Soft crostata with almonds and apricot jam

Another recipe for crostata today!
I said before on this blog how much I like this type of sweet baked good and how much I enjoy "playing" with the recipe changing, every time I make it, the combination of the main ingredients: flour, sugar / sweetener, fat, raising agent (the options being yes or no) and filling (jam in the most basic and simple version).
And in the blog you can find some of the crostata recipes I prefer and make more often (check out this link).
But with today's recipe I have added another variable to those mentioned above, that is the filling technique.

Roasted aubergine with chili and herbs

Today I want to share a recipe that I made some time ago to cleanup the fridge from leftover aubergines, herbs and red chili and liked so much that I made it again several other times.
I literally hate wasting food, even a piece of stale bread, as I think it's a very bad habit, a sign of lack of respect for the environment, for the many people who have limited access to food, for the work of those people who produce our food and finally for our own money, because throwing food away is an indubitable waste of money. I know that the value of two slices of bread or an eggplant or a yogurt is very limited, but if we throw something every day at the end of the year we have probably wasted quite a good amount of food. And if every single family all around the world (at least the wealthier part) does the same, it's obvious that the wastage of food at a global level is a real and huge issue.

Salame di cioccolato

Salame di cioccolato is one of those dishes that, even if not properly belonging to the Italian traditional cuisine, are very popular all across the country and can even be found in some bakeries to take home or served in trattoria or rustic restaurants as dessert.
I don't know the origin of the recipe, and it's probably unknown, but it's really popular among Italian families where it is usually prepared as a merenda (snack) for children but much appreciated also by adults, with a good cup of coffee.

Blog first anniversary

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I can hardly believe it, but today this blog officially turns one.
I say officially because the first three - four months of blogging where for me a sort of rehearsal, a way to prove to myself that I was able to do it.
And in fact, less than two months after going live, this blog went on holiday with me and only in September 2014 it really started the adventure in the blogsphere. This is why I tend to think that I started blogging after summer last year, but the very first post dates back to the 15th of May 2014, and so I have to celebrate today.
I don't want to be pathetic here but, really, during this year many things that I wouldn't have imagined before happened, and all thanks to the blog.
The most  important of them is that I am still blogging. And I think that I'm doing it better than one year ago: pictures are getting better, I always have new recipes to share (actually I'm faster at making new recipes than writing them here), I'm more confident when writing (English, as anybody can understand, is not my first language ...), all things that are giving me even more enthusiasm than one year ago. Therefore I hope there will be more blog anniversaries to celebrate.

But to be honest, if I am still here and still enjoy spending part of my time in taking pictures, writing recipes, telling stories about food or places where I like to shop and dine, and all the "back-office" work that keeping a "homemade" blog requires, is also thanks to people I met and things I had the chance to do during the last year, that gave me more self-confidence in what I am doing and reinforced my enthusiasm and will to keep on with this blog.
And I feel like I have to mention at least the most important things today.

Beetroot and aubergine "fattoush" salad

This beetroot and aubergine "fattoush"is my favorite salad lately. 

Since the first time I prepared it, few weeks ago, I have been making again and again without getting bored of it. Actually each time I made it, I tried to refine the initial recipe with some variations until I finally found the "perfect" combination of ingredients, at least for my taste.

But, to be honest, this is not a recipe that I have developed totally by myself. In fact it was during a cooking demo - held at Bloomie's Kitchen by Troy Payne, head chef at Cle restaurant - that I had the chance to know and try for the first time the recipe, and actually loved it at the first taste.

Chef Troy described the recipe as his personal take on the fattoush salad, one of the most popular and prepared Middle Eastern dish; and also a way to make more appetizing two vegetables, aubergine and beetroot, that he personally doesn't rave about.

With this introduction, and considering the fact that, on the contrary, I love both aubergines and beets, as well as fattoush indeed, I couldn't not to like this salad!

Beer bread

I've been baking a lot of bread lately. And I mean more than I used to do before, as baking bread for my family is an activity that I have been enjoying for quite some time now.

But since I was kindly gifted a portion of a mature (more than 100 years old, as I was told by the pastry chef who gave it to me) sourdough starter, about one month ago, the baking activity in my kitchen has significantly increased. 

First of all because I would feel guilty to let that precious - at least in my eyes - and alive material go wasted.

Second because I have the opportunity to make experiments and, hopefully, improve my ability to manage sourdough starter and, in general, to make bread.

Finally because I love any kind of bread, from farmhouse to ciabatta to focaccia to pita / flatbread, made with a sourdough starter: I like the peculiar sourness (by the way), smell and texture of the crumb as well as the external thick and crunchy crust.