briciole

lorighittas al sugo piccante / lorighittas with spicy hot tomato sauce

ready to dry

Inspiration often comes unexpectedly. When I followed the link to read this post by Aioulik of Trattoria MuVarA (in Italian), I expected to be reminded of some of the great dishes typical of the Sardinian cuisine. The photo of the lovely pasta shape resembling a miniature wreath or an earring made me search immediately online for information. Shortly afterwards, I was at the kneading board. Later, I posted this phost to my Instagram feed:

from my first batch of lorighittas

I think it was not bad for my first try.

According to online sources, lorighittas are typical of the Sardinian town of Morgongiori (province of Oristano). As explained on this page, the name comes from sa loriga, a Sardinian word that indicates the iron ring fixed to the wall of a house to which horses or donkeys were tethered. 

In this video (in Italian), the woman interviewed talks about the tradition of making lorighittas. She adds the salt to the water rather than the semola (in this post, there is a brief discussion of the various products obtained by milling durum wheat) and calls that battezzare (to baptize). She says that the pasta is fully dried, a process that takes several days. I assume the drying is done for storage. 

Other interesting things from the video are the beautiful basket on which the lorighittas are laid out to dry and the repurposed meatgrinder. Instead of a basket, I used a cookie sheet lined with a cotton kitchen towel (see top photo). I then covered the lorighittas with another towel.

To make lorighittas you roll the dough into a string that is thin enough, but not so thin as to break during the shaping. The meatgrinder made a lot of sense, so I decided to try using it. Unfortunately, the disk I have (only one, since my meatgrinder is basically an antique) does not produce smooth strings, so my experiment did not end satisfactorily. I went back to rolling with my hands.

Shaping the lorighittas requires a bit of attention. In this video, you can see my hands at work.

A quick comparison with the hands of the women in the previous video shows that I have a little way to go before I can contemplate making lorighittas for a large party. But I am determined to improve with practice.

Considering that I had chosen a complex pasta shape, I thought I would go easy in terms of sauce. Having missed last month's edition of Pasta Please, I wanted to comply with this month's theme, chili peppers, so I made simple tomato sauce using my strained roasted tomatoes and I spiked it with peperoncino.

See this bunch of peperoncini? I have had them for some time and I can assure you they've lost none of their potency.

bright red peperoncini next to big zucchini blossoms

I bought them during my only visit to the farmers' market in Milan, shortly after they opened it. I had a mixed experience there, but walked away with, among other things, a pretty bunch of peperoncini, fiery in both color and flavor, which I have been using ever since.

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

Ingredients for the spicy tomato sauce:

• Olive oil
• Two garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 cups strained roasted tomatoes (thawed, if frozen)
• A red chili pepper (see below for details)
• Sea salt, to taste
• Freshly grated fiore sardo, to taste

Make lorighittas
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 lorighittas. You don't want the dough to dry out. Roll each piece into a thin string, not thicker than 1/6 inch / 0.4 cm diameter (see Note below). Wrap the string around the four fingers twice then break the dough and join the two ends by pressing lightly. Note: if the rings come out too long and you have trouble with the next step, try using only three fingers. Thread one loop into the other a few times until the two strands are woven into a sort of two-strand braid.

Continue until all the dough is used. You may want to dust lightly with flour the surface where you lay the shaped lorighittas, to prevent them from sticking. And you may need to wet your hands if they get too dry while shaping the pasta (it happened to me).

The first time I made the pasta, I cooked it a few hours after I had shaped it. The second time, I dried it for a couple of days to see how it looked. Note: someone whose mother is from Morgongiori kindly commented on FB that the string of dough must be thinner than it appears in my version of lorighittas. I am aware that in my first rendition the string of dough was a bit thick. Also, the perspective of the close-up photos is somewhat tricky. Finally, I learned by myself, just watching a video, so I make no claims about the authenticity of my lorighittas. As I mentioned above, the dough should be thin, but not so thin as to break when you roll it around your fingers. I am sure my technique would improve if I could spend some time in Morgongiori with the pros and if I am ever in Sardinia, you can be sure I'd visit the town and look for a mentor.

just shaped

Prepare the spicy tomato sauce
In a small saucepan, warm up a bit of olive oil, then add garlic and chili pepper. Choose the chili pepper's size and how you cut it based on how spicy you want your sauce. In my household, the preference goes to mild spicyness, so I chose a smallish peperoncino. I left it whole and snapped off the stem and the small cap to which it is attached.

Cook gently for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 7-8 minutes. Remove garlic and chili pepper. Adjust salt, to taste. Note that this will make more sauce than you need to dress the pasta, but once you have the sauce ready, I am sure you'll find ways of using it, like making more handmade pasta.

If you find that the sauce is too hot for your taste, make another batch without peperoncino and then blend the two.

Cook the pasta
Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, then toss the lorighittas in it (what in Italian we call: buttare giù la pasta). The time needed is a bit variable, depending on the size of lorighittas, how dry they are, etc. Dry lorighittas take quite some time to cook, so be patient. Taste and stop the cooking when the lorighittas are ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain the lorighittas. Place in a bowl, distribute some tomato sauce (reheated if necessary), and toss. Finally, sprinkle some cheese on top and serve immediately.

Alternatively, while the pasta is cooking, place a few tablespoons of the sauce in a small skillet and warm it up. Drain the pasta and drop it into the skillet with the sauce. Stir well over medium-low heat for a minute. Sprinkle some of the cheese and stir one last time. Plate and sprinkle a bit more cheese on the top. Serve immediately.

The recipe makes two small portions.

pretty on the plate

Every time I make a new pasta shape, I think it is the prettiest I have made so far. Lorighittas stand well with the spicyness of the peperoncino in the sauce. I honestly liked the fresh version a bit better, but I am glad I dried one batch. I will do it again and complete the drying process, so I can store the pasta for later use.

This is my contribution to the current edition of Pasta Please, a new pasta-centric event created by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes and hosted this month by Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen. The theme this month is: chillies (a.k.a. chili peppers).

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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The top photo is my contribution to edition #81 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted this week by Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu.

The photo was shot in color and then converted to  sepia (using Lightroom preset Sepia Tone).

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

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

lorighittas al sugo piccante

or launch the lorighittas al sugo piccante 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.]

handmade pasta, semolina flour, chili pepper

borș / crusca di frumento fermentata / fermented wheat bran

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

wheat bran

My kitchen will never be featured in a fashion magazine and I am fine with that. Even on a good day, it's pretty chaotic. The top of the refrigerator is my fermentation department, where there is always something bubbling

the fermentation department

From the left:

• flaked barley for my husband's breakfast (see this post: I process barley the same way I process rye)
  
• borș
  
• kefir (which is light-sensitive so it is cloaked in a kitchen towel)
  

I didn't know what borș was until I read this in the wikipedia entry for Romanian cuisine:

Quite different types of dishes are sometimes included under a generic term; for example, the category ciorbă includes a wide range of soups with a characteristic sour taste. These may be meat and vegetable soups, tripe (ciorbă de burtă) and calf foot soups, or fish soups, all of which are soured by lemon juice, sauerkraut juice, vinegar, or traditionally borş. 

Borș is a fermented wheat bran used in Romanian cuisine to make traditional sour soup called ciorbă.

Fermented wheat bran sounded interesting. Cristina of La cucina di Cristina confirmed to me that borș is very popular in Romania. There are women who make it and bring it to the market and people fill their bottles with it. It is a fascinating tradition.

starter culture

I chose to follow this recipe, scaled down. I made the starter culture by mixing in a pint-size (half-liter) glass jar:

• 125 g cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 300 ml of water

I put the jar on top of the refrigerator, its opening covered with a light cloth. The photo above shows the starter culture slightly less than two days after I set it to ferment. It smelled deliciously sour, so I moved on to the next step.

getting borș started

In a two-quart (two-liter) glass jar, I put:

• 2 teaspoons cornmeal
• 100 g organic wheat bran (crusca di frumento)
• 1 liter boiling water (acqua bollente)

The boiling water sterilizes the field before the addition of the mother culture. I let the water cool to lukewarm then added a scant tablespoon of the starter culture, taken from the middle of the jar. I screwed the lid and rocked the larger jar to mix the content, then loosened the lid and put the jar where you see it in the top photo.

I should have checked the jar of borș one day after the beginning of the fermentation, but I didn't. When I smelled it for the first time, two days after the beginning of the fermentation, my nose was confused. The borș did not "smell pleasant, nearly as the mild juice of salt cucumbers." Its smell was fairly strong, a smell I could not compare with any other in my memory. I could not tell whether what I had done was wrong or just overfermented, because I had no frame of reference. I should have probably discarded this first batch of borș and if you decide to try, I'd suggest you do so (Cristina also told me to do that). However, I didn't discard it.

I did not have time to work more on the project, so I filtered out most of the borș and put it in another glass jar, then put both jars in the refrigerator (one with the borș and the other with the residual fermented wheat bran). I then took

• 1/4 cup /60 ml of the borş and diluted it with
• water to fill a quart-size (one-liter) glass jar.

The smell of the mixture reminded me of kefir whey. I used some of it to make the rye bread (pane di segale) shown in this post. The original recipe suggests to use dill or sour pickle juice. My substitution worked beautifully. (And instead of sour cream, I used drained kefir — having my homemade kefir is really great.)

I decided to give another try to the borş I had filtered out from the large jar. After four days in the refrigerator, its smell was much milder, probably because there was no fermented wheat bran in the jar. I decided to try to use it in a soup. I made a pumpkin soup that I am familiar with and used 1/2 cup (120 ml) of my borș to make it, together with my vegetable stock and some water. I chose a soup I am familiar with so that I could evaluate the change in flavor. The sour note is definitely there and it is pleasant. With some dukkah sprinkled on top, the soup was excellent.

second batch of borș in the making

I made a second batch of borș using the wheat bran I had kept in the refrigerator. I boiled 1 quart of water, let it cool to lukewarm, then poured it into the jar with the wheat bran. I screwed the lid and rocked the jar to mix the content, then loosened the lid and put the jar. After slightly less than 2 days, the borș smelled slightly lemony: really pleasant. Again, I filtered out the liquid and poured it into another jar, then place them both in the refrigerator.

So far, I added some of my borș to:

• three different types of bread: I used diluted borș as liquid
• leafy greens with raisins: I added 1/4 cup / 60 ml of borș several minutes before the end of cooking instead of using lemon juice at the end
• winter squash soup (twice): 1/2 cup / 120 ml borș, some vegetable stock and water (as needed)

I love borș! And I am quite proud of myself for attempting to make it. I feel like I opened a small window onto another culture.

This is my contribution to edition #377 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week by Haalo herself.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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My borș and my fasole bătută posted previously participate to the fourth installment of the Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea (European Community Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 26 countries of the EU (all except Italy) using the alphabet as guide. D like Drob (Romania) is hosted by Cristina of La cucina di Cristina.

This page contains Drob's recipe and the list of dishes contributed to the event.

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

borș

or launch the borș audio file [mp3].

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

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wheat bran, cornmeal, Romanian recipe

Per i lettori italiani

crusca di frumento

La mia cucina non verrà mai fotografata per una rivista di moda e va bene così. Anche nei momenti migliori, è piuttosto caotica. Sopra al frigorifero c'è il mio reparto fermentazione.

il reparto fermentazione

Da sinistra:

• fiocchi di orzo per la colazione di mio marito (vedi questo post: sottopongo l'orzo allo stesso processo di lavorazione della segale)
  
• borș
  
• kefir (che è foto sensibile e quindi è avvolto in un panno)
  

Non avevo sentito parlare del borș prima della mia breve ricerca sulla cucina rumena:

La maggior parte dei Rumeni distinguono la "supă" (brodo) dalla "ciorbă" sulla base del fatto che la prima non prevede aggiunta di sostanze acide e, soprattutto, non contiene al suo interno alcun tipo di carne o verdura, essendo solamente un brodo, mentre la ciorbă può contenere una grande varietà di ingredienti acidi, come limoni, borş (crusca fermentata), panna acida ("smântână") o zeamă de varză acră (succo di crauti). Spesso si aggiunge del levistico.

Crusca fermentata? Interessante. Cristina di La cucina di Cristina mi ha confermato il borș è molto popolare in Romania. Ci sono signore che lo fanno e poi lo vendono al mercato e le persone vanno là e riempiono le loro bottiglie. È una tradizione affascinante.

coltura madre

Ho scelto di seguire questa ricetta, diminuendo le quantità. Ho preparato la coltura madre mescolando in un vaso di vetro da mezzo litro i seguenti ingredienti:

• 125 g farina di mais tipo fioretto
• 1 cucchiaio di farina di frumento
• 300 ml d'acqua

Ho messo il vaso sopra al frigorifero con l'apertura coperta con un pezzo di cotone. La foto sopra mostra la coltura poco meno di due giorni dopo che l'ho messa a fermentare. L'odore era piacevolmente acido e quindi sono passata alla fase successiva.

inizia la fermentazione del borş

In un vaso di vetro da un litro ho messo:

• 2 cucchiaini farina di mais tipo fioretto
• 100 g crusca di frumento bio
• 1 litro acqua bollente

L'acqua bollente sterilizza gli ingredienti prima dell'aggiunta della coltura madre. Ho lasciato intiepidire l'acqua e po ho aggiunto al vado un cucchiaio scarso di coltura madre preso dal centro del vasetto che la contiene. Ho avvitato il coperchio del vaso grosso e l'ho agitato per mescolare bene gli ingredienti, poi ho svitato parzialmente il coperchio e ho messo il vaso sul frigorifero, come si vede nella foto in alto.

Avrei dovuto controllare il borş un giorno dopo l'inizio della fermentazione ma non l'ho fatto. Quando l'ho odorato per la prima volta, due giorni dopo l'inizio della fermentazione, il mio naso è rimasto un po' confuso. Il borş non aveva un odore "piacevole" come descrive la ricetta, ma piuttosto forte e diverso da qualsiasi altro odore della mia esperienza, quindi non sapevo se avessi fatto qualcosa di sbagliato o se era un caso di fermentazione un po' troppo lunga. Avrei probabilmente dovuto scartare quel primo borș. Se decidete di provare, vi suggerisco di farlo e anche Cristina me lo ha consigliato. Io non l'ho scartato, ma ho continuato il mio esperimento. Come dicevano i Romani: la fortuna aiuta gli audaci.

Non avendo subito tempo per continuare il progetto, ho filtrato quasi tutto il borş dal vaso e l'ho versato in un altro vaso di vetro e poi ho messo tutti e due i vasi in frigorifero: uno con il borş e l'altro col residuo di crusca fermentata. Poi ho preso

• 60 ml di borş e li ho diluiti con
• acqua fino a riempire un vaso di vetro da un litro

L'odore di questo borş diluito mi ricordava quello del siero di kefir. Ne ho usato un po' per fare il pane di segale che si vede in questo post. La ricetta originale suggerisce di usare il liquido residuo dei cetriolini marinati. La mis sostituzione ha funzionato benissimo. (E invece della panna acido ho usato del kefir drenato — avere il kefir fatto in casa è davvero comodo.)

Dopo aver riposato per quattro giorni nel frigorifero, il mio primo borş aveva un odore molto meno forte, probabilmente perche nel vaso non c'era la crusca fermentata. Ho usato 120 ml di questo borş insieme a del brodo vegetale per preparare una zuppa con la zucca. Ho scelto una zuppa che preparo spesso in modo da poter valutare la differenza di sapore. La nota acidula era certamente presente e piacevole. Con della dukkah cosparsa sulla superficie, la zuppa era eccellente.

il secondo borș durante la fermentazione

Ho preparato il borş una seconda volta utilizzando la stessa crusca, che nel frattempo avevo tenuto in frigorifero. Ho bollito un litro d'acqua, l'ho lasciata intiepidire e poi l'ho versata nel vaso con la crusca. Ho avvitato il coperchio del vaso e l'ho agitato per mescolare bene gli ingredienti, poi ho svitato parzialmente il coperchio e ho messo il vaso sul frigorifero, come si vede nella foto in alto. dopo poco meno di due giorni, il borș aveva un odore piacevolmente limonoso. Di nuovo, l'ho filtrato e versato in un altro vaso di vetro e l'ho messo nel frigorifero.

Finora ho usato il mio borș in:

• tre diversi tipi di pane: ho usato del borș diluito come liquido
• bietola in padella con l'uvetta: ho aggiunto 60 ml di borș diversi minuti prima della fine della cottura, invece di aggiungere succo di limone alla fine
• zuppa di zucca (due volte): 120 ml di borș, del brodo vegetale e acqua q.b.

Mi piace il borș! E sono fiera di me per aver provato a farlo e per non essermi scoraggiata all'inizio. Il borș mi ha aiutato ad aprire una piccola finestra su un'altra cultura.

Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 377 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di briggishome, e ospitata questa settimana da Brii stessa.

Questo post contiene il raccolto dell'evento.

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Il mio borș e il mio fasole bătută postato in precedenza partecipano all quarta tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare i 26 paesi della Comunità Europea (eccetto l'Italia) usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. D come Drob (Romania) è ospitata da Cristina de La cucina di Cristina.

Questa pagina contiene la ricetta di Drob e la lista dei piatti contribuiti all'evento.

Se siete interessati a partecipare, questo post contiene la lista completa di paesi, blog ospitanti e scadenze.

vaniglia pura / pure vanilla

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

Madagascar vanilla beans

The first time I heard the expression “plain vanilla” I had to ask for an explanation of its actual meaning. Taken literally, “plain vanilla” sounded like a combination of two contradictory terms. Vanilla is one of the most intense flavors in nature, and it is all but plain. I learned that the expression comes from the fact that vanilla is the most common flavor of ice cream in this country, a sort of default flavor. By analogy, “plain vanilla” became a synonym for basic, ordinary, “lacking special features or qualities” (as the Webster dictionary specifies).

I had never seen a vanilla bean (baccello di vaniglia) before moving to California. I made its acquaintance when I started making vanilla ice cream (gelato alla vaniglia) at home. I learned to extract as much flavor as possible from the bean, recycling used beans to make vanilla sugar and vanilla salt. 

When I opened the book Pure Vanilla, Irresistible Recipes and Essential Techniques by Shauna Sever, I thought I knew a fair amount about vanilla. As it turned out, I had a lot more to learn. In the information-packed Introduction, Sever covers topics like:

• how historically we came to know and use vanilla
  
• how the vanilla bean goes from orchid to extract
  
• the varieties (I didn't know that Uganda and India produce vanilla) and their characteristics
  
• the different forms in which it is used.
  

The chapter ends with a set of frequently asked questions covering topics from bean storage to vanilla extract intensity to growing your own vanilla.

Madagascar vanilla beans

The Madagascar vanilla beans in the photos, purchased from one of the resources listed at the end of the book, are quite flavorful. They are shorter than the ones I get in the bulk section of the local grocery store, so to make my version of vanilla ice cream, I used 3/4 of one bean instead of the usual half. I then scraped the seeds from the remaining piece and used them in the dish portrayed below. Did you know that the seeds are called vanilla caviar (caviale)?

The marvel of vanilla beans is that besides being deeply flavorful, they provide flavor in all their components. In fact, "it's the pod that carries most of the dreamy flavor and fragrance" (page 16).

After devouring the Introduction, I started to look at the recipes. The very first one, Vanilla Bean Bread Pudding (budino di pane), looked perfect. I am not able to share the recipe on the blog, but you can see a photo below. Suffice it to say that it is a great use for my homemade challah. I make a few adjustments to the recipe (I use the present tense, because I have made it already several times). In particular, since challah is already a bit sweet, I use only a small amount of sugar (zucchero), sprinkled on the top. While the recipe makes a large pudding, it is easy to halve it (which is what I do).

a very nice breakfast

Reading Pure Vanilla made me finally try to make vanilla extract (estratto di vaniglia), something I had in my to-do list for some time. The most difficult part of the process was to choose the vodka in which to steep the vanilla beans. I had no idea I would face shelf after shelf of vodka bottles at the store. I chose one that had a nice bottle and no added flavor.

Homemade Vanilla Extract
(reproduced with permission; from page 87, partial reproduction)

And it couldn’t be simpler. All you need is a clean jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid, whole vanilla beans, and a clear neutral-tasting liquor (vodka is my top choice). For an 8-ounce jar, 2 split beans should do, but you can add more if you like. Let the sealed jar sit in a cool, dark place for about 2 months before using. I also add scraped seedpods to the extract jar after I’ve used them in recipes, unless they land in my container of Vanilla Sugar first. As you use the extract, top off the jar with more of the same type of liquor for a nearly never-ending supply.

You can also combine several different varieties of vanilla in one batch of extract, creating your own special blends.

My little jar with vanilla beans steeped in vodka is currently in retirement in a cool, dark place and I won't disturb it for a little longer. Then I'll eagerly try the result and let you know.

Vanilla lovers will find a lot to inspire them to use the "dreamy" spice in its various forms in breakfast dishes, cakes, cookies, candies, custards and drinks. You can get a sense of the recipes covered in the book on this page. By clicking on the link View Interior Spread, you can see the first 15 pages of the book and, in particular, one of my favorite photos, on page 3; the photography is by Leigh Beisch. And on this page, there are four recipes you can try. The recipe cards, though not exact copies of the relevant pages, give an idea of the graphic look of the book, modern and pleasantly elegant. (I particularly like the font chosen for the title of the recipes.)

The book includes instructions on how to prepare vanilla sugar and vanilla fleur de sel, which have been in my kitchen for years. If they are not in yours, I recommend you invite them in.

This is my contribution to edition #367 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week by Marta of Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

vaniglia pura

or launch the vaniglia pura audio file [mp3].

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

FTC disclosure: I have requested a review copy of the book mentioned in this post from the publisher and received it free of charge. I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for discussing the book on my blog. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

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vanilla bean, vanilla extract

Per i lettori italiani

baccelli di vaniglia del Madagascar

Non avevo mai visto un baccello di vaniglia prima di trasferirmi in California e imparare a fare il gelato alla vaniglia a casa. Ho imparato che i baccelli usati sono ancora ricchi di sapore e possono essere riciclati per aromatizzare zucchero e sale.

Quando ho aperto il libro Pure Vanilla, Irresistible Recipes and Essential Techniques di Shauna Sever, pensavo di conoscere abbastanza la vaniglia. Ho scoperto di avere molto da imparare. Nell'Introduzione, ricca di informazioni, Sever parla della storia dell'uso della vaniglia, di come si va dalla pianta all'estratto, delle diverse varietà (non sapevo che la vaniglia venisse prodotta anche in Uganda e India) e loro caratteristiche, e delle diverse forme in cui viene usata. Il capitolo si conclude con delle domande frequenti riguardanti argomenti come la conservazione, la potenza dell'estratto e come coltivare la propria pianta di vaniglia.

baccelli di vaniglia del Madagascar

I baccelli di vaniglia del Madagascar delle foto, che ho comprato presso uno dei fornitori citati nelle risorse in fondo al libro, hanno un aroma intenso. Sono più corti di quelli che compro sfusi nel negozio dove faccio la spesa e quindi per per preparare il mio gelato alla vaniglia, ho usato 3/4 di un baccello invece di metà. Poi ho grattato via i semi dal pezzetto rimasto e li ho usati nella ricetta ritratta qui sotto. Lo sapete che i semi contenuti nel baccello vengono chiamati caviale di vaniglia?

La caratteristica meravigliosa della vaniglia è che fornisce il suo caratteristico intenso aroma in tutte le sue componenti. Infatti, la parte più aromatica è il baccello (piuttosto che i semini).

Dopo aver divorato l'Introduzione, ho cominciato a guardare le ricette. La prima, budino di pane alla vaniglia, mi è sembrata perfetta. Non sono in grado di condividere la ricetta sul blog, quindi dovete accontentarvi della foto e delle mie parole. Lo preparo con la mia challah fatta in casa e faccio alcuni aggiustamenti alla ricetta, in particolare, dal momento che la challah è un po' dolce, uso solo un po' di zucchero cosparso sulla superficie (ho usato il tempo presente dal momento che budino l'ho preparato diverse volte). La ricetta è per un budino piuttosto grande, ma è facile da dimezzare (che è quello che faccio io).

un'ottima colazione

Leggere Pure Vanilla mi ha fatto finalmente decidere a fare l'estratto di vaniglia, una cosa che avevo in mente da tempo. La parte più difficile è stata scegliere la vodka nella quale immergere i baccelli. Non mi aspettavo di trovarmi davanti a tanti ripiani pieni di bottiglie di vodka quando sono entrata nel negozio. Ne ho scelta una che mi piaceva per la forma e che contiene vodka senza aromi aggiunti.

Estratto di vaniglia
(riproduzione parziale di pagina 87 con permesso dell'editore; traduzione mia)

E non potrebbe essere più facile. Avete bisogno solo di un vasetto o bottiglia puliti e con un coperchio che chiude bene, e un liquore dal sapore neutro (la vodka è quello che preferisco). Per un vasetto da 240 ml dovrebbero bastare due baccelli tagliati a metà per il lungo, ma se volete potete usarne di più. Fate riposare il vasetto chiuso ermeticamente in un luogo fresco e buio per circa due mesi prima di usare l'estratto. Io aggiungo anche i baccelli dai quali ho rimosso i semi per utilizzarli in qualche ricetta, a meno che non finiscano nel contenitore dello zucchero aromatizzato alla vaniglia. Man mano che usate l'estratto, aggiungete al vasetto lo stesso tipo di liquore, in modo da creare una fornitura quasi infinita.

Potete anche combinare diverse varietà di vaniglia e creare in questo modo il vostro estratto personale.

Il mio vasetto con vodka e baccelli di vaniglia in questo momento si trova in ritiro in un luogo fresco e buio e non lo disturberò ancora per un po'. Poi proverò il risultato e vi farò sapere.

Gli amanti della vaniglia troveranno ampia ispirazione per utilizzare la spezia "da sogno" nelle sue varie forme in piatti per la colazione, torte, pasticcini, dolciumi, creme e bevande. La pagina web del libro (in inglese) è qui. Se cliccate su View Interior Spread, potete vedere le foto delle prime 15 pagine del libro e, in particolare, una delle mie foto preferite, a pagina 3; le foto sono di Leigh Beisch. E su questa pagina trovate quattro ricette da provare (sempre in inglese). Le ricette non sono copie esatte delle pagine rilevanti ma danno un'idea della veste grafica del libro, moderna ed piacevolmente elegante. (Tra le altre cose, mi piace molto il carattere tipografico del titolo delle ricette.)

Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 368 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di briggishome, e ospitata questa settimana da Martissima di Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare.

Questo post contiene il raccolto dell'evento.

Dichiarazione per l'FTC: ho richiesto alla casa editrice una copia del libro citato e l'ho ricevuta gratuitamente. Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso monetario per parlare del libro nel mio blog. Le opinioni espresse sono le mie.

formaggio fresco di kefir fatto in casa

homemade fresh kefir cheese

kefir cheese with dukkah and cacao nibs

As I mentioned in the post on homemade kefir, for my first attempt I used kefir culture. The flavor of the kefir was a bit too acidic for our taste, and at that point, I had not yet learned all the ways in which to use kefir that I know now. I decided to see how the kefir would taste once the whey was removed, so I poured the kefir into a cloth-lined colander, then made a bundle and hung it up to drain for 24 hours (at room temperature).

I then chopped up finely a sample of herbs from my little garden: dill (aneto), mint (menta), chives (erba cipollina), parsley (prezzemolo), added a bit of salt and freshly milled pepper and mixed into the drained kefir, then molded it using my favorite heart-shaped mold.

The mold rests on a small grid for draining

I let the kefir cheese drain in the fridge for 3-4 days, then unmolded and tasted it.

kefir cheese with fresh herbs

The flavor was pleasantly tangy and the herbs gave it a nice nuance. It was particularly nice spread over a slightly sweet bread like my homemade challah.

After this success, I obtained kefir grains (grani di kefir), as recounted in the previous post. I made kefir using them and then made kefir cheese again, but this time instead of herbs, I added dukkah and cacao nibs (granella di fave di cacao). If you don't know what dukkah is, read on.

A few years ago, I attended an evening class on sourdough bread. It was not only the beginning of my sourdough baking adventure, but also of an acquaintance that turned into a friendship with Rhonda, who taught the class. For the bread tasting, Rhonda made some dukkah, something I had never seen before.

my rendition of dukkah

Dukkah (also spelled duqqa or dukka) comes to us from Egypt: it is a mix of toasted and ground spices and nuts.

The word is derived from the Arabic for "to pound" since the mixture of spices and nuts are pounded together after being dry roasted to a texture that is neither powdered nor paste-like. The actual composition of the spice mix can vary from family to family, vendor to vendor though there are common ingredients, such as sesame, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper. [source]

The recipe I use comes from 101 Cookbooks. I halve the quantities, because the full recipe makes quite a bit. And I like it coarsely ground (I use the food processor to do the grinding).

fresh kefir cheese (drained kefir)

Back to the kefir, this time I drained it using a double layer of cheese netting instead of cloth. As I was about to gather some herbs to repeat the process followed before, my eyes encountered the jar where my freshly made dukkah was stored and I interpreted that as a sign. Next to it, there was the container where I keep cacao nibs (which I get from Dick Taylor Chocolate). Having successfully used cacao nibs with hard cheese, it was not difficult to decide to add those as well (after all, they are also toasted and ground, like the spices and nuts in dukkah).

I added a teaspoon each of dukkah and cacao nibs, relying on my sense of balance to make an educated guess. I wanted the flavor to be detectable, but not overpowering, a balance I had previously achieved with the herb mix. I also added a bit more of salt, mixed lightly and then filled the heart-shaped mold. Once again, I let the cheese sit in the fridge and drain further for 3-4 days and then tasted it: I was very happy with the result.

For my second batch of kefir cheese, I increased the amount of both dukkah and cacao nibs to 1 and 1/2 teaspoon each and let the cheese rest in the fridge 5 days. If you try, I recommend you start with the lower quantity and see how you like it. (I suspect that the combination would also work with labneh, but have not tried it.)

Ingredients:

• 10 oz drained kefir (see Note below)
  
• a generous pinch of sea salt
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon dukkah (see text above)
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon cacao nibs (see text above)

Note: How much kefir? I use kefir made with non-fat milk and drain about 7 cups (1.65 l). I don't make that much kefir all at the same time. I usually make a pint (2 cups, 475 ml) or a quart (4 cups, 950 ml), depending on what my plans for using it are. (According to this site, it is actually better to let kefir ripen for a day or two before using it.) Pour kefir into a cloth-lined colander (I use a cotton napkin with a tight weave or a double layer of cheese netting). Gather the corners and make a bundle. Hang it over a bowl and let drain for 24 hours. (I don't have a photo of my set up, but this is quite similar: note the colander placed over the pot: if for whatever reason the bundle falls, it doesn't splash into the whey.) Reserve the whey and use it.

Sanitize a 4 1/4-inch heart-shaped mold (or other mold of choice) in boiling water. Sprinkle salt, dukkah and cacao nibs on the drained kefir and mix in. Place into mold and pack lightly.

Place a small grid at the bottom of a container and put the mold on it. Cover the container and refrigerate. Every day, discard the whey that collects at the bottom of the container.

After 3-5 days, unmold the cheese ahead of time and serve at room temperature. If the cheese is still very wet, put the leftover back into the mold and the draining container. If the cheese is not too wet, store it in cheese paper. Either way, put the cheese in the fridge. Ideally, you should bring to room temperature only the amount of cheese you will consume, so the rest can remain at constant temperature.

curry pumpkin and ginger scones

My favorite combination is kefir cheese spread over curry and pumpkin scones made with kefir instead of buttermilk and brown butter (details in an upcoming post).

Exciting update (May 26, 2012): my kefir cheese story is featured in today's post on the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company blog.

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

formaggio fresco di kefir fatto in casa

or launch the formaggio fesco di kefir 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.]

kefir, cheese, dukkah, cacao nibs

kefir fatto in casa

homemade kefir

mango lassi made with kefir

A couple of months ago, I made kefir using this culture. The process was straightforward and in about 24 hours, we could taste it. I ended up making fresh cheese with it: I will described that in an upcoming this post.

While my first adventure with kefir was unfolding, Jeri, who writes the blog of the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, published a three-part summary of information received by readers of their newsletter: 1. ordering kefir grains; 2. growing kefir grains; 3. using kefir grains.

In the first post, I learned more about kefir grains (grani di kefir) and the difference between them and the culture I had used. The cultures have probiotics in them, but "nowhere near as many as in the living grains." Probiotics are defined as living organisms, which upon ingestion in certain numbers, exert health benefits beyond inherent basic nutrition.

Kefir is a unique cultured dairy product due to combined lactic acid and alcoholic fermentation of lactose in milk. Kefir is produced by microbial activity of “kefir grains” which have a relatively stable and specific balance of lactic acid bacteria and yeast. [source]

I decided I needed to get some first-hand experience of the interesting-looking kefir grains. At the same time (and I guess this was all part of a grand scheme), Claudia of Honey from Rock wrote about her adventures with kefir. Shortly afterwards, I spent a few days on the Big Island and visited Claudia

Among the many goodies that Claudia gave us (I already mentioned one in this post), there was a small bag with some kefir grains in a milk bath. They did fine on the trip back and as soon as I got back home, I started my first batch of kefir.

Basically, it does not get easier than this. You still need to be careful about sanitizing the tools you are using, but really, making kefir at home is a breeze: you only need a glass jar, a strainer and a spoon or something similar to move the kefir grains. I sterilize the glass jar in the oven and the lid with boiling water. When the jar has cooled, I strain the kefir grains (from the previous batch of kefir or from the milk in which they were resting in the fridge).

The photo above is from a while ago. Most recently, instead of straining the kefir grains, I spoon them out, taking advantage of the fact that they tend to be at the surface of the jar of ready kefir. I then strain the content of the jar to separate small grains left behind. I have not read this anywhere: I feel like this way I stress the grains less. In any case, when straining kefir grains, be gentle.

Add milk of choice to the jar (I use pasteurized organic milk straight from the bottle) and then the strained kefir grains, cover the jar (leaving the lid just a bit loose to allow the CO₂ produced to escape), then set it aside in a warm, dark place (or wrap it in a kitchen towel). The kefir grains will take it from there and deliver kefir within a certain number of hours. It takes me 24 hours to get kefir, sometimes a bit longer, depending on the temperature. Once strained, I store kefir in the fridge and let it ripen for a day or two before using it.

Rather than go into the details of the set up, which is described in details in a number of places on the web — like this page and also this page, the one most people reference — I have summarized in a diagram the ways in which I have used kefir in its natural or drained state (arrows pointing down from "kefir"). The arrow pointing up from kefir grains means that I reculture milk with the grains strained out of the previous barch. I don't make kefir continuously. When I don't need more kefir than I have, I place the grains in a jar, cover them with milk and put them in the fridge for a few days. Since the grains grow while also making kefir, you may want to find a friend who wants to try and give her/him the extra grains that you get.

I have already shown one of the ways in which I use kefir in this post, where it substitutes sour cream topping for soup. The mango lassi in the top photo was made with

• chopped ripe mango
  
• kefir
  
• a bit of agave nectar as sweetener (the quantity depending on the sweetness of the mango and your personal preference).
  

And the beautiful scones below were made using kefir instead of buttermilk (latticello).

curry pumpkin and ginger scones

If you go to Honey from Rock and enter "kefir" in the Search field, you get the list of posts where Claudia talks about her adventures. The idea is that once you have kefir, you come up with various ways to use it. That is, at least, what happened to me.

Due to the claimed health benefits of kefir which include reduction of lactose intolerance symptoms, stimulation of the immune system, lowering cholesterol, and antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic properties, kefir has become an important functional dairy food and consequently, research on kefir has increased in the past decade. [source]

There are indeed a number of scientific papers describing research that looked more closely at the composition of kefir grains and at various effects of kefir administration to mice and rats. There are studies on specific health effects of kefir consumption in humans. For example, in this one on people with lactose maldigestion, kefir improved lactose digestion and tolerance. In other areas, results have been mixed (as this article summarizes): I hope larger studies will be conducted. In the meantime, I will continue enjoying making and using kefir at home.

Exciting update (May 26, 2012): my kefir story is featured in today's post on the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company blog.

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

kefir fatto in casa

or launch the kefir 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.]

kefir

pane alla zucca

pumpkin bread

The cart in the foreground contains the result of our visit to the Warren Creek Farms pumpkin patch last October. Besides three pumpkins for carving, we chose several other specimens, like the Cinderella pumpkin indicated by the arrow. Since it is partially hidden, I have drawn two arrows to indicate two others that were on display. The original name of this variety of pumpkin is Rouge vif D'Etampes, but Cinderella pumpkin (literally, zucca di Cenerentola) fits it perfectly.

The pumpkin was so pretty, I could not bring myself to cook it. I have a cold room that is perfect for storing squashes, but even there they don't last forever, so one day recently, I decided it was time to bake the Cinderella. I pierced it in several places with a blade and put it in the oven preheated to 375 F for about half an hour to slightly soften it. When the pumpkin had cooled a bit, I cut it in half and scooped out the seeds (a grapefruit spoon is perfect for this task). I did not discard what I had removed from inside the pumpkin (see below).

I put the two pumpkin halves back in the oven, cut side down, until I could easily pierce the flesh with a blade. I took out of the oven the baking sheet and let the pumpkin cool. I discarded the water that was released by the cooling pumpkin. I then scooped out the flesh (again using the grapefruit spoon) and put it in a colander set over a bowl. By the time I was finished with the two big pieces of cooked pumpkin, a bit more water had been released and I discarded that as well. On this page, you can see some photos of the process I somewhat followed. Note the color of the roasted pumpkin in the photos: it resembles that of oranges, and it is lighter that that of canned pumpkin. This has an impact on the color of the bread (more on this at the end of the post).

At this point, knowing that I would use the pumpkin to make bread and also ice cream, I put it in a bowk and processed it briefly with an immersion blender. I immediately froze more than half of the purée and refrigerated the rest until ready to use it. I also rinsed the seeds I had removed from inside the pumpkin and roasted them at 375 F until they were crisp. The seeds (semi di zucca) were larger than those of the pumpkins my husband had carved for Halloween and very tasty. In the part of Italy where I grew up, roasted and salted pumkpin seeds are called bruscolini.

As I write, I have already made this pumpkin bread several times. The photo above shows it accompanying some roasted applesauce. It goes really well with cheese and it is a pleasure to nibble a slice au naturel. The recipe for the bread comes from the King Arthur Flour website. I always halve the quantities to make one braid. Originally, I was worried that the spices (spezie) would be a bit too intense, but that is not the case. I weigh the flours and some of the other ingredients, so my list is as follows:

• 5 3/4 ounces (165 g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (this is not an advertisement: I always use this flour to make bread)
• 4 1/4 ounces (120 g) whole-wheat flour from my grain CSA
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) cinnamon (cannella)
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground ginger (zenzero in polvere)
• 1/8 teaspoon (0.625 ml) ground cloves (chiodi di garofano in polvere)
• 3/4 ounce (20 g) diced uncrystallized candied ginger (zenzero candito; see the Note below)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon instant yeast
• 7.5 ounces (210-215 g) puréed roasted pumpkin
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce / 30 g) melted butter

The original recipe calls also for 1 1/4 ounce (35 g) brown sugar. A few times I used 1/2 ounce (15 g) of honey (miele), but the last time I made the bread, I skipped the sweetener altogether and I liked the result better.

Note: according to this page, the difference between crystallized and uncrystallized ginger is only that the former is rolled in granulated sugar after being candied and the latter is not. I don't like the coating, so I prefer uncrystallized ginger.

Making the bread following the instructions on the KAF recipe page is pretty straightforward. The only thing I did differently is the use of convection baking. Since my oven adjusts the temperature automatically when selecting the convection baking option, I still set it to 350 F. And in my oven, the bread bakes in 25 minutes.

The photos I had of previous realizations of this bread, apart from the one with the applesauce, were not satisfactory. The photo above shows the unsweetened pumpkin bread I baked yesterday, together with some candied ginger: it was made with another one of the pumpkins in the cart at the top, the oblong green one to the left of the Cinderella. Unfortunately, I failed to ask the name of the variety. The color of the roasted flesh is lighter and more yellow, which explains the different color of the bread. When you make your own, consider that the color of the pumpkin will have an effect on the color of the bread.

I am submitting this recipe, bookmarked on the King Arthur Flour website to the December edition of Bookmarked Recipes, 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.

I think this bread makes a great breakfast option, topped with preserves or cheese or used to make French toast, so I am submitting the post to the December edition of Breakfast Club: an event started by Helen of Fuss Free Flavours. Guest-host Krithi of Krithi's Kitchen has chosen Bread as the theme for the event.

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

pane alla zucca

or launch the pane alla zucca audio file [mp3].

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

bread, pumpkin

sale e pepe

salt and pepper

In a recent post, where I talked about the items I had purchased during my most recent trip to Italy, I mentioned "something for the table (a pair of objects, actually), which I will describe in a future post." Like my beloved grattugia, I obtained the objects in exchange for "points" earned by my parents by shopping (fare la spesa) at a specific supermercato.

The objects were described as saliera e pepiera (salt shaker and pepper shaker), but the salt and pepper contained in them go through a grinder before coming out from one of their feet, so, they are actually a salt mill and a pepper mill, macinasale and macinapepe, respectively. I particularly like the salt mill, which allows me to place coarse sel gris on the table for our guests.

I like my salt and pepper mills a lot, because they are colorful and have a cheerful shape. My husband describes them as methane molecules, based on their shape: imagine the carbon atom as their core body and the four hydrogen atoms, one at the end of each limb. There is a lid on the "head" of the mill, which you open in order to fill the "body" with salt or pepper. To grind, you turn the upper part of the body and the ground salt or pepper comes out from one of the feet, which also has a lid that prevents sprinkling when the mill is not in use (both lids are visible on the pepper mill in the photo above).

A few expressions related to pepper (I have talked about salt in a previous post):

• pepe in grani (whole peppercorns)
• pepe macinato (ground pepper)
• sale e pepe (salt-and-pepper), as in capelli sale e pepe (salt-and-pepper hair)
• tutto pepe (spirited)
• peperino ((real) live wire)

Hear me pronounce the words on the sale e pepe audio file [mp3] or go to the sale e pepe audio page for more listening options.

sale

salt

The photo on the left shows the following kinds of salt: sel gris (grey sea salt, top left), sale grosso (coarse sea salt, right), sale fino (fine sea salt, bottom left).

Growing up in Italy, a store I visited often was the tabaccheria across the street from the apartment building where I lived. Vanessa of Italy in SF just published a post with a nice photo of the sign that marks the presence of such a quintessential Italian store. The sign tells you that in the store you can purchase: sali, tabacchi and valori bollati, i.e., salts, tobacco products, mail stamps, stamps for documents and stamped paper sheets. The last two articles are necessary in Italy to make bureaucracy work (this is a long story, which I may one day tell you to make you laugh — if you are Italian, though, it is no laughable matter).

Sale grosso is what my mother adds to boiling water to cook pasta and sale fino is what she uses to season food. That is the simple world in which I grew up. To be honest, there is another kind of salt, salgemma (rock salt), but I don't think my mother used it, so I don't. Sea salt is harvested in saline (salt works). The two white salts in the photo were harvested in Sicily, in the province of Trapani (a city located on the top left tip of the triangular island).

The language corner — The word salario (salary) has its root in the allowance paid to Roman soldiers to buy salt. A food lacking salt and/or flavor is described as insipido.

The history corner — In 1540, my home town of Perugia fought a war against the Pope called Guerra del Sale. Forced to purchase salt from the papal state's salt works at a high price, people tried to limit their consumption. Bread without salt — the famous pane sciapo — is a type of bread still enjoyed today, whose flavor surprises visitors.

Sel gris (unprocesses sea salt) and other so-called gourmet salts are described on this page. When I visited the San Francisco Fancy Food Show last January, I saw an incredible array of flavored salts. One of them caught my fancy: vanilla salt. I will talk about it in a future post. The only flavored salt I have ever bought is matcha salt, which I purchased a while ago (together with the grey salt) from the company where I get my loose leaf tea, and which I have been using mostly to decorate and flavor Lavash crackers.

Hear me pronounce the words on the sale audio file [mp3] or go to the sale audio page for more listening option.

aroma (1)

spice

In German: Gewürz. The plural is aromi and in Italian we also have the plural word spezie. The reference to German is important, because the spice mix I will talk about arrived in a bright yellow package from Germany, compliments of Ulrike of Küchenlatein. It was not unexpected, since earlier this month I signed up to participate to Season's Eatings, an event engineered by Katie of Thyme for Cooking, the Blog. So, I knew I would receive something, but did not know what and from whom.

Ulrike sent me four different brands of the spice mix that is used to make the traditional Lebkuchen. She also sent me a couple of recipes, a Holiday card and a nice letter. Thank you so much, Ulrike!

She tells me that, as far as she knows, Lebkuchen is not the same as gingerbread. Coming from Italy, I am no expert on gingerbread, an item not yet in my culinary repertoire. In Italian, gingerbread is pan di zenzero (literal translation), something that, as a child, I thought it only existed in fairy tales (favole). Lebkuchen is translated by the dictionary I consulted as pan pepato, literally, bread containing pepper (pepe). Note that a kind of Lebkuchen is called Pfefferkuchen (Pfeffer is pepper in German).

The Lebkuchengewürz is a ground mix where the prevailing spice, in terms of quantity, is cannella (cinnamon). The others are chiodi di garofano (cloves), pimento (allspice), semi di coriandolo (coriander seeds), zenzero (ginger), cardamomo (cardamom), noce moscata (nutmeg) and/or macis (mace). Other ingredients in the mixes I received are: anice (anise), anice stellato (star anise), semi di finocchio (fennel seeds) and vaniglia (vanilla).

After reading all the information received, I used one of the Gewürz packages. One of the recipes Ulrike sent me is for German Lebkuchen Loaf Cake, freely translated by me into pan speziato tedesco. The source for the recipe (Quelle in her post) is here (in English). I made the following adjustments to the list of ingredients:

• 1 cup regular flour
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup whole-grain barley flour [see Note below]
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup marmellata di prugne (plum spread of my own making)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons Lebkuchengewürz
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

Note: as shareholder of a grain CSA, I am the lucky recipient of, among other goodies, freshly-milled barley flour. I have been experimenting with barley flour in my baked goods and I know that it imparts a pleasant, nutty flavor to them. Hadn't I had it, I would have used whole-wheat flour instead.  I followed the given instructions and baked the pan speziato in a loaf pan.

Based on the color of the batter, I thought my Lebkuchen loaf cake would not come out the same as it did for Ulrike. But, lo and behold!, when I took the cake out of the oven it was indeed of a nice, enticing brown color and it smelled heavenly. It was not easy to wait for it to cool down.

Finally, I cut a slice and tasted it: it was wonderful! I served the pan speziato as dessert accompanied by gelato al caffè (coffee ice cream) and gelato alla zucca (pumpkin ice cream). It is also great for breakfast, with a glass of milk, and for an afternoon snack, with a cup of tea. So, it is a pan speziato for all occasions. 

The word aroma has also another meaning in Italian, which I will discuss separately, and that is why I added (1) to the title of this post.

Katie's lively account of the intricate web she wove for the event can be enjoyed here.

Hear me pronounce the words on the aroma audio file [mp3] or go to the aroma audio page for more listening options.

cardamomo

cardamom (or cardamon)

I love receiving packages. We have a PO box, so, as I bike, or drive, or walk to our ufficio postale (post office), I have time to try and imagine what I will find when I get there. A few days ago, in our little box (casella postale) I found an envelope coming da molto lontano (from far away) that packed a lot of flavor.

Let me backstep a second. Last month, Katie of Thyme for Cooking and Lindsay of Country Girl City Living launched their Seasoned Eatings event. I could not resist the offer of sending and receiving a surprise package. The most amazing thing is that when I opened what I received, it contained a spice I had been meaning to get for a while. I call this simple serendipity (serendipità pura e semplice).

As you may have already guessed from the title, my surprise package contained cardamom, pods of green cardamom, to be precise (baccelli di cardamomo verde), sent to me by Wendy of A Wee Bit of Cooking, who lives in Scotland. She also sent me a delicious recipe for White Chocolate Cardamom Mousse, which I am planning to make after I come back from my Holiday travels. Grazie mille, Wendy (thank you so much, Wendy): you made me really happy with your gift.

Before moving to California, I had never tasted cardamom and only heard about it. In his "On Food and Cooking" Harold McGee provides some interesting pieces of information about cardamom, "the world's third most expensive spice after saffron and vanilla." The cardamom plant, which belongs to the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), "is indigenous to the mountains of southwest India, and was grown only there until around 1900. German immigrants then brought it to Guatemala, which is now the largest producer." The seeds I received come, indeed, from Guatemala, a fact that, on opening the envelope, I had immediately noticed. The seed-carrying capsules (capsule) are harvested by hand. On this page, I read that, although it is possible to buy cardamom seeds (semi) and even ground cardamom, "it's preferable to use the pods, either removing the seeds and grinding them or grinding the whole pod - quickly done with a pestle and mortar."

Since I really wanted to try and use my newly-received gift (regalo), I decided to make a recipe I had encountered while hosting Weekend Herb blogging #112: Carrot and Cardamom Mash presented by Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. To crush the cardamom pods, I used my recently-purchased mortar and pestle (mortaio e pestello). The result was much appreciated at the dinner table.

You can follow one part of the trail of gifts and recipes here and the other part here.

Hear me pronounce the words on the cardamomo audio file [mp3] or go to the cardamomo audio page for more listening options.