Umbrian lentils with honeynut squash and vegetables / lenticchie umbre con zucca e verdure

February 1, 2026February 21, 2026 | Simona

A plate of Umbrian lentils with honeynut squash and dark leafy greens — Small lentils with big personality
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Our current Cook the Books Club selection is the memoir Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil.¹ The book is a collection of 40 short essays, each centered on a specific food, ranging from fruit (lots of fruit, including rambutan, figs and mango), to spices (cinnamon, vanilla — cannella, vaniglia) to dishes, like lumpia and leche flan. Using the title food as starting point, each essay blends memories, meditations on aspects of life, and information about the food, in an evocative, lyrical language. The title aptly describes the way the book is presented and read.

Before selecting this book for our club, I knew and appreciated the author’s poetry, but was not familiar with her essays. I like how she uses a food to start a thread that weaves through memories with factual details sprinkled in. Reading most of the essays engendered a similar process for me. For example, the opening essay on rambutan made me travel to the Big Island and its wonderful farmers’ market, where, among many other fruit, you can find clusters of sweet, juicy rambutan.

clusters of rambutan — rambutan at a farmers’ market on the Big Island

The book doesn’t include recipes and rather than by one of the foods, I was inspired by the time of year and the food memory it elicited. To celebrate the New Year (Capodanno), I followed the tradition of eating lentils. My mother always prepared a pot of the delicious small lentils typical of my home region, lenticchie di Castelluccio. She cooked them with local sausages, another typical food.

I usually bring back a bag of lentils when I visit Italy. Besides the famous Castelluccio lentils, Colfiorito lentils are also grown in Umbria. They are likewise small, fast cooking and deeply flavored. Below is a photo from my favorite store in downtown Perugia, Antica Spezieria e Drogheria Eredi Bavicchi,² where I purchase this and other specialty legumes.

Besides the lentils, the dish includes honeynut squash and an assortment of leafy vegetables. For the latter, I use what I find at the farmers’ market, trying to create a balanced mix of flavors. Examples include: rainbow chard, red beet greens, radicchio di Treviso. Having one component of the dish variable means each time I make the dish it tastes unique. Note that in the case of rainbow chard and red beet greens, I cook also the stems, which I particularly like.

Umbrian lentils with honeynut squash and vegetables

Print Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Time to cook the lentils 30

Total Time 1 20

Servings: 4

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

For the lentils

1/2 cup / 100 grams / 3 1/2 ounces Castelluccio lentils OR Colfiorito lentils OR other small lentils (like de Puy or black beluga) sorted and rinsed
1 cup + 2 tablespoons / 270 ml water
1 garlic clove unpeeled
1 small bay leaf
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the dish

4 ounces / 112 grams leek white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the darker green portion to make broth or stock)
8 ounces / 225 grams honeynut squash
2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound / 450 grams combination of vegetables (mostly leafy greens): for example, rainbow chard, Swiss chard red beet greens, radicchio di Treviso, salad turnip greens
3 garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon Harissa spice mix
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or to taste

Equipment

lidded 5-Qt cast-iron Dutch oven

Method

Place all the ingredients for the lentils except the salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook on low heat, covered, until lentils are tender.
Check after 20 minutes and estimate the time necessary to complete the cooking. If the lentils look dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of hot water.
When the lentils are done, add the salt and stir. Remove from the heat, retreive and discard the garlic and bay leaf and set aside.
Cut the leek in half lengthwise and slice into 1/8 inch / 3 mm half-moons. Rinse well in a colander, then place in a bowl and fill it with cold water. With your hands, swirl the leek to clean, then scoop out of the water with a sieve or slotted spoon and drain in a colander.
Peel and deseed the squash. I use a sturdy swivel vegetable peeler to peel the squash and a grapefruit spoon to remove the seeds.
Cut the squash into small bite-sized pieces, no more than ½ inch / 1.25 cm.
Wash and drain the vegetables, leaving a bit of water clinging to the leaves. Separate the stems from the leaves of chard and red beet greens 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 lidded 5-qt cast-iron Dutch oven. Add the olive oil. When hot, add the leek, stir well, cook for 1 minute, then turn down the heat. Cover the pan and cook on low heat for 4 minutes, stirring often and making sure the pan does not become dry.
Add the garlic and Harissa to the pan and stir well.
After 1 minute, turn up the heat to medium, add the cut squash and stir well. Turn down the heat, cover and cook for 2 minutes.
Turn up the heat to medium, add the chopped stems, stir well and cover. Turn the heat down and cook until the squash is just tender, 6 minutes.
Turn up the heat to medium, add the sliced leaves and cover. Turn the heat down and let the leaves wilt for 1 minute, then stir well.
Cover and cook the vegetables on gentle heat for 10 minutes or so, until tender, stirring every now and then.
Turn up the heat to medium, add the lentils and their liquid (the amount should be small) to the pan and stir well. Cover and turn down the heat to low.
Continue cooking for 4 minutes or so, until the lentils are heated through.
Add the sea salt, give it a final stir and take off the heat. Serve warm.

Notes

If you purchase rainbow or Swiss chard with long stems included, use up to 6-7 inches / 15-18 cm for this dish and save the rest for another dish. Do not discard them: they are delicious, and so are red beet green stems.

This dish brings me to my home region and makes me feel I keep alive an ancient tradition.

¹The book’s page on the publisher’s website
² The Antica Spezieria e Drogheria Eredi Bavicchi
³ An unpeeled garlic clove is called uno spicchio d’aglio in camicia (where in camicia literally means: with the shirt on)

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 me, Simona of briciole. (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

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.

recipe: ribollita-inspired vegetable soup (minestra di verdure stile ribollita)

April 24, 2012 | Simona

Ribollita-inspired vegetable soup

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Keywords: soup/stew leafy greens beans bread cabbage Italian

Ingredients

Olive oil
1/4 large onion, chopped
2 scallions, sliced into thin rounds
1 large carrot, chopped
1 small celery rib, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 small icicle radishes, chopped
A bunch of chard stalks, chopped (left over and/or from ingredient greens below)
A mix of herbs (e.g., chopped parsley, leaves of thyme, chopped rosemary needles)
1/2 cup dry pinto beans, cooked as explained below
4 cups homemade light chicken stock, or vegetable alternative
1 medium-small cabbage, divided into six wedges and shredded
Water as needed
1/4 lb. fresh fava bean leaves, chopped
A handful of greens for braised mix (chard, kale, mustard greens, etc.), thick ribs removed where necessary, chopped
Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste
A squeeze of lemon juice
Bread of choice: I baked this rye bread (without flowers but with caraway seeds), because I thought it would go well with the soup (and I was right); slices of country-style bread, possibly Tuscan (saltless) bread, are traditional

Instructions

Note: the non-leafy vegetables are cut into small pieces, a mix of sliced and diced, while the leafy vegetables are sliced into ribbons. In the list of ingredients I indicate this as “chopped.”

Cooking dry beans. The way I cook beans for further use comes from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (Beans with Aromatics). After soaking half a cup of dry beans for several hours or overnight in enough water to cover them by about an inch (I use two cups), empty the whole bowl into a saucepan and add half of a small onion (or a quarter of a medium one), halved, a bay leaf, a small clove of garlic, sliced, and a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley. Bring the water to a lively boil quickly, and keep it there for five minutes, then turn down the heat and let the beans simmer, covered, until they are ready. How long this takes depends on the type of beans and their freshness. Let them cool in their broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them.

Warm olive oil in a soup pot (a terracotta pot is ideal, but I don’t have one — yet) and add onion and scallions. Stir to coat and let cook for a few minutes. Add carrot and celery, stir and cook for a few minutes. Add garlic, then radishes and chard stalks (or whatever you want to use here) and finally the herbs. Let cook for a few minutes and in the meantime, mash the beans.

The recipes I have read instruct you to drain half the beans, and set those aside, then to mash the rest with the cooking liquid. I mashed all the beans in their broth, using a potato masher (so the result was not smooth), then added everything to the soup pot.

Next, pour the broth into the pot and then add the cabbage. Pour some water as well, but not quite to cover, since the cabbage will shrink as it cooks. Cover the pot, bring to a boil and cook gently for 50 minutes or so, until the cabbage is tender. Add the leafy greens, bring back to a boil and cook gently for 10 minutes or so, until everything is nice and just perfect in texture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve the soup at this point, by itself, or ladled in bowls in which you have previously put a layer of thin bread slices. If you do the latter, cover each bowl and keep warm. Let the bread soak up the broth for 15 minutes or so, then serve. In this case, we can call it minestra di pane (bread soup). You can skip this part and go for the ribollita stage.

Put a layer of bread slices in another pot (again here, a terracotta one would be great), and pour soup on it. Depending on how much soup you have, make another layer of bread plus soup. Let the bread soak up the broth for several hours or overnight. When you want to serve the soup, reheat it. If you want a less dense soup, add a bit of water. Gently stir while reheating (this will break the bread), then serve hot with a bit of olive oil drizzled on top.

The soup is excellent in all versions.

Go to the full post on minestra di verdure stile ribollita / ribollita-inspired vegetable soup

recipe: savory tart with ricotta and baby leafy greens (torta salata con ricotta e verdure novelle)

January 22, 2012 | Simona

Savory tart with ricotta and baby leafy greens

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Keywords: bake appetizer entree leafy greens ricotta

Ingredients (serves 2 as entree)

4 1/2 oz. (125 g) baby chard or a mix of baby leafy greens
A medium shallot, 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

Instructions

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.

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. Cut in half, the tart makes a nice entree. Cut into smaller pieces, it makes a nice appetizer.

Go to the full post on torta salata con ricotta e verdure novelle / savory tart with ricotta and baby leafy greens

recipe: savory tart with ricotta and baby leafy greens

January 22, 2012 | Simona

Ingredients:

4 1/2 oz. (125 g) baby chard or a mix of baby leafy greens
A medium shallot, 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
2-3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

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 mintes, 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.

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

Back to the post on torta salata con ricotta e verdure novelle / savory tart with ricotta and baby leafy greens

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.

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

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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.