briciole

una pasta veloce per cena numero 219: il riepilogo

Presto Pasta Nights #219: the roundup

It's Friday and therefore it is time to share the pasta dishes that I have received in my inbox throughout the week (links and photos, of course, though I certainly wish someone could figure out a way to receive actual tasting samples).

Without further ado, here is the roundup of edition #219 of Presto Pasta Nights, the popular event created by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. For each contribution, I will give you the official information (author, blog name and post title) and a short quote or brief description that summarizes it — a small bite, a sample of the delicacy to be fully savored by reading the relevant post.

Jeannette of Jeanette's Healthy Living prepared Pasta with Sauteed Swiss Chard
"Toss sautéed Swiss chard with some pasta for a one dish meal. So simple, yet so good."

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Joanne from Eats Well With Others prepared Summer Squash and Corn Pasta
"This pasta is at once sweet and spicy... It's a meal so simple and fresh flavored that you'll swear you're eating summer."

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Tina of Life on the Slow Lane at Squirrel Manor Head made Oregano Spaghetti
In the movie "No Reservations" Nick wins over Zoe "with his calm demeanor and ability to prepare her Oregano Spaghetti….a simple meal. Which is what most kids love...simplicity."

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Petra of Foodfreak prepared Zucchini and Ricotta-stuffed Pasta Shells
"The combination of lemon, zucchini and ricotta is very nicely balanced by the tomato sauce. A keeper recipe."

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tigerfish of Teczcape - An Escape to Food prepared Capellini Aglio e Olio with Zucchini, Bell Peppers, Mushrooms — "What can you do with a packet of steamed vegetables? Create a light, refreshing and delicious summer-worthy pasta dish."

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Stash of The Spamwise Chronicles prepared Spaghetti with Scallops, Jersey Tomatoes and Herbs
"For this dish to work, you really need to have fresh tomatoes at the peak of their ripeness... Fresh, sweet, ripe tomatoes bursting with juice are absolutely key."

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Tandy of Lavender and Lime prepared Spaghetti Bolognese
"This recipe is not traditional in the slightest, but is made with the memory of Bologna close to mind."

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Lauren of Healthy. Delicious. prepared Mussels with Saffron and Tomato Sauce
The sauce has "a luxurious, velvety texture that clings lightly to each strand of pasta, and a complex flavor... [It] is the stuff dreams are made of."

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Elizabeth of The Law Student's Cookbook prepared Cheesy Turkey Penne
"By no means was this a difficult dish. By no means was it a plain dish... It was perfect to make this pasta after work, when I just want to eat and eat quick."

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Sarah of La Cuisine de Sarah prepared Conchiglie Pasta with Carrot and Thyme Sauce, Mushrooms and Sausage — "A puréed carrot pasta sauce may not sound that appetising, but with some lovely fresh thyme and good seasoning, it makes a nice creamy sauce."

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Deb of Kahakai Kitchen prepared Cherry Tomato, Caper, and Balsamic Sauce with Pappardelle
A simple, fresh sauce to celebrate the beauty of "real" tomatoes (which she can get throughout the year since she is "lucky to live Hawaii").

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Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. prepared Exotic Lamb Neck & Bean Stew with Couscous
"because, even in the summer there are some damp and dreary days that need some slow cooking."

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Sara of Cupcake Muffin prepared Pasta with Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce and Chicken
"The sun dried tomatoes add a wonderful deep tomato-y flavor," and the roasted red peppers go well with them.

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Victoria of Mission: Food prepared Macaroni and Cheese with Mushrooms
"A great adult mac and cheese that kids would enjoy too (and a great way to include veggies into one of their favorite foods)."

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Juli of Pictures of all my Princesses prepared Garlic Lemon Chicken,
which she alternates what she serves it over, but she's been really into pasta with tangy lemony sauces over them, so this week she is serving it with pasta.

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Marta of Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare prepared Spaghettoni with Smoked Herring and Sour Cream
Sour cream, fillets of smoked herring preserved in oil, capers and hot chili peppers make up the sauce for fresh bigoli (a kind of pasta traditional of the Veneto region)

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Simona of briciole (your host) prepared tagliatelle with tomato sauce and fava beans
A simple tomato sauce, blanched and peeled fava beans, basil and cheese make a nice dress for a plate of homemade tagliatelle.

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And that concludes my roundup, which will be added to all the previous Presto Pasta Nights roundups and continue the lovely tradition started by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

As you read this, edition #220 is already under way, hosted by the event's founder, Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. To participate, send your entries to ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com by Thursday, June 30.

Many thanks to all who contributed to produce an interesting collection of pasta dishes for this edition of Presto Pasta Nights. I do hope I have not left anybody out of the roundup. If you find that, notwithstanding my best intentions, I actually have omitted a post, please send me a note.

Arrivederci a presto

tagliatelle al pomodoro con le fave

tagliatelle with tomato sauce and fava beans

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

This is a story that starts with a 28 oz. can of organic ground peeled tomatoes that I had had in my cupboard for a while. After using the can a few times as a weight in the making of this cheese, I decided it was time to use its contents, so I opened it.

I warmed up some olive oil (olio d'oliva) in a pan, added 3 cloves of garlic (spicchi d'aglio), peeled, let them infuse the oil a bit and then added the peeled tomatoes (pomodori pelati) from the can. When they got to bubbling nicely, I turned down the heat and let cook for 10 minutes. I then removed the garlic cloves and used my immersion blender to get a smooth sauce.

I immediately used one cup to make uovo col pomodoro using two eggs. The following day, I made one egg of tagliatelle (recipe here) and dressed them with some of the sauce warmed up and flavored with slivered fresh basil (basilico) from the plant I have in my working room, which has not yet decided whether it likes its location or not, so I am not sure I will be able to harvest from it throughout the summer (growing basil outside is not possible for me, given our cool summer temperatures).

The grated cheese I used for the tagliatelle is my manchego (recipe in Ricki Carroll's Home Cheese Making), which I make with some goat milk and the rest cow milk. I aged this cheese two months before cutting it. This is a favorite pasta dish of mine, with a simple tomato sauce and cheese. The story could end here. However...

I had more sauce to inspire me. At the farmers' market, I bought a pound of fresh fave (fava beans). After shelling the beans, I blanched them for one minute, drained them and plunged them into a bowl of cold water. I drained them again and then proceeded to remove the skin from the beans to bring their bright green core to light.

As I was removing the skin from the fave, I thought that they would be a great addition to the sauce I had recently used for the tagliatelle al pomodoro. The day after, I added the fava beans to the tomato sauce, heated it up, added a few leaves of basil, slivered, and mixed well. I used half to dress an egg of tagliatelle, again using manchego to top the pasta. The cheese usually paired with fava beans is pecorino, a cheese I cannot make at home because I cannot find sheep milk where I live. My mixed-milk manchego went quite well with the fava beans.

Where are the quantities, you will ask? The can of ground peeled tomatoes makes a good quantity of sauce. You may get tomato sauce in other ways, especially as tomato season gets under way. The proportion I suggest is: one cup of tomato sauce and the fave from one pound of pods. You can use it all or only a portion, like I did, or double it, depending on the amount of pasta. And you can certainly use dry pasta instead of homemade tagliatelle.

The photo shows the various ingredients I have talked so far¹. Under the basil, there is garlic from the new crop.

This is my contribution to edition #219 of Presto Pasta Nights. The event was created by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and is hosted this week by Simona of briciole (that would be me).

This post contains the roundup of the event.

I am also sending this post to Tin Can Recipes, a monthly event that will run until the end of this year. The organizers are Ale, Fra, Sere and Paola of Il Giardino degli Aromi and Brii of Briggis recept och ideer and Briiblog in English. The rules for participating are detailed on this page.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

tagliatelle al pomodoro con le fave

or launch the tagliatelle al pomodoro con le fave 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.]

¹ The can of tomatoes in the photo is for information only: it is not an advertisement. I do not have a business relationship with the product's company.

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Per i lettori italiani

Questa storia inizia da una scatola da circa 800 g (28 oz.) di pomodori pelati schiacciati bio che avevo da qualche tempo nella mia dispensa. Dopo averla usata un po' di volte come peso nel procedimento seguito per fare questo questo formaggio, ho deciso che era ora di usare il contenuto e l'ho aperta.

Ho scaldato un po' d'olio d'oliva in una pentola, ho aggiunto tre spicchi d'aglio pelati e li ho fatti andare un po', poi ho aggiunto i pomodori pelati. Li ho portati a bollore e poi ho abbassato la fiamma e li ho fatti cuocere per 10 minuti, poi ho tolto l'aglio e ho usato il mixer ad immersione per ottenere un sugo omogeneo.

Ho usato subito 250 ml per fare dell'uovo col pomodoro con due uova. Il giorno dopo ho fatto un uovo di tagliatelle (questo post contiene la ricetta che seguo) e le ho condite con un po' del sugo scaldato e aromatizzato con del basilico fresco dalla piantina che sto tentando di far sopravvivere nel mio studio (il basilico qui da me non posso piantarlo fuori, date le temperature fresche estive).

Il formaggio grattugiato che ho usato per le tagliatelle è il mio manchego (ricetta dal libro Home Cheese Making di Ricki Carroll), che io faccio con del latte di capra e il resto latte di mucca, invecchiato due mesi. Questo modo di preparare la pasta è uno dei miei preferiti: un sugo di pomodoro semplice e formaggio. La storia potrebbe finire qui, ma...

Avevo ancora altro sugo ad ispirarmi. Al mercato ho comprato 450 g (una libbra) si fave fresche. Dopo averle sgusciare le ho buttate nell'acqua bollente per un minuto, poi le ho scolate e messe in una ciotola di acqua fredda. Dopo averle scolate di nuovo le ho pelate.

Mentre ero intenta a pulire le fave, mi è venuto in mente di aggiungerle al sugo che avevo usato per le tagliatelle al pomodoro. Il giorno dopo ho aggiunto le fave al sugo, l'ho scaldato, ho aggiunto alcune foglie di basilico spezzettate e ho mescolato bene. Ne ho usato metà per condire un uovo di tagliatelle, usando di nuovo il mio manchego come formaggio. Con le fave ci sta bene il pecorino, che io non posso fare perché dove abito non trovo il latte di pecora. Comunque, trovo che il mio manchego di latte misto vada bene con le fave.

E le quantità, direte voi? Con la scatola di pomodori pelati ho fatto una discreta quantità di sugo. Voi potete ottenere la salsa di pomodoro in altri modi, specialmente ora che la stagione dei pomodori sta per iniziare. Le proporzioni che suggerisco sono 250 ml di salsa e le fave ottenure da mezzo chilo di baccelli. Potete usare tutta la dose o una parte, o raddoppiarla, a seconda di quanta pasta avete da condire e potete usare pasta secca invece di quella fresca all'uovo.

La foto mostra alcuni degli ingredienti¹. Sotto il basilico, potete vedere dell'aglio del nuovo raccolto.

Con questo post contribuisco all'edizione numero 219 di Presto Pasta Nights, evento creato da Ruth di Once Upon a Feast e ospitato questa settimana da Simona di briciole (che poi sarei io).

Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

Contribuisco anche all'evento Tin Can Recipes dedicato alla celebrazione dei 200 anni del cibo in scatola. L'organizzazione dell'evento è di Ale, Fra, Sere e Paola del blog Il Giardino degli Aromi e di Brii che scrive Briggis recept och ideer e Briiblog in English. Le regole per partecipare le trovate su questa pagina.

Questo post contiene la raccolta dell'evento.

¹ La scatola di pomodori nella foto è solo a titolo informativo: non è una pubblicità. Non ho alcun rapporto commerciale con l'azienda produttrice.

maccherone

According to my Italian dictionary, maccherone (singular of maccheroni) indicates a type of pasta shaped as a long tube with a diameter larger than bucatino (singular of bucatini); in some regions, maccherone refers to spaghetto (singular of spaghetti), bucatino, etc. The word maccherone has a long history — as you can read on The History of Macaroni by Clifford Wright — during which it not always referred to the same pasta shape as today.

Come il cacio sui maccheroni (literally, like cheese on macaroni) is a popular Italian expression used to describe somethig that is just about perfect.

This week, I am hosting Presto Pasta Nights, so I thought it would be a good time to share a sequence of an Italian movie that has maccheroni as protagonist. In Un americano a Roma (An American in Rome, 1954), Italian comic actor Alberto Sordi plays Nando, a young man fixated with everything American (or his idea of it, as we will see in the case of food). Sordi received honorary citizenship from Kansas City, Missouri, for his references to the city in the movie: being a policeman there is part of Nando's American dream. 

In the most famous scene of the movie, we see him getting home late at night (he still lives with his parents) and finding a plate of maccheroni ready for him on the table. Nando speaks mostly Roman dialect, so he says maccaroni (not "macaroni" as the title of the video says).

The sequence shows Nando disparaging the maccheroni and the fiasco di vino rosso (flask of red wine) on the table. He speaks loud enough for his parents to hear him from their bedroom: "Io non magno maccaroni. Io sono americano... Io non bevo vino rosso. Lo sapete che io sono americano. Gli americani non bevono vino rosso, non magnano maccaroni." (I don't eat macaroni. I am American... I don't drink red wine. You know that I am American. Americans don't drink red wine, they don't eat macaroni.)

He proceeds to substitute the wine with milk, and the heaping plate of pasta with a slice of bread on top of which he first spreads some marmelata (marmellata is actually Italian for jam) then some yogurt and finally some mostarda (he means mustard, which in Italian is senape; Italian mostarda is a different condiment). All the while, he mocks the plate of maccheroni: "Mi sembri un verme, maccarone." (you look like a worm ). He does the substitution convinced that that's what Americans eat and what makes them strong: "Questa è robba 'e magnano i Americani, vedi?, robba sana, sostanziosa." (See, that's what Americans eat: healthy, nourishing stuff.)

However, when Nando takes the first bite of his American meal, his reaction is outright disgust. He quickly changes the arrangement on the table: he gives the milk to the cat (gatto) and the yogurt to the mouse (sorcio in dialect), while the mustard goes to eliminate the cimici (bedbugs) — an unfair treatment, to be sure.

His final sentence is: maccarone, m'hai provocato e io te distruggo, adesso, maccarone, io me te magno (you provoked me and now I'll destroy you, I'm going to eat you). Once an Italian, always an Italian.

That's Renato Carosone's message in his famous song from 1956 Tu vuò fa l'americano. The refrains says: "You're acting all American... but you were born in Italy. Listen here: there's nothing you can do" (the wikipedia article has a translation of the lyrics, which are written in Neapolitan dialect and on YouTube you can see Carosone and his band and listen to this great song).

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

maccherone

or launch the maccherone 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.]

Annuncio: una pasta veloce per cena (numero 219)

Announcement: Presto Pasta Nights #219

I have the honor of hosting edition #219 of Presto Pasta Nights, the popular event created by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

Pasta comes in a myriad shapes and it is so versatile that you can make something as simple as pasta al burro e parmigiano and as complex as a pan of lasagne, every component of it homemade.

Week after week, Presto Pasta Nights captures snapshots of the countless realizations of pasta dishes by food bloggers around the world.

I will be delighted to receive your contribution to this week's edition of Presto Pasta Nights. The rules to participate are detailed on this page. In your post, include a link to Presto Pasta Nights and also to briciole. You can download the PPN logo to add to your post.

Send your entry to me at simosite AT mac DOT com and cc Ruth at ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com, specifying PPN #219 in the title of the message.

In your email please include the following information:

• Your Name
• Your Blog Name/URL
• Your Post URL
• Attach a photo (maximum width 400px)
  

Sometimes messages get lost in cyberspace, so if you don't receive an acknowledgment of your email or see a comment on your post, please contact me again by leaving a comment on this announcement.

The deadline for submitting your contribution is Thursday night June 23, 2011. I will post the roundup on Friday.

¹ A note about the title of this post: una pasta veloce per cena is not the literal translation, but my rendition of the original Presto Pasta Nights.

torta salata di zucchine e carote

savory zucchini and carrot cake

[cliccare il link per andare alla sezione del post in italiano]

A short (as in: detail-poor) recipe for zucchini and carrot soufflé in an Italian magazine inspired this dish that found a more satisfactory realization as a savory cake, baked in a springform pan. The sketchiness of the recipe (which I believe I still have in the house, though my inability to locate it puts in doubt such believe) left ample room for my experiments. From the very beginning, however, I was clear on one thing: I would use a lot of zucchine for it.

I came up with my idea of how much of each vegetable to use. I also set aside the béchamel sauce in favor of a velouté sauce that uses olive oil for the roux and my homemade stock as liquid. The given number of eggs was not enough to make the base into a "real" soufflé, so I thought of using a springform pan to bake the mixture and was happy with the result, so the soufflé turned into a cake.

The recipe entails preparing the vegetables and the sauce: this can be done separately and in advance, making this dish a nice option for a dinner with guests where you don't want to have a lot to do at the last minute. I make it often for the two of us, since we both like it a lot.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for torta salata di zucchine e carote

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs. zucchini
• 8 oz. carrots
• olive oil
• 2 cups homemade light chicken stock or vegetable stock
• 3.5 tablespoons olive oil (olio d'oliva) of good quality
  
• 3.5 tablespoons all-purpose flour (farina)
• grated nutmeg
  
• 2 eggs (due uova)
  
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Prepare the vegetables:

• scrub carrots, scrape skin off with a knife, then rinse
• steam carrots until tender; when cool, dice them
• wash zucchini and dice them
• cook zucchini in a lightly oiled nonstick skillet, uncovered, until tender, stirring often
• mix the vegetables and season them with salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the velouté sauce:

Use the given quantities of flour, olive oil and stock to prepare the velouté sauce according to Deborah Madison's recipe for béchamel sauce in her "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" (one of the variations she lists at the end of the recipe mentions the possibility of making a non-dairy version with olive oil and stock). Most often, I use my homemade light chicken stock, because I have more of that than of vegetable stock in my freezer.

Read carefully the recipe as Madison explains the reason behind the long cooking time. I warm up the stock in the microwave while the roux is cooking. I then pour the hot liquid into the pan all at once, while stirring with a whisk. Note that I don't add the aromatics listed in the recipe to the stock, since it already contains them.

Assemble and bake the cake:

Separate the eggs: add the yolks to the sauce and let the whites come to room temperature in a small bowl. Heat oven to 400 F and place a rack in the middle. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and lightly oil the inner surface of the ring. Add the cheese to the sauce and stir to incorporate that and the egg yolks. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites, then beat them until firm peaks form.

Add the vegetables to the sauce and stir well (be delicate!), then add about 1/3 of the egg whites and fold in using a spatula and a delicate hand. Add the rest of the egg whites and again fold in. Pour into prepared springform pan and place in the oven. Turn down the temperature to 375 F. (This baking mode is the same as for soufflés.)

Bake until the surface is golden. It usually takes me 42 minutes, but as we know, ovens differ. Take out of the oven and let sit for a couple of minutes, then run a thin spatula around the edge and remove the ring. Slice (be careful: the cake is fairly delicate) and serve immediately.

I have not yet tried to use the same base recipe with a different combination of vegetables. When the torta is made with fresh vegetables from the farmers' market, the flavor of zucchini and carrots is really a delicate pleasure for the palate.

This is my submission for the fifth edition of Creative Concoctions, an event created by Ivy of Kopiaste..to Greek Hospitality. The theme of Creative Concoctions #5 is cakes with olive oil.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

torta salata di zucchine e carote

or launch the torta salata di zucchine e carote 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

Subito dopo aver pubblicato il post, Marta di Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare ha espresso un interesse per la ricetta e gliel'ho tradotta. L'intenzione era quella di aggiungere la traduzione a questo post, ma nel frattempo Marta non solo ha realizzato la ricetta, ma ha anche scritto un post carinissimo sulla sua esperienza e quindi e con grande piacere che vi invito a visitare il suo blog e a leggere i dettagli.

un weekend a Shelburne Falls

a weekend in Shelburne Falls (MA)

As I mentioned in a recent post, we recently spent a weekend in Shelburne Falls, MA. Before I tell you a bit more about our visit, let me clarify a language detail: The Italian word for weekend is fine settimana. (settimana means week; fine in this context means end). However, the English word weekend has become part of the spoken language, so I have ben using it in the title of posts where I talk about weekend trips (for example, here and here).

We went to Shelburne Falls, so I could attend a cheesemaking 201 workshop (more on this below) and my husband could visit a family member, who lives in the area. In terms of lodging options, we found a really nice apartment, which made our stay quite comfortable. As mentioned in this post, a well-furnished kitchen allowed me to cook while there, something that contributed to make our stay even more pleasant.

The two-day workshop kept me busy till fairly late in the afternoon (pomeriggio), so our exploration did not go further than the village itself on both sides of the Bridge of Flowers (ponte dei fiori), which spans the Deerfield River (The vehicle bridge parallel to it is called Truss Bridge).

As you can expect, there are falls (cascate) in Shelburne Falls, and here they are:

In the foreground of the photo, you can see another local attraction: the glacial potholes.

The Native Americans called this area Salmon Falls, and the fishing here was so fine that warring tribes made an agreement that they wouldn’t fight each other within one day’s walk of the falls... Ever since the end of the last Ice Age, stones trapped swirling in the riverbed have been grinding into the rock bed below, creating more than 50 near-perfect circles. (source: Lonely Planet)

Past the falls, there are two other points of interest, the Trolley Museum (which we did not get to visit, because it closed too early for my schedule) and the Lamson & Goodnow factory of cutlery. The latter's building (from 1850) totally fascinated me and I went back to it every day, to see it in the evening light. The covered passage, in particular, intrigued me:

I loved the bright red paint on the building below, which was visible from above the falls and I have decided I will have our house painted that color, when we decide it is time to redo the outside. Don't you think it's fabulous?

The two-day cheese-making workshop was simply great. Jim Wallace, well known to anybody who has browsed the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company website and/or receives their monthly newsletter, generously shared his knowledge about not only the three cheeses that were part of the program (Reblochon, Brie and Tomme de Savoie), but also about a wide range of topics related to making cheese at home.

On both days, we had a cheese-tasting session that included some cheeses made by Jim and some made by workshop's participants. During the first session, I fell in love with a cheese called Tomme au Marc, which I hope to be able to make in the fall, the limiting factor being the availability of crushed grapes in which to age the cheese. Jim's recipes for various cheeses, including the ones mentioned above, are available on this page. 

The seven participants, myself included, had a lot of questions for Jim and he addressed all of them, while we followed his recipes for making the three cheeses on the agenda. One interesting thing that happened when we made both Reblochon and Brie is that, due to the richness of the cow milk (latte di mucca) used, we ended up with more curds than would fit in the prepared molds. In both cases Jim made extra cheese using non-standard molds, as you can see in the photo below, where one of the Reblochon cheeses is taller and narrower than the others.

The four photos on the slideshow below all pertain to the making of Reblochon. The last one shows the cheeses the day after they were made. (Click on a thumbnail to see a larger version of the photo)

• 
• 
• 
• 

We were free to take photos during the workshop, but I was usually too busy listening and taking notes, so I have only a small number of images. Here is a parting shot: I like this photo, because it shows a table with various things we used and the beautiful brie in its second mold (again this is how the cheese looked like the day after it was made), plus the two small ones Jim made with the extra curds.

 

Besides the newsletter, the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company has a blog containing a wealth of information on making cheese at home. For example, a recent post contains a list of cheese-making classes and also advice on how to choose a class that fits your needs. The third photo from the top shows Jim with a group of students: I was one of them not too long ago. My experience making English-style Coulommiers is featured in a recently published post: what an honor!

Being in Shelburne Falls reminded me of how pretty New England is. We visited the area some years ago in the fall, during foliage season, and I have fond memories of that trip. This time of the year, everything is green and blooming, from the Bridge of Flowers to the gardens in front of houses.

Exciting update (September 4, 2011): my report on the weekend in Shelburne Falls is featured in today's post on the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company blog. Thanks!

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

un weekend a Shelburne Falls

or launch the un weekend a Shelburne Falls 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.]

Edizione speciale: Novel Food #13

Special Edition: Announcing Novel Food #13

What are you reading now? I am reading Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep" and am enjoying every element of it: the story, the protagonist, the writing style, and the language. This is the second Philip Marlowe's novel I read (after "The Lady in the Lake"). It was actually the first one published, in 1939.

As you can imagine based on the logo on the left, today, I am announcing a new edition of Novel Food, the culinary/literary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started in the fall of 2007 and have co-hosted 12 times, much to our delight.

Lisa is taking a break, so for this edition I will be your host.

Every edition of Novel Food is a little voyage of literary discovery, as you learn about literary works new to you, and it is also a delightful banquet made up of the literary-inspired dishes contributed by the event's participants.

Are you eager to join the party? I hope so. I am looking forward to learning about a published literary work (a novel, novella, short story, memoir, bio, poem, etc.) that provided you with culinary inspiration.

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 Sunday July 10, 2011 (midnight, Pacific Time), referencing the Novel Food event. Include a link to this announcement. If you wish, you can use the Novel Food logo.
3. Send an e-mail to 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 I can more easily retrieve the message in my inbox.
4. Non-English submissions are fine. If possible, include an introduction in English.

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

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crostini con pomodori ciliegia arrosto

crostini with oven-roasted cherry tomatoes

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

As I mentioned in my previous post, recently we spent a weekend in Shelburne Falls, MA. We then drove to Atlanta, taking four days to cover the distance. One place we visited to which I'd like to go back one day for a longer time is Asheville, NC. We arrived there in the evening and after checking in at the bed & breakfast, we walked to the downtown area for dinner. The morning after, we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped to hike to the Upper Falls at Graveyard Fields. The trail was beautiful, flanked by rhododendrons in full bloom.

We then continued to Atlanta, where we arrived at exactly the right time to avoid being on the road during this intense storm. As I write, we are still away from home, and I am not cooking. While in Shelburne Falls, though, I cooked a bit. One evening, I made my zucchini frittata and my caprese salad with oven-roasted cherry tomatoes. I didn't use the tomatoes in the photo above: those are flavorful Isis Candy tomatoes from last summer, which I am very much looking forward to enjoying again this year.

Once you start roasting pomodori ciliegia¹ (cherry tomatoes), you will find many uses for them. One use that has been particularly appreciated in our household is as a topping for crostini. Let me clarify my use of the word crostini with respect to bruschetta. I grew up eating bruschetta, a dish made up of toasted slices of bread brushed with garlic and drizzled with very good quality olive oil. The recipe section of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina website contains three recipes for bruschetta (in Italian), all along the lines just described. Any other combination of ingredients atop a slice of toasted bread to me makes a crostino (plural, crostini).

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for crostini con pomodori ciliegia arrosto

This is another recipe where I don't give precise measurements: you should adjust the quantity of tomatoes and bread as needed to make enough crostini for the prospective commensali (guests at the table). Try roasting a pint of cherry tomatoes and see how many crostini you can make using your bread of choice.

Ingredients:

• cherry tomatoes
• olive oil (olio d'oliva)
• sea salt, to taste
• fresh thyme (timo)
• slices of a kind of bread that will go well with tomatoes, like sweet sourdough or whole wheat; I would not used a bread with strongly-flavored added ingredients

Heat the oven to 350 F. After removing the stem (if present), cut each tomato in half lengthwise and place in a bowl. Toss the tomato halves lightly with a bit of salt (alternatively, you can sprinkle some salt on the tomatoes once they are placed atop the bread) and of olive oil and the leaves of a few sprigs of thyme. (I like my tomatoes without salt, but I don't expect people to agree with me.) Arrange the tomato halves in one layer, cut side up, on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat and bake them for 45 minutes. Check after 40 minutes.

A few minutes before the oven timer is set to beep, toast slices of the bread of choice. As soon as the tomatoes come out of the oven, spoon them on the warm toasted bread. Optionally add a touch of olive oil. Serve immediately.

To make the crostini portrayed above, I used my rendition of maize bread from Dan Lepard's "The Handmade Loaf" (a book I reviewed for The Daring Kitchen). Don't you think that the warm color of this bread goes well with that of the Isis Candy tomatoes on top?

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

This is my contribution to edition #286 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 Huan of Eat.Read.Live.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

crostini con pomodori ciliegia arrosto

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Per i lettori italiani

Come ho accennato nel mio ultimo post, abbiamo trascorso un weekend a Shelburne Falls, nel Massachusetts. Siamo poi andati ad Atlanta in auto, coprendo la distanza in quattro giorni. Un posto che abbiamo visitato e nel quale mi piacerebbe tornare per una visita più lunga è Asheville, nel North Carolina. Ci siamo arrivati di sera e dopo aver lasciato i bagagli nel bed & breakfast, siamo andati a piedi in centro per cenare. Il giorno dopo, abbiamo percorso la Blue Ridge Parkway e ci siamo fermati a fare una passeggiata alle Upper Falls di Graveyard Fields. Il sentiero era molto bello, fiancheggiato da rododendri in piena fioritura.

Abbiamo poi proseguito per Atlanta, dove siamo arrivati giusto in tempo per evitare di essere per strada durante questo nubifragio. In questo momento siamo ancora lontani da casa e non sto cucinando. Durante il breve soggiorno a Shelburne Falls, però, ho cucinato un po'. Una sera ho preparato la mia frittata con le zucchine e la mia insalata caprese con pomodori ciliegia arrosto. Non ho usato i pomodori della foto: quelli sono dell'estate scorsa: la varietà si chiama Isis Candy ed è una delle mie preferite. Non vedo l'ora di trovarla di nuovo al mercato.

Una volta che cominciate a cuocere al forno i pomodori ciliegia, troverete molti modi per usarli. Un modo particolarmente apprezzato a casa nostra è come ingrediente per fare dei crostini.

Questa è un'altra ricetta nella quale non specifico le dosi: preparate abbastanza pomodorini e pane tostato per i crostini in base al numero dei commensali. Provate a cuocere al forno una confezione di pomodorini e vedete quanti crostini vi vengono col pane che avete scelto.

Ingredienti:

• pomodori ciliegia
• olio d'oliva
• sale marino, q.b.
• timo fresco
• fettine di pane del tipo che preferite e che pensate si sposi bene con i pomodorini

Scaldare il forno a 175 C. Dopo aver tolto il picciolo (se presente), tagliare i pomodorini a metà nel senso della lunghezza e metterli in una ciotola. Aggiungere un po' di sale (in alternativa, salare leggermente i pomodori dopo averli messi sul pane) e di olio d'oliva e le foglie di alcuni rametti di timo e mescolare delicatamente. (A me i pomodori piacciono senza sale, ma non mi aspetto che gli altri siano d'accordo con me.) Disporre i pomodori in unico strato con la parte tagliata in alto su una lastra da forno foderata con tappetino di silicone e cuocere in forno per 45 minuti. (La temperatura in gradi Fahrenheit che uso io, 350, è un po' al di sopra di 175 C e un po' al di sotto di 180 C. Ho deciso di specificare la temperatura più bassa poiché in questo caso preferisco essere cauta. Se utilizzate 180 C, controllate i pomodori dopo 40 minuti.)

Qualche minuto prima che il contaminuti suoni, tostate alcune fettine del pane scelto. Non appena tirate fuori dal forno i pomodorini disponetele sul pane caldo. A piacere, aggiungere un goccio d'olio d'oliva. Servire immediatamente.

Per i crostini della foto in alto, ho usato il pane di mais preparato secondo la ricetta del libro "The Handmade Loaf" di Dan Lepard (libro che ho recensito per il sito The Daring Kitchen). Siete d'accordo con me che il colore dorato del pane e quello dei pomodorini Isis Candy vanno benissimo insieme?

Questo è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 286 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, e ospitata questa settimana da Marta di Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare.

Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.