Turkish-style celeriac — a comforting dish with winter vegetables
(dish by @fem_pottery, placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Cold weather makes me crave comforting dishes, with a solid flavor. This is my rendition of the Turkish dish Zeytinyağlı Kereviz, where kereviz means celeriac (also called celery root) and zeytinyağlı describes the cooking method, in olive oil.

Celeriac is a beautiful root vegetable with a mild celery flavor and a sweet note when cooked. It is hard to miss when displayed at the farmers’ market. (The photo above is from a few years ago.) As I was experimenting with this recipe, I could only find specimens with little or no greens left attached (as you can see in the photo below).

celeriac, onion, carrots, potatoes — a view of the main ingredients
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

As usual with a traditional recipe, an online search provides a rich list of results, which I broadly divided into two categories: 1) those that start with the onion being cooked in oil before the celeriac and other vegetables are added, and 2) those in which all the vegetables are cooked together, starting at the same time. My version is a variation of the latter. It is quite straightforward to prepare and gives a surprisingly flavorful result.

Orange and lemon juice provide a nice note to the flavor, balancing the earthiness of the root vegetables. Truly a case where the result surprised me in a pleasant way.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for Turkish-style celeriac

Ingredients:

10 ounces / 280 grams celeriac (set aside the leaves, if present)
1/3 cup / 80 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon / 15 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 ounces / 85 grams carrots
3 ounces / 85 grams small potatoes
2 ounces / 56 grams onion or shallot
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons / 45 ml extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup / 120 ml water
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped celeriac leaves, or lovage leaves (levistico), or a mix with fennel (finocchio) frond or fresh dill (aneto)

Peel the celeriac and cut it into small chunks. Put the sliced celeriac into a saucepan and drizzle the orange and lemon juice on top (to prevent darkening while you prepare the other ingredients).

Scrub the carrots well and scrape the surface with a blade to remove a thin layer of skin. Cut the carrots into 1/4-inch / 6 mm-thick oblique slices, turning the carrot as you cut, to obtain small chunks. Distribute the carrots on top of the celeriac in the saucepan.

Scrub the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Distribute the potatoes on top of the carrots in the saucepan.

Peel and quarter the onion. Cut each quarter into 1/8-inch / 3 mm-thick slices and separate the rings. Distribute the onion over the potatoes in the saucepan.

Sprinkle the black pepper on top of the vegetables, then drizzle the olive oil. Finally, pour the water over the vegetables.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn to low, cover the saucepan and let the vegetables simmer until they are all tender (25 minutes or so), stirring a couple of times (and making sure there is enough liquid). Sprinkle the salt and minced herbs and stir well. Let the vegetable cool down in the saucepan, where the cooking liquid has turned into a citrusy sauce (salsa agrumata). Serve warm or a room temperature.

Note: in my latest rendition, I omitted the salt and instead added at the end 1 teaspoon of chickpea miso diluted in some of the hot vegetable cooking liquid.

Serves 3-4 (this is a side dish with a robust flavor and I prefer to eat a smaller portion and serve also another vegetable side dish to complement it)

Perfect winter fare. Whether you like celeriac or you have not yet discovered it, I recommend trying this dish.

¹One recipe for Zeytinyağlı Kereviz, another one, and a braised version

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

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.

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sedano rapa stile turco

Arrivati alla lettera S del nostro viaggio nel mondo degli ingredienti ho scelto di preparare un piatto dalla Turchia¹ a base di sedano rapa, Zeytinyağlı Kereviz: kereviz significa sedano rapa e zeytinyağlı descrive il metodo di cottura, in olio d’oliva.

Il sedano rapa è una bella radice con un leggero sapore di sedano e una nota dolce quando cotto. La foto in alto è di qualche anno fa: nel periodo in cui ho fatto esperimenti con la ricetta l’ho trovato solo con poche foglie o del tutto senza (come si vede nella foto in basso).

Come al solito succede con una ricetta tradizionale, una ricerca online ritorna in una ricca lista di risultati che io ho diviso in due categorie: 1) ricette che cominciano col cuocere la cipolla in olio prima che vengano aggiunti gli altri ingredienti, e 2) ricette in cui le verdure sono cotte tutte insieme allo stesso tempo. La mia versione è una variante della seconda categoria, è semplice e il risultato è ricco di sapore.

Il succo di arancia e di limone fornisce una nota gustosa e bilancia il sapore delle radici. Davvero il risultato è una piacevole sorpresa.

Ingredienti:

280 grammi di sedano rapa (se presenti, tenete da parte le foglie)
80 ml succo d’arancia fresco
1 cucchiaio / 15 ml succo i limone’fresco
85 grammi di carote
85 grammi di patate piccole
56 grammi di cipolla o scalogno
1/8 cucchiainoo di pepe nero macinato fresco
3 cucchiai / 45 ml olio extra-virgine di oliva
120 ml d’acqua
1/2 cucchiaino di sale fino
1 cucchiaio di foglie tritate di sedano rapa o di levistico, magari con un po’ di finocchio o aneto fresco

Sbucciate il sedano rapa e tagliatelo a pezzetti. Metteteli in una pentola e versateci sopra il succo d’arancia e limone (per evitare che il sedano rapa scurisca mentre preparate gli altri ingredienti).

Lavare bene le carote e raschiarne la superficie con una lama per rimuovere la pellicina. Tagliarle a fettine oblique di 6 mm di spessore, ruotando la carota mentre la tagliate in modo da ottenere piccoli pezzi. Distribuite le carote sul sedano rapa nella pentola.

Lavate bene le patate e tagliatele a cubetti. Distribuite le patate sulle carote nella pentola.

Tagliate la cipolla in quarti, poi tagliate ciascun pezzo a fettine di 3 mm e separate gli anelli. Distribuite la cipolla sulle patate nella pentola.

Condite col pepe, poi spargete l’olio d’oliva sulle verdure e infine versate sopra l’acqua.

Portate a bollore su calore medio-alto poi abbssate il calore, incoperchiate la pentola e fate sobbollire le verdure fino a quando siano tenere (circa 25 minuti) mescolando un paio di volte e assicurandovi che ci sia liquido a sufficienza nella pentola.

Aggiungete il sale e le erbe tritate e mescolate bene. Fate intiepidire le verdure nella pentola, dove il liquido di cottura si è trasformato in una salsina agrumata. Servite le verdure calde o a temperatura ambiente.

Nota: l’ultima volta che ho preparato questo piatto ho omesso il sale e ho aggiunto alla fine un cucchiaino di miso di ceci diluito in un po’ del liquido di cottura bollente.

Porzioni: 3-4 (questo contorno ha un sapore robusto e io preferisco mangiarne una porzione relativamente piccola e servire anche un altro controno complementare)

Un piatto perfetto per l’inverno. Sia che vi piaccia il sedano rapa o non lo avete ancora scoperto, vi raccomando di assaggiare questo piatto.

¹Una ricetta del Zeytinyağlı Kereviz, un’altra, e una versione brasata (tutte le ricette sono in inglese)

Un mondo d'ingredienti logo Contribuisco il mio contorno di sedano rapa dalla Turchia alla lettera S di Un mondo d’ingredienti evento creato dall’instancabile Aiu’ di Trattoria Muvara

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

recipe: Kenyan vegetable curry

July 26, 2015 | Simona

Kenyan vegetable curry

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes total

Keywords: saute bake side entree gluten-free nut-free vegetarian potatoes onion zucchini eggplant African

Ingredients (Serves 8)

2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 large onions, approx. 1 1/2 pounds / 680 g: I suggest you choose 1 red and 1 white and look for freshly harvested onions
1 teaspoon / 5 ml cumin seeds
1 teaspoon / 5 ml black mustard seeds
1 pound / 450 g potatoes, well scrubbed
1/2 tablespoon / 7.5 ml grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tablespoon/ 7.5 ml ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon/ 7.5 ml whole coriander, well crushed in a mortar and a pestle
1 small chili pepper
1/2 teaspoon / 2.5 ml turmeric
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5 ml fine sea salt, plus to taste
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
4 cloves
1 large bay leaf, broken in half
1 or 2 eggplant (depending on size), approx. 1 1/4 pounds / 570 g (like the pretty Listada de Gandia)
9 ounces / 250 g snap beans OR flat beans (like the pretty Dragon’s Tongue)
9 ounces / 250 g zucchini
2 cups / 475 ml strained roasted tomatoes
A small bunch of dark leafy greens: kale, collards, Swiss chard, spinach; I used 2.5 ounces / 70 g baby kale from my garden

Instructions

Note #1: in the first rendition of this dish (portrayed in the top photo), instead of Dragon’s Tongue beans and zucchini, I used a 1 pound / 450 g package of frozen mixed cut vegetables that contained snap beans, carrots, corn and peas. I thawed them for a couple of minutes in the microwave oven before adding them to the pan. Substitute with other seasonal vegetables you have available, like cabbage, cauliflower, carrots. By changing the ingredients, you’ll get a slightly different dish every time.

Note #2: I still had one bag of strained roasted tomatoes from last year and just made my first batch for 2015. If you don’t have time to roast the tomatoes, try using 1 can (14.5 ounces / 411 g) fire-roasted crushed tomatoes then rinse the can with 2 tablespoons / 30 ml water.

Chop the onions.

In a large, heavy skillet or deep sauté pan, warm up oil on medium heat. Add the onions and stir, then add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds and stir to distribute well. Turn down the heat to medium-low. Cook the onions until soft and slightly browned, about 20 minutes, stirring often.

In the meantime:

dice the potatoes
prepare the rest of the spices
trim top and bottom of eggplants, cut them into slices about 1/4 inch / 6 mm thick and dice the slices
trim top and bottom of zucchini, quarter them lengthwise and slice the quarters
top beans and cut them into 1 inch / 2.5 cm pieces

If you are using different vegetables, similarly cut them: for example, dice carrots, shred cabbage, cut cauliflower into florets, etc.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Add the potatoes to the pan and stir, then add the remaining spices and continue cooking for several minutes, stirring almost continuously.

Pour strained tomatoes into the pan. Rinse the container with 1 tablespoon / 15 ml of water then pour that into the pan as well. Stir well.

Add the vegetables, one at a time, cooking for 1-2 minutes between each addition.

Since I am not sure my deep sauté pan is ovenproof, I transfer all its contents into a 4 quart / 4 liter rectangular Pyrex baking dish and seal it with foil.

Bake for 15 minutes, then stir vegetables and check that there is enough moisture at the bottom to prevent burning. Repeat after 15 minutes. Add a bit of water, if necessary. After 15 more minutes (45 minutes from the beginning of baking), check that the vegetables are thoroughly cooked. If not, bake for another 3-5 minutes. When the vegetables are ready, take the pan out of the oven, adjust salt as needed (depending in part on how salty the tomatoes are) and stir well.

Serve hot. (I like it also at room temperature.)

Go to the full post on Kenyan vegetable curry / curry di verdure keniano

Wortelstoemp

May 4, 2014 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

comfort food from the farm

The country we are currently visiting in our virtual European Community tour is Belgium (Belgio). To celebrate our stop, I came up with my version of a popular dish: Stoemp, a mixture of mashed potatoes and vegetables. The version with potatoes and carrots (patate e carote) is called Wortelstoemp.

smiling for the camera

I am giving you the quantities I used, but this is really a dish where you improvise with what you have, which is what I did. My immediate inspiration was not a recipe, but my vegetable crisper, just replenished with the weekly spring CSA share.

spring onions and thyme get along well

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Wortelstoemp

Ingredients:

380 g / 13 1/2 ounces potatoes
340 g /12 ounces carrots
1/2 tablespoons / 30 ml EV olive oil
2 medium leeks, white and light green portion (set aside the dark green portion to make broth or stock)
Leaves of several sprigs of fresh thyme (timo)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 spring onions, white and light green portion (set aside the dark green portion for another use)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
A dash of lemon zest
2 tablespoons / 30 ml homemade vegetable broth or chicken stock
A pinch of grated nutmeg (noce moscata)
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Prepare potatoes and carrots
Scrub potatoes well and boil in plenty of water until tender. Drain and let cool. When you can handle the potatoes without injuring your fingertips, peel them and place in a bowl. Mash with a potato masher.

Scrub carrots well and scrape surface to remove the thin skin. Cut each into 2-3 pieces. Boil in water until tender. Drain and let cool. Mash with a potato masher.

Note: I mash the root vegetables so that they maintain some texture.

Prepare the alliums
Cut the leeks in half lengthwise and slice into 1/8 inch / 3 mm half-moons. Rinse well in a small colander.

Cut the spring onions in half lengthwise and slice into 1/8 inch / 3 mm half-moons. Rinse well in a small colander.

Warm up olive oil in a medium-sized skillet, then add leeks and thyme. Stir well and cook for a couple of minutes. Cover the skillet and continue cooking on gentle heat for 7-8 minutes, stirring every now and then.

Add the garlic to the skillet, stir, cover again and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the spring onions to the skillet, cover again and cook for 2 minutes.

At this point, the vegetables should be tender and smell divine.

Season with the lemon zest and a dash of the sea salt.

Bring all ingredients together
Add the mashed root vegetables to the skillet placed on gentle heat. Stir well. Add a tablespoon of the carrot cooking water, then the broth or stock and stir.

Add the rest of the sea salt, the black pepper and nutmeg and stir well.

Serve warm.

flavorful and brightly colored

The bright flavor of carrots comes through strongly, the potatoes lend their softness and the choir of alliums makes this dish spark.

As you can see from the photos, I made some hard-boiled eggs (uova sode) to go with my Wortelstoemp, but it can certainly be paired with meat or fish.

I contribute my bread to the 23rd 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. W like Waterzooi (Belgium) is hosted by Martissima of Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare.

This page contains the list of contributions to the event.

This is my contribution to edition #431 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 Brii of briggishome and hosted this week by Terry of Crumpets & Co..

The roundup of the event.

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

Wortelstoemp

or launch the Wortelstoemp 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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potatoes, carrots, leek, spring onion, Belgian cuisine

Wortelstoemp (piatto belga di patate e carote)

tutto pronto per la tavola

Passo dopo passo, nel nostro tour virtuale della Comunità Europea siamo arrivati in Belgio e per celebrare questa tappa ho realizzato una versione personel di un piatto tradizionale: Stoemp, un misto di patate e altre verdure. La versione con patate e carote si chiama Wortelstoemp.

sorriso per la fotografa

Qui sotto riporto le quantità che ho usato, ma questo di fatto è un piatto per il quale uno improvvisa con ciò che ha a disposizione, che è quello che ho fatto io. Ad ispirarmi non è stata una ricetta, ma il cassetto delle verdure del mio frigorifero, appena riempito con i prodotti della mia cassettina primaverile.

accoppiata vincente

Ingredienti:

380 g patate
340 g carote
2 cucchiai olio EVO
2 porri medi, la parte bianca e verde chiara (conservare la parte verde scuro per un altro uso)
Le foglie di alcuni rametti di timo fresco
2 spicchi d'aglio tritati
2 cipollotti, la parte bianca e verde chiara (conservare la parte verde scuro per un altro uso)
1/4 cucchiaino sale fino
La punto di un cucchiaino di buccia di limone grattugiata
2 cucchiai / 30 ml brodo vegetale o di pollo, possibilmente fatto in casa
Un pizzico di noce moscata grattugiata
Pepe nero macinato fresco, q.b.

Preparare patate e carote
Spazzolare bene le patate e bollirle fino a quando sono tenere, poi scolarle. Appena potete tenerle in mano senza scottarvi, pelare le patate e metterle in una ciotola. Schiacciare le patate in modo grossolano, possibilmente con lo schiacciapatate col manico o con una forchetta.

Lavare bene le carote e raschiarne la superficie per rimuovere la pellicina. Tagliare in 2-3 pezzi e lessare fino a quando sono tenere. Scolare e lasciare intiepidire. Schiacciare le carote come fatto con le patate.

Preparare porri e cipollotti
Tagliare a metà per il lungo i porri e tagliarli a mezzelune di 3 mm di spessore. Lavare bene e scolare.

Tagliare a metà per il lungo i cipollotti e tagliarli a mezzelune di 3 mm di spessore. Lavare bene e scolare.

Scaldare l'olio in una padella di media larghezza. Aggiungere i porri e le foglioline di timo e mescolare bene. Cuocere per un paio di minuti, poi coprire la padella e continuare la cottura a fuoco dolce, mescolando di tanto in tanto, per 7-8 minuti.

Aggiungere l'aglio, coprire di nuovo e cuocere per 2 minuti.

Aggiungere i cipollotti, coprire di nuovo e cuocere per 2 minuti.

A questo punto, le verdure devono essere tenere e profumare divinamente.

Condire con la buccia di limone e un pochino del sale fino.

Combinare tutti gli ingredienti
Aggiungere patate e carote nella padella su fuoco dolce e mescolare bene. Versare un cucchiaio dell'acqua di cottura delle carote, poi il brodo e mescolare.

Condire col resto del sale, il pepe e la noce moscata e mescolare bene.

Servire caldo.

piatto saporito e colorato

Il sapore brillante delle carote prevale, le patate contribuiscono la loro morbidezza e il coro di porri e cipollotti fa splendere questo piatto.

Come si vede dalle foto, ho servito il mio Wortelstoemp con delle uova, ma fa una bella figura anche insieme a carne o pesce.

Con il mio Wortelstoemp partecipo alla tappa numero 23 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. W come Waterzooi (Belgio) è ospitata da Martissima di Mangiare è un po' come viaggiare.

Questa pagina contiene la lista dei contributi all'evento.

Questo post è anche il mio contributo all'edizione numero 431 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 Brii di briggishome, e ospitata questa settimana da Terry di Crumpets & Co..

Il raccolto dell'evento.

recipe: Himmel und Erde (heaven and earth, cielo e terra)

December 19, 2013 | Simona

Himmel und Erde

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Keywords: saute boil side gluten-free apple potatoes German

Ingredients (serves 6)

18 oz. / 500 g potatoes
Fine sea salt, to taste
2 tablespoons / 30 ml homemade kefir (or milk or potato cooking water)
7 oz. / 200 g roasted applesauce
8 oz. / 225 g red onion
2 oz. / 55 g raw smoked bacon bits from pastured pork (larger pieces diced)

Instructions

Note: I use half organic Purple Majesty and half organic russet potatoes. Use varieties that you have and like.

Scrub potatoes well and boil them in water to cover until tender.

Drain and mash. I keep the skin of the Purple Majesty potatoes, which is thin, and remove that of the russet potatoes. Proceed according to your taste.

Let cool slightly. Salt lightly and add kefir (or milk or water ). Stir well.

Add the applesauce and stir in.

In the meantime, cut onion in half lengthwise then quarter, then thinly slice each quarter lengthwise. Finally, cut slices in half crosswise. Note: I cut the onion this way, because I want thin slices but also relatively small pieces.

Warm up a lightly oiled skillet and cook bacon bits until they start rendering their fat.

Turn up the heat to medium and add the onion slices to the bacon bits. Stir to coat well, then turn down the heat and cook on gentle heat until the onion is very soft, stirring often (25 minutes or so).

Make sure the mashed potato and applesauce blend is warm. Place some on each plate and top with some hot onion and bacon bits. Serve immediately.

Go to the full post on cielo e terra / heaven and earth / Himmel und Erde

zuppa di castagne, fagioli e patate / chestnut, bean and potato soup

November 8, 2012 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

portrait of a soup

The smell of roasted chestnuts (caldarroste) more than anything else means autumn (autunno) to me. Every year, my mother would buy a large case of chestnuts from someone in Casperia, the village in central Italy where she grew up. We would then consume them over the span of several weeks: she would roast some one day and boil them another, and we always ate them at the end of dinner, as a special dessert. She never used them as an ingredient.

caldarrostaio in Perugia

Street sellers of roasted chestnuts are a common sight in Italy, their presence announced far and wide by the irresistible aroma of the hot product they sell. You buy a cartoccio (paper cone) of roasted chestnuts not only to eat the fragrant nuts, but also to warm up your hands.

I am lucky enough that I can count on two local growers bringing chestnuts to the farmers' market (I will add a photo when I manage to shoot a nice one) and in the photo below you can see a detail of one of the two market stalls.

Differently from my mother, I like to use them as ingredients, as in this dish and the soup below.

Paul's mix, a medley of organic beans

For the bean component of the soup, I used Paul's mix, a signature blend of various kinds of organic beans already mentioned in this post and also this one. And for the potato portion, I used freshly dug potatoes from my garden.

purple majesty potato plant

Instead of a photo of raw potatoes, I am sharing one of my potato plants, taken at the end of January. As I have said before, I love growing potatoes because they are pretty and digging them is as satisfactory as participating in a treasure hunt.

The recipe I am proposing is a combination of elements from a couple of recipes I read (one and two, in Italian) that use the base ingredients I had chosen (though one calls for dry chestnuts), plus my own personal tastes and my preference for simple dishes.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for zuppa di castagne, fagioli e patate

Ingredients:

3.5 oz / 1/2 cup / 100g Paul's mix beans or borlotti or canario [see below how to cook beans with aromatics]
8 oz. / 1/2 lb. / 225 g fresh chestnuts
1 bay leaf
Olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
Half a leek, white and light green portion, cut into half moons and carefully rinsed (save the darker green portion to make broth or stock)
4 sage leaves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
9 oz. / 250 g potatoes, well scrubbed and cubed (I used a mix of Purple Majesty and Yukon Gold from my garden)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup / 240 ml homemade chicken stock/broth or vegetable option (in which case, this soup is vegetarian)
Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste

How to cook 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
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. Let the beans rest in their cooking broth until ready to use.

How to cook the chestnuts
With a pointed blade, make a slit in the shell without cutting through the meat. Place chestnuts in a saucepan, cover abundantly with water and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil and cook gently until they are tender. Keep the chestnuts in the cooking water and take out one at a time to peel. Use a sharp knife with a pointed blade to remove the shell, then the skin. Set aside. (If a chestnut breaks, while being handled, it is fine.)

How to cook the soup
Warm up some olive oil in a saucepan, then add shallot and leek. Stir well to coat. After a couple of minutes, add sage and rosemary and stir. After a few more minutes, add the potatoes, beans with their cooking liquid, tomato paste and broth, plus enough water to cover.

Bring the soup to a boil, covered, then turn down the heat and cook for 15 minutes. Add the chestnuts and cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are very tender (you can easily mash one with a spoon on the side of the pan).

Remove from the heat and purée using an immersion blender, if possible. If you use a food processor or blender, purée in small batches and use extreme care. You may opt for a minimal blending so not all the ingredients are completely puréed. This makes for an interesting texture. Add more water, as needed, to make the soup reach the desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper to taste and serve.

What I like about this soup is that the flavor of each main ingredient is perfectly clear to the palate and the chorus sings beautifully.

This is my contribution to edition #359 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 Simona of briciole (that is, me).

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 castagne, fagioli e patate

or launch the zuppa di castagne, fagioli e patate 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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beans, chestnuts, soup, potato, Italian recipe

zuppa di castagne, fagioli e patate

ritratto di zuppa

Il profumo delle caldarroste è il più chiaro segno d'autunno. Ogni anno, mia madre comprava una cassetta di castagne a Casperia, il paese dov'era cresciuta. Nelle settimane successive, una volta le faceva arrosto e la volta dopo bollite e le mangiavamo come dessert a cena. Mia madre non usava mai le castagne come ingrediente.

caldarrostaio a Corso Vannucci (Perugia)

Sono fortunata dal momento che ci sono ben due produttori locali di castagne e le posso acquistare al farmers' market.

A differenza di mia madre, a me piace usare le castagne come ingrediente, per esempio in un piatto con fagioli e funghi e nella zuppa qui sotto.

Paul's mix: fagioli bio di diversi tipi

Per la componente fagioli della zuppa ho usato "Paul's mix," un misto di vari tipi di fagioli bio del quale ho parlato in precedenza in questo post e anche quest'altro. E per la componente patate ho usato quelle che ho raccolto più di recente dal mio orticello.

pianta di patate viola Purple Majesty

Invece di una foto di patate crude, ve ne mostro una scattata nel mio orticello a fine Gennaio. Mi piace un sacco raccogliere le patate: è come partecipare ad una caccia al tesoro speciale.

La ricetta che propongo è nata dalla combinazione di idee tratte da un paio di ricette trovate online (una e due, in italiano) che fanno uso degli ingredienti di base che avevo scelto (anche se una delle ricette prevede le castagne secche) più i miei gusti personali e la mia preferenza per i piatti semplici.

Ingredienti per i fagioli:

100 g di fagioli borlotti secchi (mi rendo conto che il Paul's mix in Italia non si trova)
mezza cipolla piccola (o un quarto di cipolla media)
una fogliolina d'alloro
un piccolo spicchio d'aglio tagliato a fettine
un paio di steli di prezzemolo

Altri ingredienti per la zuppa:

225 g di castagne
una foglia d'alloro
olio d'oliva
uno scalogno tagliato a pezzetti
mezzo porro (la parte bianca e verde chiara), tagliato a mezzelune e ben sciacquato (mettere da parte la porzione verde scura per quando fate il brodo)
4 foglie di salvia tagliate a filetti
1 cucchiaino di aghi di rosmarino tagliati a pezzetti
250 g di patate fresche pulite bene e tagliate a cubetti (io ho usato un misto di patate e pasta gialla e a pasta viola)
1 cucchiaio (15 ml) di concentrato di pomodoro
brodo di pollo o vegetale fatto in casa (nel qual caso la zuppa è vegetariana)
sale fino
pepe macinato fresco

Cuocere i fagioli
Il metodo che uso per cuocere i fagioli secchi viene da Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone di Deborah Madison (Beans with Aromatics). Dopo aver tenuto in ammollo 100 g di fagioli per diverse ore o, meglio, tutta la notte, in abbastanza acqua da coprirli per 2,5 cm (io ne uso 475 ml), verso il tutto in una pentola e aggiungo gli odori.

Portare a bollore vivace e mantenerlo per 5 minuti, poi abbassare il calore e far cuocere, coperti, fino a quando i fagioli non sono teneri. Il tempo necessario dipende dal tipo di fagioli e dalla loro freschezza. Far freddare i fagioli nel liquido di cottura, poi rimuovere gli odori e scartarli. Lasciare i fagioli nel liquido di cottura fino a quando non li utilizzate.

Cuocere le castagne
Con una lama appuntita, fare un taglio sulla buccia senza arrivare ad incidere la polpa. Metter le castagne in una pentola, coprire abbondantemente d'acqua e aggiungere l'alloro. Portare a bollore e cuocere a fuoco dolce fino a quando le castagne sono morbide. Tenere le castagne nell'acqua di cottura e tirarne fuori una alla volta per pelarla. Usare un coltello con la punta per rimuovere la buccia e la pellicina. Mettere da parte. (Non è necessario che le castagne rimangano intere.)

Cuocere la zuppa
In una pentola far scaldare dell’olio e aggiungervi lo scalogno e il porro. Mescolare bene e, dopo un paio di minuti, aggiungere la salvia e il rosmarino. Dopo qualche minuto, aggiungere le patate, i fagioli con il loro liquido di cottura, il concentrato di pomodoro e il brodo, più abbastanza acqua da coprire gli ingredienti.

Mettere il coperchio e portare a bollore, poi regolare il calore per mantenere un leggero bollore. Cuocere per 15 minuti, poi aggiungere le castagne. Cuocere per altri 15-20 minuti, o fino a quando i pezzi di patata siano morbidi (cioè potete schiacciarli con il dorso di un cucchiaio di legno contro la parete della pentola).

Togliere la pentola dal fuoco, e ridurre le verdure a purè con il frullatore ad immersione, più o meno a seconda della consistenza che si preferisce. Aggiungere acqua quanto basta per ottenere una zuppa della consistenza desiderata. Regolare sale e pepe a piacere e servire la zuppa ben calda.

Quello che mi piace di questa zuppa è che il sapore di ognuno degli ingredienti principali è perfettamente chiaro al palato e tutti insieme fanno un bel coro.

Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 359 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 Simona di briciole (che poi sono io).

Questo post contiene il raccolto dell'evento.

recipe: chestnut, bean and potato soup (zuppa di castagne, fagioli e patate)

November 8, 2012 | Simona

Chestnut, bean and potato soup

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 1/2 hour

Cook Time: 2 hours

Keywords: boil soup/stew beans potatoes chestnuts Italian fall

Ingredients (Serves 4)

3.5 oz / 1/2 cup / 100 g Paul’s mix beans or borlotti or canario [see below how to cook beans with aromatics]
8 oz. / 1/2 lb. / 225 g fresh chestnuts
1 bay leaf
Olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
Half a leek, white and light green portion, cut into half moons and carefully rinsed (save the darker green portion to make broth or stock)
4 sage leaves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
9 oz. / 250 g potatoes, well scrubbed and cubed (I used a mix of Purple Majesty and Yukon Gold from my garden)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup / 240 ml homemade chicken stock/broth or vegetable option (in which case, this soup is vegetarian)
Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste

Instructions

How to cook 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; a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley

How to cook the chestnuts

With a pointed blade, make a slit in the shell without cutting through the meat. Place chestnuts in a saucepan, cover abundantly with water and add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil and cook gently until they are tender. Keep the chestnuts in the cooking water and take out one at a time to peel. Use a sharp knife with a pointed blade to remove the shell, then the skin. Set aside. (If a chestnut breaks, while being handled, it is fine.)

How to cook the soup

Warm up some olive oil in a saucepan, then add shallot and leek. Stir well to coat. After a couple of minutes, add sage and rosemary and stir. After a few more minutes, add the potatoes, beans with their cooking liquid, tomato paste and broth, plus enough water to cover.

Go to the full post on zuppa di castagne, fagioli e patate / chestnut, bean and potato soup

frico con patate / frico with potatoes

October 18, 2012 | Simona

Three years ago, I read my first Pepe Carvalho novel, Tattoo. It inspired me to make caldeirada (traditional Portuguese fish stew), as recounted in this post. I arrived at Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (1939-2003), Carvalho's creator, through the Montalbano novels. The connection between Montalbano and Montalbán is not an accidental one: as mentioned in the post, Andrea Camilleri, Montalbano's creator, named his character after Montalbán in gratitude, and the two authors knew each other.

After Tattoo, I read The Angst-Ridden Executive and Southern Seas (1979). Private detective Pepe Carvalho is an interesting character, at times difficult to fathom, which is part of his appeal. He has a strange relationship with the people who are closer to him. There is Biscuter, his sort-of receptionist, who lives in his office and cooks meals that Carvalho not always can enjoy, but for which he is very grateful.

'Do you realize, Biscuter – we private eyes are the barometers of established morality. I tell you, this society is rotten. It doesn't believe in anything.'
'Yes, boss.'
Biscuter backed Carvalho up, not only because he guessed that the boss was drunk, but also because he could recognize a catastrophe when he saw one.

Then, there is Charo, his sort-of girlfriend, who is also a prostitute with a high-class clientele. Carvalho appears to care about those two people, but at the same time, he does not seem close to them. In Southern Seas, he also cares about Bleda, the puppy he purchases on a whim after seeing her in the window of a pet shop.

Carvalho is subject to dark moods. It is not easy to predict how he will react to what happens to him. He may not like the person who hires him or his/her motives, but he does the job he is paid to do, then lets the hiring party deal with the results.

In Southern Seas, Carvalho is hired by the widow of Carlos Stuart Pedrell, a Barcelona businessman, construction magnate, and arts' patron. Stuart Pedrell disappeared not long after announcing plans to travel to the South Pacific, then, a year later, he is found stabbed to death at a construction site in Barcelona. His wife asks Carvalho to find out what happened. The detective reconstructs Stuart Pedrell's existential and physical journey. In the process, he meets an interesting array of characters, from Stuart Pedrell's cocaine-addicted daughter, to his power-addicted business partners (one of them fitness-obsessed, the other an epicure), to his lovers, and travels from the opulence of Stuart Pedrell's residence to the squalor of the apartment where he lived incognito until the violent end. The journey allows the novel's author to offer a composite view of the vibrant Mediterranean city and the people who inhabit it.

Barcelona and food and wine are co-protagonists of this and the other Carvalho novels I have read so far. The detective loves to eat and drink and, as recounted in more details in the previous post, he can cook. He knows his city, walks around it, and describes it in crisp sentences, like this one, where he refers to Franco's dictatorship, which ended only four years prior to the novel's publication, and during which Vázquez Montalbán spent time in prison:

Artimbau's studio was on Calle Baja de San Pedro. As usual, Carvalho felt a flicker of nervousness as he passed the police headquarters in Vía Layetana. He had only bad memories of the barracks-like building. However much they tried to give it a democratic face-lift, for him it would always be a grim fortress of repression.

Artimbau is a painter whom Stuart Pedrell had patronized and he is also a former political associate of Carvalho. The detective visits the artist in his studio and, upon being invited to eat, finds out that Artimbau is on a diet:

Carvalho lifted the lid and was assailed by the aroma of a strange, potato-less stew in which vegetables vied with meat.
'I have to watch my weight, so I don't put in potatoes, And hardly any fat either. But it tastes OK.'

Over stew and plenty of wine, Artimbau tells Carvalho about Stuart Pedrell's rise to power and about the rich man's relationship with the artists he sponsored, which helps Carvalho in his efforts to construct for himself an image of the murdered man.

I read this passage of the book at a time when I was harvesting potatoes I had planted in my little vegetable patch. I love digging potatoes: it's a kind of treasure hunt that ends with something truly valuable. (I have featured my potatoes in the recent post on jota / bean, sauerkraut and potato soup.) I imagined that Carvalho, allergic as he is to any kind of limitation placed upon food and drink, would leave Artimbau's studio with a craving for potatoes, so I prepared something to satisfy such craving: my rendition of frico, a traditional dish from Friuli (the region from which jota also hails) .

There are various types of frico, defined by the ingredients used. The basic frico is a crisp cheese fritter. The one I made contains potatoes and also some onion (cipolla). Among the many recipes I looked at, the one that I used to guide me is on this page (in Italian). I did not use pancetta and in terms of cheese, I used half Montasio and half Crescenza, both made by me.

Ingredients:

olive oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
9 oz. / 250 g potatoes (I used Yukon Gold from my garden), scrubbed well and grated using an extra-coarse grater (I did not peel them)
4.5 oz. / 125 g cheese half Montasio, sliced thinly and half Crescenza, diced (both homemade)
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper

My homemade Crescenza

My homemade Montasio

Warm up some olive oil in a pan, add the onion, stir well and cook for a few minutes.

Add the grated potatoes and 1/4 cup of water. Stir, cover, and cook until onion and potatoes are soft. Check the pan often and, if it becomes dry, add some hot water to it.

When the potatoes are ready, add the cheese and salt and pepper to taste, then stir to incorporate. Transfer to a warm 8 inch / 20 com non-stick frying pan and flatten into a sort of pancake. Cook the frico on both sides until golden. Use a plate or a rimless lid to flip the frico. When ready, cut into portions and serve immediately.

What about Carvalho and his search for Stuart Pedrell's murder? Southern Seas being a mystery, I don't want to divulge more than necessary to whet your appetite. If you enjoy complex characters that move in a fascinating environment and masterly woven plots, then Manuel Vázquez Montalbán is your type of writer and you may want to pick up one of the Carvalho novels available in English translation (see this page). They are satisfying books, just as frico is a satisfying dish.

This is my contribution to the 17th 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.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

frico con patate

or launch the frico con patate 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 from the publisher. I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for discussing the book on my blog. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

potato, cheese, Italian recipe

briciole

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Wortelstoemp (piatto belga di patate e carote)

recipe: Himmel und Erde (heaven and earth, cielo e terra)

zuppa di castagne, fagioli e patate / chestnut, bean and potato soup

zuppa di castagne, fagioli e patate

recipe: chestnut, bean and potato soup (zuppa di castagne, fagioli e patate)

frico con patate / frico with potatoes