briciole

stuffed zucchini / zucchine ripiene

a delicious pair on a plate (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) The June-July selection of the Cook the Books club was Garlic and Sapphires, The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl1. The author is well known for her sparkling prose and engaging way of talking about food—the latter skill honed during her career as food critic, which is the subject of this memoir. Readers interested in restaurants in NYC and the life of a restaurant reviewer will find the book entertaining. To be honest, I am neither. I think that her first memoir, Tender at the... 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 →

Novel Food #33: the finale

Welcome to the roundup of the 33rd edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I created in 2007. Novel Food is about literary works (prose or poetry) that inspire the preparation of dishes. I continue to host this event with great pleasure, as it brings together two of my passions: literature and food. Every edition delivers a great reading list and a lovely set of recipes. A group of book-loving food bloggers has contributed posts, each describing a literary work and the dish that the reading inspired. You are invited to follow me on a... Read more →

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali al cioccolato e noci

everything is better with chocolate, including bread (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) On a recent visit to a local bookstore, I purchased Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout1. A friend had told me the movie was really good, but I rarely watch TV, so the recommendation made me buy the book. I loved every page of it. The writing is superb and the characters of the stories are drawn with delicacy, precision and empathy. I also like the author's choice in writing a collection of short stories, rather than a novel. In some of them Olive is the protagonist, in others... Read more →

sugar snap peas with pancetta and pine nuts / piselli mangiatutto con pancetta e pinoli

sugar snap peas with pancetta and pine nuts (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) Opening a book and starting to read it is one the sweetest of life pleasures. Planning and executing a recipe is another. When I am invited to do both, I cannot refuse. Jenna Blum's The Lost Family1,2,3 is a novel rich in strong characters. Not only the main ones, Peter, June and their daughter Elsbeth, but also those in their lives, from Masha, the wife Peter lost, to Ruth and Sol, the cousins who took in Peter when he emigrated to the US, to Gregg, June's first... Read more →

Announcing: Novel Food #33

Spring is on its way and with it comes another edition of Novel Food, the culinary/literary event with a long history, going back to the fall of 2007. I read a lot and cook a lot and although many things in my life have changed in the 11 years since I started my blog, those two pillars still stand and support me. I am announcing another edition of Novel Food, a little voyage of literary discovery and also a delightful party with the literary-inspired dishes contributed by event's participants. I hope you will join. I am looking forward to learning about... Read more →

mild chili oil / olio al pepe di Sichuan

pretty in red (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) While I was reading the current selection of the Cook the Books club, Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop1 we spent a couple of days in Ashland, OR, to watch three plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. One of my stops during our visit was The Spice and Tea Exchange2, a favorite store, where I like to explore shelves of spices (spezie), custom blends, and teas. In the pepper section, a glass jar labeled Szechuan Pepper Berry introduced me to the spice of... Read more →

Novel Food #32: the finale

Welcome to the roundup of the 32nd edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I created in 2007. Novel Food is about literary works (prose or poetry) that inspire the preparation of dishes. I continue to host this event with great pleasure, as it brings together two of my passions: literature and food. Every edition delivers a great reading list and a lovely set of recipes. Book-loving food bloggers have contributed posts, each describing a literary work that the blogger read and the dish that the reading inspired. Please, follow me on a short literary/culinary... Read more →

chocolate love: mole poblano

a vegan version of mole poblano that goes with vegetables (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) In September 2014, I attended LongHouse, where I met Carlos Gaytan, chef of the restaurant Mexique in Chicago1. He brought his mole sauce to the event and I fell in love with something I had not tasted before. Since then, I have kept alive a desire to make a version of mole poblano and finally the current selection of the Cook the Books club, The Discovery of Chocolate by James Runcie2 gave me the necessary nudge. In this historical novel, young Diego travels to the... Read more →

"empty the crisper" side dish / contorno "svuota frigorifero"

there is no secret, though there is a sauce (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO) I enjoyed reading the novel Among the Lesser Gods by Margo Catts1 more than I expected. I read Deb of Kahakai Kitchen's review2 tried my luck at her giveaway and won a copy. Once I started reading the book, it was hard to put it down: I wanted to know whether Elena would sort out her life, how the children she takes care of would adjust to their new life, whether the truth of Elena's aunt's disappearance decades earlier would eventually emerge. Everything in the book... Read more →