briciole

snails too like Swiss chard Below are the images contributed to edition #160 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event Enjoy this week's show! Cinzia of Cindystar: Old kitchenware in underground Naples (40 meters below street level) Sandhya of Sandhya's Kitchen: Steam Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu: Lunch Simona of briciole: Homemade bun rice noodles As of today, Cinzia of Cindystar is accepting submissions for edition #161 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event. You can send her your contribution to casacortella AT tin DOT it. I am sending her the top photo of this post,... Read more →

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] western-style broth meets eastern-style rice noodles The eighth stop of our World Culinary ABC1 is Vietnam. To celebrate our virtual visit I made bun rice noodles from scratch. Making an Asian pasta had been on my to-do list for a long time. Having found a detailed recipe from a reputable source2, I went to work: the process was interesting and the result quite nice. The original recipe calls for a pound of rice flour, but I applied the rule I repeat in each of my pasta posts3 and quartered the quantities. Please,... Read more →

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a simply good soup (linen napkin from La FABBRICA del LINO) Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer1 is the protagonist of Cheap Novelties, The Pleasures of Urban Decay2 by Ben Katchor. The collection of black and white strips reads like a collection of short-short stories simple on the surface, yet haunting like the dripping of a faucet that prevents us from falling asleep. Julius is out all day in a solidly urban landscape of tall buildings grouped into blocks drawn up by roads. Instead of the sun, a myriad light bulbs (lampadine) of... Read more →

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] painted pony beans (table runners from La FABBRICA del LINO) The seventh stop of our World Culinary ABC1 is Mexico. To celebrate our virtual visit I made a personal version of frijoles refritos. [Note that the prefix re- in this case means "very" or "well".] I had some pinto beans and that's the variety I used initially for the recipe. According to wikipedia2 "In northern Mexico and in American Tex-Mex cuisine, refried beans are usually prepared with pinto beans, but many other varieties of bean are used in other parts of Mexico,... Read more →

A writer's necessities I write first drafts longhand with my trusted fountain pen. Below are the images contributed to edition #156 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event Enjoy this week's show! Jann of Traveling Food Lady Extra-virgin olive oil for soup Cabbage Fresh grapes and pear (plus a few more images included in the post) Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu: Wood-fired oven cornbread Cinzia of Cindystar: Chez La Mère Catherine Simona of briciole Cauliflower at the farmers' market Panda (handmade pasta) As of today, Cinzia of Cindystar is accepting submissions for edition #157 of Black and White Wednesday... Read more →

la pastasciutta con quello che c'è The poem by George Bradley La past'asciutta con quello che c'è is included in the anthology Sustenance and Desire: A Food Lover's Anthology of Sensuality and Humor by Bascove, which is the current selection of our Cook the Books Club. (The book included a number of inspiring pieces and I may well go back to another one or two later.) In his poem Bradley captures perfectly my approach to pasta: I sometimes plan ahead, but often I simply create a dressing with what I have available. Dried pasta's how a cook accommodates the facts. No... Read more →

better than candies Even in the dead of winter, the Happy Boy Farms' stall at the Temescal farmers' market in Oakland is full of pretty produce. The cauliflower heads tumbling out of a basket were like jewels nesting in tender leaves. Roasted cauliflower anyone? I am hosting the current edition of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar. Send your contribution at simosite AT mac DOT com, namely your name your blog's name the image(s) (max 500 px wide, either orientation, max 150 kb file... Read more →

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] version with raspberries served with homemade vanilla ice cream (napkin by La FABBRICA del LINO, Seta decor collection) The fifth stop of our World Culinary ABC is Canada and finally I can say: I've been there — though my visit was limited to a few days in Toronto for a conference. The dish I chose to celebrate our virtual visit comes from the eastern part of Canada and New England. It is called grunt or slump, depending on the area, and is similar to the cobbler, but cooked on the stove rather... Read more →

crisp skorpor up for grabs on Double Creek Pottery plate on La FABBRICA del LINO placemat In the kitchen of the house in upstate New York where I spent a few days at a retreat last September, there was a bookshelf of cookbooks. My right hand pulled out Favorite Swedish Recipes by Emmie Berg and while I paged through it, the recipe for Round Rusks (Brutna skorpor) locked my attention. Skorpor are popular Swedish rusks and a rusk is a light, dry biscuit or a piece of twice-baked bread. There is a version of rusk in many other traditions: for example,... Read more →

sunbathing in the morning on linen (from La FABBRICA del LINO) A recent morning at the beginning of a pasta making session, the gnocchi board on my table gently tugged at my sleeve to remind me of its presence. I picked it up and put it in front of me on the kneading board, then started to play with other tools and the semolina dough I had prepared. As in the making of garganelli, I used a thin dowel as mini rolling pin to obtain the shape I called mezzi tubi rigati. This short video shows my hands at work: As... Read more →