Frutta e verdura d'inverno

Meeta at 'What's for lunch, honey' has launched a seasonal event called 'Eat fresh', aimed at getting to know better what's in season in every part of the world. Of course I love this idea! It's in perfect line with the spirit of my own 'Fresh Produce of the Month' event, except for the fact that thanks to Meeta now we'll have a list of produce in season all over the world collected in one place! Congratulations, Meeta, for this great initiative.
So here is my contribution - a snapshot of the fruits and vegetables that I buy more often in Berkeley in this season:
There are: squash (turban type), turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, apples, oranges/mandarins, parsnips, beets (red and golden), potatoes, and peppers (this last is not really in season in my opinion, but in Berkeley you can find almost anything all the time. I buy it when it looks particularly good or it's a special).
I love all winter time produce. And there are so many varieties for each type! Squash comes in so many colors and shapes, as you may have noticed if you've read this blog recently, as well as cabbage, beets and cauliflower... One cannot be bored by them.

Pizza alla zucca?!?!?

I mentioned that for the 'bagna caoda' party I prepared some pizza just in case someone didn't like the bagna caoda. I prepared three types: one was my favorite ricotta and pesto focaccia, another was a traditional grilled eggplant/cheese pizza, and the last one was an experiment (again inspired by the 'San Francisco flavor' cookbook!). I decided to try it as it involves my ingredient of the month - squash. No one would ever make pureed squash pizza or focaccia in Italy (at least not that I'm aware of), but I decided to give it a shot anyway!

Focaccia con zucca / Squash focaccia
The recipe in the 'San Francisco cookbook' suggests using delicata or butternut squash for this focaccia. Instead, I used turban squash. I bought it at the Berkeley Bowl intrigued by its beautiful shape and color, and it turned out to be absolutely delicious. I think it's now in the list of my favorite squashes. It tastes a little like pumpkin, and the yield is really high. It smells delicious after baking.

The preparation of this focaccia is quite straightforward: prepare pizza dough (recipe here). When ready, spread on a baking pan, previously greased with olive oil. Bake the squash of your choice, until soft. Scoop the flesh out and puree with a spoon. Add olive oil, salt and oregano (amounts to your taste) and mix. Spread on the pizza dough, and add pieces of cheese on top (suggested by the recipe: cheddar cheese. I used Vermont farmer's cheese). Bake at 400 F for ~10 min, or till the crust starts becoming golden in color. Serve hot.

This squash focaccia turned out quite good - in my opinion not as good as the ricotta and pesto one, but definitely worth trying. I believe homemade pizza or focaccia is one of the best foods for a party: tasty and easy to pick up with your fingers without being too messy. So, I'll send this focaccia recipe as my entry for the 'Game night party' event hosted by Mansi at Fun and Food just for this month! - If you want different pizza/focaccia recipes, look here!

And I hope this recipe also inspires you to send me a contribution to the event I host, the 'Fresh Produce of the Month', centered on squash.. Still a few days open for submissions!

Un brunch particolare

Some time ago I made a really nice brunch for Lucas and myself, using a recipe that I found on my favorite 'San Francisco flavors' cookbook. I never had time to post about it, and this is now the perfect occasion, as it sports the fruit chosen for this month 'A fruit a month' event: papaya!
To be really honest, I don't usually like papaya too much. This is strange, because I like almost anything. Papaya has a strange aftertaste that somewhat bothers me, when I eat it raw: after the sweet feeling, there is something that remains in my mouth and reminds me of fermentation and, somehow, cheese. I know it's just a weird idea that I have, but I cannot it too much of it raw. But, in this particular dish I'm showing, I really liked it. Maybe because the person who thought about it somehow read my mind and decided to accentuate this 'aftertaste' by just combining it with.. brie! So, here I present to you...

Quesadilla con brie e papaya / Papaya and brie quesadilla
(Recipe adapted from 'San Francisco flavors' - originally, the quesadillas are baked, and more fats are used).

Prepare the filling by mixing one papaya, peeled and diced, one onion, thinly sliced, the juice of two limes, 1 jalapeno chilli, minced, and 1/2 bunch cilantro. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a separate bowl. Lightly butter (with a separate piece of butter) an anti-sticking pan, and place it on the stove on moderate heat. Place a large tortilla on it, and add some of the papaya mix on half of it. Add a few pieces of brie (you choose how much). Close the other half on top, and brush with some of the melted butter. After ~5 min, flip the quesadilla paying attention not to pour the filling everywhere in the pan. Brush more butter on top of the quesadilla, and cook for a few more minutes, till the brie is melted. Repeat till all the filling is finished. I used only half of it, it was enough for a brunch for two. The quesadillas should be eaten hot.. They can also be used as appetizers, if you cut them in wedges before serving. I made them a few times, as they are really quick to prepare and delicious, and unusual too!

Minestrina!!!!!

There are two events on the food-blog-sphere dedicated to some sort of comfort food these days: one is the 'Monthly Mingle', hosted by Meeta at 'What's for lunch, honey', themed in fact simply 'Comfort foods'; the other is the 'Click' event started by the Jugalbandi band, themed 'Liquid comfort'.
My decision is to present the food that has been the comfort food during all my youth, and still is. As it happens to be liquid, it goes greatly for both events. The thing is: it's really nothing fancy at all! But then again, otherwise it wouldn't be a true comfort food.. It's actually the fear of every Italian child, because it doesn't contain anything really super tasty, or sweet, or child appealing. But in my family, it has always been regarded as something really nice and comforting to have, and it reminds me of my mom and my grandma, who'd prepare it for all of us, especially when one was sick. I'm speaking of 'Minestrina' (lit. small minestra, which is kind of like a soup)! It's nothing but a very simple broth, with some small type of pasta in, and some olive oil and parmigiano cheese grated on top, if one needed to add some more nutrients to feel even better. It's been really hard to try to get a flattering picture of this really simple subject. This is the best I could come up with, and I'm going to present it to 'Click' in any case, although I realize it doesn't really compare to the other entries. :)

Minestrina
To make minestrina, you just need to have some vegetable broth (prepared with boiled onions and carrots and celeries, or simply with a vegetable bouillon), and boil some small pasta in it. The ratio of pasta to broth is all depending on your taste. I'm more for liquidy minestrina, but my dad likes more pasta, for example. Here you see stelline (little stars). Before serving, add some olive oil and parmigiano if you feel like. It needs to be eaten hot, and it will make you feel warmed up and comforted and loved!
It goes right to Meeta and Bee and Jai for their 'Monthly Mingle' and 'Click' events, respectively!

Bagna caoda

When Sunita launched garlic as her 'Think Spice' theme, I felt immediately excited and involved: garlic is definitely the Italian spice, the only one that we really use a lot (together with a few other ones). So, for once, I felt perfectly at ease with a spice theme! But then I started wondering: garlic is so widespread in Italian cuisine, which dish doesn't contain it? There are some dishes that definitely would not exist without garlic, which everybody knows and loves: pesto, tomato sauce (here called 'marinara'), bruschetta. But for this event, I wanted to present something that was an 'ode' to garlic, and if possible, not too well known outside Italy. That's how I thought about 'bagna caoda'. Literally, the name of this dish means 'hot bath': and it is, in fact, a hot, extremely garlicky bath, for vegetables! It's a dish traditional from Piemonte, my region, and it's eaten in winter time. So, what could be more perfect for the 'Think Spice' event? I prepared it yesterday, and we threw a large party in its honor. It was a lot of fun! And to my surprise, everybody loved bagna caoda: I had prepared some back-up pizzas, just in case, but they didn't seem to be necessary..
So here is the recipe for bagna caoda. As you will see, it requires a huge amount of garlic and olive oil, and anchovies. I prepared also a vegetarian version, without anchovies, with chili peppers instead, which was also quite good, and appreciated by vegetarians and people who didn't like anchovies. The whole bagna caoda experience involves a few particular vegetables to dip in, together with some more common ones. Luckily enough, Berkeley Bowl provided also the 'particular' ones!

Bagna caoda

Ingredients for about 15 people, or a few cans:
8 heads of garlic (not cloves, heads!!)
1 lb anchovies under salt (I found them imported from Italy, in a huge 1 kg can, again at the Berkeley Bowl - they should be whole, preserved only under salt and nothing else)
~3/4 liter olive oil

Vegetables: potatoes, onions, peppers, celery, beets, fennels, Jerusalem artichokes, cardoons, cabbage, turnips are traditional. We also added mushrooms, parsnips, carrots, zucchini, celery roots, broccoli, brocco-flowers.

To make the sauce, peel all the garlic, and cut it into thin slices. Clean the anchovies by removing the central bone and interior parts, and then wash them from the salt. Put all the garlic pieces and anchovies in a pot, and cover with oil. You should use about 3/4 liter. Cook on very low heat for about two hours, until the garlic is very soft, and then squish all the pieces with a spoon, till a sort of olive oil/garlic/anchovie paste is obtained. You should add a generous piece of butter to this sauce before serving it, but I forgot to do it, and I must say, it was delicious also in my 'healthier' version.

For the vegetarian version, cut the garlic into slices, and cover with oil and cook in a similar way. Add pieces of chili peppers and salt to taste while cooking. The problem of this version is that the garlic tends to clump separately from the oil (apparently the anchovies have also a 'surfactant'-like function...). It's good in any case. If you want, you can add some cream (the famous 'panna da cucina' which I already mentioned in this post), to help the formation of a paste. This will make it a little less traditional, but the most 'modern' versions of bagna caoda add this cream in any case, to smooth the taste of the garlic.

In the meanwhile, prepare the vegetables: bake the potatoes, onions, beets, turnips, parsnips and peppers. Slice all the vegetables that need to be (the baked ones and the raw ones), or simply cut into 'handy' pieces the veggies such as carrots or celery or cardoons. The goal is to have pieces that one can dip in the sauce and eat conveniently.

The best way to serve bagna caoda is having it on the table on top of the traditional burners, such as those used for fondue, with a candle in it: the bagna needs to remain caoda (=calda, i.e. hot, in Piemontese dialect), while you eat it. Our arrangement was a little less elegant, but still worked..:
The bagna caoda was set on an oven rack, with a candle below it.. :)

At this point, you're set: start dipping the veggies in the sauce, and eat them! The most fun part is to try the taste of the sauce with all the different vegetables. Here is only a small portion of the vegetables we had:
Everybody brought some veggies, according to what I suggested, and we ended up with a real feast for the eyes and the stomach. I baked also some bread, which is also delicious to dip in the sauce, of course.

I'm sure someone is curious about those weird vegetables that I named above. So here they are:

Jerusalem Artichokes
These are apparently also known as 'sunchokes' in English. Their Italian/Piemontese name is 'tobinambur', 'topinabo', and variations on this theme. They look like potatoes, but they are much crispier. You can eat them raw, baked, or in casseroles. We baked them for the bagna caoda, and they acquire a very delicate and nutty taste, this way.

Cardoons
(picture from 'The seasonal chef', as I forgot to take mine).
These are called 'cardi' in Italy, and there is actually a special variety that one should use for bagna caoda, called 'cardo gobbo', which is 'hunchback' (='gobbo') compared to the straight one that you see in this picture. It's a really strange vegetable. Bitter and tough, better to eat it raw to avoid the bitterness become intolerable. Forget about eating the leaves, too, they are super bitter. In any case, they go nicely with the strong contrasting taste of bagna caoda.

Well, so here is my (late) entry to Sunita's event, and I hope everybody enjoyed reading about this traditional dish from the 'cuisine for the poor' of Piemonte! Check the roundup here!

Curry vegetariano multietnico

My first experiments of Indian cooking inspired me while I was cooking something simpler (and with no spices involved). I didn't really take the recipe from a specific cookbook, but definitely the making of this dish was related to what I read in Indian recipes from blogs such as Jugalbandi and One hot stove. So here is what I prepared: it's a vegetarian curry, with ingredients coming from cuisines from all over the world: Poblano peppers from Mexico, coconut and peanuts from India and Thailand, parseley from Italy, bok choi and tofu from China. The result was really good, and something very different from what I usually cook.
Curry vegetariano multietnico / Multi-ethnic vegetarian curry

To prepare it, dice 1/2 lb of tofu and sautee it in 1 tbsp olive oil, till brownish. Add 2 leeks, finely cut, and sautee together. Then add also 4 poblano peppers cut into pieces and keep cooking. In the meanwhile, blend together 1/2 cup raw peanuts and 1/4 cup dried grated coconut, and a small bunch of parseley leaves. Add 1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour, 1/4 cup heavy cream and 1 cup milk. Roughly cut leaves of 4 bunches of bok choi and add to the pan with the veggies and tofu. Add salt and pepper to taste. Saute for 5 min and add the blended paste. Add enough water to make a curry-like consistency and simmer for a few more minutes. Serve with basmati rice.

I loved the combination of the spiciness from the Poblano and the 'rough' taste of the bok choi, with the sweetness from coconut and the creaminess from milk. I'd like to submit this dish to the 'Weekend Cookbook Challenge', which is themed 'Veggin Out', but I'm one day late, so I'm not sure if this will be accepted or not.. we'll see. :)

Una serata a teatro

For our anniversary, Lucas and I decided to do something a little different, and we went to see a theater play! We both love theater, and we would like to try and go more often, so this was a good beginning. We went to see 'Barefoot in the park', played by the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, at the 'Live Oak Theater'.
It's a delightful comedy written by Neil Simon about a newly wed couple and their first struggles due to different expectations and characters, with a happy ending. The comedy is full of really funny jokes, and the actors are very good! The whole audience was laughing a lot. If someone who reads this lives in Berkely, I'd strongly recommend going to see the show! It's a community-based theater, very inexpensive ($12!!), small and friendly.. these actors have a very interesting program for this season, and we're thinking of trying to go to a few more of their shows.

Esperimenti di cucina Indiana!

The new year has come, and one of my resolutions was to try and finally learn how to cook Indian dishes! I love Indian cuisine, and I still didn't dive into trying it because I've always been scared by all the spices that are necessary. I love spices, too, but I don't usually keep them at home, and the most exotic one I have is turmeric.. But in the past year, I got to know so many great Indian food bloggers, so I decided I could just start trying to repeat some of the simpler recipes they show, and little by little, I would get a hand of cooking with spices! In this post, I'll summarize my first two attempts. Both of them are dal-centered: I prepared Sambar and Pumpkin Amti. The two dishes are typical of different parts of India, and it was really nice to taste them both.

Ulli (shallot) Sambar
This was my very first Indian cooking attempt! I used Jai and Bee's recipe, which you can find here, so I won't rewrite it. At the time, I still hadn't visited a true Indian store, and so I didn't have all the spices requested. I know I missed very important ingredients such as tamarind, and I used spicy serrano chillies instead of red and green Indian chillies, and I had no curry leaves. In fact, when I told my friend Vardha that I made Sambar without the Indian chillies, he told me I didn't really make Sambar.. but to be honest, the result was (at least to mine and Lucas's taste) absolutely amazing. I was so excited! I actually made something that tasted really good and at least resembled closely enough an Indian dish! This opened the doors of a big adventure.

The next day I asked a few Indian friends where they buy their spices. Berkeley Bowl is great for most things, but definitely not for spices. I went to 'Milan International', and I was fascinated and lost between the hundreds of boxes of loose and packaged spices. I bought as many as I could remember the names of, and came back home happy. I also bought a traditional spice box! So for my second attempt, I was ready and had almost all the ingredients!

Pumpkin Amti
This is a Maharashtrian dish, and I found the recipe on Nupur's blog, One hot stove - link for the recipe is here. I liked this dish also because it allowed me to experiment one more type of squash - I used 'delicata squash' for it, which has a really good taste. The taste of this dish was very rich - as Nupur says, there are so many flavors that mingle in it! We enjoyed it a lot, and I felt a little more comfortable while making it, and I was faster than when I made Sambar. If I must make a comparison, though, I think I enjoyed the taste of Sambar better. But the use of coconut and peanuts in the Pumpkin Amti was really inspiring, as you may see in a future post.

After these first attempts, I can give a few comments about the experience of Indian cooking. It's exciting, and I feel a little bit like a wizard. It's more complex than Italian cooking, as many things need to be cooked separated, and it's also somewhat more dangerous.. I was really coughing a lot while cooking the hot peppers on the stove :) Also, while I'm perfectly confident about not having a recipe when I cook an Italian (or European, or American) dish, I noticed that I really need precise doses to cook Indian food, for now.. but this will hopefully improve with practice! Thanks Nupur, Jai and Bee for the recipes, I'm looking forward to a year of new adventures in the kitchen..

Risotto con zucca

A few days ago I prepared a delicious squash risotto, which I'm going to present for my blog-event, 'Fresh Produce of the Month', which this month is dedicated to Squash. You still have a few more days, so please send in some delicious entries!
The risotto I'm going to present is typically Italian, although we would use pumpkin instead of squash. In Italy there aren't as many types of squash as there are in the US, strangely enough, so right now I'm really enjoying trying out all the different varieties, and deciding which ones I like the best. For this risotto, I used two squashes, Ambercup and Carnival. You can see them here, after I baked them.
I tasted a bit of pulp before using them for the risotto, and I found that the Carnival had a delicious sweet and full taste, whereas the Ambercup was much more blend, and I used it mostly in order to give some creaminess to the sauce. If you want to have a few more information on the various types of squash that can be found in the US, look here.

Risotto alla zucca / Squash risotto
To make it, first of all bake the squash, remove the skins and cut the pulp in cubes. As you can see, I had a really big squash and a smaller one. You'll need quite a lot, if you follow the rest of the doses, and you'll end up having rice for ~10 people. Then, finely cut one big onion and sautee it on medium heat in 2 tbsp olive oil, until gold. Add 3 cups of arborio rice, and stir for a few minutes, so the rice is coated in oil. Add the squash pieces, salt (~1.5 tbsp), and cover with enough water so that you have at least half an inch of water that covers the mixture of rice and squash. This should be about 5-6 cups of water. Cover with a lid and bring to boil. Once it boils, decrease the heat, and simmer for ~15 min. Add 1/2 cup of cheese of your choice (I used blue cheese for a stronger taste, but cheddar would also work well), stir so that the cheese can melt, and cover the lid. Simmer for another 5 min, making sure that there is enough water. Adjust salt. The rice should be cooked and still firm but definitely not al dente. If it's too hard, add some HOT water and simmer for a few more minutes. Turn off the heat and let the risotto rest for about 5 minutes. This will make the rice soft and of the right consistency. Serve with some parseley, Parmesan cheese and black pepper to taste.

Ancora piu' neve - gita a Lake Tahoe

Finally I have some time to tell my dear readers about the visit to Lake Tahoe! As I mentioned in the previous post, last weekend Lucas and I and a group of friends went to Lake Tahoe, for two days of different sceneries and fun. Even though most of the group went for skiing, I cannot do so, and I decided to try snowshoeing. It was my first time, and finding out that I can do it without hurting my knees was a really great surprise. The weather was perfect, both days: it snowed some on Saturday, so the snow was fresh, and it was sunny for the rest of the time. There was a lot of snow and the sceneries were gorgeous. Here are some examples..
This is the beginning of the cross-country skiing and snowshoeing paths. They are separated from the downhill ski and skateboard paths, and not many people visit them. I loved the solitude and the silence that I enjoyed.
My main company were the trees, covered in snow.
In the afternoon, when the sun was shining, the ice started melting and dripping water on me, passing by.
Do you want to see my snowshoes? Here they are :)
Snowshoes help not sinking too much when walking on fresh snow, and give a lot of traction so one doesn't slide downhill. It was a lot of work, but very pleasurable, because of the scenarios, the silence, and the sense of achievement. The second day, Lucas was convinced by my descriptions to come with me, abandon the crowd, and hike all the way up on top of the mountain. We brought our lunch, and we snowshoed for many hours. The day was much brighter, and some of the snow had melted and recrystallized, giving rise to those wonderful snowflakes that I showed in the previous post.. here is a larger image of the field:
The snowflakes were just on the ground, shining dots of light everywhere.
An unforgettable view..
And here we are, on our way to the top: me
And Lucas:
And from the top, we could see the beautiful Lake Tahoe in the distance:
Also going back down with the lift was a lot of fun. The wind in your face, you can see a beautiful view.. and you're really up high!
I'll finish this series of pictures with a sunset on Lake Tahoe, which we got to see by chance, when we went to return the snowshoes in King's Beach. I loved the view of the beach covered in snow.
The whole weekend was a lot of fun, thanks to our friends' company. On Saturday night, Vardha and I cooked a huge Indian dinner, which included chappatis, rajma masala, paneer butter masala, aloo Gobi, and gaajar halva. As you'll see in the next posts, I'm starting to learn Indian cuisine, and this was a wonderful experience! Unfortunately I don't have pictures of it, so you'll have to trust me - it was delicious, and I especially liked the Paneer Masala. So, thanks to all the participants for the great experience, and I hope I gave a small idea of how beautiful Lake Tahoe is to all my readers!

Neve

Lucas and I and other friends went to a trip to Lake Tahoe last weekend and I just downloaded my pictures on the computer. I'm really excited about a few of them, so I thought I'd share one sneak-peak here with you, dear readers, and I'll then write a more detailed post about the trip with more pictures when it's a bit less late in the night.. enjoy these snowflakes! I did no modifications to the picture, I thought it came out really nicely just like it is now.

Brunch del primo dell'anno

I realize it's a bit late, but I still wanted to share something really nice about the beginning of the new year. Our new year started in a very relaxed way. After a nice dinner with dear friends in San Francisco, Lucas and I went back home, because everyone else had different plans. We watched a (silly) movie together, and then cheered at the new year, with some champaign and a wine tart that I had prepared for the occasion (thanks, Mrs. W, for suggesting the recipe!). A very intimate and nice beginning of the year, which was followed by another very nice first of the year morning. In fact, I thought it would be nice to have some brunch, and the idea of making it together sounded much better than going out, and having to wait in line in a most likely busy place. So, I found a recipe for some cornmeal savory pancakes, which sounded delicious. And even in the recipe, it was suggested to serve them with a glass of sparkling wine. So, what could be best for a first of the year brunch? We really enjoyed it. Here is the recipe, which you may use for any other special brunch occasion... and happy new year again to everybody!!
Pancakes di granoturco con caprino e salsa ai peperoni / Cornmeal Pancakes with Chevre and Red Pepper Sauce
The recipe for this comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, 'San Francisco Flavors'.
Ingredients for four people (half the doses for an intimate brunch :)
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/4 c up buttermilk
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, cut
3 tbsp canola oil (we used a total of 1.5 tbsp butter)
2 red bell peppers (I used green ones)
1 cup creme fraiche (I used sour cream)
goat cheese (I used brie)
1 cup fresh corn kernels (I did not have this, so I didn't add it)
Procedure
To make the batter, mix cornmeal, baking soda and salt, then add egg, buttermilk, cilantro, 1 tbsp canola oil (or melted butter, like in our case). Let stand for five minutes, then cook on a pan like regular pancakes (spread a little bit of butter or canola oil to grease the pan, then pour a ladle of batter, cook for ~3 minutes, flip, cook on the other side for ~2 minutes and you're done). To make the sauce, chop 1 and 1/2 peppers, cook over low heat for 3 min, then add the creme fraiche, add some sault and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes. Place pancakes on serving plates and add a slice of cheese on them, bake at ~200F for a few minutes, just enough to melt the cheese. Decorate with slices of the rest of the peppers, parsley (or cilantro, like I did), corn (if you're using it), and serve with the pepper sauce and some fruit compote. Wine suggested: Blanc de Noir, sparkling.

These pancakes were delicious. I already mentioned a few of the modifications I did - those were because of lack of the ingredients requested, given the lack of planning. If I did this again, I'd cook the sauce for a shorter time - 10 minutes dried it up a bit too much. I served it with champaign and some of my homemade cranberry jam. We really enjoyed both making this and eating it!!

Acquario di Monterey

Last Saturday Lucas, Sonya and I went to visit Monterey and Santa Cruz. I was particularly amazed by the visit of the aquarium in Monterey. It's huge, and everything is beautifully arranged in gigantic pools of water where fishes of all kinds swim around, and smaller ones where the beauty of the colors of the plants and other inhabitants of the ocean really touched me. I want to share a few pictures of these wonders here, and you can see more on my Picasa Web album.

Some of the most amazing things to see were the school fish. They really seem to be one whole entity, which can move in a super fluid way, divide and reunite when something approaches them.
The anemones have some of the prettiest colors
.. and their waving in the water is amazingly elegant.
All the plants and animals in the deepest oceans have the most beautiful colors. But everything is dark, in reality, down there, so no one is attracted or repelled by their brightness. They just are colorful, for no reason. This is an amazing wonder in my opinion.
One of the richest and most beautiful sections is that of jellyfishes. Their elegance of movements and transparency fills everybody with awe.


There were also some very small ones, which were so numerous that the whole pool of water seemed to be pulsing. Unfortunately I couldn't take a good picture of them. We also saw a 'Sun fish', which was huge, and seemed to be brought directly from the Mesozoic. Truly, seeing the life in the oceans really filled me with awe and admiration.

Fresh Produce of the Month #6 - Roundup and announcement!

Happy New Year to everybody! I wish you all a year filled with joy and enriching experiences, and peace to the world!
I'll start 2008 by posting the roundup of the 'Fresh Produce of the Month' event, since I'm really late.. I hope the readers and the participants will forgive me for this delay. We have many really nice entries for this past month, all centered on apples. I'm really happy to summarize them here, more or less in the same order that I received them.

VegeYum at 'A life (time) of cooking' prepared some wonderful-looking and really intriguing 'Star Anise Baked Apples'. Such a great combination of flavors, and check out her great pictures!





Elif at 'Elifleaf' presents 'Apples and Spinach on Crispy Toast', which combines the sweetness of Fiji Apples with the strong flavor of goat cheese and a delicate note from spinach in a delicious looking toast. A great idea for parties or as an appetizer at a nice dinner!




Jai and Bee at 'Jugalbandi' suggest to mix apples, ginger and cranberries to make Cranberry-Apple-Ginger relish! I'm sure that the beautiful color matches the delicious taste of this dish!






Dhivya at 'Culinary Bazaar' shows something that would be a perfect start for every day: 'Oat porridge with dried fruits and apple' Healthy and rich in minerals and vitamins to give us energy right from the start!





Vanamala at 'My Kitchen World' adds a delicious and traditional dessert to our collection: Apple Custard! Simple and healthy, what else could one ask for?







Namratha at 'Finger Licking Food' presents another dessert: 'Apple Cake Tatin', a variation on the traditional French upside-down tart, where apples and caramel end up on top of a moist and delicious cake! Wouldn't you like to grab this slice from the screen? :)





I prepared two apple-centered desserts, 'Apples cooked in wine and cinnamon with honey roasted walnuts' and 'Apple and pomegranate cake'. Here you can see the picture of the first dessert, follow the other link if you want to see how I made my no-butter and almost no-flour apple and pomegranate cake!





Ferdzy at 'Seasonal Ontario Food' uses apples to make an unusual and tempting 'Ginger-Apple Salad'. It looks refreshing, and the dressing is just amazing: fresh grated ginger, honey and tangerine juice.. I really want to try this!







Another great breakfast entry comes from Laurie at 'Mediterranean cooking in Alaska': Apple Pancakes, baked in the oven with a touch of cinnamon in the batter. Lovely for a Sunday morning!





I really want to thank everybody for contributing with such great entries! I hope this is as inspiring to you as it has been for me to read! A really nice collection, with which one could imagine a whole apple-centered meal!

It's now the moment of announcing the next 'Fresh Produce of the Month' theme. After a long thinking, I decided that it's going to be.... squash!
I've read that squash are actually year-round grown and harvested, but there are a few species that are particularly good in this time of the year, beginning of winter, such as butternut squash, or carnival squash. What's nice about squash, though, is that there are also other types that are particularly good in summer time, such as zucchini, for example. So the idea is to choose the type of squash that's in season in the part of the world where you live, and cook something gorgeous with it! This way, I won't exclude my Southern-Hemisphere friends!
In any case, I must say, the Berkeley Bowl is now exploding with the 'winter-squashes', as you can see in the logo of the event!

I hope many food bloggers will be inspired by this choice! The rules to participate to the event are simple:
1) Put a post on your blog with a recipe involving squash, any type that's in season where you live. Add a link to this post on my blog and mention that it's an entry for the 'Fresh produce of the month' event. If you like it, feel free to place the logo of the event on your post.
2) Send me an email with a link to your post, your blog homepage and your name. My email address is chemcookitATgmailDOTcom. Specify 'Fresh produce of the month' as subject.
3) If you don't have a blog just send me an email with your recipe and if you have a picture of the food you made, that's even better. I will add it to the round-up as well.
The deadline for this event will be February 1st, and hopefully I'll post the roundup on that weekend.