briciole

mani che formano la pasta / hands shaping pasta

A photo of my hands shaping an orecchietta. I used the timer on the camera for this shot and I like the framing, which was not planned in detail.

This is my contribution to edition #52 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and hosted this week by the creator herself.

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

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

On this page, you can find out who is hosting the current and future editions of the event.

Edizione speciale: Novel Food #17 / Announcement: Novel Food #17

What are you reading now? I am reading and enjoying Going to Solace by Amanda McTigue and Thomas Jefferson's Crème Brûlée by Thomas J. Craughwell. Both books have a food component, so I may talk about them in the near future. 

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. I am now carrying the torch. I am a bookworm and this event is really close to my heart as it brings together two of my passions.

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 Monday October 22, 2012 (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 relevant posts, you will find a link to Lisa's portion of the roundup.

caponata di melanzane / eggplant caponata

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

The Abbecedario culinario d'Italia (Italian Culinary ABC) invites us to visit Sicilia (Sicily), and this time I have some photos to share from a visit to Palermo (capital of the region) five years ago. One characteristic of the city that fascinated me was the juxtaposition of sumptuous architecture and urban disrepair. Here are a couple of examples.

PALERMO CATHEDRAL

The Cattedrale dazzles the eyes with its rich decorations.

SAN CATALDO

The 12th-century Norman church of San Cataldo catches the eyes with its set of pretty red domes.

FONTANA PRETORIA

Piazza Pretoria is dominated by the elegant Fontana Pretoria. The building on this side of the square needs restoration.

URBAN DECAY

Missing structural elements grant an unimpeded view of the sky.

I have already shared some images of our visit to La Vucciria, the famous outdoor market in Palermo in my post on zucchina lunga and pesce spada.

AT THE MARKET

Here is another image that includes ingredients for the dish I am describing today: caponata di melanzane. I am reposting the recipe from my archive: in the original post, the context was an edition of Novel Food and the dish was introduced by Inspector Salvo Montalbano.

As the photo shows, there are various kinds of melanzane. For caponata, I use the most common variety, the long, dark purple kind (which in the photo is in the background, on the right).

According to the glossary of La Cucina Italiana, caponata "features cubed eggplants, celery, and onions - each one fried separately in a generous amount of olive oil - flavored with tomatoes, raisins, pine nuts, olives, a sprinkling of vinegar, and a touch of sugar for a characteristically sweet-and-sour flavor... Caponata is usually enjoyed as an antipasto in its native Sicily, but it also makes a lovely side dish and is quite delicious spooned onto crisp bread for crostini."

Caponata marries many flavors in an agrodolce (literally, sour-sweet) medley. Being a traditional and popular dish means that there are countless recipes for caponata, with ingredients (like bittersweet chocolate) added and subtracted depending on location. Since I don't have a family recipe to rely on, I felt free to experiment using an appealing recipe on Saveur as blueprint. I made several changes to both its list of ingredients and its procedure, based on my taste. The result is really good, though not quite authentic. I think Sicilians would not agree with my preference for oven-roasting rather than frying the eggplant: you are welcome to side with them and follow the instructions on the recipe that inspired me.

Here is the list of the ingredients I used:

• 2 eggplants (the long, dark purple kind), cut into 1/2"-thick slices
• sea salt
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 2 anchovies preserved in salt, halved, cleaned and chopped
  
• 3 ripe medium tomatoes, briefly immersed in boiling water, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
• 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced crosswise
• 2 tablespoons blackberry and raspberry vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons golden raisins
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted in a dry skillet
• 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
• 12 pitted Kalamata olives, quartered (I like them better than green olives)
• 1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled, cored, seeded, and chopped
• freshly-ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons slivered fresh basil (from my pot)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (from my herb garden)

Note that, with respect to the Saveur recipe, I halved the quantity of vinegar and omitted the sugar. This is because I wanted to keep the sour and sweet flavors a bit toned down. I have a memory of a caponata eaten eons ago that was a bit too vinegary even for the vinegar lover that I am. I also used a berry vinegar instead of a red wine one, for no reason other than because I like it. I love anchovies and make generous use of them. You may decide to be more guarded.

Sprinkle the eggplant slices with salt and let them stand for an hour, then remove the excess salt and pat them dry. Distribute on a baking sheet and bake at 425 F for 15 minutes, then flip and bake for the same amount of time. When cool, cube (1/2") the eggplant.

Generously spray with olive oil a pan and add the onion and anchovies. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the celery and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. If the pan becomes dry, add a bit of the juice from the chopped tomatoes. Add tomatoes and turn up the heat to medium-low. Cook 5 minutes, then add the vinegar and tomato paste. Mix to dissolve the paste. Cook 3-4 minutes. Add cooked eggplant, raisins, pine nuts, capers, olives, roasted pepper. Cook until everything is hot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a plate and let cool slightly. Sprinkle basil and parsley on the top. Let the caponata cool before serving it. Better yet, store the caponata for a day in the fridge, take it out in advance and serve at room temperature.

 

Caponata is better eaten the day after it is made. The flavors of the different ingredients come together in a sumptuous chorus, where each voice is distinguishable, but also works in harmony with the others. Caponata has a rich flavor. It reminds me of Sicily: its colors, its many architectural styles, its composite historical heritage.

This is my submission for the 16th 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. S come Siracusa (Sicilia) is hosted by A.B.C. of Fragoliva.

This page has the list of recipes submitted to the event and a slide show.

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

caponata di melanzane

or launch the caponata di melanzane audio file [mp3].

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

[jump to Comments]

eggplant, Italian recipe

caponata di melanzane

L'Abbecedario culinario d'Italia ci invita a visitare la Sicilia e stavolta ho delle foto da condividere, scattate durante una visita a Palermo, cinque anni fa.

CATTEDRALE DI PALERMO

La Cattedrale affascina con le sue ricche decorazioni architettoniche.

SAN CATALDO

La piccola chiesa di San Cataldo (XII secolo) in stile normanno colpisce per le sue caratteristiche cupole rosse.

FONTANA PRETORIA

Piazza Pretoria è dominata dall'elegante Fontana Pretoria. Il palazzo che sorge su questo lato della piazza necessita di restauro.

CAMERA CON VISTA

E in questo edificio, gli elementi strutturali mancanti lasciano spazio al cielo.

In precedenza, ho condiviso delle foto della nostra visita alla Vucciria, il famoso mercato di Palermo (qui e qui).

AL MERCATO

Questa immagine comprende un paio degli ingredienti per fare il piatto di oggi: caponata di melanzane. La ricetta che descrivo è tratta dal mio archivio: il post originale lo trovate qui.

La foto mostra un paio di tipi di melanzane. Per la caponata, uso il tipo più comune, la melanzana di forma allungata e di colore viola scuro (che nella foto si vede dietro, a destra).

Secondo il dizionario della Cucina Italiana, la caponata si prepara con "melanzana tagliata a dadi, sedano e cipolle - ciascuna verdura fritta separatamente in una quantità generosa di olio d'oliva - insaporita con pomodori, uvetta, pinoli, olive, una spruzzata d'aceto e un tocco di zucchero per dargli un caratteristico sapore agrodolce… In Sicilia, la caponata di solito viene mangiata come antipasto, ma è un gustoso contorno ed è ottima sopra un crostino."

Essendo la caponata un piatto tradizionale e popolare, ci sono molte ricette, con ingredienti in più (come il cioccolato amaro) o in meno a seconda della località geografica. Dal momento che non ho una ricetta di famiglia da condividere, mi sento abbastanza libera di scegliere la ricetta base che preferisco. Qualche anno fa, lessi una ricetta interessante sulla rivista Saveur. Ho apportato diverse cambiamenti sia alla lista degli ingredienti che alla procedura di preparazione, dettati dai miei gusti. Il risultato è ottimo ma non proprio autentico. Credo che i siciliani non siano d'accordo con la mia scelta di cuocere al forno piuttosto che friggere le melanzane e voi siete liberi di prendere la loro parte e seguire più da vicino la ricetta che mi ha ispirato.

Questa è la lista degli ingredienti che ho usato:

• 2 melanzane (quelle lunghe, viola scuro) tagliate a fette spesse 1,25 cm
• sale fino
• una grossa cipolla tritata
• 2 acciughe sotto sale, tagliate a metà per lungo, pulite e tritate
• 3 pomodori medi maturi, immersi per poco tempo in acqua bollente, pelati e tagliati a pezzetti
• 2 coste di sedano tagliate a fettine fine
• 2 cucchiai di aceto di more e lamponi o aceto di vino rosso
• 2 cucchiai di concentrato di pomodoro
• 2 cucchiai di uvetta bianca (zibibbo)
• 2 cucchiai di pinoli leggermente tostati in una padella a secco
• 2 cucchiai di capperi sciacquati
• 12 olive nere tipo Kalamata, nocciolo rimosso e tagliate in quattro (le preferisco alle olive verdi)
• un peperone dolce arrostito, pelle e semi rimossi, e tagliato a pezzetti
• pepe nero macinato fresco
• 2 cucchiai di basilico fresco tagliato a chiffonade
• 2 cucchiai di prezzemolo fresco tritato

Rispetto alla ricetta di Saveur, ho ridotto a metà la quantità di aceto e omesso lo zucchero, perché tanti anni fa mangiai la mia prima caponata e mi ricordo che il sapore di aceto era troppo pronunciato anche per un'amante dell'aceto come me. Il mio uso di un aceto fruttato è semplicemente dovuto a preferenza personale. Adoro le acciughe e ne faccio uso liberale: voi potete decidere di essere più cauti.

Salare le fette di melanzana e farle spurgare per un'ora, poi rimuovere l'eccesso di sale e asciugare. Distribuire le fette di melanzana su una lastra da forno facendo uno strato unico. Cuocerle a 218 C per 15 minuti, girarle e cuocerle per altri 15 minuti. Lasciare intiepidire e poi tagliare a dadi di circa 1,25 cm di lato.

Oliare in modo generoso una padella e aggiungere cipolla e acciughe. Cuocere per 5 minuti, poi aggiungere il sedano e cuocere a fuoco dolce per 10 minuti. Se il fondo si asciuga, aggiungere un po' del sugo dei pomodori a pezzi. Aggiungere i pomodori e alzare il calore a medio-basso. Cuocere per 5 minuti, poi aggiungere aceto e concentrato di pomodoro. Mescolare bene per sciogliere il concentrato. Cuocere 3-4 minuti, poi aggiungere le melanzane, l'uvetta, i pinoli, i capperi, le olive e il peperone arrosto. Cuocere fino a quando tutti gli ingredienti sono ben caldi. Aggiustare sale e pepe a seconda del gusto personale. Trasferire la caponata su un piatto e farla intiepidire leggermente. Distribuire il basilico e il prezzemolo sulla superficie. Far freddare la caponata prima di servirla, o, meglio ancora, farla riposare un giorno in frigorifero, tirarla fuori in anticipo e servirla a temperatura ambiente.

La caponata è decisamente più gustosa il giorno dopo, quango gli ingredienti hanno avuto il tempo di accordarsi in un coro armonioso dove ogni voce è chiaramente riconoscibile ma anche in armonia con le altre. La caponata ha un sapore ricco. Mi ricorda la Sicilia: i suoi colori, i vari still architettonici che vi si incontrano e il suo composito retaggio storico.

Con questo post contribuisco anche all'Abbecedario culinario d'Italia, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare tutte le regioni italiane utilizzando come guida l'alfabeto. La tappa S come Siracusa (Sicilia) è ospitata da A.B.C. di Fragoliva.

Su questa pagina trovate la lista delle ricette inviate all'evento e uno slide show.

cartello alla fiera / sign at the harvest festival

SIGN AT THE SHARON SPRINGS HARVEST FESTIVAL

Continuing the series of interesting signs at food events, here is one I observed during a visit to the Sharon Springs (NY) Harvest Festival last weekend.

This is my contribution to edition #51 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and hosted this week by Cinzia of Cindystar.

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

This post contains the gallery of images contributed to the event.

On this page, you can find out who is hosting the current and future editions of the event.

risveglio / waking up

THE VIEW FROM THE BED

I have been away from home for a week, away from my kitchen. I am in a beautiful place, surrounded by beautiful people. More on the trip in a future post.

borlotti freschi / fresh cranberry beans

pods have yielded their treasured content

For a brief period, towards the end of summer, these beautiful organic beans from Warren Creek Farms are available at the Arcata Farmers' Market. I bought 5 lbs. of them and shelled them in while waiting for dinner to cook. Their marbled pod and skin is eye-catching even in monochrome version.

This is my contribution to edition #50 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and hosted this week by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once.

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

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

On this page, you can find out who is hosting the current and future editions of the event.

Halloumi fatto in casa / homemade Halloumi

Halloumi and Anari from its leftover whey

Halloumi is from the island of Cyprus and is characterized as a semi-hard, unripened, and brined cheese made traditionally from mostly sheep's milk with the addition of a smaller amount of goat's milk. Modern Halloumi is made from a mix of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes cow's milk is added.

Thus Jim Wallace introduces this wonderful cheese on the page dedicated to his recipe for making Halloumi at home. Every month, Jim contributes a cheese recipe to the Moosletter, the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company newsletter and I look forward to receiving it to see what Jim has been experimenting with in his cheese lab, which I know well, having attended two workshops there.

The recipe for Halloumi comes with all the details you need to replicate it and plenty of photographs to illustrate the various steps. I won't repeat anything here, but rather share notes about my experience and a few images from my kitchen.

Two bloggers I have been following for years, Ivy of Kopiaste and Peter of Kalofagas, first introduced me to Halloumi. Ivy has also written a post describing the making of it. I actually had made Halloumi once, a couple of years ago, using the recipe from one of my books, but I was not particularly excited about the result, though the cheese was quickly consumed. The part that was hardest to handle was having to keep the cheese in the brine, because the jar with it occupied a lot of space in the fridge. So, I was happy to see that Jim's recipe offers a way of making the cheese without the brine bath.

The first time I made Halloumi using Jim's recipe, I used all cow's milk, while for all the subsequent renditions (and there have been several so far), I used half fresh goat's milk (latte di capra) and half cow's milk (latte di mucca). Of course, I wish I could use sheep's milk (latte di pecora), but that is unavailable where I live. In California, Bellwether Farms make cheese, ricotta and yogurt with sheep milk from their own flock and Barinaga Ranch make cheese from theirs. I am not yet ready to get my own ewes in order to have their milk, so I make the best of what I have.

halloumi curds in the mold

I am not very good at taking photos while I am focusing on cutting and stirring the curds, so the first image is of the curds already nicely settled into the mold.

after the first flip

I use my ricotta basket as mold.

a creative weighing apparatus

Only a light weight is needed and for a short time. The mold sits on a raised grate inside a draining container. I always collect the whey (siero di latte) when I make cheese, but in this case it is even more important to do so, as the cheese must be scalded in the whey. First, however, Anari is made.

The whey used for scalding must first be heated to about 195°F (91°C) to bring out the whey proteins from the liquid. This whey curd is then skimmed off and drained in baskets. If you were in Cyprus, you could call this whey cheese “Anari” and it looks just like Ricotta.

I make ricotta a bit differently from the way Jim describes in his recipe. I don't add milk and I use a small quantity of kefir whey (leftover from making kefir cheese) to acidify the whey when it reaches the high temperature.

The Halloumi is then boiled in this clarified hot whey until it floats.

reaching the surface during scalding

When you first put the cheese into the hot whey, it sinks, but as the scalding proceeds, the cheese makes its way to the surface. I leave the cheese in the mold so it does not touch to bottom of the pot when I first immerse it.

ready to be folded

When you take Halloumi out of the pot, it is malleable, so you can use your hand to flatten it a bit. Then comes the salting and the flavoring:

Halloumi is often garnished with mint to add to the taste. Traditionally, the mint leaves were used as a preservative. This practice came about when it was considered that Halloumi kept better and was fresher and more flavorful when wrapped with mint leaves.

I have plenty of fresh mint (menta) in my garden, so I used some of it for this step. The folded cheese is then ready for some rest in the fridge (four days), after which you're in for a treat.

ready to be sliced

What's so special about this cheese? "Halloumi is also unique in having a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled." That's right: you can pan-fry or grill slices of Halloumi and they will crisp on the surface and soften inside, but won't melt.

served on a bed of roasted cherry tomatoes

Although the cheese keeps its shape, its outward appearance turns into a crispy, golden-brown color when fried or browned and with grill marks when grilled, it softens significantly but it does not melt.

The photo above is dated July 23, four days after I made my first Halloumi. Up until then, I had served roasted cherry tomatoes with ciliegine, according to my recipe, but from that day on, it's always been Halloumi, pan-fried in a cast-iron skillet previously sprayed with olive oil.

Besides sharing my enthusiasm for homemade Halloumi, with this post, I am celebrating the fourth anniversary of my adventures in cheese making. It's been an incredible journey so far, and one that I have no intention to interrupt. In January 2011, I started a spreadsheet with the dates and summary details of the cheeses I make. (That was an improvement over my previous record-keeping method.) The other day, I looked at how many cheese entries there were for the past 20 months: 66! This number includes only the first record of making kefir, kefir cheese and yogurt. I make these three dairy products regularly (kefir almost every day) and I no longer record them. 

In these four years, I have seen interest in making cheese at home steadily increase, as testified by the publication of several books on the subject. Most recently, Valerie of A Canadian Foodie has launched a year long event called Cheesepalooza, which encourages people to take up home cheese making via monthly challenges of increasing complexity. Starting something new together with other people is a nice way to overcome the shyness and trepidation that can prevent us from making the first step. The cheese chosen for the second month is basic chèvre and there are also several optional cheeses (like cream cheese and fromage blanc, which I have already discussed here, and crescenza, which I made last week and will make again to get some photos to share).

Update. The cheese for the third month is Halloumi or Feta, so it turns out I was a bit prescient with my post.

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

Halloumi fatto in casa

or launch the halloumi fatto in casa audio file [mp3].

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

halloumi, cheese

Presto Pasta Nights #280: il riepilogo / the roundup

It's Friday and time to share the pasta dishes that I have received as contributions to edition #280 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.

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Priya of The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen prepared Tortiglioni with Fire Roasted Tomatoes and Lime Infused Béchamel — "What I wanted to do was a lime infused cream sauce... The only thing you need to do here is fire roast your tomatoes."

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Janet of The Taste Space prepared Zucchini Spaghetti with Chickpeas and a Roasted Tomato-Peach Sauce — This recipe "combines seemingly polarized end of summer produce: tomatoes and peaches. Both become sweet through roasting in the oven."

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Val of More Than Burnt Toast shares with us Linguine ai Porcini
"I fell in love with this pasta dish when I first tasted it from Pietro's demonstration. The dried porcini and the artisanal pasta make for a memorable dish."

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Elizabeth of  The Law Student’s Cookbook prepared Roasted Eggplant
"Roasting the eggplant definitely transformed the texture into something palatable. This was a very easy pasta dish with a lot of flavor."

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Heather of girlichef prepared Whole Wheat Couscous w/ Smoked Salmon, Baby Kale, & Za'atar
The title says it all: this is a combination of great ingredients with assertive flavors, seasone with olive oil from New Zealand.

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Joanne of Eats Well With Others offers us Creamy Spinach Spaghetti with Roasted Tomatoes
"A spinach avocado pesto that tastes creamy and buttery even though there is not a hint of either in it, offset by the deeply sweet and slightly tangy flavor of roasted cherry tomatoes..."

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Ruth of Once Upon a Feast prepared Better then Best Stuffed Pasta Shells
"My Honey loved them because they taste like pizza. I really loved the dry, crispness of them, so unlike usual ooey-gooey, saucy bakes."

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Simona of briciole presents fusilli al ferro (handmade fusilli)
A wooden skewer helps shape the fusilli, which are later dressed with a variation of beloved burro e parmigiano.

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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 #281 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, September 14.

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.

Arrivederci a presto

fusilli al ferro / handmade fusilli

handmade fusilli with browned butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano

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. (from this post)

This is what I meant:

  

Browsing around, I found a video where the hand movements are basically the same as mine: as I suspected, I had made fusilli.

In Italian fusillo means small fuso (spindle). As I have mentioned before, the names of pasta shapes may be a bit confusing. For example, in this video Rosetta Costantino shows how to make Calabrian fusilli, which look like very long maccheroni. I have also seen videos in which fusilli are shaped starting from a rectangle of pasta, rather then a thin rope. I like to do a bit of research to find out where things come from, but when I get entangled in the mesh of local traditions that differ from village to village, I give up. In the end, what counts is having fun with the task at hand.

What's the trick in making fusilli? As I hope you can see from the video above, the piece of dough to make a fusillo is thinner and longer than the one I use to make a maccherone. The dough gets wrapped around the skewer starting at an angle and the hands do not flatten the dough, but rather, roll it slightly to thin the pasta and make the pasta spiral a bit tighter.

handmade fusilli on the kneading board

The dough I used is the same as described before. What I did differently this time is that I dressed the pasta with a variation of the burro e parmigiano theme, using browned butter (burro nocciola).

Ingredients for the pasta:

• 100 g / 3.5 oz. semolina flour of good quality (see the post on orecchiette for details on products of ground durum wheat)
• 50 g / 1.75 oz. warm water (I recommend weighing the water)
• a pinch of salt

To dress the pasta:

• 1/2 tablespoon / 7 g browned butter, or to taste
• freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to taste

Make a dough with the three ingredients and knead until nice and smooth. Let the dough rest, covered, 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 fusilli. Roll each piece into a thin snake (1/4 inch / 0.5 cm thick), then cut into pieces about 2 1/2 inch / 6.5 cm long. Shape each piece into a fusillo with the skewer and lay out to dry. You may want to dust the surface lightly with flour to prevent sticking.

Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, then toss the fusilli in it (what in Italian we call: buttare giù la pasta). The time needed is a bit variable, depending on the size of fusilli, how dry they are, etc.

When the fusilli are nearly done, melt the browned butter in a small frying pan.

Taste and stop the cooking when the fusilli are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain the fusilli. Drop the pasta into the pan  with the butter. Stir well, then sprinkle some of the cheese and stir some more. Plate and sprinkle a bit more cheese on the top. Serve immediately.

The recipe makes two small portions. 

For the current edition of Cook the Books, we are reading Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin (1988). I didn't know this book before I saw it on our reading list and am grateful to Deb of Kahakai Kitchen for choosing such a delightful memoir. The style is sparkling, the voice fresh and engaging, and the book is a real pleasure to dive into. If you have not read Home Cooking, I warmly recommend it.

Ms. Colwin shares a number of recipes with her readers, from her take on traditional dishes like Boston Brown Bread, to the result of her experiments in the kitchen, like Polenta and Broccoli di Rape. I'll be totally honest and admit that while I enjoyed reading about the recipes, I had difficulty being inspired by them, as Colwin's style of cooking is quite different from mine.

I know though, that she enjoyed making pasta, because she says so on page 178:

I was once given a pasta machine and instantly set about making pasta. My pasta was not beautiful and it did not emerge from its final rolling in one long, beautiful sheet, but it certainly was delicious and not overly time-consuming.

Ms. Colwin was open to trying new things to decide for herself whether she liked them or not. I am sure she would have been open to learn to make the pasta shapes with which I have been experimenting recently (strascinati, orecchiette, maccheroni al ferro, gnocchetti sardi ), and she would have commented on her experience with the wit she shows throughout Home Cooking. So, to her I dedicate my last adventure in pasta making: fusilli al ferro. And based on the recipes in the book, I know she would have liked the burro e parmigiano dressing.

This is my contribution to the current edition of Cook the Books, hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. You can find the guidelines for participating in the event here, and here is the announcement. This post contains the roundup of the event.

This is also my contribution to edition #280 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.

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

fusilli al ferro

or launch the fusilli al ferro 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.]

pasta, butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano

cartelli al mercato / signs at the farmers' market

Healthy soil feeds healthy plants...
Ingredients: Soil, Water, Air, Sun, and some Chicken Manure. Feel free to ask!

A quick visit to Portland, last weekend, included a tour of the Saturday farmers' market at PSU, where I took the two photos above. I had read that it was nice and it surpassed my expectations: it was wonderful. We bought apples, bread, blueberries, cherry tomatoes, chocolates, hazelnuts, and wheat bran. We enjoyed a lovely morning surrounded by good food.

NO SPRAYS! Nada, Zip, Zilch

Before that, I visited Art in the Pearl, an amazing showcase of artists: browse the website to get a sense of the range of artists present.

This is my contribution to edition #49 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and hosted this week by the creator herself.

The photos were shot in color and then converted to sepia.

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

On this page, you can find out who is hosting the current and future editions of the event.