briciole

zuppa di zucca e carote / winter squash and carrot soup

I told you I still have some winter squashes in my storage room, so here is another great soup I made with them and with carrots, of which I bought a bunch, greens and all, from the Temescal farmers' market in Oakland, a relatively small market that has interesting vendors and, most importantly, runs year-round. I actually made this soup twice. The first time (photo above), I used a butternut squash, but did not weigh any of the ingredients, which is not a problem until you want to share the recipe. I liked the soup a lot, so it was easy... Read more →

hummus ai carciofi / artichoke hummus

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] This is a spread I had had in mind to make for a while. I saw it somewhere on the web, but I can't remember where: I only remember that it was a hummus made also with artichokes. I like artichokes a lot. My mother made them often, when they were in season: artichoke frittata and carciofi alla giudia (Jewish-style) were often on the table. The important ingredient in the latter is mentuccia, a type of mint that grows wild. According to my mother, there was no substitute for it, so we... Read more →

coffee cake con cioccolato e nocciole / yeasted meringue coffee cake

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. On this page, you will find the details of the recipe, including various suggestions for the filling. I really like the description of the recipe source: "Jamie found this recipe on a piece of yellowed paper in her dad’s collection of clipped out and hand-written recipes from the 1970’s, no source, no date, and she tried the recipe and it was brilliant!" I struggled a bit to come... Read more →

sorbetto al mango / mango sorbet

For the current edition of Cook the Books, we are reading Ann Vanderhoof’s An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude. In the book, Vanderhoof recounts her and her husband's voyage from Toronto to the West Indies in their sailboat, Receta. An interesting voyage, certainly, though not one I would like to embark upon, for various reasons, the first one being that, while I am completely comfortable in the water, I am a lot less so on a boat. Besides sailors, divers also enjoy visiting the Caribbean. A little piece of my heart is in that part of the world, on Little... Read more →

buon compleanno, Italia! / Happy Birthday, Italy!

On March 17, 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II, hitherto king of Sardinia, was proclaimed King of Italy (Re d'Italia) by the first Italian parliament. Therefore today, March 17, 2011, Italy turns 150. To mark the anniversary, I decided to write a "different" post, a commentary to a YouTube video (by StevePop100). While you listen to a nice song by Italian singer and songwriter Jovanotti, titled Ora (Now), you'll see images of people, who played an important role in Italian political and cultural history after WWII. (A comprehensive list would require a long movie, but this is a good selection.) I will list... Read more →

formaggio fatto in casa: Coulommiers stile inglese / homemade English-style Coulommiers

(a.k.a. English farmhouse cheese) I am not sure why I had never tried to make this fresh cheese before, but I am certainly glad that the availability of fresh goat milk (latte di capra) coupled with an impending trip steered me towards it. Different from Coulommiers, its English-style counterpart is not mold-ripened and can be eaten shortly after being made. I followed the recipe for this cheese given in the book 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes by Debra Amrein-Boyes. I adapted the given recipe by diving the quantities by four and by using one quart of fresh goat milk and 1.5... Read more →

ceci con picada catalana / chickpeas with Catalan picada

As a child, I was a chickpea-hater. My epiphany occurred after I moved to California, at a potluck and was brought about by an Indian chickpea dish. Something made me try it even though I had always disliked chickpeas and my taste buds (papille gustative) converted on the spot. Making hummus and this dish helped me to get comfortable with preparing chickpeas. As in the case of beans, I weaned myself off cans. In the evening, I put the chickpeas into their soaking bath and the following day I cook them according to this recipe by Deborah Madison. I use the... Read more →

pomodori in scatola e la picada catalana / canned [tinned] tomatoes and Catalan picada

[cliccare il link per andare alla nota in italiano] If you open my pantry, you won't find much canned food. There are a few exceptions and I will describe them within the context of the Tin Can Recipes event dedicated to celebrate 200 years of canned food. (If you are interested in the details of the story, this page has a brief description of the relevant events.) The first exception is tomatoes. Considering that I live in California (the leading producer of tomatoes in the US), I should be able to can my own tomatoes in the summer, right?, but the... Read more →