briciole

crema (da spalmare) di fagioli, cipolle e pomodori ciliegia1

bean, onion and cherry tomato spread

This is another example of serendipity (serendipità) at work in the kitchen.

A little while ago, I cooked some beans (half a cup of dry beans) with the idea of puréeing them with leftover roasted onions. I did, and the result needed some punch.

I had previously roasted a pint of cherry tomatoes and used most, but not all, to dress a batch of gnocchi di ricotta (I always halve the original recipe, which comes from “The Zuni Cafe Cookbook” by Judy Rodgers and always use my homemade ricotta). I added the leftover tomatoes to the food processor where the bean and onion purée was, together with a few additional leaves of basil, and the result of a few seconds of whizzing was amazing. We enjoyed it on bread and on crackers (both homemade).

Here is the recipe:

• half a cup of dry beans (canario or cannellini), soaked overnight and then cooked as described in this post
• half a cup of roasted onions with [balsamic] vinegar and rosemary (recipe from “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” by Deborah Madison)
• half a cup of roasted cherry tomatoes with basil (recipe below).

Process beans and onions until fairly smooth, then add the tomatoes and process briefly. Taste the spread and adjust salt, freshly ground pepper and fresh basil (basilico) before refrigerating. Take out of the fridge half an hour before serving.

I oven-roast halved cherry tomatoes at 350 F for 45 minutes (check them after 40 minutes). Before roasting them, I toss them lightly with a bit of olive oil and some slivered fresh basil. I don't use salt, due to an old personal preference. I then arrange them in one layer, cut side up, on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat and place in the oven. When done, I spoon them onto or into their final destination.

I made the spread several times as described above, then tried an alternative for when I don't have leftover roasted onions with [balsamic] vinegar and rosemary. Warm up some olive oil in a small frying pan and add 3/4 cup chopped onion plus the leaves of a few sprigs of thyme. Cook until soft and add to the cooked beans, then proceed with the recipe as described above. The flavor of the resulting spread is different from the version described before, but still very good (at least that is what I think).

This is my submission for My Legume Love Affair #26, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, which I have the honor of hosting.

In this post you will find the links to the two parts of the roundup.

¹ In Italy, cherry tomatoes are also referred to as pomodorini ciliegia and pomodori ciliegini.

Hear me pronounce the words on the crema (da spalmare) di fagioli, cipolle e pomodori ciliegia audio file [mp3] or go to the crema (da spalmare) di fagioli, cipolle e pomodori ciliegia audio page for more listening options.

tagliere

cutting (or chopping) board

In a recent post on mezzaluna, I showed the cutting board at my parents' house, and Lisa of Champaign Taste noted that it looked "like it was meant to be pulled out from under the counter." If I remember correctly, that cutting board was part of the kitchen table in the apartment where we lived until I was about 16. The kitchen furniture was custom-built when my parents moved into the apartment, their first after getting married. That table had two other items you could pull out: spianatoia e matterello (kneading board and rolling pin).

In my current kitchen, there are two taglieri that I can pull out of the counter like drawers. I can't imagine doing without them. The top cutting board is the one I use most often and is dedicated to vegetables. The bottom one is reserved for chopping chocolate or nuts and for mixing a dough for which I don't need a lot of space, like in the case of my biscotti.

Both boards were recently refinished by a thoughtful and skillful friend, and they look beautiful. The eggplant you can see on the photo is called Listada de Gandia, a recent find at our farmers' market. It is described as Italian on several sites, but the name is not Italian. Gandia is a Spanish town on the Mediterranean Sea, and listado means striped in Spanish, so the name can be translated as: striped [eggplant] from Gandia.

There is no such thing as having too many taglieri in the kitchen (cucina), I think, so I have three more, all made of wood, that I use in various ways, including as photo props. The rectangular one was handmade for us: a really nice gift. I use it mostly to cut [my homemade] bread (tagliare il pane). The bread in the photo below includes whey from some of my fresh cheese as one of the ingredients.

The irregular-shaped one is made of olive wood (legno d'olivo) and was given to us as a gift by an Italian friend. I love to look at the lines of the wood. I like to use this board to bring to the table formaggio fatto in casa con le pere (homemade cheese and pears).

Plastic and silicone cutting boards are handy too. I have two small ones made of recycled plastic and use them as support for cheese that is being aged. So, I have a use for all types of cutting boards.

Two cut-related Italian expressions:

• Tagliare la corda means to slip (or sneak) away (literally, to cut the rope)
• Tagliare la testa al toro means to settle things once and for all, to deal decisively with a problem (literally, to cut the bull's head)

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

Edizione speciale: Novel Food #11

Special Edition: Announcing Novel Food #11

What are you reading now? I am reading Chourmo, a novel by Jean-Claude Izzo (I am actually reading the Italian translation from the original French), the second volume of his Marseilles Trilogy. I won't say more about the book now, because I may choose to feature it in the new edition of Novel Food, the culinary/literary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I co-launched a few seasons ago.

A good part of the enjoyment I derive from our event is choosing the literary work about which to write. Lisa and I exchange emails about our evolving plans and there is always some trepidation around the choice of both reading material and cooking project. Of course, another good portion of the enjoyment is to receive your contributions, through which I learn about interesting literary works and delicious dishes.

So, if you like to read and you like to cook, this event is perfectly tailored for you. We are looking forward to learning about a published literary work (a novel, novella, short story, memoir, bio, poem) that provided you with culinary inspiration.

This is a fun event: you read, you cook, you write and at the end you also get a nice reading list, which can be easily turned into a plan for enriching your library.

Here are the simple rules for participating in Novel Food:

1. Prepare a dish of your choosing that has a connection to a published literary work (novel, novella, short story, memoir, bio, poem).
2. Publish a post about it on your blog by the end of Monday September 20, 2010 (midnight, Pacific Time), referencing the Novel Food event. Include a link to this or to Lisa's announcement. If you wish, you can use the Novel Food logo.
3. Send an e-mail to Lisa (champaigntaste AT gmail DOT com) or to me (simosite AT mac DOT com) and include your name, blog name and blog address, and a permanent link to your post. Please, include the words "Novel Food" in the email subject, so we can more easily retrieve the message in our inbox.
4. Non-English submissions are fine. If possible, include an introduction in English.

If you don't have a blog, send us an email telling us about the dish, the literary work that inspired it, and, if you have it, a picture of what you made: we will add it to the roundup as well.

Lisa and I are planning to do the roundup just in time to celebrate the fall equinox.

Note #1: If you don't receive an answer to your email or a comment on your post within two days of sending me or Lisa the email, please contact us again: sometimes email messages get lost in cyberspace.

Note #2: If you follow this link, you will be able to browse my portion of the roundup of all previous editions. In each post, you will find a link to Lisa's portion of the roundup.

zuppa di porri e patate

leek and potato soup

Two years ago, I wrote a post about making chicken stock according to a recipe by Julia Child. I have been using that recipe ever since, every time I roast a chicken. After degreasing the stock, I freeze it and then use it for various purposes, like making vegetable soups.

Two precious findings at the farmers' market suggested that I make leek and potato soup. I had seen a recipe for it in "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom," the same source of the chicken stock recipe mentioned above, and decided it was the right time to try it. Child describes this as one of the basic — "primal" — soups.

Seeing leeks at the market surprised me, since this leek lover knows that the summer crop usually becomes available later. The farmer was also surprised about the early crop, but since the leeks were ready to be harvested, he did and brought them to market. Delighted, I bought two (they were not thick, but quite long).

When I saw a basket of a variety of potato called All Red, with pink flesh, I had to try it. The color is beautiful.

Back to the recipe, it calls for 3 cups of sliced leeks (white and tender green parts), 3 cups of peeled and roughly chopped "baking" potatoes and 6 cups of water. I used the following ingredients:

• 4 and 1/4 cups sliced leeks (white and tender green parts)
• 2 and 1/4 cups of roughly chopped All Red potatoes (carefully scrubbed, not peeled)
• 3.5 cups homemade light chicken stock
• 2.5 cups water

I put all the ingredients in my soup pot and brought to a boil, then simmered, partially covered, until the vegetables were tender (22 minutes). I let the soup cool slightly, then puréed with my immersion blender. I added sea salt and freshly ground black pepper according to my taste. When dinner time rolled around, I reheated the soup and served it with freshly grated Montasio cheese of my own production (formaggio montasio grattugiato). The cheese is sweet, since I aged it for a relatively short time: it paired well with the soup's flavor.

From the photo, you can see how the potatoes influenced the color of the soup. What you cannot gather from the photo is that it was really good.

This is my contribution to the fifth annual Julia Child Birthday Celebration, an event created and hosted by Lisa of Champaign Taste.

Hear me pronounce the words on the zuppa di porri e patate audio file [mp3] or go to the zuppa di porri e patate audio page for more listening options.

coste gratinate

gratinéed chard stalks

When you see beautiful bunches of rainbow chard like the ones in the photo, what is a farmers' market shopper to do?

I brought home one and used the leaves to prepare a very personal adaptation of the Cottage Cheese and Spinach Gratin recipe from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, using rainbow chard leaves instead of spinach and my homemade chèvre instead of cottage cheese (I also halved the quantity of cheese). I have done this several times, so I know that, as a result, I have a bunch of colorful rainbow chard stalks, which I like a lot.

The Italian word for chard is bietola also called bieta (sometimes the plural bietole is used). My mother used to boil chard (leaves and stalks) and then serve it in insalata, i.e., at room temperature, seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice, or ripassata, i.e., warmed up in a frying pan with garlic and olive oil. When I moved to Milan, I ate coste for this first time, that is, chard stalks served by themselves. I have never seen rainbow chard in Italy, so the coste are white. As an final language note, in northern Italy, coste is sometimes used to indicate whole chard (leaves and stalks).

With the coste colorate (colorful chard stalks) that I get after preparing the leaves for the dish mentioned above I prepare a minimalist dish au gratin. First, I trim the stalks and cut them into 1 to 2 inch pieces. I then steam them. I usually do this in advance. Close to dinner time, I season the chard stalks with salt, a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper and a bit of olive oil, the spread them in my 8" square cake pan or 9" pyrex pie plate to form an even layer half an inch thick. I then sprinkle the surface with freshly grated cheese (formaggio grattugiato).

As some of you know, I make cheese at home, so I adapt recipes to use my own cheese. In the case shown above, the cheese was a Stirred-Curd Cheddar.  I then put the pan in a 400 F oven until everything is warm and the cheese melted. I don't have a nice photo of the finished dish. I actually don't think it is particularly photogenic. However, I like it a lot.

Cooking chard stalks always reminds me of my country of origin, and in particular of my move to Milan. In the first few months I lived there, there were several hilarious episodes of bewilderment, due to the fact that I was not familiar with certain foods, while others were referred to with names different from the ones I was familiar with (I grew up in Perugia). As mentioned above, coste represent an example of the first case, and so do cavolini di Bruxelles (Brussels sprouts), while fagiolini (snap beans), which are called cornetti in Milan, the name I had until then used to refer to croissants, represent and example of the second case.

Final note: I have prepared red beet stalks in the same way and liked the result. Even in the recipes where both beet leaves and roots are used, the stalks are overlooked. Not by me!

This is my contribution to a challenge that Val of More Than Burnt Toast launched in preparation of the release of the movie based on the novel Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I read the novel three years ago and really enjoyed it, particularly the Eat section, which talks about Gilbert's experience in Italy. I have explained why I liked what she wrote about my country of origin in this post.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

Annuncio: legumi che passione! (numero 26)

My Legume Love Affair #26 ¹

I have the honor of being the host for this month's edition of MLLA, the popular, legume-centered event that is the brainchild of Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

Participation in the event revolves around a recipe that showcases one or more legumes, be it savory or sweet, with or without meat — no restrictions. The legume (or legumes) must be one of the main ingredients, not a minor character.

You can send me a new post or a post from your archive reposted for the occasion. You can submit the recipe to other events as well, and you can send me more than one post (in which case, though, only one submission will be counted towards the random drawing described below). If you have a recipe to share, but not a blog where to post it, send the recipe and other applicable pieces of information to me and I will add it to the roundup. You will also be entered in the drawing.

The post must include a link to this announcement and also to Susan's post containing the host lineup. Use of the beautiful logo, designed by Susan, is optional (as a side note, the beans portrayed are butter beans).

Example of legumes include (but are not limited to):

• fresh or dried beans of any kind
• lentils
• chickpeas, ak.a., garbanzo beans (fresh or dried or their flour, a.k.a., besan)
• peas (fresh or dried or their pods)
• fava beans
• soy beans (fresh or dried or their derivative products, like tofu)
• peanuts
• carob beans
• lupini beans

Not an exhaustive list, but it should give you a sense of the wide range of options. Note that in French the word légumes means vegetables, and also legumes. This event is about the second meaning.

To submit your post, send an email to simosite[AT]mac[DOT]com with MLLA entry in the subject and containing the following information:

1. Your Name
2. Name of Your Blog
3. Title and URL of Your Recipe Post
4. Your Location (necessary for the second prize described below; let me know if you prefer that I do not disclose it in the roundup)
5. Photo: Optional (but helpful) and maximum 400 px wide

If you don't have a blog, submit your recipe by sending me an email as described above (except for #2 and #3, which do not apply) with the description of the recipe.

The deadline is Monday, August 31 at noon PDT.

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. Also, feel free to contact me should you have any questions regarding the event and relevant rules.

The following prizes will be awarded to one winner via random drawing:

• Randomly selected without influence and purchased by Susan (shipped worldwide): The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, and More by Bruce Weinstein.  Susan does not receive any compensation from Amazon.
• Hurst Bean Box - A case of six bags of the winner's choice of Hurst Bean products, suitable for every diet, provided by Hurst Bean. (Due to shipping restrictions, this prize can only be awarded if the winner is a U.S. resident.) FTC Notice: In May 2010, Susan, at her request, received two Hurst Bean complimentary products which are not available for purchase in her local markets. Susan does not generally accept free products from Hurst Bean nor is she financially compensated by them.

¹ A note about the title of my post: legumi che passione! is not the literal translation, but my personal rendition of the original My Legume Love Affair.