briciole

sweet potato (kumara) and winter squash soup / zuppa di patata dolce (kumara) e zucca

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] an inviting bowl of soup (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) The 23rd country of our World Culinary ABC1 is New Zealand (Nuova Zelanda), a country we visited 11 years ago. I have a trunkful of great memories from the trip and only a thimbleful of space here, so the following is just a taste (assaggio). Karekare2, the beach made famous by the movie The Piano (North Island). We kayaked in many places, including the Kenepuru Sound (one of the Marlborough Sounds in the South Island) and Lake Manapouri4 (South Island). The... Read more →

orecchiette (strascnat, handmade pasta)

strascnat (orecchiette) with crescenza cheese Orecchiette literally means “small ears” (orecchie means ears in Italian). To make them, small pieces of dough are drawn across the wooden board with a blunt-tipped knife, or are stretched and turned inside out on a fingertip. The latter method is the one I showed in my previous posts on orecchiette.1 A video of a woman from Bari making strascnat (the name used in that city for orecchiette)2 revealed to me the beauty of the former method. As the woman interviewed in this article3 (in Italian) says: "the women of Bari use the knife, the women... Read more →

eggplant caviar (ikra) / caviale di melanzane

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] help yourself: it won't last long (tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO) The 22nd country of our World Culinary ABC1 is Russia (Russia). In researching dishes from that country I happened upon an interesting cookbook Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook by Anya Von Bremzen, John Welchman2 where I read about Vegetable Caviars: "The Russians adore caviar and they love vegetables. So, voilà! the perfect culinary hybrid. These vegetable caviars have a terrific reputation." I was intrigued by that with eggplant (ikra), of which, I soon discovered, there are countless versions.... Read more →