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

recipe: savory tart with baby kale and crescenza (torta salata con cavolo riccio novello e crescenza)

April 27, 2014 | Simona

Savory tart with baby kale and crescenza

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes total

Keywords: bake saute appetizer entree cheese kale

Ingredients (Serves 2 as entrée)

1 1/2 oz. / 42 g leek, white and light green portion, washed and cut into 1/8 inch / 3 mm thick half-moons
5 1/4 oz. / 15o g baby kale (mine is “Red Russian” variety)
1 teaspoon / 5 ml EV olive oil
A pinch of fine sea salt
165 g / 5 3/4 oz. (half a batch) of “alternative” puff pastry OR equivalent amount of regular puff pastry
Crescenza or Stracchino cheese, to taste (without overdoing it)

Instructions

Rinse leek well and drain.

Wash the baby kale and don’t drain them completely. Discard the tougher end of the stalks, then cut leaves into ribbons no more than 1/2-inch wide.

Warm up olive oil in a medium skillet. Add leek and and cook it for 2 minutes, stirring often. Cover the skillet and cook leek for 5 minutes longer on gentle heat, until quite tender.

Uncover the skillet, turn up the heat to medium and add the cut kale leaves. Cook in the water clinging to them for 2 minutes. Cover the skillet and continue cooking on gentle heat until kale is tender, about 8 minutes. Stir to make sure kale cooks evenly and doesn’t stick to the pan. Season with salt 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. I like to make a rectangular tart. Prick the shell with a fork in several places.

Distribute kale over rolled pastry, leaving a border all around (about 1/2 inch).

Cut thin slices of cheese and distribute in pieces on the kale at regular intervals. I never weigh the cheese, relying on my sense of balance to adjust the quantity: you want to be able to taste all the ingredients.

Pinch the pastry all around to raise it slightly and fold to make a kind of border. 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 the baking sheet out of the oven, let rest briefly, then move the tart to a plate or wooden tray, cut it, serve and enjoy.

Cut into smaller pieces, the tart makes a nice appetizer.

Go to the full post on torta salata con cavolo riccio novello e crescenza / savory tart with baby kale and crescenza

recipe: caldo verde-inspired soup (zuppa stile caldo verde)

March 14, 2014 | Simona

Caldo verde-inspired soup

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Keywords: blender boil soup/stew nut-free soy-free sugar-free leafy greens potatoes mushrooms Portuguese

Ingredients (Serves 4-5)

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

Instructions

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.) 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.

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.

Add as much of the pile of cut greens as the soup can support and as you prefer. 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.

Go to the full post on zuppa stile caldo verde / caldo verde-inspired soup

zuppa di verza e cavolo riccio per Anna / Savoy cabbage and kale soup for Anna

February 7, 2012 | Simona

Savoy cabbage and kale soup

Since I started writing (mostly about food), I look at memories and memoirs with a different eye. I grew up with a father who was constantly narrating stories and a mother who basically never did. When I was a kid, I listened to my father, but I was not fully aware of how important such transfer of information was. Now I have a different perspective.

A little voice inside me has been saying that I should record my father's stories. The voice grew firmer after I read Anna, Heart of a Peasant, by Carol Marie Davis. Ms. Davis is Anna's granddaughter and is also Rachel's mother and Rachel writes The Crispy Cook and co-hosts the Cook the Books Club.

Anna's story is different from that of any member of my family, since none of them traveled half-way across the world and started a new life in a place utterly different from the one in which they had grown up. My maternal grandmother moved from Croatia next door to Italy after marrying, but I have no idea what she thoughts of her adoptive country. I guess I did move half-way across the world, and I can tell you that it was not an easy transition, although I had several advantages over Anna, not the least of them the fact that I spoke the language and I had someone waiting for me in California. Anna was sent away from her native village in Byelorussia (now Belarus) following a terrible accident (I am trying not to give away too much here) and after a brief interlude, she boarded a ship headed towards America.

In the first part of the book, Ms. Davis recreates the life of Anna's family in the countryside of Byelorussia, a life steeped in popular traditions that coexist with religious faith. In the second part, we see Anna holding on to the traditional knowledge her grandmother had transmitted to her, while adjusting to the ups and downs of life in the US (having arrived in 1914, Anna experienced, among other things, the Great Depression).

The book follows Anna as she gets married, starts a family, moves into a house, raises children and grandchildren in Hastings-on-Hudson (NY). The last chapter includes a moving photograph of Anna and her husband, saying goodbye to each other on the grounds of a nursing home. The photo was taken by Ms. Davis and I want to think that it represents how she remembers her grandparents: looking at each other, holding hands. Together, they've gone through a lot.

The last pages of the book contain a set of recipes, a tribute to Anna's cooking. When I read them, I had no doubts about my choice: cabbage soup. Interestingly enough, the same recipe caught the attention of other readers of the book. In particular, Rachel, Anna's great-granddaughter, has made the soup and I refer you to her post on the topic for the original recipe. I made a number of changes to adapt it to my taste and ingredients I have available. I used a lovely purple Savoy cabbage, locally grown, and Red Russian kale from my garden. I added a bit of celery and thyme to the garlic, onion and carrot base, used fire-roasted crushed tomatoes instead of puréed tomatoes, omitted the sugar and cut down the lemon juice. Finally, I topped the soup with homemade kefir instead of sour cream.

purple Savoy cabbage

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pound Savoy cabbage sliced into 1/2-inch ribbons
3/4 pound Red Russian kale, thick ribs removed and sliced into 1/2-inch ribbons
olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic (aglio)
1 large onion (cipolla), chopped
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 large carrot (carota), chopped
half a celery rib (costa di sedano), chopped
1 quart (4 cups) homemade light chicken stock or vegetable option
1 28-ounce can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon of tomato paste (concentrato di pomodoro)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
salt and freshly milled black pepper
homemade kefir (optional)

In a large soup pot, heat oil and sauté garlic for a couple of minutes, then add onion and thyme and sauté for a few minutes, then add carrot and celery and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring often. Add stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, and bay leaf and simmer for 10 minutes or so, until carrots are tender.

Take out the bay leaf and discard. Purée with an immersion blender. Add lemon juice, cabbage and kale, and 3 cups of water. Simmer until cabbage is cooked (in my case it was about 45 minutes). Add more water, if needed, to obtain a soup of the desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper and serve topped with some homemade kefir.

kale everywhere

Kale grows plentiful in my little vegetable garden and it reseeds itself, mostly due to the fact that I always let one or two plants go to seeds and then the seeds end up in my compost, so spreading the compost means spreading kale. I am not complaining: above you can see a corner of the garden where kale is a cover crop.

I am adding my thoughts on Anna, Heart of a Peasant to those of other bloggers, as you can see in this post, where Rachel of The Crispy Cook has gathered all the reviews. Thank you, Ms. Davis, for a very interesting read, and thank you, Rachel, for sharing your mother's book with us.

And I am sending this hearty soup to Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays, a weekly event created by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen (another co-host of the Cook the Books Club).

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 verza e cavolo riccio per Anna

or launch the zuppa di verza e cavolo riccio per Anna audio file [mp3].

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

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

cabbage, kale, tomato, soup

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.

gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo / barley and kale gratin

April 3, 2011 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

When life gives you kale, make kale gratin. How do you get life to give you kale? You grow it. Based on my experience, growing kale is quite easy. I learned to let some of the plants go to seed and harvest the seeds, which I then scatter around. As a result, I have had a constant supply of kale for a while, mostly Red Russian kale, but also some dinosaur kale (cavolo nero). The only downside of this modus operandi is that you need to thin the kale seedlings, something that I find difficult to do, because I feel bad about uprooting small plants. The very first time I planted kale, I had also some Blue Curled Scotch, which is very nice. The adjective riccio in the Italian cavolo riccio means curled.

Kale handles our cool temperatures and wet conditions well, so it grows in the winter months too. And in general, kale is prolific. Once you've established a steady source of kale, the question is: what do you do with it? You make kale gratin, and you do that for three reasons: 1. because kale gratin is good; 2. because it uses a lot of kale; and 3. because since kale is good for you, a dish that uses a lot of it is a great choice.

The recipe for barley and kale gratin that I make derives from that for green barley and kale gratin in my beloved cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. You will find the original recipe reproduced on this page. Having kale from my little garden and hulless barley from my grain CSA share has steered me towards the recipe. I have made it repeatedly, in time adjusting a few elements to suit my taste and also my ingredients. What I will describe below is my current rendition. Of course you are welcome to realize the original version. This photo on flicker shows you a rendition with pearl barley. As mentioned above, I use hulless barley, and the final effect I get is different. Also, my kale turns out darker. Basically, a difficult dish to photograph, but very easy to eat.

My list of ingredients:

1/2 cup hulless barley (orzo nudo) [alternatively, use pearl barley, prepared as explained in the original recipe]
1 large bunch of kale (about 1-1/4 pounds), washed, stemmed and cut into large ribbons
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tapioca starch
1 tablespoon [sweet] white rice flour
1 1/2 cups homemade light chicken stock or vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (noce moscata)
1/2 cup grated Gruyère or provolone cheese (this is actually the original instruction: I use some of my homemade cheese, choosing it based on what I have available)
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

One reason I like this recipe is that it is modular, meaning that I prepare the various pieces as time permits and then put them together for the final baking. In particular, I sometimes harvest and cook the kale, then store it in the fridge or freezer until I am ready to use it. The other two modules are the barley and the velouté sauce.

I prepare the barley as described in this post. I don't drain it until it is time to use it.

I cook the kale with the water clinging to its leaves for 10 minutes, covered, checking often to make sure it does not get dry (if it does, add some water).

I prepare the velouté sauce as follows: warm up the olive oil in a pan then sift the starch and flour and mix well. Cook for a couple of minutes while you heat the stock or broth. Pour the hot liquid into the pan all at once, while stirring with a whisk. Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn down the heat so that it simmers, and cook for 15 minutes or so, until nice and thick. Season with the allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Note that this sauce is gluten-free and if you prepare it with vegetable broth, it is also vegan.

Heat the oven to 375 F. Spray olive oil on the bottom of a 2 qt. pyrex gratin dish (11x7x1.5"). Grate the cheese of choice. Process kale in the food processor briefly. Add a few tablespoons of the sauce and process a bit more. I like to leave a bit of texture, so I don't process the kale long. Mix all the ingredients: vegetable, sauce, cheese and barley (remember to drain the barley before adding it). Taste a bit of the kale and adjust seasoning as needed. Pour mixture into the gratin dish. Bake for 30 minutes or so (in my oven it takes 34 minutes to get a thin crust on the surface). Cut and serve immediately.

From the very beginning, my husband has nicknamed this dish "the green thing," so that is how we affectionately refer to it at home. From a nutritional standpoint, this is a fairly complete dish. And from a taste standpoint, it has a distinct flavor of greens. The barley creates a nice contrast of texture and the cheese balances the green flavor.

Note: In the post title I have switched the order of the ingredients, mentioning kale before barley.

This is my contribution to edition #277 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 Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo

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gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo

Ci sono diverse varietà di kale e non tutte hanno le foglie ricce. La varietà che coltivo io qui in California si chiama Red Russian: il gambo e le venature delle foglie sono rossastre. Il cavolo nero è anch'esso una varietà di kale. Sia il cavolo riccio che il cavolo nero sono facili da coltivare. Io lascio fiorire alcune piante, raccolgo i semi e poi li spargo sul terreno. Il mio problema non è far crescere le piantine, ma sfoltirle: sto male quando devo sradicare quelle in eccesso, ma è necessario altrimenti se sono troppo vicine non crescono bene.

La ricetta per il gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo che faccio da quando ho cominciato a coltivare il cavolo riccio e quello nero nel mio orticello deriva da quella per Green barley and kale gratin nel libro di ricette Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone di Deborah Madison. La ricetta originale è riprodotta su questa pagina. Questa ricetta è di tipo modulare, nel senso che preparo le varie parti quando ho tempo e poi le assemblo alla fine. Per esempio, a volte raccolgo e cuocio il cavolo riccio e poi lo conservo in frigo o in freezer fino a quando sono pronta ad usarlo per il gratin.

Gli ingredienti che uso io:

100 g orzo nudo (ricetta originale: orzo perlato)
570 g (un grosso mazzo) di cavolo riccio (o un misto di cavolo riccio e cavolo nero)
30 ml olio d'oliva
15 ml amido di manioca (o tapioca)
15 ml farina di riso
350 ml brodo di pollo leggero (ricetta originale: latte o brodo vegetale)
1/4 cucchiaino di pimento macinato
1/8 cucchiaino di noce moscata grattugiata
60 g di Gruyère o provolone grattugiato (questo prevede la ricetta originale: io uso uno dei miei formaggi fatti in casa)
sale e pepe nero macinato fresco, q.b.

Nota: un cucchiaino corrisponde a 5 ml. Dal momento che le ricette negli USA utilizzano queste misure, sono in vendita set di misurini che di solito hanno sei elementi: un cucchiaio (15 ml), mezzo cucchiaio, un cucchiaino (5ml), 1/2, 1/4 e 1/8 di cucchiaino.

Il procedimento che uso per cuocere l'orzo nudo è spiegato in questo post. Se usate l'orzo perlato, lavatelo e bollitelo fino a che non è tenero, poi scolatelo.

Lavare il cavolo riccio, rimuovere il gambo (compresa la parte più spessa spessa della costa) e tagliarlo a strisce larghe. Cuocere nell'acqua rimasta sulle foglie per 10 minuti, in una pentola coperta, controllando spesso per assicurarsi che non diventi asciutto (nel qual caso, aggiungere dell'acqua).

Preparare la salsa vellutata: scaldare l'olio in una pentola, aggiungere amido e farina setacciati e mescolare bene. Cuocere per un paio di minuti mentre si scalda il brodo o latte. Versare il liquido molto caldo nella pentola tutto insieme mentre si gira con una frusta. Portare a bollore, poi diminuire la fiamma e cuocere per 12 minuti fino a quando la salsa si è addensata. Condire con pimento, noce moscata, sale e pepe. Da notare che questa versione della salsa vellutata è priva di glutine. Se la si prepara con il brodo vegetale diventa vegana.

Scaldare il forno a 190 C. Ungere una pirofila bassa da 2 litri. Grattugiare il formaggio scelto. Frullare brevemente il cavolo riccio nel robot. Aggiungere alcuni cucchiai della salsa e frullare ancora un po'. Io preferisco non frullare fino a ridurre la verdura ad una crema. Mescolare tutti gli ingredienti: verdura, salsa, formaggio e orzo (scolare l'orzo prima di usarlo). Assaggiare un po' di cavolo riccio e, se necessario, correggere sale e pepe. Versare nella pirofila e cuocere in forno per circa 30 minuti (nel mio forno ci vogliono 34 minuti perché il gratin faccia una crosticina fine sulla superficie). Tagliare e servire.

Questo è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 277 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.