briciole

skorpor: crostini svedesi / Swedish rusks

crisp skorpor up for grabs on Double Creek Pottery plate on La FABBRICA del LINO placemat In the kitchen of the house in upstate New York where I spent a few days at a retreat last September, there was a bookshelf of cookbooks. My right hand pulled out Favorite Swedish Recipes by Emmie Berg and while I paged through it, the recipe for Round Rusks (Brutna skorpor) locked my attention. Skorpor are popular Swedish rusks and a rusk is a light, dry biscuit or a piece of twice-baked bread. There is a version of rusk in many other traditions: for example,... Read more →

torciglione

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] it's sweet — once you go past its fierce look Every region of Italy has specific Holiday food traditions. Torciglione is a sweet treat from Umbria, the region in central Italy where I was born and grew up. As my parents were originally from another region, making torciglione was not part of my family traditions. I started making it some years ago and I am presenting it again here (the earlier post is here). As a child, I was intrigued by its snakelike shape and loved its crunchy texture and intense almond... Read more →

crostata con crema all'aceto / vinegar tart

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] Italianized vinegar pie on Italian linen (from La FABBRICA del LINO) Bob Dollar, the protagonist of That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx, which is the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, is a shy man confused about his place in the world, who finds himself transplanted in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, a place full of interesting characters and rich in local customs and stories, a sliver of America in space and time. The states of Texas and Oklahoma stacked like dirty pots in the sink, their... Read more →

focaccia alla zucca con formaggio / pumpkin and cheese focaccia

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] homemade focaccia and cheese on Hawaiian board on Italian linen (from La FABBRICA del LINO) In the fall, I hoard pumpkins and winter squashes: they keep well and are a source of nourishment and inspiration for months. One specimen, once roasted, yielded enough pulp for several dampers (Australian bread) and focacce (Italian plural of focaccia). I got the general idea from this recipe, then mostly followed my taste and my recent recipe for pear and rosemary focaccia. The pumpkin (zucca) gives the focaccia a nice golden color, the cheese offsets the pumpkin's... Read more →

damper: pane australiano / damper: Australian bread

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a taste of Australia on Italian linen (from la FABBRICA del LINO) The third stop of our World Culinary ABC is Australia, a country I visited a number of years ago. Highlights of that trip were: the visit to Sydney and its iconic Opera House, snorkeling around Lizard Island, on the Great Barrier Reef (Grande Barriera Corallina) a week touring Tasmania, where I found myself in a rainforest (foresta pluviale) for the first time in my life (and the seaplane flight into it was also memorable), close encounters with adorable animals like... Read more →

scone ai cachi / persimmon scones

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] fall favorite fruit: an unripe Hachiya (left) and a Fuyu (right) Persimmons make me happy: it's a simple as that. In this recipe, I use some ripe and some dried persimmon and also a new ingredient: grape seed flour (from a company called WholeVine, shown in the glass bowl on the photo above), which gives the scones a warm brown color. This is totally optional, so don't let the lack of it stop you from making these scones, which are our household current favorite. You probably know that, but it is worth... Read more →

scone pera e cocco / pear and coconut scones

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] freshly baked and ready to be eaten The World Culinary ABC has started with a lovely sojourn in Samoa (South Pacific). In researching the culinary traditions of the country, one thing became immediately clear: they use a lot of coconut (noce di cocco). I had unsweetened shredded coconut in my pantry and a jar of organic coconut oil (olio di cocco) still sealed — ready for a chance to prove itself in a baking good. I found references to skogi, Samoan scones, but could not find a recipe. As I was already... Read more →

focaccia alle pere e rosmarino / pear and rosemary focaccia

putting the new pear crop to good use Last June, I realized a wish I had held in my heart for many years: I learned to row (remare). Upon hearing of my new activity, one of my neighbors lent me The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. She thought I would enjoy the book and she was right. It tells the true story of "nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Olympic Games." The book trailer gives you an idea of the main story. The book sets that story within its historical context (the Great... Read more →

pomodori semisecchi al forno / slow-roasted heirloom tomatoes

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] when life gives you heirloom tomatoes... An abundance of organic heirloom tomatoes is a great problem to have, but one that requires a speedy solution. you start with some of these beauties When I came back from our vacation between sea and sky, two CSA boxes were waiting for me, both rich in heirloom tomatoes clamoring for immediate consumption. gorgeous in black and white (Virginia Sweets in the foreground) I asked my oven for help. Heirloom tomatoes do not lend themselves to be prepared according to my recipe for passata. Therefore, I... Read more →

crostata di pesche / peach tart

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a splendid sun Through Neukom Family Farm, this summer life has been giving me a steady stream of peaches. As I eat them, I stash my sensory memory, so once the long peach-less months set in, I will close my eyes and take a large virtual bite, feel the juice flood my mouth and trickle down my hand, taste the sun in the soft flesh of the beloved sweet summer fruit. I roasted peaches and made our family's favorite frittata. I baked a good number of peach, berry and rhubarb cobbler. I... Read more →