briciole

cagliata / cheese curds

a quick peek under the cloth When I make cheese, my kitchen acquires a luminous quality. The pearly white of milk and curds reminds me of Galadriel, the royal Elf, as protrayed by Cate Blanchett in The Lord of the Rings movies. I took the photo while making Crescenza, a soft cheese I have been using most recently to dress chestnut flour handmade spaghetti to stuff homemade pita together with baby kale to top a savory tart This week, I have the honor of hosting Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook... Read more →

Q come Quarkkeulchen / Q like Quarkkeulchen

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] highway to the sky One morning in early March, a good number of years ago, I boarded a train at Milan's Stazione Centrale. After crossing the border, the train glided across Switzerland, breaking the silence of meadows and woods sleeping peacefully under a thick blanket of snow. After the sun set, it became more difficult to follow the progress of my journey and I settled with my book. Around 10 pm, the train arrived at Cologne Central Station (Köln Hauptbahnhof) and I got off. The brisk air carried the memory of recent... Read more →

crostata di pere asiatiche e formaggio Quark / Asian pear and Quark cheese tart

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a symphony in three layers You know how they say that subscribing to a CSA makes you learn to use new types of produce? Well, it is true. Asian pears look charming with their distinctive portly shape, exuding authority and the worldly wisdom of someone who has traveled from afar. When I started receiving freshly picked organic Asian pears of the varieties Shinko and Nijisseki (a.k.a. 20th Century, see photo below) in my weekly CSA box a few years ago, I got down to becoming friends with them. When in doubt, ask... Read more →

pane alla zucca con siero di latte / winter squash and whey bread

a beautiful bread As I was taking my seat at the Zellerbach Playhouse in Berkeley, one October evening in 2005, the man next to me warned me about the play that would soon start: “It’s all in Italian.” I thanked him with a smile and confessed I spoke the language. In fact, I had seen the same rendition of the play, Arlecchino servitore di due padroni (Servant of Two Masters), some years prior, when I was still living in Milan and could not miss the opportunity to enjoy it again. Supertitles helped the audience navigate the fast dialog spoken not only... Read more →

cucinare coi fiori / cooking with flowers

calendulas from the farmers' market and freshly picked from my garden Ever since I started reading Cooking With Flowers, Sweet and Savory Recipes with Rose Petals, Lilacs, Lavender, and Other Edible Flowers by Miche Bacher I look at flowers with different eyes. I knew that a number of flowers were edible (commestibili), from zucchini blossoms (fiori di zucca) to herb flowers (which I have used, for example, in rye bread) to roses (which I have used to flavor ice cream). But I did not know that orchids are edible and so are daylilies and lilacs, to name just a few. FTC... Read more →

Havarti con aneto / dill Havarti

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] just sliced Traveling with the Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea (European Community Culinary ABC), we've arrived in Denmark (Danimarca). Finally, we are in a country I have visited, albeit briefly. It was in Denmark that I first experienced the long days characteristic of summer in northern Europe. One August, years ago, three friends of mine and I drove from Italy to Norway and back, a wonderful trip that brought us to seven countries: Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. On our way up, we visited Copenhagen, where I enjoyed our... Read more →

del formaggio, per favore / some cheese, please

homemade cheese and bread A slice of Leerdammer, one of Manchego plus some rye bread (pane di segale): that's what's in the spread above. Trust me, it's lovely. (In fact, it was eaten as soon as I finished taking photos.) I like sweet, nutty Leerdammer a lot, and I am very pleased with the nice holes it has. I wrote about my first attempt in this post and by comparing the results, you can see that my formaggio coi buchi looks much nicer now, thanks to a bit of practice during the past three years. The recipe I follow comes from... Read more →

Crescenza fatta in casa / homemade Crescenza

savoring the fruit of my labor Crescenza is a soft, rindless cheese from Lombardia that is great to eat on its own, to savor its fresh, milky flavor, or to use in cooking. A few weeks ago, I read this post, in which Ian, one of the participants in the Cheesepalooza event, described his experience making Crescenza according to Mary Karlin's recipe. I immediately decided to try making it. I found Ms. Karlin's recipe on this page, whereas Ian got it from her book Artisan Cheese Making at Home. [March 22, 2014 update: the page on Culture magazine's website referenced in... Read more →

Halloumi fatto in casa / homemade Halloumi

Halloumi and Anari from its leftover whey Halloumi is from the island of Cyprus and is characterized as a semi-hard, unripened, and brined cheese made traditionally from mostly sheep's milk with the addition of a smaller amount of goat's milk. Modern Halloumi is made from a mix of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes cow's milk is added. Thus Jim Wallace introduces this wonderful cheese on the page dedicated to his recipe for making Halloumi at home. Every month, Jim contributes a cheese recipe to the Moosletter, the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company newsletter and I look forward to receiving it... Read more →

una serata alla Scala e mascarpone / an evening at La Scala and mascarpone

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] Welcome to the Teatro alla Scala, the crown jewel of Italian opera theaters. the view from our box Three years ago, we spent a memorable evening in this dazzling place. my seat The small screen displays the subtitles. My husband was able to select the English version of the subtitles. bravi! We watched Gaetano Donizetti's Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali: it is an opera about staging an opera and is quite amusing. the front of the building Looking at il tempio della lirica (the temple of lyrical opera) always makes me think... Read more →