briciole

honeynut squash, blue cheese and walnut bites / bocconcini di zucca, formaggio erborinato e noci

Appetizer in progress (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is the novel The Secret, Book and Scone Society by Ellery Adams1, a mystery that revolves mainly around a bookstore (libreria). The bookstore's owner, Nora, having once been healed by books, has chosen to do the same with other people. Besides Nora, the society of the title includes three other women, quite different from each other, each with a secret, a story she will at some point share. One of them is a baker with a special gift of baking 'personalized' scones, which evoke intense... Read more →

Persian herb and greens frittata / frittata persiana di verdure ed erbe

green to celebrate spring (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our Cook the Books Club selection this time brings us to Ireland (Irlanda), yet the flavors are those of Iran (whose cuisine we savored also in a recent edition1). The novel Pomegranate Soup, by Marsha Mehran2 (zuppa di melograno), follows the adventures of the three Aminpour sisters, who escape from political turmoil in their native country to the UK and ultimately settle in the small Irish town of Ballinacroagh, where they open a small café serving dishes from their home country. The novel's cast includes the sisters' landlady, the town's priest,... Read more →

artichokes, fava beans and sausage / carciofi, fave e salsiccia

satisfying spring flavors (sapori di primavera) (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO, cheeseboard by BHVwoodworks) Reading Buttermilk Graffiti1 by Edward Lee, the current selection of the Cook the Books club, was a pleasure from the first to the last page. Lee is a great storyteller: he brings the readers with him in his travels, inside every eating establishment he visits, next to every person he talks to. Together with the more factual details of his 16 stories, each centered around a place with specific food traditions, he shares doses of personal opinions, memories, experiences. Each chapter of the book ends with... Read more →

artichoke spread / paté di carciofi

creamy distillation of artichokes A recent visit to the local bookstore resulted in the purchase of the novel The Goldfinch by the American author Donna Tartt.1 Published in 2013, The Goldfinch won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, among other honors. Distinctly Dickensian in breadth, The Goldfinch grabbed my attention from the mysterious opening pages, and soon I found myself deeply interested in the adventures of the protagonist, Theo Decker, who reminded me a lot of Pip, the protagonist of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The first person point of view works well in the story. The title refers to a... 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 →

mushroom and egg salad / insalata di funghi e uova

a pretty bowl of mushroom and egg salad I simply loved Anya von Bremzen's Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food & Longing1, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club. The story is interesting: von Bremzen describes her and her family's life in the context of the political changes in Russia, the Soviet Union, then Russia again. Her style of writing is engaging — with the right balance of humor and seriousness. The food she describes is intriguing: even when we don't feel like we want to taste it, the emotional context comes alive in her... Read more →

slow-roasted heirloom tomato gazpacho / gazpacho di pomodori semisecchi al forno

bright colors and flavors (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) A soup lover like me1 was excited to get a copy of Soup Swap: Comforting Recipes to Make and Share2 the new cookbook by Kathy Gunst3, Resident Chef for NPR's "Here and Now." If the idea of hosting or attending a Soup Swap Party sounds appealing is because it is: the book provides suggestions and tips for a successful event. Rest assured, though: you don't need to be planning a party to enjoy the book. Its recipes are dedicated to soup lovers of all sizes and flavors: they include vegetarian, vegan,... Read more →

onion and ricotta tart / torta salata con cipolle e ricotta

onion and ricotta tart in good company (tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO) In her memoir Unearthed: Love, Acceptance, and Other Lessons from an Abandoned Garden1 author Alexandra Risen2 tells two stories of discovery: one pertains the garden around the house into which she moves with her husband and young son and the other pertains her Ukrainian-born parents, who were displaced by WWII and finally migrated to Edmonton, Canada, in 1953. The book is a pleasure to read. Each chapter moves forward both the story of the garden's restoration / development and Risen's personal journey through her earlier life and her... Read more →

gluten-free seed crackers / cracker di semi (senza glutine)

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] cheese, seed crackers and red walnuts1 (table runner by La FABBRICA del LINO) Please, have your cake or pie and eat my portion too. I am happy with the small plate in the photo. The cheeses are (from the left): Garroxta (goat milk, Catalonia), my homemade Gouda with pecans, Blu di Caravaggio (buffalo milk, Italy; my favorite blue cheese). And the crackers are a perfect accompaniment for all of them. sesame, pumpkin, sunflower, chia and hemp seeds (semi di sesamo, di zucca, di girasole, di chia e di canapa) The current selection... 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 →