Conclusion of a year

When I first started to think about this post, I immediately remembered this year as a mostly negative one because of my father's death and all the sad things that have happened to too many of our near and dear friends. But also some good things: Berlusconi lost the election and Italy has begun to withdraw all their troops from Iraq. That was from my own personal perspective but then I started thinking from a blog perspective and I realized that a lot of incredibly positive things have happened, I have won several categories in the Does My Blog Look Good In This and become the overall winner of the April edition! And then I won the Paper Chef #20 as well! I tend to forget the past because I live very much in the present so I was almost surprised when I remembered all this. And happy! I have also sold two photos to a calendar (scroll down this page and you can see them on the calendar's cover as well), something that still amazes me and I also have project involving cookbooks going on, I'll let you know when I'm sure it's going to be realized. If. But the most important positive aspect of the blogging is you! I don't think you realize how much I enjoy communicating with you, one way and two ways, your comments and your mails have become a joy in my life actually, not to talk about all the wonderful blogs I have discovered through food blogging! And then I'm not only speaking of food blogs but a variety of different types of blogs! Oh oh, better stop now before I get too sentimental and boring so here we go:

HAPPY NEW YEAR and LOVE & PEACE TO YOU!

oak

oak2, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.

on the roof

roof-moss, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.

the real madonna

madonna, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.

FOCACCIA DI FARINA DI CASTAGNE CON PINOLI E SEMI DI FINOCCHIO or CHESTNUT FOCCACCIA WITH PINE NUTS AND FENNEL SEEDS

So now I have 'officialized' the Show Us Your Kitchen Event by adding it to the Food Blog S'cool Calendar and hopefully to the IMBB site as well! I have already received several entries so I decided to make the whole thing more formal with a deadline etc. so that we can see a lot more kitchens in the round up I'm going to make towards the middle of next month! So if you feel like it don't be shy, take out your camera and show us your kitchen. After all, it's a great excuse to get around to clean it!



And now over to something completely different. I have been eying the chestnut flour that I bought more than a month ago, thinking about what to do with it because I didn't feel like making the same old Castagnaccio, it's good but I'm the only one who likes it in this family and I really don't feel like eating it all on my own. I have been going through Italian cookbooks just to see what else one would make with it but without any results, I think it has to do with the fact that it has always been considered food for the poor and used for example during the wars. Then I saw that Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini posted a recipe for Chestnut Pecan Biscotti that she based on this gluten-free recipe and I decided that it was about time that I got moving with my own chestnut baking! This is not a gluten-free recipe because I realized that normal flour was needed to make it rise in the way I wanted it but I will see what else I will come up with on this front! Chestnut flour has a slightly smokey and sweet taste that is wonderful in this foccaccia, it disappeared almost immediately but I had time to try it with some butter and cheese on when it had cooled down and I can recommend that! But then, in my eyes this foccaccia is good any way you choose yo eat it!



FOCACCIA DI FARINA DI CASTAGNE CON PINOLI E SEMI DI FINOCCHIO or CHESTNUT FOCCACCIA WITH PINE NUTS AND FENNEL SEEDS
2 pieces

300 ml / 1.27 cup milk
200 ml / 0.85 cup chestnut flour
300 ml / 1.27 cup normal flour
12.5 g / 0.44 oz yeast
100 ml / 0.42 cup sugar
1 tbsp fennel seeds
3-4 tbsp pine nuts
Salt
Olive oil

- Crumble the yeast and add the sugar and a pinch of salt. Let it melt into a liquid before you add the finger warm milk.
- Add the flours, preferably by sifting, and the fennel seeds. It's a sticky dough so keep your hands dusted with flour when you work with it.
- Leave it to rise for about 1 hour.
- Pour some oil in a rectangular pan before you start working on the dough.
- Divide the dough in two and knead them briefly before flattening them out, they should be as thick as a finger (not a standing finger as I thought the first time I mixed a gin and tonic for some friends...), and press the pine nuts gently into the surface.
- Leave to rest for 15-20 minutes.
- Brush the foccaccias with some olive oil and bake in a pre-heated oven (200° C/390°F) until golden!

loved and embraced

loved-and-embraced, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.

INSALATA VERDE DI PATATE E PINOLI or GREEN POTATO SALAD WITH PINE NUTS

We have a treasure in our fridge, well it's actually Marco's treasure because I never eat it myself. He has finally managed to get his beloved zampone that has to come from a special place in Carpi in Emilia-Romagna where they make the best ones according to him. This beloved stuffed pig's trotter will be prepare for the New Year's Day's lunch when it will be eaten (after being simmered for about 4-5 hours) with lentils and/or mashed potatoes. I will eat something else because even though I do think that it tastes good, I have problems with the consistency and I'm sure Marco is happy because it means that he can eat more of it! I will make a loving photo of it when the time comes and show you...
After all that talk about meat I think this recipe is perfect, a very simple recipe of a green potato salad. If you want you can add some mild onion to it.




INSALATA VERDE DI PATATE E PINOLI or GREEN POTATO SALAD WITH PINE NUTS

Potatoes (500 g/17.64 oz)
Pine nuts (2-4 tblsp)
Parsley (large bunch)
Capers (2-3 tblsp)
Salt
Olive oil

- Boil the potatoes.
- While they are boiling you take a bunch of parsley leaves (be generous) and run them in a mixer together with the capers and olive oil so that you get a very green oil! Check if it needs more salt.
- Cut the potatoes into pieces and add the pine nuts before you pour the parsley oil over the whole while they are still warm.
- Serve!



recipes vegetables gluten-free food Italy cooking in Italy

asymmetrical

asymmetrical, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.

CREMA DI CAROTE E FINOCCHIO CON ACETO BALSAMICO or CARROT AND FENNEL SOUP WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Christmas is over, everyone is fine and I feel as if I have spent a really soft and nice Christmas. I haven't even been over-eating but that doesn't prevent me from having cravings for light vegetable dishes. It as if the lack of light makes my body scream for vitamins and especially vitamin A for my eye sight, you need to have sharp eyes in these dark times! So a bowl of carrot soup is probably the best you can get right now. Even better, a simple bowl of carrot and fennel soup laced with balsamic vinegar that adds to the sweetness. But with a twist. (And thanks goes to the reader who told me about the carrot-balsamic vinegar combo!)




CREMA DI CAROTE E FINOCCHIO CON ACETO BALSAMICO or CARROT AND FENNEL SOUP WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR
2 servings

3 big carrots
1 bulb of fennel
The white part of a leek
750 ml / 3.2 cups water
balsamic vinegar
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- Peel the carrots, trim the fennel and the leek and cut these in pieces. Put them in a pan with some olive oil and braise gently for 2-3 minutes. Add salt.
- Add the water and leave it to simmer for about 20 minutes without a lid.
- Run the soup in a blender until smooth and pour it back into the pan. Heat it up.
- Serve in bowls with a bit of chopped raw fennel to add some crunch (if you want) and top it with good balsamic vinegar.



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Christmas Day!

I'm alone at home with a small sick child on Christmas Day, fortunately we celebrate two days, Christmas Eve because I have imposed the Swedish tradition and then the Christmas Day lunch. Here are some Christmas pics and more good wishes for you!

Season's Greetings and Granadilla

First of all I wish you all Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas or whatever you may celebrate in the coming days! I do hope you will find peace and quiet if that is what you need or a lot of amusement if that is what you want!



And then I want to share this discovery of mine; right now the shops are filled with strange and exotic fruits that I have never seen before because it seems to be a general pastime to make gift food baskets. Not that I mind, quite the opposite because it gives me the opportunity to discover some new things like the Granadilla that you see in the photo! It is a beautifully smooth, orange fruit that is a member of the same family as passion fruit and maracuja. When I opened it, I first of all was surprised of how light the peel is, it's a feather light, and then I saw the ugly seeds but when I put them in my mouth, they changed from beautiful to absolutely beautiful! If the are still there after Christmas I will but some more and make juice of them that I will freeze and use for dessert sauces, it will be divine with or why not in a panna cotta. As it was, I had it with some good yogurt, good but not close to its potential! If you see it, try it- it's delicious!






recipes fruit gluten-free food dessert Italy cooking in Italy

suspended in the air

suspended in the air, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.

PASTA CON RADICCHIO DI TREVISO, ACETO BALSAMICO E NOCI or PASTA WITH RADICCHIO DI TREVISO, BALSAMIC VINEGAR AND WALNUTS

One of the comments to yesterdays post made me think, it's one of my readers who said that she appreciate how open I am about myself. It made me question what is "open about oneself", I always felt as if I don't tell you much about my life and that I'm keeping a lot private, partly because I want to protect those I live with, partly because I'm personally not that keen on reading about other people's children etc. and partly because I already live this life so I don't feel as if I have to repeat it again here, it would probably begin to bore me to death after two days. And you too, I can assure you of that. Then we have the fact that this primarily is a food blog and that the spotlight should be of the food. But of course that is in theory, in practice it is impossible not to be personal even in a food blog, every choice obviously reflects the personality of the person behind it. We all know that. I just have to accept that I am more personal than I in my naivety think. So now I just have to leave you with something really personal: we've managed to get hold of the whole series of Inspector Morse, 33 episodes of approx. 100 minutes each - pure pleasure!, and we started our odyssey yesterday, I’m still feeling good!
And thanks to all of you who have been voting on the photos, you can't imagine how good it feels to be able to leave the choice to you! Thanks!



Radicchio di Treviso is a beautiful salad and you can make a lot of interesting dishes with it. If you use it as I did on Sunday in a risotto, you'll have a risotto tinged with a slightly smoky taste and if you use it in a pasta sauce, a slightly bitter aroma will come out. I paired it with balsamic vinegar and then I threw in some walnuts and I had this interesting mingling of tastes: sweet, salt and a little bit of bitter!





PASTA CON RADICCHIO DI TREVISO, ACETO BALSAMICO E NOCI or PASTA WITH RADICCHIO DI TREVISO, BALSAMIC VINEGAR AND WALNUTS
4 serv.

2 rather big heads (??) Radicchio di Treviso
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar, you may need more if you use a 'young' balsamic vinegar, mine is quite concentrated so I added some water as well.
1-2 dl / 0.2-0.4 cup chopped walnuts
Salt
Olive oil

- Trim the radicchio and separate the leaves from the root. If they are very long you can cut them in two.
- Braise the radicchio in some olive oil together with a little salt and the balsamic vinegar until they begin to soften then you add the walnuts.
- Go on braising until the radicchio is soft but still a little bit crispy. Stir all the time. It takes about 5 minutes but it depends on the temperature you braise in/with/on (??) so it might take a bit longer.
- Mix it with freshly cooked pasta and serve

recipes vegetables pasta gluten-free food Italy cooking in Italy

Interactive post - helping me out by voting!

I never have been much good at choosing or maybe I should say having to make choices and right now it's more or less impossible. I suppose it's part of the process of grieving my father because right now it's worse. Or maybe it's the Christmas stress, all these gifts that have to be chosen and made and after a while your mind goes into tilt, well at least mine seems to have done that so I need your help because I can't decide on which photo to send to the Does My Blog Look Good In This for November. I don't even know if the choice below is the right one. So now I hope that with your help I will be able to decide on which to choose, please vote for those that you like best. Or tell me if there is some other photo posted during the month of November that you like. Thanks!


1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.

Which photo do I send for the november DMBLGIT?
	No 1. ESPRESSO WITH CHOCOLATE AND CARDAMOM
	No 2. CROSTINI WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR BRAISED BRUSSELLS SPROUTS AND GOAT´S CHEESE
	No 3. CROSTINI WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR BRAISED BRUSSELLS SPROUTS AND GOAT´S CHEESE
	No 4. PILLE TRUFFLES or NUTMEG TRUFFLES
	No 5. BRAISED TUSCAN KALE WITH TOMATOES
	No 6. CORN SOUP WITH PEPERONCINO AND QUINOA
Free polls from Pollhost.com

wheel of drops

wheel-of-drops, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.

My kitchen

I feel really happy about finally solving the Explorer template problem, something that has been nagging me but that I after the initial attempts had removed from my mind. And I did it all by myself which is quite incredible as well. Initially I had a little photo of me in the margin, a blurry one where you can't see much but to reveal something far more important about myself I present you with tho photos of my kitchen as I have managed to take photos of it in a way where you can't see how incredibly messy it is. It still looks messy but it's more difficult to see that in these photos. I have a rustic kitchen and it was like this when we bought the house. Personally I probably would choose a different style but it's ok as it is so I don't complain, I would be ungrateful if I did actually because the previous owners installed a small grill which we use quite often if it's not too cold outside because you have to open the doors. The stove is placed inside the original hearth and they lavishly made the countertops in white marble. In other words they spent a lot of money on it but the wife was on a constant diet so they hardly ever cooked! People are strange. What I really like about it though is the ceiling especially as you don't see all the cobwebs on this type of ceiling! We spend a lot of our lives in this kitchen, we talk and eat here and my children often make their homework at the kitchen table even though they have their own spaces. I'm actually writing this in the kitchen because I keep my computer here so that I can listen to the BBC on the web.
So what's your kitchen like? Why don't you post about it and then give me the link, I'm so curious! If we are more than 4 doing this I will even make a kitchen round-up!

Updated: Due to the interest this post has raised I have decided to make it into a minor 'event', the deadline for sending the perma link of your post about your kitchen is the 9th of January 2007.Please send it to: i_beretta AT yahoo DOT it



Italy cooking in Italy

Request

It seems as if I finally managed to fix the template problem for Explorer, am I right? At least I see it perfectly when I look at it with the Explorer. If you use it as your browser, could you please tell me if this is the case? Have I finally resolved the problem??

jewels

like-a-cross, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.

POMODORI GRATINATI CON SEDANO RAPA or OVEN-BAKED TOMATOES WITH CELERY ROOT

It's really windy here today, cold, hard winds that break trees. I have been waiting for this because it is winter now and we need some cold winds to really understand it because even if it does snow here sometimes, one can hardly expect it before Christmas. And I'm happy about that. I'm happy if it doesn't snow at all actually, I like mild winters. I can miss the silence that snow brings with it and the dry coldness but I enjoy missing it and would leave it at that if I could decide.
Don't forget The Menu For Hope, go on donating!

Sometimes I can find celery root here in Italy and then I always buy one or two. I always keep tomatoes, without them I feel lost somehow, so making this little light dish didn't take long! And the mashed celery root with the cheese and parsley makes an excellent topping for a crostino!




POMODORI GRATINATI CON SEDANO RAPA or OVEN-BAKED TOMATOES WITH CELERY ROOT

1/2 large celery root
10 smallish tomatoes, cut into halves and emptied of the seeds
100 ml / 0.2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Herb salt
Olive oil

- Peel and cut the celery root into pieces that you then steam until really tender. It's better to steam them as they tend to get a bit soggy if you boil them.
- Mash the celery root and add salt, parmesan, parsley and some olive oil. Mix well.
- Spoon this into the tomato halves and put these in an oven-proof dish.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (150° C/ 300°F) for 25-30 minutes.
- Serve tepid.



recipes vegetables gluten-free food Italy cooking in Italy

Cinderella

anatomy-of-a-broom1, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.

NIDI DI SPINACI CON TOPINAMBUR E SPECK or NESTS OF SPINACH WITH JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES AND SPECK

Can't say that I have a whole lot to say today, could be because we really enjoyed eating and drinking in the company of friends yesterday. I didn't eat that much, less than the others actually because hours of cooking doesn't really leave a great appetite, and I didn't drink that much either but I'm out of practice. I'm out of practice having a lot of guests as well and both Marco and I agree that we have to go back to the way we were with guests and loong lunches often. Because it is so nice and enjoyable to meet people you like. So in order to be sure that you meet nice people it's safest to organize these dos on your own and try to add some new people every other time. Could this be my New Year's resolution?

We didn't eat this though, this I made for myself only because I love Jerusalem artichokes and I'm such a greedy person that I didn't want to share it. (Could I be more personal than this? For sure it's more revealing than a photo of my face.)




NIDI DI SPINACI CON TOPINAMBUR E SPECK or NESTS OF SPINACH WITH JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES AND SPECK

Jerusalem artichokes
Slices of speck
Fresh spinach
Salt
Olive oil

- Peel and dice the Jerusalem artichoke and braise them gently in some olive oil, salt and a little bit of water until soft.
- Fry the slices of speck on medium heat until crispy. Take them up and leave them to drip off any excess fat on kitchen towel paper.
- Now it's the spinach turn, sauté the greens in some olive oil until soft. Salt slightly and make small nests of it on the plates you are going to serve it on.
- Mix the Jerusalem artichokes with the speck that you have torn or cut into smaller pieces and then you put this on top of each nest.
- Eat!



recipes vegetables gluten-free food meat Italy cooking in Italy

like a lace

lace flowers, originally uploaded by ilva-sableye.