briciole

Annuncio: legumi che passione! (numero 41)

My Legume Love Affair #41 ¹

I have the honor of being the host for the November 2011 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. The recipe can be savory or sweet, with or without meat — no restrictions. The legume (or legumes) must be one of the main ingredients, not a minor character. (Exceptions to this general rule are legumes whose flavor is so intense that they are used in small quantities, like tamarind and fenugreek.)

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. (The legumes portrayed in it are Umbrian lentils.)

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 (fresh or dried)
• 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 of the dish or legume(s) featured in it: 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 Wednesday, November 30 at noon PST.

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 its  rules.

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

• Food Photography from Snap Shots to Great Shot by Nicole S. Young. This prize is offered by Susan at her expense, and she will also absorb worldwide shipping charges.  F.T.C. Notice: 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, sponsored 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.
• Drawing Structure - If the winner is a U.S. resident, she/he will be the recipient of both Prizes 1 and 2 above.  In the event that an international winner is drawn, a second drawing will be conducted from the U.S. pool of entrants to ensure that the Hurst Prize is awarded every month.  In these instances, the international winner will receive the book, and the U.S. winner will receive the Hurst Prize.

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.

formaggio fatto in casa: robiola

homemade robiola

on the cutting board, with salt-and-pepper cookies

Remember the photo I published recently for Black and White Wednesday where I held in my hand a nice piece of fresh cheese? I wrote then that I would talk a bit more about the cheese portrayed and that is what I will do in this post. I will actually talk very little, since everything you need to know about making the cheese is on the robiola recipe page of the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company website.

The page is authored by Jim Wallace. Having attended a workshop led by him earlier this year means that now, when I read the articles he writes, I can hear his voice providing instructions and guidance. As Jim explains in the introductory notes, there are various types of robiola. If you do a google image search after specifying robiola in the search field, you can get some idea of what those cheeses look like.

Since everything you need to know to make the cheese is on the relevant page, here I am sharing a few photos from my experience making it. I made it three times. The first time, I misjudged my mold needs, so I ended up with good-tasting cheese of weird shapes. I then got a ricotta basket and used that and the one I already had to mold the curds. Basically, I followed Jim's instructions (which, of course, I should have done to begin with).

The photo above shows one of the baskets with the curds, resting on a grate that rests on a raised metal support, all placed inside a plastic container: this is so that the whey (siero di latte) can drain freely. I set aside the first two cups or so of whey and use it to make bread. I used the rest to water one of my rhododendrons. As mentioned previously, I have recently started to use cheese netting instead of cloth. There are some drawbacks, but the advantage is easy cleaning and handling.

The time from addition of rennet (caglio) to cutting the curd (cagliata) was 5.5 hours (this was based on observation of the curd and will probably vary when I make the cheese again). The amount of calcium chloride I used is 1/8 teaspoon.

Up close and personal with robiola draining in a ricotta mold

robiola spending some time in brine...

then drying well before being put in the cheese fridge for a brief aging

The top photo shows what was left of one robiola after I cut some for dinner with my friend Christine of Christine Cooks and her husband and packed some for them to bring home. We enjoyed the lovely, fresh-tasting cheese, which I served with slices of pears. 

A variation on the theme of formaggio con le pere (cheese with pears) is shown above, where the fruit is an Asian pear. There is a bit more to this, so I will leave you kind of hanging until I have time to reveal more.

The robiola we have eaten so far has been aged for a short period of time, in the order of 4-7 days. However, the very last small wheel has just spent two weeks in the fridge, due to our travels. Though slowly, due to the low temperature, the cheese has matured further and we are enjoying it on bread or pears.

I recommend this recipe to both the beginner and the experienced cheese-maker: it is pretty straightforward, the result can be tasted within a few days of making it, and the resulting cheese is very nice.

Exciting update (October 31, 2011): my report on making robiola at home is featured in today's post on the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company blog. Thanks!

Another exciting update (November 4, 2011): I submitted the post to Homegrown.org as participant to their Homegrown Fair and it was chosen as winner of week 1 of the event. Thanks!

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

formaggio fatto in casa: robiola

or launch the formaggio fatto in casa: robiola 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.]

cheese

bere un caffè a casa

drinking a coffee at home

Things are pretty simple in our house when it comes to coffee preparation: I have my moka pot and my husband his espresso machine. We have no need to contemplate other ways of making coffee (fare il caffè).

In the very early days of my blog, I wrote a few posts about Italian words related to drinking espresso, a sort of survival manual for Americans visiting Italy:

• un caffè
• variazioni sul tema: un caffè
• bere un caffè al bar

The coffee in the photo above is a homemade version of caffè americano, thus defined in my earlier post:

the shot of espresso is served in a cappuccino cup together with a small pitcher of hot water so the customer has control on the level of dilution.

I usually order a cappuccino when I visit a coffee bar in Italy, but that is a story for another day (soon, as I have a couple of recent adventures to share).

When I moved to the East Bay 18 years or so ago, I was introduced to Peet's. In the years, I have visited many Peet's stores, both in the East Bay and in San Francisco. For example, Peet's in Lafayette or Orinda is where I usually get together with two dear friends. And the original Peet's on Vine Street (Berkeley) is next door to my hairdresser, in the so-called gourmet ghetto, close to the restaurant Chez Panisse and the Cheeseboard. We are talking about important historical places here. 

So, when the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program offered me to taste two new Peet's coffees, I readily signed up. I didn't know then that I had another sentimental reason for doing so. The two medium-roasted coffees are called Café Domingo and Café Solano. When I looked them up on the company website, I discovered that they are named after two of the Peet's stores in Berkeley: one on Domingo Avenue and the other on Solano Avenue. The store on Domingo Avenue is very close to our East Bay residence and I have ordered a cappuccino there many times (served in a ceramic cup), then sat with it on the outdoor bench that you see in the photo on the web page. And I have been several times to the store on Solano Avenue (a famous East Bay thoroughfare split between Berkeley and Albany).

I usually don't drink coffee at the end of a meal: my one-cup stovetop coffee pot gets used twice a day, mid-morning and early afternoon. For the top photo, I prepared coffee using Café Domingo in my moka pot, poured it in my pink cappuccino cup and then added hot water to make a caffè americano. A slice of panettone seemed like a good partner for the coffee and you can imagine the photo to portray your afternoon break or your dessert time around the Holidays (panettone being an Italian traditional Christmas cake).

Some time ago, I used a gift certificate to purchase a little gadget that makes hot milk foamy and in the photo above, you can see a homemade cappuccino that once again uses coffee made with my stovetop coffee pot. It has not become part of my coffee ritual at home, but it's nice to have it handy, should withdrawal symptoms manifest themselves, which can happen more easily after I come back from Italy and from a frequent consumption of the real thing. I drink cappuccino rigorously by itself and not after a meal.

The coffee I received was already ground. The default grinding in the US is for drip coffee and is too coarse for either the stovetop coffee pot or the espresso machine, so before using it, I briefly ran the coffee in the coffee grinder until it was of the desired fineness. 

I will end this post with a quote from my article on how I make coffee at home:

At the end, preparing coffee is a ritual, and mine (rooted in early life experiences) is just as good as yours and my husband’s. His old La Pavoni workhorse hisses furiously to let him know it is ready, and in response he maneuvers the handle to direct the steam through the basket containing the freshly ground coffee... I still reach for my little moka, smiling at its familiar look and feel. Life’s good, it tells me: Here’s your coffee.

Many thanks to the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program and Peet's for offering me the opportunity to taste the new coffees.

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

bere un caffè a casa

or launch the bere un caffè a 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.]

FTC discosure: as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program with Peet's, I received two 12 oz. bags of Peet's new medium roast coffees — Café Domingo and Café Solano — at no charge. I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for mentioning the product on my blog.

coffee

peperoni e pomodori ciliegia al mercato

peppers and cherry tomatoes at the farmers' market

shapes and shades

I took this photo at the farmers' market the same day I took this one. What caught my attention in passing close to the table was not only the mix of colors, but also that of shapes.

This is my submission to week #16 edition of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. Savoring the weekly gallery is highly recommended: it's a very special mid-week treat.

The photo was shot in color and then converted to sepia.

This post contains the gallery of photos submitted to the event.

funghi prataioli trifolati con formaggella di Tremosine

white mushrooms with cheese formaggella di Tremosine

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

Variation on the theme of funghi trifolati

During my visit to my home town of Perugia, I had access to a kitchen, I don't have a lot of time to devote to cooking, so a dish like funghi trifolati is ideal, as it takes a short time to prepare, and the result is quite satisfying, especially when my variation is realized. But let's go in order.

The verb trifolare in Italian means to slice vegetables or meat thinly, the way truffles (tartufi) are sliced, and then cook them in oil with garlic and parsley (aglio e prezzemolo). Funghi prataioli (also called champignon in Italy) are the vegetable in this case. I went to buy some fruit at a grocery store and saw some nice ones, so the idea of preparing funghi trifolati came to mind.

When the mushrooms were almost ready, I thought about finishing the dish with some cheese and so I tried cutting think slices from the piece of formaggella di Tremosine that a dear friend had given to me and which I had already tasted and liked. The result was so delightful that I have made the dish twice more after the first realization. 

You can see the cheese in the photo above, together with the other ingredients for the dish. In terms of quantities, I will give you the amount I used to serve two, but this is really a dish that can be adapted easily to the number of people around your table.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for funghi prataioli trifolati con formaggella di Tremosine

Ingredients:

• 3/4 lb (12 oz., 340 g) white mushrooms
  
• olive oil
• 2 small cloves of garlic or one large, minced
• sea salt, to taste
• freshly milled black pepper, to taste
• fresh parsley, minced
• thinly sliced formaggella di Tremosine or similar cheese, to taste; cut slices into half if they are large

Clean mushrooms and cut them into approx. 1/8"(3 mm)-thick slices. Warm up some olive oil in a pan and add the garlic. Let the garlic infuse the oil for a couple of minutes, then add the mushrooms. Stir well, add a small amount of salt, then stir again.

Let the mushrooms cook until desired tenderness, stirring them every now and then. They will sweat and towards the end you may want to increase the heat under the pan as needed to make it evaporate. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir, then add parsley and give mushrooms a final stir. Remove pan from heat. Distribute the cheese over the mushrooms, cover pan with a lid and let the cheese soften for a few minutes, while you let your mouth water. Serve and eat right away.

This is my contribution to edition #306 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 from 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:

funghi prataioli trifolati con formaggella di Tremosine

or launch the funghi prataioli trifolati con formaggella di Tremosine  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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mushroom, cheese

Per i lettori italiani

Variazione sul tema funghi trifolati

Durante la mia visita a Perugia avevo accesso ad una cucina, ma non avevo molto tempo da dedicare alla preparazione di piatti, quindi una ricetta come i funghi trifolati  ideale, dal momento che si prepara rapidamente e il risultato è molto soddisfacente, soprattutto quando si realizza la mia variazione. Ma andiamo per ordine.

In un negozio di frutta e verdura ho visto dei bei funghi prataioli (o champignon che dir si voglia) che mi hanno fatto venire l'idea di prepararli trifolati. Quando i funghi erano quasi cotti, ho pensato di completare il piatto con del formaggio, quindi ho tagliato delle fettine sottili di formaggella di Tremosine, che mi era stata regalata da una cara amica e che avevo già assaggiato e apprezzato. Il risultato è stato così delizioso che l'ho preparato altre duèe volte dopo il primo esperimento.

Il formaggio e gli altri ingredienti sono ritratti nella foto qui sopra. Per quanto riguarda le quantità, vi dò quelle che ho utilizzato io per due persone, ma questo è un piatto che si può adattare facilmente al numero di commensali.

Ingredienti:

• 350 g di funghi prataioli
• olio d'oliva
• aglio tritato, due spicchi se piccoli o uno grosso
• sale fino, q.b.
• pepe nero macinato fresco, q.b.
• prezzemolo fresco tritato, a piacere
• fresh parsley, minced
• alcune fettine sottili di formaggella di Tremosine o formaggio simile, tagliate a metà se larghe

Pulire i funghi e tagliarli a fettine spesse circa 3 mm. Scaldare dell'olio di oliva in una padella e aggiungere l'aglio. Dopo un paio di minuti, aggiungere i funghi. Mescolare bene, aggiungere un pochino di sale e mescolare di nuovo.

Far cuocere i funghi fino a quando sono teneri, mescolando di tanto in tanto. Emetteranno liquido e verso la fine del tempo di cottura potete aumentare il calore sotto la padella per far evaporare quello che rimane. Salare e pepare a piacere, mescolare, aggiungere del prezzemolo e mescolare un'ultima volta. Togliere la padella dal fuoco. Distribuire il formaggio sulla superficie, coprire la padella e lasciare che il calore dei funghi ammorbidisca il formaggio. Servire dopo qualche minuto e gustare immediatamente.

Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 306 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 briggishome, e ospitata questa settimana da Simona di Simona’s Kitchen.

Questo post contiene la raccolta dell'evento.

fare la spesa a Venezia

grocery shopping in Venice

Venice: the grocery boat (called la Barca)

I have written two posts on going shopping in Italy (one and two), but neither described this Venetian version of grocery shopping, which I encountered earlier this week for the first time.

Update: Thanks to the comment from Laura of Tiramisu', a native Venetian, I was able to add the name of the grocery boat to the photo caption. Barca in Italian means boat.

This is my submission to week #15 edition of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. Savoring the weekly gallery is highly recommended: it's a very special mid-week treat.

The photo was shot in color and then converted to black and white.

This post contains the gallery of the event.

bialy per la giornata mondiale del pane

bialys for World Bread Day 2011

I have been baking bread at home for a few years now, but I have missed World Bread Day because the event sort of sneaked up on me finding me unprepared. This year, I made a point of being prepared, so I have a nice bread to share: Boiceville Bialys from "Simply Great Breads" by Daniel Leader with Lauren Chattman. My dictionary defines bialy as "A flat bread roll topped with chopped onions." (Note that the recipe directs you to use a stand-up mixer. However, the dough can be mixed and kneaded by hand, which is what I did.)

I have also another book by Leader: "Local Breads," and I have featured recipes from it here, here and here. The recipe for bialys caught my attention immediately upon going through the book. I have made it twice, halving the quantities and also using my own poppy seeds (semi di papavero) for the filling: I like the combination with onion (cipolla). If you end up having leftover filling, you can use it as topping for a soup, like I did here.

A few weeks ago, I published a photo of my poppy seeds and I mentioned I had used them in a bread recipe: well, here it is and here is a photo of one of my poppies.

The photo above of the baked bialys is not great, but please believe me, they are great. The description Leader gives is perfect: "The bialys come out light and bubbly, with a thin but wonderfully crisp crust."

The parting shot is of the filled bialys ready to go into the oven. "Bialys are best eaten on the day they are baked," says Leader. Indeed, it is difficult to make them last until dinner time (ora di cena).

Happy World Bread Day!

This is my contribution to World Bread Day 2011, an event organized by Zorra of Kochtopf. The event takes place today only.

This post contains the section of the roundup that includes my entry, while this post contains pointers to all the sections of the roundup.

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

bialy per la giornata mondiale del pane

or launch the bialy per la giornata mondiale del pane 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.]

bread, onion

Edizione speciale: Novel Food #14

Special Edition: Announcing Novel Food #14

What are you reading now? I am finishing The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl, a very interesting novel. It brought back memories of studying Dante's Divine Comedy in school. I have not read it since, but episodes from it came back to mind easily while reading the novel.

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 until earlier this year, much to our delight.

Lisa is taking a break from blogging, and so again 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.

I hope you will join the party. 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 November 13, 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.

Note #1: 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.

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.

peperoni in bella mostra al mercato

peppers displayed at the farmers' market

an abundance of peppers

Or an explosion of peppers, if I consider all the market stalls which featured varieties of the vegetable in all the vivid colors and all the shapes and sizes in which it comes. I brought home a poblano pepper (like the ones in the basket on the left), which was roasted and then added to my beloved roasted corn soup, giving a nice kick to its flavor and a lovely green tone to its color. I think that those in the foreground are Italian long peppers. I did not get any of them this time, favoring instead some Round of Hungary, which I roasted and froze to make this dip at a future date.

This is my submission to week #14 edition of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. Savoring the weekly gallery is highly recommended: it's a very special mid-week treat.

The photo was shot in color and then converted to black and white.

This post contains the gallery of photos submitted to the event.

zuppa di porri, barbabietola rossa e sedano rapa

leek, red beet and celeriac soup

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

The soup started with the purchase of some beautiful leeks and celeriac at the farmers' market. My first experiment was to make my leek and potato soup (zuppa di porri e patate) substituting some of the potatoes with celeriac. The result was nice, but I didn't feel like I had made something new, so for the next try I chose to remove potatoes altogether from the equation and add a roasted red beet (barbabietola rossa).

I find celeriac (also called celery root and a few other names) fascinating and I realized it is also photogenic: I titled the black and white version of this photo "The universe is complex: consider celeriac."

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for zuppa di porri, barbabietola rossa e sedano rapa

Ingredients:

• 1 lb red beets (one large or two smaller)
• 1 lb leeks, weighed after the dark green leaves have been removed (save them to use in making stock or broth)
• 1 lb celeriac (in my case, two)
• olive oil
• 3 cups of homemade light chicken stock, or vegetarian option
• water, as needed
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (sale e pepe), to taste
• fresh juice of half a lemon

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Scrub the beet(s), wrap in foil, place on a baking sheet, and bake until easily pierced with a knife. Let cool until easy to handle, then slip off the skin. Slice as if you were making a beet salad. (If you buy beets with their greens still attached, cut the greens an inch above the beet, then proceed with the preparation.)

Cut the leeks in half lengthwise, cut into 1/8-1/4-inch slices and rinse well in a colander. Warm up some olive oil in a soup pot, then add the leeks and stir well to coat. Let cook for a few minutes, then cover and continue cooking while you scrub, peel and cut the celeriac into chunks approximately the size of the pieces of red beet. Add celeriac to the leeks, stir, then cover and let cook gently for 10 minutes or so, stirring often.

Add the red beets, the stock and enough water to just cover the vegetables. Cover, bring to a boil and then adjust the heat to maintain a lively simmer. Cook until the celeriac is soft (i.e., it can be easily mashed with the back of a spoon against the side of the pot). Remove from the heat, then purée with an immersion blender. Add water to obtain a soup of the desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper, then add the lemon juice. Stir, then let the soup rest for a while before tasting to verify that the amount of lemon juice was sufficient to brighten the flavor of the soup. Making the soup at least a few hours before you are planning to serve it will give it enough time to rest and ripen.

Reheat the soup, taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Serve with some cheese as topping (freshly grated or crumbled, depending on the kind of cheese you choose) and/or some cooked grains (like hull-less barley) added. In the photo at the top, I show the soup accompanied with Salt-and-Pepper Cookies.

This is my contribution to edition #304 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 Chris of Mele Cotte.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

zuppa di porri, barbabietola rossa e sedano rapa

 or launch the zuppa di porri, barbabietola rossa e sedano rapa 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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leek, red beet, celeriac, soup

Per i lettori italiani

Questa zuppa è cominciata con porri e sedano rapa acquistati al farmers' market. Come primo esperimento ho preparato la mia zuppa di porri e patate sostituendo parte delle patate col sedano rapa. Il risultato mi è piaciuto, ma non mi sentivo di aver fatto qualcosa di nuovo e così per il secondo esperimento ho tolto le patate del tutto e ho aggiunto una barbabietola rossa cotta al forno.

Il sedano rapa mi affascina ed è anche fotogenico: ho intitolato la versione in bianco e nero di questa foto "L'universo è complesso: consideriamo per esempio il sedano rapa."

Ingredienti:

• 450 g barbabietola rossa
• 450 g porri, pesati dopo aver rimosso le foglie verde scuro (tenetele da parte e usatele per fare il brodo)
• 450 g sedano rapa (nel mio caso, due)
• olio d'oliva
• 700-750 ml di brodo di pollo leggero o vegetale fatto in casa
• acqua, q.b.
• sale e pepe nero macinato fresco a piacere
• succo di mezzo limone

Scaldare il forno a 190 C. Pulire bene la barbabietola (o barbabietole), avvolgere in pellicola di alluminio e cuocere in forno fino a quando è facile perforarla con una lama. Lasciar intiepidire e poi rimuovere la buccia. Fare a pezzi come se si dovesse preparare un'insalata. (Se comprate barbabietole con ancora attaccate le foglie, tagliare i gambi 3 cm sopra alla radice e poi proseguire con la preparazione.)

Tagliare i porri a metà per il lungo e poi a fette di 3-6 mm. Sciacquare bene in un colapasta. Scaldare dell'olio d'oliva in una pentola da zuppa e aggiungere i porri. Mescolare bene e poi lasciare cuocere per alcuni minuti, mentre pulite, pelate e tagliate a pezzi il sedano rapa (all'incirca grossi come i pezzi di barbabietola). Aggiungere il sedano rapa alla pentola, mescolare, coprire e cuocere a fuoco dolce per 10 minuti, mescolando spesso.

Aggiungere alla pentola i pezzi di barbabietola rossa, il brodo e abbastanza acqua da coprire le verdure. Mettere il coperchio e portare a bollore, poi regolare il calore per mantenere un leggero bollore. Cuocere fino a quando il sedano rapa sia morbido (cioè potete schiacciarlo con il dorso di un cucchiaio di legno contro la parete della pentola).

Togliere la pentola dal fuoco e ridurre le verdure a purè con il minipimer. Aggiungere acqua quanto basta per ottenere una zuppa della consistenza desiderata. Regolare sale e pepe e aggiungere il succo di limone. Mescolare e lasciar riposare la zuppa per un po' di tempo prima di verificare che la quantità di limone sia sufficiente a far risaltare il sapore della zuppa. Preparare la zuppa almeno alcune ore prima che dobbiate portarla in tavola le dà abbastanza tempo per riposare e maturare.

Riscaldare la zuppa, assaggiare e, se necessario, regolare il condimento. Servire con del formaggio (grattugiato fresco o sbriciolato, a seconda del tipo di formaggio scelto) e/o dei cereali cotti (come orzo mondo). Nella foto in alto, ho accompagnato la zuppa con dei biscotti salati.

Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 304 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 briggishome, e ospitata questa settimana da Marta di Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare.

Questo post contiene il raccolt dell'evento.