briciole

vermicelli di riso fatti in casa / homemade bun rice noodles

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] western-style broth meets eastern-style rice noodles The eighth stop of our World Culinary ABC1 is Vietnam. To celebrate our virtual visit I made bun rice noodles from scratch. Making an Asian pasta had been on my to-do list for a long time. Having found a detailed recipe from a reputable source2, I went to work: the process was interesting and the result quite nice. The original recipe calls for a pound of rice flour, but I applied the rule I repeat in each of my pasta posts3 and quartered the quantities. Please,... Read more →

risotto al gorgonzola / risotto with gorgonzola cheese

white beauty Lake Como (Lago di Como) is one of the jewels of that treasure called Italy. It is famous around the world and rightly so. I cannot think of a stretch of it that is not worth visiting and no matter from which direction you approach it, you'll fall in love with it. Living in Milan means having easy access to Lake Como. Many a Sunday, a short train ride would bring me to the station in Como. I had a friend in the city and with her I would spend some time sunbathing on the lake shore and then... Read more →

risi e bisi / rice and peas

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] risi e bisi Peas (piselli) mean spring, but I am happy to be eating them in early summer too. In the first three CSA boxes of the season, I received a nice amount of them. They were actually of the kind that you can eat the pod as well (mangiatutto, in Italian), and I did so with most of them, using an old recipe. However, I really had a lot and in looking at the nice and plump peas, I decided it was time to try to make risi e bisi, a... Read more →

risotto alle fragole / strawberry risotto

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] strawberry risotto Berries and risotto make a enticing duo: my risotto ai lamponi (raspberry risotto) and risotto alle more are not only pretty, but also surprising in their ability to deliver a satisfying berry flavor in a savory dish. While I was immediately successful in marrying risotto with two kinds of berries, with a third one, strawberries, I could not strike the right note. I tried three variations, but the result did not satisfy me completely, so I gave up. Last year, I learned about roasting strawberries and successfully adapted the technique... Read more →

riso rosso bhutanese con bietola novella / Bhutanese red rice with baby Swiss chard

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] This story starts with a plan for risotto with baby Swiss chard (bietola, also called bieta) from my little vegetable garden. That was Plan A and it had to be shelved due to an insufficient amount of Carnaroli rice in the box. Plan B, which entailed the use of Arborio rice, had to be shelved too, for the same reason. Clearly, my pantry (dispensa) inventory tracking system is not working properly. Plan C started to take the shape of using whole-grain Carnaroli rice, when the small bag of red Bhutanese rice found... Read more →

Novel Food #10: risotto all'arancia / orange risotto

ready to be savored Years ago, I found a copy of Michael Dibdin's Ratking in the room of the resort where I was vacationing. I was intrigued by the fact that the story was set in my home town of Perugia, so I read it. Later on, I learned that Dibdin (who died in 2007) had taught at the university there. I have since read a few more novels by him, all featuring police inspector Aurelio Zen and each set in a different part of Italy. All the novels I have read contain interesting references to food and drink. In Back... Read more →

risotto ai porri / leek risotto

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of Melbourne Food Geek and Jess of Jess the baker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf. The recipes are available here. I make risotto very often and I like to create variations on the theme, as it can be inferred from the recipes I have posted in the past: risotto ai lamponi (raspberry risotto), risotto alle more (blackberry risotto) and risotto integrale al pomodoro e... Read more →

la stagione dei lamponi / raspberry season

I love raspberries, so I was looking forward to the arrival of raspberry season. This week I had two baskets that I had to consume immediately, so I made risotto ai lamponi (raspberry risotto) and gelato alla vaniglia variegato al lampone (raspberry-marbled vanilla ice cream), both colorful dishes. The risotto is quite pretty, besides being tasty. You will find my recipe in this post from last year. When I prepared the risotto last week, I had just made a batch of mascarpone and used two tablespoons of it to finish the risotto, instead of the fresh chèvre. This week, I used... Read more →

risotto integrale al pomodoro e salvia / whole-grain risotto with tomato and sage

whole-grain Carnaroli rice Among the things (not all of them edible) that I brought back from Italy, there is a package of riso Carnaroli integrale (whole-grain Carnaroli rice) purchased at the farmers' market in Milan. The rice is grown in a farm (azienda agricola) not far from the city. The label describes the product as non trattato, which I interpret as meaning that no chemicals were used in growing it. The farm can be visited, and this is something I would like to do the next time I am in the area. pineapple sage In the meantime, I used the riso... Read more →

risotto alle more / blackberry risotto

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] Another season of blackberry picking has started in my neighborhood and it found me ready to explore uncharted territory. After using more mostly to make sorbetto (sorbet), this year I have expanded my repertoire to include plum and blackberry spread (sweetened with honey), and risotto alle more. About a month ago, I wrote about risotto ai lamponi and the combination of ingredients I devised for raspberries works also very well for blackberries. I actually tried varying a couple of components, but comparison tasting favored the shallot and thyme base. The one variation... Read more →