briciole

trota al forno per Mark Twain / roasted trout for Mark Twain

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a tavola! Mark Twain did not like the food he ate in the hotels where he lodged during his stay in Europe in 1879. He makes that quite clear in the autobiographical book, A Tramp Abroad, written during that trip. After negative reviews of pretty much everything he has tasted, Twain sees the light at the end of the tunnel, since he is getting ready to travel back home, where he is planning to eat: Radishes. Baked apples, with cream. Fried oysters; stewed oysters. Frogs. American coffee, with real cream... He goes... Read more →

cavolo nero in fiore / blooming Tuscan kale

swan's song Kale plants that gave us a plentiful winter harvest bloom bright yellow and usher in spring planting at Redwood Roots Farm. Subtracting the color brings out the shapes. This week, I have the honor of hosting Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event. created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar. Send your contribution at simosite AT mac DOT com, namely your name your blog's name the image(s) (max 500 px wide, either orientation, max 150 kb file size) You have until Wednesday, April 2 at 9 am Pacific time to... Read more →

carote sul tagliere / carrots on the cutting board

fresh from the farm Colorful carrots I used to make a sklandrausis-inspired vegetable tart and beans in a cashew and tomato curry. I like the smell of fresh carrots, a refreshing blend of sweetness and soil. This is my contribution to edition #122 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted this week by Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu. The photo was shot in color and then converted to black and white (Lightroom preset B&W Look 5). The gallery of images contributed to the event.... Read more →

tortino di verdure stile sklandrausis / sklandrausis-inspired vegetable tart

a three-[layer/texture/flavor] tart In Latvia (Lettonia), I went down the wrong path — figuratively, of course. Having baked eight types of bread out of 20 dishes from the EU countries visited so far in our virtual tour, I decided to bake a Latvian bread. I found a recipe, I made it a couple of times, was almost ready to write about it and then decided I was not enthusiastic enough about the recipe to share it on the blog. So, I started researching Latvian dishes again and finally found one that intrigued me: sklandrausis. The sklandrausis, a small... pie made of... Read more →

orecchiette e luna piena / orecchiette and full moon

orecchiette on my kneading board... I am working on a new version of orecchiette and also on a new pasta shape. Above is a monochromatic preview of the former. and an "orecchietta" in the sky This is my original post on orecchiette, so you can start practising with your hands. The upcoming post will have some more details based on my experience teaching pasta-making workshops. Update: this post describes in detail how I made the orecchiette in the top photo, using toasted chickpea flour together with semolina flour. This is my contribution to edition #121 of Black and White Wednesday -... Read more →

broccolo da ricacci in padella / sautéed purple sprouting broccoli

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a large raindrop like a diamond After the dry summer months, fall rains paint the California countryside bright green. But last fall, rain failed to fall. Browns became dull, grays became sad, and the sky remained brilliant blue — week after worrisome week. Finally, as January glided into February, it started to rain on the parched North Coast of California: A choral sigh rose from the earth. One morning in early February, under the thick black soles of my red rubber boots, the terrain of Redwood Roots Farm was happily muddy after... Read more →

un cesto di sedano rapa / a basket full of celeriac

a basket full of beauties Certain vegetables almost scream to be photographed. What is a person with a camera to do in front of a basket full of simply gorgeous celeriac? Kevin of Shakefork Community Farm arranged the bounty of celeriac tastefully (pun intended) on his table at the farmers' market. What I like is that the roots still have leaves attached, so one can see the resemblance to celery's. Celeriac (also called celery root) is a great ingredient, mostly in soups, like the one I shared a while ago. The aesthete in me enjoys looking at it for beauty's sake.... Read more →

volare sulle ali di un arcobaleno / flying on a rainbow's wings

a break in the clouds When all is gray around and inside me, a patch of blue sky tells me that gray is not forever. Quando tutto intorno e dentro di me è grigio, un pezzo di cielo azzurro mi sussurra che grigio non è per sempre. rain behind, clear sky ahead And a rainbow makes my eyes look up. E un arcobaleno mi fa alzare lo sguardo da terra. elegant arc When I fear my creativity has deserted me, a rainbow that materializes in front of my eyes reassures me and I can face the blank page again. Quanto temo... Read more →

nocciole / hazelnuts

fragrant nuts Sometimes, as I go about doing things in the kitchen, I stop my hands and take a moment to admire the combination of shapes and colors my eyes see, to inhale more deeply the smell that comes from the food I am touching, to follow the faint echo of the noise I am no longer making. Those are preciously simple moments and while the camera can capture only a portion of the experience, I often like to reach for it and fix the image on its memory card. The other day, while I was chopping toasted hazelnuts in a... Read more →

rohlíky: panini cechi / Czech bread rolls

impossible not to eat one — or two Another European country — another bread. Our virtual tour of the EU has reached the Czech Republic and to honor it, I baked a beloved traditional bread roll called rohlík (plural: rohlíky, as Káta kindly told me). When I read expatriates wax poetic about a bread, I want to bake it. This has happened recently with the Maltese bread called ftira and now with rohlík. Trust the expats: they know what it means to miss a food they love. In reading about rohlík, I immediately learned that it is the Czech version of... Read more →