briciole

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 →

red beet, avocado, blood orange and daikon salad / insalata di barbabietola rossa, avocado, arancia rossa e ravanelli

jump to Recipe before tossing (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is the memoir Where I Come From by chef Aarón Sánchez1. I didn't know him before reading the book, but a few pages into it, I realized a few year ago I had met his mother, Zarela Martinez. She had been described to me as the chef who introduced Mexican cuisine to New York. It was interesting to read her story told by her son: what an amazing woman! On July 21, 19822 the NY Times published an article by Craig Claiborne titled... Read more →

lentil spread / crema (da spalmare) di lenticchie

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] small lentils, big flavor (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) After reading the first six Adam Dalgliesh novels by P.D. James in order of publication, I skipped to #11 Death in Holy Orders which I purchased some time ago at a library sale. Then last month, at a local bookstore, I picked The Lighthouse which is #13 (2005). Death in Holy Orders ended with Commander Dalgliesh (Metropolitan Police Service at New Scotland Yard) in love with Emma Lavenham and I was glad to see her still in his life in The Lighthouse. I love P.D.... Read more →

vegetable and quinoa salad / insalata di verdure e quinoa

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] ingredients ready to be turned into a salad (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Last summer I started taking photos of produce I brought back from the farmers' market. I enjoy letting fresh vegetables take center stage before they are transformed into dishes. Some of you will wonder: What about the quinoa? It comes from a local farm too.1 Lake Llanquihue and Osorno in the background (image taken outside Puerto Varas, Chile) One of my last restaurant meals before the pandemic changed our lives was in a delightful place called El Humedal2 (the wetland) in... Read more →

romanesco broccoli soup / zuppa di broccolo romanesco

jump to Recipe comfort soup for winter evenings (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Eat Joy: Stories & Comfort Food From 31 Celebrated Writers, edited by Natalie Eve Garrett 1, a collection of short pieces focused on food memories, some joyful, some painful, all interesting. Each writer shares a moment or an aspect of their life, describes the food associated with it and provides the recipe. It is a pleasant read, a reminder of our deep connection with food which crosses nationalities and cultures and brings us together as humans. In the years... Read more →

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

jump to Recipe 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,... Read more →

tromboncino squash soup / zuppa di zucchetta

jump to Recipe creamy delight (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) In the year of COVID, in the summer (and now fall) of fires, I am clinging to cooking and reading to keep my balance. Among my to-read books, I recently chose a novel by the late Swedish author Henning Mankell (without Kurt Wallander2 as protagonist): The Man from Beijing.1 The book opens with a horrific mass murder in a remote Swedish village. Judge Birgitta Roslin, who is connected to some of the victims, gets involved the case, whose roots go back in time and space to the construction of the... Read more →

konjac noodles and kelp noodles with greens and mushrooms / pasta di konjac e pasta di alghe con verdure a foglia verde e funghi

a bowl of great flavors (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our Cook the Books Club selection this time brings us to China (Cina) with the novel Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah1, which follows the adventures of the two Lee sisters in Beijing (Pechino). Born and raised in New Jersey, the sisters follow different careers: Claire becomes a lawyer and moves to the Chinese capital to work for a prestigious firm, while Isabelle works as a fact-checker at a magazine in New York and wants to be a writer. Isabelle loses her job in a bad way and her boyfriend ends... Read more →

summer side dish: zucchini, carrots and tomatoes / contorno estivo: zucchine, carote e pomodorini

summer on the plate (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet by Kim Adrian1 is the most engrossing memoir I have ever read and one I heartily recommend. The writing is delicate and evocative. The author tells her difficult, often deeply painful, story through vignettes organized in glossary format. The vignettes work like pieces of a puzzle: as the book proceeds, the reader reconstructs the lives of the main characters—the author, her parents and her sister. Adrian's husband and children also play an important role, one of hope, as we see that she has been able... Read more →

date energy bites / bocconcini ai datteri

simple ingredients rolled into energy bites (bar board and coaster by BHV Woodworks, napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) After reading Laurie King's Garment of Shadows, 12th of the Mary Russell novels, I decided to read the first: The Beekper's Apprentice, originally published in 1994. A 20th anniversary edition was issued in 2014 with a new introduction by the author and that is the volume I read. The novel is narrated in first person by Mary Russell a young woman who meets semi-retired Sherlock Holmes while roaming the English countryside—in Sussex, where he is living with Mrs. Hudson—and becomes his investigative... Read more →