briciole

stuffed zucchini / zucchine ripiene

a delicious pair on a plate (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) The June-July selection of the Cook the Books club was Garlic and Sapphires, The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl1. The author is well known for her sparkling prose and engaging way of talking about food—the latter skill honed during her career as food critic, which is the subject of this memoir. Readers interested in restaurants in NYC and the life of a restaurant reviewer will find the book entertaining. To be honest, I am neither. I think that her first memoir, Tender at the... Read more →

pecan parcels (apricots stuffed with pecans and pancetta) / albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] sweet, salty, soft, crunchy: the best of all worlds It is stone fruit season! There are plums (prugne) and apricots (albicocche) and then plumcots, pluots and apriums. More than a century ago, horticulturalist Luther Burbank bred the plumcot with a 50-50 plum and apricot split. However, it was Floyd Zaiger who revolutionized the fruit and made it widely available. Zaiger bred the plumcot with a plum to create the pluot — three-fifths plum and two-fifths apricot — and coined the trademarked moniker. While the plumcot is a simple plum and apricot cross,... Read more →

Novel Food #33: the finale

Welcome to the roundup of the 33rd 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. I continue to host this event with great pleasure, as it brings together two of my passions: literature and food. Every edition delivers a great reading list and a lovely set of recipes. A group of book-loving food bloggers has contributed posts, each describing a literary work and the dish that the reading inspired. You are invited to follow me on a... Read more →