gluten-free breaded baked cod bites / bocconcini di merluzzo impanati al forno (senza glutine)

May 6, 2016 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

breaded baked cod with cabbage / DSC_7843

sitting down to a nice lunch
(table runner by La FABBRICA del LINO)

As a child I didn’t like fish, particularly fried fish (pesce fritto). On the other hand, I liked other fried food my mother made: breaded meat (cotoletta) or chicken breast, battered cauliflower florets, potato croquettes (crocchette di patate) and of course supplì (rice croquette). Later in life I learned to like fish.

In general, I don’t deep-fry in my kitchen, but I like the crisp crust (crosticina) foods acquire when breaded and fried. Baking breaded foods approximates the result well. A recipe I came across for chicken nuggets that uses chia seeds and ground flaxseed for the breading¹ prompted me to first try a variation using chicken and then to apply the same approach to fish. The result was much appreciated at the table.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for (gluten-free) Breaded baked cod bites

Ingredients:

1 pound / 450 g skinless Pacific cod fillet (or similar fish)
1 large egg, possibly from pastured poultry
1 teaspoon water
4 tablespoons / 30 g ground flaxseed
4 tablespoons / 20 g hemp hearts (raw shelled hemp seeds)
20 g freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided in half

Heat oven to 400 F / 205 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, whisk egg with the water and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt.

In another bowl, mix the breading ingredients: ground flaxseed, hemp hearts, cheese and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Cut the fish into bite-sized pieces, add them to the bowl with the egg and stir well to coat.

Roll the pieces of fish in the breading then lay onto the lined baking sheet to form a single layer.

Bake 10 minutes, then turn over the fish. Bake another 10 minutes or until the cod flakes easily with a fork and the breading is crisp.

Serve immediately.

Serves 3-4.

breaded baked cod with cabbage / DSC_7851

tender fish bites within a crisp envelope
(table runner runner by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The day I shot the photo I served the fish with stir-fried cabbage with sesame seeds.

¹ Recipe for gluten-free chicken nuggets

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.

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

bocconcini di merluzzo impanati al forno

or launch the bocconcini di merluzzo impanati al forno 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.]

fish, cod, breaded fish, baked fish

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bocconcini di merluzzo impanati al forno (senza glutine)

bocconcini di merluzzo impanati al forno / DSC_7843

un buon pranzetto
(centrotavola de La FABBRICA del LINO)

Da bambina non mi piaceva il pesce, poi pian piano ho imparato ad apprezzarlo e da anni lo mangio regolarmente. In generale non friggo nella mia cucina, ma mi piace la crosticina dei cibi impanati e fritti. La cottura al forno dà un’approssimazione soddisfacente. Una ricetta per bocconcini di petto di pollo che utilizza semi di chia e semi di lino macinati per impanare¹ mi ha ispirato a provare prima una variazione col pollo e poi un approccio simile col pesce, sempre con ottimi risultati.

Ingredienti:

450 g filetto di merluzzo (o pesce simile)
1 uovo codice 0
1 cucchiaino d’acqua
30 g semi di lino macinati
20 g semi di canapa
20 g Parmigiano-Reggiano grattugiato fresco
1/2 cucchiaino sale fino, diviso in due

Riscaldare il forno a 205 C. Foderare una lastra da forno con della carta da forno.

In una ciotola, sbattere l’uovo con l’acqua e metà del sale.

In un’altra ciotola, mescolare i semi di lino macinati, i semi di canapa, il Parmigiano e il resto del sale.

Tagliare il pesce a bocconcini, aggiungerli alla ciotola con l’uovo e mescolare bene.

Far rotolare i bocconcini di pesce nell’impanatura poi disporli sulla lastra in modo che formino un solo strato.

Cuocere in forno per 10 minuti, then turn over the fish. Cuocere per altri 10 minuti o fino a quando il pesce si sfalda facilmente con una forchetta.

Servire immediatamente.

Porzioni: 3-4.

bocconcini di pesce croccanti fuori e teneri dentro
(centrotavola de La FABBRICA del LINO)

Il giorno che ho fatto la foto ho servito i bocconcini con contorno di cavolo cappuccio cotto in padella con semi di sesamo.

¹ Ricetta per bocconcini di pollo senza glutine (in inglese)

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

zuppa stile caldo verde / caldo verde-inspired soup

February 28, 2013 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

green goodness

With a name as sensuous as caldo verde (literally, green broth), a soup's future is secure. Who doesn't want to eat some caldo verde? I certainly wanted to, but there was a little glitch: I don't eat sausages, I stopped eating them years ago, for various reasons. I have nothing against chouriço or linguiça, which are called for in the recipe for caldo verde, a traditional Portuguese soup, often referred to as Portuguese kale soup. And I don't like to eat "imitation" something, so I set about making a soup "inspired by" caldo verde, without sausages. I didn't go all the way vegetarian, because I used some of my homemade light chicken stock, but if you substitute that with vegetable broth, you have a vegetarian version of this satisfying soup, perfect whenever you need a good plan to use kale overflowing from your garden.

I actually used a mix of rainbow chard (bietola) from Redwood Roots Farm and Red Russian kale (cavolo riccio) from my garden, cut as shown in this video (starts at around 7:45" — as an aside, I disagree with her assessment of chard stalks flavor: I like making this dish with them).

various shades of greens

For my rendition, I selected this recipe on the BBC site as guide, then, as usual, went my own way, giving precedence to ingredients I had available. In particular, instead of using an onion, I took advantage of freshly harvested baby leeks (porri novelli) and of shallots (scalogni) from my garden's 2012 production. Locally grown, dried shiitake mushrooms add a nice note to the rustic soup and contribute to its earthy color.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Caldo verde-inspired soup

Ingredients:

7 dried shiitake mushrooms
Olive oil of good quality
3 baby leeks, white and light green portion, sliced and thoroughly rinsed
3 medium shallots, finely chopped
Alternative to leeks and shallots: 1 large onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 lb potatoes, well scrubbed and diced
1 parsnip, well scrubbed, trimmed, and thinly sliced
2 cups light chicken stock or vegetable broth, possibly homemade + water as needed
1 bay leaf
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 bunch of kale and rainbow chard (see below for quantity details)
A generous squeeze of fresh Meyer lemon juice

Before you start preparing the vegetables, place mushroom in a bowl and cover with warm water. Let them fully rehydrate.

Warm up some olive oil in a soup pot and gently cook baby leeks and shallots until soft, stirring often. Add garlic and stir. Drain mushrooms, remove stems (and save to make broth or stock), and slice caps. Add to the pot mushrooms and the water where they soaked, stir and cook for a few more minutes.

Add potatoes and parsnip to the pot and stir well. Add bay leaf, stock and enough water to cover the vegetables well. Bring to a boil and cook gently until potatoes and parsnip are tender and easily smashed with the back of a spoon.

While the soup cooks, wash the greens and separate the leaves from the stalks. (Set aside the chard stalks and make this dish or something else with them.) Thinly slice the greens as shown in the video mentioned above. Basically, chiffonade. 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). Make another stack and repeat. I am not a paragon of knife skills as you can see from the photo: the greens should be cut a bit more thinly, if possible.

Season soup with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove bay leaf. Process soup with an immersion blender, leaving some texture. Add some hot water, if the soup is very dense. Bring soup back to a boil.

My guide recipe instructs to blanch the greens, but I didn't see the need to involve another pot, because the greens I use don't taste bitter to me.

Add as much of the pile of cut greens as the soup can support and as you prefer. As you can see from the photo, I didn't use a light hand here. Simmer for a few minutes, until the greens are tender. Add the Meyer lemon juice and stir well. Adjust salt and pepper and serve this warming and satisfying soup. Should I mention how healthy and nutritious it is?

the view from above

This was not my first foray into Portuguese cuisine. Some time ago, I followed detective Pepe Carvalho's instructions and made an excellent pot of caldeirada (fish soup).

This is my contribution to the third installment of the Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea (European Community Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 26 countries of the EU (all except Italy) using the alphabet as guide. C like Canja (Portugal) is hosted by Patrizia of La Melagranata.

On this page you will find Canja's recipe and the list of dishes submitted to the event.

If you are interested in participating, this post has the complete list of countries, hosts and time frames.

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

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

zuppa stile caldo verde

or launch the zuppa stile caldo verde 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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soup, potato, kale, chard, Portuguese recipe

zuppa stile caldo verde

bontà verde

Con un nome sensuale come caldo verde (brodo verde), il successo di una zuppa è assicurato. Voglio dire: chi non vuole assaggiare del caldo verde? Certamente io volevo assaggiarlo, ma c'era un piccolo ostacolo: ho smesso di mangiare salsicce, per motivi vari. Non ho nulla contro chouriço o linguiça, che vengono elencati come ingredienti del caldo verde, zuppa tradizionale portoghese. E non mi piace mangiare prodotti che sono l'imitazione di qualcos'altro, quindi ho preparato una zuppa "stile" caldo verde, senza salsicce. Non ho fatto proprio una versione vegetariana, dal momento che ho usato del brodo di pollo, ma se lo sostituite con brodo vegetale, il risultato è una versione vegetariana di questa ottima zuppa.

Il verde nel mio caso è un misto di bietola "arcobaleno" che ho raccolto a Redwood Roots Farm e cavolo riccio "Red Russian" raccolto dal mio orticello. Le foglie le ho tagliate, come si vede in questo video (cominciando a 7:45" — tra parentesi, non sono d'accordo con il giudizio della chef sulle coste: a me piacciono e le preparo gratinate).

vari toni di verde

Come guida per la mia versione, ho scelto una ricetta sul sito della BBC, poi, come al solito, ho fatto di testa mia, dando la precedenza ad ingredienti che avevo a disposizione. In particolare, invece di usare una cipolla, ho sfruttato dei porri novelli che avevo raccolto insieme alla bietola e degli scalogni dal mio orticello (raccolto del 2012). Funghi shiitake secchi di produzione locale hanno contribuito una nota rustica (e il loro colore).

Ingredienti:

7 funghi shitake secchi
3 porri novelli, la parte bianca e verde chiaro, tagliati a fettine e sciacquati accuratamente
3 scalogni medi tritati
In alternativa a porri e scalogno: 1 grossa cipolla tritata
2 spicchi d'aglio pelati e schiacciati
Olio extra-vergine d'oliva
225 g patate, lavate accuratamente e tagliate a dadi
1 pastinaca, lavate accuratamente e tagliata a fettine
475 ml brodo di pollo o brodo vegetale fatto in casa + acqua
1 foglia d'alloro
Sale fino e pepe macinato fresco, q.b.
1 mazzo di bietola o cavolo riccio (vedi sotto per dettagli)
Succo di limone (possibilmente Meyer)

Mettere i funghi in una ciotola, coprirli con acqua calda e farli reidratare.

Scaldare dell'olio d'oliva in una pentola capiente e aggiungere porri e scalogno. Cuocere a fuoco dolce fino a quando sono teneri, mescolando spesso. Aggiungere l'aglio e mescolare. Scolare i funghi, rimuovere i gambi (e metterli da parte per usarli come ingredienti in un brodo) e affettare i cappelli. Aggiungere alla pentola i funghi e l'acqua nella quale sono stati reidratati, mescolare bene e cuocere per qualche altro minuto.

Aggiungere patate e pastinaca e mescolare bene. Aggiungere alloro, brodo e abbastanza acqua in modo da coprire bene le verdure. Portare a bollore e cuocere fino a quando patate e pastinaca sono tenere e si possono schiacciare facilmente con un cucchiaio.

Mentre la zuppa cuoce, lavare bietola e cavolo riccio e separare le foglie dagli steli. (Mettere da parte le coste e prepararle gratinate o in altro modo.) Tagliare le foglie a nastri fini come si vede nel video menzionato prima. In pratica, fare una piccola pila di foglie e poi arrotolarle per il lungo. Tenere il rullo con una mano e con l'altra, tagliare fettine fini (come se fosse un salame). Fare un'altra pila di foglie e ripetere. La foto dimostra che non eccello col coltello: i nastrini dovrebbero essere più fini.

Condire la zuppa con sale e pepe, a seconda del gusto. Eliminare la foglia d'alloro. Usare il frullatore ad immersione. Io non ho reso la zuppa proprio omogenea, ma l'ho lasciata un po' rustica. Aggiungere acqua calda, se la zuppa è troppo densa. Riportarla a bollore.

La ricetta guida dice di sbollentare le foglie, ma io non ho ritenuto necessario coinvolgere un'altra pentola dal momento che non percepisco l'amaro nelle verdure in questione.

Aggiungere alla zuppa tante manciate di nastrini quante la zuppa assorbe o a seconda del vostro gusto. Come si vede dalla foto, io sono stata generosa. Cuocere per alcuni minuti, fino a quando le verdure appena aggiunte sono tenere. Spruzzare del succo di limone e mescolare bene. Correggere sale e pepe e servire quest'ottima zuppa, che è anche nutriente e salutare.

vista dall'alto

Questo non è il mio primo assaggio della cucina portoghese. Un po' di tempo fa, ho seguito le indicazioni dell'investigatore Pepe Carvalho e ho preparato un'eccellente pentola di caldeirada (zuppa di pesce).

Questo è il mio contributo alla terza tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario della Comunità Europea, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare i 26 paesi della Comunità Europea (eccetto l'Italia) usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. C come Canja (Portogallo) è ospitata da Patrizia de La Melagranata.

Su questa pagina trovate la ricetta per Canja e la lista dei contributi all'evento.

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

zuppa di zucca e carote / winter squash and carrot soup

March 31, 2011 | Simona

I told you I still have some winter squashes in my storage room, so here is another great soup I made with them and with carrots, of which I bought a bunch, greens and all, from the Temescal farmers' market in Oakland, a relatively small market that has interesting vendors and, most importantly, runs year-round.

I actually made this soup twice. The first time (photo above), I used a butternut squash, but did not weigh any of the ingredients, which is not a problem until you want to share the recipe. I liked the soup a lot, so it was easy to decide to make it again and do so with the scales ready. For the second rendition, I picked a different squash and should have photographed it before roasting it, because it was really a sight. Fortunately, I found a good image on this page, where its name is also given: Black Futsu. Don't let its rough surface intimidate you: Black Futsu squash has a flavorful flesh under those ribs.

The flesh is golden color and has the rich taste of hazelnuts… The black fruit will turn a rich chestnut color in storage. It is a particularly long keeper (up to 8 months). This heirloom variety originally from Japan has a high yield, a unique appearance and an uncommon flavor.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Winter squash and carrot soup

Ingredients:

a winter squash of your choice, yielding 2.5 lbs cooked squash
3/4 lb carrots
4-5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
olive oil
6 oz. onion (cipolla), chopped
1 celery rib (leaves included, if present), chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin (possibly from freshly toasted and ground seeds)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (chiodi di garofano)
3 cups homemade light chicken stock or vegetable stock
2.5-3 cups water, plus as needed to bring the soup to the desired consistency
salt (sale) and freshly ground black pepper (pepe nero), to taste

Heat the oven to 375 F. Pierce the squash with a blade in a few places, place it on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat, and bake it for 15 minutes. This makes it easier to cut it in half. Let the squash cool slightly, cut it in half lengthwise and remove the seeds (a grapefruit spoon is my preferred tool for this task). Put the garlic cloves into the cavity of one of the two squash halves and place both halves on the silicone baking mat, cut side down. (I learned to bake garlic with squash this way from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.) Put back in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the carrots. I don't peel them, but simply scrub them well, scrape off the thin skin with a knife, then rinse them. Cut carrots into 1/4"-thick slices and spray a bit of olive oil on them. Take the baking sheet with the squash out of the oven and distribute the carrots on it, if there is space. Otherwise, use another baking sheet, but try to bake all the vegetables at the same time, for energy efficiency's sake. Take the carrots out of the oven after 30 minutes. At that time, check the squash and, if necessary, bake it longer, until you can easily pierce it with a knife. Let the squash cool and then scrape the flesh off the skin, again using a grapefruit spoon. Peel the garlic cloves and set them aside.

Warm up some olive oil in a soup pot and add onion and celery. After 3-4 minutes, cover the pot and let the vegetables cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add cumin, smoked paprika and cloves to onion and celery, stir, then add squash, carrots, stock, and water to cover the vegetables. Cover the pot, bring to a boil and cook for 25 minutes. Add the garlic cloves, then purée with an immersion blender. Add more water, if needed, to make the soup reach the desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper to your taste.

I have found that this soup profits from some rest, so I suggest you make it a few hours ahead, then reheat it. Serve with homemade bread and/or cheese crisps. The ones in the photo were made with my homemade Tilsit, which worked nicely.

To make the cheese crisps, heat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. Take a tablespoon of grated cheese, like parmigiano-reggiano, and place it on the silicone baking mat. With a fingertip, spread cheese into a disk of about 3" diameter. Repeat a few times, making sure to leave at least one inch between the disks. Bake until the cheese melts, 3 to 4 minutes (check after 3 minutes and bake half or a minute longer, if necessary). Lift crisps delicately with a spatula and let cool. Serve with hot soup. I suggest establishing a per capita share in advance. In my experience, these crisps have a tendency to disappear faster than the speed of light.

As long as we are having one storm after another dumping rain on us, a hot soup is what I want for dinner.

This is my submission for the first edition of Creative Concoctions, an event created by Ivy of Kopiaste..to Greek Hospitality that will have two editions per month. This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

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

zuppa di zucca e carote

or launch the zuppa di zucca e carote 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.]

hummus ai carciofi / artichoke hummus

March 29, 2011 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

This is a spread I had had in mind to make for a while. I saw it somewhere on the web, but I can't remember where: I only remember that it was a hummus made also with artichokes.

I like artichokes a lot. My mother made them often, when they were in season: artichoke frittata and carciofi alla giudia (Jewish-style) were often on the table. The important ingredient in the latter is mentuccia, a type of mint that grows wild. According to my mother, there was no substitute for it, so we went out looking for it in a place where she knew it grew.

When I moved to Milan, I learned to appreciate risotto coi carciofi and raw artichokes, sliced thinly and added to salads. Artichokes are grown extensively in California, but I have never found an artichoke that would be comparable to the ones I ate in Italy. After many attempts, and many disappointments, I am currently taking a break. So, to make this recipe, I resorted to canned artichoke hearts (cuori di carciofo). I like that they are preserved in just water and salt¹. As for the chickpeas (ceci), I cooked them from scratch. In the absence of mentuccia, I picked some orange mint from the pot where I planted it last year. I really like its citrusy notes.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Artichocke hummus

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dry chickpeas, cooked as explained here, skinned (optional, but nice), and drained [check the chickpeas half an hour after the simmering started to estimate how much longer they need to cook]
1/2 can artichoke hearts [preserved in water and salt] (4 and a half, 4.25 oz. dry weight), drained
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (cumino) from freshly toasted seeds [you may need to increase this a bit, if your cumin is not strongly flavored]
a garlic clove (spicchio d'aglio)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
a few leaves of fresh orange mint (Menta piperita citrata) [I used the tips of two twigs; given the intense flavor of this herb, it is better to start with a small amount and add more if necessary]
chickpea broth, as needed
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
chopped dry roasted and salted hazelnuts (nocciole) as topping, to taste

Place in the food processor the first 7 ingredients above and process until smooth. Add some of the chickpea broth as needed to make the hummus reach the desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper and possibly the other flavorings to your taste. Place in a covered container and refrigerate until close to serving time. Spoon into a serving bowl and sprinkle some hazelnuts on the surface. Serve with bread of your choice and with additional hazelnuts. (Note that the recipe makes quite a bit more of what you see in the photo above.)

The spread has a delicate flavor and you can taste all the ingredients, which is very nice. Originally, I had not included the hazelnut topping, but the spread lacked a little something, so I decided to put on the table a small bowl of finelly chopped toasted and salted hazelnuts. With that, the hummus was perfect. We enjoyed it spread over slices of my homemade challah.

The post allows me to show you my first 6-strand challah, of which I am very proud (I usually make a 5-braid challah). As mentioned before, the recipe comes from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day, which I follow fairly closely. Reinhart suggests a mix of sesame seeds and poppy seeds (semi di sesamo e semi di papavero) as topping and as you can see, the result is very nice (By the way, the poppy seeds come from the poppies that grow in my garden.)

This is my contribution to this month's edition of Healing Foods. The event is organized by Siri of Cooking with Siri and the current edition is hosted by Vanessa of Sweet Artichoke, who chose the theme. This post contains the roundup of the event.

I am also sending this post to Tin Can Recipes, a monthly event that will run until the end of this year. The organizers are Ale, Fra, Sere and Paola of Il Giardino degli Aromi and Brii of Briggis recept och ideer and Briiblog in English. The rules for participating are detailed on this page. This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

hummus ai carciofi

or launch the hummus ai carciofi 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.]

¹ The can of artichoke hearts in the photo is for information only: it is not an advertisement. I do not have a business relationship with the product's company.

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hummus ai carciofi

L'hummus è una crema di ceci tipica del Medio Oriente. Questa è una variante nella quale ai ceci ho unito i carciofi. L'idea di usare i carciofi non è mia originale: tempo fa lessi da qualche parte il titolo della ricetta "hummus ai carciofi," ma non mi ricordo dove e non mi ricordo i dettagli. Quindi, quando ho deciso di realizzare l'idea, ho messo insieme gli ingredienti basandomi su esperienze precedenti con l'hummus preparato solo con i ceci.

Ingredienti:

100 g circa di ceci secchi, cotti come spiegato qui (controllate i ceci dopo mezz'ora dall'inizio della cottura con gli odori per stimare quanto tempo manca) o come fate di solito, poi scolati
4,5 cuori di carciofo, conservati in acqua, scolati (peso secco 120 g)
1/2 cucchiaino (2,5 ml) di cumino in polvere (consiglio di tostare i semi a macinarli freschi: il sapore è molto più intenso)
uno spicchio d'aglio
1 cucchiaio (15 ml) di olio d'oliva
2 cucchiai (30 ml) di succo di limone Meyer fresco [alternativamente potete usare un cucchiaio di succo di limone e uno di succo d'arancio oppure un cucchiaio e mezzo di succo di limone]
alcune foglioline di Menta piperita citrata fresca [dato il sapore intenso della menta, consiglio di usare una piccola quantità e aggiungerne se necessario]
un po' di brodo di cottura dei ceci
sale e pepe macinato fresco, a seconda dei vostri gusti
nocciole tostate a secco e salate e sbriciolate distribuite sulla superficie

Frullare i primi 7 ingredienti fino ad ottenere una crema morbida. Se necessario, aggiungere un po' del brodo di cottura dei ceci per ottenere la consistenza desiderata. Correggere sale, pepe a seconda dei propri gusti e, se necessario, le altre spezie. Mettere l'hummus in un contenitore coperto e porre in frigo fino a poco prima di servirlo. Mettere un po' di hummus in un ciotola da servizio e distribuire sulla superficie le nocciole. Servire insieme ad un piattino con altre nocciole. (La ricetta produce molto più hummus di quello che si vede nella foto in alto.)

Questo hummus ha un sapore delicato che lascia spazio a tutti gli ingredienti. Noi lo abbiamo mangiato spalmato su fettine di challah fatto in casa. Challah è un pane tradizionale ebraico fatto con uova e olio, a forma di treccia semplice oppure complessa, la cui superficie è spennellata d'uovo e quindi ha un bel colore dorato intenso. La ricetta che uso io viene dal libro di Peter Reinhart Artisan Breads Every Day. Per l'occasione ho fatto una treccia a sei capi (di solito la faccio a 5 capi) e devo dire che sono contenta del risultato. Per la decorazione, Reinhart suggerisce un misto di semi di sesamo e di papavero e io uso i semi che ho raccolto dai papaveri del mio giardino.

Con questo post contribuisco all'evento Healing Foods. organizzato da Siri di Cooking with Siri e la cui edizione corrente è ospitata da Vanessa di Sweet Artichoke, la quale ha scelto il tema: carciofi. Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

Contribuisco anche all'evento Tin Can Recipes dedicato alla celebrazione dei 200 anni del cibo in scatola. L'organizzazione dell'evento è di Ale, Fra, Sere e Paola del blog Il Giardino degli Aromi e di Brii che scrive Briggis recept och ideer e Briiblog in English. Le regole per partecipare le trovate su questa pagina. Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

¹ La scatola di cuori di carciofo nella foto è solo a titolo informativo; non è una pubblicità. Non ho alcun rapporto commerciale con l'azienda produttrice.