprinkle a bit more cheese on the top. Serve immediately.

The recipe makes two small portions.

pretty on the plate

Every time I make a new pasta shape, I think it is the prettiest I have made so far. Lorighittas stand well with the spicyness of the peperoncino in the sauce. I honestly liked the fresh version a bit better, but I am glad I dried one batch. I will do it again and complete the drying process, so I can store the pasta for later use.

This is my contribution to the current edition of Pasta Please, a new pasta-centric event created by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes and hosted this month by Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen. The theme this month is: chillies (a.k.a. chili peppers).

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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The top photo is my contribution to edition #81 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted this week by Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu.

The photo was shot in color and then converted to  sepia (using Lightroom preset Sepia Tone).

This post contains the gallery of images submitted to the event.

---

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

lorighittas al sugo piccante

or launch the lorighittas al sugo piccante audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

handmade pasta, semolina flour, chili pepper

panini quadrifoglio / four-leaf clover rolls

waiting for the rolls to cool

Do you remember the delivery of mail catalogs that was an almost daily occurrence until not too long ago? Annoying as sometimes was, I realize that, as an adult immigrant to the US, I would have not learned about certain brands had I not received their catalogs.

King Arthur Flour's¹ catalog keeps arriving in my mail box and I like to leaf through it because it showcases a few recipes and they have been inspirational more than once: The recipe for four-leaf clover rolls is the most recent example (and this is a previous one).

The display of this recipe had to do with St. Patrick's Day, but, as usual, things I see need to ferment in my brain for a bit before I act upon them. Then, I need to test the recipe at least a couple of times before I decide whether to talk about it on my blog.

nesting in the ramekin

The photo in the catalog showed the rolls nesting in the ramekins in which they were baked: it caught my attention. I read the instructions and they seemed pretty straightforward to execute, so I did it and loved the result.

Then I did it again and again enjoyed the rolls, so now I am inviting you to try them. For once, I made only a couple of minor changes to the list of ingredients, besides halving the quantities and making therefore four rolls. I used:

• 120 g KAF unbleached all-purpose flour (this is the flour I generally use for bread baking)
• 55 g KAF white whole-wheat flour, instead of Irish-style wholemeal flour, because I had the former but not the latter — this substitution is also suggested in the tips box
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 g honey (miele), i.e., half the amount
• 14 g soft unsalted butter the first time, then the second time 10 g olive oil, and I liked the flavor better
•  123 g lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 28 g toasted pecans rather than walnuts, because I happened to have a nice batch of toasted pecans for this recipe
• 35 g currants
• no glossy finish (which in any case is optional)

One nice thing about the recipes on the KAF's website is that you can view the list of ingredients in volume, ounces or grams. I always choose the latter options, especially when I need to perform division on the quantities.

and then it's tasting time!

Whether you make the full amount or half, follow the directions on the recipe page and you'll be rewarded with pretty rolls that are a pleasure to pry open along the seams. A dose of sweetness and a bit of crunchiness come together in the rolls which are perfect to nibble by themselves and to accompany your dinner.

cleaning up after baking

In this photo, the usual chaos around my kitchen sink (lavello) includes the four ramekins in which the four-leaf clover rolls had baked.

¹ Disclaimer: I neither have nor had any business relationship with this company. This is not an advertisement, but simply a description of the brand I use.

I am sending my cute rolls to Panissimo a biweekly event created recently by Barbara of Bread & Companatico and Sandra of indovina chi viene a cena?

This post contains the roundup of the event, English version, and this one the Italian version.

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And I am also contributing it to the April edition of Bake Your Own Bread hosted by Roxana of Roxana's Homebaking.

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The bottom photo is my contribution to edition #80 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar

The photo was shot in color and then converted to black and white.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

panini quadrifoglio

or launch the panini quadrifoglio audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

Irish bread, white whole-wheat flour, pecan, currants

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