briciole

tegola

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

The French word tuile means (roofing) tile in English, tegola in Italian. The word is also used to indicate a thin, light cookie whose curved shape reminds one of a roofing tile. I find it interesting that a word originally indicating something rather heavy, is used to describe something that is the total opposite in terms of weight. In Italian, mi è caduta una tegola in testa (literally: a tile fell on my head) means: something serious and unexpected happened to me.

I like the idea of lightweight cookies in the shape of tegole, though I shaped my tuiles differently, as we were allowed to do. The challenge included different recipes (one of them savory) and I chose the first one, from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink (you can find all the recipes on the hosts' blogs here and here). The batter was easy to assemble and to work with. I had a sheet of mylar at home, which I used to create a stencil, with the help of a star-shaped and a heart-shaped cookie cutter. I also decided to try and spread the batter in a sort of free form that would allow me freedom in post-processing the tuiles, i.e., in shaping them after they were baked. I must admit I did not plan my actions in advance, so the whole process had an haphazard quality to it, or maybe I should say a creative quality.

I shaped the hearts and stars as well, using the top of a vitamin bottle and the tip of my wooden pestle to make small baskets. I rolled the free form (roughly rectangular) tuiles into cannoli and from there to making a lighter version of the famous Sicilian pastries (cannoli siciliani) was just a step, aided by the fact that I had some leftovers from the experiment described at the very end of my previous post. I sweetened the ricotta with a small quantity of lavender honey, then filled the cannoli, and finally decorated the ends with some diced candied orange peel. Not shown in the photo is the cocoa version of the cannoli, obtained by adding some cocoa powder to the batter. I decorated those with chocolate chips.

For the heart- and star-shaped tuiles, I chose a blueberry filling. I have a substantial amount of frozen mirtilli in my freezer, and love to use them in novel ways. I put some blueberries in a bowl, added a touch of miele (honey) and finely thawed them in the microwave, then let them cool. The assembled baskets were a pleasant surprise for my husband's breakfast and they were fun to photograph.

A special thank you goes to our hosts for their efforts and support: it was a nice challenge. I hope you will take the time to go around and look at the gorgeous creations of my talented fellow Daring Bakers.

Hear me pronounce the words on the tegola audio file [mp3] or go to the tegola audio page for more listening options.

ricotta fatta in casa (1)

homemade ricotta (1)

This will most probably be the first post on the topic, as my ricotta making is a work-in-progress. I will mention the different recipes that I have tried so far and give a short description of my experience with each one.

Kirstin of Vin de la Table has launched an event that, given my recent interest in making cheese and other dairy products at home, I could not miss, the Home Creamery Event. The event uses the book The Home Creamery by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley as guide. For the first edition of the event, and therefore the first shared effort, Kirstin has chosen ricotta. Here is the announcement, where you can read the rules. And here is the roundup of the first edition of the event.

The word ricotta comes from the Latin recoctus, meaning cooked again. The name describes the process whereby ricotta has been traditionally made in Italy for centuries (nay, millennia), by cooking again the whey (siero di latte) left over from cheese making. When the whey proteins (the most abundant of which is lactoglobulin¹) precipitate, they include air and coagulate in a mass that tends to float. The clots are collected with a slotted spoon and transferred into containers of varying sizes and materials (plastic, cloth, wicker) where ricotta is left to drain.

To increase the yield of the process, fresh milk (or cream) may be added to the whey. An acidifying agent helps the coagulation process. This may be citric acid, lactic acid (see the list of ingredients of this brand of ricotta I ate during my recent visit to Italy), or some acidified whey (called agra). Some salt is also usually added (and no other additives that I know of). The preceding remarks are generic: ricotta is made with whey from different kinds of milk (cow, ewe, goat, buffalo) after making different kinds of cheese, and regional traditions play a role.

My desire to make ricotta at home was one of the reasons I got interested in making cheese at home: I wanted to have the leftover whey (from milk to which cultures and rennet had been added) that would allow me to follow the ancient tradition. So far, I have tried four different recipes to make traditional ricotta. Note that I have been making ricotta using whey obtained by making different kinds of cheese (the Neufchâtel on this page [also on this page with photos], this basic hard cheese, some hard cheeses from the book Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll) and using a combination of whole, reduced-fat and non-fat milk and this has an effect on the characteristics of the whey I get.

1. The result of this recipe was creamy, with an acidic nuance. [photo above] It required patience in the draining process, as the clots were quite small, After I made three batches, I had enough to make a pastiera.
2. The recipe called "ricotta from heaven" from the book Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll: of delicate flavor, it also required a bit of patience in the draining process. [photo immediately below] Note that nothing is added to the whey in those two recipes.
   
   
3. The recipe at the bottom of this page (How to make this cheese: Ricotta from Whey) gave a better yield, since I added milk (non-fat) to the whey. It was not as creamy and was a bit bland in flavor. The ricotta was the easiest to handle: I just ladled the curds into the mold. [photo below — I later purchased a ricotta mold]
   
4. I repeated recipe #3, but used agra instead of citric acid and the result was my favorite so far. The ricotta was creamier and more flavorful (also a bit more difficult to drain, but still I did not use cloth). [sorry, no photo]

My plan for the immediate future is to repeat recipe #3 using less citric acid to evaluate the difference, then keep some agra for the next time, when I will repeat recipe #4³.

Recipes for making ricotta at home usually list milk as the main ingredient². High temperature and an acidifying agent cause the formation of curds, which are then are scooped up and drained. The different main ingredient and different process lead to different consistency and flavor of the final product.

For the Home Creamery Event, I decided to try the recipe from The Home Creamery that uses cultured buttermilk (latticello) to acidify the milk (method 1), for two reasons: I had not seen this variation before, and I did not want to use vinegar (an ingredient of method 2 in the same book). I divided the original recipe by four, using 1 qt. of non-fat milk and 1 cup of cultured buttermilk. I tasted the result after adding to it a touch of sweetener: the buttermilk flavor was detectable. I expected the consistency to be not very creamy, given my use of non-fat milk and also the process. However, I departed from the recipe in a couple of details, which may have impacted this characteristic of the final product, so I will repeat the recipe soon and evaluate the difference.

I have been going on for a while and I am not yet done with my story, because there is another part to the Home Creamery Event: the pairing of wine with the homemade cheese. Wine not being a topic in which I can offer an opinion, I asked for advice. From the set of suggestions received, I chose the wine shown in the photo. However, the pairing of it is not with plain ricotta, but with a dish that has ricotta as an ingredient. So, the wine photo is a token of a future post where I will tell you the rest of the story. Stay tuned!

¹ On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee, page 20.
² The ingredient list of store-bought ricotta should give you a sense of how it is made. If you purchase fresh ricotta from an artisan maker, ask him/her how it was made.
³ See ricotta fatta in casa (2).

Hear me pronounce the words on the ricotta fatta in casa audio file [mp3] or go to the ricotta fatta in casa audio page for more listening options.

torciglione

As I mentioned in my recent post on dolci delle feste, every region of Italy has specific traditions: torciglione is a tradition of my region, Umbria. As a child, I ate occasionally the one made by a family friend.

When Jeremy of DoBianchi wrote a comment on fagiolina del Trasimeno  mentioning the anguilla (eel) traditionally fished in the lake, I was reminded of torciglione. I knew that its shape is supposed to represent the snakelike fish. I was also reminded of the fact that, unlike eel, I liked torciglione a lot, so I decided to try to make it for the upcoming holiday season. (As an aside, it is actually possible to buy torciglione during the year.)

The main ingredients of torciglione are almonds (mandorle), sugar (zucchero) and egg whites (albumi). I looked for some recipes, then made up my first version using 300 g of almonds and 200 g of sugar (in the recipes I read, the quantity of sugar was higher). I then made a second version with even less sugar, 170 g. I liked that better than its predecessor. At this point, I read a post on torciglione by Salsadisapa of qualcosa di rosso: her recipe had even less sugar, so I felt justified in further reducing the amount I would use for my third version. Another important characteristic of her recipe was the lack of flour, an ingredient that I had also reduced to a couple of tablespoonfuls. I am very thankful to Salsadisapa for this detail and for the exchange we had on the topic.

A handful of bitter almonds is added to the sweet ones, but I cannot find bitter almonds, so I skip that ingredient. I like to use vanilla sugar (i.e., sugar that is stored in a jar with vanilla beans) and just a hint of grated lemon zest to add nuanced flavor.

Ingredients:

• 300 g (10.5 oz.) almonds, blanched, peeled, dried in the oven at 300 F and cooled
• 125 g (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) [vanilla] sugar
• a bit of grated lemon zest
• 2 large egg whites
• pine nuts (pinoli), two coffee beans (chicchi di caffè) and an almond slice for the decoration 

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Chop the almonds in the food processor, together with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and the lemon zest. Do not pulverize the almonds: the granules give a nice varied texture to the final product. (I hope that the close-up gives a sense of what I mean here.) Place almonds in a bowl, add the remaining sugar and mix. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold them in the almond mix (the latter will become wet and sticky). Pour on the baking sheet and shape into a snake. Decorate as you like. This is the fun part. In my version, coffee beans become the snake's eyes and an almond slice its tongue, rigorously, and impertinently sticking out of its mouth. I use a spatula to make short slits on both sides and finally align pine nuts on the back of my torciglione. I guess that makes it vaguely reminiscent of an iguana.

Bake until golden. Check after 30 minutes and gauge the remaining baking time. I usually need about 35 minutes. Let the torciglione cool thoroughly before slicing it. The outer layer is crisp, the inner core softer, with texture provided by the crunchy almonds: each morsel is a delight.

I would like to thank Jeremy of DoBianchi for inspiring me to replicate this small piece of my childhood. As I was finishing the writing of this post, I received news regarding Jeremy and his group's (Nous Non Plus) new record Ménagerie: congratulations!

Hear me pronounce the words on the torciglione audio file [mp3] or go to the torciglione audio page for more listening options.

cavolo napa

napa cabbage

(here you can read other names used to refer to this vegetable).

I must admit that, until recently, I had not used this type of cabbage. Then, one day, a beautiful head of it stared at me from the shelf of the grocery store and I could not refuse its proposal to hop on my cart.

I started my acquaintance with napa cabbage by cooking it very simply. The recipe I created was inspired by one in the book If the Buddha Came to Dinner by Halé Sofia Schatz: Braised (Napa) Cabbage, Fennel and Leeks (stufato di cavolo napa, finocchio e porri). I thought that the trio of ingredients formed a nice combination, so I adopted it. And I liked the idea of cooking the vegetables with some lemon juice (besides vegetable stock or water). For the rest of the recipe, I followed my impulse.

To braise means "to fry (food) lightly and then stew it slowly in a closed container." The Italian verb is stufare, which also means to cook something (usually meat) for a long time in a covered pan. Stufato is the resulting dish. But before I move on to the description of my stufato, let me share with you a couple of idioms that use the word cavolo:

1. c'entra come i cavoli a merenda (it has nothing to do with it — literally: it is as pertinent as cabbage for an afternoon snack, cabbage not being considered a food appropriate for that meal)
2. salvare capra e cavoli (literally: to save goat and cabbage, i.e., to find the solution for a situation where competing needs appear to be incompatible. The expression derives from the riddle of the farmer that needs to carry across a river on his boat a wolf, a goat and some cabbage. The wolf, left alone with the goat, would eat it, while the goat, left alone with the cabbage, would feast on it. The farmer's task is to organize the ferry service so as to carry across all the passengers without any loss)

Back to the recipe, here are the ingredients I used:

• two leeks (porri), washed and cut into thin half-moons
• leaves of a couple of sprigs of thyme (timo)
• a fennel (finocchio), thinly sliced using a mandoline
• half a napa cabbage, finely shredded
• a baby lemon (limone), thinly sliced using a mandoline
• two small or one big red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and diced
• salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
• two tablespoons sunflower seeds (semi di girasole), lightly toasted in a dry skillet

Oil a sauté pan, add the leeks and thyme leaves, and cook for 5 minutes on gentle heat. Raise the heat to medium, add the fennel, napa cabbage and lemon slices, and stir. I have received a much-appreciated gift of baby lemons and I have been enjoying them a lot. They are 2-2.5" long, tender and delicately flavored.

After a minute or so, add a couple of tablespoons of water. Bring to simmer, lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring every now and then and making sure the pan is not dry. Add the red bell pepper and continue cooking until the vegetables are done to your liking: in my case, soft, but with still some crispness in the fennel. I must admit I did not keep track of the exact time. Add salt and pepper and serve warm, with the sunflower seeds on the side, to be sprinkled on the vegetables after they are plated: they add flavor and crunchiness to the delicate vegetable stufato.

This is my contribution to the event Fresh Produce of the Month: Cabbage, created by my friend Marta, An Italian in the US, and hosted this month by yours truly.

This post contains a roundup of the event.

Hear me pronounce the words on the cavolo napa audio file [mp3] or go to the cavolo napa audio page for more listening options.

In case you are wondering about the farmer tasked with saving goat and cabbage, one way to achieve the goal is to follow these steps (assuming A is the starting point and B the destination):

1. carry the goat from A to B (the wolf won't eat the cabbage)
2. go back to A then carry the wolf from A to B
3. bring back the goat from B to A (so the wolf won't eat it)
4. carry the cabbage from A to B (at this point cabbage and wolf are on the same side)
5. go back to A then carry the goat from A to B

mixer ad immersione

(a.k.a. minipimer) immersion blender

I am rather gadget-averse: Before I add something to my kitchen, I need to become sure that I will use it. Last year, I finally convinced myself that I could use an immersion blender and I am happy to report that, since the day it arrived, it has been put to work often enough to justify its purchase.

Recently, during a conversation, the immersion blender was mentioned and I remembered reading, almost a year ago, an article in Italian (referencing one in Spanish) about his inventor, Gabriel Lluelles, whom you can see in this photo with his brainchild. According to the article, Lluelles invented the minipimer in 1959. The name comes from the producing company Pimer (Pequeñas Industrias Mecánico Eléctricas Reunidas). While the name of the gadget in question in Italian is mixer ad immersione (where the first word comes from English), the brand name minipimer is often used.

A few days ago, I used my mixer ad immersione to make something other than soup, and since I liked the result a lot, I will share it here. It was one of those cases in which I made things up as I went along. The dish started with a cavolfiore (cauliflower) that was joined in the steam basket by a cavolo broccolo (broccoli), both cut into florets. After steaming and mashing them with a schiacciapatate (potato masher — after you listen to the audio file, I hope you'll agree with me that this i a nice-sounding word), I decided that I wanted to add carote (carrots) to the mix. In the vegetable drawer I found a couple of pastinache (parsnips) and I thought they would round up the dish nicely. I washed, peeled and cut the root vegetables into pieces and baked them in an oiled pan at 400 F, together with the leaves of two sprigs of timo (thyme).

When the root vegetables were ready, I added them to the half-mashed cauliflower and broccoli and then realized that the next step would be a perfect application for my immersion blender. You can see the result in the photo. Some parmigiano, (freshly grated), salt and freshly ground black pepper, all to taste, completed the dish. We had it for dinner at a friend's house as a side dish to crab cakes and I was very pleased with both the flavor and the texture. What can I say? Viva il minipimer! (Hurrah for the immersion blender!)

Hear me pronounce the words on the mixer ad immersione audio file [mp3] or go to the mixer ad immersione audio page for more listening options.

Verdura Fresca del Mese: cavolo

I have once again the honor of hosting an edition of Fresh Produce of the Month, an event authored by Marta, An Italian in the US. She recently posted the roundup of the previous edition, about pears.

This month, the focus is on cabbage (cavolo) in its different incarnations: green, red, Savoy, napa, bok choy. After the Holidays, I think it is a good idea to reach for a lighter fare, which makes ample use of vegetables.

If you are inspired to participate (and I hope you are), here are the simple rules:

1. Publish a post on your blog with a recipe involving cabbage. Add a link to the announcement (either this one or the one on Marta's blog) and mention that it's an entry for the Fresh Produce of the Month event. Feel free to place the logo on your post.
2. Send an email with a link to your post, your blog homepage and your name to me at simositeATmacDOTcom. Specify 'Fresh Produce of the Month: Cabbage' as subject. A photo is optional, though helpful.
3. If you don't have a blog just send me an email with your recipe and, if you have a picture of the food you made, that's great: I will add it to the roundup as well.

The deadline for entry submission is January 31st, 2009. I will post the roundup soon after.

Note: If you don't receive an answer to your email or a comment on your post within two days of sending me the email, please contact me again: sometimes email messages get lost in cyberspace.