Passata di zucca e funghi porcini - Cream of pumpkin and porcini mushrooms

Hi friends, forgive me for being away for so long. I will admit I was tempted several times to post a hurried recipe with bad photos taken on endless rainy days and not much of a story just to let you know I hadn't disappeared into thin air, but then I decided against it, because this is one of the few places in my life were I shouldn't feel like I have to clock in, right?

In between all the pre-holiday craziness and work and just life, I was lucky enough to hop over to NY for a long week end (without kids or husband - a first - but more on that some other time), which required a certain amount of planning ahead and some catching up after, but was totally worth it.

And so now I am finally back to give you the perfect autumn recipe right before winter comes knocking on the door. A recipe that my daughter, who strongly dislikes pumpkin (I know, what is that about???), specifically requested - so that is how good it is. I suggest that even you pumpkin haters out there (if there are any besides my offspring) try it.

If you love the umami of dried mushrooms and love warming soups, check out this recipe too.

Ingredients
1kg pumpkin
20gr dried porcini mushrooms
1l water or vegetable stock
1 onion or 2 scallions
1tbsp olive oil
1tbsp butter (optional for a vegan recipe)
salt
pepper
grated Parmesan cheese (same as above)
pumpkin seed oil and thyme for garnish

Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in a bowl in hot water for at least half an hour before using. Peel and coarsely chop the onion or scallions (or both!).
In a heavy-based pot heat olive oil and butter and sautée the onions. While they are softening, clean and de-seed the pumpkin and cut into cubes. Add into the pot, cook for a few minutes and add the water/stock, the mushrooms and the liquid they soaked in. Cook until the pumkin is tender. Adjust for salt and pepper.
Purée the vegetables until creamy.
Serve with lots of grated Parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper. I also drizzled over a little pumpkin seed oil and garnished with some thyme.

Sea bass two ways: quenelle in fish fumet and roulade with seafood and shrimp bisque reduction



In my previous post I promised you two recipes we prepared during the the course at the cooking school Salotto del Gusto with Chef Maurizio Dall'Omo.

 

As impressive and fancy as they look, they were both quite simple and really let the main ingredient to shine through. They are perfect to serve at a dinner party: I promise your guests will think you slaved away in the kitchen all day.

 

 

It is hard to give you exact quantities as there were so many of us, but I would calculate one average sized Mediterranean sea bass per diner, if you are making both courses.

Sea bass quenelle in fish fumet

As a starter we made a sea bass quenelle in a fish fumet. The fumet was exceptional, so simple and essential, yet full of flavor... the true essence of the sea in a spoonful. The quenelle was extremely delicate in texture and taste and perfectly accentuated by the thyme.

About fish, freezers and more. Did you know...?

A few weeks ago a close friend drove a couple of hundred kms to attend a cooking course we had booked as a birthday present for each other for our 2013 birthdays, so a little over a year later. Considering we live far apart and three out of four of us have young children, we didn't do too bad!

The course was all about cooking fish and we really enjoyed it: not only was the chef sociable, interesting and experienced, there was also a good vibe during the lesson and I had a great time with my girls.

I personally am not scared to cook fish, I actually find it pretty straightforward, they key being to not
overcook it in my opinion. Also, I am not in the least squeamish when it comes things like innards and eyes. Truth be told, I am much more scared of getting egg whites to reach the perfect consistency.

We made two simple, yet very tasty recipes that I will tell you more about in my next post. What I really liked about the course, however, was the preamble.

If there are two things that do slightly intimidate me about cooking fish, knowing  how to buy a fresh, sustainable and healthy specimen is the first, closely followed by cleaning and filleting it. I usually cook fish whole.

The right way

 

Of course, I know that if I go to the renown fish monger downtown and pay four times more than average for wild Alaskan salmon for a special occasion, his fish will be fresh and top quality. But what about feeding my kids on a daily basis without spending more than I would at my favorite sushi place and still bringing a healthy, sustainable meal to the table?

 

Both my fears were addressed during the course: I learned how to fillet a seas bass, but given it looked like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre had taken place at my work station, I think I have to practice a lot more before trying to teach you how to do it. And, the chef gave us a lot of interesting and useful tips that I want to pass on to you. 

The wrong way: Texas Chainsaw Massacre style

He started from the more obvious things, like how to tell if the fish you are buying is fresh. As he spoke,  I realized that things that were a given to me, weren't for others and viceversa. I also learned some things that seem obvious once you know them, but that can be a real eye-opener when discovering them.

There is so much more to learn in the kitchen than just plain technique, and this learning process never ends. So I hope you too will find something useful in this post too. 

We can all make a difference

Foto source: Nexive

 

Maybe not all of you know this, but yesterday was the 2014 World Food Day.

 

As explained on the FAO website, the World Food Day is celebrated each year on the 16 October because that is when the Organization was founded back in 1945. The objectives of this day, among other things, are to raise  public awareness of the problem of world hunger and strengthen solidarity in the struggle to fight hunger and poverty.

I was asked a couple of days ago if I was interested in writing about a local charitable initiative to help spread the word and happily accepted. Any kind of contribution, no matter how small, can help raise awareness and as a food blogger I also feel a certain responsibility towards all things concering food and waste.

I did not receive any compensation for this post, but I strongly believe in these initiatives and try to apply my beliefs to my everyday approach to cooking. I try to cook seasonal, local, sustainable meals.
 

As a mom with a growing family, I also try to cook on a budget, although I do invest more on ingredients like eggs, meat and fish (and by doing this I simultaneously try to sustain local farmers and producers). I counterbalance the cost by cooking a lot with seasonal vegetables and fruit, legumes and grains. 

 

 

The recipes I post usually do not require expensive or extravagant ingredients but when I do buy more "exotic" ones, they are usually staples I find myself using over and over again (spices, fish sauce, miso paste, sesame oil etc.). I try to avoid waste and use leftovers whenever possible.

When I got the email about Nexive's collaboration with Siticibo, the programme launched by Banco Alimentare,  I was excited.

Pumpkin, Swiss chard and ricotta gnudi (a low carb alternative to ravioli or gnocchi)

After an extrememly warm and sunny September, fall has arrived in all its glory. I can tell by the orange and yellow leaves and the chestnuts covering the sidewalks of the city, I can tell by the variety of apples, mushrooms and pumpkins at the store. I can tell by the plentiful rain, my runny nose and my desire to eat something a little more substantial and comforting for dinner.

 

Enter gnudi.

 

If you are wondering what gnudi are, think of the love child between a raviolo* and a canederlo (or knoedel in German).

 

To be honest, they aren't really closely related to canederli, because gnudi don't actually contain any bread or bread crumbs. They are however reminiscent of them in looks and they share their versatility: you can make them choosing from a wide range of ingredients and you can serve them in broth or with a variety of sauces.

 

But when it comes to the actual preparation, they are much more akin to ravioli, so perhaps the best way to describe them is telling you to picture a naughty raviolo in its birthday suit.

 

 

 

Gnudo is indeed Tuscan dialect for nudo, which means naked in Italian. So gnudi are none other than dumplings or delicate gnocchi (out go the potatoes, in comes the ricotta) made using the same ingredients you would employ for stuffing ravioli, with just a small addition of flour to hold together the fragile ricotta pillows while they are cooking. I used regular flour, but you could probably substitute it with gluten free or no-carb options if you needed/wanted to (rice flour, chickpea flour etc.).

 

Basically, gnudi are a shortcut and they have the added bonus of being low carb. Sure,  butter and Parmesan cheese make a hefty apperance in the recipe, but the true bulk of gnudi is ricotta (which is not a cheese per se) and vegetables. So what it comes down to is that when you are making gnudi you are actually making a quick and pretty healthy vegetarian meal.

 

 

Spinach and ricotta are traditional ingredients for gnudi, but pretty much any leafy green will do and many other vegetables come to mind, from zucchini to eggplant and mushrooms. What is really key is squeezing as much excess water out of the vegetables as you can.

 

You can also swap cheeses: pecorino would work well and so would feta in my opinion.

 

And then there is the sauce: melted butter and Parmesan cheese are a classic, but psssst, if it hadn't been a week night meal (we usually try to keep those reasonably healthy and light), I probably would have fried up some pancetta and served the salty, crunchy morsels scattered over the gnudi. Bacon and pumpkin? Yum.
 

A cream and/or cheese-based sauce would work really well too, if you aren't counting calories. Blue cheese or a raw milk mountain cheese would be perfect to add some character to the ricotta base. And if you are going down the zucchini and eggplant road, a nice tomato sauce would be perfect.
 

 

 

Variations on a theme: quince compote, jam, jelly and syrup

 

Quince is one of those almost-forgotten fruits that you usually do not come across at a supermarket. You may be lucky enough to find some at a farmer's market, but usually you either get them from a tree in your own back yard or from friends, who are usually happy to part with some of their bounty.
 

 

 

I fall into the second category. When we were in Piedmont a couple of week ends ago, we left with a large carton of produce that included four quinces. I had never cooked with them before and didn't even know whether they were ripe or not. I did some reading and learned that they are ripe when they turn a nice yellow hue and smell sweet and floral. Don't expect them to turn softer, however, because they stay rock hard even when they mature. Another handy piece of information I collected is that if you are using them to make preserves, they don't need to be fully ripe.
 

 

 

Something elso you probably already know about this fruit is that it cannot be consumed raw. Once it is cooked, however, it can be used in many ways: to accompany savory dishes (pork roast, game, blue cheese anybody?) or in desserts. They work well in pies and tarts, but you can also lightly poach them with vanilla or spices or cook them longer into a compote or jam like I did.

 

 

A fun fact: did you know that the word marmalade originally comes from the Portuguese word for quince - marmelo - as quince marmalade, very popular in Medieval England, was usually imported from Mediterranean countries and only actually started being made there much later, towards the Sixteenth century.

Anyway, after checking on my quinces daily for about ten days, I decided to make something with them. They may not have been fully ripe because they did smell floral, but only faintly. I wasn't too concerned really, since I was going to make a jam out of them.

 

 

 

I washed the fuzz on the skin off and started chopping and cleaning, which was probably the most strenuous part of the whole process. They are hard little suckers (mine were also all inhabited by a few wiggly creatures: let me just say the cleaning did not only involve the core and seeds).

After the lengthy operation there were still over two pounds of flesh from the four specimens, a little more than the amount indicated in Family Spice's recipe, which I followed as a guideline, although I decided to use less sugar than suggested because I don't like things that are overly sweet. I may even consider using less next time.

 

 

I then took the recipe a step further and made different variations on the theme by straining a little here, processing a little there and even adding some water. The last logical step would have been to make membrillo, the Spanish quince paste/cheese, by further straining the blended jam through a fine mesh sieve and then cooking and baking it until no moisture was left. But I was frankly a little tired  satisfied with what I had and decided to call it a day.

Fette Sau BBQ - Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Our very recent trip to the US was filled with great food (some of which you may have seen on Instagram and Facebook), beautiful places and people we love.

There were long beaches, big waves, lakes, farmland and the great urban marvel that is New York. We grilled aged steaks in our backyard, had sweet and buttery corn on the cob, NY bagels and pie. We picked berries that never made it to dessert and ate our favorite Thai food twice. We drank pink, ice cold wine and some really good beer. We had our share of delicious burgers and lots of sushi.

Multigrain seed no-knead bread

 

 

More questions from a five-year old.

 

Son: "Mommy, what does your saliva taste like?"

 

Me: "...".

 

After some thought:

 

Me: "I'm not sure, pretty neutral. I guess like yours".

 

"So does everybody's saliva taste the same?"

 

"Yes, sweetie. I think so". I wasn't about to tell him I had made my small contribution to research on that in my day.

 

What I do know for sure, however, is that  not all breads taste the same. Definitely not.

 



 

I've posted recipes for no-knead bread before. A wholewheat recipe and a wholewheat oatmeal recipe, but this is my favorite to date. So I had to let you know about it.

 

I followed a general recipe from this website (which only slightly differs from my usual recipe in quantities and rising time) but using my own ingredients. I really liked the mix of flour and grains I used but I am sure that the extra proofing time was key for the lovely crumb.

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup oat flour
1 cup 6-grain rolled cereal
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 1/2 cups luke warm water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast

 

In a large bowl mix the flour, salt and yeast. Add the water and stir until your dough looks shaggy.

Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature (I put it in my oven) for up to 24 hours (the recipe says between 8-18 but I left it for almost 24 hours).

Preheat your oven to 450°F/225°C.

Turn the dough (which will have risen considerably and look bubbly) onto a well floured surface and shape into a ball, making sure you dust flour on your hands beforehand. Cover again with plastic wrap.

Thouroughly heat a Dutch oven/Le Creuset in the oven for about 30 minutes and then proceed to put the dough in.

Bake covered for thirty minutes and then another 15 minutes uncovered so the crust turns a nice golden brown. To be sure it is ready, tap it: it should sound hollow.

Raisin, caper, browned garlic and anchovy sauce

 

 

Having kids means you will hear a lot of funny and often embarassing questions being asked.

 

My son recently asked me I take my breasts off at night.

Say whaaaat?

It turns out he actually meant my bra, but it made for a pretty funny 10 minutes.

 

Yesterday he asked the new girl who helps us with the cleaning if she has a job. I immediately went in for damage control because I had a feeling where this was going. I explained that what she was doing was her job. So he answered he meant a real job, in front of a computer. I told him there are many jobs and only a small part entail sitting in front of a computer. I reminded him of our book that tells us about all the different jobs that people have, and how important each and every job is to make the world go around. She added that she has a computer but she is lucky enough to be able to use it to play instead of work.

 

Then, later, when we were at the supermarket at the cured meats and cheese counter, after listening to the girl who was serving us complain that she practically lives in the supermaket because she has been working so much lately, he asked her where she slept. On the floor or on the crushed ice of the fish counter (maybe he thought it was the coolest spot in the supermarket).

 

Recently we bumped into the father of a classmate of his and he asked him if he was her grandfather.

 

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, my kids never embarass me when it comes to food. Whether we are invited somewhere or in a restaurant, they eat pretty much everything they are served. I can experiment any new recipe and they will usually eat it without a problem. Of course there are things they are not crazy about, but they are not many and if they have to they will eat them.

 

When it comes to my husband, there is really only one thing he doesn't like: raisins. So even if this  simple, yet very tasty sauce made with capers and raisins had caught my eye on Lorraine's blog a while ago, I had to wait till his soccer night to try making it.

 

I set off with the idea of exactly replicating it but ended up making some changes and came up with a pretty different sauce altogether. Very good, if not promising in looks.

 

The first change I made was to fry the garlic slivers until golden brown because something about the idea of raw garlic simmering in water put me off. I then set aside the garlic-infused olive oil and blended it with the other ingredients instead of using plain olive oil as indicated. My last variation was to add anchovies. I felt the sauce could use a little extra savory punch and that the anchovies would nicely balance out the sweet and sour.

 

Lorraine's sauce was definitely more appealing to the eye, with its bright green and reddish brown flecks, but this one's flavor was good enough for me to insist you try it before I find a way to make it look more stylish!

 

We had the sauce with roasted zucchini, raisins and quinoa. Since we had some leftovers I ended up drizzling some on red peppers as an appetizer a few evenings later and husband grabbed one before I could warn him. Once he was chewing I didn't have the heart to tell him... but he really seemd to like it. Surprise honey!



 

Ingredients (makes a small jar's worth)

35gr capers, rinsed

35gr raisins

4/5 anchovy filets

1 small clove garlic, thinly sliced (but use more for a more pronounced flavor)

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 to 2 tbsp white wine vinegar

salt, if needed

 

Pour the olive oil into a small saucepan and when it is hot, fry the garlic slices until golden brown. Set aside the garlic infused olive oil for later, leaving the garlic in the saucepan.

Add in a cup of water, the previously rinsed capers and the raisins and bring to a low simmer for about 15 minutes (add some water if it gets completely absorbed).

When the raisins have plumped up nicely, transfer the ingredients to a blender. Add the garlic infused olive oil, the vinegar (I added it a tbsp at a time because I wanted to make sure the vinegar in the capers wasn't too strong), the anchovy filets.

Blend until it is smooth. Taste and add salt or vinegar if needed.

You can serve this on roasted vegetables or with raw vegetables as a dip, or any other idea that tickles your fancy.

 

 

Cold peanut soba noodle salad

 

 

Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!

Here it is a day like any other, but I thought this recipe would be handy for a last minute idea to take along to a picnic or BBQ (or a delicious salad for any other occasion if you are not celebrating Independence Day today).

It has been a while since my last real post, so forgive me, but last week we were away enjoying some of the glorious sea and beaches Italy has to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

We try to take days off every once in a while throughout the summer to get our kids out of the city, summer school and the sweltering heat (although we have been very lucky thus far) since we both work well through August. I will save you the whole spiel about the guilt of being working parents in a city where summer vacation lasts three months and it is normal for kids to spend most of them away in the country, mountains or at the beach with grandparents who double as fulltime baby sitters (and yes, I am aware this is a first world problem), because I already did that here. But the guilt remains and so we try to whisk them off whenever we can. 

 

 

 

 

 

This year, however, to be honest husband and I really needed it too.
Those who know me personally can confirm that I am not one to usually complain about feeling tired, worn out or unwell and I am always looking for things to do or places to go. I am usually quite happy being busy, but the past couple of months really knocked the wind out of us, for no particular reason, might I add. It was more like an accumulation of lots of little things: busy days in the office (at a job that is doing its best to suck out every last ounce of my normally positive attitude recently); the last month of school with its endless recitals, fundraisers, open-classes, parties, parent-teacher meetings, report cards, good-bye dinners, drinks, week ends and what have you. The related stress of constantly having to ask for time off from work to go to all the abovementioned gatherings and the running back and forth from them to work multiplied by the number of kids you have (how do you moms with more than two kids do it???) blablabla taxes in multiple countries blablabla bureaucratic deadlines for summer school, regular school,  after-school, you name it, we did it blablabla free lance jobs blablabla a birthday party to organize blablabla...

 

*yawn*

 

I am even boring myself, so I will stop boring you. But you get the idea, right? Because we all have periods like that, whether you are a stay-at-home parent or a working parent, whether you are a parent or not. Periods when you just feel wrung out.

 

 

 

We're back!

 

 

We were here, but now we are back and I am working on something for you! See you soon!

 

Gnocchi di ricotta

 

 

This recipe was a cinch. It took no more than ten minutes to prepare and under three minutes to cook.

 

I served them with pesto, because I always keep some in the fridge for emergencies but - if you want to keep things simple - I think they would be great with a fresh, quick, summery tomato sauce and lots of basil or even just butter, sage and Parmesan cheese (and maybe a sprinkling of poppy seeds for extra crunch?).

 

If you are looking to make something a little fancier, these will taste great with pretty much anything. A tomato-based seafood sauce, a slow-cooked ragu, zucchini and saffron come to mind, but there is so much more you can do with them. Just be creative! 

 

 

Look at the concentration and tension in that little left hand!

 

Back to our dinner, or even further step back.

 

The fact is, my four year-old has been going through a bit of a phase  lately and has been acting up a little, so I have been making an effort to spend some quality time alone with him. 

. 

His sister is a true companion to him and he would be happy to be with her and follow her around all day long (sound familiar sis?). However, despite being a caring older sister, she has a personality that matches her charm and looks, so I feel like he sometimes needs some space.

Also, the last month of school saw me spending a lot of time with her in the kitchen doing homework and preparing for tests while he played in his room or hung around the kitchen table waiting (and making me feel guilty).

So, that is how I got the idea to cook with him one afternoon while my daughter was out at a girlfriend's.

Maybe yielding a sharp knife during,  ... let's call it an 'undomesticated phase', doesn't sound like the right approach. But I can assure you that, naturally under my close supervision,  it was exactly what he needed: it made him feel like a big boy and not just the baby brother.  

 

  

 

 

 

End of story: he had fun (and was extremely proud throughout dinner), I had help, and the family enjoyed a good meal.

 

Perfect solution.

 

End, end of story: did the meal serve its purpose, magically turning my son into the calmest, most obedient of children?  No, certainly not. Just yesterday his kindergarden teacher told him off. But I am more than happy to keep making these in order to reach my goal ;o)

 

 

 

Nun, Taste of Middle East

 

 

 

I just can’t seem to get back to a normal pace of things.

I have gone to bed more than once in the past weeks thinking “finally tomorrow I have a couple of free hours to finally post on my blog” and then something unexpected happens at work, or the kids’ social life takes over as usual and it just doesn’t happen. For the same reason, things have not been particularly active in the kitchen lately either (or on FB, IG, Twitter for that matter), so now that I have finally gotten around to writing something, it is lucky that I had these pictures of a great little place we discovered recently sitting in a folder waiting to be published.

 

 

 

It is not a fancy restaurant. It is not even a restaurant per se, and it does not serve Italian food, so it will mainly interest those who live in the city (because no matter how delicious Italian food is, and it is, we are allowed to sometimes crave other cuisines, n'est pas?) or tourists that have had one too many plates of pasta, if that is even possible. 

There are three reasons that make it noteworthy, the first being that it is pretty much always open (Tuesday to Sunday, 12:00-23:00 - or 11:00pm)... refreshing given that so many places  in Milan close between lunch and dinner. The second being that it is cheap. The last, but not the least, being that it serves all those Middle Eastern staples that I often crave, homemade and fresh .  

 

Persian rice Tah Cheen (or Tah Chin) style, step-by-step tutorial

 

 

The other day, while we were having dinner, my son asked me why nests don't fall off of trees.

Besides the basic grasp - if not understanding - of physics (balance, gravity and all that jazz) behind the question, which surprised me to a degree, it once again made me realize how much more for granted we take things compared to the average four year old.  

 

He usually asks the best questions at the table.

 

Once he was staring quietly at his hands with great interest. He then proceeded  to ask me what the lines were, pointing at the wrinkles on his knuckles.

 

Another question he asked me recently at the table that made me smile: why do they put plastic on eggs? He was eating sunny side up eggs and pointing at that transparent film that forms around the edges. Basically he had been eating it his whole life convinced it was Saran wrap (or cling film for those of you non Americans).

 

Not to mention he calls all meat chicken, so a normal enquiry at dinner will be: from what animal does the chicken we are eating come from?

 

 

 

I guess we can all agree that the questions a four-year old asks are priceless. But us adults have questions too. One of the things I always wondered about was how Persians make that delicious crunchy layer on their rice.  

Tarassaco comune con pancetta

I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth, in case you were wondering.

I never go this long without dropping by to say hi, but the past couple of weeks were really busy. There were the Easter holidays with good friends visiting from overseas, two long holiday week ends to follow, kids home from school for way too long and major work deadlines plus a little trip.

Now we are back and I can't wait to tell you about a salad we had while we were away.

Crisp yet tender, very slightly bitter leaves interspersed with crunchy morsels of pancetta set off by a drizzle of syrupy, aged balsamic vinegar.

If you want to make this, the first thing to do is head over to the market  take a nice long walk with your family and some good friends. Somewhere like here.

(I'm guessing you could probably find these greens in some markets, but I have personally never come across them in Milan). 

Stride down paths, through fields and pastures and enjoy the nature that surrounds you, breathe in the fresh air, let the sun shine on your face and warm your skin. Be thankful for the beauty this planet has to offer and for good friends.

Run around, climb a tree, stop for a snack of mountain cheese and apples. If you are lucky, you might come across a deer antler, an eagle's feather, some roe deer tracks in the mud/snow and 'blueberries' according to my son (...they were actually a little something left behind by the roe deer).

And then, when you sit down to rest for a few minutes and drink some fresh spring water, you might come across something that looks like this.

Look closely, because this is what you are having for dinner.