fruity chard / bieta alla frutta

July 29, 2025December 25, 2025 | Simona

fruity chard on serving plate — ready to be served
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Our current Cook the Books Club selection is the historical novel A Bakery in Paris by Aimie Runyan¹, which alternates between the story of Lisette and that of her great-granddaughter Micheline. Both lived in Paris. Lisette’s story is set during the German siege (1870-1871)² and subsequent Commune (1871)³, that of Micheline immediately after the end of WWII.

Lisette is the original founder and owner of the title’s bakery, which Micheline reopens, offering the usual assortment of French pastries, prepared based on Lisette’s recipes (documented in a notebook and provided at the end of some of the chapters) and her culinary academy training.

One of the pastries is croquembouche (pièce montée). Years ago I made a version of it where I used melted chocolate (70% cocoa) instead of caramelized sugar (zucchero caramellato) to bind the choux pastry, because “I don’t like the contrast between the hard caramelized sugar and the lightly crisp bignè shell, which segues immediately into the soft filling. Melted chocolate offers, in my opinion, the perfect binding material: it provides stability by hardening into a layer of the right consistency, so the progression of taking one bite is: 1) crack thin layer of chocolate, 2) break crisp bignè shell, 3) glide into creamy filling. Basically, heaven.”⁴

After her husband, Théo, dies fighting with the Communards, Lisette, pregnant, is expected to marry her first fiancé and go to Provence (Provenza) with him until after giving birth. She ends up not going and not marrying him (again), but I decided to stay there for inspiration.

Tarte aux blettes is a Provencal dessert made with Swiss chard. While I was not interested in replicating it (we don’t eat dessert), I played with the idea of adding a sweet note to a vegetable I like and eat regularly.

For my first try, I bought a bunch of rainbow chard at the Little Wing Farm stand⁵ outside Point Reyes Station while I was riding my bicycle. I had planned to stop there, so had a couple of bags in my backpack. The chard was kept in a tub and I didn’t realize until I took up a bunch how big it was, with long colorful stems (which I adore!) and large leaves. When I put it in the backpack, the top stuck out giving me, I am sure, a curious appearance when riding.

At the San Rafael farmers’ market, where I shop when in the Bay Area, some vendors offer slightly blemished or overripe fruit at a discounted price, and I usually get some to add to dishes, like this one. This is the season of stone fruit and I decided to try pairing the chard with white nectarine (pesca noce or nettarina) first. I then tried using a peach (pesca), peeled, and also apricots (albicocche). All the fruit worked well. The sweetness balances the light bitter nuance of chard and the result is a side dish that nods towards dessert without being overly sweet.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Fruity chard

Ingredients:

1 pound / 450 grams rainbow chard or Swiss chard, stems included, up to 6-7 inches / 15-18 cm (if you have more, save them for another dish: do not discard them)
4 ounces / 112 grams red spring onion
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil OR 1 tablespoon / 15 ml extra-virgin olive oil + 1 tablespoon / 15 grams unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon Harissa spice mix
2 tablespoons / 30 ml warm water if needed
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
4 ounces fruit (e.g., nectarine, peach, apricot), clean weight

Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic.

Separate the chard stems from the leaves and chop the stems. Halve the leaves lengthwise, stack 5-6 at a time and cut them into 1-inch / 2.5-cm wide ribbons.

Warm up a 5-qt cast iron Dutch oven and add the olive oil. When hot, add the onion and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes, then add the stems and sprinkle the Harissa spice mix and thyme. Stir well and cover. Turn the heat down to medium-low.

Cook for 8 minutes or until the onion is soft, stirring often.

Add the garlic and stir. After 1 minute add the chard. Cover and cook for 1 minute to let the chard wilt, then stir. Cover and cook for another 7 minutes or until the chard is tender.

In the meantime, cut the fruit into 3/4 inch / 2 cm- side cubes. If using a peach, peel it first.

When the chard is almost cooked, add the fruit, stir and cook for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat, sprinkle the sea salt and stir. Transfer to a plate and serve.

Serves 3

close up of plated fruity chard — A closer look

I like to eat this side dish alongside a more decidedly savory one, like mixed vegetables with thyme⁶ or the roasted vegetable medley I prepare weekly using zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, roasted corn and garlic.

¹The book’s page on the publisher’s website
²The siege of Paris
³ The Commune of Paris
⁴ From briciole’s archive: profiterole
⁵ Little Wing Farm Instagram page
⁶ From briciole’s archive: Mixed vegetables with thyme

Click on the Play 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 Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. (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.

eggs nested in leafy green vegetables / uova in nidi di verdura

September 28, 2016 | Simona

eggs nested in leafy green vegetables / DSC_7997

simple, rustic and richly good

Restarting where I left off. In a recent post I shared the recipe for Cranberry Beans with Rhubarb¹. Here I will talk about the leafy greens you saw in that post's photos.

a deeply flavored dish, though maybe not photogenic
(tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The current Cook the Books selection, The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo by F. G. Haghenbeck, made me think a lot about what we need/want to know about an artist's life. In this case it is actually two artists: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. My encounter with the work of both happened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art² almost 20 years ago. I learned there a bit about their life, enough to complement my appreciation of their paintings. I admit I was more impressed by Rivera than by Kahlo. Rivera's The Flower Carrier³ is in the museum's permanent collection and I look at it every time I visit.

The novel didn't add to my appreciation of Kahlo⁴ or Rivera and it goes into some areas of their life where I was not eager to go. In reading what is described as "a fictional account" of Kahlo's life, it was tricky to suspend my disbelief. I found that I prefer to be either in fiction land or in biography land, not some place in between. Once again, I am thankful to be a member of our special reading club, because I would not have chosen this book on my own, and reading it stimulated some interesting thoughts and pushed me to be clear with myself about the reasons why it didn't resonate with me.

While I was reading the book, I thought about how in the kitchen I use ingredients a bit like a painter chooses his/her colors. I usually follow a recipe, but sometimes I just use what I have and see (taste, actually) if it works. This is particularly true with recipes that use leafy green vegetables, which grow according on their own plans in my serendipitous garden: Red Russian kale, collard greens, rainbow chard (bietola). I harvest them weekly pretty much year round and try to cook them in various ways. My husband is not wild about them, preferring spinach, while I love them. One evening that I had some of my tomato sauce (sugo di pomodoro) made with roasted tomatoes, I tried pairing them and liked the result, which you see in the photo above with the beans. Then I thought I could arrange the greens into a nest a cook an egg inside. The result is currently my favorite way of eating the greens.

various shades of greens

What I like about this recipe is that it can be made in separate steps. I can harvest and cook the fresh greens (which would otherwise wilt quickly) and store them in the refrigerator until I need them. I make tomato sauce often enough that I always have some handy and fresh eggs (uova fresche) are permanent inhabitants of my refrigerators. The final step of putting it all together takes a short time.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Eggs nested in leafy green vegetables

Ingredients:

A bunch of leafy green vegetables, 3/4-1 pound: kale, chard and/or collard greens in the proportion you prefer
Tomato sauce (my recipe is in this post⁵)
Fine sea salt
Fresh eggs, preferably from pastured poultry

Wash the greens and separate the leaves from the stalks. (Set aside the chard stalks and make something with them, like a gratin⁶.) Make a stack of leaves, then roll it into a tight roll starting from the base of the leaves. Hold the roll with one hand and with the other cut thin slices across (as if it were a salame).

Place the pile of cut green in a large skillet and cook them in the water they hold until wilted, then cover the skillet and cook on gentle heat until tender, 8 minutes or so. Stir every couple of minutes and make sure there is enough water to prevent sticking. Salt to taste.

At this point you can continue or let the greens cool, store them in a cover container in the refrigerator for a day or two.

When ready, take a portion of the greens per person to serve and either cook them all together in a larger skillet or make individual portions in smaller ones: 2 ounces / 55 g of cooked greens per egg is the amount I use, enough to make a nice nest. Prepare only what you will consume. Oil the skillet and warm up the greens. Add the tomato sauce and stir well: 2 tablespoons (30 ml) per 2 ounces / 55 g of cooked greens is the amount I use. When everything is nice and hot, spread the greens evenly and make an indentation for each egg.

Break an egg into each indentation and cook on low heat until the yolk is cooked to your liking. Sprinkle a tiny amount of salt on each egg. I stop the cooking when the white is set and the yolk is still running, because that is how I like it.

Serve immediately in bowls, to keep the nest from spreading too much. Immediately I break the yolk and mix it with the greens, like a painter mixing colors.

I eat this and think it is superb, as the bitter nuance of the greens cuts slightly into the sweet yolk and the latter binds the greens into a satisfying texture.

eggs nested in leafy green vegetables / DSC_7998

I break the runny yolk and mix it with the greens

Admirers of Frida Kahlo may also enjoy this illustrated biography of hers⁷.

¹ Rhubarb and berbere cranberry beans (with recipe)
² San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
³ Diego Rivera: The Flower Carrier
⁴ Frida Kahlo: Frieda and Diego Rivera
⁵ Post including my recipe for tomato sauce, which uses my strained roasted tomatoes
⁶ Gratinéed chard stalks
⁷ Frida Kahlo: An Illustrated Biography by writer Zena Alkayat and artist Nina Cosford

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

uova in nidi di verdura

or launch the uova in nidi di verdura 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 28th 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.

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.

greens, eggs, kale, chard, collard greens

recipe: eggs nested in leafy green vegetables

September 27, 2016 | Simona

Eggs nested in leafy green vegetables

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes total

Keywords: saute breakfast entree gluten-free nut-free vegetarian low-carb soy-free sugar-free egg leafy greens tomatoes

Ingredients (Serves 3-4)

A bunch of leafy green vegetables, 3/4-1 pound: kale, chard and/or collard greens in the proportion you prefer
Tomato sauce (my recipe is included here)
Fine sea salt
Fresh eggs, preferably from pastured poultry

Instructions

Wash the greens and separate the leaves from the stalks. (Set aside the chard stalks and make something with them, like a gratin.) Make a stack of leaves, then roll it into a tight roll starting from the base of the leaves. Hold the roll with one hand and with the other cut thin slices across (as if it were a salame).

At this point you can continue or let the greens cool, store them in a cover container in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Serve immediately in bowls, to keep the nest from spreading too much. Immediately I break the yolk and mix it with the greens, like a painter mixing colors.

Go to the full post on eggs nested in leafy green vegetables

tagliatelle con bietola e pecorino / tagliatelle with chard and pecorino

April 26, 2012 | Simona

tagliatelle with chard and pecorino

Last Saturday, my laptop would not wake up after a period of sleep. (I just learned that the hard disk is broken and needs replacement.) Hence, the last several days have been challenging due to lack of access to files and applications I need for work, the blog and photography. The stressful computer situation did not prevent me from cooking and, in this case, experimenting a bit with available ingredients.

fava bean leaves

As I mentioned in my recent post on ribollita-inspired soup, at the farmers' market, I got some fresh fava bean leaves (foglie delle fave), called also fava greens. What I did not use in the soup, I turned into a kind of pesto, as follows:

3 oz. fresh fava bean leaves
2 cloves of garlic, previously roasted in the oven (skin on)
a generous pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Put the first three ingredients in the food processor and turn it on, then pour the oil slowly through the feeding tube and process just a few seconds after you finish the oil.

I used a dollop of the sauce to top each bowl of ribollita-inspired soup, and stored the rest for further experiments. The first experiment was to use it as pasta dressing the way I use pesto. The result was acceptable, but not quite satisfying. Freshly harvested rainbow chard from my little vegetable patch almost screamed to be used and I paid attention.

My recipe for making fresh tagliatelle is in this post. The final element of the dish is fiore sardo (pecorino from Sardinia), the kind of cheese I use (together with Parmigiano-Reggiano) to make traditional basil pesto. It's one of my favorite Italian cheeses (and one of the few cheeses I still buy, since I cannot make it at home due to lack of access to sheep milk). It is also the cheese traditionally paired with fava beans, represented in my pasta dish by their leaves.

freshly grated pecorino cheese

This is another recipe where quantities are not fixed: I made a small batch of tagliatelle (using one egg, as in this recipe), harvested a small bunch of chard leaves and adjusted the amount of cheese to our palate. If you cook more chard than needed for the pasta, you can use it later as a side dish.

Ingredients:

olive oil
a clove of garlic, minced
a small bunch of chard leaves cut into ribbons, thick ribs removed and set aside for another dish (like this or this)
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste
a tablespoon (or a bit more, to taste) of pesto made with fresh fava bean leaves (see above)
a small batch of tagliatelle made using one egg
freshly grated fiore sardo

Bring water for the pasta to a boil. In the meantime, warm up olive oil in a skillet and add garlic. Let fry lightly for a minute, then add the chard. Sauté over gentle heat until cooked (in my case, it took 6 minutes or so, since the chrd leaves were young and tender). The water hanging onto the leaves should be sufficient, but keep a close eye during the cooking to prevent them from sticking to the skillet. When ready, season with salt and pepper to taste, add the fava bean leaf pesto, stir well and turn off the heat. Keep warm while the pasta cooks.

Add salt to the boiling water, drop tagliatelle into it and stir. Bring back to a boil and cook pasta al dente (it will take just a few minutes). While you keep an eye on the pasta pot, grate the cheese. Pour some cold water into the pot, stir, then drain the tagliatelle. Empty the strainer into a bowl, then dress the pasta with the cooked chard and some of the cheese. Toss well, sprinkle more cheese on the surface and serve immediately.

This is my contribution to edition #261 of Presto Pasta Nights. The event was created by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and is hosted this week by Simona of briciole (that would be me).

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

tagliatelle con bietola e pecorino

or launch the tagliatelle con bietola e pecorino 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.]

chard, pasta, cheese

torta salata con ricotta e verdure novelle / savory tart with ricotta and baby leafy greens

January 22, 2012 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

Last November, I planted some rainbow chard in a section of my little vegetable garden (orto) and I have been able to harvest leaves a few times. I cannot take credit for the tidy state of the garden: while I like planting and harvesting, I am an inconstant gardener and therefore need help in keeping weeds (erbacce) and slugs under control.

In this photo (taken with ShakeItPhoto), you can see the leafy greens I can harvest in my garden right now. Left to right: Icicle radish green, cavolo nero (Lacinato or Dinosaur kale), Red Russian kale, chard, collard, borage (borragine). [I am actually not sure I should harvest the radish greens, but I take only a leaf or two at a time and I have a number of plants.] Depending on how I am planning to use them, I will, as in the case of the recipe I am about to describe, harvest young leaves. The gardeners among you may like to know that except for chard, of which I planted seedlings, and Icicle radish, which I planted from seeds I received as a gift, the greens are from seeds from my garden.

I have made the tart of the title with baby chard only and also with a mix of the greens. Spinach (spinaci) would also work: the ones in my garden are not yet baby spinach, so I could not harvest any. Besides leafy greens, the tart filling includes ricotta and Parmigiano-Reggiano (a combination reminiscent of my stuffing for mezzelune) And the base is the "alternative" puff pastry (pasta sfoglia "alternativa") from my most recent post. More than a recipe, this is a suggestion: you make the puff pastry and then you have a canvas on which you can try a combination on ingredients that you think will work. And of course, the given quantities can be adjusted to fill a bigger tart.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Savory tart with ricotta and baby leafy greens

Ingredients:

4 1/2 oz. (125 g) baby chard or a mix of baby leafy greens
a medium shallot (scalogno), finely chopped
olive oil
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste
4 1/2 oz. (125 g) ricotta, possibly homemade, mashed
5 3/4 oz. (165 g / half a batch) of "alternative" puff pastry (or equivalent amount of regular puff pastry)
2-3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Wash the greens and don't drain them completely. Discard the tougher end of the stalk of kale and collard greens. Cut off the stalks from baby chard, and chop them finely. Cut leaves into ribbons no more than 1/2-inch wide.

Warm up a bit of oil in a small skillet and cook the shallot for a couple of minutes, stirring often. Add the chard stalks and continue cooking for a few more minutes, again stirring often. Add cut leaves and cook in the water clinging to them for a few minutes. Stir to make sure the greens cook evenly and don't stick to the pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste and let cool briefly.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Roll out the pastry until fairly thin, then place it on the lined baking sheet. Prick the shell with a fork in several places. Add ricotta to the greens and stir well. Spread over rolled pastry, leaving a border all around (about 1/2 inch). Sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano evenly on the surface.

Pinch the pastry all around to raise it slightly and make a kind of border (see photo above). In earlier versions of the tart, I rolled the pastry into a circle and made a narrow border galette-style, which you can see in the photo of the "alternative" puff pastry post. However, the pastry swells as it bakes, so the galette effect was lost, because the border was too narrow. I didn't want a wider border, so I adopted this solution of just pinching the pastry to raise it and I am happy about the result.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until the visible crust is light golden, about 25 minutes. As usual, the time varies with the oven. Check the tart after 20 minutes and estimate the time remaining.

Take out of the oven, let rest briefly, then cut the tart, serve and enjoy.

My husband was eating the other half for his lunch while I took the photo above. This is not something you want to make every day, since puff pastry is rich in butter. Cut into smaller pieces, the tart makes a nice appetizer (antipasto). And you can boast about having made the puff pastry yourself.

This is my contribution to edition #317 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 me, Simona of briciole.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

torta salata con ricotta e verdure novelle

or launch the torta salata con ricotta e verdure novelle 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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puff pastry, ricotta, savory tart, leafy greens, chard

torta salata con ricotta e verdure novelle

Lo scorso Novembre ho piantato delle bietole in una parte del mio orticello e ho raccolto foglioline alcune volte. Non è merito mio se il mio orticello è ordinato: mi piace piantare e raccogliere, ma sono una giardiniera scostante e quindi ho bisogno di aiuto per tenere sotto controllo erbacce e lumache (la roba bianca che si vede è una barriera di conchiglie frantumate che serve a fermare le lumache).

In questa foto (che ho scattato usando ShakeItPhoto) potete vedere le verdure da taglio che posso raccogliere in questo periodo nel mio orticello. Da sinistra a destra: ravanello "Ghiacciolo" (così chiamato perché è bianco e lungo), cavolo nero, cavolo riccio "Red Russian," collard (un tipo di Brassica dalle belle foglie larghe), borragine. [Non sono sicura che sia corretto tagliare le foglie dei ravanelli, ma ne raccolgo solo una o due per volta e ne ho diverse piantine.] A seconda di quello che ho intenzione di fare, raccolgo le foglie quando sono ancora piccole.

Ho fatto questa torta salata sia utilizzando solo bietola novella che utilizzando un misto di verdure. Gli spinaci sono un'altra possibilità, ma quelli che ho piantato non sono ancora nemmeno novelli e quindi non ho potuto raccoglierli. Oltre alla verdura, la torta salata contiene ricotta e Parmigiano-Reggiano (una combinazione simile al mio ripieno per le mezzelune) e la base è fatta con la pasta sfoglia alternativa di Marta che ho descritto nel mio post precedente. Più che una ricetta, questa è un'idea: fate la pasta sfoglia e avrete una tela sulla quale fare esperimenti di composizione di vari ingredienti che pensate vadano bene. E naturalmente le dosi si possono adeguare alla grandezza della torta che volete fare.

Ingredienti:

125 g bietola novella o un misto di verdure novelle
uno scalogno medio tagliato fino
olio d'oliva
sale fino e pepe nero macinato fresco, q.b.
125 g ricotta schiacciata con una forchetta (in Italia la ricotta vera, fresca e buona per vostra fortuna si trova facilmente, mentre io la devo fare in casa)
165 g / metà della pasta sfoglia "alternativa" che ottenete seguendo le dosi della ricetta, oppure la stessa quantità di pasta sfoglia tradizionale
2-3 cucchiai di Parmigiano-Reggiano grattugiato fresco

Lavare le verdure senza sgrondarle del tutto. Scartare la parte più dura del gambo di cavolo nero, cavolo riccio e collard. Tagliare i gambi della bietola e tagliarli a pezzetti. Tagliare le foglie a nastri non più larghi di 1,25 cm.

Scaldare un po' d'olio in una padellina e cuocere lo scalogno per un paio di minuti, mescolando spesso. Aggiungere i gambi della bietola e continuare a cuocere per alcuni minuti, sempre mescolando spesso. Aggiungere le foglie e cuocere per alcuni minuti nell'acqua che hanno ancora attaccata. Mescolare e fare attenzione che le verdure non si attacchino al fondo della padella. Condire con sale e pepe a piacere e far intiepidire.

Scaldare il forno a 190 C e foderare una lastra da forno con tappetino di silicone per forno o carta da forno. Stendere la pasta sfoglia fina (io ho fatto un rettangolo di circa 15 cm x 20 cm) e poi muoverla sulla lastra foderata. Bucherellare la superficie con una forchetta in diversi punti. Aggiungere le ricotta alle verdure e mescolare bene, poi distribuire sulla pasta sfoglia lasciando tutto intorno un bordo di circa 1,25 cm. Spargere il Parmigiano-Reggiano sulla superficie.

Pizzicare la pasta sfoglia tutto intorno per sollevare leggermente il bordo (vedi foto qui sopra). Le vote precedenti avevo steso la pasta sfoglia a formare un cerchio e poi fatto un bordo ripiegato stile galette (come si vede nella foto all'inizio del post sulla pasta sfoglia "alternativa"), ma la pasta si gonfia in cottura e l'effetto galette andava perso perché il bordo era troppo stretto. Non volevo fare un bordo più largo e quindi ho adottato la soluzione descritta sopra e sono rimasta soddisfatta del risultato.

Infornare e cuocere fino a quando la crosta è dorata, 25 minuti circa. Come si sa, ogni forno è un po' diverso e quindi è bene controllare la torta dopo 20 minuti e valutare quanto tempo manca.

Tirare fuori la teglia dal forno, far riposare brevemente la torta e poi tagliare e servire.

La metà che manca nella foto la stava mangiando mio marito per pranzo. Questo non è un piatto da fare tutti i giorni, dal momento che la pasta sfoglia è ricca di burro. Tagliata a quadrotti, questa torta salata può essere servita come antipasto.

Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 317 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 me, Simona di briciole.

Questo post contiene il raccolto dell'evento.

mezzelune con ricotta e bietola / pasta stuffed with ricotta and chard

July 14, 2011 | Simona

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

You can find the information and the recipes Steph provided on this page. Serendipitously, I have recently written two posts on fresh egg pasta: tagliatelle with ricotta (both homemade) and tagliatelle with tomato sauce and fava beans. The posts include my recipe for the pasta all'uovo itself and for three dishes. In them, I explained also how I always make the pasta dough by hand and sometimes use the rolling pin (matterello), sometimes the pasta machine to roll out the pasta: the ingredient in the latter case is called olio di gomito (elbow grease).

For the challenge, I decided to make stuffed pasta. First, I selected the filling ingredients: my homemade ricotta and baby rainbow chard (bietola novella) from my little vegetable garden. Then, I decided that I would cut the pasta dough with my 3-inch fluted round biscuit cutter and then fold each round into a mezzaluna (half moon).

If you have never made stuffed pasta before, my recommendation is to start small. Make one egg of pasta all'uovo and prepare the filling below. You will have some leftover filling. When I was a kid, my task was to fill and shape cappelletti. My mother prepared the filling and the pasta and cut the pasta for me and I took it from there. Sometimes I felt like the pasta and the filling would never end, no matter how many cappelletti I shaped. So now I am careful about making the task small so it looks manageable. Anyway, enough with advice.

The recipe I use to make pasta all'uovo is here. I have recently run out of the type of flour mentioned in the post, so I am now using a blend of all-purpose flour and durum flour that I brought from Italy.

Ingredients for the filling:

50 g cooked baby chard (I weighed it after I cooked it) [you can use tender chard leaves instead]
150 g [homemade] ricotta
a pinch of nutmeg (noce moscata)
a pinch of dried lemon zest
a bit of salt
2 tablespoons freshly grated homemade Montasio or Parmigiano-Reggiano

Additional ingredients to finish the dish:

salted butter
freshly grated homemade Montasio or Parmigiano-Reggiano, to taste

Wash the baby chard and put it in a pan with some water still clinging to the leaves. Cover and cook until tender, checking often to make sure the pan is not dry. If you do this carefully, there is no need to squeeze the leaves dry (something I can't bring myself to do in any circumstance).

Chop chard finely. With a fork, mash the ricotta into a cream. Add the chard and mix well. Add the seasoning and incorporate. The filling is now ready to be used.

Cut the pasta, place a small amount of filling on each round, fold it in half, and carefully seal the edge. I am afraid I must renege on my recent "enough with advice" statement. Start with using less filling than you think is needed: it is easy to put too much filling on a round and then get into trouble when you try to seal the mezzaluna. On the other hand, you want to end up with a nice, soft pillow.

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add some coarse salt and stir. Drop the mezzelune into the water, making sure they don't crowd, and bring back to boiling. Cook the mezzelune several minutes, until done. The amount of time needed depends on a few factors, so the best way to handle this is to watch attentively and taste a corner.

While the pasta is cooking, in a ramekin, melt a tablespoon of salted butter for each 10-11 mezzelune. This quantity is my idea of a portion and you should get two portions from one egg of pasta all'uovo. Add a few leaves of fresh basil finely chopped (or chiffonade) and stir. Grate the cheese of choice. Drain the mezzelune and place them on plates. Pour some of the butter & basil, sprinkle cheese on top and serve immediately.

You'll be loved.

You can see many variations of the theme of handmade pasta, when you browse the creations of my fellow Daring Cooks. A special thank to Steph for an interesting and fun challenge.

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

mezzelune con ricotta e bietola

or launch the mezzelune con ricotta e bietola 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.]

stuffed pasta

bietola olio e limone / Swiss chard with oil and lemon

May 28, 2011 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

We spent last weekend in Shelburne Falls, MA, where we walked daily on the beautiful Bridge of Flowers. I will talk more about this visit in a future post, but in the meantime I wanted to share with you an image of this enchanting place.

Before we left for this trip, we had some friends over for dinner and I prepared bietola "olio e limone" as a side dish. I had quite a bit going on in the kitchen and this is a side dish I could prepare in advance and set aside until dinner time. It is also a vegetable dish I liked even as a child: My mother used to prepare chard this way.

The variety of chard with which I was familiar in Italy is the one with white stalk. After moving to California, I learned that chard comes also in other colors: I like all the varieties.

For my rendition of bietola olio e limone, if the chard has very long stalks, I cut them so that they are just a few inches long, and use the remaining in this recipe. Chard is also often sold with stems cut fairly short. Since I cook leaves and stalks together, for this dish I choose chard with a thinner, more tender stalk or chard with white stalk, which, according to this source is the softest kind.

before cutting chard into ribbons

I usually cook kale with just the water clinging to the leaves. I saw the same technique used to cook whole chard leaves in a recipe on the website of the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera and I have adopted it in my rendition of chard with olive oil and lemon. However, I have read on this page that it is better to boil chard to decrease its bitterness. After using the cooking method in the recipe, chard does not taste bitter to me. In any case, you can certainly cook chard in boiling water and then use the same dressing given below.

In the recipe, I don't give exact measurements for the dressing ingredients: I like my chard quite lemony and I am partial to Meyer lemon, while you should follow your personal preference (and take into account that Meyer lemon has a milder flavor than regular lemon).

a rendition with rainbow chard

Ingredients:

a bunch of Swiss chard (see note above regarding the stems)
sea salt
extra-virgin olive oil (olio extra-vergine di oliva) of good quality
freshly squeezed juice of Meyer lemon (or of regular lemon)

Carefully wash the chard and place in a deep sauté pan or skillet with some water still clinging to the leaves. Cover and cook on medium-high heat for 2 minutes, then turn down to medium and cook for another 10 minutes or until the stems are tender. Check a couple of times to make sure the pan is not dry. If so, add some water. Alternatively, plunge chard into boiling water, cook until tender and drain. Place chard on a serving plate, sprinkle a bit of salt, and let cool to room temperature.

Cut leaves into 2-inch wide ribbons and stems into 1-inch long pieces. Place olive oil and lemon juice in a small jar, put the lid on and shake. Distribute some of the vinaigrette on the chard and toss lightly. Serve with the remaining vinaigrette on the side.

This is my contribution to edition #285 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 Graziana from Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs).

This post contains the roundup of the event.

bietola olio e limone

or launch the bietola olio e limone audio file [mp3].

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bietola olio e limone

Lo scorso weekend lo abbiamo trascorso a Shelburne Falls, nel Massachusetts, dove ogni giorno abbiamo camminato sopra il bellissimo Bridge of Flowers (ponte dei fiori). Parlerò più a lungo di questa visita in un altro post, ma nel frattempo volevo condividere un'immagine di questo angolo incantevole. Se non siete mai stati da quelle parti, il New England in generale è proprio carino.

Prima di partire, abbiamo avuto ospiti a cena due amici e ho preparato della bietola "olio e limone" per contorno. Avevo diverse cose in ballo in cucina e questo è un contorno che si può preparare in anticipo e mettere da parte fino all'ora di cena. È anche un tipo di verdura che mi piace fin da quando ero bambina. Mia madre preparava la bietola così.

La varietà di bietola che mi era familiare in Italia è quella con la costa bianca. In California ho conosciuto bietola di altri colori e mi piacciono tutte le varietà. Dal momento che cuocio foglie e coste insieme, per questa ricetta scelgo bietola con la costa più sottile e tenera.

prima del taglio a nastri

Di solito cuocio il cavolo riccio con l'acqua che rimane sulle foglie dopo il lavaggio. Ho visto la stessa idea usata per cuocere le foglie di bietola intere in una ricetta sul sito del Corriere della Sera e l'ho adottata per la mia versione della bietola "olio e limone." Ho però letto su questa pagina che è meglio bollire la bietola per attutire il gusto amaro. Dopo la cottura secondo la ricetta di cui sopra, la bietola al mio palato non è sembrata amara. In ogni caso, potete bollire la bietola fino a quando sia tenera e poi condirla come descritto qui sotto.

Nella ricetta, non specifico le dosi del condimento: a me la bietola piace con molto limone e ho un debole per il limone Meyer (ho anche un'amica carissima che ne ha un albero prolifico). Voi seguite i vostri gusti (e tenete anche presente che il limone Meyer ha un sapore più delicato del limone comune).

qui ho usato la bietola "arcobaleno"

Ingredienti:

un mazzo di bieta (vedere nota sopra sulle coste)
sale marino
olio extra-vergine di oliva
succo appena spremuto di limone Meyer lemon (o di limone comune)

Lavare bene la bietola e metterla in una padella alta con dell'acqua ancora sulle foglie. Coprire e cuocere a fuoco medio-alto per 2 minuti, poi altri 12 minuti a fuoco medio. Controllare un paio di volte che la padella non sia asciutta, nel qual caso aggiungere un po' d'acqua. In alternativa, tuffare la bietola in acqua portata a bollore e cuocere fino a che sia tenera, poi scolare. Mettere la bietola su un piatto da portata e salare leggermente. Lasciare intiepidire.

Tagliare le foglie a strisce di 5 cm e le coste in pezzi di 2.5 cm. Mettere olio e succo di limone in un piccolo barattolo, avvitare il tappo e scuotere. Distribuire parte della vinaigrette sulla bietola e mescolare. Servire con il resto della vinaigrette a parte.

Questo è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 285 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once e la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di Briggis recept och ideer ed è ospitata questa settimana da Simona di Simona's Kitchen.

Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa / frittata with baby chard and homemade ricotta

April 7, 2011 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

I have already talked about the row of chard of various colors in my little vegetable garden (orto) in the context of making a rice dish and a soup. This time, baby chard went into a frittata.

I have always liked frittata, and it is a dish that I make often, thanks in no small part to the availability of fresh pastured eggs. It does not take much time to put together and cook a frittata, so it is a great "emergency" dish, a good friend you can always count on to be there when you need it.

I wrote one of my earliest posts on the Italian expression fare una frittata (to make a frittata). The word frittata comes from fritto, past participle of the verb friggere (to fry).

For this rendition of frittata, I married baby chard and homemade ricotta. I make ricotta (as explained in earlier posts, like this one) every time I have whey (siero di latte) left over from making certain kinds of cheese, in this case Montasio.

As I explained in my most recent post, I am currently dealing with the task of thinning a patch of kale. I took advantage of a rare break from rain and gale-force wind and removed a number of small plants. I set aside the tender leaves and added them to the chard I had harvested.

Finally, I grated some of my homemade Emmental and sprinkled it on the surface of the frittata. [Note: I knew that making Emmental at home was very hard, because the cheese needs to be of a large size for proper eye development and I am limited to two gallons of milk; still, I had to try. In terms of result, my homemade Emmental performed well as an ingredient in this frittata and a couple of other dishes, so I am satisfied. I shared some with my friend Christine and she liked it too.]

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Frittata with baby chard and homemade ricotta

In summary, these are the ingredients I used:

a dozen leaves of baby rainbow chard
a handful of leaves of baby Red Russian kale (optional: you can add a couple more leaves of chard instead)
[Update: I made the frittata again and weighed the greens: 4 oz. total]
olive oil
6 pastured eggs (uova)
3 tablespoons water
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 oz. homemade ricotta
1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives (erba cipollina, also from my garden)
enough freshly grated cheese of choice to sprinkle on the surface of the frittata

Wash greens well, letting some water cling to the leaves. Spray a 9.5-inch skillet with olive oil and warm up. Cut the stems from the chard and dice finely. Add to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes. If using, cut the stems from the kale and discard. Cut all the leaves into ribbons, add them to the pan and cook, covered, for 7 minutes, adding some water, if necessary, to keep them moist.

In the meantime, break the eggs in a bowl and whisk them lightly with a fork until just blended. Add the water, then salt and pepper and whisk briefly. Mash the ricotta with a fork, then add to the eggs. Add the chives and stir.

Turn on the broiler. Pour the eggs slowly into the skillet. With the fork, gently arrange the greens so they are evenly distributed. Sprinkle the grated cheese on the surface. Cook over low heat until the eggs are set. After the edge is set, run a spatula under it and shake the pan gently to ensure the bottom of the frittata does not stick to the pan.

Place the skillet in the oven, leaving the door ajar, for a couple of minutes. The frittata will puff up a bit and the surface will turn golden. Take the skillet out of the oven (don't forget that the handle is hot) and let rest of a couple of minutes, then move the frittata onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve.

Would you like a piece?

This is my contribution to edition #278 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 Rachel of The Crispy Cook.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa

or launch the frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa audio file [mp3].

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frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa

Ho parlato della bietola novella che ho nel mio piccolo orto nel contesto di un piatto a base di riso e una zuppa. Stavolta, la bietola novella è finita in una frittata. Preparo spesso frittate perché mi piacciono e perché ho accesso a uova fresche da galline allevate come si deve.

Per questa variazione sul tema ho abbinato bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa. Faccio la ricotta (come spiegato in post precedenti, ad esempio questo) ogni volta che ho siero di latte derivato dall'aver fatto certi tipi di formaggio, in questo caso del Montasio. Qui è difficile trovare la ricotta vera e io ho risolto il problema imparando a farla a casa.

Come ho spiegato nel mio post più recente, in questo momento sto gestendo il problema di sfoltire le piantine di cavolo ricco nate da semi gettati in terra. Ho approfittato di una tregua da pioggia e vento forte per rimuovere un certo numero di piantine dalle quali ho tagliato le foglie tenere e le ho aggiunte alla bietola novella che avevo già raccolto.

Come tocco finale, ho distribuito sulla superficie della frittata dell'Emmental fatto in casa. [Sapevo che fare l'Emmental a casa è molto difficile perché la forma deve essere di grandi dimensioni per un adeguato sviluppo dei buchi. Per quanto riguarda il risultato da me ottenuto, basta dire che il mio Emmental se l'è cavata bene in questa frittata e in un paio di altri piatti nei quali l'ho usato come ingrediente, quindi sono soddisfatta.]

In somma, questi sono gli ingredienti che ho usato:

una dozzina di foglie di bietola novella di vari colori
una manciata di foglie di cavolo riccio novello (facoltative: al loro posto potete aggiungere un altro paio di foglie di bietola novella)
olio d'oliva
6 uova fresche codice 0
3 cucchiai d'acqua (45 ml)
sale e pepe nero macinato fresco, a piacere
110 g ricotta
un cucchiaio di erba cipollina a pezzettini
formaggio grattugiato da spargere sulla superficie della frittata (del tipo che preferite)

Lavare bene le verdure, lasciando che un po' d'acqua rimanga sulle foglie. Oliare bene una padella di 24 cm di diametro e scaldare. Separare le coste dalle foglie di bietola e tagliarle a dadini piccoli. Mettere le coste nella padella e cuocere per 5 minuti. Se usate anche il cavolo riccio, rimuovere e scartare lo stelo. Tagliare le verdure a nastri e aggiungere alla padella. Coprire e cuocere per 7 minuti, aggiungendo acqua, se necessario, per mantenere le verdura bagnate.

Nel frattempo, rompere le uova in una ciotola e sbatterle leggermente con una forchetta. Aggiungere l'acqua, sale e pepe a piacere e incorporare. Schiacciare la ricotta con la forchetta e aggiungere alle uova, poi aggiungere l'erba cipollina e mescolare.

Accendere la parte alta del forno. Versare lentamente le uova nella padella e con la forchetta muovere le verdure per distribuirle in modo uniforme. Distribuire il formaggio grattugiato sulla superficie. Cuocere a fuoco dolce fino a quando le uova sono rapprese. Una volta che il bordo si è rappreso, passare una spatolina sotto di esso e scuotere la padella (delicatamente) per evitare che la frittata si attacchi.

Mettere la padella nel forno, lasciando lo sportello socchiuso, per un paio minuti: la frittata si gonfia in superficie e assume un bel colore dorato. Tirare fuori la padella (fare attenzione: il manico scotta) e far riposare un paio di minuti, poi mettere la frittata su un piatto, tagliare e servire.

Chi ne vuole assaggiare un pezzo?

Questo è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 278 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once e la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di Briggis recept och ideer, che questa settimana funge anche da ospite.

Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

recipe: frittata with baby chard and homemade ricotta (frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa)

April 7, 2011 | Simona

Frittata with baby chard and homemade ricotta

by Simona Carini

Ingredients:

a dozen leaves of baby rainbow chard
a handful of leaves of baby Red Russian kale (optional: you can add a couple more leaves of chard instead) — total weight of the greens: 4 oz.
olive oil
6 pastured eggs
3 tablespoons water
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 oz. homemade ricotta
1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives
enough freshly grated cheese of choice to sprinkle on the surface of the frittata

Place the skillet in the oven, leaving the door ajar, for a couple of minutes. The frittata will puff up a bit and the surface will turn golden. Take the skillet out of the oven (don’t forget that the handle is hot) and let rest of a couple of minutes, then move the frittata onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve.

Back to the post on frittata con bietola novella e ricotta fatta in casa / frittata with baby chard and homemade ricotta

coste gratinate / gratinéed chard stalks

August 10, 2010 | Simona

When you see beautiful bunches of rainbow chard like the ones in the photo, what is a farmers’ market shopper to do?

rainbow chard at the farmers’ market

I brought home one and used the leaves to prepare a very personal adaptation of the Cottage Cheese and Spinach Gratin recipe from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, using rainbow chard leaves instead of spinach and my homemade chèvre instead of cottage cheese (I also halved the quantity of cheese). I have done this several times, so I know that, as a result, I have a bunch of colorful rainbow chard stalks, which I like a lot.

The Italian word for chard is bietola also called bieta (sometimes the plural bietole is used). My mother used to boil chard (leaves and stalks) and then serve it in insalata, i.e., at room temperature, seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice, or ripassata, i.e., warmed up in a frying pan with garlic and olive oil. When I moved to Milan, I ate coste for this first time, that is, chard stalks served by themselves. I have never seen rainbow chard in Italy, so the coste are white. As an final language note, in northern Italy, coste is sometimes used to indicate whole chard (leaves and stalks).

With the coste colorate (colorful chard stalks) that I get after preparing the leaves for the dish mentioned above I prepare a minimalist dish au gratin. First, I trim the stalks and cut them into 1 to 2 inch pieces. I then steam them. I usually do this in advance. Close to dinner time, I season the chard stalks with salt, a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper and a bit of olive oil, the spread them in my 8″ square cake pan or 9″ pyrex pie plate to form an even layer half an inch thick. I then sprinkle the surface with freshly grated cheese (formaggio grattugiato).

As some of you know, I make cheese at home, so I adapt recipes to use my own cheese. In the case shown above, the cheese was a Stirred-Curd Cheddar. I then put the pan in a 400 F oven until everything is warm and the cheese melted. I don’t have a nice photo of the finished dish. I actually don’t think it is particularly photogenic. However, I like it a lot.

Cooking chard stalks always reminds me of my country of origin, and in particular of my move to Milan. In the first few months I lived there, there were several hilarious episodes of bewilderment, due to the fact that I was not familiar with certain foods, while others were referred to with names different from the ones I was familiar with (I grew up in Perugia). As mentioned above, coste represent an example of the first case, and so do cavolini di Bruxelles (Brussels sprouts), while fagiolini (snap beans), which are called cornetti in Milan, the name I had until then used to refer to croissants, represent and example of the second case.

Final note: I have prepared red beet stalks in the same way and liked the result. Even in the recipes where both beet leaves and roots are used, the stalks are overlooked. Not by me!

This is my contribution to a challenge that Val of More Than Burnt Toast launched in preparation of the release of the movie based on the novel Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I read the novel three years ago and really enjoyed it, particularly the Eat section, which talks about Gilbert’s experience in Italy. I have explained why I liked what she wrote about my country of origin in this post.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

coste gratinate

or launch the coste gratinate audio file [mp3].