briciole

fava beans and peas / fave e piselli

jump to Recipe green on green with a touch of orange (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is the historical novel The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson. I borrowed the book by accepting a suggestion within the Libby app. I was intrigued by the long title and wanted to know what it was about. I soon found myself drawn to the story, which is set in the UK in the summer of 1919, post-WWI, during the Spanish flu pandemic. It is a challenging time for veterans re-entering civilian life, for... Read more →

root vegetables and escarole with tofu / ortaggi a radice e scarola con tofu

jump to Recipe root vegetables and escarole with tofu Our current Cook the Books Club selection is the memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten1. I am aware Garten is a popular cookbook author and food TV personality. I don't watch TV (of any kind) so don't know her. The book's style is lively and if you are interested in the author, you will probably enjoy reading it. There was a long wait list to get the book from the library, and when I finally started reading it and doing some research on her recipes, I got sick,... Read more →

radicchio with red grapes / radicchio con uva rossa

jump to Recipe a little bitter and a little sweet Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Land of Milk and Honey, a novel by C Pam Zhang. The story is set in a world, where "A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing."1 The protagonist and narrator is a young chef, who escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles. There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound.1 Early in the book, after we are told that one of the ingredients she... Read more →

green cabbage with honeynut squash and chestnuts / cavolo cappuccio con zucca e castagne

jump to Recipe fall flavors combine to make a delicious side dish (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Crying in H Mart a memoir by Michelle Zauner. In August 2018, the author had an essay published in The New Yorker magazine1 with the same title. It starts like this: Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart. For those of you who don’t know, H Mart is a supermarket chain that specializes in Asian food. The "H" stands for han ah reum, a Korean phrase that roughly translates to "one arm... Read more →

bean, tomato, sweet pepper and corn salad / insalata di fagioli, pomodori, peperoni dolci e mais

jump to Recipe bright colors and flavors on the plate (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd1. The novel is set in South Carolina in 1964. Young Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped by her mother's death and a violent father, and stand-in mother Rosaleen run away from their home and hometown and find refuge in the house of the three Boatwright sisters in Tiburon, South Carolina—a town that is somehow connected to Lily's mother's past. Lily learns about bees, beekeeping, making honey (miele)... Read more →

shishito peppers with cheese / peperoni shishito col formaggio

jump to Recipe sweet and crunchy with a note of cheese (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Family Tree by Susan Wiggs1. The novel follow Annie as the life she thought was perfect shatters (physically, as she is the victim of a major accident, and emotionally, as the accident happens on the heels of her discovering her husband's infidelity) and is slowly rebuilt. I don't think the publisher's description "powerful, emotionally complex story" applies. However, if you enjoy stories about second chances, family and small towns you may like this novel. pretty in... Read more →

mixed vegetables with thyme / verdure miste al timo

jump to Recipe mixed vegetable with thyme (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge1. In post-war Paris, a woman is found murdered in the basement of the building where Paul and Julia Child live, and the murder weapon is a knife from Julia's kitchen. If this brief introduction sounds intriguing, you'll probably enjoy the book. I'm afraid I didn't find the novel believable.2 The narrator, a young woman named Tabitha, lives with her grandfather not far from the Childs and befriends Julia. He grows a... Read more →

skillet-cooked asparagus with eggs / asparagi in padella con le uova

jump to Recipe a simple combination, a delicious dish (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley1. This was my first time not only choosing a graphic memoir (or novel) for our Club, but also reading one. I thoroughly enjoyed following Lucy's life adventures and her connection with various foods. The graphic medium lends itself nicely to Lucy's stories and the recipes ending the chapters come to life in her drawings. I prepared mushrooms according to her mother's recipe (after Julia Child) and the result was... Read more →

winter squash and beans / zucca e fagioli

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] a simple pairing with a lot of flavor (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) This is my interpretation of a traditional dish from Italy. The first recipe I read uses black-eyed peas (fagioli dall'occhio) so that's what I used in my first version, together with some Musquée de Provence squash I found at the farmers' market. I then read other recipes which referenced "white beans" (fagioli bianchi). I had some Zolfino bean1 (fagiolo zolfino), an Italian heirloom variety, so I used that. For my final try, I used locally grown organic Yellow Eye beans, which... Read more →

savoy cabbage with egg and cheese / pipetto (verza con uovo e formaggio)

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] version with purple savoy cabbage (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Pipetto1 is a comforting side dish from Crema (a city in Lombardy, northern Italy): savoy cabbage with a mix of spices (noce moscata, pepe nero, cannella, chiodi di garofano), egg and cheese, perfect for winter. I found different recipes for it and below is my rendition. pretty purple variety of savoy cabbage (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) As the photo shows, I have made the dish with both green and purple savoy cabbage and both were excellent. version with green savoy cabbage (ceramic... Read more →