briciole

bean, tomato, sweet pepper and corn salad / insalata di fagioli, pomodori, peperoni dolci e mais

jump to Recipe bright colors and flavors on the plate (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd1. The novel is set in South Carolina in 1964. Young Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped by her mother's death and a violent father, and stand-in mother Rosaleen run away from their home and hometown and find refuge in the house of the three Boatwright sisters in Tiburon, South Carolina—a town that is somehow connected to Lily's mother's past. Lily learns about bees, beekeeping, making honey (miele)... Read more →

shishito peppers with cheese / peperoni shishito col formaggio

jump to Recipe sweet and crunchy with a note of cheese (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Family Tree by Susan Wiggs1. The novel follow Annie as the life she thought was perfect shatters (physically, as she is the victim of a major accident, and emotionally, as the accident happens on the heels of her discovering her husband's infidelity) and is slowly rebuilt. I don't think the publisher's description "powerful, emotionally complex story" applies. However, if you enjoy stories about second chances, family and small towns you may like this novel. pretty in... Read more →

skillet-cooked asparagus with eggs / asparagi in padella con le uova

jump to Recipe a simple combination, a delicious dish (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley1. This was my first time not only choosing a graphic memoir (or novel) for our Club, but also reading one. I thoroughly enjoyed following Lucy's life adventures and her connection with various foods. The graphic medium lends itself nicely to Lucy's stories and the recipes ending the chapters come to life in her drawings. I prepared mushrooms according to her mother's recipe (after Julia Child) and the result was... Read more →

winter squash and beans / zucca e fagioli

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] a simple pairing with a lot of flavor (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) This is my interpretation of a traditional dish from Italy. The first recipe I read uses black-eyed peas (fagioli dall'occhio) so that's what I used in my first version, together with some Musquée de Provence squash I found at the farmers' market. I then read other recipes which referenced "white beans" (fagioli bianchi). I had some Zolfino bean1 (fagiolo zolfino), an Italian heirloom variety, so I used that. For my final try, I used locally grown organic Yellow Eye beans, which... Read more →

savoy cabbage with egg and cheese / pipetto (verza con uovo e formaggio)

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] version with purple savoy cabbage (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Pipetto1 is a comforting side dish from Crema (a city in Lombardy, northern Italy): savoy cabbage with a mix of spices (noce moscata, pepe nero, cannella, chiodi di garofano), egg and cheese, perfect for winter. I found different recipes for it and below is my rendition. pretty purple variety of savoy cabbage (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) As the photo shows, I have made the dish with both green and purple savoy cabbage and both were excellent. version with green savoy cabbage (ceramic... Read more →

Turkish-style celeriac (celery root) / sedano rapa stile turco

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] a comforting dish with winter vegetables (dish by @fem_pottery, placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Cold weather makes me crave comforting dishes, with a solid flavor. This is my rendition of the Turkish dish Zeytinyağlı Kereviz, where kereviz means celeriac (also called celery root) and zeytinyağlı describes the cooking method, in olive oil. Celeriac is a beautiful root vegetable with a mild celery flavor and a sweet note when cooked. It is hard to miss when displayed at the farmers' market. (The photo above is from a few years ago.) As I was experimenting with... Read more →

farrecchiata: polenta di roveja

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] a personal take on a traditional Umbrian dish (dish by @fem_pottery, placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller1. The novel tells the story of Olivia Rawlings, pastry chef in an exclusive club in Boston, who, after losing her job, takes refuge in the town of Guthrie, Vermont. The connection to Guthrie is her friend Hannah, who lives there with her husband. Olivia is hired as pastry chef at the local inn and quickly gets involved in town's activities.... Read more →

quinoa atamalada / quinoa "tipo tamale"

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] flavorful quinoa served in a ceramic dish by @fem_pottery (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) In looking for a recipe that features quinoa1 I found one with an intriguing name: atamalada2 "tamale-like." What I like about this dish is that the quinoa is flavorful but not strongly so and accompanies well other dishes, like roasted vegetables, which I am preparing often these days. perfect as accompaniment to roasted vegetables (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) I was also intrigued by the use of aji amarillo paste3 and set about making my own. some of the... Read more →

red chimichurri / chimichurri rosso

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] red chimichurri (chopped ingredients) (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love by Kim Fay1. The novel, set on the West Coast in the early 1960's, tells the story of the friendship between two women that develops through the exchange of letters started by Joan, who writes a fan letter to Imogen and encloses a packet of saffron (zafferano) and a recipe. From there, we follow the development of their friendship with the sharing of personal life details and... Read more →

roasted eggplant with tomato sauce and yogurt / melanzane arrosto con sugo di pomodoro e yogurt

jump to Recipe [versione in italiano] eggplant and tomatoes: summer on a plate (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) The combination of eggplant and tomatoes is a favorite of mine. A summer dish I particularly enjoy is my version of parmigiana di melanzane, where I roast the two main ingredients and use two types of cheese1. A few years ago, I made a Persian dish that brings together eggplant and tomatoes with yellow split pea1. Eggplant is a popular vegetable in the Middle East, as baba ganoush lovers may know. Recently I discovered a couple of eggplant recipes from Afghanistan, including... Read more →