sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart / torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine

October 11, 2018 | Simona

sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart / IMG_1261

a favorite dinner fare
(linen by La FABBRICA del LINO)

At a conference this past February I met author Anne Perry and a few days later to I found myself in a bookstore that had a copy of The Cater Street Hangman, first book of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series¹. The coincidence was too tempting to resist. I liked the book so much that I read the following three novels in the series: Callander Square, Paragon Walk and Resurrection Row.

Besides being good mysteries, the novels attract me because of their setting: Victorian England. They look at the life of that time with a modern sensitivity. The author explains some situations, because she knows that her readers are not familiar with the social norms of the time, for example the uneasy relationship between upper class people and the Police, some of the norms regulating the movements of servants inside the house where they work.

Thomas Pitt is a police inspector in London. In the course of the investigation at the center of The Cater Street Hangman, Pitt meets Charlotte Ellison, who belongs to an upper-class family. Given that the series is called "Charlotte and Thomas Pitt" you can imagine at least one of the things that happens in that novel, but there is a lot more involving in different ways Charlotte's two sisters, Sarah and Emily. As is usually the case with mysteries, it is difficult to provide details without spoiling the surprise for readers, so I will not say more.

The immediate inspiration for the recipe I provide below is Charlotte's adventures in the kitchen. Raised in a house where the cook and her assistants took care of purchasing food and preparing meals, Charlotte goes through a learning curve as she becomes responsible for both activities in the Pitt household, since her husband's salary does not allow them to have a maid. (Thomas is keenly aware of the situation and shows deep appreciation for his wife's efforts.)

One of the dishes Charlotte sets about to learn to make is the traditional savory English pie. She waits to cut it until her husband comes back home tired and ready to push aside the day's worries to spend some time with his wife (and later their daughter, Jemima). Charlotte's attitude is positive: she does her best, sees where she must improve, and moves forward. And yes, she is more into helping her husband in solving his cases than in mastering cooking, but she does both with positive energy.

I am not married to a detective, nor do I aspire to detective work, but approach my cooking projects with enthusiasm and determination. The latter is particularly useful when what comes out of the oven or a pot is not exactly what I expected. I take notes and revise the plan for the next iteration.

I prefer tarts over pies, so with a nod to Charlotte Pitt, I created a recipe for savory tart using a gluten-free crust made of ground cashews (anacardi), coconut flour (farina di cocco) and butter (burro), which is a variation on the recipe for Coconut Quiche Base from the book The Ketogenic Kitchen by Domini Kemp and Patricia Daly². I am not following a ketogenic diet, but I like a lot of recipes in the book. My changes to the original have mostly to do with reducing the quantities to make a thinner crust, but also with the preparation.

sweet looking and tasting

Once I had the crust, I started experimenting with fillings and given the season, I reached for sweet peppers and zucchini, both abundant at the various farmers' markets where I shop. I described my favorite recipe for preparing those vegetables in a previous post³. I doubled the quantities, because I wanted a vegetable-rich tart. The addition of cheese makes it basically a complete meal. (I use my homemade fresh chèvre.)

The crust can be made and baked ahead. The vegetables can be cooked ahead as well. Assembling the tart and baking it can be done close to mealtime. The ability to prepare the dish in steps is another characteristics that makes it appealing.

hurrah for colorful vegetables

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart

Ingredients:

For the crust:

60 g raw cashews
55 g coconut flour
1/8 teaspoon Harissa spice mix or sweet paprika
A pinch of salt
55 g cold unsalted butter

For the filling:

4 tablespoons / 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
10 ounces / 280 g sweet onions, like cipollini or walla walla
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon Harissa spice mix
14 ounces / 400 g sweet Italian peppers
12 ounces / 340 g zucchini
Fine sea salt, to taste
2 ounces / 55 g fresh chèvre
3/4 ounce / 20 g freshly grated cheese, like manchego or cheddar

Prepare the crust
Put the cashews, coconut flour, spices and salt in a food processor and process until the cashews are finely ground. Add the butter cut into small cubes and pulse briefly a few times until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

To bake the tart, I recommend using a 9 or 9 1/2-inch / 23-24 cm fluted round tart pan with removable bottom, about 1 inch / 2.5 cm high, optionally lined with a circle or parchment paper (the buttery crust does not stick to the bottom, but as I cut it in the pan, the paper helps protect the metal surface from scratching).

Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Put the crust mix in the tart pan and shake to distribute evenly. Press the mix to make an even layer all around. The butter should be soft enough at this point to allow you to easily shape the mix with your hands. Otherwise, wait a little bit. To keep my fingers less oily, I prefer the butter not to be completely soft.

Bake for 9-12 minutes, until the crust turns golden at the edge (see photo below). Take out of the oven and set aside until ready to assemble the tart.

blind-baked cashew and coconut crust / IMG_1259

partially baked tart crust
(linen by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Prepare the filling
Slice the onions lengthwise into thin sections no wider than 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm and separate the layers so you have short ribbons.

Cut the peppers lengthwise. Carve out and discard the stem portion, and the seeds and ribbing inside. Cut each half in half crosswise and finally slice each piece into short ribbons no wider than 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm.

Trim zucchini top and bottom, quarter lengthwise, then cut into 1/8 inch / 3 mm slices.

Warm up the olive oil in a large skillet (I use a cast-iron one). Add the onion to the skillet, stir to coat and let cook on medium-low heat for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic. Continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

Five minutes after you started cooking the onion, sprinkle the spice mix and stir well, then add the peppers, stir and continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

Five minutes later, add the zucchini, stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Cover and cook on gentle heat until the peppers are of the desired tenderness (20-25 minutes). Every few minutes, uncover and stir.

When the peppers are ready, sprinkle the salt, adjusting the amount to your taste and stir, then remove the pan from the heat. Let cool, then add the chèvre and stir well to distribute it evenly.

ready for the oven

Assemble and bake the tart
Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

Transfer the filling on the prepared crust and distribute it evenly. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top.

Bake for 30-32 minutes. Take out of the oven, slice and serve right away. Serves 4-8.

I cut the tart in the pan. The crust is crumbly and as a result the plating may not be pretty, but the first bite of the tart will make you forget everything else.

Once you have tried making the tart and decided that you like it, you can certainly play with the filling, particularly as sweet pepper and zucchini season is coming to an end on the Northern hemisphere. I have successfully used grated carrots (carote) and shredded cabbage (cavolo cappuccio) as alternative and the result has always been excellent.

¹ Anne Perry's website and the page devoted to the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series
² The book's website
³ Post including my recipe for Sweet peppers with onions and zucchini

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

torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine

or launch the torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine audio file

This is my second contribution to the 34th 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.

I am also contributing to the October edition of Foodies Read the reading/cooking event hosted by Heather of Based on a True Story.

Visit the linkup page to see what others have read and cooked.

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.

sweet peppers, Italian peppers, onion, zucchini, tart, gluten free, cashews, coconut flour

sweet peppers with onion and zucchini / peperoni dolci con cipolle e zucchine

October 21, 2016 | Simona

sweet peppers with onion and zucchini / DSC_8005

a skillet of goodies
(tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO)

In the bookstore ostensibly to get a guidebook, I stumbled on Norwegian by Night by Derek. B. Miller¹. Anything related to Norway (Norvegia) gets my attention. A quick look at the book jacket made me decide to purchase it. I started reading it and the story grabbed me right away.

One one level it is a crime story, set in Oslo. On another level it is the story of an elderly man coming to terms with his life, in particular the death of his only son in the Vietnam War. And on yet another level it is the dramatic and funny story of an adventurous escape. All with a generous seasoning of quirky wisdom. The protagonist, Sheldon Horowitz, is a widower who finds himself transplanted from New York to Oslo, where his granddaughter lives with her Norwegian husband.

Summarizing the story in a few lines is difficult, as there are several threads and I don't want to spoil the enjoyment of whoever decides to dive into the book. Suffice here to say that Sheldon finds himself on the run with a young boy whose mother has been murdered by his father. The situation transports Sheldon back to his training as a Marine and his experience in the Korean War. The boy does not say a word and Sheldon does the talking for the two of them.

The first leg of the escape occurs on a stolen boat. When the boat runs out of fuel, Sheldon docks and breaks into a nearby summer house, where he makes dinner for the boy and himself with whatever he finds in the cupboards.

ready to be served
(tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO
Stainless Steel Slotted Serving Spoon from Zeroll)

Sheldon's actions are familiar to me. Sometimes I plan ahead. Other times, I open the refrigerator and put together a meal with what I have. The side dish I am describing here is the result of a set of casual events. I had some sweet Italian peppers and some zucchini from the farmers' market, plus some cipollini onion from my CSA box.

I had also just received an envelope with the monthly spice selection from RawSpiceBar² to try, which included a sachet of Chipotle Smoked Sea Salt. I had never used smoked salt (sale affumicato) before and was eager to try it. One of the recipes included with the spice selection was for zucchini, squash and pepper grilled then seasoned with the smoked salt. I don't grill, but the recipe made me think of cooking the vegetables in olive oil then finishing them with the salt. Detto fatto, as we say in Italian: said and done. I like the subtle smokiness the salt imparts to the dish. (I also liked the other two spice mixes I received in the envelope and in general I like the concept of subscribing to receive a variety of spice mixes every month: it is a gentle nudge to try something different and discover new flavors.)

sweet looking and tasting

I loved the result and was happy to be able to make it again the following day and take photos, since I had enough ingredients. Don't get too hung up on the quantities. If you have more peppers (which happened to me a few days after my initial rendition of the recipe) just increase the other quantities accordingly. If you have leftovers you can always use them as base for a frittata or make a nest and cook an egg in it the way I show in my recent recipe³ using leafy green vegetables (tried and recommended).

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Sweet peppers with onion and zucchini

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
5 ounces / 140 g sweet onion, like cipollini or walla walla
2 garlic cloves, minced
7 ounces / 200 g sweet Italian peppers
6 ounces / 170 g zucchini
3/8-1/2 teaspoon RawSpiceBar² Chipotle smoked sea salt

Slice the onion lengthwise into thin sections no wider than 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm and separate the layers so you have short ribbons.

Trim zucchini top and bottom, quarter lengthwise, then cut into 1/8 inch / 3 mm slices.

Warm up the olive oil in a skillet (I use a cast-iron one). Add the onion to the skillet, stir to coat and let cook on medium-low heat for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic. Continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

Five minutes after you started cooking the onion, add the peppers, stir and continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

When the peppers are ready, sprinkle the salt, adjusting the amount to your taste and stir, then remove the pan from the heat. Serve and eat right away.

Serves 2-3.

sweet peppers with onion and zucchini / IMG_4992

the view from above
(tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO)

I want to believe that both Sheldon and little Paul would enjoy my side dish, the way I enjoyed their moving story.

¹ Norwegian by Night
² RawSpice Bar
³ Post including my recipe for Nested leafy green vegetables

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

peperoni dolci con cipolle e zucchine

or launch the peperoni dolci con cipolle e zucchine audio file

This is my second 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 and the Stainless Steel Slotted Serving Spoon free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO and Zeroll, respectively). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting them on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

I have received the Chipotle smoked sea salt free of charge from the manufacturer (RawSpice Bar). 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.

sweet peppers, Italian peppers, onion, zucchini, side dish

recipe: sweet peppers with onion and zucchini

October 21, 2016 | Simona

Sweet peppers with onion and zucchini

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Keywords: saute side gluten-free nut-free vegetarian low-carb soy-free sugar-free vegan sweet peppers onion zucchini

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

2 tablespoons / 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
5 ounces / 140 g sweet onion, like cipollini or walla walla
2 garlic cloves, minced
7 ounces / 200 g sweet Italian peppers
6 ounces / 170 g zucchini
3/8-1/2 teaspoon RawSpiceBar Chipotle smoked sea salt

Instructions

Slice the onion lengthwise into thin sections no wider than 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm and separate the layers so you have short ribbons.

Trim zucchini top and bottom, quarter lengthwise, then cut into 1/8 inch / 3 mm slices.

Five minutes after you started cooking the onion, add the peppers, stir and continue cooking, stirring every now and then.

When the peppers are ready, sprinkle the salt, adjusting the amount to your taste and stir, then remove the pan from the heat. Serve and eat right away.

Go to the full post on sweet peppers with onion and zucchini

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.

greens, eggs, kale, chard, collard greens

Kenyan vegetable curry / curry di verdure keniano

July 26, 2015 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

beginning (right) and end (left) of first rendition

The fourteenth country of our World Culinary ABC¹ is Kenya (Kenia). To celebrate this stop, I chose to make my version of Kenyan vegetable curry. There are multiple recipes online for this dish². The one that inspired me includes baking the vegetables³.

Fresh vegetables from the farmers' market and my CSA box and some kale from my vegetable garden went into this dish, together with a number of spices from my collection. To accommodate household's preferences, I made a dish that is mildly hot and moderately spicy.

This recipe is ideal for a party. I made it twice, with different vegetable mixes (see details below) and since I had no party on either day, I froze some of it for future consumption.

pretty purple Dragon's Tongue beans

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Kenyan vegetable curry

Ingredients:

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 (this is the season)
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 (mortaio e pestello)
1 small chili pepper (peperoncino rosso)
1/2 teaspoon / 2.5 ml turmeric (curcuma)
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5 ml fine sea salt, plus to taste
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
4 cloves (chiodi di garofano)
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 Gandia⁴)
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

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.)

Serves 8.

second rendition served as a side to roasted trout

The recipes I consulted suggest to serve it over rice or with Indian bread. I never make white rice and have not yet tried making Indian flatbread. I serve it as side dish to chicken, frittata and roasted trout, and also by itself with Crescenza cheese on top that melts with the vegetables' heat. The latter version is completely non-traditional, but it is my favorite.

¹ The World Culinary ABC kick-off post.
² A recipe for Kenyan Vegetable Curry.
³ The recipe for Kenyan Vegetable Curry that mostly inspired me: this post references a page that appears to be no longer available. The recipe can be seen on a number of other pages.
⁴ Post with photo of eggplant Listada de Gandia

I contribute my vegetable curry also to the 14th installment of the Abbecedario culinario mondiale (World Culinary ABC), an event organized by Trattoria MuVarA that will bring us to visit 27 countries of the world using the alphabet as guide. N like Nairobi (Kenya) is hosted by Valentina of diVerdediViola.

The list of recipes contributed to the event and their slide show.

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

curry di verdure keniano

or launch the curry di verdure keniano 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.]

curry, vegetables, eggplant, Kenyan cuisine

[jump to Comments]

curry di verdure keniano

inizio (destra) e risultato finale (sinistra) delle prima realizzazione

La quattordicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale¹ è il Kenia. Per celebrare questa tappa ho preparato la mia versione del curry di verdure. Su internet ho trovato diverse ricette che descrivono questo piatto². Quella che mi ha ispirato in modo particolare prevede la cottura finale al forno delle verdure³.

Verdure fresche dal farmers' market e dalla mia cassettina e cavolo riccio dal mio orticello (di cui poco rimane a causa della lunga siccità) hanno contribuito a creare questo piatto gustoso, insieme a spezie varie dalla mia collezione. Tenendo presente i gusti della famiglia, ho preparato una versione solo leggermete piccante e moderatamente speziata.

La ricetta qui sotto è ideale per una festa o cena con più persone del solito. L'ho preparata due volte utilizzando verdure un po' diverse e dal momento che non ho organizzato un party nessuno dei due giorni, ne ho surgelata una parte per consumarla in futuro.

fagioli Dragon's Tongue

Ingredienti:

2 cucchiai / 30 ml olio extra-vergine di oliva
2 grosse cipolle, circa 680 g: suggerisco di usarne una rossa e una bianca dal nuovo raccolto (questa è la stagione)
1 cucchiaino / 5 ml semi di cumino
1 cucchiaino / 5 ml semi di senape neri
450 g patate ben pulite
1/2 cucchiaio / 7,5 ml zenzero fresco grattugiato
2 spicchi d'aglio tritati
1/2 cucchiaio / 7,5 ml ml cumino in polvere
1/2 cucchiaio / 7,5 ml semi di coriandolo pestati con mortaio e pestello
1 peperoncino rosso piccolo
1/2 cucchiaino / 2,5 ml curcuma
1/2 cucchiaino / 2,5 ml sale fino, più q.b.
1 stecca di cannella spezzata a metà
4 chiodi di garofano
1 grossa foglia di alloro spezzata a metà
1 o 2 melanzane (a seconda del peso), circa 570 g (per esempio la bella Listada de Gandia⁴)
250 g fagiolini o piattoni (per esempio dei Dragon's Tongue)
250 g zucchine
475 ml passata di pomodori arrosto
un mazzetto di verdure a foglia: bietola, spinaci, cavolo nero; io ho usato 70 g di cavolo riccio novello dal mio orticello

Nota #1: nella prima realizzazione di questo piatto (che si vede nella foto in alto), invece di zucchine e fagioli Dragon's Tongue ho usato una confezione da 450 g di verdure miste tagliate che conteneva carote, fagiolini, piselli e chicchi di mais. Le ho scongelate per un paio di minuti nel forno a microonde prima di aggiungerle alla padella. Utilizzate pure altre verdure di stagione come cavolo cappuccio, cavolfiore o carote. Variando gli ingredienti otterrete un piatto ogni volta un po' diverso.

Note #2: Avevo ancora una confezione della mia passata di pomodori arrosto dall'anno scorso e ho appena fatto la prima mandata del 2015. Se non avete tempo per cuocere al forno i pomodori, provate ad utilizzare una lattina (411 g circa) di pomodori arrostiti e schiacciati e 2 cucchiai / 30 ml d'acqua con cui sciacquare la lattina.

Tagliare le cipolle a dadini.

In una grossa padella profonda, scaldare l'olio su calore medio. Aggiungere le cipolle e mescolare, poi aggiungere i semi di cumino e di senape e mescolare bene. Abbassare il calore e cuocere fino a quando la cipolla sia morbida e un po' dorata, 20 minuti circa, mescolando spesso.

Nel frattempo:

tagliare a dadi le patate
preparare le rimanenti spezie
tagliare testa e coda delle melanzane, tagliarle a fettine spesse 6 mm e tagliare le fettine a dadi
tagliare testa e coda delle zucchine, tagliarle in quattro per lungo e tagliare i quarti a fettine
tagliare il picciolo dei fagiolini e tagliarli a pezzi lunghi 2,5 cm

Se utilizzate diversi tipi di verdure, tagliatele in modo simile: per esempio, tagliate le carote a dadi, affettate il cavolo cappuccio, dividete il calvolfiore a cimette, ecc.

Pre-riscaldare il forno a 177 C.

Aggiungere le patate alla padella e mescolare, poi aggiungere le rimanenti spezioe e continuare a cuocere per diversi minuti mescolando quasi continuamente.

Versare la passata di pomodoro nella padella. Sciacquare il contenitore con un cucchiaio / 15 ml d'acqua e versarla nella padella. Mescolare bene.

Aggiungere le altre verdure, una alla volta, cuocendole 1-2 minuti tra un'aggiunta e l'altra.

Dal momento che non sono sicura che la mia padella fonda sia a prova di forno, trasferisco il suo contenuto in una teglia di Pyrex rettangolare da 4 litri e la sigillo con della pellicola di alluminio.

Infornare e cuocere per 15 minuti, poi mescolare le verdure e controllare che siano abbastanza umide in modo da evitare che brucino. Ripetere dopo 15 minuti. Se necessario, aggiungere un po' d'acqua. Dopo altri 15 minuti, controllare la cottura delle verdure. Se non sono ancora ben cotte, continuare a cuocere per altri 3-5 minuti. Quando le verdure sono pronte, sfornare, correggere il sale (la quantità dipende in parte dalla sapidità dei pomodori che utilizzate) e mescolare bene.

Servire ben caldo. (A me piace anche a temperatura ambiente.)

Porzioni: 8

seconda realizzazione servita come contorno a della trota arrosto

Le ricette che ho consultato suggeriscono di servire questo curry su del riso o con del pane indiano. Io non faccio mai il riso bianco e non mi sono ancora cimentata a fare il pane indiano. Servo questo curry come contorno a pollo, frittata o trota al forno, o anche da solo con sopra pezzettini di Crescenza che si ammorbidiscono col calore delle verdure. Quest'ultima opzione, assolutamente non tradizionale, è la mia preferita.

¹ Post inaugurale dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale
² Una ricetta per curry di verdure keniano (in inglese)
³ La ricetta per curry di verdure keniano che mi ha ispirato in modo particolare: questo post fa riferimento ad una pagina che pare non essere più disponibile. La stessa ricetta compare su diverse altre pagine.
⁴ Post con la foto della varietà di melanzana "Listada de Gandia"

Con questo curry di verdure partecipo alla quattordicesima tappa dell'Abbecedario culinario mondiale, un evento organizzato dalla Trattoria MuVarA che ci porterà a visitare 27 paesi del mondo usando le lettere dell'alfabeto come guida. N like Nairobi (Kenia) è ospitata da Valentina di diVerdediViola.

La lista di ricette contribuite all'evento e lo slide show che le mostra.

broccoli al vapore con salsina al miso e noci / steamed broccoli with walnut miso dressing

June 15, 2014 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

fresh from the farmers' market

When vegetables are this fresh and pretty, it is almost a pity to cut them up and cook them, so I try to treat them gently. In this recipe, I steam them until tender to my liking and accompany them with a nut-based dressing.

just steamed

I save the water at the bottom of the pot where I steam the broccoli and use it to blend miso and lightly toasted walnuts.

red miso, walnuts and the dressing

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for steamed broccoli with walnut miso dressing

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. / 680 g broccoli OR 1 lb. / 450 g broccoli and 1/2 lb. / 230 g romanesco broccoli (cavolo broccolo romanesco), freshly harvested and possibly organic
1/4 cup / 60 ml broccoli cooking water
1 oz. / 30 g walnuts
1 tablespoon / 20 g mild red miso (see Note below)

Note: miso (fermented soybeans with rice or barley and salt) comes in several varieties, i.e., various degrees of flavor intensity and saltiness. The one I use has a nice balance of both characteristics and it is also in balance — in terms of quantity — with the vegetables, so the flavor of the dressing does not overwhelm that of the broccoli. You may need to adjust the amount of miso up or down based on the kind you use and your personal preference, but try to keep the balance so no note rings louder than the others.

Prepare the broccoli
Wash and cut broccoli heads into florets. Halve large florets lengthwise to get bite-sized pieces. Peel the tough outer layer of the stalk(s), quarter if very thick, and cut crosswise into coins. Steam to desired softness. (I like both broccoli and cauliflower soft, but I know that not everybody shares my preference.)

Remove broccoli from the steam basket and let cool in a salad bowl. Set aside the cooking water.

Prepare the walnuts
If your walnuts are freshly cracked, toast them lightly in a dry pan, shaking the pan often.

Otherwise, in her “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone”, Deborah Madison gives instructions on how to treat walnuts to improve their flavor when they aren't freshly cracked, and make them less irritating for people who are sensitive to their skins. Bring a pan of water to a boil, add walnuts and let them stand for one minute, then drain them and absorb the excess moisture with a towel. Finally, spread the walnuts on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat and place them in the oven preheated to 300 F until they have dried out, 15-20 minutes. Remove them from the oven as soon as they are dry. (I do this for 6-8 oz. / 170-225 g walnuts at a time since I use walnuts often in my recipes. Store walnuts in the refrigerator.)

Prepare the dressing
Close to serving time, place walnuts into a blender and chop finely.

Add miso and water and blend.

Pour dressing onto the broccoli, using a slender spatula to get all the dressing out of the blender.

Stir well and serve. (The amount of salt in the miso I use is sufficient; depending on the miso of your choice, you may need to adjust the salt.)

Serves 5-6.

steamed broccoli with miso walnut dressing

ready for dinner

I like to serve farm-fresh broccoli dressed this way as a side (contorno) to Alice Waters's slow-cooked king salmon.

This is my contribution to edition #437 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 Haalo.

The roundup of the event.

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

broccoli al vapore con salsina al miso e noci

or launch the broccoli al vapore con salsa al miso e noci 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.]

[jump to Comments]

broccoli, miso, walnut, side dish

broccoli al vapore con salsina al miso e noci

freschi dal farmers' market

Quando la verdura è così fresca e bella è quasi un peccato tagliarla e cuocerla, quindi uso maniere delicate: cottura al vapore e un velo di condimento.

cotti al vapore

Metto da parte l'acqua che rimane in forno alla pentola nella quale cuocio i broccoli e la uso per frullare miso e noci tostate.

miso rosso, noci e salsina

Ingredienti:

680 g broccoli oppure 450 g broccoli e 230 g cavolo broccolo romanesco, freschi e possibilmente bio
60 ml acqua di cottura dei broccoli
30 g noci (vedi sotto)
20 g miso rosso delicato (vedi Nota)

Dosi per 5-6 porzioni

Note: esistono diverse varietà di miso (fagioli di soia fermentati), dal sapore più o meno intenso e più o meno salate. La varietà che uso io è equilibrata per quanto riguarda queste caratteristiche e ne uso una quantità tale da non sopraffare i broccoli. A seconda del tipo di miso che usate e dei vostri gusti potreste doverne aumentare o diminuire la quantità, ma cercate di mantenere un equilibrio tale che nessuna nota risulti più acuta delle altre.

Preparare i broccoli
Lavare e tagliare i broccoli a cimette. Pelare il gambo, tagliarlo in quattro per lungo se molto grosso, poi tagliarlo a rondelle. Cuocere al vapore fino a che i broccoli non siano teneri a seconda del vostro gusto.

Togliere dal cestello e far raffreddare in un'insalatiera. Mettere da parte l'acqua di cottura.

Preparare le noci
Se le noci sono appena sgusciate, tostatele leggermente in una padellina a secco, scuotendo la padellina spesso.

Altrimenti, nel suo libro “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone”, Deborah Madison spiega come trattare le noci per migliorare il loro sapore quando non sono appena sgusciate e renderle meno irritanti per le persone sensibili alla pellicina che le ricopre. Portare a bollore una pentolina d'acqua, versarci le noci e sbollentarle per un minuto, poi scolarle e assorbire l'eccesso di umidità con uno strofinaccio.

Distribuire le noci su una placca foderata con un tappetino di silicone da forno. Mettere nel forno scaldato a 150 C fino a quando le noci si sono asciugate bene, 15-20 minuti. Tirare fuori dal forno non appena sono asciutte. (Preparo in questo modo 170-225 g di noci per volta, dal momento che le uso spesso nelle mie ricette. Conservare le noci in frigorifero.)

Preparare la salsina
Verso l'ora del pasto, mettere le noci in un frullatore e tritare.

Aggiungere miso e acqua e far andare il frullatore fino a che si formi una crema.

Versare la salsina sui broccoli. Usare una spatolina per estrarre tutta la salsina dal frullatore.

Mescolare bene e servire. (Il sale nel miso che uso è sufficiente. A seconda del miso che scegliete, potreste dover aggiustare il sale.)

pronti per cena

Mi piace servire questi broccoli come contorno al salmone cotto lentamente al forno (ricetta di Alice Waters).

Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 437 di Weekend Herb Blogging, evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, ora organizzato da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once e Brii di briggishome e ospitato questa settimana da Haalo.

Il raccolto dell'evento.

casseruola di uova e formaggio con verdure / egg and cheese casserole with vegetables

December 8, 2013 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

detail of: The garden of earthly delights

When I was in Madrid for a conference a good number of years ago, I spent an afternoon at the Museo Nacional del Prado. It was an amazing feast for the eyes: more sumptuous than expected and completely satisfying.

One of the most interesting works I admired that day was Hieronymous Bosch‘s The Garden of Earthly Delights. I lost track of time as my eyes lost themselves in the intricate details of Bosch’s vision. I still have a few postcards from that visit and I scanned my favorite one to introduce this post.

As you may have guessed, our virtual tour of the European Community has arrived in Spain. As a result of a complicated train of thought that had as main ingredient my knowledge of Spanish history, I decided to look for a Jewish dish. I soon found a source of information in the book “A Drizzle of Honey The Life and Recipes of Spain’s Secret Jews” by David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson.

When Iberian Jews were converted to Catholicism under duress during the Inquisition, many struggled to retain their Jewish identity in private while projecting Christian conformity in the public sphere.

The recipes “combine Christian & Islamic traditions in cooking lamb, beef, fish, eggplant, chickpeas, and greens and use seasonings such as saffron, mace, ginger, and cinnamon” (zafferano, macis, zenzero e cannella).

In the Eggs section of the book, the recipe for María González Eggs and Cheese Casserole with Eggplant (Cazuela de Huevos y Queso) immediately captured my attention. On page 77 and 78, the authors explain not only who María González was, but also the history of cazuelas. This is a short excerpt:

Originally, these egg dishes were prepared on top of the stove: thus the term fritada, fried. Later… the dishes were baked, and in many places the term for these dishes changed to cujada (coagulated).

The very last line of the recipe states that any vegetable can be substituted for the eggplant, so I immediately decided I would use some lovely cauliflower (cavolfiore) from Redwood Roots Farm.

shy beauty

The preparation of the eggplant described in the recipe does not apply to cauliflower. I decided to roast the florets, which would keep them crisp. I then adjusted the quantity of the spices to my taste. Finally, I used some of my homemade Quark cheese: not quite Spanish but quite tasty. The result was a lovely light dish, where the crisp cauliflower is suspended in a light egg matrix.

a contrast between soft and crunchy

For the next rendition, I adjusted the recipe to use a vegetable of a consistency closer to that of mashed eggplant. In my crisper, I had a small zoo of vegetables: broccoli florets, a tiny cauliflower head, two carrots (carote), red beet greens and their stems and chard stems. I decided to steam all of the vegetables together. I sometimes do wild things because I like to get wild results. This one was wildly good — though less photogenic than its predecessor. The texture was soft throughout, reminiscent of souffle. The flavor of the various vegetables blended in a perfectly pitched choir (coro).

note how the color changes

I liked both versions of the recipe so I am presenting both.

Ingredients for the cauliflower version:

4 eggs (possibly from pastured poultry)
2 lbs cauliflower
olive oil
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed (optional in the original recipe; see Note 1 below)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground caraway seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 oz. / 113 g Quark cheese (see Note 2 below)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Ingredients for the mixed vegetable version:

4 eggs (possibly from pastured poultry)
2 lbs mixed vegetables from your crisper (for example: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, chard stems).
olive oil
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Tan-Tan Moroccan Seasoning (a spice mix that includes Hungarian paprika, white sugar, cumin, salt, Ceylon cinnamon, black cardamom, parsley, coriander, turmeric, and other spices) OR the mix of spices listed above (ingredients #5-9; see Note 1 below)
4 oz. / 113 g Quark cheese (see Note 2 below)

Note 1: the original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper and 3/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. I toned down both spices in my rendition. I used saffron in the cauliflower version but not in the mixed vegetable version: consider using it or not, depending on your choice of vegetable(s).

Note 2: The original recipe calls for 1 cup cubed semisoft cheese, cut into 1/2-1 inch cubes, so if you don’t have Quark cheese, you can substitute a semisoft cheese of your liking. However, I recommend cutting it into smaller cubes, so you can distribute it better.

Start with the eggs
Break eggs and place yolks and whites in separate bowls. Choose a large bowl for the yolks, since that’s where you will end up with all the ingredients.

How to prepare the cauliflower
Preheat oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Cut cauliflower into small florets. Peel stalk and cut into coins. Keep small leaves. Place in a large baking pan.

Spray cauliflower with olive oil using a mister and stir well. Bake for 15 minutes, then stir. Bake for another 15 minutes or so. The florets should not brown. Take out of the oven and let cool.

How to prepare the mixed vegetables
Trim all the vegetables, cut into pieces according to their nature (e.g., broccoli and cauliflowers in florets, carrots in coins, chard stems into pieces, etc.) and steam until tender. Let cool, then puree (using a food processor or immersion blender), possibly leaving some of the vegetables in small chunks rather than smooth, to give a bit of varied texture to the casserole.

How to assemble and bake the casserole
Preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

As baking vessel I used a 9-inch / 23-cm round springform pan. You can oil the bottom or line it with parchment paper. Oil the sides as well.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.

Beat yolks until creamy. Add saffron, if using and stir.

Place the (empty) pan in the oven.

Mix the spices and add them to the yolks, then add Quark cheese and blend. Finally, add the cauliflower and chopped parsley OR the mixed vegetable and stir well.

before adding the egg whites

Add about 1/3 of the egg whites and fold in using a spatula and a delicate hand. Add the rest of the egg whites and again fold in. Take the prepared springform pan out of the oven, transfer the egg and cauliflower OR mixed vegetable mixure into it, then place it in the oven.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the casserole is set and its surface is golden. Note that the concept of “golden” may need to be adjusted, depending on the type of vegetables that you use. It applied as is to cauliflower, but when it came to the beet-colored vegetable mix, it was a more suble effect. The important thing is that the casserole is set. You can use a toothpick to check for that: it should come out clean when inserted at the center of the casserole.

Take the casserole out of the oven. Let sit for a few minutes, then run a thin spatula around the edge and remove the ring. Serve sliced at the preferred temperature: “This casserole is good hot or cold, but the flavors are best if it is served at room temperature.”

I agree (sono d’accordo).

My casserole participates to the 16th 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. P like Paella (Spain) is hosted by Francesca of Burro e zucchero.

On this page you will find the recipe for Paella and the list of recipes contributed to the event.

This is also my contribution to edition #414 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 Haalo herself.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

casseruola di uova e formaggio con verdure

or launch the casseruola di uova e formaggio con verdure 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.]

[jump to Comments]

egg, cheese, cauliflower, Spanish cuisine, Jewish cuisine

casseruola di uova e formaggio con verdure

Il giardino delle delizie (dettaglio)

Quando sono stata a Madrid per un congresso un certo numero di anni fa ho passato un pomeriggio al Museo Nacional del Prado. Per i miei occhi fu un banchetto piu lussoso di quanto mi aspettassi.

Una delle opere più interesanti che ammirai quel giorno è Il giardino delle delizie di Hieronymous Bosch. Persi la cognizione del tempo mentre i miei occhi si persero nei dettagli intricati della visione di Bosch. Conservo delle cartoline acquistate durante quella visita e la mia preferita è quella qui in alto.

Il nostro viaggio virtuale attraverso la Comunità Europea è arrivato in Spagna. Al termine di una complicata associazione di idee partita dalla mia conoscenza della storia della Spagna, ho deciso di preparare un piatto della tradizione ebrea. Ho trovato subito una fonte di informazione nel libro di David M. Gitlitz e Linda Kay Davidson “A Drizzle of Honey The Life and Recipes of Spain’s Secret Jews” (Un filo di miele. Vita e ricette deglie ebrei nascosti di Spagna)

Quando gli ebrei della penisola iberica furono costretti a convertirsi al cattolicesimo durante l’Inquisizione, molti si sforzarono di mantenere la loro identita ebraica in privato pur mostrando di conformarsi in pubblico. [traduzione mia]

Le ricetta “combinano la tradizione cristiane e quella islamica nella preparazione di agnello, manzo, pesce, melanzane, ceci e verdure e utilizzano spezie come zafferano, macis, zenzero e cannella.”

Nella sezione del libro dedicata alle uova, la ricetta di María González Cazuela de Huevos y Queso con melanzane ha catturato immediatamente la mia attenzione. A pagina 77 e 78 gli autori spiegano non solo chi era María González ma anche la storia delle cazuelas. Una breve citazione dal testo:

Originariamente, questi piatti a base di uova venivano cotti sul fuoco, da cui il termine fritada, fritto. Poi… i piatti vennero cotti nel forno e in molti luoghi il termine che li indica divenne cujada (coagulato).

L’ultima riga della ricetta dice che le melanzane possono essere sostituite con qualunque altra verdura e io ho deciso di usare del cavolfiore appena raccolto.

bellezza ritrosa

La preparazione delle melanzane non è adatta al cavolfiore. Ho scelto di cuocere in forno le cimette e mantenerle piuttosto croccanti. Ho poi adattato le quantità delle spezie al mio gusto. Infine, ho usato del formaggio Quark fatto in casa: non proprio spagnolo ma alquanto gustoso. Il risultato è stato un piatto molto gradevole e gradito, col cavolfiore croccantino immerso in una matrice all’uovo leggera.

contrasto tra morbido e croccante

Quando ho rifatto la ricetta ho deciso di usare una verdura più vicina come consistenza alla melanzana. Nel frigorifero avevo uno zoo di verdure: cime di broccoli, un piccolo cavolfiore, due carote, steli delle foglie di barbabietola rossa e coste. Le ho cotte al vapore tutte insieme. Alle volte faccio cose un po’ folli perché mi piace ottenere risultati folli e questo era follemente buono — anche se meno fotogenico del predecessore. La cosistenza soffice mi ha ricordato un soufflé. Il sapore delle varie verdure era in armonia come un coro ben affiatato.

notate come il colore varia

Mi sono piaciute entrambe le versioni della ricetta e quindi le presento entrambe.

Ingredienti per la versione con cavolfiore:

4 uova codice 0
900 g cavolfiore
olio d’oliva
1/4 cucchiaino / 1,25 ml zafferano in stimmi, sbriciolato (facoltativo nella ricetta originale; vedi Nota 1)
1/4 cucchiaino / 1,25 ml pepe nero macinato fresco
1/4 cucchiaino / 1,25 ml cumino in polvere
1/4 cucchiaino / 1,25 ml cumino tedesco (carvi) in polvere
1/4 cucchiaino / 1,25 ml coriandolo in polvere
1/4 cucchiaino / 1,25 ml cannella in polvere
113 g formaggio Quark (vedi Nota 2)
4 cucchiai / 60 ml prezzemolo fresco tritato

Ingredienti per la versione con verdure miste:

4 uova codice 0
900 g di verdure miste (per esempio broccoli, cavolfiore, carote, coste).
olio d’oliva
una punta di cucchiaino di pepe nero macinato fresco
1 cucchiaino / 5 ml Tan-Tan Moroccan Seasoning (un misto di spezie che comprende paprika ungherese, zucchero bianco, cumino, sale, cannella di Ceylon, cardamomo nero, prezzemolo, coriandolo, curcuma e altre spezie) oppure le spezie elencate nella versione precedente (ingredienti nr. 5-9; vedi Nota 1)
113 g formaggio Quark (vedi Nota 2)

Nota 1: la ricetta originale prevede 1/2 cucchiaino di pepe nero macinato e 3/4 cucchiaino di cannella in polvere. Io ho usato una quantità inferiore nella mia versione. Ho usato lo zafferano nella versione col cavolfiore ma non in quella con il misto di verdure. Voi decidete in base al vostro gusto e alla verdura che scegliete di usare.

Nota 2: la ricetta originale prevede una tazza (240 ml) di formaggio semimorbido tagliato a dadi di 1,2-2,5 cm di lato, quindi se non avete il Quark potete sostituirlo col formaggio semimorbodo che preferite. Ma io lo taglerei a dadini più piccoli in modo tale che si distribuisca meglio.

Si comincia dalle uova
Rompere le uova e separare tuorli e albumi in due ciotole. Scegliete una ciotola capiente per i tuorli dal momento che in essa verranno poi mescolati tutti gli ingredienti.

Preparare il cavolfiore
Riscaldare il forno a 190 C.

Mondare il cavolfiore e tagliarlo a cimette. Pelare e tagliare il gambo a rondelle. Usare anche le foglie più tenere. Metter il tutto in una teglia.

Spruzzare il cavolfiore con olio d’oliva e mescolare bene. Cuocere in forno per 15 minuti, poi mescolare. Cuocere per altri 15 minuti circa. Le cime non devono diventare marroni scure. Sfornare e far intiepidire.

Preparare le verdure miste
Mondare tutte le verdure, tagliarle a pezzi a seconda della loro natura (per esempio, broccolo e cavolfiore a cimette, carote a rondelle, coste a pezzetti, ecc.) e cuocere al vapore fino a quando siano tenere. Far intiepidire e passarle (col robot o con un frullatore ad immersione) magari lasciando un po’ delle verdure a pezzetti piuttosto che ottenere un purè omogeneo in modo da creare un po’ di varietà nella consistenza.

Preparare e cuocere la casseruola
Scaldare il forno a 177 C.

Per cuocere la casseruola io ho usato una teglia rotonda col bordo rimuovibile di 23 com di diametro. Ungere il fondo o coprirlo con carta da forno. Ungere i lati.

Montare gli albumi a neve ferma. Mettere da parte.

Sbattere i tuorli fino a quando siano cremosi. Aggiungere lo zafferano, se utilizzato, e mescolare.

Mettere la teglia (vuota) nel forno.

Mescolare le spezie e aggiungerle ai tuorli, poi aggiungere il Quark e incorporare. Infine, aggiungere il cavolfiore oppure le verdure e mescolare bene.

subito prima di aggiungere gli albumi

Aggiungere 1/3 circa degli albumi e incorporare con movimento dal basso verso l’alto usando una spatola e una mano leggera. Aggiungere il resto degli albumi e incorporare come sopra. Tirare fuori dal forno la teglia, trasferire in esso il composto di uova e cavolfiore oppure verdure miste e infornare.

Cuocere per 30-35 minuti o fino a quando la casseruola sia asciutta dentro e dorata in superficie. Il concetto di “dorata” deve essere adattato al tipo di verdure utilizzate. Si applica perfettamente al cavolfiore, ma quandoho preparato la versione rosso barbabietola, la doratura era più tenue. È importante che la casseruola sia cotta dentro e per controllare questo potete utilizzare uno stecchino: quando lo inserite al centro della casseruola deve uscire pulito.

Sfornare la casseruola. Farla riposare per alcuni minuti e poi far scorrere una spatolina lungo il bordo per staccare l’anello della teglia. Servire a fette alla temperatura preferita: “Questa casseruola è buona sia calda che fredda, ma il sapore è migliore se viene servita a temperatura ambiente.”

Sono d’accordo.

Con la mia casseruola partecipo alla sedicesima 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. P come Paella (Spagna) è ospitata da Francesca di Burro e zucchero.

Su questa pagina trovate la ricetta della Paella e la lista dei contributi all’evento.

Questo post è anche il mio contributo all’edizione numero 414 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn’s Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once e la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di briggishome, e ospitata questa settimana da Haalo.

Questo post contiene il raccolto dell’evento.

passata di pomodori arrosto / strained roasted tomatoes

August 16, 2013November 27, 2025 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]
jump to Recipe

food mill with 3 discs — my food mill (with three disks)

Accustomed to kitchen tools operated by the touch of our fingertips, handling one that makes our limbs to move in a different pattern may require a period of adjustment. Then, you’ll discover how gentle repetitive movements can soothe you into a meditative mood that leaves the mind free to daydream while the hands dance.

I did not always have warm feelings for the food mill (in Italian: passaverdura or passatutto). I didn’t think it was my friend, when I had to use it to strain tomatoes to contribute to my mother’s yearly tomato-processing marathon. As a child, I had a long list of things I would have liked to do better than turning the food mill’s crank (manovella) for hours.

I took a long break from those days and when I decided I wanted to preserve tomatoes for off-season use, I developed my own way. I process a relatively small amount of tomatoes at a time, so the task never feels like a crushing burden. And I first roast the tomatoes, which come to my kitchen thanks to my summer CSA share. Plump, meaty and bursting with flavor, they are of a variety called Trinity.

This is a recipe I have described before, as part of a beloved dish. Considering the time of year, I wanted to invite those of you who shy away from preserving tomatoes to reconsider their position and try with a small amount of them. Later in the year, under a gray sky and in cold weather, you’ll be glad you did it. This is what I do.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for strained roasted tomatoes

Ingredients:

ripe but firm, meaty, and tasty globe tomatoes (not heirlooms), halved crosswise
olive oil
fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. Distribute over it the tomatoes, cut side up. In the interest of energy efficiency, cut enough tomatoes to fill the tray. Using a mister, spray olive oil on the tomatoes, then sprinkle thyme leaves on them.

Oven-roast the tomatoes for 70 minutes.

Take the baking sheet out of the oven and inhale the aroma that wafts from the tomatoes. Let them cool a bit, then process them using a food mill placed on top of a deep bowl made of rigid material. With a large spoon, transfer 4-5 tomato halves from the baking sheet to the food mill. As you turn the crank, the softened tomatoes turn into a rich purée. Add more tomatoes as space becomes available in the food mill until all are processed.

straining roasted tomatoes — food mill at work

Tomato juice and pulp pass into the bowl, while skins and seeds remain behind. Every now and then, turning the crank counterclockwise to scrape the surface of the disk is advisable.

Do not yield to the temptation of stopping early: there is still some pulp attached to the skins and you don’t want to leave it behind. To verify that your movements are still productive, use a flexible spatula to scrape the pulp from the bottom side of the disk, then process for a minute and peek under the food mill: if nothing came through the holes, you are done. Only dry skins and seeds are left behind…
[Alternatively, put the roasted tomatoes in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, process briefly, then push through a mesh strainer.]

Refrigerate the strained roasted tomatoes and use within a few days, or freeze in containers or bags. I recycle yogurt tubs as freezer containers, or make packs containing two cups of strained tomatoes.

Then, in the middle of winter, you can conjure up summer by making some sugo di pomodoro (tomato sauce) for pasta or anything else you like.

This is my contribution to edition #397 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 Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

[jump to Comments]
tomato, preserve

passata di pomodori arrosto

Abituati a piccoli elettrodomestici che si accendono e spengono al tocco di un dito, un attrezzo che fa muovere le nostre mani in modo diverso richiede un periodo di adattamento. Poi scopriamo che dolci movimenti ripetitivi possono condurci ad uno stato meditativo che lascia la mente libera di sognare ad occhi aperti mentre le mani danzano.

Non ho sempre avuto un buon rapporto col passaverdura. Non lo consideravo un amico quando dovedo usarlo per passare i pomodori come contributo alla maratona conserviera annuale di mia madre. Da ragazzina avevo una lunga lista di cose che avrei preferito fare piuttosto che girare per ore la manovella del passatutto.

Dopo un lungo intervallo da quei giorni, quando ho deciso di conservare i pomodori per usarli quando non sono di stagione, ho creato una mia routine. Preparo una quantità relativamente modesta di pomodori per volta in modo che non mi sento oberata. E li arrostisco in forno prima di passarli. I pomodori mi arrivano con la mia cassettina estiva: sono rotondi, carnosi e saporiti, di una qualità che si chiama Trinity.

Ho descritto questa ricetta in precedenza in un post in inglese. Considerando il periodo dell’anno, invito coloro che prendono le distanze dal compito di conservare i pomodori a rivedere la loro posizione e provare con una modica quantità. Quest’inverno, quando fa freddo e il cielo è bello grigio, saranno contenti di averlo fatto. Questo è il procedimento che uso io.

Ingredienti:

pomodori carnosi maturi ma sodi, tagliati a metà (vedi Nota in basso)
olio extra-vergine di oliva
timo fresco

Riscaldare il forno a 177 C.

Foderare una placca con un tappetino di silicone da forno. Distribuire su di esso i pomodori con la parte tagliata in alto. Per amor di efficienza, preparate abbastanza pomodori da riempire la placca. Spruzzare dell’olio sui pomodori e poi distribuire su di essi delle foglioline di timo.

Cuocere i pomodori in forno per 70 minuti.

Tirare fuori dal forno la placca e inalate l’aroma che sale dai pomodori. Farli intiepidire e poi passateli col passatutto posizionato su un’insalatiera di materiale rigido. Con un grosso cucchiaio, trasferite 4-5 mezzi pomodori dalla placca al passatutto. Girando la manovella del passatutto i pomodori si trasformano in passata. Man mano aggiungete gli altri pomodori al passatutto fino a svuotare la placca.

Succo e polpa di pomodoro passano nell’insalatiera, mentre buccia e semi rimangono nel passatutto. Ogni tanto, girate la manovella in senso antiorario in modo da pulire la superficie del disco.

Non cedete alla tentazione di fermarvi presto: sembra che siano rimaste solo le bucce ma attaccata ad esse c’è ancora della polpa. Per verificare, con una spatola flessibile pulite la faccia inferiore del disco del passatutto, poi girate la manovella per un minuto e poi sbirciate di nuovo sotto il passatutto: se attraverso i bughi non è passato nulla, allora avete finito. Solo bucce secche e semi rimangono nel passatutto…

[In alternativa, mettere i pomodori arrosto nel robot con la lama d’acciaio, farlo andare per un po’ e poi passare il purè attraverso un colino a rete.]

Conservare la passata nel frigorifero e utilizzarla entro pochi giorni, oppure surgelatela in contenitori o buste per alimenti. Io riciclo contenitori di yogurt oppure faccio dei pacchetti con mezzo litro circa di passata.

Nel cuore dell’inverno potrete poi ricreare l’estate preparando un bel sugo di pomodoro per la pasta o quant’altro vi detta l’ispirazione.

Questo post è il mio contributo all’edizione numero 397 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 Brii stessa.

Questo post contiene il raccolto dell’evento.

insalata di mais con pomodori ciliegia, avocado e cetriolo limone / corn salad with cherry tomatoes, avocado and lemon cucumber

August 23, 2012 | Simona

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

Take some fresh sweet corn, put it in the oven (husks and all), and roast it.

can you smell the aroma?

Then,

take some sun-ripened cherry tomatoes

plus a couple of other ingredients and make a beautiful salad.

the colors of summer

Last year, I made two variations of this colorful, deeply flavored, and light corn salad. This year, after preparing it the same way a couple of times, I decided to make a small change substituting the hearts of palm (cuori di palma) with a ripe avocado. The tendency avocado has of turning into a cream makes olive oil not necessary, so the absence of olive oil from the list of ingredients is not an oversight.

The other difference is the use of chive blossom vinegar (aceto aromatizzato ai fiori di erba cipollina). As soon as this recipe from Leite's Culinaria arrived in my mail box, I knew I would try it. The chive seedling I planted a couple of years ago has grown strong and last year was divided so now I have a few chive plants spread around my little garden. I set aside enough blossoms and followed the easy instructions to make a jar of the vinegar using white wine vinegar (aceto di vino bianco). I love the rosy color and the smell clearly includes a chive component. If you have access to chive blossoms, I recommend you try. Pay attention to what David says about putting a barrier between the vinegar and the metal lid of the jar.

When the vinegar was ready, I bought a nice glass bottle (bottiglia) for it of which you see the top in this photo.

chive blossom vinegar

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for corn salad with cherry tomatoes, avocado and lemon cucumber

Ingredients:

2 nice, fresh ears of corn (pannocchie di granturco¹), still wrapped in their husks (if they aren't, wrap them in foil before roasting them) and with their silks attached
2 dozens cherry tomatoes² (when I use bigger tomatoes, like Blush, I adjust this quantity)
1 ripe avocado
1 lemon cucumber
Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste
Chive blossom vinegar or sherry vinegar
A few fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

Roast corn in the oven at 450 F for 20 minutes (on a baking sheet). Let cool briefly, then remove the husks. Working on a shallow bowl or pyrex dish, use a knife to separate kernels and scrapings from the cob. This page from bon appetít describes precisely the way I do this with the knife. (Save the empty cobs to make stock or broth.)

Cut cherry tomatoes in half lengthwise. If they are long, like the Blush, cut them crosswise into two or three pieces, depending on their size. Peel and dice lemon cucumber. Cut avocado into half, remove pit and dice pulp. Put all the ingredients in a bowl, add some vinegar, salt and pepper to taste and toss gently. Sprinkle basil on the salad and toss again. Serve and enjoy.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

You may want to use more or less of this or that ingredient. But make this salad: it is really nice, refreshing, filling and cheerful (yes, there is such a thing as a sad salad: this one is the polar opposite). It's like edible summer.

¹ Both mais and granturco mean corn in Italian.

² In Italy, cherry tomatoes are also referred to as pomodorini ciliegia and pomodori ciliegini.

This is my contribution to edition #348 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 A.B.C. of Fragoliva.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

insalata di mais

or launch the insalata di mais 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.]

[jump to Comments]

corn, tomato, cucumber, avocado, salad

insalata di mais con pomodori ciliegia, avocado e cetriolo limone

Prendere delle pannocchie di granturco, metterle nel forno (foglie comprese) e arrostirle.

sentite che buon profumo?

Poi,

prendere dei pomodori ciliegia maturati al sole

più un altro paio di ingredienti e preparare una bella insalata.

i colori dell'estate

L'anno scorso ho preparato due variazioni di una gustosa e leggera insalata di mais. Quest'anno, dopo un paio di ripetizioni, ho deciso di usare un avocado maturo al posto dei cuori di palma. L'avocado ha la tendenza a formare una crema e quindi non uso olio d'oliva per condirla.

L'altra differenza è l'utilizzo di aceto ai fiori di erba cipollina che ho preparato seguendo una ricetta dal sito Leite's Culinaria con aceto di vino bianco e fiori dal mio orticello, dove ho alcune piantine di erba cipollina. L'aceto e di un bel colore rosato e il suo profumo ha una chiara componente di erba cipollina. Vi consiglio di provare a farlo, se avete i fiori.

aceto aromatizzato ai fiori di erba cipollina

Ingredienti:

2 belle pannocchie di granturco ancora con le foglie (se non ci sono, prima di infornarle avvolgere le pannocchie nella pellicola di alluminio)
2 dozzine di pomodori ciliegia (quando uso pomodorini piu grossi, come i Blush, aggiusto le quantità)
1 cetriolo limone
1 avocado maturo
sale e pepe macinato fresco, a seconda del gusto
aceto aromatizzato ai fiori di erba cipollina o aceto di Sherry
alcune foglie di basilico fresco tagliate a chiffonade

Cuocere le pannocchie in forno a 230 C per 20 minuti (su una lastra da forno). Farle intiepidire un po' poi rimuovere le foglie. Appoggiandosi all'interno di una ciotola bassa o di una teglie di pyrex, usate un coltello per separare i chicchi dal tutolo. Questa pagina dalla rivista bon appetít (in inglese) descrive il procedimento che uso anche io per sgranare il mais col coltello. (Mettere da parte i tutoli e utilizzarli come ingrediente per fare il brodo vegetale o di carne.)

Tagliare i pomodorini a metà per lungo. Se sono lunghi, come i Blush, tagliarli per largo in due o tre pezzi. Sbucciare il cetriolo limone e tagliarlo a dadi. Tagliare a metà l'avocado, togliere il nocciolo e tagliare la polpa a dadini. Mettere tutti gli ingredienti preparati in un'insalatiera, condire con un po' d'aceto, salare e pepare a piacere e mescolare delicatamente. Spargere il basilico sulla superficie e mescolare ancora, poi servire.

Potete usare più o meno di ognuno degli ingredienti, a seconda dei vostri gusti. Ma vi consiglio di preparare questa insalata: è davvero buona, rinfrescante, saziante e allegra (esistono insalate tristi e questa è l'opposto). E l'estate sul piatto.

Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 348 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 A.B. e (neomamma) C. di Fragoliva.

Questo post contiene il raccolto dell'evento.

uovo col pomodoro / egg and tomato

January 6, 2011November 27, 2025 | Simona

jump to Recipe

During my childhood in Italy, at home tomatoes were used in three ways:

fresh in salads (by themselves or with other ingredients)
strained and bottled for year-round use (mostly to make sauce for pasta)
halved and stored in glass jars (for use on pizza)

For #1, round tomatoes were used. On this page there is a photo of what we called pomodori da insalata. Fresh tomatoes were on our table only in the summer, and often they came directly from the producer’s basket. As a child, I loved fresh from the vine tomatoes and would roam the tomato fields of acquaintances to indulge my preference.

For #2 and 3, San Marzano tomatoes were used. Once a year, my mother bought tomatoes by the case and for a couple of days her kitchen became a preservation workroom. In my earliest memories, I strain tomatoes through a food mill. Then, my mother bought an electric tomato strainer (passapomodoro), but I would still use the food mill to squeeze out the last bit of pulp before discarding the skin. My mother was in charge of preparing the glass jars of halved tomatoes.

At some point in my life, I learned that tomatoes arrived in Europe from America. I found it interesting that they had taken hold so well in Italy as to become an integral part of the culinary tradition in the regions where they were grown. However, I never asked myself how this happened historically. It is an interesting question and one that Prof. David Gentilcore has researched and answered in the recently published book Pomodoro! A History of the Tomato in Italy.

We might naturally assume that Italians liked tomatoes right away, but in fact quite the opposite is true. The tomato took more than three hundred years to enter Italian mainstream cultivation and consumption. What took so long? Of all the New World plants in Italy — which include maize, potatoes, tobacco, American beans and chilies — only the potato took as long as the tomato to catch on. In any case this is the wrong question. The real mystery is why the tomato caught on at all.

To shed light on “the real mystery” Gentilcore starts from the first record of tomato in Italy (in the mid-16th century) and follows the fruit’s fortunes across the centuries using a variety of sources. The story, a kind of adventure novel with the tomato as protagonist, makes for a pleasant and interesting read. At some point, records show that the momentous marriage between pasta and tomato sauce had taken place. What impact did that event have on my life! You see, I grew up eating pasta with tomato-containing sauce (usually sugo di carne) five to six days a week.

Back to the book, the history of tomato preservation — from sun-dried tomatoes to conserva di pomodoro to passata di pomodoro to canned pomodori pelati (peeled tomatoes) — is also very interesting. Then there is the story of Italians migrating to America and bringing with them their culinary traditions, including pasta al pomodoro. Gentilcore ends the book with a look at the present. You may or may not know (before reading the book, I didn’t) that China is currently the biggest tomato producer in the world, followed by the US. [This page on the Economic Research Service site has a lot of information on US tomato production.]

The sources Gentilcore consulted range from personal correspondence to medical treaties to government documents to cookbooks. A number of recipes are scattered among the pages. One that particularly intrigued me is from Elizabeth David’s “Italian Food” and is called Uova al piatto con pomidoro. When I read the title, I thought that I had come across a record of a beloved dish from my childhood. However, her recipe differs from mine, though it testifies to a marriage between egg and tomato. The word pomodoro comes from pomo d’oro (literally, golden fruit). Among various spellings, pomodoro (singular) and pomodori (plural) have prevailed in Italian. The recipe shows an alternative spelling of the plural.

You can follow the link to check David’s recipe. Here, I will share my rendition of the one from my childhood, when I sometimes asked my mother to prepare this simple dish: an egg with some tomato from one of her bottles. The quantities given below can be halved or doubled, for solitary, pairwise, or group enjoyment. When using more than one egg, the recipe should be more appropriately called uova col pomodoro. However, at home we always called it uovo col pomodoro, even when my mother prepared it not just for little me.

Print-friendly version of briciole’s recipe for uovo col pomodoro (egg and tomato)

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled
a cup of strained roasted tomato (see below for details) [or 1/2 of a 15 oz. can of tomato sauce (choose organic if possible and one that has a minimum of added ingredients]
2 eggs of good quality (pastured eggs, if possible)
salt, to taste

In a saucepan, warm up the oil over low heat, then add the garlic cloves. Let the oil absorb the garlic’s flavor for a minute or so, making sure the cloves do not turn brown. Add the strained roasted tomatoes and stir. Cover the saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes over low heat. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a pinch of salt. Pour the eggs into the tomato and turn up the heat to medium-low. Stir with a wooden spoon. Let the eggs cook, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, stirring often and turning down the heat when the tomato starts bubbling again. Retrieve the garlic cloves and discard them. Adjust the salt and serve immediately, accompanied with a slice of rustic bread, which can be used to scoop up the creamy uovo col pomodoro. This was one of the comfort foods of my childhood and I am pleased to report that my husband loves it too.

Last summer, I roasted tomatoes quite often: I started with cherry tomatoes, which I used in various recipes (as you can read here and here), then moved on to the larger tomatoes that I got in my CSA box. I cut the tomatoes in half, distributed them, cut side up, on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat, sprayed olive oil and sprinkled thyme leaves on them. I roasted the tomatoes for 70 minutes at 350 F. Once cooled, I used my food mill and elbow grease (olio di gomito) to strain the tomatoes. Only dry skins and seeds were left behind. I then used the end product to make several dishes, including my beloved uovo col pomodoro. I also froze some, for enjoyment during the tomato-less winter months.

A group of bloggers read Pomodoro! and Rachel from The Crispy Cook compiled the roundup of the posts they wrote with their thoughts and the dish they were inspired to prepare.

This is my contribution to edition #265 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 the organizer herself.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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

uovo col pomodoro

or launch the uovo col pomodoro 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.

briciole

Simona Carini serves recipes and Italian words related to food

vegetarian dish

sweet pepper, onion and zucchini tart / torta salata con peperoni dolci, cipolle e zucchine

sweet peppers with onion and zucchini / peperoni dolci con cipolle e zucchine

recipe: sweet peppers with onion and zucchini

eggs nested in leafy green vegetables / uova in nidi di verdura

Kenyan vegetable curry / curry di verdure keniano

curry di verdure keniano

broccoli al vapore con salsina al miso e noci / steamed broccoli with walnut miso dressing

broccoli al vapore con salsina al miso e noci

casseruola di uova e formaggio con verdure / egg and cheese casserole with vegetables

casseruola di uova e formaggio con verdure

passata di pomodori arrosto / strained roasted tomatoes

passata di pomodori arrosto

insalata di mais con pomodori ciliegia, avocado e cetriolo limone / corn salad with cherry tomatoes, avocado and lemon cucumber

insalata di mais con pomodori ciliegia, avocado e cetriolo limone

uovo col pomodoro / egg and tomato