briciole

gelato al tè verde e mochi con gelato / green tea ice cream and mochi ice cream

a nugget of pure delight For the current edition of Cook the Books, we are reading Victoria Abbott Riccardi’s book Untangling my Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto. Ms. Riccardi spent a year in Kyoto studying kaiseki, the cerimonial tea cuisine. Kaiseki uses seasonal ingredients to create small plates intended to accompany the heart of the ceremony, tea made with matcha, finely milled Japanese green tea. The production of matcha follows a specific process (you can read the details here) and the preparation of the tea during the ceremony follows a traditional ritual. For part of the time, Ms. Riccardi lived... Read more →

zuppa di fagiolina del Trasimeno / cowpea of Lake Trasimeno soup

Fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno, or, commonly, fagiolina del Trasimeno, is one of the Slow Food presidia in Italy. I first talked about this special legume from Umbria, my home region, in this post. From the Slow Food page on fagiolina: È un fagiolo con forma ovale e minuscola e può essere di vari colori: dal crema al nero passando per il salmone e per tutte le tonalità del marrone, anche screziato. In bocca è tenero, burroso e particolarmente saporito. This tiny, oval bean,... exists in colors ranging from ivory white to salmon pink to brown to black. Soft, buttery and flavourful...... Read more →

Edizione speciale: Novel Food #12

Special Edition: Announcing Novel Food #12 What are you reading now? I am reading a book by Italian historian Massimo Montanari, titled Cheese, Pears, and History in a Proverb. (I am actually reading the original version of the book, in Italian.) The starting point of the interesting research conducted by Prof. Montanari is described in this post. The book is really fascinating and I am planning to talk more about it. Today, I will definitely talk more about the new edition of Novel Food, the culinary/literary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started a 3+ years ago and have... Read more →

cassoulet vegetariana / vegetarian cassoulet

Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman. You can find information on cassoulet, details about the challenge and the recipes provided on this page. Among the options offered, I chose to make the Vegetarian Cassoulet, which is basically a bean stew. The recipe from Gourmet is excellent, so much so that I made... Read more →

il parco nazionale di Yellowstone / Yellowstone National Park

Old Faithful at the end of one of its eruptions A little while ago, I wrote a post on Grand Teton National Park. During the same trip, we also visited Yellowstone National Park. Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park is America's first national park. Yellostone was not the main destination of our trip and therefore I consider our visit only an appetizer (antipasto). I would like to go back and explore the park further. Grand Teton was absolutely beautiful. Yellowstone, however, was almost unbearably magnificent. Yellowstone Caldera is one of the largest and most active calderas in the world. The spectacular... Read more →

uovo col pomodoro / egg and tomato

During my childhood in Italy, at home tomatoes were used in three ways: fresh in salads (by themselves or with other ingredients) strained and bottled for year-round use (mostly to make sauce for pasta) halved and stored in glass jars (for use on pizza) For #1, round tomatoes were used. On this page there is a photo of what we called pomodori da insalata. Fresh tomatoes were on our table only in the summer, and often they came directly from the producer's basket. As a child, I loved fresh from the vine tomatoes and would roam the tomato fields of acquaintances... Read more →

Annuncio: legumi che passione! (numero 31)

My Legume Love Affair #31 1 I have the honor of being the host for the January 2011 edition of MLLA, the popular, legume-centered event that is the brainchild of Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. Participation in the event revolves around a recipe that showcases one or more legumes, be it savory or sweet, with or without meat — no restrictions. The legume (or legumes) must be one of the main ingredients, not a minor character. You can send me a new post or a post from your archive reposted for the occasion. You can submit the recipe to other events... Read more →