spinach pie with pine nuts and raisins — a lot of dark leafy greens go into this dish (2^nd version)
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Undercooked by Dan Adhoot¹. The book is described as “a collection of hilarious essays about how food became one man’s obsession and coping mechanism, and how it came to rule—and sometimes ruin—his relationships.” It was the first time I listened to an audio book read by the author: it was interesting, and in this case, a necessity, I think. I am afraid I didn’t find the essays hilarious, rather mostly sad. Two essays I enjoyed listening to. In the first, Adhoot talks about his grandparents, Iranian Jews who emigrated to the U.S. Adhoot’s grandfather was treated horribly because of his religious heritage, but didn’t let that cow him. His grandmother was a great cook, who prepared sumptuous meals for the family as a way of sharing Persian food traditions and expressing her love. When Adhoot describes the grandparents’ relationship, he holds his usual jokes and finds moving words. I felt I was finally listening to the person, not the comedian.

In the second essay, Adhoot talks about living with his parents during the pandemic. It is around food that their relationship heals. One truly funny moment of the book is the phone conversation with his mother whom he called to ask for a recipe. It reminded me of surreal conversations with my mother on the same topic.

(L to R) beet greens, turnip greens, tatsoi from the farmers market
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Adhoot lists a number of Persian dishes his grandmother used to cook, all meat-centered — not for me. He also talks about the lengthy process used in Iran to cook basmati rice. For a previous Cook the Books Club edition, I wrote about Kuku Sabzi, a kind of herb frittata traditionally prepared for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year that is celebrated on the spring equinox² so that was out from my list.

I then looked at the Jewish side of his heritage for inspiration. Some years ago, I acquired a book of Jewish Italian cuisine: La cucina nella tradizione ebraica, a rich collection³ of recipes, succinctly described and without photos. There I found tortino di spinaci, described as being an old Italian recipe (I decided it is a cousin of kuku sabzi). It uses raisins, pine nuts, anchovies (acciughe) and capers (capperi).

The original recipe calls for spinach, which I could not find at the farmers market when I first decided to make my version, so I used a combination of beet greens (foglie di barbabietola), turnip greens (foglie di rapa) and tatsoi. As usual, I adjusted the quantities to suit my taste. The result was excellent — but I didn’t take a photo.

baby turnip greens, spinach, pink radicchio, celeriac, golden turnip, pink daikon — baby turnip greens and spinach from the farmers market
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

For the next rendition, I used spinach and baby turnip greens from the farmers market. The flavor was different, as was to be expected, still excellent. The color was different as well, as the previous version included the stems of beet greens, which gave the dish a reddish tone.

Washing, chopping and cooking the leafy greens takes a bit of time and patience. However, once the greens are ready, the dish takes only some assembly, then the oven does the rest.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Spinach pie with pine nuts and raisins

Ingredients:

1 pound 10 ounces / 740 grams spinach OR a combination of spinach and other dark leafy greens, including beet greens, turnip greens, tatsoi
3/4 ounce / 20 grams raisins
3/4 ounce / 20 grams pine nuts
4 tablespoons / 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 anchovy fillets
1/2 ounce / 15 grams drained small capers
1 garlic clove
1 large egg from pastured poultry
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Wash the spinach and other greens, if using, carefully and drain them, letting a small amount of water cling to the leaves.

If you are using beet greens, tatsoi, or another dark leafy green with relatively thicker stems, separate those from the leaves and chop them.

Place the raisins in a ramekin and pour 1 tablespoon warm water on them and stir. Set aside.

Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet. Do not walk away from the skillet and keep the pine nuts moving in it: they are small and delicate and burn easily. Set aside.

A handful at a time, chop the leafy greens. I make a small pile and slice it at 1/2 inch / 1.25 cm intervals. Transfer the chopped greens into a large bowl.

Warm up a large skillet over medium heat, then add 1 1/2 tablespoons / 22.5 ml of the olive oil. If you have them, add the chopped stems, stir well, cover, and cook them for 5 minutes or until tender. Add half of the chopped greens, stir well, cover and cook until the greens are tender (8-12 minutes, depending on the greens), stirring every now and then. Transfer the greens into a bowl to cool.

Repeat with the same amount of olive oil and the rest of the greens.

Mince together the parsley, anchovy fillets, capers and garlic, possibly using a mezzaluna.

Warm up a small skillet over medium heat, then add the remaining 1 tablespoon / 15 ml of the olive oil. Add the minced ingredients and cook for a minute or so, making sure the garlic does not turn brown. Remove from the heat, add to the cooked greens and stir well. Add the raisins and stir.

Roughly smash the pine nuts with a mortar and pestle. Add to the vegetable mixture and stir.

Heat the oven to 350 F / 170 C.

Oil the bottom of a 9.5″ / 24 cm glass pie plate. Dust it with fine breadcrumbs and remove the excess.

Break the egg into a small bowl, whisk it with a fork to blend yolk and white, then pour it onto the vegetables and stir to incorporate.

Sprinkle the salt and pepper, stir well and empty the bowl into the prepared pie plate.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Take the plate out of the oven. Serve immediately (it will cool slightly when you cut it and transfer onto plates).

Serves 4-6.

This is an excellent way to prepare greens. The result has is a bit sweet, a bit nutty, a bit savory: each bite a small surprise.

¹The book’s page on the publisher’s website
²From briciole’s archive: kuku sabzi
³ The cookbook’s page on the publisher’s website (in Italian)

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

Cook the Books logo This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot’s Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting the product on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

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tortino di spinaci con pinoli e uvetta

Un’altra cosa che tenevo a fare nel nostro viaggio era un piatto della tradizione culinaria ebraica in Italia. Nel libro La cucina nella tradizione ebraica, una ricca collezione¹ di ricette descritte in modo succinto e senza foto, ho letto la ricetta per questo tortino che oltre a pinoli e uvetta utilizza acciughe e capperi.

La ricetta originale utilizza gli spinaci che io però non ho trovato al mercato il giorno che ho deciso di preparare la mia versione della ricetta. Allora ho utilizzato un misto composto di foglie di barbabietola, foglie di rapa e tatsoi (cavolo cinese). Come mio solito ho adattato le dosi degli ingredienti al mio gusto personale. Risultato eccellente ma non ho fatto una fotografia.

La volta successiva ho utilizzato foglie giovani di rapa e spinaci. Sapore diverso, come mi aspettavo, comunque ottimo. Anche il colore è diverso, dal momento che la versione precedente comprendeva anche gli steli delle foglie di barbabietola che hanno dato al piatto un colorito rosso.

Lavare, tagliare e cuocere le verdure a foglia verde richiede un po’ di tempo e pazienza. Ma una volta che le verdure sono pronte, ci vuole poco tempo per terminare la preparazione, poi il forno fa il resto.

Ingredienti:

740 grammi di spinaci, o un assortimento di spinaci e altre verdure a foglia verde, come foglie di barbabietola, foglie di rapa, tatsoi
20 grammi di uvetta
20 grammi di pinoli
4 cucchiai / 60 ml olio extra-virgine di oliva
2 cucchiai di prezzemolo fresco tritato
1 1/2 filetti di acciuga
15 grammi di piccoli capperi scolati
1 spicchio d’aglio
1 uovo codice 0
1 cucchiaino di sale fino
1/4 cucchiaino di pepe nero macinato fresco

Lavate bene gli spinaci e le altre verdure (se le usate), scolateli, lasciando un po’ d’acqua sulle foglie.

Se utilizzate le foglie di barbabietola o la tatsoi o altre verdure che hanno steli relativamente spessi, separateli dalle foglie e tagliateli a pezzetti.

Mettete l’uvetta in una tazzina, versateci sopra 1 cucchiaio d’acqua calda, e mescolate. Mettete da parte.

Tostate i pinoli in una padellina a secco. Metteteli da parte.

Una manciata di foglie alla volta, tagliate le verdure. Io faccio un mucchietto e taglio fettine larghe 1-1,5 cm. Trasferite le verdure tagliate in un’insalatiera capiente.

In una padella grande scaldate a fuoco medio 1,5 cucchiai / 22,5 ml dell’olio. Se li avete, aggiungete gli steli tagliati a pezzetti, mescolate bene, coprite la padella e cuocete a fuoco basso per 5 minuti o fino a quando siano teneri. Aggiungete metà delle verdure tagliate, mescolate bene, coprite la padella e cuocete a fuoco basso fino a quando siano tenere (8-12 minuti, a seconda del tipo di verdure), mescolando di tanto in tanto. Trasferite le verdure in un’insalatiera.

Ripetere con la stessa quantità di olio e il resto delle verdure.

Tritate insieme con la mezzaluna il prezzemolo, i filetti di acciuga, i capperi e l’aglio.

In una padellina scaldate a fuoco medio il resto dell’olio (1 cucchiaio). Aggiungete gli ingredienti tritati e cuoceteli per un minuto, assicurandovi che l’aglio non imbrunisca. Togliete dal fuoco, aggiungete alle verdure cotte e mescolate bene. Aggiungete l’uvetta e mescolate.

Tritate grossolanamente i pinoli con mortaio e pestello. Aggiungete alle verdure e mescolate.

Scaldate il forno a 170 C.

Oliate leggermente il fondo di una tortiera di vetro da 24 cm e spolverizzatelo con pane grattato, poi rimuovetene l’eccesso.

Rompete l’uovo in una ciotola e sbattetelo leggermente con una forchetta, poi versatelo sulle verdure e mescolate bene per incorporare.

Salate e pepate, mescolate bene e versate le verdure nella tortiera.

Cuocete in forno per 30 minuti.

Sfornate e servite immediatamente (il piatto si raffredda leggermente quando lo tagliate e trasferite le porzioni sui piatti).

Porzioni: 4-6.

Questo è un ottimo modo per preparare le verdure a foglia verde. Il risultato è un po’ dolce, un po’ salato: il gusto di ogni boccone è una piccola sorpresa.

¹ La pagina del libro sul sito web dell’editore

Un mondo d'ingredienti logo Contribuisco il mio tortino di spinaci con pinoli e uvetta, piatto della tradizione ebraica in Italia alla lettera U di Un mondo d’ingredienti evento creato dall’instancabile Aiu’ di Trattoria Muvara

FTC disclosure: Ho ricevuto gli articoli di lino gratuitamente dall’azienda produttrice (la FABBRICA del LINO). Non ho ricevuto e non riceverò alcun compenso per presentarli sul mio blog. Le opinioni espresse nel post sono interamente personali.

brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies / biscotti al burro nocciola con fiocchi d’avena e uvetta

September 26, 2022December 12, 2025 | Simona

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just baked
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I had fun reading again Alice’s adventures. For example, I paid more attention to the way she talks to herself and about herself. Truly one of those books that tell us something more or a bit different each time we read them.

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words “EAT ME” were beautifully marked in currants.

I knew immediately I’d make cookies for Alice: when I like a cookie, it’s like it has EAT ME written on it. Also, in my opinion, the best foods with tea are cookies and scones, and Alice really goes with cookies. After deciding to bake cookies, the question was: which kind?

the right size, the right shape, balanced flavor
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Some time ago, I developed my version of chocolate chunk cookies, so I turned my attention to another traditional sweet morsel of goodness: oatmeal raisin cookies. They are made with ingredients I like, but not necessarily in a way that appeals to me.

Guided on one hand by my Brown butter chocolate chunk cookies¹ and on the other by the recipe for Oatmeal raisin cookies in Stacy Adimando’s The Cookiepedia², I experimented with various versions until I settled on the recipe below, which includes a few steps to execute ahead of preparing the cookie dough: browning the butter, re-hydrating the raisins, and toasting rolled oats and sliced almonds. Additional personal touches include the use of coconut sugar, rye and whole-wheat flour (farina integrale), and okara flour³, a protein-rich, gluten-free flour derived from the soybean pulp (okara) generated during soymilk (latte di soia) production.

some of the ingredients, ready for use
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The cookies are tender, sweet enough, with a contrast between plump raisins and crisp sliced almonds (mandorle). The rolled oats give the texture more body. I like them a lot.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies

Ingredients for 11 cookies:

1/4 cup / 2 ounces / 56 grams unsalted butter (to make brown butter, recipe below)
1 1/2 ounces / 42 grams raisins
1 tablespoon / 15 ml warm apple juice OR tea OR water
3 ounces / 85 grams rolled oats
1 ounce / 28 grams sliced almonds
Avocado OR other mild-flavored vegetable oil to add to the brown butter to obtain 2 ounces
1 3/4 ounces / 50 grams sugar: 1/2 coconut sugar and 1/2 light brown sugar
1 egg about 2.1 ounces / 60 grams, at room temperature
1 teaspoon / 5 ml vanilla extract
2 ounces / 56 grams total of a combination of flours:
- 1/2 ounce / 14 grams okara flour
- 1/2 ounce / 14 grams whole rye flour
- 1/2 ounce / 14 grams whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 ounce / 14 grams sprouted whole-wheat pastry flour OR whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (cannella)

Prepare the following four ingredients ahead of making the cookies: brown butter, plumped raisins, toasted rolled oats, toasted almond slices.

1) Cut the butter into small pieces and put them into a small saucepan. Melt the butter while stirring then keep the melted butter on the heat, stirring. The butter will foam as water evaporates then the solids will caramelize. Remove the saucepan from the heat, pour the brown butter into a ramekin and let cool. The process is fast and requires full attention as the solids go from brown to burned in a few seconds⁴.

2) With your fingers, separate the raisins that are clumped. Place the raisins in a ramekin. Pour the warm liquid over them and stir well. Stir again a few more times.

3) Heat the oven to 350 F / 170 C. Spread the rolled oats on an unlined baking sheet. Toast rolled oats in the oven for 4-5 minutes, shaking the sheet half-way through.

4) Toast the sliced almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Shake the skillet to ensure even toasting and prevent burning. Transfer the almonds onto a plate.

Finally, make the cookies. Let the brown butter soften in a mixing bowl. Weigh the butter and add enough vegetable oil to get to 2 ounces / 56 grams. Add both sugars to the mixing bowl. Cream the butter and sugars. I do all the mixing with a spatula or wooden spoon, but you can use an electric mixer until otherwise noted. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and stir until combined.

Sift the flours into a small mixing bowl. Sift in the baking soda, then add salt and cinnamon. Add about half of the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir briefly. Add the rest and mix just until the flour is incorporated. Add the toasted oats and incorporate them `using a spatula. Finally, add the raisins and incorporate them using a spatula.

Cover the mixing bowl and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so to firm up the dough (it will be easier to handle and the cookies will remain chubby), but not too firm, since there is one last ingredient to incorporate.

Heat the oven to 350 F/177 C.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator. Add the toasted almonds to the dough and stir to incorporate. Weigh approximately 1.2 ounces / 34 grams of dough for each cookie. Shape each piece of dough into a half dome, tap the top to flatten it slightly and place on the baking sheet, leaving 1 1/2-2 inches / 4-5 cm of distance between them.

Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate the backing sheet. Bake for another 6 minutes. The cookies will still be soft. The edges should be golden brown.

Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Store the cookies in a sealed container.

brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies / IMG_4550

hard to photograph them without nibbling on one or two
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I imagine Alice’s EAT ME cake was prettier than my cookies, but they make up in flavor what they lack in good looks. I enjoy one in the afternoon with roiboos tea—and so far there has been no change in my height.

¹ From briciole’s archive: Brown butter chocolate-chunk bookies and review of The Cookiepedia
² Recipe for Oatmeal raisin cookies from The Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando
³ The Okara flour I use
⁴ A more detailed post on how to brown butter

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

biscotti al burro nocciola con fiocchi d’avena e uvetta

or launch the biscotti al burro nocciola con fiocchi d’avena e uvetta 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.]

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot’s Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

cookies, oatmeal, raisins, oatmeal raisin cookies, brown butter

pear tart / crostata di pere

September 30, 2021 | Simona

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the simple elegance of a crostata always wins at the table
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The current Cook the Books Club selection is Midnight at the Blackbird Café by Heather Webber.¹ On her website, the author explains:

The inspiration for this novel came years ago in a song. After hearing the Beatles' "Blackbird" for the first time, it haunted me… I was captivated with the concept of broken wings and how emotional wounds can keep many from being able to metaphorically fly… Blackbird research led me quickly to the Song of Sixpence with its “four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie,” and then a tidbit in Celtic folklore revealed that blackbirds were considered guardians and messengers of the "Other world.” With that, the heart of this book took form. What if blackbirds with their songs could pass messages from dearly departed loved ones through, of all things, pie, to bring comfort and love to those left behind?

The novel is a fairy tale (favola) set in a village in Alabama, mostly in the café of the title. Anna Kate, the protagonist, inherits the business and uses her spare time to untangle family secrets. It is a pleasant read and while the ending is fairly expected, there are a few surprises along the way.

Asian pears and other varieties of pears are delicious and in season now
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Mulberries (more di gelso) play an important role in the story. If this were mulberry season, I would have made something with the delicious fruit, but those fleeting days are gone this year. Apples and pears of the new crop take center stage, crisp and juicy. I am Italian, so when I think about a dessert made with fruit, I think about crostata (tart). I presented crostata di mele (apple tart) some time ago² so here I am sharing a recipe for pear tart. While the rendition on the photos uses Asian pears (pere asiatiche), the tart can be made with other pear varieties.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Pear tart

Ingredients

For pasta frolla:

1/3 cup / 65 g ultrafine sugar or 1/2 cup powdered sugar (see Note 1)
1/2 cup / 60 g whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup / 65 g unbleached all-purpose flour (see Note 2)
1/4 cup / 30 g almond flour or almond meal
1/4 cup / 30 g whole-grain barley flour OR unbleached all-purpose flour OR a mix of millet and sorghum flours
A pinch of salt
6 tablespoons / 85 g / 3 ounces cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg (possibly from pastured poultry), lightly whisked to blend yolk and white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

1 cup / 240 ml fruit preserves of a flavor that goes well with pears (like berries) and made mostly with fruit (see Note 3)
1 pound / 450 g Asian pears or another variety of pears (choose one that bakes well), preferably organic (you should be left with a few extra slices to snack on)

Note 1: Ultrafine or superfine sugar is also referred to as baker's sugar. If you cannot find it, you can make your own by putting some regular granulated sugar in a food processor or blender and letting it run until the sugar is finely ground.

Note 2: The less gluten (as indicated by % protein) in the flour, the better (I like to use Perfect Pastry blend by King Arthur Flour). Do not use bread flour.

Note 3: I use my homemade low-sugar preserves. I recommend you choose a good quality product, made with mostly fruit and little sugar.

How to make the pasta frolla
Put sugar, flours and salt in the bowl of the food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add butter and pulse a few times for 3 seconds at a time until the mix resembles coarse meal. Empty food processor's bowl onto your work surface.

[If you don't have a food processor: Whisk together sugar, flours and salt in a bowl. Rub or cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture until it has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.]

Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the egg and vanilla extract into it. Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, then use your fingertips.

Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball. Use some all-purpose flour as needed to flour your hands to prevent excessive sticking.

Shape the dough into a flat disk 1 inch / 2.5 cm thick and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. I usually make it the evening before and refrigerate it overnight.

How to prepare the bottom layer of the crostata
To bake the crostata, I recommend using a 9 or 9 1/2-inch / 23-24 cm fluted round tart pan with removable bottom, about 1 inch / 2.5 cm high.

Take the pasta frolla out of the refrigerator and unwrap it. I recommend you roll the dough on a piece of parchment paper or the plastic film in which it was wrapped as it is quite crumbly.

Lightly dust with flour the top of the dough and the surface on which you are rolling it. Keep some flour handy to lightly dust the dough as you go along.

If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin's width each time; turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling gently.

Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8 inch / 3 mm thick. If you used parchment paper or plastic wrap as rolling surface, flip the dough over the tart pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the wrap.

Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan and use it, as necessary, where you find that you came up short and/or to make the border of an even thickness all the way around. Prick the shell with a fork in several places. You will have only a small amount of dough left over, which you can use to make a thicker edge or a cookie or two (1/6 inch / 4 mm thick and cut as desired, baked at the same temperature as the tart for 15 minutes).

Refrigerate the tart shell. After 15 minutes or so, preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

tart ready for the oven

How to fill the crostata
Rinse, quarter and core the pears, then slice them ¼ inch / 6 mm thick.

Take the unbaked tart shell out of the fridge. With the help of a spatula distribute on it the fruit preserves in an even layer.

Arrange the pear slices in circles on top of the preserves, starting from the outside until you reach the center.

How to bake the crostata
Put the crostata in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. Check the tart to estimate the time remaining, then continue baking until the tart border is of a light golden hue.

Remove the tart from the oven and let cool slightly on a rack. If you used a tart pan with a removable bottom, release the tart base from the fluted tart ring. Let cool a bit longer on the rack, then, with the help of a wide spatula, slide the crostata onto a serving plate. Make sure the tart is completely cool before slicing delicately and serving.

Serves 10-12.

The tart is best eaten the day it is made.

¹ The book's page on the author's website
² On this blog: Apple Tart, Vinegar Tart

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

crostata di pere

or launch the crostata di pere 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.]

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen . (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

tart, fruit dessert, pear, Asian pear, crostata, Italian cuisine

brown butter chocolate chunk cookies / biscotti al burro nocciola con pezzetti di cioccolato

July 4, 2021December 12, 2025 | Simona

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the simple charm of chocolate chunks
(napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Recently, during one of my customary browsing of the sale shelf of a local bookstore, I picked the mystery novel The Whispering City by Sara Moliner¹ (pseudonym for the writing duo Rosa Ribas and Sabine Hofmann). The title and subtitle (Barcelona 1952) piqued my curiosity and the back-cover blurb made me decide to purchase the novel.

The story is set during the regime of dictator Francisco Franco, who was still alive when I was born. I remember his death in 1975 (after which Juan Carlos became king of Spain), so as dictatorships go, this one is clear in my memory. The civil climate described in the book is typical of dictatorships, where freedom of expression, information and thought are outlawed. Ana Martí Noguer is a young journalist aspiring to do more than write the society column for a newspaper that strives to maintain a certain amount of independence from the regime without running afoul of it. She is figlia d’arte, as her father was also a journalist.

Circumstances catapult Ana into the middle of a murder investigation and she ends up becoming entangled in it, together with her older cousin Beatriz, whom she had recently met. Beatriz is a linguist who has fallen on hard times due to her political leanings.

post-exercise energy recharge
(napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I enjoyed the story and the historical setting. As the NPR review² says

The mental sepia tones evoked (and used on the cover — good job, Pegasus designers!) aren’t just those of vintage photographs, but those of a city blanched of its color and vivacity by a right-wing regime.

One of the recurring themes in the book is scarcity, partly as a result of the time (post WWII in a dictatorship with mostly democracies as neighbors) and partly as a result of Ana’s limited economic means. Sugar (zucchero) is a luxury food item, so when she is in a coffee shop, she indulges in it, adding it liberally to her coffee and licking the cup clean after finishing the liquid.

While reading the novel, I spent a weekend on a bicycle ride around San Luis Obispo, on the Central California Coast. In the oceanside town of Cayucos, The Brown Butter Cookie Company³ makes cookies and shortbread. I don’t have a sweet tooth and was skeptical about the cookies, but after tasting a few options I had to admit that they are quite good. While nibbling on half of a chocolate chunk cookie (it was pretty big), I decided to try making my own version.

Serendipitously, a few days later, this recipe⁴ came to my attention and I chose to use it as my base because it was neither overly sweet nor overly buttery and also made a manageable number of cookies. Of course, I would change several things to make the recipe suit my taste. First of all, I use brown butter, like the bakery in Cayucos. Then, I substitute 3/4 of the white flour with whole-wheat / whole-grain flour (farina integrale). I decrease the amount of sugar slightly and omit the finishing sea salt. Finally, I choose good-quality chocolate and chunk it by hand.

I imagine Ana would dive in and enjoy my cookies. I have made them several times and everybody who has tasted them (my husband and some friends) has given them thumbs up. I like them a lot.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Brown butter chocolate chunk cookies

Ingredients for 16 cookies:

1/4 cup / 2 ounces / 56 grams unsalted butter (to make brown butter, recipe below)
Avocado OR other mild-flavored vegetable oil to add to the brown butter to obtain 2 ounces
2 tablespoons / 25 grams granulated OR superfine sugar AND enough light brown sugar to obtain 3 1/2 ounces / 100 grams total
1 1/2 teaspoons / 1/2 tablespoon / 7.5 ml vanilla extract
1 large pastured egg at room temperature
6 ounces / 170 grams of a combination of flours:
- 1 1/2 ounces / 42 grams pastry flour OR all-purpose flour
- 4 1/2 ounces / 128 grams whole-grain flours: 1/3 whole rye, 1/3 whole-wheat pastry, 1/3 whole spelt AND sprouted whole quinoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
5 1/4 ounces / 150 grams extra-dark chocolate (I use 88%), cut with a knife into small pieces

Brown the butter⁵ in advance. Cut the butter into small pieces and put them into a small saucepan. Melt the butter while stirring then keep the melted butter on the heat, stirring. The butter will foam as water evaporates then the solids will caramelize. Remove the saucepan from the heat, pour the brown butter into a ramekin and let cool. The process is fast and requires full attention as the solids go from brown to black in a few seconds.

Let the brown butter soften in a mixing bowl. Weigh the butter and add enough vegetable oil to get to 2 ounces / 56 grams. Add both sugars to the mixing bowl. Mix with a spatula until the sugars are well blended into the butter. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix until well combined. While I prefer to mix butter and sugar with a spatula, I like to use the electric mixer to mix in the liquids.

Sift and weigh the flours into a small mixing bowl. Sift in the baking soda and baking powder, then add the salt. Add about half of the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix briefly, using either a spatula or the electric mixer. Add the rest and mix just until the flour is incorporated. Finally, add the chocolate chunks and incorporate using a spatula.

Cover the mixing bowl and place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to firm up the dough, longer if possible (it will be easier to handle and the cookies will remain chubby).

Preheat the oven to 350 F/177 C.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator. Weigh approximately 30-32 grams of dough for each cookie. Shape each piece of dough into a half dome, tap the top to flatten it slightly and place on the baking sheet, leaving 1 1/2-2 inches / 4-5 cm of distance between them.

Bake for 12-14 minutes. Check the cookies after 12 minutes and bake longer if needed. The edges should be golden brown.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely.

Store the cookies in a sealed container.

or enjoyed with a cup of tea
(napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO)

My cookies neither look like nor taste like those I ate in Cayucos: they are less sweet, softer, and have a fuller, whole-grain flavor. They are excellent. I have come to rely on them as energy recharge after a long run or bike ride.

¹ The novel’s page on the publisher’s website
² A review of the novel on the NPR site
³ Brown Butter Cookie Company
⁴ Recipe for Chocolate chunk cookies with sea salt on Culinary Ginger
⁵ A more detailed post on how to brown butter

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

biscotti al burro nocciola con pezzetti di cioccolato

or launch the biscotti al burro nocciola con pezzetti di cioccolato 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.]

This is my second contribution to the 42nd edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started over 14 years ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

cookies, chocolate, chocolate cookies, brown butter

sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart / torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine

October 11, 2018 | Simona

sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart / IMG_1261

a favorite dinner fare
(linen by La FABBRICA del LINO)

At a conference this past February I met author Anne Perry and a few days later to I found myself in a bookstore that had a copy of The Cater Street Hangman, first book of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series¹. The coincidence was too tempting to resist. I liked the book so much that I read the following three novels in the series: Callander Square, Paragon Walk and Resurrection Row.

Besides being good mysteries, the novels attract me because of their setting: Victorian England. They look at the life of that time with a modern sensitivity. The author explains some situations, because she knows that her readers are not familiar with the social norms of the time, for example the uneasy relationship between upper class people and the Police, some of the norms regulating the movements of servants inside the house where they work.

Thomas Pitt is a police inspector in London. In the course of the investigation at the center of The Cater Street Hangman, Pitt meets Charlotte Ellison, who belongs to an upper-class family. Given that the series is called "Charlotte and Thomas Pitt" you can imagine at least one of the things that happens in that novel, but there is a lot more involving in different ways Charlotte's two sisters, Sarah and Emily. As is usually the case with mysteries, it is difficult to provide details without spoiling the surprise for readers, so I will not say more.

The immediate inspiration for the recipe I provide below is Charlotte's adventures in the kitchen. Raised in a house where the cook and her assistants took care of purchasing food and preparing meals, Charlotte goes through a learning curve as she becomes responsible for both activities in the Pitt household, since her husband's salary does not allow them to have a maid. (Thomas is keenly aware of the situation and shows deep appreciation for his wife's efforts.)

One of the dishes Charlotte sets about to learn to make is the traditional savory English pie. She waits to cut it until her husband comes back home tired and ready to push aside the day's worries to spend some time with his wife (and later their daughter, Jemima). Charlotte's attitude is positive: she does her best, sees where she must improve, and moves forward. And yes, she is more into helping her husband in solving his cases than in mastering cooking, but she does both with positive energy.

I am not married to a detective, nor do I aspire to detective work, but approach my cooking projects with enthusiasm and determination. The latter is particularly useful when what comes out of the oven or a pot is not exactly what I expected. I take notes and revise the plan for the next iteration.

I prefer tarts over pies, so with a nod to Charlotte Pitt, I created a recipe for savory tart using a gluten-free crust made of ground cashews (anacardi), coconut flour (farina di cocco) and butter (burro), which is a variation on the recipe for Coconut Quiche Base from the book The Ketogenic Kitchen by Domini Kemp and Patricia Daly². I am not following a ketogenic diet, but I like a lot of recipes in the book. My changes to the original have mostly to do with reducing the quantities to make a thinner crust, but also with the preparation.

sweet looking and tasting

Once I had the crust, I started experimenting with fillings and given the season, I reached for sweet peppers and zucchini, both abundant at the various farmers' markets where I shop. I described my favorite recipe for preparing those vegetables in a previous post³. I doubled the quantities, because I wanted a vegetable-rich tart. The addition of cheese makes it basically a complete meal. (I use my homemade fresh chèvre.)

The crust can be made and baked ahead. The vegetables can be cooked ahead as well. Assembling the tart and baking it can be done close to mealtime. The ability to prepare the dish in steps is another characteristics that makes it appealing.

hurrah for colorful vegetables

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart

Ingredients:

For the crust:

60 g raw cashews
55 g coconut flour
1/8 teaspoon Harissa spice mix or sweet paprika
A pinch of salt
55 g cold unsalted butter

For the filling:

4 tablespoons / 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
10 ounces / 280 g sweet onions, like cipollini or walla walla
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon Harissa spice mix
14 ounces / 400 g sweet Italian peppers
12 ounces / 340 g zucchini
Fine sea salt, to taste
2 ounces / 55 g fresh chèvre
3/4 ounce / 20 g freshly grated cheese, like manchego or cheddar

Prepare the crust
Put the cashews, coconut flour, spices and salt in a food processor and process until the cashews are finely ground. Add the butter cut into small cubes and pulse briefly a few times until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

To bake the tart, I recommend using a 9 or 9 1/2-inch / 23-24 cm fluted round tart pan with removable bottom, about 1 inch / 2.5 cm high, optionally lined with a circle or parchment paper (the buttery crust does not stick to the bottom, but as I cut it in the pan, the paper helps protect the metal surface from scratching).

Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Put the crust mix in the tart pan and shake to distribute evenly. Press the mix to make an even layer all around. The butter should be soft enough at this point to allow you to easily shape the mix with your hands. Otherwise, wait a little bit. To keep my fingers less oily, I prefer the butter not to be completely soft.

Bake for 9-12 minutes, until the crust turns golden at the edge (see photo below). Take out of the oven and set aside until ready to assemble the tart.

blind-baked cashew and coconut crust / IMG_1259

partially baked tart crust
(linen by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Prepare the filling
Slice the onions lengthwise into thin sections no wider than 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm and separate the layers so you have short ribbons.

Cut the peppers lengthwise. Carve out and discard the stem portion, and the seeds and ribbing inside. Cut each half in half crosswise and finally slice each piece into short ribbons no wider than 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm.

Trim zucchini top and bottom, quarter lengthwise, then cut into 1/8 inch / 3 mm slices.

Warm up the olive oil in a large skillet (I use a cast-iron one). Add the onion to the skillet, stir to coat and let cook on medium-low heat for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic. Continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

Five minutes after you started cooking the onion, sprinkle the spice mix and stir well, then add the peppers, stir and continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

Five minutes later, add the zucchini, stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Cover and cook on gentle heat until the peppers are of the desired tenderness (20-25 minutes). Every few minutes, uncover and stir.

When the peppers are ready, sprinkle the salt, adjusting the amount to your taste and stir, then remove the pan from the heat. Let cool, then add the chèvre and stir well to distribute it evenly.

ready for the oven

Assemble and bake the tart
Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Transfer the filling on the prepared crust and distribute it evenly. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top.

Bake for 30-32 minutes. Take out of the oven, slice and serve right away. Serves 4-8.

I cut the tart in the pan. The crust is crumbly and as a result the plating may not be pretty, but the first bite of the tart will make you forget everything else.

Once you have tried making the tart and decided that you like it, you can certainly play with the filling, particularly as sweet pepper and zucchini season is coming to an end on the Northern hemisphere. I have successfully used grated carrots (carote) and shredded cabbage (cavolo cappuccio) as alternative and the result has always been excellent.

¹ Anne Perry's website and the page devoted to the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series
² The book's website
³ Post including my recipe for Sweet peppers with onions and zucchini

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

torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine

or launch the torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine audio file

This is my second contribution to the 34th 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.

The roundup of the event.

I am also contributing to the October edition of Foodies Read the reading/cooking event hosted by Heather of Based on a True Story.

Visit the linkup page to see what others have read and cooked.

FTC disclosure: I have received the linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

sweet peppers, Italian peppers, onion, zucchini, tart, gluten free, cashews, coconut flour

sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / cracker integrali al formaggio

September 23, 2018 | Simona

sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / DSC_8407

one by one, they will soon be all gone
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The August-September selection of the Cook the Books club is the novel Sourdough by Robin Sloan¹. Intriguing title, I thought immediately, but did not know what to expect: I rarely read reviews before I read a book (sometimes do so after turning over the last page²). Being familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area contributed to the story's appeal, but even if you don't know the island of Alameda or the San Francisco Ferry Building, you will enjoy the twists and turns of Lois Clary's adventures in robot-aided bread baking.

The atmosphere is sci-fi, so don't expect your sourdough starter to behave the same way as that of the title. My adventures in sourdough-baking started some years ago with an evening class taught by Rhonda Wiedenbeck now of Beck's Bakery³. I got home that night with 2 tablespoons of Rhonda's sourdough starter (pasta madre), which I have fed, used, refrigerated, frozen (in between uses). I have a relaxed relationship with it. For regular feeding, I use the simple formula I learned in the class: I stir well 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter + 1/4 cup of water + 1/3 cup of King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour, cover the (recycled yogurt) container and place it on top of the refrigerator.

I have baked various types of sourdough bread⁴ (pane al lievito naturale) and this time what got me scouting for recipes was the idea of using the starter in between feedings that would otherwise be wasted. I found inspiration on the King Arthur Flour website which has a recipe for Sourdough Crackers⁵, made particularly appealing for the inclusion of whole-wheat flour (farina integrale). I halved the quantities and adjusted the ingredients to my taste, particularly with the addition of cheese to the dough.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers

Ingredients:

4 ounces / 113 g sourdough starter (see Note below on starter feeding)
2 ounces / 56 g whole-wheat flour (I use 1 ounce / 28 g Chiddam Blanc de Mars from Capay Mills⁶ and 1 ounce / 28 g hard red wheat from Beck's Bakery³ both stone-ground)
1 tablespoon / 1/2 ounce unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon / 15 ml extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2-1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh herbs of your choice, optional but nice (I use rosemary)
1 ounce / 28 g sharp cheese of your choice, freshly grated
olive oil for brushing
coarse sea salt for sprinkling on the surface

Note: For regular feeding, I stir well 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter + 1/4 cup of water + 1/3 cup of King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour, cover the (recycled yogurt) container and place it on top of the refrigerator. I repeat this morning and evening during the days in which the starter is not in the refrigerator. When I make the crackers, I take the amount of starter needed and use the rest in the preceding formula.

In a bowl, weigh the sourdough starter, whole-wheat flours, butter and olive oil, and stir to make a dough. Sprinkle sea salt and herbs (if using) and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Stir salt and herbs into the mix, transfer on your working surface and knead until you have a smooth, slightly tacky dough. (To make this step easier, I lightly oil my kneading board and wet my hands.)

Shape the dough into a thick rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to a couple of hours.

When ready to shape and bake the crackers, preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Lightly flour the surface of the dough and roll it into a long rectangle (top left photo below). Distribute the grated cheese over one half of the rectangle (middle left photo) then fold the other half over the cheese (bottom left photo).

Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper and transfer the folded dough onto it. Roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/16 inch / 1.5 mm. Transfer the dough and parchment paper together onto a baking sheet. Lightly brush the surface of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt on top. Cut the dough into squares (a pizza cutter wheel works well for this task). Don't worry if the cut doesn't go all the way through: a deep score is good enough (top right photo below). Prick the surface with the tines of a fork.

preparing sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / IMG_1226

rolling and scoring the dough for crackers

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake the crackers for 20 to 25 minutes, until they brown around the edges, or a bit more (the thinner pieces will brown almost fully, bottom right photo above). After 12 minutes, turn the baking sheet front to back to help the crackers bake more evenly.

Take the baking sheet out the oven and transfer the crackers to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week (in my case they never last that long, because I also like to share them).

sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / IMG_1224

composition of shapes

I love these crackers: beyond their delightful crunch, the notes of rosemary (rosmarino) and cheese make them great on their own or with a layer of prosciutto, fresh chèvre or your spread of choice.

¹The book's page on the author's website
² The NPR review, the Guardian review the Washington Post review
³ Beck's Bakery
⁴ My bread collection
⁵ Recipe for Sourdough Crackers on the King Arthur Flour website
⁶ Capay Mills

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

cracker integrali al formaggio

or launch the cracker integrali al formaggio 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.]

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Debra of Eliot's Eats. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

This is also my contribution to the 34th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started 11 years ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

crackers, whole-wheat flour, cheese, sourdough

pecan parcels (apricots stuffed with pecans and pancetta) / albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta

July 6, 2018 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

apricot parcels with pancetta and pecans / IMG_1084

sweet, salty, soft, crunchy: the best of all worlds

It is stone fruit season! There are plums (prugne) and apricots (albicocche) and then plumcots, pluots and apriums.

More than a century ago, horticulturalist Luther Burbank bred the plumcot with a 50-50 plum and apricot split. However, it was Floyd Zaiger who revolutionized the fruit and made it widely available.

Zaiger bred the plumcot with a plum to create the pluot — three-fifths plum and two-fifths apricot — and coined the trademarked moniker. While the plumcot is a simple plum and apricot cross, pluots and apriums (70 percent apricot and 30 percent plum) are the result of intricate crossbreeding over several generations.

… the fruit are crossbred naturally. Zaiger performs no genetic modification and accelerates the natural selection process through hand pollination.¹

Some time ago, I won the London The Cookbook² by Cara Frost-Sharratt from a giveaway on the Bookclub Cookbook website³: "Part recipe collection and part travel guide, the book… features 50 recipes from London’s best restaurants…" and food producers. The pages dedicated to Crown & Queue Meats⁴ include a recipe for Cobnut parcels⁵ that I bookmarked immediately for the future stone fruit season.

The recipe calls for cobnuts "a variety of hazelnut that are usually in season from August to September when you can buy them fresh, still in their husks"^2,6. It also calls for damsons or greengages or Victoria plums⁷. I would not let the fact that I could not find any of those ingredients in my corner of the world deter me from trying the recipe.

I visited several East Bay farmers' market, talked to farmers and ran tests. I could not find a plum or pluot variety available this time of the year with a stone that can be easily removed, so I tried using apricot, aprium and plumcot, all with success. And I chose pecans to take the place of cobnuts, because I love pecans and they go well with apricots and also because the process to peel hazelnuts (nocciole) is not a favorite activity.

The photo gallery (click on any thumbnail to see a larger version, then scroll using left and right arrows) includes images of the preparatory steps: 1) two of the fruit varieties I tried; 2) thinly sliced pancetta; 3) fruit ready to be stuffed; 4) fruit filled with pecan mix; 5) parcels ready to go into the oven.

from apricots to parcels

Once you have the ingredients, the dish is easy to prepare and takes a short time to cook in the oven. The result is a delicious combination of sweet fruit softened by cooking, savory and fat pancetta, crunchy pecans.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Pecan parcels (apricots stuffed with pecans and pancetta)

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 large apricots or apriums or plumcots, possibly organic, ripe, but with firm flesh
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary needles
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 ounce / 30 g pecans, lightly toasted in a dry skillet or in the oven, cooled and minced
A squeeze of lemon juice
1 tablespoon / 15 g unsalted butter, melted
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 ounces / 55 g pancetta thinly sliced

Note 1: the parcels' flavor and texture depend on the fruit used. Apricots and apriums are sweeter than plumcots. Apriums' texture is close to that of apricots. Plumcots' skin is closer to that of plums. Embrace those differences: try different varieties of fruit, including, if you find them, plum varieties whose stone comes away easily. The original recipe calls for damsons, greengages or Victoria plums.

Note 2: I use what we call pancetta arrotolata (rolled). I ask the butcher to cut it thin. In Italy we also have pancetta tesa (flat). The original recipe calls for Crown & Queue's Black-pepper Cured Pork Belly, which from the photo of the dish in the cookbook looks like pancetta tesa. You won't need the whole quantity, but once you have it you can use in other dishes. Pancetta is so good!

Heat the oven to 350 F / 177 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Rinse the fruit, cut in half and remove the stone. (The original recipe calls for cutting a small circle off the bottom, so the plums will sit flat when placed with their stone holes up, but I did not find that necessary with the fruit I used.)

In a small bowl or ramekin, combine the ginger, rosemary, garlic and pecans. Add the lemon juice and butter, and season lightly with salt and pepper (bear in mind that the pancetta will contribute its seasoning to the dish). Stir well.

Spoon the mixture into the fruit's stone holes to form small mounds. Carefully lay slices of pancetta over each fruit half. Place the resulting parcels on the lined baking sheet.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until the pancetta begins to soften and melt and the stuffing is hot (8-10 minutes).

Increase the oven temperature to 425 F / 218 C and if possible switch to broil. Continue to cook the parcels until the pancetta begins to crisp and the fruit begins to sizzle.

Serve warm.

apricot parcels with pancetta and pecans / DSC_8350

sun on a plate: apricot on the left, plumcot on the right
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

It is an appetizer, but honestly, I have eaten it as dessert.

¹ Pluots And Apriums: The Best Of Both Parents
² London The Cookbook on the publisher's website
³ The Book Club Cookbook website and Facebook page
⁴ Crown & Queue Meats website
⁵ The original recipe
⁶ Here and here you can read more about cobnuts and see other recipes that include them
⁷ Damsons, greengages and Victoria plums

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

albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta

or launch the albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta 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.]

This is my introduction to the "turf" (meat) appetizers installment of Menu Lib(e)ro the current game played by the notorious Abbecedario gang (Italian, European e world). I am the host for the next two weeks. The overall aim of the game is to create a menu with recipes from cookbooks we own.

Contribute a cookbook-inspired recipe for a meat appetizer (other than the one I prepared) and follow the instructions in this post. Add the link to your post in a comment below.

apricot, pancetta, pecans, appetizer

[jump to Comments]

albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta

una delizia

Evviva la stagione di albicocche, prugne, pesche e affini!

Dal libro London The Cookbook¹ di Cara Frost-Sharratt, ecco la mia versione della ricetta per Cobnut parcels² adattata agli ingredienti che ho a disposizione: noci pecan invece di cobnut (un tipo di nocciole) e albicocche, aprium (ibrido 70% albicocca e 30% prugna) o plumcot (ibrido 50% albicocca e 50% prugna), invece di prugne damson o greengage o Victori^.aa

La galleria di foto (cliccate su un thumbnail per ingrandire l'immagine e poi usate i tasti con le frecce a destra e sinistra per cambiare immagine) mostra i passaggi preparatori: 1) due dei tipi di frutta che ho utilizzato; 2) pancetta tagliata sottile; 3) frutta pronta per il ripieno; 4) frutta ripiena col misto di noci pecan; 5) i pacchetti pronti per essere infornati.

dalle albicocche ai 'pacchetti'

Una volta che avete gli ingredienti, questo antipasto è facile e veloce da preparare. Il risultato è un connubio di frutta dolce, pancetta saporita e noci pecan croccanti: rendo l'idea?

Ingredienti (per 4 persone):

4 albicocche grandi oppure aprium o plumcot (se le trovate in Italia), possibilmente bio, mature, ma con la polpa soda
1/2 cucchiaino di radice di zenzero fresca grattugiata
1/2 cucchiaino di aghi di rosmarino tritati finemente
1 spicchio d'aglio, sbucciato e tritato finemente
30 g noci pecan, tostate leggermente in una padellina a secco o in forno, lasciate intiepidire e tritate finemente
Una spruzzata di succo di limone fresco
15 g di burro non salato, fuso
Sale fino e pepe nero macinato fresco, q.b.
55 g pancetta tagliata sottile

Nota 1: albicocche e aprium sono più dolci di plumcot. La polpa dell'aprium è simile a quella dell'albicocca. La buccia del plumcot è simile a quella della prugna. Utilizzate diversi tipi di frutta e otterrete un piatto diverso. La ricetta originale è realizzata con prugne damson, greengage o Victoria.

Nota 2: La ricetta originale utilizza Crown & Queue's Black-pepper Cured Pork Belly³. Io ho usato della pancetta arrotolata tagliata sottile perché non ho trovato della pancetta tesa (Vi ricordo che non abito in Italia).

Scaldate il forno a 177 C. Foderate una placca da forno con un tappetino da forno di silicone o con carta da forno.

Lavate la frutta, tagliatela a metà e togliete il nocciolo. (La ricetta originale suggerusce di tagliare un piccolo disco sul fondo in modo che le prugne si mantengano in posizione con la parte concava rivolta verso l'alto: questo passaggio non è necessario col tipo di frutta che ho utilizzato io.)

In una ciotolina unite lo zenzero, il rosmarino, l'aglio e le noci pecan. Aggiungete il succo di limone e il burro fuso e condite con un pochino di sale e pepe (tenete presente che la pancetta contribuisce questi condimenti al piatto). Mescolate bene.

Riempite l'incavo della frutta con il misto di noci formando una collinetta. Depositate fettine di pancetta sopra ogni pezzo di frutta. Trasferite i "pacchetti" sulla placca da forno preparata in precedenza e infornate.

Cuocete fino a quando la pancetta comincia ad ammorbidirsi e il suo grasso a sciogliersi e il ripieno è ben caldo (8-10 minuti).

aumentate la temperatura del forno a 218 C e se possibile accendete il grill. Continuate a cuocere i pacchetti fino a quando la pancetta comincia a imbrunire ai bordi e la frutta a sfrigolare.

Servite i pacchetti caldi.

sole sul piatto: albicocca a sinistra, plumcot a destra
(tovaglietta di La FABBRICA del LINO)

È un antipasto, ma onestamente io l'ho mangiato anche come dessert.

¹ London The Cookbook sul sito web della casa editrice
² La ricetta originale
³ Crown & Queue Meats: il sito web

Questo è il post introduttivo della puntata antipasti di terra (carne) del Menu Lib(e)ro, il gioco attualmente in corso ad opera della nota banda dell'Abbecedario (italiano, europeo e mondiale). Io ospito da oggi e per due settimane. Lo scopo del gioco è creare un menu con ricette dai libri di cucina che possediamo.

Contribuite una ricetta per antipasto di carne diversa da quella mia e seguite le istruzioni in questo post. Mettete poi il link al vostro post in un commento qui sotto.

FTC disclosure: I have received the placemat free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali al cioccolato e noci

June 27, 2018 | Simona

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / DSC_8328

everything is better with chocolate, including bread
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

On a recent visit to a local bookstore, I purchased Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout¹. A friend had told me the movie was really good, but I rarely watch TV, so the recommendation made me buy the book. I loved every page of it. The writing is superb and the characters of the stories are drawn with delicacy, precision and empathy.

I also like the author's choice in writing a collection of short stories, rather than a novel. In some of them Olive is the protagonist, in others she makes an appearance. Having been a math teacher in the school of her small town in Maine, she knows a lot of the residents. And her husband Henry was for many years the pharmacist and is a well-liked member of the community.

Olive's stern manners make students fear her. Christopher, Olive and Henry's only son, gets crushed between his parents and moves to California to build his own life, rather than the life his parents had planned for him (they design and build a house for him, which he promptly sells after getting married). Sometimes it is hard to imagine what Olive wants. She may say something rather rude one moment and the next she empathizes deeply with a stranger or refuses to leave alone a former student whose emotional trouble she senses.

There are a lot of doughnuts in the book: people eat doughnuts at the local cafe on the bay, Bonnie expects a doughnut (not cinnamon) when her husband, Harmon, comes back home from running errands, which include a visit to Daisy, for whom he will eventually leave his wife. Olive talks about her preference for doughnuts with Nina, a young woman with anorexia:

Olive finished the doughnut, wiped the sugar from her fingers, sat back and said, “You’re starving.”
The girl didn't move, only said, “Uh—duh.”
“I’m starving, too,” Olive said. The girl looked over at her. “I am,” Olive said. “Why do you think I eat every doughnut in sight?”
“You’re not starving,” Nina said with disgust.
“Sure I am. We all are.”
…
Olive Kitteridge was crying. If there was anyone in town Harmon believed he would never see cry, Olive was that person But there she sat, large and big-wristed, her mouth quivering, tears coming from her eyes.
…
Olive shook her head again, blew her nose. She looked at Nina, and said quietly, “I don’t know who you are, but young lady, you’re breaking my heart.”

I don't understand doughnuts: They don't appeal to me. Good bread, on the other hand, attracts me like a magnet. At the Temescal farmers' market, in Oakland, I purchased some chocolate sourdough from the Midwife and the Baker bakery² Made with 40% whole-wheat flour (farina integrale), it beats all the doughnuts of the world. I decided to try making some chocolate bread and to that end, I reworked a beloved recipe for buns³.

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_1051

homemade cheese goes well with homemade bread
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I ran a few tests and below is the version I liked best. I suspect Olive would mumble if I arrived at her place with a bag of buns instead of doughnuts. I would leave the bag on her table without making a fuss. She would eat one, thank me brusquely and add a morsel of her sharp wisdom, like: "Don't be scared of your hunger. If you're scared of your hunger, you'll just be one more ninny like everyone else." That's the best one can expect from Olive. But if I were going through a rough time, Olive would be there and not leave, sensing the sadness welling up from deep down inside me.

The recipe calls for a long, slow rise (lievitazione) in the refrigerator to enhance flavor. Make sure to allow time for it.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls

Note: I specify the brand for the flours I use, because flours are not created equal; however, this in not an advertisement, i.e., I don't get receive any payment for mentioning the brands.

Ingredients (for 10 rolls)

For the sponge:

3/4 cup / 180 ml water
2 grams (slightly more than 1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
100 grams King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
15 grams sprouted whole-wheat flour
10 grams Ultragrain all-purpose flour (or King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour)

For the dough:

25 grams millet
20 grams hemp hearts
35 grams walnuts, finely chopped
1 large egg, possibly from pastured poultry, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons / 30 ml olive oil
70 grams whole-spelt flour (I use stone-ground from Capay Mills⁴)
150 grams whole-wheat flour (I use stone-ground, hard red whole-wheat flour from Beck's Bakery⁵)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
55 grams extra-dark chocolate, finely chopped (I use 88% cacao, but I am used to eating 100%, so it tastes sweet enough; if you are not used to unsweetened chocolate, I suggest you use 70-72% cacao)
1 teaspoon / 5 grams sea salt
a bit more all-purpose flour to dust your work surface

The sponge
Pour the water into a mixing bowl, add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Whisk in the flours to make a batter. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature for about 30 minutes, at the end of which you should see tiny bubbles (yeast at work).

The soaker
In the meantime, put the millet, hemp hearts and walnuts in a small bowl and cover with boiling water (1/2 cup / 120 ml). Leave to soak for 30 minutes, then drain the excess liquid (some will remain in the mix and that is fine). Stir the mixture into the sponge.

The bread dough
Add to the sponge and millet mixture the egg, the olive oil, the spelt and whole-wheat flours, the cocoa and chocolate. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Sprinkle the salt on the surface and let the dough rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

Lightly oil your work surface. Transfer the dough on it and knead with wet hands until smoother (a minute or two). The dough will be a bit sticky: use a dough cutter to help you knead. Avoid adding flour: during fermentation the flours will absorb water and by the time you cut it and shape it into rolls, the dough will be easy to handle.

Fold the dough and place it into a clean, oiled bowl. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. Better still, make the dough in the morning and bake the rolls the following morning or later in the day. The slow rise in the refrigerator allows a more complex flavor to develop.

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_1043

oh, the dough!

Shape the rolls
When ready to cut and shape, prepare a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Take the bowl with the dough out of the refrigerator, uncover it and flip it onto a lightly floured work surface. Scrape all the dough from the bowl. Cut the dough into 10 pieces, each weighing 77-80 grams.

Shape each roll as follows: Flatten the piece of dough then fold the corners towards the center, then fold again inward into a small bundle. Flip it seam side down on a piece of clean work surface and roll it with lightly floured hand to shape it into a tight ball. [This short video shows my hands rolling a larger piece of dough, but should still give an idea.]

Place the roll on the lined baking sheet, seeded side up, about 2 inches / 5 cm apart from the others.

Repeat until all the rolls are shaped. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap and place the baking sheet in a warm place until the rolls have doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hour, depending on the ambient temperature. Check the rolls' progress and when they are 15-20 minutes from being ready to be baked, turn on the oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Home stretch
Bake the rolls for 15 minutes. The internal temperature will be close to 210 F / 99 C (bake a minute or two longer, if needed). Take the baking sheet out of the oven then transfer the rolls onto a rack. Let cool. Enjoy!

I LOVE these rolls. You can nibble one by itself or with cheese⁶ or with a slice of prosciutto. They are delicate, a bit crunchy, ever so slightly sweet. Move over doughnuts!

¹ The book's page on the author's website and the miniseries page on HBO
²the MIDWIFE and the BAKER bakery
³ On this blog: seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls
⁴ Capay Mills
⁵ Beck's Bakery
⁶ On this blog: English-style coulommiers

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

panini integrali al cioccolato e noci

or launch the panini integrali al cioccolato e noci 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.]

This is my second contribution to the 33rd 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.

The roundup of the event.

I am also contributing to the June edition of Foodies Read the reading/cooking event hosted by Heather of Based on a True Story.

Visit the linkup page to see what others have read and cooked.

bread, dinner rolls, whole-grain flour, whole-wheat flour, chocolate, walnuts, millet, hemp seeds

seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali ai semi

October 8, 2017 | Simona

seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_0675

what happens when you drop a poppy seedpod
(on La FABBRICA del LINO placemat)

In the many years I have been hosting Novel Food I have contributed and received contributions inspired by a wide range of literature, from thick novels to flash nonfiction, from intense memoir to moving poems. One category of books notably absent from the Novel Food library is so-called self-improvement books, which examine a life's problem and offer advice on a way forward (I prefer to avoid the word "solution" which is better applied to math problems).

The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work by Christine Carter¹ (recommended to me by a friend), together with some articles from the Greater Good Science Center's Greater Good in Action website² have helped me a lot recently to deal with some intense stressors and find again some balance in my daily life. I am not yet able to get into the sweet spot easily, but am working on it. If you are interested you can sign up for the Greater Good Science Center's newsletter.

The book did not per se inspire the recipe below, but it inspired me to bake bread again after a long hiatus. Baking bread (fare il pane) is one of the joys of life, but in the last year and a half I had it set aside for various reasons. With its focus on, among other things, bringing positive emotions into one's life, the book reminded me that baking bread is a reliable way for me to feel good. That and making cheese (fare il formaggio).

seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / IMG_0659

(homemade) cheese is (homemade) bread's best friend

I selected from my archive a recipe by David Tannis³ for seeded dinner rolls with whole-wheat flour (farina integrale). The recipe rightly advocates for a long, slow rise (lievitazione) in the refrigerator to enhance flavor. I halved the quantities, made some changes to the list of ingredients and applied techniques I learned at the San Francisco Baking Institute. The rolls are great: dense but light, soft but with the lovely crunch of seeds, the perfect size not only for the dinner bread basket (cestino del pane) but also for a sandwich. And if you slice them and toast the slices you have a great base for canapé.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls

Note: I specify the brand for the flours I use, because flours are not created equal; however, this in not an advertisement, i.e., I don't get receive any payment for mentioning the brands.

Ingredients (for 10 rolls)

For the sponge:

3/4 cup / 180 ml water
2 grams (slightly more than 1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
100 grams King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour
15 grams sprouted whole-wheat flour (I use stone-ground from Capay Mills or King Arthur Flour)
10 grams Ultragrain all-purpose flour (or King Arthur Flour all-purpose flour)

For the dough:

25 grams millet
15 grams sunflower seeds
20 grams pumpkin seeds
20 grams hemp hearts
1 large egg, possibly from pastured poultry, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons / 30 ml olive oil
70 grams whole-spelt flour (I use stone-ground from Capay Mills⁴)
150 grams whole-wheat flour (I use stone-ground, hard red whole-wheat flour from Beck's Bakery⁵)
1 teaspoon / 5 grams sea salt
a bit more all-purpose flour to dust your work surface

For the topping:

Poppy seeds or sesame seeds

Make the sponge
Pour the water into a mixing bowl, add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Whisk in the flours to make a batter. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature for about 30 minutes, at the end of which you should see tiny bubbles (yeast at work).

Soak the seeds
In the meantime, put the millet and all the seeds in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for 30 minutes, then drain (some water will remain in the seed mix and that is fine). Stir the seeds into the sponge.

Make the bread dough
Add to the sponge and seed mixture the egg, the olive oil, the spelt and whole-wheat flours. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Sprinkle the salt on the surface and let the dough rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

Lightly flour your work surface. Transfer the dough on it and knead until smoother (a minute or two). The dough will be a bit sticky: use a dough cutter to help you knead. Avoid adding flour: during fermentation the flours will absorb water and by the time you cut it and shape it into rolls, the dough will be easy to manage.

Shape the rolls
When ready to cut and shape, prepare a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, and also a small bowl with water and another bowl with poppy seeds. Take the bowl with the dough out of the refrigerator, uncover it and flip it onto a lightly floured work surface. Scrape all the dough from the bowl. Cut the dough into 10 pieces, each weighing 70-72 grams⁶.

Holding the roll by the seam with your fingertips, dip its top surface quickly in the water, then roll it gently on the poppy seeds. Place the roll on the lined baking sheet, seeded side up, about 2 inches / 5 cm apart from the others.

Home stretch
Bake the rolls for 15 minutes, or until nicely browned. The internal temperature will be close to 210 F / 99 C. Take the baking sheet out of the oven then transfer the rolls onto a rack. Let cool. Enjoy!

Perfect positive emotion to make, bake, smell and taste these rolls, especially when topped with some of my homemade cheese, like the (French) Neufchâtel⁷ in the photo or my famous crescenza (which these days I am making with half Jersey cow milk and it comes out out-of-this-world good⁸).

¹ The book's page on the author's website
²The Greater Good Science Center's Greater Good in Action website
³ Recipe for Seeded molasses whole-wheat dinner rolls on the NY Times
⁴ Capay Mills
⁵ Beck's Bakery
⁶ The number of rolls the original declares to make is puzzling: it is impossible to make 30 rolls each weighing 3 ounces from the quantities listed. Also, by my test, smaller-size rolls rise and bake more evenly.
⁷ On this blog: homemade (French) Neufchâtel
⁸ On this blog: homemade Crescenza

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

panini integrali ai semi

or launch the panini integrali ai semi 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.]

This is my second contribution to the 31st 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.

The roundup of the event.

bread, dinner rolls, whole-grain flour, whole-wheat flour, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, millet, hemp seeds

apple tart / crostata di mele

September 30, 2017 | Simona

a personal take on an Italian classic

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, is a well-known children's book in the US. It was an interesting read, giving me a glimpse into some of the literature people my age were exposed to during their childhood and a view into rural life and related activities in an age and place quite removed from mine. For Almanzo and his family the year was marked by the seasonal work they did, and that work is described in detail by Ingalls Wilder. There is also moral content, mostly with regards to money.

The distance in time and place between the book and me made some parts jarring and in this light, it was particularly interesting to listen to a recent piece on NPR on Ingalls Wilder on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of her birth¹. As usual, I am thankful to belong to a book club that exposes me to works I would not have read on my own.

There is a lot of food in the book and also something dear to my heart: the imperative of avoiding food waste. This topic recurs in the story including in the chapter connected to my choice of recipe. First Almanzo and his siblings harvest apples by hand, careful not to bruise them so they won't spoil when put into storage.

it's apple season!

The other apples are pressed into cider (sidro). Making use of less than perfect apples was the subject of an article I wrote a few years ago¹. I regularly buy such apples (called seconds at farmers' market around here) and eat them out of hand or use them in my kitchen. Their main fault usually a tiny bruise or discoloration that can be easily removed, or a non-conformant shape.

Almanzo likes all pies. I have nice memories of the first apple pie I tasted, during my first stay in the UK, homemade by my landlady with apples from her garden. Being Italian, my preference goes to crostata, the traditional Italian tart.

The base (shell) of a crostata is made of pasta frolla (or pastafrolla), a dough of flour, sugar, butter and eggs. In the filling of this crostata I celebrate the change of seasons by using plum preserves from summer and apples from the new crop.

apple tart / crostata di mele / DSC_3307

the baked apple slices look like rose petals

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Apple tart / Crostata di mele

Ingredients

For pasta frolla:

1/3 cup / 65 g ultrafine sugar or 1/2 cup powdered sugar (see Note 1)
1/2 cup / 60 g whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup / 65 g unbleached all-purpose flour (see Note 2)
1/4 cup / 30 g almond flour or almond meal
1/4 cup / 30 g whole-grain barley flour OR unbleached all-purpose flour OR a mix of millet and sorghum flours
A pinch of salt
6 tablespoons / 85 g / 3 ounces cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg (possibly from pastured poultry), lightly whisked to blend yolk and white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

1 cup fruit preserves of a flavor you like that goes well with apples and made mostly with fruit (see Note 3)
2 apples, about 10 ounces / 280 g, of a variety that is sweet and crisp, organic if possible

Note 2: The less gluten (as indicated by % protein) in the flour, the better (I like to use Perfect Pastry blend by King Arthur Flour). Do not use bread flour.

Note 3: I use my homemade low-sugar preserves. I recommend you choose a good quality product, made with mostly fruit and little sugar.

Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball. Use some all-purpose flour as needed to flour your hands to prevent excessive sticking.

How to prepare the bottom layer of the crostata
To bake the crostata, I recommend using a 9 or 9 1/2-inch / 23-24 cm fluted round tart pan with removable bottom, about 1 inch / 2.5 cm high.

Take the pasta frolla out of the refrigerator and unwrap it. I recommend you roll the dough on a piece of parchment paper or the plastic film in which it was wrapped as it is quite crumbly.

Lightly dust with flour the top of the dough and the surface on which you are rolling it. Keep some flour handy to lightly dust the dough as you go along.

Refrigerate the tart shell. After 15 minutes or so, preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

apple tart / crostata di mele / DSC_3300

apples — thinly sliced with the help of a mandoline

How to fill the crostata
Rinse well the apples and cut them into quarters. Slice them thinly crosswise using the thinnest setting of a mandoline or similar tool.

Take the unbaked tart shell out of the fridge. With the help of a spatula distribute on it the fruit preserves in an even layer. Fan out the apple slices and distribute them over the fruit preserves to make an even layer that will look quite beautiful once the tart is baked.

How to bake the crostata
Put the crostata in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. Check the tart to estimate the time remaining, then continue baking until the tart border is of a light golden hue. Make sure the apples don't burn at the edges. (If that is about to happen, cover the tart loosely with foil and continue baking.)

Serves 10-12.

pretty also in black and white

The tart is best eaten the day it is made.

¹ NPR: 'Little House on the Prairie' author is 150
² North Coast Journal: Baking Beauties
³ On this blog: Vinegar Tart

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

crostata di mele

or launch the crostata di mele 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.]

This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen . (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

This is also my contribution to the 31st 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.

The roundup of the event.

tart, fruit dessert, apple, crostata, Italian cuisine

briciole

Simona Carini serves recipes and Italian words related to food

Baking

spinach pie with pine nuts and raisins / tortino di spinaci con pinoli e uvetta

tortino di spinaci con pinoli e uvetta

pear tart / crostata di pere

sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart / torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine

sourdough whole-wheat cheese crackers / cracker integrali al formaggio

pecan parcels (apricots stuffed with pecans and pancetta) / albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta

albicocche ripiene con noci pecan e pancetta

chocolate and walnut whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali al cioccolato e noci

seeded whole-wheat dinner rolls / panini integrali ai semi

apple tart / crostata di mele