This week, I have once again the honor of hosting Presto Pasta Night, edition #280 to be precise.
Pasta comes in a myriad shapes. Recently, I have started a journey into pasta shapes from southern Italy made by hand using an eggless dough: strascinati, orecchiette, maccheroni al ferro and gnocchetti sardi. I am having so much fun that I am planning to continue teaching my hands to make new tricks.
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. Feel free to let me or Ruth know if you have any questions.
Entries
for this week's edition of PPN must be posted during the days
covered by it, meaning, from Friday August 31 through Thursday, September 6. 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 #280 in the title of the
message.
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The deadline for submitting your contribution is Thursday night September 6, 2012. I will post the roundup on Friday.
Another lovely specimen from my garden. I planted a dill seedling a few years ago, then let it go to seeds and every year I get a few plants here and there. I use dill in the kitchen and also enjoy its firework-y umbrella flower heads. Beneficial insects like those too.
We are approaching the end of zucchini season. Pretty soon we will switch from summer squashes to winter ones, marking the transition to a new fall season. But before that happens, try this nice soup with zucchini and fresh red onions. The recipe makes a fairly large batch: if you have some leftover soup, you can freeze it for enjoyment later in the year.
The idea for this soup came to me one day that I had three rather large zucchini that would be a bit too watery for other uses. When in doubt, I roast vegetables in the oven to concentrate their flavor, and that is what I did with those zucchini, together with a nice torpedo onion from Green Fire Farm (growers of many wonderful vegetables, including stunning leeks).
delicately roasted torpedo onion
The roasted vegetables give some depth to the flavor of this soup, which includes a few other ingredients, as you see in the list:
1 1/2 lb. (680 g) zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
10 oz. (285 g) torpedo onion or other fresh red onion, cut into 1/4-inch (6 mm) thick rounds
Olive oil
Fresh thyme leaves
Half a leek, about 2 oz. (56 g): I like to use the medium green part of a leek for this
One large or two small garlic cloves, thinly sliced
A small potato, scrubbed well, halved and sliced
A small piece of seaweed (alga), optional (I used a 2-inch / 5 cm piece of dulse)
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place the zucchini, cut side up, and the onion rounds on
a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. Spray some
olive oil and distribute some thyme leaves on the surface. Put in the
oven and check after 30 minutes to make sure the onion is not burning. If it looks fine, put back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so. Let cool slightly, so you can handle the vegetables without
worry. Cut the zucchini halves in 1-inch long pieces.
pretty in (dark) pink
Warm up some olive oil in a soup pot. Wash carefully, halve and cut into thin half-moons the leek, then add to the hot oil, together with some more thyme leaves. Stir well to coat. After a few minutes, add the garlic and stir. After a couple more minutes, add the roasted vegetables, potato and seaweed (if using). Stir well, then add the stock and enough water to just cover the vegetables.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes (this time should be enough to cook the potato, but check by smashing it with a spoon on the side of the pot: cook a bit longer, if necessary). Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Purée using an immersion blender, if possible. If you use a food processor, purée in batches and use
extreme care. Add more water, as needed, to make the soup reach the
desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Since I use an immersion blender to purée the soup soon after it is ready, by the time I finish seasoning it, it is still hot. At this point, I throw into it a big handful of kale blossoms and cover the pot. The residual heat in the soup is enough to soften the blossoms and by the time I reheat the soup to serve it, they are tender to perfection. Making the soup at least a few hours before you are planning to serve it will give it enough time to rest and ripen.
Don't worry if you don't have kale blossoms: simply top the soup with some toasted pumpkin seeds (semi di zucca) or add cooked grains to it to make it a bit more substantial.
To contrast the dark green of the soup for the photo, I sprinkled some garlic chive flowers (fiori di erba aglina) on the top. They are really pretty and as they are edible, once the photo-op was over, I just folded them into the soup.
Final note: in this soup I am using a piece of dulse to add flavor and nutrients to the soup. I will soon have the chance to talk a bit more about seaweeds and how I am incorporating them in my dishes. Indeed, there is a nice story behind the dulse I mention in the recipe.
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Siamo quasi al termine della stagione delle zucchine, ma prima della fine, provate a fare questa zuppa con zucchine e cipolle rosse fresche.
L'idea per questa zuppa mi è venuta un giorno che avevo tre grosse zucchine che erano un po' acquose. Quando non so bene che fare, io cuocio le verdure in forno per concentrarne il sapore e questo ho fatto con le zucchine, insieme ad una bella cipolla di Tropea. (Naturalmente io non ho usato la vera cipolla di Tropea, ma spero che voi possiate farlo: è così buona!)
cipolla rossa lunga di Tropea arrosto
Le verdure arrosto danno profondità al sapore di questa zuppa la quale comprende alcuni altri ingredienti, come potete leggere qui di seguito.
Ingredienti:
680 g zucchine, tagliate a metà per lungo
285 g cipolla lunga di Tropea o altro tipo di cipolla rossa fresca, tagliata a fette spesse 6 mm
olio d'oliva
foglie di timo fresco
mezzo porro (56 g circa): in questo caso, io uso la parte verde del porro
1 grosso spicchio d'aglio tagliato fino, o 2 piccoli
una patata piccola, pulita bene, tagliata a metà e poi a fettine
un piccolo pezzo di alga, facoltativa (io ho usato 5 cm di dulse)
710-950 ml di brodo di pollo leggero o vegetale fatto in casa
acqua, q.b.
una generosa spruzzata di succo di limone
sale e pepe nero macinato fresco, a piacere
germogli di cavolo riccio, facoltativi
Scaldare
il forno a 205 C. Disporre su una lastra da forno rivestita con un tappetino di silicone per forno le zucchine con la parte tagliata verso l'alto e le fette di cipolla. Spruzzare dell'olio e spargere delle foglie di timo sulla superficie. Infornare e cuocere per mezz'ora, poi controllare che le cipolle non siano bruciacchiate. Se non lo sono, rimettete in forno per altri 5 minuti. Far intiepidire le verdure e poi tagliare le zucchine a pezzi di 2,5 cm.
patate di un bel colore rosa scuro
Tagliare
i porri a metà per il lungo e poi a mezzelune fine. Sciacquare bene in
un colapasta. Scaldare dell'olio d'oliva in una pentola da zuppa e
aggiungere i porri e dell'altro timo. Mescolare bene, lasciare cuocere per alcuni
minuti, poi aggiungere l'aglio e mescolare. Dopo un paio di minuti, aggiungere le verdure arrosto, la patata e l'alga (se usata). Mescolare bene, poi aggiungere il brodo e abbastanza acqua
da coprire appena le verdure.
Mettere il coperchio e portare a bollore, poi
regolare il calore per mantenere un leggero bollore. Cuocere per 25 minuti, o fino a
quando i pezzi di patata siano morbidi (cioè potete schiacciarli con il dorso
di un cucchiaio di legno contro la parete della pentola).
Togliere
la pentola dal fuoco, aggiungere il succo di limone, poi ridurre le verdure a purè con il minipimer.
Aggiungere acqua quanto basta per ottenere una zuppa della consistenza
desiderata. Regolare sale e pepe. A questo punto, la zuppa è ancora bollente. Aggiungere i germogli di cavolo riccio e coprire la pentola. Il calore residuo ammorbidisce e germogli e quando riscaldate la zuppa per servirla, troverete che sono cotti alla perfezione. Non preoccupatevi se non avete i germogli di cavolo riccio: potete servire la zuppa decorata con dei semi di zucca tostati, oppure aggiungervi dei cereali cotti per farne un piatto sostanzioso.
Preparare la zuppa almeno alcune ore prima che
dobbiate portarla in tavola le dà abbastanza tempo per riposare e
maturare.
Per contrastare il verde scuro della zuppa, per la foto ho usato dei fiori di erba aglina, che sono molto carini. E siccome sono commestibili, dopo aver finito con la foto li ho mescolati alla zuppa.
Nota finale: in questa zuppa uso un pezzo di alga dulse per insaporire e aggiungere elementi nutritivi. Presto avrò l'occasione di parlare ancora delle alghe e di come le incorporo nei piatti che preparo. E c'è una storia carina dietro la dulse che ho usato nella ricetta.
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Another cool type of handmade pasta! You can tell I am having a lot of fun with my recent explorations of traditional Italian pasta shapes. As the Abbecedario culinario d'Italia (Italian Culinary ABC) crossed the sea to reach the shores of Sardegna (Sardinia), I knew this would be my chance to explore the traditional small gnocchi (gnocchetti) that are made on the island, called malloreddus.
Although I have been to Sardinia once, a trip from which I have a lot of fond memories, my connection with malloreddus comes from the fact that in my first job, I had a number of colleagues from Sardinia and a couple of times I saw the malloreddus one of them made. I wish I had been interested in cooking back then: I could have learned to make this pasta from an expert, but I wasn't and so I only remember the shape and the small size.
For my rendition, I was inspired by this video: the gnocchetti part starts at 2:52. The size of the pasta in the video is larger than what I made. Different recipes I read make different sizes, so I decided to make my an executive decision: my gnocchetti are on the small side, but not terribly small.
For the occasion, I purchased a gnocchi board, something I had on my wish list for a while. It is a small, inexpensive tool and is quite handy for making this pasta. In this video starting at 9:30, you can see malloreddus shaped inside a basket with a flat bottom (called ciuliri in dialect): based on what I read, this is the traditional way of making them. (If you don't have a gnocchi board, you can try using the tines of a fork or the back of a cheese grater as surface to shape the dough. Update, May 22, 2013: I have learned that an online store sells a malloreddus board, whose surface is a bit different from the gnocchi board.)
a pretty pasta shape
Here are my gnocchetti on the kneading board (spianatoia), which this time I remembered to flour lightly. And the short video shows my hands cutting the rope of pasta and shaping gnocchetti. As in the video that inspired me, I am showing two ways of shaping the pasta: you can use your thumb or your index finger, depending on how you feel more comfortable. You'll see in the video that the position of the gnocchi board depends on the finger you want to use.
The trick here is to apply the right amount of pressure on the piece of dough while dragging it along the board so that you get the sort of curl with the grooves on the surface and the nice nook on the other side (think: sauce cradle). If you press too hard, the dough gets sort of smushed and sticks to the board. I found that I did not need to flour the gnocchi board: it remained dry throughout the process. However, as usual, I made a small batch every time, which is what I suggest you do too, the first time you try. (To learn well, though, I made the small batch six times in a matter of 10 days or so.)
The dough for malloreddus includes a small amount of zafferano (saffron), which is a product of the island, "the crimson spice that turns foods an inviting yellow while conferring an elusive something that makes the food taste all the better." (source)
The tomato sauce in the recipe for malloreddus alla campidanese (Campidano is an area of Sardinia) includes sausage, but I skipped that in favor of my usual, simpler, tomato sauce made with roasted tomatoes. However, based on those recipes, a suggestion I received in a recent comment, and the fact that this pasta shape is fairly sturdy, I decided to finish the dish in a small skillet, where I warmed up the sauce.
Ingredients for the pasta:
50 g / 1.75 oz. hot water (I recommend weighing the water)
a few strand of saffron or a pinch of saffron powder
freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or fiore sardo (Sardinian sheep cheese), or a mix of the two cheeses, to taste
Add the saffron strands or the powder to the water. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes or so. If using the strands, remove them before using the water to make the pasta dough.
Make a dough with the water, flour and salt and knead until nice and smooth. Let the dough rest, covered well so that it does not dry out, for at least half an hour.
Roll the dough into a thick salami and cut it into pieces. Keep them covered while you shape the gnocchetti. Roll each piece into a pencil-size snake (3/8 inch / 1 cm thick), then cut into 1 cm / 3/8 inch long pieces. Shape each small piece into a gnocchetto using a gnocchi board or other method (see above). Place a piece of dough on the board, apply to it some pressure with either your thumb or your index finger and drag it on the board to curl it. The resulting gnocchetto will have grooves on the convex surface and a nice nook on the other side. If you use your thumb, the board handle points towards you and the dragging motion is away from you. If you use your index finger, the board faces you and the dragging motion is towards you.
Lay out the gnocchetti to dry.
In a small saucepan, warm up a bit of olive oil, then add shallot and thyme. Cook gently for a few minutes, then add garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes. Adjust salt, to taste. Note that this will make more sauce than you need to dress the orecchiette, but once you have the sauce ready, I am sure you'll find ways of using it, like making more handmade pasta.
Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, then toss the malloreddus in it (what in Italian we call: buttare giù la pasta). They will come to the surface as they cook. The time needed is a bit variable, depending on the size of the gnocchetti, how dry they are, etc. Of all the pasta shapes I made recently, this is the one that took longest to cook. Still don't wander far away from the pot, but, for example, grate the cheese while you wait.
While the pasta is cooking, place a few tablespoons of the sauce in a small skillet and warm it up. Taste the pasta and stop the cooking slightly earlier than usual. Drain the pasta and drop it into the skillet with the sauce. Stir well over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle some of the cheese and stir one last time. Plate and sprinkle a bit more cheese on the top. Serve immediately. The recipe makes two small portions.
Note: if tomato season is ongoing in your area, you can make tomato sauce using crushed tomatoes, adjusting the cooking time to get a sauce of the right consistency. And if you have fresh basil, you can add a bit of it to the sauce.
This is my submission for the 14th installment of the Abbecedario culinario d'Italia (Italian Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit all the 20 regions of Italy using the alphabet as guide. Q come Quartu Sant'Elena (Sardegna) is hosted by Bribantilla e Satori of The Cooking Sisters. This page contains the list of all the contributions to the event.
I am also sending this to the #279 edition of Presto Pasta Nights. The event was created by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and is hosted this week by the creator herself. This post contains the roundup of the event.
Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:
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Un'altra tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario d'Italia e un'altra occasione per cimentarmi con una pasta tradizionale: arriviamo in Sardegna e io imparo a fare i malloreddus.
Della mia unica visita in Sardegna ho dei bei ricordi, ma i malloreddus della mia memoria vengono dalle colleghe sarde del mio primo lavoro. Avrei potuto imparare da loro, ma a quell'epoca la cucina non mi interessava (e tra lavoro a tempo pieno e università non avevo nemmeno tempo). Mi ricordo però che erano piccoli.
Per i miei esperimenti ho seguito questo video (la signora comincia a formare gli gnocchetti dopo 2' e 52"). Per l'occasione, mi sono dotata di riga gnocchi e mi ci sono trovata bene. Ho letto che tradizionalmente i malloreddus si preparano con l'aiuto di un cestino che si chiama ciuliri (in questo video lo si vede dopo 9' e 30".)
una pasta davvero carina
Questa breve sequenza mostra le mie mani al lavoro. Stavolta mi sono ricordata di infarinare un po' la spianatoia. Come nel video che mi ha ispirato, faccio vedere due modi per formare gli gnocchi: col pollice o con l'indice. La posizione del riga gnocchi rispetto alle mani dipende da quale dito usate.
Occorre applicare abbastanza pressione al pezzetto di pasta mentre lo si trascina lungo le righe per farlo arricciare, ma non tanta da spiaccicarlo. Non ho mai avuto bisogno di infarinare il riga gnocchi, forse perché come al solito ogni volta ho fatto una quantità di pasta limitata in modo da imparare senza sentirmi sotterrata (in totale credo di averli fatti sei volte in una decina di giorni).
L'impasto per fare i malloreddus comprende una piccola quantità di zafferano, prodotto tipico dell'isola. Invece di fare un sugo sostanzioso, data anche la stagione, ho usato il mio solito sugo di pomodoro fatto con i pomodori arrosto. Però in base a delle ricette che ho visto, ad un commento recente, e al fatto che questo tipo di pasta è piuttosto resistente alla cottura, ho deciso di terminare la cottura in una padellina col sugo.
Ingredienti:
50 g acqua molto calda
alcuni stimmi di zafferano o un pizzico di zafferano in polvere
100 g semola di grano duro
un pizzico di sale
sugo di pomodoro a piacere
Parmigiano-Reggiano o fiore sardo grattugiato, o un misto, a piacere
Mettere i fili di zafferano o la polvere nell'acqua e mescolare. Far riposare per 10 minuti. Lavorare semola, acqua e sale fino ad avere un bell'impasto liscio. Farlo riposare, ben coperto, per almeno mezz'ora.
Formare un salsicciotto e tagliarlo a pezzi da lavorare uno alla volta, mentre gli altri rimangono al coperto. Rotolare fino ad ottenere un serpentello grosso come una matita (anche qui ho notato un po' di variabilità, ma questo è quello che ho fatto io) e tagliarlo a pezzetti di 1 cm. Fare ad ogni pezzetto di impasto la forma di uno gnocchetto usando il riga gnocchi o altro metodo che preferite.
Occorre applicare abbastanza pressione al pezzetto di pasta mentre lo si trascina lungo le righe per farlo arricciare, ma non tanta da spiaccicarlo. La posizione del riga gnocchi rispetto alle mani dipende da quale dito usate per formare lo gnocchetto. Se usate il pollice, il manico del riga gnocchi è puntato verso di voi e il dito si allontana da voi. Se usate l'indice, il riga gnocchi è di fronte a voi e il dito si muove verso di voi.
Lasciar asciugare gli gnocchetti.
Preparate un sugo di pomodoro come volete. Questa è la stagione dei pomodori, quindi usarli freschi è un'opzione. Nel mio caso, avevo della passata di pomodori arrosto e ho usato quella.
Cuocere gli gnocchetti in abbondante acqua salata. Nel frattempo, mettere qualche cucchiaio di sugo in una padellina e scaldarlo. Scolare gli gnocchetti un po' prima del solito e versarli nella padellina col sugo. Alzare il calore e mescolare bene per un paio di minuti. Condire con parte del formaggio e mescolare un'ultima volta. Impiattare e spargere dell'altro formaggio sulla pasta. Servire immediatamente. Questa ricetta fa due porzioni piccole.
Among thousands of California apple varieties, the heirloom Gravenstein
is widely regarded as one of the best eating and baking apples. A fine
balance of sweet and tart, its full-bodied flavor intensifies when made
into sauce, juice, cider or vinegar. The apples also hold their shape
beautifully in pies and tarts. [source]
The Gravenstein is here! As the text quoted says, this is a versatile variety, prized by apple lovers. While I like to bite on a freshly picked Gravenstein from time to time, my favorite use for them is to make apple sauce or a galette. Next to the Fuji apples, there was a container with "cosmetically challenged" Gravenstein sold at $1 / lb. I bought some of those to make the first roasted apple sauce of the season: it was excellent.
a variety of peppers
The profusion of peppers was the other exciting element at the Temescal Farmers' Market last Saturday. This table was literally overflowing with colorful peppers of various shapes.
Here are two great recipes from my archive that make use of sweet peppers (coincidentally, I made both of them today):
Take some fresh sweet corn, put it in the oven (husks and all), and roast it.
can you smell the aroma?
Then,
take some sun-ripened cherry tomatoes
plus a couple of other ingredients and make a beautiful salad.
the colors of summer
Last year, I made two variations of this colorful, deeply flavored, and light corn salad. This year, after preparing it the same way a couple of times, I decided to make a small change substituting the hearts of palm (cuori di palma) with a ripe avocado. The tendency avocado has of turning into a cream makes olive oil not necessary, so the absence of olive oil from the list of ingredients is not an oversight.
The other difference is the use of chive blossom vinegar (aceto aromatizzato ai fiori di erba cipollina). As soon as this recipe from Leite's Culinaria arrived in my mail box, I knew I would try it. The chive seedling I planted a couple of years ago has grown strong and last year was divided so now I have a few chive plants spread around my little garden. I set aside enough blossoms and followed the easy instructions to make a jar of the vinegar using white wine vinegar (aceto di vino bianco). I love the rosy color and the smell clearly includes a chive component. If you have access to chive blossoms, I recommend you try. Pay attention to what David says about putting a barrier between the vinegar and the metal lid of the jar.
When the vinegar was ready, I bought a nice glass bottle (bottiglia) for it of which you see the top in this photo.
chive blossom vinegar
Ingredients:
Serves 4 as a side dish
2 nice, fresh ears of corn (pannocchie di granturco1), still wrapped in their husks (if they aren't, wrap them in foil before roasting them) and with their silks attached
2 dozens cherry tomatoes2 (when I use bigger tomatoes, like Blush, I adjust this quantity)
Roast corn in the oven at 450 F for 20 minutes (on a baking sheet). Let cool briefly, then remove the husks. Working on a shallow bowl or pyrex dish, use a knife to separate kernels and scrapings from the cob. This page from bon appetít describes precisely the way I do this with the knife. (Save the empty cobs to make stock or broth.)
Cut cherry tomatoes in half lengthwise. If they are long, like the Blush, cut them crosswise into two or three pieces, depending on their size. Peel and dice lemon cucumber. Cut avocado into half, remove pit and dice pulp. Put all the ingredients in a bowl, add some vinegar, salt and pepper to taste and toss gently. Sprinkle basil on the salad and toss again. Serve and enjoy.
You may want to use more or less of this or that ingredient. But make this salad: it is really nice, refreshing, filling and cheerful (yes, there is such a thing as a sad salad: this one is the polar opposite). It's like edible summer.
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1 Both mais and granturco mean corn in Italian.
2 In Italy, cherry tomatoes are also referred to as pomodorini ciliegia and pomodori ciliegini.
insalata di mais con pomodori ciliegia, avocado e cetriolo limone
Prendere delle pannocchie di granturco, metterle nel forno (foglie comprese) e arrostirle.
sentite che buon profumo?
Poi,
prendere dei pomodori ciliegia maturati al sole
più un altro paio di ingredienti e preparare una bella insalata.
i colori dell'estate
L'anno scorso ho preparato due variazioni di una gustosa e leggera insalata di mais. Quest'anno, dopo un paio di ripetizioni, ho deciso di usare un avocado maturo al posto dei cuori di palma. L'avocado ha la tendenza a formare una crema e quindi non uso olio d'oliva per condirla.
L'altra differenza è l'utilizzo di aceto ai fiori di erba cipollina che ho preparato seguendo una ricetta dal sito Leite's Culinaria con aceto di vino bianco e fiori dal mio orticello, dove ho alcune piantine di erba cipollina. L'aceto e di un bel colore rosato e il suo profumo ha una chiara componente di erba cipollina. Vi consiglio di provare a farlo, se avete i fiori.
aceto aromatizzato ai fiori di erba cipollina
Ingredienti:
2 belle pannocchie di granturco ancora con le foglie (se non ci sono, prima di infornarle avvolgere le pannocchie nella pellicola di alluminio)
2 dozzine di pomodori ciliegia (quando uso pomodorini piu grossi, come i Blush, aggiusto le quantità)
alcune foglie di basilico fresco tagliate a chiffonade
Cuocere le pannocchie in forno a 230 C per 20 minuti (su una lastra da forno). Farle intiepidire un po' poi rimuovere le foglie. Appoggiandosi all'interno di una ciotola bassa o di una teglie di pyrex, usate un coltello per separare i chicchi dal tutolo. Questa pagina dalla rivista bon appetít (in inglese) descrive il procedimento che uso anche io per sgranare il mais col coltello. (Mettere da parte i tutoli e utilizzarli come ingrediente per fare il brodo vegetale o di carne.)
Tagliare i pomodorini a metà per lungo. Se sono lunghi, come i Blush, tagliarli per largo in due o tre pezzi. Sbucciare il cetriolo limone e tagliarlo a dadi. Tagliare a metà l'avocado, togliere il nocciolo e tagliare la polpa a dadini. Mettere tutti gli ingredienti preparati in un'insalatiera, condire con un po' d'aceto, salare e pepare a piacere e mescolare delicatamente. Spargere il basilico sulla superficie e mescolare ancora, poi servire.
Potete usare più o meno di ognuno degli ingredienti, a seconda dei vostri gusti. Ma vi consiglio di preparare questa insalata: è davvero buona, rinfrescante, saziante e allegra (esistono insalate tristi e questa è l'opposto). E l'estate sul piatto.
In learning to make maccheroni al ferro, I saw the possibility of using the same simple tool to create another type of pasta shape. Slightly different hand movements result in different shapes.
this is the one I liked best
Next steps: achieving consistency of result and showing you how to make it (plus how to call it).
When you cut my challah, the knife cracks the lightly crisp crust, then glides through the soft, sweet-smelling, pale yellow crumb. You don't necessarily need something to go with challah: eaten by itself is quite satisfying.
soft crumb (mollica)
If you pick up my copy of Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day, it will open on page 94 where there is a folded sheet of paper as bookmark. A small cloud of flour will rise from the page, a consequence of its frequent use close to the mixing and kneading area.
I have tried a couple of other recipes for challah, but this one is the best: you can find the recipe on this page. The book has a number of other nice recipes, so you may want to consider getting your own copy.
I don't follow Reihart's recipe to the letter, but I don't stray too much from it. The original makes two large loaves like the one in the photo. I always halve the quantities and make one loaf. I often give half to a friend or I freeze it (wrapped first in plastic then in foil) and we enjoy the other half.
A summary of my adjustments (based on the quantities to make one loaf):
15 oz. of King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour + 2 oz. whole-wheat flour (from my grain CSA) instead of 17 oz. of bread flour
.75 oz. / 20 g olive oil instead of 1.25 oz. vegetable oil
.75 oz. / 20 g agave nectar instead of 1.5 oz.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
I get four egg yolks (tuorli) from making this cake. If they are not 3 oz. total, I break another egg, get as much yolk as I need from it, and use the rest for the glazing. Otherwise, I use a small whole egg for the glazing (diluted with water).
I usually decorate the top with a mix of 2 teaspoons sesame seeds (semi di sesamo) and 1 teaspoon poppy seeds (semi di papavero), but in the case shown in the photos I had just run out of poppy seeds, so I used only sesame.
with sesame seeds
The recipe includes instructions to make a 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-braid challah. For a while, I made a five-strand one, but now I am into the six-strand one. The braiding is really the best part of making challah, followed by the glazing and decorating. Then, of course, there is the eating part.
One more thing I like about this recipe is that it uses delayed fermentation, so the work of making challah is divided into two parts: first you mix the dough (I do this by hand), then, after at least one night in the fridge, you shape, glaze, ferment, and bake the challah. Finally, you enjoy it, to the last crumb.
And one more thing: this challah is perfect for making French toast.
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It's Friday and time to share the pasta dishes that I have received as contributions to edition #277 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 — a teaser that invites you to follow the link to read the relevant post.
Sarah of La Cuisine de Sarah prepared Truffle & Mushroom Ravioli A series on TV inspired "to dust off the old pasta machine. To honour its outing I decided to open the jar of truffle paste I had been saving."
Becky of Veghotpot shares with us Summer Courgette Pasta "The juices from the tomatoes and courgettes make the pasta ‘saucey’ enough to not be dry and the soft mushrooms add another texture."
Kathryn of Crafts and Creations with Kmom14 presents Pasta Alfredo "The sauce has a bit of a nutty flavor from the nutmeg, a bit of tangy flavor from the lemon, and combined with the other ingredients is a filling main dish "comfort" food."
Pam of Sidewalk Shoes presents Penne with Zucchini and Mint "It’s lovely. Simple. Fresh. Totally encompasses the eat what is in season now. It’s not a huge show stopper, it’s just simplicity at it’s best."
Simona of briciole presents maccheroni al ferro al sugo (handmade maccheroni with tomato sauce) — A wooden skewer helps shape the maccheroni, which are later dressed with a simple tomato sauce.
As you read this, edition #278 is already under way, hosted by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. To participate, send your entries to ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com by Thursday, August 23.
If you are interested in hosting this lovely event on your blog, contact Ruth at: ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com. You can always check who is hosting the current edition on this page.
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.
To use any of the photographs published in the blog permission must be obtained from Simona
No food was (nor will ever be) discarded in the process of taking the photographs, i.e., everything was consumed either immediately or in due time
Sono un Esperto di Allrecipes su base volontaria e pertanto non percepisco alcun compenso per il lavoro svolto per Allrecipes.it.
Le recensioni, i contenuti e le opinioni espresse in questo blog sono da attribuire esclusivamente a Simona
