briciole

due crostate / two tarts

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. Yes, you read correctly: this month I had the honor of hosting the Daring Bakers' challenge. The required part of the challenge was to make pasta frolla (sweet short crust pastry, or sweet tart dough, made with flour, butter, sugar and eggs) using either of the two recipes provided, and then... Read more →

formaggio fatto in casa: Caerphilly / homemade cheese: Caerphilly

(pronunciation from this site) In my pressed homemade cheeses I lose one of the defining characteristics of a cheese: its particular shape (forma). This is because I only have one press (of which you can see a photo in this post), so all the cheeses I make that require pressing have the same shape (some are taller, some are shorter, depending on the weight applied to them and on how long they are pressed). Hence, I hope you'll forgive me if in my photos, you keep seeing cylindrical cheeses, whole or sliced. I had wanted to make Caerphilly for a while,... Read more →

cannellini freschi con pomodori ciliegia arrosto / fresh cannellini beans with roasted cherry tomatoes

Recently, a friend of mine alerted me to the presence at the farmers' market of fresh cannellini beans. I had to admit that I had never seen cannellini in their pods. I particularly like the contrast between the green pod (baccello) and the white beans (fagioli) it contains. I visited the stall and bought a pound, but made no immediate decision regarding how to prepare the beans. Some sort of salad seemed like a reasonable plan, the idea being to let the flavor of the fresh beans take center stage. After shelling them, I cooked the beans in two cups of... Read more →

soufflé al formaggio con spinaci / cheese and spinach soufflé

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website. You can find information on soufflés, details about the challenge and the recipes provided on this page. Dave and Linda asked us to "make a baked soufflé using any one of the recipes provided or any other soufflé recipe that looks interesting and tasty." Veteran soufflé makers were asked "to make a soufflé never attempted... Read more →

zuppa di zucca e pere arrosto / roasted pumpkin-pear soup

Both last year and this year, a few days before Halloween, my husband and I visited a pumpkin patch in search of the pumpkins that would fit his carving plans. This year, it was raining, so here is a photo of the expedition from last year. Besides the pumpkin patch, Warren Creek Farms creates a corn maze (every year with a different design), a big attraction for my husband. After successfully exiting the maze, he chose two pumpkins for carving, while I selected two small for cooking (plus a few other winter squashes from the great selection offered at the farm).... Read more →