briciole

handmade garganelli (pasta)

ready to roll? When you are done rolling, you get this: meet Mr. Garganello You look at garganelli and you think: penne rigate. There are a few differences between the two pasta shapes. In particular, in garganelli the ridges are perpendicular, rather than parallel, to the length, and there is a visible seam. A link tweeted recently by Frank of Memorie di Angelina sent me to an article on garganelli. As soon as I finished reading it, I started planning my rendition. According to the Encyclopedia of Pasta by Oretta Zanini De Vita, this pasta shape is typical of Emilia-Romagna (like... Read more →

biancore / whiteness

One of the joys of making cheese at home is making ricotta with the leftover whey. The batch in the photo was a particularly good one. The whey came from making Leerdammer. The surface texture of snow-white ricotta is due to the draining basket and it's what I have tried to highlight in the photo. I recently enjoyed a very nice post by Nancy Harmon Jenkins titled Ricotta, a true story. I recommend you follow the link and read Nancy's report of a visit to a cheese maker in the Mugello valley of Tuscany. (Nancy's words about ricotta echo words I... Read more →

fagioli gratinati / bean gratin

the view from above The smell of rosemary coming from the oven is always comforting, no matter what memory it awakens: roast chicken, maybe, or roast potatoes. It promises solid nourishment. Add to it some sage and you enter serious territory. When out of the oven comes a pie plate hiding something under a golden green-speckled crust, you may still not think right away at beans. Yet, that's what's underneath. The December 2012 issue of Food & Wine (one of the two magazines to which I subscribe, the other being EatingWell) had a set of recipes for a crowd contributed by... Read more →

vaniglia pura / pure vanilla

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] Madagascar vanilla beans The first time I heard the expression “plain vanilla” I had to ask for an explanation of its actual meaning. Taken literally, “plain vanilla” sounded like a combination of two contradictory terms. Vanilla is one of the most intense flavors in nature, and it is all but plain. I learned that the expression comes from the fact that vanilla is the most common flavor of ice cream in this country, a sort of default flavor. By analogy, “plain vanilla” became a synonym for basic, ordinary, “lacking special features or... Read more →

Weekend Herb Blogging #367: il riepilogo / the roundup

[cliccare il link per andare direttamente al raccolto della edizione italiana di WHB] As the host of last week's edition of WHB, I am pleased to present an interesting set of posts submitted by bloggers from various countries. For each contribution, I will give you the official information (author, blog name and post title) and a short quote or brief description that summarizes it, a teaser that invites you to follow the link to read the relevant post. Follow me: it will be an interesting tour. Barbara of My Italian Smörgåsbord presents Ligurian-style Tri-layered Vegetable Meatloaf A layer each of carrots,... Read more →

making garganelli

the tools of the trade A preview of my upcoming post for the series "adventures in handmade pasta." The tools I am using are a gnocchi board and a piece of wooden dowel. In a few days this post, you'll learn how the square of dough sandwiched between them turns into a garganello. Note: the dowel size (i.e., diameter) I ended up choosing after various tests is smaller than the one in the photo above. Please, refer to the post for the details (and a video). This is my contribution to edition #67 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary... Read more →

cavolini di Bruxelles con avocado / Brussels sprouts with avocado

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a simple side dish that tastes great I have made this side dish a dozen times recently. As I explained in a recent post, I have been harvesting Brussels sprouts as part of my U-pick CSA share, and those, together with Zutano avocados acquired at our local farmers' market, inspired me to devise this simple, flavorful contorno (side dish). The dish highlights the flavor of Brussels sprouts — sweetened by oven-roasting — via the creamy texture of avocado. The lemon juice adds a brightening trill. Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Brussels... Read more →

Amargosa Hotel

signs and black chair For some reason, the Amargosa Hotel sign (as already narrated in a previous post) was on the ground to the left of the main entrance. Update (March 31, 2013): Yesterday, I was honored by a visit from the artist who is working on painting the signs. In a comment, she provides the following information on her work: The reason that the hotel sign is sitting on the ground is because I painted it for them. It is a recreation of the original hotel sign that was on the front of the building when it was new in... Read more →

annuncio / announcement: Weekend Herb Blogging #367

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] This week I have once again the honor of hosting Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, and now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once. I hope you'll join this illustrious event that week after week brings together food bloggers from around the world. The rules for participating are detailed on this page. You can download the logo to add to your post. I will be delighted to receive your contribution to the event at simosite AT mac DOT com. Please, specify WHB #367... Read more →

cavolini di Bruxelles e castagne / Brussels sprouts and chestnuts

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] What a couple! Have you ever noticed how pretty a Brussels sprout is? Each one is a miniature cabbage. I have been handling many recently and I still marvel at their perfection. Brussels sprouts are easy and fun to pick. The photo above shows a field and the one below a stalk bearing some sprouts. I took the photos during one of my Brussels sprout picking expeditions to Redwood Roots Farm. The expeditions are part of my winter U-pick CSA share with the farm. The idea is that, instead of receving a... Read more →