briciole

ceci al pomodoro per FBAH / chickpeas with tomatoes for FBAH

"Nearly one in five children in America lives in households that struggle to put food on the table" (source).

This is not a statistics I just learned. I have been sensitive to the problem of food insecurity in this country for quite some time. The Alameda County Community Food Bank and Food for People are two organizations close to my heart and so is Share Our Strength.

The recent documentary A Place at the Table from Participant Media—the same studio that brought us Food Inc.—follows three families struggling with food insecurity, and sheds light on the problem of hunger in America. I believe hunger is a problem that can be solved and education and awareness are good first steps to solve it. I plan to watch the documentary soon (click here to watch the trailer). In the meantime, I have let my representatives in Congress know that I support protection of federal programs that aim to provide food to children and I hope you will do that as well.

For my participation to Food Bloggers Against Hunger, a day dedicated to raising awareness about food insecurity, I would like to mention two programs I am familiar with created by Food for the People: Plant a Row for the Hungry and Backpack for Kids. The former allows gardeners to share the bounty of their harvest who then get access to fresh produce, while the the latter ensures that children have nutritious food during the weekend, when they are not in school.

I am extremely lucky that in my life I have never suffered from food insecurity. However, I don't take food for granted. Both my parents experienced the food insecurity caused by WWII, so they instilled in me a deep respect for food in its entire life-cycle, from growing it to making sure that none of it is wasted.

chickpeas with tomatoes and dried apricots

The event organizer asked us to share a budget friendly recipe "featuring reliable pantry staples and ingredients that are accessible in most supermarkets." My contribution is a recipe from my archive that is flavorful, nutritious, and inexpensive: chickpeas with tomatoes and dried apricots (ceci al pomodoro con albicocche secche).

There is a story behind this recipe, which makes it particularly dear to me: you can read it in the original post. For my most recent rendition of the recipe I used dried chickpeas rather than canned ones.

Ingredients, using organic (bio¹) wherever possible (see note after the recipe):

• 1 cup / 6 oz. / 170 g dried chickpeas (see below for how to cook them) OR two 15 oz. cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• a cup of diced dried and unsulphured apricots
• one large onion (about 1/2 lb / 225 g), chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cumin  from seeds toasted in a dry skillet until they smell aromatic
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano (origano)
• 1 14.5 oz. can of fire-roasted crushed tomatoes OR fire-roasted diced tomatoes with their juice OR diced tomatoes with their juice
• 3 garlic cloves, minced

How to cook chickpeas
Drain the chickpeas. Put them in a saucepan, cover with 2 quarts of fresh water, and boil for 10 minutes. Skim off any foam that collects on the surface, then lower the heat. Add 1 onion, quartered, 2 sprigs of parsley and 4 garlic cloves. Optionally, add a 5-6 inch piece of kombu. Simmer, partly covered, until the chickpeas are almost tender, about 45 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons salt, and continue cooking until the chickpeas are completely tender but not mushy. Strain, reserving the broth for soups. (Source: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison)

How to prepare the dish
Place diced dried apricots in a small bowl and cover them with hot water.

Spray a large skillet or sauté pan with olive oil and warm over medium heat. Add the onion and cook in the warmed pan over low heat with cumin. Rub oregano with your fingers on the palm of your hand then add to the pan. After about 15 minutes, when the onion is translucent, add chickpeas, tomatoes and apricots, drained. If using crushed tomatoes, rinse empty can with 1/4 cup / 60 ml of water and pout that into the pan.

Raise the heat until the mixture starts bubbling, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, covered. Add garlic, cook another 5 minutes, uncovered, then turn off the heat, cover and keep warm until you are ready to serve the dish, the sooner the better.

I like to serve this with a side of polenta, though in my most recent rendition (shown below), I served it with a side of mixed greens (rainbow chard, kale and collard greens).

chickpeas with tomatoes and dried apricots

I am afraid I have no great photos, but trust me, this recipe is great.

Here are the prices for the main ingredients:

• organic dried chickpeas: $1.09
• organic diced tomatoes: $1.19
• organic onion: $0.70
• organic dried apricots: $1.06

The total is $4.04. I realize this does not include the cost of the spices and of the aromatics to cook the chickpeas. However, the dish serves more than one person or one person for more than one meal. One thing the price-conscious buyer does is keep an eye on sales. For example, the organic tomatoes I used were on sale when I checked the price, so I bought an extra can.

Please, take the time to visit other blogs participating in this initiative. They are listed on the Food Bloggers Against Hunger page on The Giving Table site. A great thank you! to Nicole for organizing this event. If each of us does something, together we can do a lot towards solving the problem of food insecurity.

¹ Short for: da agricoltura biologica (organically grown).

This is also my contribution to MLLA #58, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen, and hosted this month by Claire of Chez Cayenne. 

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

ceci al pomodoro con albicocche secche

or launch the ceci al pomodoro con albicocche secche 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.]

chickpeas, garbanzo beans, apricots, tomatoes

insalata di fagioli e tonno / bean and albacore tuna salad

the right company for kale pesto

The first scene brings us to a large rapeseed field. Our eyes luxuriate in the saturated colors of tall yellow flowers under a blindingly blue sky. As our mind wonders where such a beautiful place is, a painful sense of foreboding starts to distort the idyllic image. The young woman in the middle of the yellow ocean is panicking and the middle-aged men trying to reach her is anxious. The tension builds up as the camera switches vintage point until the scene goes up in flames — literally.

Sidetracked, the first episode of the BBC movies Wallander turned me into a terrified fan of the series. I could not stop watching that and the other two episodes of the first season: the movies held me in their power. But the horror of the deaths and crimes shown in them terrified me. A part of me wanted to flee, while the other part was glued to the couch, totally focused on the screen and the events shown on it.

I like everything about the movies and find the character of police inspector Kurt Wallander fascinating and poignantly rendered by Kenneth Branagh. After watching three movies, I had to read the novels by Swedish author Henning Mankell. I started from the first one Faceless Killers, which introduced Kurt Wallander to the public 23 years ago. In 1999 Mankell published The Pyramid, a collection of five stories that follows Wallander career from his beginning as a patrolman who helps solve a crime and gets moved into the investigative branch of the police, to the middle-aged, seasoned investigator recently separated from his wife that we meet in the first novel. (This is the book I am reading right now.)

Faceless Killers opens with a brutal, inexplicable murder of a farmer and his wife. As Wallander applies known investigative techniques, based on looking very carefully at the available information, spiced up with a bit of gut feelings and intuition, to find who did it and why, we follow his having to come to terms with his wife's recent decision to leave him.

The chaos without is reflected in the chaos within Wallander's life. Of course, a murder is not at the same level as a separation and an estranged daughter, Linda — whose suicide attempt he thwarted some years prior. However, the need to rationalize and act upon them has similarity. In the end, he cannot do anything to recreate the family nucleus, which in practice had ceased to exist for a while, but he can bring the murderers to justice, thereby resetting the scales, so to speak — albeit temporarily.

The novel includes more than one personal thread: Wallander's father, a painter, appears and his mental and physical decline requires attention. And Rydberg, Wallander's mentor and most trusted colleague, is diagnosed with cancer. The mood of the novel is definitely somber. And the fact that it starts in early January, in the dead of winter, adds some more darkness. The one steady light is Wallander's determination to solve the crime that haunts him. And he will do that.

bean and albacore tuna salad for Wallander

Often Wallander is so engrossed in his investigations that food and sleep are pushed aside, sometimes with dangerous consequences. One recurrent motif in the novel is his wish to start eating better, a resolution that gets repeatedly postponed to the following day when, supposedly, he will have more time to choose mindfully how to feed himself. But the healthy, nutritious salad in his thoughts never materializes on his plate, so I thought I would make one for him, one that, with a bit of planning, he could prepare for himself at home.

The combination of beans and canned tuna (we called it fagioli col tonno) reminds me of childhood summer vacations (vacanze estive), when salads of various kinds rotated on the menu. Its simplicity leaves room for interesting variations, like this one. The baby kale pesto with cashews I described yesterday smoothes the edges of the two bold flavors of beans and albacore. I cook beans whenever I have time and if I don't need them right away, I freeze them. The pesto can also be made in advance and frozen. Particularly useful are the two-tablespoon cubes you can obtain by freezing it in an ice tray. And canned albacore is an item always in my pantry, the kind I discovered some years ago: troll caught and preserved in its own juices, flavorful, low in mercury and without added ingredients besides salt.

Paul's mix, a medley of organic beans

Once you have the elements of the salad, combining them together takes little time and the result is satisfying and nourishing, just what Kurt Wallander and we all need.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for bean and albacore tuna salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup / 200 g  7 oz. Paul's mix beans or other dried beans of choice [see below how to cook beans with aromatics]
• One 7.5 oz. can troll- or pole-caught albacore preserved in its juices
• 2 tablespoons baby kale pesto with cashews

How to cook dry beans
The way I cook beans for further use comes from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (Beans with Aromatics). After soaking a cup of dry beans for several hours or overnight in enough water to cover them by about an inch (I use 3 1/2 cups), empty the whole bowl into a saucepan and add

• A small onion (or half of a medium one), halved
• A large bay leaf
• A large clove of garlic, or two small ones, sliced
• A few sprigs of fresh parsley
• A piece of kombu or other seaweed of choice (optional)

If it feels that there is not enough water to cook the beans well, add 1/2 cup. Bring the water to a lively boil quickly, and keep it there for five minutes, then turn down the heat and let the beans simmer, covered, until they are ready. How long this takes depends on the type of beans and their freshness. Let them cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them. Let the beans rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.

How to prepare the pesto
See the post baby kale pesto with cashews for the recipe.

How to assemble the salad
Drain the beans but leave them a bit moist. Open the can, empty it in a bowl, and with a fork flake the albacore to incorporate its juices. Add kale pesto and mix thoroughly to combine the ingredients. Serve (at room temperature).

To my palate, this salad does not need additional salt an neither does it need olive oil, since the albacore provides its oil. 

Besides choosing healthier dishes, hopefully Wallander will learn to enjoy the food, instead of just stuffing himself, which is what he does when eating on the run. When it comes to his relation with food, he can learn from Montalbano.

This is my second contribution to the 18th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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This is also my submission for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. 

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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Finally, this is my contribution to MLLA #57, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen, and hosted this month by PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

insalata di fagioli e tonno

or launch the insalata di fagioli e tonno 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.]

beans, tuna, kale, pesto, salad, cashew

Related articles

pesto di cavolo riccio novello con anacardi / baby kale pesto with cashews

fagioli gratinati / bean gratin

fagioli gratinati / bean gratin

the view from above

The smell of rosemary coming from the oven is always comforting, no matter what memory it awakens: roast chicken, maybe, or roast potatoes. It promises solid nourishment. Add to it some sage and you enter serious territory. When out of the oven comes a pie plate hiding something under a golden green-speckled crust, you may still not think right away at beans. Yet, that's what's underneath.

The December 2012 issue of Food & Wine (one of the two magazines to which I subscribe, the other being EatingWell) had a set of recipes for a crowd contributed by John and Tamar Adler. Among them, I singled out Cannellini Bean Gratin with Herbed Bread Crumb Topping.

I would not let the fact that I did not need to cook for a crowd stop me from trying the recipe. On the other hand, I did not want to cook a dish with 3 pounds of beans. So, I went about cutting down the recipe to a manageable size, making a few adjustments along the way.

The result was excellent: Rosemary, sage and garlic bring the beans to an intensely aromatic level and the bread crumbs provide needed texture contrast. I have already made this dish several times and I foresee doing it again: it has immediately become a household favorite. I have a good stash of beans and of my garlic in my storage space and my little garden keeps providing me with the fresh herbs I need, though it's winter, so I'am all set.

Paul's mix, a medley of organic beans

I love cannellini beans, but my everyday beans are Paul's mix, a locally grown, organic bean medley that I have already featured on this blog, which has proved to be perfect in all bean dishes I have prepared with it. Plus, it reminds me about the great variety of beans out there. 

These are the ingredients I use for the gratin:

• 1 cup (200 g, 7 oz.) Paul's mix beans (original recipe: dried cannellini beans) [see below how to cook beans with aromatics]
• 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs (from my homemade bread)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley (prezzemolo)
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped sage (salvia)
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary (rosmarino)
• 1 garlic clove (2 if they are small)
  
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (senape di Digione)
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (aceto di vino rosso)
  
• Sea salt

How to cook dry beans
I follow my usual method rather than that described in section 1 of the original recipe.

The way I cook beans for further use comes from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (Beans with Aromatics). After soaking a cup of dry beans for several hours or overnight in enough water to cover them by about an inch (I use 3 1/2 cups), empty the whole bowl into a saucepan and add

• A small onion (or half of a medium one), halved
• A large bay leaf
• A large clove of garlic, or two small ones, sliced
• A few sprigs of fresh parsley
• A piece of kombu or other seaweed of choice (optional)
  

If it feels that there is not enough water to cook the beans well, add 1/2 cup. Bring the water to a lively boil quickly, and keep it there for five minutes, then turn down the heat and let the beans simmer, covered, until they are ready. How long this takes depends on the type of beans and their freshness. Let them cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them. Let the beans rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.

How to prepare the topping and season the beans
I follow section 2 of the instructions, using 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil. (Be extra careful here, since the bread crumbs burn easily.) Then, I follow section 3.

How to finish the dish
I follow section 4 of the recipe, with the following adjustments:

• Transfer the drained beans to a Pyrex pie plate (9.5-inch / 24 cm diameter) and lightly salt them, then stir.
• Set aside 1/3 cup of the cooking liquid and don't drain the beans completely.
  
• Whisk in the vinegar and 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil into the remaining garlic-mustard mixture, then stir in the reserved bean cooking liquid.
• Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and bake on the top shelf for 15 minutes.

Serve warm.

the view from the plate rim

As noted in the recipe, you can cook the beans and toast the bread crumbs ahead of time.

This is my contribution to My Legume Love Affair 55 the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, and hosted this month by the creator herself. This post contains the roundup of the event.

And I am submitting this recipe, bookmarked on my copy of the December 2012 edition of Food & Wine magazine, to Bookmarked Recipes #20, an event originally started by Ruth of Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments and now hosted by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes. This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

fagioli gratinati

 or launch the fagioli gratinati 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.]

beans, bread crumbs

Related articles

zimino di fagioli / bean, mushroom and chard soup

torta salata "nella pentola" con pollo / chicken pot pie revisited

My Legume Love Affair #53: il riepilogo / the roundup

Hosting the 53rd edition of MLLA, created and organized by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook was, as in previous occasions, a great pleasure. Throughout the past month, I have received contributions from around the world, delicious variations on the theme of legumes.

Hosting an event means having the pleasure of collecting and then sharing the collection — of savoring in solitude each dish as it comes into my mailbox, and then inviting everybody to the final banquet. It was a great pleasure to welcome new participants to the party and to say Hi! to old acquaintances.

I am presenting the contributions in the order I have received them — however, multiple posts by the same author are grouped together. For each submission, I will give you the official information (author, blog name and post title) and a brief description that summarizes it — a tiny morsel that will entice you to follow the link and read the details.

Now, please, make yourself comfortable, then follow me on a journey of flavors, colors, traditions and culinary creativity. And at the end of the roundup, I will reveal the lucky winner of the event prizes.

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Debra of Diary of a Tomato presents Northern Shrimp with Tomatoes and Yellow Eye Beans
"Not quite a soup nor a stew, this particular medley of Northern shrimp and beans reminded me more of a deconstructed chowder."

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Janet of The Taste Space prepared Moroccan Chana Dal Stew with Green Olives and Preserved Lemon — "I liked the creamy nature of the chana dal as a back drop for the stew along with cinnamon and cumin. The buttercup squash was sweet and complemented the grassiness of the green beans..."

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tigerfish of An Escape to Food shares with us Garlic Haricort Verts
"Green bean casserole... is popular in the US, particularly at Thanksgiving; but my preference is always over a easy tasty stir-fry or saute like this."

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Barbara of My Italian Smörgåsbord presents Chickpea Lasagna With Pumpkin And Ricotta Filling — To say that the filling, based on roasted pumpkin, ricotta and Parmesan, "was delicious is an understatement." Note: This lasagna is 100% gluten free.

and also Spinach And Chickpea Veggie Burger
"These are some of my favorite veggie burgers ever... also extremely easy to make from scratch, using only a few ingredients that is possible to have always at hand."

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Lubna Karim of Yummy Food prepared Ambadae Ki Bhaji Dal/Gongura Pappu/Red Sorrel Leaves with Lentils — "It’s a simple dal in combination with sour tasting red sorrel leaves... called Gongura in Telugu and Ambadae Ki Bhaji in Hindi... this is one of my favorite of combo dals."

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Brii of Briggishome prepared Legume Soup
"I love the sunny days, I love the rainy days, I love the foggy days... Sometimes all these sunny days we have on the Garda lake, are really too much for me. I actually need some grey days to regenerate."

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Mints! of Vadani Kaval Gheta prepared Kanda Bhajji - Onion Fritters
"I learned this Kanda Bhajji recipe from one of these shop vendors, he was kind enough to share secrets of not using baking soda."

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Nags of Edible Garden shares with us Masala Vadai
"The street vendors in Kerala generally sell paruppu vadai with a thick coconut chutney which is delicious so I made the same. This is totally optional but highly recommended."

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Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu presents Pinto Bean and Corn Salad with Smoky Citrus Dressing
"Jarred roasted red peppers, canned pinto beans and frozen corn kernels make this an easy out of the pantry salad for winter or when pushed for time, but in the summer... I would suggest you take advantage of seasonal produce."

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Jiya Jesh of BlogExplore shares with us Rajma / Red Kidney Beans Roti Wrap
"What better way to add nutrition to the already nutritious whole wheat rotis? yes..it is adding legumes and here I have used red kidney beans."

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Cinzia of Cindystar presents Lentil, Pumpkin and Curry Soup
"Ordinary ingredients, easy recipe, but a pinch of curry and turmeric will make the difference. And never discard any pumpkin skin, just cut in little pieces and put in the soup, it's tastefully edible!"

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Rajani of My Kitchen Trials contributed four dishes

Chana Pulav
A perfect lunchbox recipe from Rajani's rich cookbook collection.

Lentil Ball Gravy
"It's my younger brother’s favorite and amma used to make this often for him. If we were both kids, I would have said 'Amma! He is taking all the lentil balls. He is not leaving any for me!'"

Masala Vada (aka Parippu Vada)
"The minute you say parippu vada, my mind pictures the roadside chayakkada (tea stall) with people sitting on wooden benches and eating the vada, holding tea in the other hand and sharing the day’s gossip."

Vegetable Kichdi
A comforting dish for times when Mother Nature rages outside

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Freya of the Vegan Kitchen Table prepared Black Bean Soup
"When ready it resembled crude oil, studded with tiny, shiny pieces of obsidian. A most beautiful soup, made even more stunning with a sprinkling of spring onion, coriander and sour cream."

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Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook prepared Deep-Fried Lupini Beans with Rosemary
"Although this recipe works with nearly any seed legume, the uniquely briny bite of lupini beans holds its own against a sprinkling of equally potent dried rosemary." 

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Simona of briciole, your host for this edition, shared zimino di fagioli / Bean, Mushroom and Chard Soup — "When I am upset,... I tend to cook dishes that are comforting to me, something hot and with lots of vegetables, often a soup. The recipe I am presenting here is a classic example."

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And now the announcement of the winner of Substituting Ingredients: The A to Z Kitchen Reference by Becky Sue Epstein and the winner of a Hurst Bean Box (a case of six bags of the winner's choice of Hurst Bean products). The random integer generator gave me the number 9. The 9th name in the list of participants to submit an entry (minus the host, her family and personal friends, and the organizer) was Jiya Jesh of BlogExplore. Jiya being a resident of India, per the rules explained in the announcement, I used the random number generator again for the US residents and the program gave me the number 4. The 4th name in the list of participants who are US residents is Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu . Congratulations to Jiya and Lynne!

Thank you so much to all who participated and made this edition of MLLA a success!

I believe all the submissions I have received are presented in the roundup. However, mishaps are part of life, so if you find anything missing or in need of amendment anywhere in the roundup, please do let me know.

A beautiful set of legume-centered dishes awaits you. I am sure that you'll be inspired by the recipes presented.  Sukanya of Saffron Streaks is hosting My Legume Love Affair #54 and will be happy to receive your contribution(s) to the event. The deadline for submitting of your legume dish is December 31. You can always find out who is hosting on this page.

zimino di fagioli / bean, mushroom and chard soup

comfort food for rough days

For the current edition of Cook the Books, we are reading Heartburn by Nora Ephron (1983). I had heard about the book, so I was glad to see it on the Club's list. The writing is witty and engaging, and as a reader, you really want to know how the story will unfold. It was easy to go from cover to cover, chuckling here and there, and cheering at the final scene, when a lime pie is sacrified on the altar of justice.

While I don't want to diminish in any way the importance of the book from a sociological perspective (it was published almost 30 years ago), as a reader, I was not left wanting for more. The shallowness of the characters makes them forgettable.

One aspect of the novel that I liked a lot is the way the recipes are woven into the text, part of the narrative of the protagonist, Rachel Samstat, who is a successful cookbook author. I wasn't particularly inspired to try any of the the recipes, though. In reading the story, I was more focused on thinking: what would I do if something like that happened to me? "That" means discovering that your husband is in love and having an affair with a woman you know, while you are pregnant with your second child and the first one is a toddler.

When I am upset, cooking in and of itself is helpful, in that it makes me focus on something other than whatever it is that is causing an emotional tornado. And I tend to cook dishes that are comforting to me, something hot and with lots of vegetables, often a soup. The recipe I am presenting here is a classic example. I had made it a few months ago once and even took a photo (see below), but forgot to write down the details. I really liked it, so I went back to it.

last spring's version

The inspiration for my zimino di fagioli came from a recipe called zimino di ceci that I read on the Accademia Italiana della Cucina site. The dish is traditional in Liguria and it is made with chickpeas (ceci). This version of the recipe by Clifford Wright includes an explanation of the name of the soup, which is sometimes called ceci in zimino.

speckled bayo beans

I like chickpeas, but I prefer to use beans (fagioli), because I have access to a variety of great organic beans of local production, like the speckled bayo on the photo, which are very good in soups.

The original recipe uses dried mushrooms (funghi secchi) and that's what I used the first time I made the dish. However, I am not a big fan of dried mushrooms, so when I took up the recipe again, I decided to use a mix of fresh mushrooms, including some locally grown oyster mushrooms. The photo below shows the mushrooms on their growing medium.

farmed oyster mushrooms

I recently signed up for a special winter CSA share. I will tell you more about this soon. For now, suffice to say that I have access to some gorgeous rainbow chard (bietola). In the balance of ingredients, with respect to the original recipe, I chose to give much more prominence to the chard and a bit more to the mushrooms.

it doesn't get any fresher than this

Ingredients:

• 3.5 oz / 1/2 cup / 100 g speckled bayo beans; alternatively, I would have used borlotti or canario [see below how to cook beans with aromatics]
• Olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely chopped + half a leek, white and light green portion, cut into half moons and carefully rinsed (save the darker green portion to make broth or stock) [the original recipe calls for an onion, thinly sliced]
• A celery rib, finely chopped
• A garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 8 oz. / 225 g mixed fresh mushrooms: I used half oyster and half cremini, sliced
• 1 cup roasted strained tomatoes (thawed, since they were made last year and frozen) [the original recipe calls for 3-4 ripe tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and chopped]
• 10.5 oz. / 300 g rainbow chard, weighed after the long stalks are removed (save those and use them to make a gratin)
• Sea salt, to taste

How to cook dry beans
The way I cook beans for further use comes from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (Beans with Aromatics). After soaking half a cup of dry beans for several hours or overnight in enough water to cover them by about an inch (I use two cups), empty the whole bowl into a saucepan and add

• Half of a small onion (or a quarter of a medium one), halved
• A bay leaf
• A small clove of garlic, sliced
• A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley

Bring the water to a lively boil quickly, and keep it there for five minutes, then turn down the heat and let the beans simmer, covered, until they are ready. How long this takes depends on the type of beans and their freshness. Let them cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them. Let the beans rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.

How to cook the soup
Warm a bit of olive oil in another saucepan, then add shallot, leek and celery and stir well. Cook for a few minutes, then add the garlic.

After a couple more minutes, when the garlic smells fragrant, add the mushrooms and stir. Turn up the heat a bit. When the mushrooms start releasing water, stir well for a minute, then add the tomatoes and stir well.

Bring to a simmer, then add the beans, drained, and stir. Add the chard leaves, cut into ribbons 1/2-inch (1.25 cm) wide and stir. It is fine if the chard leaves have water clinging to them. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the chard is nice and tender, adding some or all of the bean cooking liquid to make a (rather dense) soup or, if you prefer, some water or vegetable broth.

Adjust salt and serve immediately.

Serving options:

1. The original recipe suggests serving the soup with croutons.
2. I have toasted a couple of small sliced of bread, put those on the bottom of a bowl and ladled the zimino on top (like in the photo on this page).
3. As you can see from the photo above, in my earlier rendition, I served the zimino with some freshly grated cheese sprinkled on the surface.
4. The last option is a suggestion for repurposing leftovers and it deserves a post of its own, so be patient for a couple of days and then you'll find out.

I am not sure Rachel Samstat would like my zimino di fagioli, since it is something quite different from the dishes she describes in the book. On the other hand, considering how much misery living in her "set" has caused, maybe she ought to consider a change of scenery and a change of cuisine.

This is my contribution to the current edition of Cook the Books, hosted by Simona of briciole (that would be me). You can find the guidelines for participating in the event here, and here is the announcement. This post contains the roundup of the event.

I am also submitting this to My Legume Love Affair 53, the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, and hosted this month by Simona of briciole (that would be me — again). This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

zimino di fagioli

or launch the zimino di fagioli 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.]

soup, beans, chard, mushrooms, Italian recipe

annuncio / announcement: My Legume Love Affair #53

If you've been wondering about My Legume Love Affair this month, wonder no more: I have the honor of being the host for the November 2012 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.)

In the US, we are fast approaching Thanksgiving and I am inviting you to add  a nice legume dish to your dinner.

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 beans in the photo are white kidney beans  Susan bought at a Japanese market.)

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 Friday, 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:

• Substituting Ingredients: The A to Z Kitchen Reference by Becky Sue Epstein. 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.

fagioli alla salvia col miglio / beans with sage and millet

These beans were excellent, an example of minimalist perfection.

I had a hard time coming up with a title for the post: this dish is not really a salad, nor a soup, nor a stew. However, in the end, names are not as important as flavor, which in this case is very interesting.

We start with the beans. I have made this recipe with two kinds of beans from my pantry:

• speckled bayo (photo top and above, recently featured in this soup)
• Paul's mix (photo below and bottom, and also in this photo post)

Both come from Warren Creek Farms, producer of outstanding organic beans.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for fagioli alla salvia col miglio

How to cook dry beans
The way I cook beans for further use comes from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (Beans with Aromatics). After soaking half a cup of dry beans for several hours or overnight in enough water to cover them by about an inch (I use two cups), empty the whole bowl into a saucepan and add

• Half of a small onion (or a quarter of a medium one), halved
• A bay leaf
• A small clove of garlic, sliced
• A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley

Bring the water to a lively boil quickly, and keep it there for five minutes, then turn down the heat and let the beans simmer, covered, until they are ready. How long this takes depends on the type of beans and their freshness. Let them cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them. Let the beans rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.

Then we have millet, an ancient grain, which is gluten free. On the right, you see hulled millet in its natural state. On the left, you see the same millet after being toasted. The toasting step takes only a few minutes and it is worth the small effort: toasting gives millet a deeper, earthier flavor.

How to cook millet
For this dish, I used 1/4 cup uncooked millet. Of course, you can cook more and take what you need, saving the rest for another dish. Warm up a skillet on medium heat, then add the millet and toast for a few minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. You will hear the millet pop (this is half the fun of toasting grains).

Take millet off the heat and pour into a pan with 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat but keep the lid on for another 5 minutes. Add a pinch of sea salt and fluff with a fork.

Putting it all together
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup beans of choice (for ex., cannellini, canario, speckled bayo), prepared as explained above, plus their cooking liquid
• 1/4 cup hulled millet, prepared as explained above
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• A small onion or a shallot, finely chopped
• A large clove of garlic, thinly sliced (2 if small)
• 3-4 leaves of fresh sage, thinly sliced
• A handful of kale blossoms, optional (but recommended, both as a color and as a texture accent)
• Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste

You can prepare beans and millet ahead. The final assembly takes a short time, which makes this dish ideal for a quick lunch or dinner (pranzo o cena).

Warm up the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the onion and stir well. After a couple of minutes, add the garlic and sage and stir. After a couple more minutes, add the kale blossoms, if using. Let cook over gentle heat until the onion is translucent. Add the cooked beans with their cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes to blend the flavors. Add the cooked millet and stir well. Make sure everything is nice and hot, then adjust salt and pepper, give a good final stir, take the pan off the heat and serve immediately.

This simple dish packs a lot of flavor.

This is my first contribution to Cooking With Seeds: Rye or Millet, an event created by Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes and hosted this month by Simona of briciole (that is, me).

This post contains the roundup of the event.

This recipes goes also to Jagruti's event Know Your Flours Series: Millet Flour hosted at Torviewtoronto.

The beans make this dish suitable for My Legume Love Affair 50 the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, and hosted this month 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:

fagioli alla salvia col miglio

or launch the fagioli alla salvia col miglio 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.]

beans, millet

legumi che passione! numero 49: il riepilogo / My Legume Love Affair #49: the roundup

Hosting the 49th edition of MLLA, created and organized by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook was, as in previous occasions, a great pleasure. Throughout the past month, I have received contributions from around the world, delicious variations (savory or sweet) on the theme of legumes.

Hosting an event means having the pleasure of collecting and then sharing the collection — of savoring in solitude each dish as it comes into my mailbox, and then inviting everybody to the final banquet.

I am presenting the contributions in the order I have received them — however, multiple posts by the same author are grouped together. For each submission, I will give you the official information (author, blog name and post title) and a brief description that summarizes it — a tiny morsel that will entice you to follow the link and read the details.

Now, please, make yourself comfortable, then follow me on a journey of flavors, colors, traditions and culinary creativity. And at the end of the roundup, I will reveal the lucky winner of the event prizes.

---

Janet of The Taste Space prepared Strawberry and Roasted Chickpea Salad with a Cinnamon Vinaigrette
"Strawberries confer sweetness, toasted almonds crunch with a hint of mint making this a much more complex salads. Serve overtop your favourite greens for a summer treat."

and also Colombian-Style Red Beans with Plantains
"I will admit that I never came across this dish while in Colombia. Red beans, yes. Plantains, yes. Never together which is why I was intrigued to try out this recipe."

---

Priya Srinivasan of Enveetu Kitchen shares with us Paruppu Keerai/Purslane Leaves Sambhar
The humble and healthy purslane "can be cooked with various dal to give a different taste, so you don't get bored eating the same thing again and again."

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Madhu of The Melting Pot cooked Spinach Adai / Spicy Spinach Crepes
Split chickpeas, yellow pigeon pea, brown rice, baby spinach, fresh coconut and spices makes a pretty-colored batter that is cooked into crepes.

---

Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen prepared Tarka Dal with Tomatoes and Spices
"Tarka dal is actually a generic term for any cooked dal tempered with a final addition of seeds and spices fried in hot oil or ghee— the tarka — to give it a simple but elegant finish."

---

Vishakha of Sublime Palate shares with us Creamy Black lentils/ Dal Makhani
This is a quick to make, healthier version of Dal Mahkhani, which is still as creamy as the one served in restaurants.

---

Ivy of Kopiaste to Greek Hospitality prepared Greek Fava and Bulgur Pie or Fava Fritters with Lemon Minted Yoghurt
"Greek fava (lathyrus clymenum) looks like yellow split peas, but is much tastier and is produced in various parts of Greece.  The most popular one is produced on Santorini Island..."

---

Siri of Cooking with Siri shares with us Kerala Style Yellow Dal
"When I absolutely run out of ideas for our supper or when I am depressed/sad, I automatically go for a bowl of dal (preferably yellow) and rice. It makes me happy from deep within..."

---

Denny of Oh Taste n See presents four recipes

Almond Energy Blast
A "life saver smoothie... creamy and delicious and at the same time filling and nutritious. Take only a few minutes to whip up together."


Microwave Masala Peanuts
"It is so relieving to make a crunchy, munchy snack that involves no work by the stove. It is a super quick and easy recipe and I am happy with the outcome."


Celery White Bean Soup
Cannellini beans "have become my all-time favorite choice for thickening soups, without the use of cream."

Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies
"There are a few things that makes the weekend a satisfying affair for me – and baking is on the top of my list."

---

Sowjanya of Ruchikacooks prepared Quinoa Pongal with Kathrikkai Rasavangi
Quinoa with lentils served with spicy eggplants and lentils sauce: "quite an unusual combination," but very tasty and easy.

---

Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen shares with us Mooga Gathi
"Come the month of Shravan this is going to feature quite a bit in Goan homes for not only is moong easy to digest and people do not eat fish, chicken etc."

and also Peanut, Onion and Coconut Chutney
"One Saturday evening I made dosa but to make the chutney I ran short of coconut and green chillies. So I made this chutney. The chutney was in great demand..."

---

Brii of Briggishome prepared Borlotti Bean Salad with Tuna, Onion and Mint
"When I’m particularly lucky, nobody shows up for dinner! So I set the table for me alone, in front of the dying sun over our beautiful lake."

and also a Bean & Turkey Salad
"The weather has been so hot almost every day that the only thing we manage to eat (and me to “cook”) is salads, salads and again salads. This is another idea to use beans."

---

Heather of girlichef made Oaxacan-Style Peanuts w/ Chile & Garlic
 "Why not make a big batch and bring them along next time you're spending a hot day relaxing around the pool with people you like."

---

Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook prepared Fava Bean Couscous Timbale Salas with Tahini Dressing
"The meaty, dark maroon fava bean is the best variety for this recipe since its robust color and texture complement the large pearl couscous for a stylish meal."

---

Madhu of Paricash Kitchen contributed 11 dishes, from salad to pancake to dessert and more. I am presenting them in three slide sets. Within each set, the posts are listed left to right (click on a thumbnail to enlarge):

• 
• 
• 
• 

1. Bengal Gram and Whole Black Gram Gravy: very easy, healthy and quick
2. Kidney Bean Salad: with onion, tomato and dressing
3. Side Dish with Sprouted Black Chana: "Enjoy with prantha or roti or simply as it is."
4. Rajma Parantha (Kidney Bean Pancake): a good use for leftover Rajma/Kidney beans

• 
• 
• 

1. Chatpate Rajma (Kidney Bean Gravy): this bean is "packed with nutrition, so please pamper it while preparing it."
2. Chana Daal Parantha (Bengal Gram Pancake): "Sometimes I make more lentils so that with the leftovers I can make parantha in the morning."
3. Moong Daal Kheer/Payasam (Mung Bean Sweet Dish): a south Indian Keralan dish

• 
• 
• 
• 

1. Moong Daal Kheer/Payasam: full of nutrition and tasty
2. Whole Black Masoor Lentil Pancake: "Lentils are such a breeze to make. You do not need to grind or prepare so much for them."
3. Sambhar: This "combo of idli and sambhar is so filling that you can serve it any time of the day."
4. Kidney Bean, Paneer Cutlet: a very famous chat food

---

Usha of MySpicyKitchen contributed a selection of five dishes

Baked Falafel
"Apart from baking instead of deep frying, the other reason I liked the recipe is, the preparation for the falafel can be made up to a day in advance."

Baked Chana Dal & Mung Dal
"I soaked the dal for 4 hours, cooked it little water for 2-3 minutes, drained it and baked for 20 minutes. It turned out crunchy & crispy, almost like deep fried dal."

Baked Spicy Peanuts
"Throw in any spices you like to this recipe and you can not go wrong. Substitution of garam masala with chaat masala is a one variation."

Chikkudu Annam ~ Valor Lilva (Indian Beans) Rice
"Indian broad beans are chikkudu kaya in Telugu and valor in Hindi. For this rice, shelled Indian broad beans are used."

Rajma or Kidney Beans Rice
"A simple rice preparation which I usually serve with riata or some spicy gravy/curry."

---

Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe prepared Chickpea Pizza Base
"Of all the gluten free flours I have tried, chickpea flour (or besan or gram flour) has been the most reliable.  In fact, if I had to choose just one gf flour to stock, I think this would be it."

---

Simona of briciole, your host for this edition, shared Bean, Chicken and Egg Pasta Soup
"There is no wrong that a good homemade chicken soup can't right. And even without a wrong to make right, a steaming bowl of chicken soup brings a smile to the steamed face."

---

And now the announcement of the winner of 500 Cupcakes: The Only Cupcake Compendium You'll Ever Need by Fergal Connolly & Judith Fertig and the winner of a Hurst Bean Box (a case of six bags of the winner's choice of Hurst Bean products). The random integer generator gave me the number 5. The 5th name in the list of participants to submit an entry (minus the host, her family and personal friends, and the organizer) was Ivy of Kopiaste to Greek Hospitality. Ivy being a resident of beautiful Greece, per the rules explained in the announcement, I used the random number generator again for the US residents and the program gave me the number 4. The 4th name in the list of participants who are US residents is Heather of girlichef. Congratulations to Ivy and Heather!

Thank you so much to all who participated and made this edition of MLLA a success!

I believe all the submissions I have received are presented in the roundup. However, mishaps are part of life, so if you find anything missing or in need of amendment anywhere in the roundup, please do let me know.

A beautiful set of legume-centered dishes awaits you. I am sure that you'll be inspired by the recipes presented. Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook is hosting My Legume Love Affair #50 and will be happy to receive your contribution(s) to the event. The deadline for submitting of your legume dish is August 31. You can always find out who is hosting on this page.

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.

minestra di fagioli, pollo e pasta all'uovo / bean, chicken and egg pasta soup

chicken soup meets beans and egg pasta

There is no wrong that a good homemade chicken soup can't right. And even without a wrong to make right, a steaming bowl of chicken soup brings a smile to the steamed face.

This soup has three elements:

• chicken stock/broth, the making of which gives you also some boiled chicken
• beans
  
• pasta all'uovo (egg pasta) cut into short tagliatelle

And the three elements can be made at different times and then brought together. Once they are available, putting together the soup requires a short amount of time.

How to make stock/broth
What I call stock/broth is made not only with the trimmings and carcass of a roasted chicken, but also a bag of trimmings I buy from the same provider of the chicken, Shakefork Community Farm. Besides selling whole chicken, they sell breasts and thighs sepately so they have trimmings that they bag and sell for stock. These trimmings have some meat attached, so I call what I make with them stock/broth to indicate that more meat than usual goes into its preparation. (In the past, I have asked our local grocery store for chicken trimmings and I got something similar.) The recipe I use is the same as for chicken stock. I also use a vegetable trimmings to make stock and stock/broth like dark green portion of leeks, corn cobs (what's left after you remove the kernels), roasted pumpkin or winter squash skin (what's left after you scoop out the pulp), etc.

Once the stock/broth is ready, I retrieve all the meat which at this point separates easily from the bone. This step, for which I use my hands, requires a bit of care to avoid leaving in the meat small pieces of bone. The meat has enough flavor to go well into a soup. Plus there is no way I'd discard it. I let the strained stock/broth rest in the refrigerator overnight, skim the fat at the top, then freeze some and use the rest in the following few days.

speckled bayo beans

The beans come from my usual provider, mentioned several times before, more recently in this photo post.

How to cook dry beans
The way I cook beans for further use comes from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (Beans with Aromatics). After soaking half a cup of dry beans for several hours or overnight in enough water to cover them by about an inch (I use two cups), empty the whole bowl into a saucepan and add

• Half of a small onion (or a quarter of a medium one), halved
• A bay leaf
• A small clove of garlic, sliced
• A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley

Bring the water to a lively boil quickly, and keep it there for five minutes, then turn down the heat and let the beans simmer, covered, until they are ready. How long this takes depends on the type of beans and their freshness. Let them cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them. Let the beans rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.

The third element is pasta all'uovo. I make a small batch of it  using one egg, as in this recipe, then cut it into a sort of short tagliatelle.

All together now
Ingredients:

• 2 cups homemade chicken stock/broth (prepared as explained above)
  
• 1 cup of chicken pieces retrieved once the stock/broth has cooled
• 1/2 cup speckled bayo beans, or other beans of choice (prepared as explained above), and their cooking liquid
  
• A small batch of pasta all'uovo made using one egg and cut into 1/2-inch wide and 2-3 inch-long strips
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• sea salt and freshly milled pepper, to taste

Add the chicken and the beans and their liquid to the stock/broth and bring to a simmer, while you cook the pasta in salted boiling water. It will take just a few minutes to cook. Drain the pasta and add to the soup. Add some hot water or stock/broth to bring the soup to the desired consistency. Turn off the heat, sprinkle parsley on the soup, give it a good stir and serve immediately.

Of course, you can make this recipe with chicken broth and pieces of cooked chicken you have on hand. The basic idea is to create a nice soup with leftovers and items often discarded before fully used.

The beans make this soup perfect for My Legume Love Affair 49 the current edition of the popular, legume-centered event created by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, and hosted this month by Simona of briciole (yes, that's me). This post contains the roundup of the event.

And I am sending this soup to Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

minestra di fagioli, pollo e pasta all'uovo

or launch the minestra di fagioli, pollo e pasta all'uovo 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.]

beans, pasta, chicken, soup

Annuncio: legumi che passione! (numero 49)

My Legume Love Affair #49

I have the honor of being the host for the July 2012 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.

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 Tuesday, July 31 at noon PDT.

 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:

• 500 Cupcakes: The Only Cupcake Compendium You'll Ever Need by Fergal Connolly & Judith Fertig. 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.

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.