leek gratin / porri gratinati

April 10, 2021 | Simona

leeks and cheese: nothing else needed
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I love leeks both as an ingredient and on their own¹. Leeks make every dish to which you add them more flavorful, but in a delicate way as they are not overwhelming. Given my preference, I consume large amounts of leeks, particularly when I can get them fresh at the farmers' market.

an abundance of leeks

The first dish I ate made with leeks, many years ago, was a gratin. One of my roommates in Milan made a version on the rich side. My style of cooking tends to the minimalist, so my version uses leaves out béchamel sauce (besciamella) and breadcrumbs (pangrattato) and focuses on leeks and cheese (formaggio).

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Leek gratin

Ingredients:

8 ounces / 225 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the darker green portion to make broth or stock)
2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
Leaves of a handful of fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2-2 ounces / 42-56 g cheese, half Point Reyes Bay Blue OR other sweet blue cheese AND half mild cheddar (or other cheese of choice that melts well like fontina or gouda)

Cut the leek (or leeks) 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 leeks to clean them well, then scoop them out of the water with a sieve or slotted spoon and drain them in a colander.

Warm up the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat and add the leeks. Stir to coat, then add the thyme leaves and stir again. Turn down the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Sprinkle the paprika on the leeks and stir. Cover the pan and cook until quite tender (8-10 minutes or more, as needed, depending on how fresh the leeks are), stirring often. Make sure the pan is never dry. Sprinkle the sea salt and stir.

Crumble the blue cheese, add it to the leeks and stir well. Grate the mild cheddar cheese.

Heat the oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Divide the leeks into two 4-ounce oval ramekins for baking crème brulee with scalloped edge or similar small baking dishes.

Divide the grated cheese into 2 equal parts and distribute it on the leeks.

Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes, until hot throughout. Turn on the broiler and broil on low setting for 2 minutes, or for 1 minute if the broiler has only one setting (without burning).

Take the cookie sheet out of the oven and serve the gratin immediately.

Serves 2.

¹ From the blog's archive: cowpea of Lake Trasimeno and leeks and braised celery and leeks

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

porri gratinati

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

gratin, cheese, leek, Italian cuisine

[jump to Comments]

porri gratinati

porri e formaggio e nient'altro
(tovaglietta de La FABBRICA del LINO)

Adoro i porri sia come ingrediente che come protagonisti¹. I porri contribuiscono il loro sapore ai piatti senza sopraffarli. Data la mia preferenza, consumo porri in quantità, in modo particolare quando li trovo freschi al mercato del produttore.

porri in abbondanza

Il primo piatto di porri che mangiai molti anni fa era un gratin. Il mio stile in cucina tende al minimalismo quindi la mia versione omette besciamella e pangrattato ed è centrata su porri e formaggio.

Ingredienti:

225 g porri, (la parte bianca e verde chiara), peso pulito (utilizzare la parte verde scuro come ingrediente per brodo)
2 cucchiai / 30 ml olio extra-vergine di oliva
Le foglie di una manciata di rametti di timo fresco
1/2 cucchiaino di paprika dolce
1/8 cucchiaino di sale fino
42-56 g formaggio, metà formaggio erborinato dolce e metà formaggio dal gusto dolce e che fonde bene (per esempio: fontina, gouda)

Tagliare i porri a metà per lungo poi a fettine spess 3 mm. Sciacquare con cura.

In una padella scaldare l'olio a fuoco medio e aggiungere i porri. Mescolare poi aggiungere il timo e mescolare. Cuocere a fuoco basso per 5 minuti, mescolando spesso.

Spargere la paprika e mescolare. Coprore la padella e cuocere fino a quando i porri siano alquanto morbidi (8-10 minuti o il tempo necessario), mescolando spesso. Assicurarsi che non siano mai secchi. Salare e mescolare.

Sbriciolare il formaggio erborinato, aggiungerlo ai porri e mescolare bene. Grattugiare l'altro formaggio

Scaldare il forno a 190 C.

Dividere i porri in 2 stampi da forno ovali per crème brulee da 4 once o simili stampi monoporzione.

Dividere il formaggio grattufiato in 2 parti uguali e spargerlo sui porri.

Porre i piattini su una placca da forno. Cuocere in forno per 12-13 minuti, fino a quando i porri siano ben caldi. Accendere la funzione grill e gratinare a bassa temperatura per 2 minuti (o per 1 minuto se il grill è a temperatura fissa) per far fondere bene il formaggio (facendo attenzione a non bruciarlo).

Sfornare e servire immediatamente.

Porzioni: 2.

¹ Dall'archivio: fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno ai porri

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

Porto i miei porri gratinati sulla tavola del 3° mese del gruppo Fattoria consapevole e solidale: Latte e i suoi derivati

La lista delle ricette contribuite questo mese.

recipe: leek gratin

April 10, 2021 | Simona

Leek gratin

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes total

Keywords: side vegetarian gluten-free soy-free sugar-free leeks blue cheese

Ingredients (serves 2)

8 ounces / 225 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the darker green portion to make broth or stock)
2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
Leaves of a handful of fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2-2 ounces / 42-56 g cheese, half Point Reyes Bay Blue OR other sweet blue cheese AND half mild cheddar (or other cheese of choice that melts well like fontina or gouda)

Instructions

Warm up the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat and add the leeks. Stir to coat, then add the thyme leaves and stir again. Turn down the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Crumble the blue cheese, add it to the leeks and stir well. Grate the mild cheddar cheese.

Heat the oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Divide the leeks into two 4-ounce oval ramekins for baking crème brulee with scalloped edge or similar small baking dishes.

Divide the grated cheese into 2 equal parts and distribute it on the leeks.

Take the cookie sheet out of the oven and serve the gratin immediately.

Go to the full post on Leek gratin

Persian herb and greens frittata / frittata persiana di verdure ed erbe

March 15, 2020 | Simona

Persian herb and greens frittata / IMG_3163

green to celebrate spring
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Our Cook the Books Club selection this time brings us to Ireland (Irlanda), yet the flavors are those of Iran (whose cuisine we savored also in a recent edition¹). The novel Pomegranate Soup, by Marsha Mehran² (zuppa di melograno), follows the adventures of the three Aminpour sisters, who escape from political turmoil in their native country to the UK and ultimately settle in the small Irish town of Ballinacroagh, where they open a small café serving dishes from their home country.

The novel's cast includes the sisters' landlady, the town's priest, a young man with a passion for astronomy and other colorful characters. The author expertly weaves past events into the present narrative, so that as the story progresses we learn what pushed the sisters to run away from their home.

Marjan, the eldest Aminpour sister, is the main force behind Babylon Café: she watches as many locals come to appreciate the dishes she creates, their appealing aromas and comforting flavors. The book mentions many dishes and includes a recipe at the end of each chapter. I was particularly intrigued by the description of "a good apple khoresh, a stew made from tart apples, chicken and split peas" (page 60 of the hardback edition), but while I was searching for a recipe for that, I read about Kuku Sabzi, a kind of herb frittata traditionally prepared for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year that is celebrated on the spring equinox. I am a lover of greens, so I decided to try this recipe. I read a number of renditions³ and below is a description of what I made.

In terms of greens, I went with what I found fresh at the farmers' market, namely spinach (spinaci) and dill (aneto). Parsley, thyme and lovage (prezzemolo, timo e levistico) come from my garden. The idea is that you can use greens and herbs you like and have available. A different combination means a different flavor, so this is a recipe that can be repeated without becoming boring.

When I tasted the first bite of my rendition, my first reaction was: why have I not tried making this before?

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Persian herb and greens frittata (Kuku Sabzi)

Ingredients:

4 1/2 ounces / 130 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the dark green portion to make broth or stock)
4 tablespoons / 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 bunches / 14 ounces / 400 g fresh spinach
2 cups of finely chopped fresh herbs: in my case mostly dill (thick stems removed), some sprigs of parsley, leaves of a handful of fresh thyme sprigs and 2 sprigs of lovage
5 large eggs from pastured poultry
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

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 pieces to clean them well, then scoop them out of the water with a sieve or slotted spoon and drain them in a colander.

Warm up a 10-inch / 25 cm skillet over medium heat, then add 2 tablespoons / 30 ml of the olive oil. Add the leeks, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes. Cover the skillet and cook on low heat until the leeks are soft (12-15 minutes), stirring every now and then, making sure nothing burns. Transfer the leeks to a plate and clean the skillet.

Wash the spinach carefully and drain. Discard the roots and thicker stems and chop the rest finely. This is a bit tedious but it makes cooking easier, because the amount of eggs is small with respect to the amount of greens.

chopping herbs finely

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, the salt, pepper, and turmeric. Add the cooked leeks, the chopped spinach and herbs and mix everything well. A silicone spatula works well for this step, which requires patience.

Heat the broiler: if your oven allows it, use the low setting; otherwise, move the oven rack down one level.

Heat again the skillet and pour into it the remaining 2 tablespoons / 30 ml of the olive oil, then swirl to coat. Empty the bowl into the skillet and use the spatula to spread the mixture evenly across. Cover the skillet and cook the frittata on low heat until the bottom is just set: check it after 8 minutes and estimate the remaining cooking time.

Uncover the skillet and broil, watching carefully, until the top is set, 1-2 minutes. Let the frittata cool slightly, then slide it onto a platter and serve.

Serves 4-8

Persian herb and greens frittata / IMG_3158

why have I learned about this dish only now?

The intense green of this dish nicely points at the coming spring season. The flavor is a treat for lovers of greens.

¹ My recent post featuring another Persian-inspired recipe: eggplant and yellow split pea stew
² The book introduction on the author's website
³ Some recipes: on Bon Appetit (with useful video), the Kitchn, the Splendid Table

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

frittata persiana di verdure ed erbe

or launch the frittata persiana di verdure ed erbe 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 me, Simona of briciole. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

This is also my second contribution to the 38th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started 12 years ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

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

frittata, spinach, dill, parsley, thyme, lovage, eggs, Persian cuisine

recipe: Persian herb and greens frittata

March 13, 2020 | Simona

Persian herb and greens frittata

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Keywords: saute broil entree gluten-free low-carb nut-free soy-free sugar-free vegetarian spinach eggs leeks herbs Persian

Ingredients (4-8)

4 1/2 ounces / 130 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the dark green portion to make broth or stock)
4 tablespoons / 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 bunches / 14 ounces / 400 g fresh spinach
2 cups of finely chopped fresh herbs: in my case mostly dill (thick stems removed), some sprigs of parsley, leaves of a handful of fresh thyme sprigs and 2 sprigs of lovage
5 large eggs from pastured poultry
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

Instructions

Warm up a 10-inch / 25 cm skillet over medium heat, then add 2 tablespoons / 30 ml of the olive oil. Add the leeks, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes. Cover the skillet and cook on gentle heat until the leeks are soft (12-15 minutes), stirring every now and then, making sure nothing burns. Transfer the leeks to a plate and clean the skillet.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, the salt, pepper, and turmeric. Add the cooked leek, the chopped spinach and herbs and mix everything well. A silicone spatula works well for this step, which requires patience.

Heat the broiler: if your oven allows it, use the low setting; otherwise, move the oven rack down one level.

Uncover the skillet and broil, watching carefully, until the top is set, 1-2 minutes. Let the frittata cool slightly, then slide it onto a platter and serve.

Go to the full post on Persian herb and greens frittata

braised celery and leeks / sedano e porri stufati

January 31, 2018 | Simona

a plateful of flavor (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

The historical novel Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, was quite an interesting read. While the narrator is a slave named Thrasius, the protagonist is his owner, Marcus Gavius Apicius, who lived in the 1st century during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius and became famous for his love of food and his sumptuous dinners. Rich and ambitious, he is driven by the desire to become culinary advisor to the emperor. The pact with the devil (Sejanus) he makes exacts a high price.

The novel weaves together the lives of the individual characters with ancient Rome's life, politics and cuisine. A couple of novels I read some years ago prompted me to delve into the subject of Roman recipes for which De Re Coquinaria (a.k.a., Apicius) were the source¹. This is not the right venue for a detailed discussions of the relationship between Marcus Gavius Apicius and De Re Coquinaria. The latter is a great source and I consulted it again to find a recipe to go with our book selection.

the simple beauty of diced celery on the cutting board

Lately I have been on a celery streak: my mother used celery as part of odori (a collection of aromatics), but we never had celery salad or any dish in which celery played a leading role. Celery omelette² was the result of my first foray into celery-land. Beautiful freshly harvested celery at the farmers' market and recipe number 71 in this translation of De Re Coquinaria³ inspired a dish of braised celery and leek that has become an instant favorite with both my husband and me. My recipe, solidly savory, is quite different from the ancient one, but I owe to it the suggestion to pair one of my favorite vegetables, leeks, with one I am getting to know.

Roman recipes use garum⁴ as condiment, a fermented fish sauce, which I substitute with anchovy fillets (I would try using colatura di alici⁵ if I had access to some). While anchovies provide a distinctive nuance, besides salt, they can be omitted to make a vegan version of the dish.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Braised celery and leeks

Ingredients:

8 ounces / 225 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the dark green portion to make broth or stock)
3 tablespoons / 45 ml extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces / 225 g celery, diced small
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1-2 anchovy fillets in olive oil (if you omit this ingredient, the dish is vegan; add fine sea salt to taste at the end)
celery leaves, finely chopped, as topping

Cut the leek(s) in half lengthwise and slice into thin half moons. Rinse them in a colander, then place them in a bowl and fill it with cold water. With your hands, swirl the leeks to clean them well, then scoop them out of the water with a sieve or slotted spoon and drain them in a colander.

Warm up the olive oil in a cast-iron skillet or pot. Add the leeks, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the celery and thyme leaves, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle the paprika on the vegetables and stir well. Cover the skillet or pot and cook on gentle heat until the vegetables are soft, stirring every now and then. (The time it takes depends on how fresh the vegetables are.)

Cut the anchovy fillets into small pieces and add to the vegetables. Stir well to blend.

Take off the heat, sprinkle the celery leaves, give a final stir and serve warm.

Serves 3-4.

braised celery and leek with beans / DSC_8266

add cooked beans and you have a complete meal
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Besides as a side dish, the braised celery and leeks can be used as stuffing for roasted squash (for example, Delicata squash, which I particularly like because you can eat the skin as well as the flesh).

Another way is shown in the photo above: I cooked a cup of beans⁶ (fagioli) of my favorite variety (organic Paul's mix, locally grown by Warren Creek Farms), drained them leaving about 1/4 cup / 60 ml of the cooking liquid, then added them to the vegetables 10 minutes or so before they were fully cooked, stirred well, brought the liquid to a simmer, covered and completed the cooking as per the recipe above.

¹ From the blog archives: carrots with cumin sauce (the post includes pointers to some ancient recipes)
²From the blog archives: celery omelette
³ Book III of Apicius (scroll down to number 71)
⁴ See a modern garum recipe on this page (which includes also a recipe for pear patina, a dessert mentioned repeatedly in the novel)
⁵ Wikipedia entry on colatura di alici
⁶ See this post for details on how I cook beans

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

sedano e porri stufati

or launch the sedano e porri stufati audio file [mp3].

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

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

The roundup of the event.

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

celery, leek, side dish, braise, Italian cuisine

recipe: braised celery and leeks

January 30, 2018 | Simona

Braised celery and leeks

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Keywords: saute side gluten-free vegetarian low-carb soy-free sugar-free vegan celery leek Italian

Ingredients (Serves 3-4)

8 ounces / 225 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight (set aside the dark green portion to make broth or stock)
3 tablespoons / 45 ml extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces / 225 g celery, diced small
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1-2 anchovy fillets in olive oil (if you omit this ingredient, the dish is vegan; add fine sea salt to taste at the end)
celery leaves, finely chopped, as topping

Instructions

Warm up the olive oil in a cast-iron skillet or pot. Add the leeks, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes.

Cut the anchovy fillets into small pieces and add to the vegetables. Stir well to blend.

Take off the heat, sprinkle the celery leaves, give a final stir and serve warm.

Go to the full post on Braised celery and leeks

recipe: fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno (cowpea of Lake Trasimeno) with leeks

April 28, 2015 | Simona

Fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno (cowpea of Lake Trasimeno) with leeks

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes (fagiolina) and 30 minutes (leeks)

Keywords: boil entree gluten-free sugar-free vegetarian vegan low-carb cowpea leek Italian

Ingredients (Serves 4)

For cooking the fagiolina

1 cup / 6.5 ounces / 185 g fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno (either variety or a mix)
2.5 cups / 600 ml water
1 small onion, quartered
1 garlic clove, halved
A bay leaf
A handful of parsley stems
A 2-inch / 5 cm piece of kombu (optional)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the dish

6.5 ounces / 185 g leek, white and light green portion, clean weight
1 tablespoon / 15 ml extra-virgin olive oil
Leaves of a good handful of thyme sprigs
Fine sea salt, to taste
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

How to cook fagiolina

Rinse the fagiolina. Warm up the water in a saucepan. Add fagiolina and all the aromatics (minus the salt) to the warm water. Stir, cover and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let the fagiolina simmer, covered, until it is tender. After 30 minutes, add salt and stir. Taste fagiolina after 35 minutes and estimate how much longer it should cook.

Let the fagiolina cool in the broth, then remove the aromatics and discard them.

How to finish the dish

Cut the leek(s) in half lengthwise and slice into 1/8 inch / 3 mm half-moons. Rinse well in a colander.

Warm up the olive oil in a frying pan and add leeks. Stir to coat, then add thyme leaves and stir again. Cook on gentle heat for 10 minutes, stirring often. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring a few times. Uncover and continue cooking for another 10 minutes until the leeks are quite tender. Make sure the pan is never dry. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and the black pepper and stir.

Drain the fagiolina, leaving it slightly moist and place in a serving bowl. Add the cooked leeks and stir well. Adjust salt. Serve warm or at room temperature. After plating, drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil on the fagiolina.

Go to the full post on fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno ai porri / cowpea of Lake Trasimeno with leeks

recipe: leek, red beet and celeriac soup (zuppa di porri, barbabietola rossa e sedano rapa)

October 9, 2011 | Simona

Leek, red beet and celeriac soup

by Simona Carini

Ingredients:

1 lb red beets (one large or two smaller)
1 lb leeks, weighed after the dark green leaves have been removed (save them to use in making stock or broth)
1 lb celeriac (in my case, two)
olive oil
3 cups of homemade light chicken stock, or vegetarian option
water, as needed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
fresh juice of half a lemon

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Scrub the beet(s), wrap in foil and bake until easily pierced with a knife. Let cool until easy to handle, then slip off the skin. Slice as if you were making a beet salad. (If you buy beets with their greens still attached, cut the greens an inch above the beet, then proceed with the preparation.)

Cut the leeks in half lengthwise, cut into 1/8-1/4-inch slices and rinse well in a colander. Warm up some olive oil in a soup pot, then add the leeks and stir well to coat. Let cook for a few minutes, then cover and continue cooking while you scrub, peel and cut the celeriac into chunks approximately the size of the pieces of red beet. Add celeriac to the leeks, stir, then cover and let cook gently for 10 minutes or so, stirring often.

Add the red beets, the stock and enough water to just cover the vegetables. Cover, bring to a boil and then adjust the heat to maintain a lively simmer. Cook until the celeriac is soft (i.e., it can be easily mashed with the back of a spoon against the side of the pot). Remove from the heat, then purée with an immersion blender. Add water to obtain a soup of the desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper, then add the lemon juice. Stir, then let the soup rest for a while before tasting to verify that the amount of lemon juice was sufficient to brighten the flavor of the soup. Making the soup at least a few hours before you are planning to serve it will give it enough time to rest and ripen.

Reheat the soup, taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Serve with some cheese as topping (freshly grated or crumbled, depending on the kind of cheese you choose) and/or some cooked grains (like hull-less barley) added. In the photo at the top, I show the soup accompanied with Salt-and-Pepper Cookies.

Back to the post on zuppa di porri, barbabietola rossa e sedano rapa / leek, red beet and celeriac soup

zuppa di porri e patate / leek and potato soup

August 15, 2010 | Simona

Two years ago, I wrote a post about making chicken stock according to a recipe by Julia Child. I have been using that recipe ever since, every time I roast a chicken. After degreasing the stock, I freeze it and then use it for various purposes, like making vegetable soups.

Two precious findings at the farmers' market suggested that I make leek and potato soup. I had seen a recipe for it in "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom," the same source of the chicken stock recipe mentioned above, and decided it was the right time to try it. Child describes this as one of the basic — "primal" — soups.

Seeing leeks at the market surprised me, since this leek lover knows that the summer crop usually becomes available later. The farmer was also surprised about the early crop, but since the leeks were ready to be harvested, he did and brought them to market. Delighted, I bought two (they were not thick, but quite long).

When I saw a basket of a variety of potato called All Red, with pink flesh, I had to try it. The color is beautiful.

Back to the recipe, it calls for 3 cups of sliced leeks (white and tender green parts), 3 cups of peeled and roughly chopped "baking" potatoes and 6 cups of water. I used the following ingredients:

4 and 1/4 cups sliced leeks (white and tender green parts)
2 and 1/4 cups of roughly chopped All Red potatoes (carefully scrubbed, not peeled)
3 1/2 cups homemade light chicken stock
2 1/2 cups water

I put all the ingredients in my soup pot and brought to a boil, then simmered, partially covered, until the vegetables were tender (22 minutes). I let the soup cool slightly, then puréed with my immersion blender. I added sea salt and freshly ground black pepper according to my taste. When dinner time rolled around, I reheated the soup and served it with freshly grated Montasio cheese of my own production (formaggio montasio grattugiato). The cheese is sweet, since I aged it for a relatively short time: it paired well with the soup's flavor.

From the photo, you can see how the potatoes influenced the color of the soup. What you cannot gather from the photo is that it was really good.

This is my contribution to the fifth annual Julia Child Birthday Celebration, an event created and hosted by Lisa of Champaign Taste.

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

zuppa di porri e patate

or launch the zuppa di porri e patate audio file [mp3].

cavolo napa / napa cabbage

January 17, 2009 | Simona

(here you can read other names used to refer to this vegetable).

I must admit that, until recently, I had not used this type of cabbage. Then, one day, a beautiful head of it stared at me from the shelf of the grocery store and I could not refuse its proposal to hop on my cart.

I started my acquaintance with napa cabbage by cooking it very simply. The recipe I created was inspired by one in the book If the Buddha Came to Dinner by Halé Sofia Schatz: Braised (Napa) Cabbage, Fennel and Leeks (stufato di cavolo napa, finocchio e porri). I thought that the trio of ingredients formed a nice combination, so I adopted it. And I liked the idea of cooking the vegetables with some lemon juice (besides vegetable stock or water). For the rest of the recipe, I followed my impulse.

To braise means "to fry (food) lightly and then stew it slowly in a closed container." The Italian verb is stufare, which also means to cook something (usually meat) for a long time in a covered pan. Stufato is the resulting dish. But before I move on to the description of my stufato, let me share with you a couple of idioms that use the word cavolo:

c'entra come i cavoli a merenda (it has nothing to do with it — literally: it is as pertinent as cabbage for an afternoon snack, cabbage not being considered a food appropriate for that meal)
salvare capra e cavoli (literally: to save goat and cabbage, i.e., to find the solution for a situation where competing needs appear to be incompatible. The expression derives from the riddle of the farmer that needs to carry across a river on his boat a wolf, a goat and some cabbage. The wolf, left alone with the goat, would eat it, while the goat, left alone with the cabbage, would feast on it. The farmer's task is to organize the ferry service so as to carry across all the passengers without any loss)

Back to the recipe, here are the ingredients I used:

two leeks (porri), washed and cut into thin half-moons
leaves of a couple of sprigs of thyme (timo)
a fennel (finocchio), thinly sliced using a mandoline
half a napa cabbage, finely shredded
a baby lemon (limone), thinly sliced using a mandoline
two small or one big red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and diced
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
two tablespoons sunflower seeds (semi di girasole), lightly toasted in a dry skillet

Oil a sauté pan, add the leeks and thyme leaves, and cook for 5 minutes on gentle heat. Raise the heat to medium, add the fennel, napa cabbage and lemon slices, and stir. I have received a much-appreciated gift of baby lemons and I have been enjoying them a lot. They are 2-2.5" long, tender and delicately flavored.

After a minute or so, add a couple of tablespoons of water. Bring to simmer, lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring every now and then and making sure the pan is not dry. Add the red bell pepper and continue cooking until the vegetables are done to your liking: in my case, soft, but with still some crispness in the fennel. I must admit I did not keep track of the exact time. Add salt and pepper and serve warm, with the sunflower seeds on the side, to be sprinkled on the vegetables after they are plated: they add flavor and crunchiness to the delicate vegetable stufato.

This is my contribution to the event Fresh Produce of the Month: Cabbage, created by my friend Marta, An Italian in the US, and hosted this month by yours truly.

This post contains a roundup of the event.

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

cavolo napa

or launch the cavolo napa audio file [mp3].

In case you are wondering about the farmer tasked with saving goat and cabbage, one way to achieve the goal is to follow these steps (assuming A is the starting point and B the destination):

carry the goat from A to B (the wolf won't eat the cabbage)
go back to A then carry the wolf from A to B
bring back the goat from B to A (so the wolf won't eat it)
carry the cabbage from A to B (at this point cabbage and wolf are on the same side)
go back to A then carry the goat from A to B