briciole

formaggio coi buchi fatto in casa: Jarlsberg / homemade cheese: Jarlsberg

In a previous post, I reported about making Leerdammer, my first cheese with holes (formaggio coi buchi). The holes are called "eyes" (occhi) and are bubbles of carbon dioxide created by the microorganism called Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii during the ripening period (as you can read here and also here). After making Leerdammer a second time, and enjoying every bite of the result, I decided to make Jarlsberg, a cheese that hails from Norway (Norvegia), a country that has a special place in my heart. I have been to Norway twice, loved every moment I spent there, and hope to go... Read more →

zuccotto gelato

layers of delight The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home. The recipes Sunita provided for the different elements of the challenge can be found here. What I made looks different from what you see on the Daring Bakers web site for a couple of reasons: our household's dietary needs and less than satisfactory results of two preliminary... Read more →

crostata con crema al mascarpone e mirtilli / mascarpone and blueberry tart

For the current edition of Cook the Books, we are reading Erica Bauermeister's The School of Essential Ingredients. The novel's first chapter after the Prologue (titled "Lillian") kindled my interest, with its description of the relationship between a girl and her emotionally absent mother. I was moved by Lillian's efforts to make her mother "see" her. This is how the chapter ends: Her mother looked up [...], and her eyes met her daughter's. "Why, Lillian," she said, her voice rippling with surprise, "look how you've grown." As the novel progressed — each chapter dedicated to one of the students of Lillian's... Read more →

passato di carote e zucchine al levistico / carrot and zucchini soup with lovage

my exhuberant lovage In a previous post I mentioned the beautiful lovage (levistico) that I have in my herb garden.The plant is now over four feet tall and looks simply gorgeous. The photo shows just a detail of the copious foliage. The need to use some chicken stock from a batch I had previously defrosted and the presence in my vegetable bin of two beautiful, dark green zucchine (zucchini) from the farmers' market suggested the word "soup" to me, and I heeded the suggestion. Before starting to make the soup, I cut a stem of lovage. I can't say I measured... Read more →

burro di noci / walnut butter

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online. Margie and Natashya put together an impressive amount of information on nut butters and a nice selection of recipes. You can find everything on this page. From the array of choices offered, I selected to make burro... Read more →

mezzaluna

I was away for two and a half weeks. Physically, I am now back at home. Emotionally, I will keep wandering for a while. At some point, I will say more. For now, I'll write about everyday things. As a child, I was fascinated by my mother's mezzaluna (literally: half moon). She used it very rarely and I was not allowed to touch it — two facts that contributed to make it even more special to my eyes. I am not sure why I don't own one, considering that I find it not only quite useful, but also efficient and elegant.... Read more →