This time a dark still life

Red Onions, originally uploaded by ilva-b.

POTATO CAKE WITH EGGPLANT AND CHIVES

I am going to the market this morning, Wednesdays and Saturdays are Pistoia's days of glory, people flock from all over to cruise the market that extends all over the old centre, looking at the market stalls and chatting to friends and acquaintances. I know people who go every single Wednesday and Saturday and I realize how important the market can be in a smallish community like this. Personally I don't go very often but then I didn't grow up with this type of habits and traditions and probably don't appreciate them fully. I usually feel trapped when I do the same things all the time, that without counting the same things we do all the time just to keep living (sleep, wake up, eat, etc.) or the things we do because we live the lifes we live (washing ourselves, dress and undress, comb hair, etc.) or in the situations we live in (work, cleaning houses, wiping snot from children, cook, etc.). What I mean are the things that a community sort of expects from you, not that I think they expect everyone to go to the market but once you start doing things on a regular basis, people tend to expect that of you all the time. And that makes me feel trapped, both by people's expectations and the habit in itself. But I am going this morning and I know that I will enjoy it, I might even buy something too.
But before leaving you, I need to post this recipe. It is a quite tasty potato cake with eggplants that can either be eaten on its own or as a side dish.





POTATO CAKE WITH EGGPLANT AND CHIVES
2 servings

2 big potatoes
1 small eggplant
3 tblsp parmesan, freshly grated
3 tblsp chives, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- Cut the eggplant into strips or cubes.
- Heat up olive oil in a pan together with the crushed garlic, take it out when the oil is hot enough and then add the eggplant.
- Fry the eggplant until soft and golden and then let it drip off excess oil on kitchen towel paper.
- Peel and grate the potatoes coarsely.
- Put the amount of grated potato in a small non-stick pan (about 20 cm/7,9 in in diameter), flatten it out and then sprinkle the chives over and then add the fried eggplant. Next is a thin layer of parmesan and finish with a layer of the remaining potato. Pat it all down properly and then fry the cake on medium heat with a lid on for about 5-7 minutes.
- Turn it upside down on a plate or the lid and slip it down into the pan again to continue cooking for another 5-7 minutes or more if needed.
- Serve hot or cold.

The Light

the light, originally uploaded by ilva-b.

4th Anniversary, Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and Oatmeal Cake With Pears and Pinenuts

I have so many things to tell you today, but most of all I want to celebrate Lucullian's 4th anniversary with you! Four years, it seems so long ago but four years are not that much really, it depends on what have been happening during the years I suppose and in the last four years many big things have happened in my life, both sad and good. And as I am a firm believer in the Wheel of Fortune (and I am not speaking of the game show here), I know that this is the way life is. Some good, some bad. And I also know that we learn from it all, if nothing else empathy and compassion because we know what other people are passing through, at least an inkling of it. I just read through my other anniversary posts here and I know I will repeat what I have written there this time too: without you, blogging wouldn't be a shadow of what it is. Without you, dear readers, I seriously doubt that I would have gone on more than six month. I never thought that Lucullian would give me so much in the field of human contacts and support as it has and does and even though I have a feeling that my family doesn't really share my feelings about this, I think that starting to blog has been one of the best decisions I ever made. So Thank You for being here!
To celebrate or at least mark the moment, I have made three calendars for you to buy if you feel like it over at RedBubble, one called A Year With Lucullian Delights, one called Moments and one called Italian Scenes - I hope you will like them!

But what is an anniversary without a cake? And to make the cake even more special, it is a cake to help raise awareness of ovarian cancer. As I mentioned the other day, Michelle of Bleeding Espresso and Sara of Ms.Adventures in Italy are organizing the O Food Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and I really want to participate even though it is in the very last minute because I love Gina Di Palma's cookbook and the contact I had with her when we did an food blog event around it made me like her as a person very much as well! So I made Oatmeal Cake With Pears and Pinenuts that even my sternest critic here at home liked very much, not that many O's in it but I hope one is enough!

CONTEST RULES

O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and for the second year in a row, Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are hosting the O Foods Contest to raise awareness of this important health issue.
There are TWO WAYS to take part in the O Foods Contest:
ONE: Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato); include this entire text box in the post; and send your post url along with a photo (100 x 100) to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.

PRIZES for recipe posts:
* 1st: Signed copy of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen by Gina DePalma, Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who is currently battling ovarian cancer, inspired this event, and will be choosing her favorite recipe for this prize;
* 2nd: Signed copy of Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home by Mario Batali (winner chosen by Sara);
* 3rd: Signed copy of Vino Italiano: The Regional Italian Wines of Italy by Joseph Bastianich (winner chosen by Michelle).

OR

TWO: If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word and send your post url to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.

Awareness posts PRIZE:
* One winner chosen at random will receive a Teal Toes tote bag filled with ovarian cancer awareness goodies that you can spread around amongst your friends and family.

From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

* Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
* The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose, but include bloating, pelvic and/or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; and urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency).
* There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
* In spite of this, patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
* When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.

And remember, you can also always donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at our page through FirstGiving!
Please help spread the word about ovarian cancer.
Together we can make enough noise to kill this silent killer.





OATMEAL CAKE WITH PEARS AND PINENUTS

3 eggs
200 g/ 7 oz sugar
100 g/ 3,5 oz unsalted butter, melted
120 g/ 4,25 oz oatmeal
100 g/ 3,5 oz pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
0,5 tsp vanilla powder or the equivalent of vanilla essence or whatever you use
1 pinch salt
1 pear, finely sliced
2-3 tblsp pinenuts

- Whisk eggs and sugar fluffy. Add butter and vanilla and whisk another minute.
- Sift the flours and baking powder into the batter, stir well.
- Pour the batter into a greased and breaded cake form. Spread out the pear slices over the top and put the pinenuts in the 'creeks' where the pear does not cover the batter.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for about 25-30 minutes or when the cake is ready, check with a toothpick to be sure.

Sunday links and not a single one about food

Some Sunday links to enjoy:

Edvard Koinberg is a really talented flower photographer, I saw some of these photos in a small exhibition that accompanied a conference where I presented a paper some years ago on Linneaeus and this summer I received the book Herbarum Amoris which has been published this year. Wonderful work as you can see from the website.

What would a list of links here be without one that deals with the space? Here you can listen to the universe.

One of the nicest food bloggers I have met in real life is Sara Rosso from Ms.Adventures in Italy who is a really kind person and I keep forgetting that she actually have another website/blog called When I Have Time where you can find lots of information about technicalities about blogging and such. And she is happy to answer you questions too so don't hesitate to do it!

For really good reading you must visit the blog A Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary. Do it!

I know I have said it before but I do it again, I really recommend Designer's Block, an truly inspiring place and it is more so because Di is such a nice and generous person. And no, she doesn't pay me for this, I just like her and her blog a lot!

And to end in glory, just check out these men, irresistible or what do you say. I wonder if they ever kiss? Or how they sleep?

AUBERGINE WITH WINE COOKED LENTILS, OLIVES AND OREGANO

The last entry date for this month's HotM is closing in, the last day is on Sunday (but I do accept late entries until I manage to make the roundup) and as the theme is A, I can't resist to submit this dish as my second entry. But first I want to remind you of the O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month that is hosted by Sara of Ms.Adventures in Italy and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso for the second year, I will try to post an entry this weekend but please click over and take a look for yourself what you can do to spread the word and how to participate!

Over to the HotM entry, I made a Aubergine dish with lentils that is quite tasty because I decided to simmer the lentils in a mix of water and white wine that definitely added something to the flavour, try it, you might like it too!





AUBERGINE WITH WINE COOKED LENTILS, OLIVES AND OREGANO
4 servings

1 big or 2 small aubergines (or eggplants)
250 ml/ 1 cup small brown lentils
20-30 black olives
1 good pinch of dried oregano
white wine
1 clove of garlic
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- Put the lentils in a pan together with a 75/25 mixture of water and white wine. Add salt as well. Bring the lentils to a boil and them leave them to simmer until soft and ready. If the liquid dries out, add more water.
- Dice the aubergine and fry it in a pan with olive oil, oregano and the crushed garlic until golden. Don't forget to add salt.
- Mix the lentils with the aubergine and the olives and it is ready to serve.

red

red, originally uploaded by ilva-b.

Bread Baking Babes - Chinese Flower Steam Buns

I know I have said it before but I am going to say it again, one of the best things about being a Bread Baking Babe is that I get to bake bread that I never would have baked, this is definitely the case with this month's bread, Xiang Cong Hya Juan Bao or Chinese flower steam buns, chosen by Karen of Bake My Day. Steaming the bread instead of shoving it into the oven? I never ever thought about the possibility but now I know it is possible and I cannot but thank Karen for opening up my restricted mind to new possibilities! I was really late in making them but yesterday I did it and I was lucky enough to bake them together with Karen herself but I would like to do it again as I have a feeling that my steamed flower buns wasn't that close to what they should have been on the outside. Taste and texture wise they were great but I would have liked them to be a bit drier on the outside. You need to use a low gluten flour so I used 75% pastry flour and 25% corn starch and it worked very well. Not that I know what the real thing is like but it seemed as if it worked anyway. I didn't do any of the two suggested fillings but put wasabi paste in mine and that was really good, a bit addictive even. I know that Karen tweaked the recipe so you really should click over to her blog to see what she did and get some good suggestions as to make successful flower steam buns, I am posting the recipe below so that you get the picture of what they are like and if you feel like doing them and become a Bread Baking Buddy, you better check out the details at Karen's blog, see all roads from here go to Bake My Day today.





Xiang Cong Hya Juan Bao
(Chinese flower steam buns)
from Global Baker by Dean Brettschneider
makes 10 buns

"Everywhere you go in China you see people eating steam buns, also known as mantong Typically Chinese, a sweet bread is combined with a savoury filling, such as red bean paste and barbecued pork, but take care and avoid using too much filling or the bun will fall apart during the rising and steaming stage. The baking powder helps to open up the texture and gives a little tenderness to the eating quality of the buns. If you can, use imported Chinese flour from a specialist Asian food market or store".

Dough
300 g Chinese flour (plain flour will do)
15 g sugar
15 g butter
good pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
150 ml chilled water, placed in the refrigerator overnight

Filling
rice bran oil, for brushing on dough
40 g finely chopped spring onions or chives
25 g finely chopped red chillies
salt to taste

- To make the dough, place all the ingredienst into a large mixing bowl and, using your hands, combine to form a very, very firm dough mass. Don't be tempted to add any water or the steam buns will be flat after steaming.
- Place the dough on a work surface and, using your rolling pin, roll out to a thin strip, fold this in half and roll again. Repeat this 10-15 times with a 30 second rest in between each time. This is a way of mixing a very firm dough, the dough will start to become smooth and elastic as a result of the rolling process.
- Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warmish place (23-25C) for 15 minutes. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece to a 25cm square.
- Brush the dough surface lightly with oil and sprinkle the chopped chives and chillies evenly over the dough. Season with salt.
- Fold the dough in half and then cut into 2.5cm strips so that you end up with 10 folded strips. Stretch each strip and, starting at the folding edge, twist the two pieces of each strip over each other to form a rope.
- Take the twisted rope and tie into a double knot, tucking the loose ends underneath. Place each bun with ends facing down on a 5cm square of non-stick baking paper** and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Prove for approximately 30-45 minutes in a warm place.
- Bring a wok or saucepan of water to the boil with a bamboo steamer sitting on top. Remove the bamboo steamer lid and place the buns on the paper in the steamer 3-4 cm apart to allow for expansion during steaming. Replace the steamer lid and steam for 20 minutes. Repeat until all the buns have been steamed and are firm to the touch.


Different filling:
Sweet red bean paste
110 g dried red beans
water for soaking and boiling the beans
120 g sugar
5 tbs vegetable oil

- Wash the beans, discarding any that are damaged. Place beans in a small saucepan, cover with water and soak overnight. The next day bring the beans and the water to the boil. Simmer for 1.1/2 - 2 hours, until the beans have softened, adding more water as necessary. Remove from the heat and drain.
- Put the beans into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, adding the sugar and blending again. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the bean paste and fry on a medium -to-low heat for a few minutes until the paste begins to dry, pressing with the back of a wooden spoon to form a cohesive paste. This will take a few minutes and you will be able to see the oil mixed evenly through the bean paste. Cool before use. This paste will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.



If you want to see what the other Bread Baking Babes are up to (and you should, just remember there's a time difference and some might not have woken up yet)), check them out here.

Back to back

leaves, originally uploaded by ilva-b.

PASTA WITH SHRIMPS, SPINACH AND LEMON

Today it is official, the Autumn has arrived. I am both happy and not, happy because it is a lovely time with a lot of nice things to eat but, and this is a big but, it is also the entrance hall to winter time and that I don't look forward to at all. Maybe I should come up with some good reasons to like winter but I honestly can't think of any but why live in the future when the present is so much better? It usually is and if I take that to what it really means, I don't have to think badly about winter because when it arrives, it will be my present (as in time that is) and therefore good. Hmm.

This pasta dish makes me happy, it's good for you and it is good to eat. I make it with chili pepper because I like it hot but you don't have to use it if you have problems with that or you have family members who don't like it.





PASTA WITH SHRIMPS, SPINACH AND LEMON
3-4 servings

400 g/14 oz pasta
200 g/ 7 oz spinach, cooked and squeezed
200 g/ 7 oz small shrimps, peeled
chili pepper
1 clove of garlic
lemon
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- Start cooking the pasta.
- Cook the spinach in olive oil, chili pepper and the crushed clove of garlic for 4-5 minutes on medium heat, don't forget to salt it.
- Add the shrimps and cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the shrimps are cooked. Stir often.
- Squeeze some lemon juice of the spinach and then mix it all with the freshly cooked and drained pasta.

A Pictorial Autumn Ode

Light is changing here and there are so many changes going on in the nature, things ripening, others fading away.





Some change colour



Some are born
Others die



Autumn is a wonderful time

Blue

garapes, originally uploaded by ilva-b.

FRUIT SALAD WITH POMEGRANATE, GRAPES, GINGER AND WALNUTS

There are no measures in what I am proposing today, you have to mix and mingle on your own and turn it to your own liking, I do give you the ingredients though so I am not leaving you completely on your own. This fruit salad came about because I bought some pomegranates that were not really ripe and therefore not sweet enough to be eaten on their own but I couldn't just throw them on the compost heap so I brainstormed a bit and decided to make a fruit salad with them. I had a lot of grapes and grapes here are so sweet, when I first moved here I almost had a sugar shock when I ate them but I soon learned how to pick the sweetest bunches. Some things you learn quickly without any effort, I wish it was like that more often.



I had pomegranates and sweet grapes so I added grated fresh ginger and some chopped walnuts and added them to the rest and hoped for the best. And I obviously liked it otherwise it wouldn't have ended up here today: the sweetness of the grapes was nicely balanced by the more acid pomegranate that gave a nice crunchy feel, the ginger added a peppery zing and the texture of the walnuts crowned it all. Have I convinced you yet?

Still Life With Coloured Glass

Still Life With Coloured Glass, originally uploaded by ilva-b.

AVOCADO WITH OVENBAKED HONEY ONIONS, GRILLED CORN AND BARLEY

It's about time that I post my entry for this month's HotM, this month the theme is A, anything that starts with an A or a dish with an established name that starts with A or any other creative interpretation of the letter A. If you are interested in knowing more and get the details, see here for more information.
I decided to go for A as in Avocado, I like it so much, it has a great texture and that mild flavour is delicious with almost anything which opens up a wide horizon of possibilities. I wonder if that is a acceptable metaphor but I hope you get the drift anyway.






AVOCADO WITH OVENBAKED HONEY ONIONS, GRILLED CORN AND BARLEY
4 servings

1-2 avocados, it depends on how big they are
6-8 small onions
2oo ml orzo/0,85 cup barley
1 big cob of fresh corn
parsley, finely chopped
honey
lemon
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- Cook the barley in salted water for about 30 minutes. Drain, squeeze a little lemon over and drizzle some olive oil over before leaving it to cool down.
- Peel and quarter the onions, put them in an oven-proof form. Mix olive oil, honey and a pinch of salt and then drizzle it over the onions, stir and then bake in a pre-heated oven (150°C/300°F) until soft and golden, approximately 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile you grill the cob of corns in a griddle pan and cut off the corn length wise.
- 'Peel' the avocado and then slice it and cut it into bite sized pieces.
- Mix all the ingredients and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Macarons

I rarely duck out of a challenge, most of the time I run into them headfirst without thinking, sometimes they are life changing and sometimes they are minor but still important. Taking part of the Mac Attack is of the latter type. When I saw a lot of tweeting from the charming Jamie of Life's A Feast about macarons and realized that this was going to be a macaron baking event, I immediately decided to participate because I never baked a macaron in my life and I could feel that this was beginning to be a real impediment and not at all good for my credibility as a food blogger. So I thought that this is the time, now or never and it almost ended up as never because when you are as stupid as I am and start baking macarons for the first time less than two days before the deadline, it is definitely risky business but, and I repeat it: but I made it! I managed and they were even good. Sure, they don't have the perfect form and as I cannot find almond flour I have to make it myself which leaves me with a far grainer texture that the real stuff does. But then, it's the taste that matters isn't it? and the taste was great! I have now been bitten by the mac bug and I have bought a lot of more almonds so that I can go on baking them whenever I feel like it. Like now, so I better take out the eggs ...



I used a recipe from Claire Clark's excellent cookbook Indulge. 100 perfect desserts, her recipes are easy to follow and she gives a lot of tips about how to do things and this one was no exception, the only negative thing I have to say is that there must either be something wrong with the amount of cocoa powder given (only one tblsp) or she uses a far more concentrated cocoa powder than I do. But apart from that I was happy like a oinking pig ( I love pigs so this is meant as something positive) when I baked them. And my family when they ate them.

Thank You Jamie for making me do this, I loved it! If you want to see more about macarons and who the other macaron bakers are, check out Jamie's blog tomorrow!

entrance

entrance, originally uploaded by ilva-b.

MELON AND WINTER SQUASH SOUP WITH CHILI STING

It's dark outside because finally some rain has arrived to the thirsting plants but life seems so light and nice because school has finally started after three months of school vacations. How nice it is to be alone when you know that the house will be full again far too soon. I am one of those people who turns into a bad person when deprived of alone time so this Italian habit of long summer vacations have always made me feel frustrated, I love my children and I actually enjoy staying with them but not having much of an opportunity of just being alone without any demands on your attention is not good for me. But why dwell on this when I am sitting here without anyone disturbing me and being able to do some work without being interrupted. But first - a recipe.



Last Sunday I mentioned a very special soup I had at a wedding and that I wanted to try to recreate it, well, I did try but the soup ended up to be quite different, good but not like the one I had at the wedding. It turned into a dessert soup or a soup that you can have as a treat in the afternoon maybe.





MELON AND WINTER SQUASH SOUP WITH CHILI STING
4 servings

300 g/10,5 oz winter squash
300 g/10,5 oz melon
500 ml/ 2,1 cups water
1/2 fresh, small chili, chopped but the amount obviously depends on how hot the chili in question is
honey

- Cut the squash into cubes and simmer these together with the chili until the squash is soft, it takes about 15 minutes depending on how big the cubes are.
- Meanwhile you cut the melon into cubes.
- When the squash is ready, add the melon to the soup and blend in a food processor or mixer until smooth.
- Add as much honey you want, remember that both the squash and the melon are sweet so you will probably need very little, if any. Put the soup to chill before serving.