Dear Tomato I want to thank you for existing. For being a fresh, juicy, sweet, fleshy fruit. Ask any Italian “what do you eat during this exhaustingly hot summer”? Tomatoes – they will say – it’s a national obsession. This salad is a way to make a wholesome meal or substantial side dish out of a classic tomato salad. Healthy food does taste good if … Continue reading Italian whole-grain salad
I have a wonderful 1950 copy of Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book. The first couple of pages show pictures of the company’s test kitchens. One is a red and white “polka dot” kitchen. It’s a dreamy place populated by an adorable, immaculately dressed and coiffed housewife. She is enjoying an ironing session against the cheerful backdrop of a yellow wall. The kitchen’s photo caption says … Continue reading pasta therapy: maltagliati
STROZZAPRETI. Priest stranglers? Isn’t this a crazy name? Sounds like a recipe of the Swedish Chef . The origin of the name is unclear but it is surely evocative of our farmers’ long suffering under centuries of papal domination. Having to part with hard earned food as a tax, they wished the greedy clerics to choke on it. The strozzapreti are short, eggless noodles, not … Continue reading “priest chokers” made with farro flour
FARROTTO. I am a lucky woman. I am blessed by lots of lovely friends in all corners of the world. Many have all sort of interesting professions and hobbies. Some of my coolest friends, Diana, Corinna, Giulia, Gloria, Rebecca, are innkeepers, just like me. We are the new career girls, we have first gone into complicated studies at prestigious universities and/or a career in entomology, … Continue reading cool inkeepers cook
ZUPPA DI LENTICCHIE E FARRO. Castelluccio di Norcia, in the South-East of Umbria is a tiny village located on a lonely outcrop at the centre of one of the most spectacular areas of Central Italy, the Piano Grande . The fields of this magnificent plain produce farro wheat, and the most delicious, tiny, tender lentils. Farro is an ancestral wheat with a characteristic nutty flavor. … Continue reading farro and lentil soup
