briciole

kohlrabi slaw with fresh fruit / insalata di cavolo rapa, carota e frutta fresca

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] fresh fruit turns kohlrabi slaw sweet Pale green or purple, kohlrabi is a stunning vegetable, with its bulbous enlarged stem and its crown of leaves. The name kohlrabi comes, via German, from the Italian cavolo rapa and literally means 'turnip cabbage'. However, kohlrabi is not a turnip, but a cultivar of Brassica oleracea, a species that includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale. Kohlrabi is a versatile vegetable: you can eat it raw, add it to soups and stews, shred it to make fritters or slice and grill it, or cube and roast it. Regardless of the... Read more →

vegan zucchini side dish / contorno di zucchine vegano

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] a light, flavorful side dish (linen napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is the novel Honeysuckle Season by Mary Ellen Taylor1 an author I featured in a post last year with her novel Winter Cottage2. Both novels are centered around a mansion, whose walls know secrets that the reader learns as chapter follows chapter and the story moves back and forth between present and past. In Honeysuckle Season, the protagonist, Libby, finds out who her biological parents were and also finds love and the realization of her wishes.... Read more →

spinach with cheese and chocolate / spinaci con formaggio e cioccolato

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] fresh spinach with cheese and a touch of chocolate (linen placemat from La FABBRICA del LINO) The inspiration for this dish came from three sources: 1) fresh spinach leaves from the farmers' market1 (see photo below), 2) a recipe for spinach and goat cheese quiche2 and 3) my husband's use of grated chocolate on leafy greens. After reading the quiche recipe quickly I thought it called for the goat cheese (caprino) to be layered under the spinach: a closer reading revealed a misunderstanding on my part, but I stuck to the idea. My husband uses... Read more →

leek gratin / porri gratinati

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] leeks and cheese: nothing else needed (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) I love leeks both as an ingredient and on their own1. Leeks make every dish to which you add them more flavorful, but in a delicate way as they are not overwhelming. Given my preference, I consume large amounts of leeks, particularly when I can get them fresh at the farmers' market. an abundance of leeks The first dish I ate made with leeks, many years ago, was a gratin. One of my roommates in Milan made a version on the rich side.... Read more →

roasted cauliflower with za'atar / cavolfiore arrosto con za'atar

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] it looks plain, it tastes deep When I walk or ride my bike around Berkeley, I stop at some of the Little Free Libraries on my way. In one of them I found The Cost of Living: Early and Uncollected Stories1 by Mavis Gallant2. I didn't know the author, but the blurb on the back cover made me curious, so I put the book in my backpack. The short stories have a common characteristic: tension, sometimes quite high, runs just under the surface and reveals itself in geysers of emotion. I enjoyed... Read more →

celery omelette / omelette con sedano

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] celery omelette topped with some mashed avocado (tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO) Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson called out at me from a table at a library book sale and just like the country in which is it set, Norway, it grabbed me immediately. The sky, the woods, the water, everything is expansive in Norway, majestic, yet quiet. Petterson's prose is like that. Life's familiar themes—friendship, love, loss, betrayal, coming of age, aging—play a role in the story of Trond Sander, the 67-year-old protagonist. I imagined to be sitting in... 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 →

gluten-free breaded baked cod bites / bocconcini di merluzzo impanati al forno (senza glutine)

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] sitting down to a nice lunch (table runner by La FABBRICA del LINO) As a child I didn't like fish, particularly fried fish (pesce fritto). On the other hand, I liked other fried food my mother made: breaded meat (cotoletta) or chicken breast, battered cauliflower florets, potato croquettes (crocchette di patate) and of course supplì (rice croquette). Later in life I learned to like fish. In general, I don't deep-fry in my kitchen, but I like the crisp crust (crosticina) foods acquire when breaded and fried. Baking breaded foods approximates the result... Read more →

ćevapčići / ćevapi (sausages / polpette)

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] Ćevapi (or ćevapčići) are Balkan caseless sausages (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) The 26th country of our World Culinary ABC1 is Croatia (Croazia). It is the last stop of our world tour and I find it nice to end home. My maternal grandmother (nonna materna) was Croatian, from a village near Split (Spalato in Italian). I have been in the country only once, many years ago, before the war, and have many special memories. I am looking forward to visiting it again one day. Those memories include the taste of foods... Read more →

arganak: Armenian chicken soup with meatballs / zuppa armena con polpette

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] soup with surprise (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) The 25th country of our World Culinary ABC1 is Armenia and the book I just finished reading is Still Writing by Dani Shapiro.2 The two events are connected because the book made me want to cook a special soup for the author and the list of traditional Armenian soups made me choose arganak: "chicken soup with small meatballs, garnished before serving with beaten egg yolks, lemon juice, and parsley"3 (tuorli, succo di limone e prezzemolo). Sounds appealing, doesn't it? The title of the... Read more →