Torta di Pomodori!

This month's theme for the 'Fresh Produce of the Month' event, hosted by myself, is 'Tomatoes'.. As you can imagine given the fact that I chose the theme, I absolutely love tomatoes. Coming to Berkeley was a great surprise at this regard. I found so many varieties of tomatoes, with colors ranging from yellow to orange to red, which I had never seen in my whole life. You can look here for pictures of a few of the tomatoes I see every week at the Berkeley Bowl.
So to celebrate such a local and great variety of tomatoes, I chose to use a recipe from a book called 'San Francisco flavors'. I received this book for my birthday, and I already tried a few recipes from it, and they were all a great success. This time I chose an 'Artichoke and cherry tomato tart'- it was so simple and quick to make, that I decided it could be our regular dinner for tonight, instead of waiting for a special occasion with guests in order to make it..

Torta di pomodori e carciofini / Artichoke and tomato tart
Ingredients
1 sheet pastry dough (I used a frozen one)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 spoon dried thyme (I used oregano)
1 1/2 cups marinated artichoke hearts
1 small red onion (I used half a yellow one)
20 cherry tomatoes (I used the hairloom variety)
Procedure
Roll the pastry dough enough so that it covers a 12-inch tart pan. Butter and flour the pan and place the dough in it. Prepare a mixture by whisking the eggs, the sour cream, the thyme (oregano), salt and pepper (I used ~1 1/2 teaspoons each). Spread 1/4 of this mixture on the dough. Add the artichoke hearts and the onion, finely cut. Then place the tomatoes cut in half, and spoon the rest of the mixture on top.
Bake at 450 F for ~15-20 min. Cool down before serving.
The tart is very good, and you really taste the flavor from the tomatoes a lot. I didn't care for the artichoke hearts. Maybe I didn't have a really good brand for them, but in any case, they didn't seem to add much to the tart. Moreover, they didn't help making the tart less moist (it's quite soft and moist from the tomatoes).. so next time I will devote this cake just to the celebration of the tomato flavor!
Now.. doesn't this recipe inspire you to take part to the 'Tomato' event this month?!? The deadline is September 2nd, and you can find the rules here!

Sonoma Valley

I've been wanting to go to Sonoma Valley in a while, and at last Sonya, Lucas and I decided to just hop on the car and go! We read a few things about the wineries and Sonoma, but not too much.. we just wanted to see how it was.
I was very pleased by the fact that it wasn't super crowded as I was thinking - evidently it's really true that Napa is a lot more famous than Sonoma. I enjoyed the scenery and the sun - for once this summer I was hot!
It's not comparable at all with the wine growing country I'm used to - Le Langhe, in Piemonte. Here there are almost no hills, and what's most amazing is that it's a desert! Wherever people don't water, there's only dry soil and burnt grass. It's amazing that it's one of the most important wine counties of the US.
Given the fact that we left at 1.30 pm (after Mass and brunch, it was Sunday!), we had time only to visit three wineries. In particular, we went at Mayo (on Sonoma's main square), Valley of the Moon and Cohn's. Among these three, I preferred by far Valley of the Moon (see here one of their corners):
The lady who was serving the wine for the tasting was really nice, and their wines were very good. We had a Barbera that amazed me - in Piemonte, Barbera is the cheapest wine, and that's kind of acidic and tart (basically, I don't like it). This was so good we bought a bottle of it. We also bought a bottle of Pinot Gris which we really liked. It wasn't super expensive (~$18 a bottle - much more than I would normally pay, but for once it's ok), and the tasting was free (it's the only place we found). The wines at Mayo were also good, but too expensive. I wasn't enthusiastic of the white selection that Cohn's had us taste.
In the end, it was a very nice day - thanks to Lucas who volounteered to drive and didn't drink as much as Sonya and I ;) - we'll go again and visit more! For the moment, enjoy the beauty of these grapes:
I love their color, in the sun.

Pasta ai broccoli (versione piemontese)

Some time ago I posted a recipe for 'pasta with broccoli' - but it was a Sicilian recipe, and broccoli were actually the dialect name for cauliflower! So, now I'll give a recipe for pasta with the real broccoli. :) We can say it's a Piemontese version, because my mom taught me. :)
This recipe is dedicated to Amit, who asked me specifically for it, and promised he would link my recipe to his great post on broccoli - you can visit it if you want to know some nutritional information on this great vegetable! So, here you are, Amit:
Pasta con i broccoli 'alla Piemontese' / Pasta with broccoli 'Piemontese style'

For 1 lb of pasta, you'll need 3 broccoli. Start boiling the water. In the meanwhile, finely cut half a big yellow onion and sautee it in 2 tbsp olive oil. Cut the 3 broccoli stems into pieces, and add them to the onion. Add salt (~1 tbsp), sautee for ~10 min, then add the crowns cut into small pieces, sautee for another 5 min, then cover the pan and cook for another 5 min. Taste and adjust the salt. At this point, if you're not vegetarian, add 5 anchovies and cook, covered, for another 5 min. The anchovies will melt and give a delicious twist to the flavor of the dish, and won't be strong at all. If you're vegetarian, you can avoid the anchovies, maybe add some garlic to the sautee onion at the beginning, and you'll have a wonderful dish in any case.
When the water boils, add salt and then the pasta. Cook al dente, drain, and add to the pan with the broccoli. Sautee the pasta with the broccoli, add some pepper (red pepper flakes, or ground black pepper) and ~ 2 tbsp grated cheese (pecorino, or parmigiano). This time I decided to innovate a little and add also some sliced almonds to the dish, but this is not in my mom's traditional recipe.
When you serve, add on each plate some more fresh olive oil, and grate more cheese and add more pepper to taste. You'll be delighted!
There are a few 'traditional' variations to this dish:
1) An important variation to this recipe includes the addition of tomatoes (usually canned diced tomatoes, which I add after the onions, and cook for ~ 5 min by themselves before adding the broccoli stems). It's also very good, but this time I really wanted to have the broccoli as the main focus of the dish.
2) Another important variation concerns the way of cooking the broccoli. Some people cook the broccoli in the pasta water, instead of in a separate pan. So, they add the stems together with the pasta when the water boils and the crowns more towards the end of the cooking. So they have in a separate pan only the onions and the anchovies. Then they drain both pasta and broccoli and they sautee them with the pasta. Honestly, although this last version may be the most traditional, I prefer the one I described above. First, you have a better control over the cooking degree of the broccoli, and second, sauteeing the broccoli with the onions and the anchovies since the beginning gives them a nice taste.
This recipe is also my entry to Ruth's fabulous weekly event 'Presto pasta nights'

Fresh Produce of the Month - Reminder

This post is to remind everyone that the deadline for the 'Fresh Produce of the Month' is coming up! It's this Sunday Sept. 2nd.
The theme is 'Tomatoes' and the rules are simple: just make a dish that is tomato-centered, write your recipe and take a picture of it, and send me the link to your blog (or recipe and picture if you don't have one). Let me know your name and approximate location! Email: chemcookit AT gmail DOT com
I'm looking forward to reading all the great ideas you always have... Moreover - if by any chance tomatoes are not in season in the part of the world where you live, canned, preserved, dried, or similar tomatoes are acceptable too!

PS - if you already sent me a dish and I never replied to your email or never left a comment on your blog, please write a comment here. I found out some of the emails went into my spam folder :(

Waiter there's something in my.. meatless barbecue!

Wow, luckily enough I found out that the deadline for 'Waiter there's something in my...' event is today! So I'm still on time.. I have the perfect entry for the 'meatless barbecue' dish that Cooksister suggested:
Bruschette con verdure e tofu grigliati e salsa al mango e tomatillos/ Grilled veggie and tofu bruschette with mango and tomatillo salsa!

I made this dish for a quick lunch with Lucas some time ago, and never had an occasion to post about it.. but it's so colorful and it was so good, that it's worth writing about it!
I used the wonderful grill I gave Lucas when he moved in, all alone, in Berkeley.. It's a 'panini grill', with two grills, that can be open, or kept at various heights, so that one can grill vegetables, meat, bread, or toast panini.. it's wonderful, and I love to grill veggies on it.
This time, I grilled asparagi and zucchini and tofu, I sprinkled them with olive oil, and added finely cut garlic and parseley. Then, I toasted some pieces of bread on the grill, and I nicely arranged the veggies and the tofu on them, adding some of the good olive oil/garlic/parseley mixture on top (see picture above).
To complete the delight, I made a quick mango/tomatillo salsa to go with it, by chopping in small pieces 4 tomatillos (see this post for more info about them), one Manila mango, half an onion, one Fresno chili, and adding some finely cut cilantro and olive oil. It's on top of the bruschetta in the middle of the picture above, and at the bottom of the plate to eat with some more bread!
It was a nice and simple Saturday lunch. :) Thanks Cook sister for bringing up this great theme and giving me an occasion to remember about this!

Rang de Basanti

I haven't posted about movies in a while.. and I didn't even dedicate a post to the two great directors who recently passed away (Bergman and Antonioni). Hopefully I'll have some time to post about some of their movies soon. Yet, now I want to post about another Bollywood movie suggested to me by Amit, and that Lucas and I recently watched: 'Rang de Basanti'
The story is very interesting: a young journalist from UK decides to make a documentary on Bhagat Singh and the other revolutionaries who fought for Indian independence from UK. She arrives and finds out that it's very hard to find the right actors for her documentary. Even the young people who seem to be the best are totally uninterested in the subject of the documentary. Mostly, they want to keep partying, getting drunk and drive around their bikes and trucks. Thus, the first part of the movie (1.5 h) is all dedicated to showing these aspects of their lives and the disappointment of the English director. Slowly, though, the young students get involved in the strength of the documentary. Moreover, at some point, something happens, that really changes their lives (I'm not going to say what because I don't want to spoil the movie). Suddenly the young silly students realize that they may actually do something more important for the world rather than just dancing around or thinking about their own career. The revolutionary words that they were saying when acting for the movie transform into reality, and they start a real 'revolutionary' movement, that inflames students in India. As for every revolutionary, though, their end is doomed..

I have opposing feelings about this movie, a little bit like for the other Bollywood movie I watched. I didn't like the first part very much. I found it boring when they kept showing the rides on the bikes and trucks that lasted for 5 minutes each, with a nice soundtrack behind. The second part, though, is extremely interesting and thought-provoking (apparently the movie really inspired protests and movements in India). The 'awakening' of a generation was very well portrayed. There were also very well-made hints about overcoming differences in religion. And the corruption of Indian parties was shown without soft words. The very final part, though, seemed unrealistic, although the speeches given by the students after their 'awakening' were very powerful.
So, overall, I was left with a good impression - it made me think about India, society in general, and my own life. I don't know if I feel like recommending it, though, because of the first long and honestly boring part (for me). I think it would be great if someone made a different cut of the movie and removed 2/3 of the first part. :)

Un dolce giapponese

Almost a month ago my friend Keisuke went to Japan, his home country, and brought back a wonderful sweet for me! I took pictures of it and meant to post about it, since it's such a delightful and amazing looking sweet :) .. so at least you can have a visual experience :)
There are many gorgeous wrappings - here you can see the last two, and the small knife that comes with it.:
When you open it, you notice that the sweet is decorated with a motif that recalls the wrapping paper!
It's shiny looking, and you are supposed to cut thin slices of it, which look like the one shown above. The transparent part is a gelatin, and the purple part is bean paste. It's very sweet, and Keisuke was afraid I wouldn't like it.. but instead, it's very good! Almost everyone we've offered it to thought the same. And it's soo pretty! I love the amazing care that Japanese use to prepare every kind of food, from the most everyday food to the special occasion food, like this sweet!

Pasta con melanzane (Norma e funghetto!)

I realized recently that there are a number of very traditional and very easy Italian pasta recipes that I make quite commonly and I never posted about... So I need to correct this lacking! I'll start here with the description of two versions of Pasta with Eggplants. My next similar post will be dedicated to Pasta with Broccoli, as per Amit's request.. so stay tuned. :)


Pasta alla Norma
This is the most traditional pasta with Eggplant recipe. It's from Sicily, and apparently it was made in honor of Bellini's masterpiece 'Norma' (hence the name). I made it recently at Ellif's, when I was asked to 'guest-chef' an Italian vegeterian dinner: I love eggplants and what's more Italian than pasta?
So, to make this dish, sautee half a big onion in olive oil, add 1 big diced eggplant, fry for ~10 min. Add salt, and one big can of diced canned tomatoes. Add ~1 tbsp salt and 1 tsp sugar if the tomatoes are acidic. Cook for another 20 min. Taste and add salt if necessary. Add ~1/2 cup crumbled ricotta salata (I had to use a mixture of regular soft ricotta and feta cheese, since we didn't find ricotta salata) and stir in the sauce for a few minutes. Then mix with the pasta, cooked 'al dente' (the sauce should be enough for 1 lb). Traditionally you'd use penne, like in the picture above, but other types work too! Sprinkle with basil leaves and serve with extra ricotta salata or pecorino cheese to grate on top, for the people who like extra cheese!

Pasta con melanzane al funghetto / Pasta with eggplant-mushroom style
This is the pasta I made tonight. I found these delicious small, cylindrical so-called 'Italian eggplants', that work perfectly for this type of eggplant dish, 'melanzane al funghetto' (mushroom-style eggplants). The name refers to the fact that if you cook these eggplants with these few tricks that I'm going to give below, they will taste (and smell) like mushrooms. It's true! I always loved 'melanzane al funghetto' and it's a typical way that Italian mothers make eggplants for children who think they don't like eggplants (or restaurant owners who want to cheat not-too-smart customers.. of course the price of mushrooms is not comparable to that of eggplants.. :)).
So to make 'melanzane al funghetto', saute 3 garlic cloves, finely diced, in 3 tbsp olive oil. Add 6 'Italian eggplants' cut into pieces and cook on high heat for ~20 min, adding salt to taste. Stir every once in a while. At the end, add 1/2 cup parseley leaves. That's it! If you try, let me know if you also think that they taste a bit like mushrooms.
For my pasta, I also added ~ 2 cups small Romanitas tomatoes cut in half and 3 tsp capers, cooked for 10 more minutes, and added 1/3 cup feta cheese and some more parseley at the end. Then I added it to my 'tricolor' pasta... it was very good. :)

These eggplants pasta dishes are my entry for the 'Presto Pasta nights' hosted by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast.. Also, I want to point out that Happy Cook just posted about a very similar recipe - I found out because she's using her recipe for my next 'Fresh produce of the month' tomato-centered event!

Finalmente un po' di ricette 'panose'!

I bake a different type of bread once per week, and I never have time to post about it. So I decided I'll put together some of the breads that I made in the past month and dedicate a post to it! Here is a graphic summary:
From the top left, clockwise:
Fiore di farina di riso integrale e avena (Flower with whole rice and oat flour), Ciabatta/focaccia con olive nere (Ciabatta/focaccia with black olives), Pane di mais con semini di sesamo (Corn flour bread with sesame seeds), Pane di farina di ceci e farina integrale (Garbanzo bean and whole wheat flour bread)

For almost all these recipes, the doses are very much 'by eye', except for the Ciabatta/focaccia, which I took the recipe from this website. So, in general, my bread making procedure is this: pour ~2 cups of warm water in a bowl, add ~2 tsp active yeast, mix and add ~1 tsp sugar, mix again. Then, add as much flour as it's necessary to make a workable dough. If I want a softer and more airy bread, I try to use as little flour as possible, and I leave the dough a bit sticky. Then, I knead the dough for 8-10 minutes, adding flour if I need it not to stick too much, and I let it to rest for 1-2 hours (depends if I have time to wait or not - the longer the wait, the fluffier the bread, usually, but good results are obtained also with just one hour wait). Then I divide the dough into 2-3 balls, or into smaller pieces if I decide to make rolls (NB - the dough for rolls definitely needs to be more sticky than regular bread). I leave the shapes to rise for another hour, on the buttered (or oiled) and floured baking pan I'm going to use to cook them. In the meanwhile I warm up a stone in the oven at 450 F, with a container with some water inside (that helps making a harder crust outside and a moist dough inside - you can not put it if you are making rolls). Then I put the shapes in the oven, on the stone. It takes about 20-30 minutes to cook them, depending on how big they are. Usually I understand that they are cooked if they are golden and hard when I tap on them. I take them out of the oven and remove them from the baking pan, and let them cool on a wire rack, letting air circulate around them.
Given this general procedure, here are some details concerning the different breads.
Fiore di farina di riso integrale e avena (Flower with whole rice and oat flour)
The dough for this bread was made with 1/3 regular flour, 1/3 oat flour and 1/3 whole rice flour, and I left it a bit sticky, without bothering kneading it too much. I made rolls, and assembled them inside a round pan with high borders, which I usually use for cakes. I gave the flour shape because I was inspired to do so. :) The rolls were really nice and soft and the oat and rice flours gave a slightly sweet taste to the bread. Very good.
Ciabatta/focaccia con olive nere (Ciabatta/focaccia with black olives)
I decided to make this bread when I saw it on Chanit's wonderful blog 'My mom's recipes and more'(Thu Jul 17th, 2007). This is one of the best blogs you can find if you want bread and bread-related recipes, visit it! For this recipe, you need to make a starter with a part of the flour, yeast and water the night before you make the bread. The whole recipe can be found here. As always, every time I try to follow a recipe from A to Z, it doesn't really come out as I thought it would. Indeed, my bread was more like a focaccia than like a ciabatta (Chanit's looks more ciabatta). In the recipe, oil is added to the dough - I followed this suggestion, and I also used the suggested amount of flour and water. But the dough turned out very sticky and didn't maintain a real shape when I put it on the baking pan. It was actually absolutely delicious, different from my usual breads, more soft and airy, but I felt it was more similar to a focaccia (for its softness and for the presence of oil) rather than a ciabatta. So, maybe I'll try to make a real ciabatta another time! In any case, thanks Chanit for showing this recipe!

Pane di mais con semini di sesamo (Corn flour bread with sesame seeds)
I already made a bread with corn flour in the past. In this case, though I used almost all corn flour (~3/4 corn flour and ~1/4 regular flour. So, it was really like eating polenta-tasting bread! It was very good and pretty to see (I added the sesame seeds on the surface of the bread before baking it).

Pane di farina di ceci e farina integrale (Garbanzo bean and whole wheat flour bread)
This is my last creation and we're still enjoying it - I was a bit scared to try, but I finally decided to make some bread using garbanzo bean flour! So I used ~1/4 garbanzo bean flour, 1/4 whole wheat flour and 1/2 regular white flour. I added ~2 tbsp olive oil to the dough. I left it a little sticky and didn't bother kneading it for more than 7 minutes. The result was really good. The taste of the garbanzo bean flour is very definite in the bread, a little bit like eating a farinata-bread. It's absolutely delicious if toasted and eaten with butter or olive oil! Mmm.. maybe I should go eat a piece of it now!!

Berkeley Botanical Garden

When we went to see the Titanus, we also visited a large part of the Botanical Garden. Apparently it's the second largest in the US! It's really nice, with plants really from all over the world. One of the most impressive sections is that of cactuses and such.
They have thousands of them in several greenhouses, with shapes that I never saw even in movies:
And outside, huge ones:Some of them were flowering:
On top of the hill, there are the European plants, and the 'garden of old roses', with plants from the XIX century! Here are some flowering daliae:
There is also a Japanese garden, with a peaceful and beautiful small lake, with water lillies. This was one of our favorite places.
So, if you're around Berkeley, this is a nice place to visit. There are also picnic tables here and there. It's free for affiliated of UC Berkeley and Lawrence Hall of Science... I'm going to come here more often!

Amorphophallus titanus

It's not a curse word, believe me! It's the latin name of the extremely rare and amazing plant that recently bloomed in the Berkeley Botanical Gardens, also known as 'The Corpse Flower'. Never heard of it, eh? :) It's a tropical plant that blooms every 5-6 years. Its English name is derived from the fact that when it blooms, it really smells like dead flash for the first twelve hours. Then, it closes up again and the plant goes back to sleep. When we heard that this incredible event was going to happen, how could we not go and see? So, Lucas, Sonya and I went there last Sunday. Unfortunately the flower was just preparing to bloom, and was not smelling yet - but the show was still amazing.


The 'flower', we were told, is actually just an inflorence of this amazing plant. The plant produces just _one_ leaf, that grows up to a certain height. At the beginning, the leaf is quite small:
In the picture, you see a few of the small plants - and each of them is just one leaf. Then, the leaf dies, the plant becomes dormant for a while, and the seed that's in the ground grows and grows, till it has enough energy to produce another leaf, bigger than the previous one. After some years, the leaf really looks like a tree, such as this one:
Look at the green huge thing behind the man who's explaining to us all about the Titan. That's the leaf-plant. He said that one was probably still going to grow for another six months, and then it would die and fall on the floor (making a lot of noise). Then, the plant becomes dormant again, and the seed grows. When the seed is large and filled with enough energy, it produces.. the flower!
When you look at it you understand the reason of the Latin name. :) - that huge thing grows super fast, 3-4 inches per night. So in some weeks, it's ready to bloom. Its temperature increases of about ~20 F higher than the rest of the environment, and the 'skirt' opens. The flower is red, the smell is that of dead flesh. This combination is on purpose to invite mosquitoes and flies to arrive, thinking that they can find something to eat. The plant needs them to spread its pollen. In fact, at the bottom of the flower, there are both the female and the male reproductive organs, but the day the male part produces the pollen, the female part is not ready to receive it. The day after, the male part stops producing the pollen, and the female part is ready for it! So, of course, this is to prevent self pollination. So, the plant needs a mosquito to arrive and get the pollen on itself the day when the male part produces it, and then fly on another Titanus one day ahead in its development, with an active female part. That's a pretty slim possibility.. but it seems to work somehow!
In any case, seeing this plant (even without the smell) was a fascinating spectacle. I may decide to go back tomorrow, to see it falling down. You can see the entire sequence of its life on the Berkeley Botanical Garden website.

Earth food

Meeta at 'What's For Lunch Honey' chose 'Earth Food' as the theme for her 'Monthly Mingle'.
I really liked this idea. Participants are not only supposed to write a post about a recipe that somehow relates to the 'Earth Food' concept, but also should they write something about what they do to help the Earth. I completely agree with the concern of trying to save our planet from the irreversible and disastrous changes that can occur if we keep behaving irresponsibly.
So, thanks Meeta for organizing this event! Let's start with my idea as food entry:



Insalata di patate dolci / Italian style sweet potato salad
I thought Earth Food should be simple, with good, earthy, simple flavors that enhance each other. So, what's more earthy than potatoes? I chose sweet potatoes because I'm in the US - and sweet potatoes are so common around here! But it's an Italian-style potato salad, which combines a few simple ingredients: garlic, parsley, olive oil and wine vinegar. All products that have been used forever in Italian culture, a nice example of how people can take what the earth gives and make a really good use of it!
I'll give the recipe further on in the post... and if you read more, you'll also see my contributions to 'help the Earth'.

Since I came to the US, I noticed a big difference between people's behavior here and in Italy, and I must say, the comparison does not make America look too good. So, in a sense, it's very easy for me do something that 'makes a difference' here - the standard is low!!!!!!!
Here are a few things that I try to do in my everyday life to 'help the Earth':

1) Use the car as little as possible. Berkeley is kind of an easy place for this. Most places are reachable by foot or by public transportation. Still, the temptation to use the car to go do the grocery shopping or go to SF exists.. but in the end: Lucas and I have no problems carry the groceries back by foot, and going through the Bay Bridge traffic takes too much of my time and patience..

2) Never use the dryer. Seeing the dryers was a shock to me when I first came to the US. NO ONE has a dryer or uses it in Italy. We all hang our clothes, outside or inside the house. That's what I keep doing. Why wasting so much energy for a process that occurs spontaneously if you just wait overnight?

3) Do not waste water. So - I take short showers if I need to, or just wash myself at the sink otherwise. Again, I know this is considered really bad from Americans.. but if you think about it, you don't really need a shower per day, if you wash the 'smelly parts' separately. :) Also, I try to use as little water as possible when I wash the dishes.

4) Wash the dishes by hand - not to waste electricity

5) Try to remember to turn off lights and stereo and so on (I have to improve on this point, though. :) )

6) Buy food that's been produced locally and that's in season - to avoid useless wastes of gas during transportation, and energy to store it.

7) This is not my 'merit' but I'm pretty happy about it: we have photovoltaic panels on the roof of our house, so our energy is clean!

8) In general, try to avoid waste.. Recycle paper, bottles, cans, use cloth napkins instead of paper ones, try to fix things, if I can, never throw food away..

9) Stay informed and try to talk about the importance of these issues whenever I can. Hopefully my work as a scientist will also make a difference in 'helping the earth'.

So, this is it, I think.. If I look at my 'carbon footprint', I think my worst defect is that I use the plane to travel.. that has a huge impact on CO2 emissions and energy consumed. But I really cannot go to the East Coast or to Italy without a plane...... That's too bad.

And here is the recipe for the potato salad:
Insalata di patate dolci / Italian style sweet potato salad
Boil three sweet potatoes with their skin (suggestions: put salt in the water you use to boil, and boil them for ~20 minutes, depending on the size. They should be soft but still firm). Let them cool down, then peel them (it should be easy to remove just the skin and not the flesh of the potatoes). Cut them into medium-size chunks, add ~2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 2 finely cut cloves of garlic and ~1/4 cup cut parsley leaves. Add salt to taste, mix, and serve cold or warm.
I enjoyed this version with sweet potatoes. It's a nice change to the traditional recipe.. but try the original version with regular potatoes too!

Now, I'm really looking forward to the roundup for this great event!

Waiter there's something in my... sauce!

This month's Waiter there's something in my.. event is dedicated to sauce! I found out I'm really late, but apparently they're still waiting for entries... yeeeh!
So, I'm posting the recipe for a Mexican mole, which we made a few nights ago at a Mexican dinner we cooked at my place. It's a really special one: 'Pipian Verde' / 'Pumpkin Seed Sauce'!
To make it, you have to boil 12 chiles serranos in water, for 8 minutes, then add 1 kg of tomates verdes (green tomatoes), husks removed, and boil for ~5 more minutes. Drain, remove the stem from the peppers, if there were some, and blend in a blender. Add 1/4 of onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 cup of cilantro, 1 leaf of lettuce (I didn't add this), and blend altogether.
Then, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan, add 1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds, and toast for a few minutes. Grind in a blender or nut grinder, then add 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts and blend together.
Heat up 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan, add the grounded nuts and cook for ~2 minutes. Add the blended tomates verdes stirring constantly. At this point, add a chicken bouillon and 1 cup water (or 1 cup chicken stock) and simmer uncovered for ~10 minutes. It's ready! (recipe from 'Mexico, The beautiful cookbook')
This mole is usually served with chicken. So, we had also boiled 3 chicken breasts with 1/4 onion, 3 cloves garlic and 3 springs of parseley for 20 minutes, and then simmered the chicken breasts in the sauce for another 15 minutes:
But we had a huge amount of mole for the chicken we made.. and it's so good: creamy, nutty and spicy at the same time! My Mexican friend who cooked with us suggested to use it later with white rice, or with fish, or just breaking some eggs and cooking them in it.. I'm looking forward to trying some of these suggestions!

Thanks Andrew for organizing this round of 'Waiter, there's something in my..' - looking forward to the roundup!

Fresh Produce of the Month - Roundup

Time has finally come to post the roundup of the 'Fresh Produce of the Month' Event! This month's theme was Apricot... I have only a few entries, but they are good ones!
Hopefully the next produce will be more popular.. in any case, here are the wonderful Apricot-centered recipes to try:

The first entry is from wonderful Meeta from 'What's for lunch Honey': Apricot Clafoutis! It looks wonderful.. and here is her own verdict: "The apricots in this clafoutis were baked to perfection. They were still juicy and gave the entire dessert an exceptionally fruity aromatic note." - we believe that! Also, check her wonderful post for lots of information about Apricots!




The second entry is from great Jai and Bee at 'Jugalbandi': Apricot-Orange sorbet. The recipe seems simple and the result delicious.. in their own words: "Frozen Stuff + Food Processor = Instant Gratification"! Thanks for your great idea!











Then I'll post both my apricot-centered recipes, since I don't have any more entries: this is Crostata con albicocche e frutti di bosco (Crostata with apricots and berries), i.e. my favorite birthday dessert, decorated with the most summery fruits!






And this is Frappe' all'albicocca (Apricot Frappe'), i.e. a refreshing apricot-yogurt-almond drink, with a hint of whiskey in it!
You can find both recipes here.







Thank you so much for taking part to this event.. and if the idea of making something with the freshest produce appeals to you, please send me entries for the new 'Fresh Produce of the Month' event. I decided I couldn't let the summer go away without dedicating one of these events to the most wonderful of the produces: Tomatoes! Tomatoes are so flavorful, when in season, there are so many varieties and colors, and are ubiquitous - I think most cuisines have recipes involving tomatoes!
At the Berkeley Bowl, now, there are plenty of different types to choose from (whole aisles full of tomatoes).. here are just a few examples of colors and shapes:
So, if you want to take part to this month's event, follow these simple rules:
1) Put a post on your blog with a recipe involving tomatoes. If you live somewhere where tomatoes are not in season, canned or somehow preserved tomatoes are acceptable too! 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 September 2nd. I will post the round-up the weekend after. I'm looking forward to your entries!!
This month's logo:
Feel free to use it on your posts if you like it!

Pasta giapponese :)

I haven't written a pasta entry for the 'Presto Pasta nights' hosted by Ruth in a while.. lack of camera and of pasta made it happen. :)
But now, Lucas is back with the camera, and I'm back cooking pasta! Another thing I like to try at the Berkeley Bowl (other than strange vegetables and fruit) is Asian type of pasta. So, this time I bought this Japanese noodles that looked like thick and white tagliatelle. All the writings on the box were in Japanese except for a label with the ingredients. So I have no idea of how they would be really called.. but I know they were made of wheat flour.
So the dish I made up was
Tagliatelle giapponesi con peperoni, baby bok choy e tofu / Japanese tagliatelle with peppers, baby bok choy and tofu
To make the sauce, I sauteed half an onion in olive oil, and then added ~5 red small bell peppers, cut into medium-size pieces. Then, I diced 1/2 lb tofu and added it into the pan. Then I added ~1 lb of baby bok choy, cut into pieces. I added 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tsp soybean paste, together with lemon juice, to season. I cooked it for ~20 minutes and added salt to taste.
In the meanwhile, I boiled water and added salt and japanese noodles in it (~1 lb). The noodles tended to stick together, so I stirred them well during the cooking. It took ~13 minutes for them to be cooked (they were thick). I drained them and added them to the sauce, and sauteed them in it for a few more minutes..
They were really good! The soybean taste from the sauce and the paste, together with the sourness from the lemon juice, and the slight bitterness of bok choy, mixed deliciously with the sweetness of the red peppers! And the soft consistency of the noodles (softer than regular Italian tagliatelelle) was very nice.
So, check out the Presto Pasta Night summary to see all the nice pasta recipes of this week!