briciole

zuppa di broccoli e zucchine / broccoli and zucchini soup

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] Hot soup in the summer? Not a surprising menu item, if you are along the California coast, home of the natural air conditioning system called "the fog." Denizens of the areas affected by this fascinating natural phenomenon know how to handle it. For example, if you are outside in the late afternoon and evening, you need to have something warm to put on, or you won't be comfortable. I know this and dress accordingly. However, last week, one afternoon, I went to an outdoor event, and although I was wearing my warm... Read more →

fare il formaggio (in bianco e nero) / making cheese (black and white)

After letting the curds settle on the bottom of the pot, I drained the whey and then pressed the curds into a slab, which I then moved onto a board for cutting. Whey is slowly oozing from underneath. The cheese of the photo is currently in its aging phase. I hope to feature it in an upcoming post, so I won't reveal its name quite yet. This is my submission to week #3 edition of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event, recently launched by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. The photo was shot in color and then converted... Read more →

pane di segale ai fiori di timo e di erba cipollina / rye bread with thyme flowers and chive blossoms

For the current edition of Cook the Books, we are reading Sarah Addison Allen’s novel Garden Spells. Not unlike a book I discusseda few months ago (Blessed Are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch), Garden Spells is a fairy tale, and like all good fairy tales, it is a satisfying reading. My favorite character of the novel is the good fairy, a.k.a. Evanelle. She accepts herself the way she is and also accepts other people the way they are, without trying to change their attitudes, actions or beliefs. What she does is giving them "things they may need" and she does so... Read more →

torta di segale e mela / rye apple cake

As member of a grain CSA, I receive a monthly share that includes various stone-ground, whole-grain flours, like wheat, barley and rye flour. Rye is a cereal grain that looks like wheat but is longer and more slender and varies in color from yellowish brown to grayish green. It is generally available in its whole or cracked grain form or as flour or flakes that look similar to old-fashioned oats. Because it is difficult to separate the germ and bran from the endosperm of rye, rye flour usually retains a large quantity of nutrients, in contrast to refined wheat flour. (source:... Read more →

lenticchie nere ennesi con tonno / black lentils from Enna with tombo

The beautiful black lentils on the right are lenticchie nere delle colline ennesi, black lentils from Enna hills (Enna is a city in the heart of Sicily), an old cultivar that came close to extinction under the pressure of mechanized agriculture. I purchased some of those lentils in Italy and prepared lenticchie nere ennesi con tonno (black lentils from Enna with tombo). You will find more information on this special legume, the recipe and the accompanying audio file in the guest post I wrote for My Legume Love Affair 37 — Year 4, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event... Read more →

carote in bianco e nero / black and white rainbow carrots

I love the mix of colors in the bunches of rainbow carrots now available at the farmers' market. I even got some seeds and planted them in a space of my little garden. As of this morning, I don't see any sign of a future crop. I am trying to remain optimistic about the future. This is my submission to the week #2 edition of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event, recently launched by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. I have never taken a photo in black and white and Susan's event will provide me with the motivation... Read more →

gelato di fragole arrosto all'aceto balsamico / roasted strawberry ice cream flavored with balsamic vinegar

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a lovely summer dessert Strawberry season is in full swing and one of the recipes in which the beloved berries shine is Strawberry ice cream flavored with balsamic vinegar from my one and only ice cream book Frozen Dessert by Caroline Liddell and Robin Weir. My version, which I have been making for a while, includes a few small adjustments to the original recipe. However, when I read a recent post by Val of More Than Burnt Toast about using roasted strawberry to make ice cream, I knew the time had come... Read more →

mezzelune con ricotta e bietola / pasta stuffed with ricotta and chard

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with! You can find the information and the recipes Steph provided on this page. Serendipitously, I have recently written two posts on fresh egg pasta: tagliatelle with ricotta (both homemade) and tagliatelle with tomato sauce and fava beans. The posts include my recipe for the pasta all'uovo itself and for three dishes. In them, I... Read more →

Novel Food #13: the finale

First came the announcement, then the various contributions arrived in the mailbox, and finally, today it is time for the roundup of the 13th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I created in 2007. Novel Food is about literary works (prose or poetry) that inspire the preparation of dishes. Like all its predecessors, the current edition of the event includes an interesting set of readables and edibles. Please, follow me on a short literary/culinary tour. For each contribution, I will offer a small bite to whet your appetite for more: follow the link to... Read more →

Novel Food #13: carote con salsina al cumino / carrots with cumin sauce

[cliccare il link per andare alla ricetta in italiano] Some time ago, during a visit to one of my favorite bookstores, Dark Carnival in Berkeley, I bought The King's Gambit by John Maddox Roberts (1990). The novel is the first of the SPQR series, 13 (so far) mysteries set in ancient Rome whose protagonist is Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger. [SPQR means Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Senate and the Roman people) — I like the way this person explains it.] Reading the book was like revisiting knowledge I had acquired when studying Roman history and art history, and Latin language and... Read more →