briciole

torta al cioccolato con mandorle e mela

chocolate apple nut torte

If you are not familiar with the term, a torte is a cake made with eggs, ground nuts, sugar and little or no flour. The English word torte comes from the German Torte, which comes from the late Latin torta. The Italian torta means cake, so it is more generic than the English torte.

I have been meaning to write about this torte for a long time: what has prevented me was that I could never get a decent photo. I was not looking for a great shot, but simply one good enough to show what the dessert looks like. I have finally decided that the photo above will have to do: the beauty of this torta is in its flavor and texture, not its outward look.

The original recipe for Chocolate-Apple-Nut Torte is in Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, which, besides being a great cookbook, gets my vote for best cookbook title ever. I made the torte the first time for a party at our house and it has become a favorite. In fact, a slice of it, like the one in the photo, is my usual afternoon snack. From the beginning, I started making changes to the original recipe, both to the ingredients and the procedure. (This post shows a more faithful rendition.)

You can see the original list of ingredients on this page, while this is what I use:

• 8 egg whites and 4 egg yolks from pastured eggs (the remaining 4 yolks usually go into the making of Peter Reinhart's challah, from Artisan Breads Every Day)
• 3 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
• 1 cup almonds (mandorle), blanched, skin removed and lightly toasted in a 350 F oven (for 12 minutes or so)
• 4.5 oz. chocolate (70% cacao), coarsely chopped or broken up into smallish pieces
• 1 medium organic apple (mela)
  
• a dash of ground cinnamon (cannella)
  
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole-grain barley flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

As you can see, the torte has no added fat. I first cut down the amount of sugar to 1/4 cup then substituted it with agave nectar or honey (miele). Instead of chocolate chips, I use chocolate of good quality with a high cacao content. Then, instead of white flour, I use whole-grain barley flour that I get as part of my grain CSA share. Finally, I choose an apple with a soft skin, leave it unpeeled (this way, I avoid food waste) grate it and use it all.

You can prepare the almonds in advance. If you do not, make sure they cool down before proceeding with the recipe. Separate the eggs, place them in two bowls and let them come to room temperature. In choosing the bowls for the egg yolks, keep in mind that it will end up containing all the batter.

Put almonds and chocolate in the food processor and first pulse a few times, then let it run for a while until chopped rather finely. I don't pulverize the almonds, so the cake has some texture from small pieces of both almonds and chocolate. Quarter the apple and grate it using the extra-coarse side of a hand grater or the coarse shredding disc of a food processor (this is to minimize the release of juice).

Heat the oven to 350 F (select the convenction baking option, if available; I do so, and since my oven does the temperature adjustment, I still set it to 350 F). Line the bottom of an 8.5-9" springform pan with parchment paper and spray some oil around the side. (If you use a pan that is slightly smaller or bigger, you may need to adjust the baking time.)

Beat the egg whites (albumi) until stiff peaks form and set aside. Beat the egg yolks (tuorli) with the agave nectar or honey until thick and bubbly. Add the following ingredients in sequence, each time folding them in with a spatula:

• almonds and chocolate
• grated apple, cinnamon, vanilla and salt
• sifted flour and baking powder

Add 1/3 of the egg whites and fold in gently, then fold in the rest. It is fine if the batter is not homogeneous. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spread evenly and put the pan in the oven.

Check the torte after 40 minutes. The torte is ready when a toothpick inserted in the center  of it comes out clean. If you use a convection oven, 40 minutes may be enough as baking time. If you use a regular oven, you will need a few more minutes. Let the torte cool completely, then run a knife all around before opening the pan. Slice the torte and enjoy it. A cup of chocolate cream tea goes very well with it.

This is my submission for the third edition of Creative Concoctions, an event created by Ivy of Kopiaste..to Greek Hospitality that has two editions per month. The theme of Creative Concoctions #3 is desserts.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

torta al cioccolato con mandorle e mela

or launch the torta al cioccolato con mandorle e mela audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

 

ogni giorno è Earth Day (la Giornata della Terra)

every day is Earth Day

Trillium ovatum — Western Trillium

Earth Day was started in 1970 by US Senator Gaylord Nelson. Celebrated on April 22nd, Earth Day reminds us that we share responsibility for the health (salute) of our beautiful planet (pianeta).

There are a few thoughts I have been meaning to share with you for some time and Earth Day (or thereabouts) sounds like the appropriate time. In recent years, I have become particularly interested in food waste (spreco alimentare) and food scrap recycling.

Food waste includes uneaten food and food preparation scraps from residences or households, commercial establishments like restaurants, grocery stores, cafeterias and industrial sources. (source: Environmental Protection Agency)

The amount of food that goes to waste in the US every year is staggering:

The US generates more than 34 million tons of food waste each year. Paper is the only material category where we generate more waste, but we also recycle more. Food waste is more than 14 percent of the total municipal solid waste [MSW] stream. Less than three percent of the 34 million tons of food waste generated in 2009 was recovered and recycled. The rest —33 million tons— was thrown away. Food waste now represents the single largest component of MSW reaching landfills and incinerators. (source: EPA)

Not only does this wasted valuable resource have huge economic impacts, it also has huge and immediate environmental impacts. When food is disposed in a landfill it quickly rots and becomes a significant source of methane — a potent greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Landfills are a major source of human-related methane in the United States, accounting for more than 20 percent of all methane emissions. (source: EPA)

After having stated the problem, let's talk about ways to address it. Another page on the EPA's website shows the food waste recovery hierarchy and yet another one suggests ways for households to address the food waste problem. I really like the subtitle of this last page: Think – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (compost). Thinking about what we are doing allows us to become aware of where waste occurs. Then, we can implement measures aimed at minimizing waste.

For example, food waste can occur when we purchase more food than we consume, in particular perishable items like fresh vegetables. We can do a lot to help our planet by paying special attention to our shopping cart or basket and to all the drawers of our fridge plus those nooks and crannies where food has a tendency to hide and condemn itself to oblivion. Precious resources went into the production of that food: when we throw it, those resources become wasted. The way to minimize the environmental impact of food that, for various reasons, must be discarded is recycling, i.e., composting.

If you are interested in learning more, I have written two articles on the subject of food waste and of food scrap recycling: one is here (on page 45) and one is here (pdf). Wasted Food is a blog totally dedicated to this important topic. This recent post provides cogent reasons for why food waste matters.

Readers in the UK may have heard about plans to review current food labeling practices to clarify the labels and reduce waste. Here is a commentary on the announcement.

Unavoidable food waste can be turned not only into natural fertilizer (compost), but also into energy: this happens in facilities called anaerobic digesters, one of which is in Oakland, CA.

One more thing: take a look at the site Love Food Hate Waste.

Per i lettori italiani

• Questo libro è stato appena pubblicato: Il libro nero dello spreco in Italia: il cibo.
• Se non conoscete Last Minute Market, vi raccomando di dare un'occhiata al loro sito web.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

ogni giorno è Earth Day

or launch the ogni giorno è Earth Day audio file [mp3].

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un weekend di cioccolato

a weekend of chocolate

This past weekend was all about chocolate, since I participated in two events, both having chocolate as theme.

On Saturday, I took a short class called "Build your own chocolate bar" at Coco-luxe Confections. The certificate for the class was my very first purchase on Groupon, back in January. What attracted me to the class was the chance to play with chocolate — and play I certainly did.

After the introduction, each participant was given a tray with six molds. Each working table had a selection of ingredients to be used to enrich the bars: from nuts to crumbled fortune cookies, from dried tart cherries to cayenne, smoked salt, and sage. The photos are not great, partly due to the light, partly to the need for me to concentrate on what I was doing (photographing while working with food still does not come natural to me), but they show the combination of ingredients I chose for each bar.

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This is the list of added ingredients by bar (left to right; click on a thumbnail to view photo):

1. pistachios (pistacchi), cocoa nibs and a hint of smoked salt
2. toasted coconut (noce di cocco), sage (salvia) and a hint of red salt
3. banana chips and cocoa nibs
4. tart cherries, almonds (mandorle) and cayenne
5. crumbled fortune cookies and cayenne on one side, white chocolate (cioccolato bianco) and allspice on the other
6. crystallized ginger on one side, sage and pistachios on the other.

The hazelnuts (nocciole) and peanuts (arachidi) in the last two molds are used as indicators (one side has one nut, the other side two), since one side has different ingredients from the other. Thinking about flavor and texture pairings was totally absorbing and really fun.

Once we finished preparing the molds, we lined up to fill them by ladling dark chocolate (61% cacao) from the tempering machine. Each tray was then placed on the vibrating table to let air bubbles come to the surface and escape. The trays were then cooled to let the chocolate set, and finally we unmolded our bars.

Before we got busy packaging our creations, our instructor talked about how to temper chocolate at home. The rationale behind tempering was not new to me, but the presentation was interesting as I learned useful bits of information to remember later when I try doing this at home.

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• 
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The first mold I filled, I went a bit overboard, as it is clear from the flaps of chocolate around the sides, but then I got better and the other bars came out nicely. The little holes on the surface indicate that the bars could have used a bit more vibration. We were given foil, boxes and labels to package the bars and personalize them (see the last photo of the set). While working on our bars, we tasted some of the truffles that are produced by Coco-luxe. The pretty decoration on the top clearly identifies the flavor of the filling.

We also played a game: we were given samples of four kinds of dark chocolate bars to taste and we had to guess the percentage of cocoa in each one of them. I did my tasting and my guessing and when the answer was revealed, it turned out that I had guessed correctly (apparently, the first one to do so since they started the game). I won't reveal the answer here, since I assume that they will continue to play the game. It was actually a very interesting exercise for our taste buds.

On Sunday, I visited the San Francisco Chocolate Salon. I had been there two years ago and enjoyed myself, so I was looking forward to my visit. Overall, I must say that this time I was disappointed. According to this list, there were 41 companies, out of 75 participants, that presented products that had to do with chocolate. Since that was public information, the responsibility is mine for not considering it carefully. Still, I am wondering what was the role of the other vendors, like wineries and vacation resorts, in the context of an event about chocolate.

I focused my tasting on solid chocolate, which is where my interest lies. Of the previosly unknown to me brands that I tried, I did not like any (and some were really unpleasant to my palate). The best part of the morning was talking to some of the vendors, all of chocolate that I already knew and liked. Here are some details:

Madécasse: If you are not familiar with this company, they are quite unique in the bean-to-bar world, because they have the whole production in Madagascar, from cacao tree growing to chocolate making and bar packaging. As you may know, cocoa beans are harvested but usually not processed where they are grown. I discovered Madécasse chocolate some time ago in a store in Berkeley (it was actually the bar packaging that first attracted me).

Other companies whose chocolate I know well are Alter Eco, Divine and Taza. In different ways, they all pay special attention to the well-being of the cacao producers and at the same time make chocolate that I like.

I also want to mention Vice Chocolates: their bars (made using chocolate from Venezuela) have interesting flavors, my favorite being the one with dried figs and anise seeds. Chocolatier I-Li Brice is usually at the Temescal farmers' market on Sunday, which is where I first met her and her products. I love chatting with her when I stop by to get some bars and truffles.

I didn't taste this truffle, but I was intrigued by the choice of filling. There was also another vendor who had goat cheese truffles.

I decided that I prefer Italian chocolate festivals, like Eurochocolate, which happens in October in my home town of Perugia, and Cioccolatò, which happens in the spring in Torino (Turin). Kathy of Food Lover's Odyssey visited this year's edition of Cioccolatò and wrote this post, which includes some nice photos. Torino is a city with a long tradition of chocolate making: It was there that gianduia and gianduiotti were created. This video shows in fast motion how the big chocolate scupture representing the 20 regions of Italy was assembled. This was part of the celebrations for Italy's sesquicentennial. Torino was the first capital of the newly born country.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

un weekend di cioccolato

or launch the un weekend di cioccolato audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

tagliatelle con la ricotta (entrambe fatte in casa)

tagliatelle with ricotta — both homemade

This time of the year, my aunt Lucia would get fresh ricotta from local shepherds, who used the milk from their ewes to make pecorino and then the leftover whey (siero di latte) to make ricotta. It came in the familiar shape of a truncated cone (see an example on this page), snow white and irresistible. The ricotta never had a chance of getting more than a couple of days old. First, we would use it in a beloved pasta dish: spaghetti con la ricotta. Then we would eat it as dessert, with just a bit of sugar on top or a thin layer of homemade cherry jam (marmellata di ciliegie). It was never used for cooking. Bellweather Farms in California makes sheep ricotta. I have not yet tried it, so I don't know how it compares.

Ricotta is made with the whey left over from making certain cow or goat milk cheeses as well. The various types of ricotta are easily obtainable in Italy, so pasta con la ricotta is a dish that can be made quickly. The ricotta sold in bulk in the stores is usually of good quality. Ricotta is popular in Italy, and the rapid turnover ensures that the product you buy is fresh.

As I have said before (most recently in this post), I make ricotta at home using the whey left over from making various types of cheese (most often made with cow milk, sometimes with a mix of cow and goat milk; unfortunately, I cannot find sheep milk where I live). Having whey to make ricotta was actually an important reason behind my decision to learn to make cheese (formaggio) at home. Recently, I have paired ricotta with homemade tagliatelle instead of spaghetti.

If you want to try your hand at making pasta all'uovo, my suggestion is: start small, i.e., make only one egg's worth of it. That way you can get a feel for the process without being worried about the quantity. For one extra-large egg, I weigh 80 g of flour. I then add a bit more flour, if needed, to get a dough of the right consistency. It is better to have to add flour than to find yourself with a hard dough (my mother's wisdom). The tagliatelle in the photo were made using King Arthur's pasta blend (which includes semolina, durum and all-purpose flours) and they were rolled and cut using my pasta machine. If I have time, I like to roll and cut by hand: for that, you need spianatoia e matterello.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for tagliatelle con la ricotta

The following ingredients yield two small portions. Double them or more, depending on how many people there are around the table and the rest of the menu.

• 1 extra-large egg
  
• 80 g (a teaspoon less than 3 oz.) flour [see paragraph above] plus more as needed to obtain the dough
  by my measuring, 80 g of King Arthur's pasta blend correspond to 1/2 cup, but this is not what the packaging states and in any case, I recommend you weigh the flour
  
• 3.5 oz (100 g) [homemade] ricotta 

On your working surface, create a well with the flour and crack the egg directly into it. Scramble the egg with a fork. Draw flour from the sides of the well into the center, mixing well with the egg. Trade the fork for your fingertips. Draw flour until a soft dough forms. Add more flour if needed. Continue to knead the dough, 8-10 minutes. Cover and let rest for an hour.

Roll pasta by hand or with a machine. Let rest for a little while and then cut it by hand or with a machine. If rolling and cutting by hand, fold a 3-inch strip of pasta up away from you. Continue to fold the strip until the entire pasta sheet is folded into a flattened roll. With a sharp knife, cut across the flattened roll. Tagliatelle are 1/4" wide. Unroll folded pasta. Regardless of the method, let the pasta dry until ready to cook it.

You can certainly buy ricotta to make this dish. To make sure that what you are buying is ricotta, ask your cheesemonger what the main ingredient is: it should be whey (in this example, you can see that the two ingredients are whey and salt; the label then lists the two acidifiers that are used for coagulation). Milk (or cream) is sometimes added to the whey, but only in small quantity.¹

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add some coarse salt, stir and then add the pasta. Bring water back to boiling. Cooking time depends on flour used and thickness of pasta, but it is in the order of a few minutes, so don't wander away, but pay undivided attention.

Since the pasta takes only a short time to cook, prepare the ricotta as the water comes to a boil. Put the ricotta in a bowl and mash it with a fork to make a cream. If it is on the dry side, add to it a teaspoon or so of the pasta cooking water.

When the pasta is ready, turn off the heat, pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and then drain the pasta, leaving a bit of water clinging to it. Toss pasta and ricotta and serve immediately. Depending on the ricotta and on personal preference, a bit of salt may be added during the tossing.

That's it: two ingredients and you get a fabulous pasta dish that takes minutes to prepare. As mentioned above, you can use dry pasta like spaghetti instead of homemade tagliatelle. I wish I could have you taste the ricotta I ate as a kid: you'd understand why I loved this simple dish so much. Actually, the whole family did.

The flowers in the photo come from one of my borage plants. I put them there to create a bit of color contrast.

¹ Addendum. I agree with the comment by Caffettiera about the addition of cream.

This is my contribution to edition #209 of Presto Pasta Nights. The event was created by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and is hosted this week by Vanessa of Sweet Artichoke.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

tagliatelle con la ricotta (entrambe fatte in casa)

or launch the tagliatelle con la ricotta (entrambe fatte in casa) audio file [mp3].

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Related articles

biancore / whiteness

frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa

frittata with baby chard and homemade ricotta

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

I have already talked about the row of chard of various colors in my little vegetable garden (orto) in the context of making a rice dish and a soup. This time, baby chard went into a frittata.

I have always liked frittata, and it is a dish that I make often, thanks in no small part to the availability of fresh pastured eggs. It does not take much time to put together and cook a frittata, so it is a great "emergency" dish, a good friend you can always count on to be there when you need it.

I wrote one of my earliest posts on the Italian expression fare una frittata (to make a frittata). The word frittata comes from fritto, past participle of the verb friggere (to fry).

For this rendition of frittata, I married baby chard and homemade ricotta. I make ricotta (as explained in earlier posts, like this one) every time I have whey (siero di latte) left over from making certain kinds of cheese, in this case Montasio.

As I explained in my most recent post, I am currently dealing with the task of thinning a patch of kale. I took advantage of a rare break from rain and gale-force wind and removed a number of small plants. I set aside the tender leaves and added them to the chard I had harvested.

Finally, I grated some of my homemade Emmental and sprinkled it on the surface of the frittata. [Note: I knew that making Emmental at home was very hard, because the cheese needs to be of a large size for proper eye development and I am limited to two gallons of milk; still, I had to try. In terms of result, my homemade Emmental performed well as an ingredient in this frittata and a couple of other dishes, so I am satisfied. I shared some with my friend Christine and she liked it too.]

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa

In summary, these are the ingredients I used:

• a dozen leaves of baby rainbow chard
• a handful of leaves of baby Red Russian kale (optional: you can add a couple more leaves of chard instead)
  [Update: I made the frittata again and weighed the greens: 4 oz. total]
  
• olive oil
• 6 pastured eggs (uova)
• 3 tablespoons water
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 oz. homemade ricotta
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives (erba cipollina, also from my garden)
• enough freshly grated cheese of choice to sprinkle on the surface of the frittata

Wash greens well, letting some water cling to the leaves. Spray a 9.5-inch skillet with olive oil and warm up. Cut the stems from the chard and dice finely. Add to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes. If using, cut the stems from the kale and discard. Cut all the leaves into ribbons, add them to the pan and cook, covered, for 7 minutes, adding some water, if necessary, to keep them moist.

In the meantime, break the eggs in a bowl and whisk them lightly with a fork until just blended. Add the water, then salt and pepper and whisk briefly. Mash the ricotta with a fork, then add to the eggs. Add the chives and stir.

Turn on the broiler. Pour the eggs slowly into the skillet. With the fork, gently arrange the greens so they are evenly distributed. Sprinkle the grated cheese on the surface. Cook over low heat until the eggs are set. After the edge is set, run a spatula under it and shake the pan gently to ensure the bottom of the frittata does not stick to the pan.

Place the skillet in the oven, leaving the door ajar, for a couple of minutes. The frittata will puff up a bit and the surface will turn golden. Take the skillet out of the oven (don't forget that the handle is hot) and let rest of a couple of minutes, then move the frittata onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve.

Would you like a piece?

This is my contribution to edition #278 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week by Rachel of The Crispy Cook.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa

or launch the frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

[jump to Comments]

Per i lettori italiani

Ho parlato della bietola novella che ho nel mio piccolo orto nel contesto di un piatto a base di riso and una zuppa. Stavolta, la bietola novella è finita in una frittata. Preparo spesso frittate perché mi piacciono e perché ho accesso a uova fresche da galline allevate come si deve.

Per questa variazione sul tema ho abbinato bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa. Faccio la ricotta (come spiegato in post precedenti, ad esempio questo) ogni volta che ho siero di latte derivato dall'aver fatto certi tipi di formaggio, in questo caso del Montasio. Qui è difficile trovare la ricotta vera e io ho risolto il problema imparando a farla a casa.

Come ho spiegato nel mio post più recente, in questo momento sto gestendo il problema di sfoltire le piantine di cavolo ricco nate da semi gettati in terra. Ho approfittato di una tregua da pioggia e vento forte per rimuovere un certo numero di piantine dalle quali ho tagliato le foglie tenere e le ho aggiunte alla bietola novella che avevo già raccolto.

Come tocco finale, ho distribuito sulla superficie della frittata dell'Emmental fatto in casa. [Sapevo che fare l'Emmental a casa è molto difficile perché la forma deve essere di grandi dimensioni per un adeguato sviluppo dei buchi. Per quanto riguarda il risultato da me ottenuto, basta dire che il mio Emmental se l'è cavata bene in questa frittata e in un paio di altri piatti nei quali l'ho usato come ingrediente, quindi sono soddisfatta.]

In somma, questi sono gli ingredienti che ho usato:

• una dozzina di foglie di bietola novella di vari colori
  
• una manciata di foglie di cavolo riccio novello (facoltative: al loro posto potete aggiungere un altro paio di foglie di bietola novella)
• olio d'oliva
• 6 uova fresche codice 0
• 3 cucchiai d'acqua (45 ml)
• sale e pepe nero macinato fresco, a piacere
• 110 g ricotta
• un cucchiaio di erba cipollina a pezzettini
• formaggio grattugiato da spargere sulla superficie della frittata (del tipo che preferite)

Lavare bene le verdure, lasciando che un po' d'acqua rimanga sulle foglie. Oliare bene una padella di 24 cm di diametro e scaldare. Separare le coste dalle foglie di bietola e tagliarle a dadini piccoli. Mettere le coste nella padella e cuocere per 5 minuti. Se usate anche il cavolo riccio, rimuovere e scartare lo stelo. Tagliare le verdure a nastri e aggiungere alla padella. Coprire e cuocere per 7 minuti, aggiungendo acqua, se necessario, per mantenere le verdura bagnate.

Nel frattempo, rompere le uova in una ciotola e sbatterle leggermente con una forchetta. Aggiungere l'acqua, sale e pepe a piacere e incorporare. Schiacciare la ricotta con la forchetta e aggiungere alle uova, poi aggiungere l'erba cipollina e mescolare.

Accendere la parte alta del forno. Versare lentamente le uova nella padella e con la forchetta muovere le verdure per distribuirle in modo uniforme. Distribuire il formaggio grattugiato sulla superficie. Cuocere a fuoco dolce fino a quando le uova sono rapprese. Una volta che il bordo si è rappreso, passare una spatolina sotto di esso e scuotere la padella (delicatamente) per evitare che la frittata si attacchi.

Mettere la padella nel forno, lasciando lo sportello socchiuso, per un paio minuti: la frittata si gonfia in superficie e assume un bel colore dorato. Tirare fuori la padella (fare attenzione: il manico scotta) e far riposare un paio di minuti, poi mettere la frittata su un piatto, tagliare e servire.

Chi ne vuole assaggiare un pezzo?

Questo è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 278 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once e la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di Briggis recept och ideer, che questa settimana funge anche da ospite.

Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo

barley and kale gratin¹

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

When life gives you kale, make kale gratin. How do you get life to give you kale? You grow it. Based on my experience, growing kale is quite easy. I learned to let some of the plants go to seed and harvest the seeds, which I then scatter around. As a result, I have had a constant supply of kale for a while, mostly Red Russian kale, but also some dinosaur kale (cavolo nero). The only downside of this modus operandi is that you need to thin the kale seedlings, something that I find difficult to do, because I feel bad about uprooting small plants. The very first time I planted kale, I had also some Blue Curled Scotch, which is very nice. The adjective riccio in the Italian cavolo riccio means curled.

Kale handles our cool temperatures and wet conditions well, so it grows in the winter months too. And in general, kale is prolific. Once you've established a steady source of kale, the question is: what do you do with it? You make kale gratin, and you do that for three reasons: 1. because kale gratin is good; 2. because it uses a lot of kale; and 3. because since kale is good for you, a dish that uses a lot of it is a great choice.

The recipe for barley and kale gratin that I make derives from that for green barley and kale gratin in my beloved cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. You will find the original recipe reproduced on this page. Having kale from my little garden and hulless barley from my grain CSA share has steered me towards the recipe. I have made it repeatedly, in time adjusting a few elements to suit my taste and also my ingredients. What I will describe below is my current rendition. Of course you are welcome to realize the original version. This photo on flicker shows you a rendition with pearl barley. As mentioned above, I use hulless barley, and the final effect I get is different. Also, my kale turns out darker. Basically, a difficult dish to photograph, but very easy to eat.

My list of ingredients:

• 1/2 cup hulless barley (orzo nudo) [alternatively, use pearl barley, prepared as explained in the original recipe]
  
• 1 large bunch of kale (about 1-1/4 pounds), washed, stemmed and cut into large ribbons
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
• 1 tablespoon [sweet] white rice flour
  
• 1 1/2 cups homemade light chicken stock or vegetable broth
  
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (noce moscata)
  
• 1/2 cup grated Gruyère or provolone cheese (this is actually the original instruction: I use some of my homemade cheese, choosing it based on what I have available)
  
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

One reason I like this recipe is that it is modular, meaning that I prepare the various pieces as time permits and then put them together for the final baking. In particular, I sometimes harvest and cook the kale, then store it in the fridge or freezer until I am ready to use it. The other two modules are the barley and the velouté sauce.

I prepare the barley as described in this post. I don't drain it until it is time to use it.

I cook the kale with the water clinging to its leaves for 10 minutes, covered, checking often to make sure it does not get dry (if it does, add some water).

I prepare the velouté sauce as follows: warm up the olive oil in a pan then sift the starch and flour and mix well. Cook for a couple of minutes while you heat the stock or broth. Pour the hot liquid into the pan all at once, while stirring with a whisk. Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn down the heat so that it simmers, and cook for 15 minutes or so, until nice and thick. Season with the allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Note that this sauce is gluten-free and if you prepare it with vegetable broth, it is also vegan.

Heat the oven to 375 F. Spray olive oil on the bottom of a 2 qt. pyrex gratin dish (11x7x1.5"). Grate the cheese of choice. Process kale in the food processor briefly. Add a few tablespoons of the sauce and process a bit more. I like to leave a bit of texture, so I don't process the kale long. Mix all the ingredients: vegetable, sauce, cheese and barley (remember to drain the barley before adding it). Taste a bit of the kale and adjust seasoning as needed. Pour mixture into the gratin dish. Bake for 30 minutes or so (in my oven it takes 34 minutes to get a thin crust on the surface). Cut and serve immediately.

From the very beginning, my husband has nicknamed this dish "the green thing," so that is how we affectionately refer to it at home. From a nutritional standpoint, this is a fairly complete dish. And from a taste standpoint, it has a distinct flavor of greens. The barley creates a nice contrast of texture and the cheese balances the green flavor.

¹ In the post title I have switched the order of the ingredients, mentioning kale before barley.

This is my contribution to edition #277 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo

or launch the gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

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Per i lettori italiani

Ci sono diverse varietà di kale e non tutte hanno le foglie ricce. La varietà che coltivo io qui in California si chiama Red Russian: il gambo e le venature delle foglie sono rossastre. Il cavolo nero è anch'esso una varieta di kale. Sia il cavolo riccio che il cavolo nero sono facili da coltivare. Io lascio fiorire alcune piante, raccolgo i semi e poi li spargo sul terreno. Il mio problema non è far crescere le piantine, ma sfoltirle: sto male quando devo sradicare quelle in eccesso, ma è necessario altrimenti se sono troppo vicine non crescono bene.

La ricetta per il gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo che faccio da quando ho cominciato a coltivare il cavolo riccio e quello nero nel mio orticello deriva da quella per Green barley and kale gratin nel libro di ricette Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone di Deborah Madison. La ricetta originale è riprodotta su questa pagina. Questa ricetta è di tipo modulare, nel senso che preparo le varie parti quando ho tempo e poi le assemblo alla fine. Per esempio, a volte raccolgo e cuocio il cavolo riccio e poi lo conservo in frigo o in freezer fino a quando sono pronta ad usarlo per il gratin.

Gli ingredienti che uso io:

• 100 g orzo nudo (ricetta originale: orzo perlato)
  
• 570 g (un grosso mazzo) di cavolo riccio (o un misto di cavolo riccio e cavolo nero)
• 30 ml olio d'oliva
• 15 ml amido di manioca (o tapioca)
• 15 ml farina di riso
• 350 ml brodo di pollo leggero (ricetta originale: latte o brodo vegetale)
• 1/4 cucchiaino di pimento macinato
• 1/8 cucchiaino di noce moscata grattugiata
• 60 g di Gruyère o provolone grattugiato (questo prevede la ricetta originale: io uso uno dei miei formaggi fatti in casa)
• sale e pepe nero macinato fresco, q.b.

Nota: un cucchiaino corrisponde a 5 ml. Dal momento che le ricette negli USA utilizzano queste misure, sono in vendita set di misurini che di solito hanno sei elementi: un cucchiaio (15 ml), mezzo cucchiaio, un cucchiaino (5ml), 1/2, 1/4 e 1/8 di cucchiaino.

Il procedimento che uso per cuocere l'orzo nudo è spiegato in questo post. Se usate l'orzo perlato, lavatelo e bollitelo fino a che non è tenero, poi scolatelo.

Lavare il cavolo riccio, rimuovere il gambo (compresa la parte più spessa spessa della costa) e tagliarlo a strisce larghe. Cuocere nell'acqua rimasta sulle foglie per 10 minuti, in una pentola coperta, controllando spesso per assicurarsi che non diventi asciutto (nel qual caso, aggiungere dell'acqua).

Preparare la salsa vellutata: scaldare l'olio in una pentola, aggiungere amido e farina setacciati e mescolare bene. Cuocere per un paio di minuti mentre si scalda il brodo o latte. Versare il liquido molto caldo nella pentola tutto insieme mentre si gira con una frusta. Portare a bollore, poi diminuire la fiamma e cuocere per 12 minuti fino a quando la salsa si è addensata. Condire con pimento, noce moscata, sale e pepe. Da notare che questa versione della salsa vellulata è priva di glutine. Se la si prepara con il brodo vegetale diventa vegana.

Scaldare il forno a 190 C. Ungere una pirofila bassa da 2 litri. Grattugiare il formaggio scelto. Frullare brevemente il cavolor riccio nel robot. Aggiungere alcuni cucchiai della salsa e frullare ancora un po'. Io preferisco non frullare fino a ridurre la verdura ad una crema. Mescolare tutti gli ingredienti: verdura, salsa, formaggio e orzo (scolare l'orzo prima di usarlo). Assaggiare un po' di cavolo riccio e, se necessario, correggere sale e pepe. Versare nella pirofila e cuocere in forno per circa 30 minuti (nel mio forno ci vogliono 34 minuti perché il gratin faccia una crosticina fine sulla superficie). Tagliare e servire.

Questo è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 277 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once e la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di Briggis recept och ideer, che questa settimana funge anche da ospite.

Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.