My recipe for Social Kitchen: lemon flavored spaghetti with clams, zucchini and bottarga

It seems that it took me quite a long time to settle my kitchen out of the sand!

The last time I wrote here on the blog (apparently four months ago, sigh) I was probably too optimistic about the fact that we would have found an apartment and, most important, settled in the new house in a decently reasonable time.

I changed house several times in the past, in different cities and different countries, so I know it's not an easy and quick job, but this time too many things didn't go as they should ...

The positive part is that I've learned something new and unexpected about renting an apartment and Italian bureaucracy that could be of some help in future (and of course, if any of you needs some advice, do not hesitate to contact me; it would be a pleasure to help).

Of all the things we had to get arranged in the new house, the last I got was an home Internet connection which, if you want to be a blogger, is of vital importance - at least as much as the kitchen.

It took me longer than starting the whole blog from scratch, but now I can say I am (almost) ready to get back into blogging regularly.

Fettuccine with kale and almond pesto

I want to share this recipe, that I much loved, before the kale season ends.
Luckily kale is still available at the Farmers Market on the Terrace, and is still good and tender. I saw it this morning (though I didn't buy as I like to alternate my veggies throughout the month), and hope to find it again next week.

It is a bit weird to me but, at this time of the year, when I go on my weekly shopping trip to the market I can buy fresh, local kale and other vegetables that, from an Italian point of view, are typical of winter (like cauliflower, broccoli, fennel or cabbage) as well as ripe, juicy, tasty tomatoes - but also peppers, eggplants and zucchini - that in Italy is possible to find only in the middle of summer. Such a wide range of vegetables available at the same time gives me the possibility to make, in the same week, recipes that in Italy (and in Europe in general) I would make in January or February and others more typical of the summer season.
This week for example I made this kale pesto (the rest of the kale was braised with garlic, chili and extra virgin olive oil and eaten as a side dish) and a tomato sauce like the one my mother uses to make in August and preserve for the winter.  But I also cooked leeks, and beetroots, and green beans, not to mention all the different varieties of salads I had (lettuce, different types of rocket and other tasty varieties whose name is still obscure to me).
I'm getting used to this diversity and just love it!

Couscous and Mograbiah With Oven-Dried Tomatoes

Mograbiah (or Mograbieh or Mograbieuh or Lebanese couscous or, even more common, pearl couscous or giant couscous) is a recent discovery of mine; and unfortunately, because I like it much and I am now curious to try more and more recipes using this grain. Honestly speaking I have to say that I have a particular liking for all sorts of grain like couscous, bulgur, spelt, barley, rices (impossible to list) but also quinoa and buckweath and so on. I cannot say how many packets of different types of rice and grains are stored in my pantry...and as soon as I come across something new I cannot resist from buying.

And I sometimes wonder whether my love for any kind of grain as well as any other alternative to pasta is a reaction of mine to the Italian habit of "everyday pasta" I grew up with. But I know that mine is not a dislike for pasta (impossible) but just a great and insatiable curiosity for traditions, lifestyles and customs of different countries and cultures, and in particular for anything related to food which is one of the most powerful cultural expressions. Of course food is so powerful because it's one of the basic human primary needs, but also because it is able to give one of the greatest pleasures... But I'm going off topic as my initial intention was just to share a delicious and easy recipe in which Mograbiah is one of the main ingredients.

Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and basil

I would have never thought to publish this recipe on my blog and also after deciding to do it, while I'm writing I still find it somehow weird. But don't get me wrong! I'm not going to share a bizarre, unappetizing or exotic recipe.
On the contrary this is a kind of dish that usually gets universal consensus, and I would also say it's one my favs when it comes to make or eat pasta. But as it is so simple, fast, fuss free - yet delicious - I find it difficult to consider this a "real" recipe, at least in the sense I usually mean: a precise, detailed list of ingredients and preparation steps to guide any cook in the realization and presentation of a dish. Here you need just few ingredients, usually available in most kitchens with maybe the only exception of fresh cherry tomatoes and basil (which, I'm afraid, are the main ingredients though), the requested amount of which is more indicative than mandatory (more or less of anything results in a good dish anyway); the preparation is absolutely feasible for anyone and it takes less than 30 minutes, including washing and preparing all ingredients (time never considered in recipes).

Pumpkin ricotta gnocchi on beetroot sauce with pistachios and orange

Gnocchi, even if outside Italy are not as popular as other traditional dishes, are very common all across Italy where all families like to eat once in a while their gnocchi, home-made in the best case - in fact they may also be bought fresh from specialty stores or packaged, industrially produced, from supermarkets. Gnocchi, which are classified as primo piatto (first course) like pasta and risotto,  are soft little dumplings that, in the most classic and common version, are made from boiled potatoes; they probably originated during Roman times when potatoes were not available in Europe (as they were introduced from Americas only in 16th century), so were made from a semolina dough, probably very similar to the gnocchi alla romana that we find today, particularly in the Lazio region.

Like for many traditional Italian dishes, there are several versions of gnocchi and each family has its own recipe, usually handed down from the nonne to their daughters and granddaughters. And among the many possible variations are gnocchi made from something else - or something more - than potato as main ingredient, like ricotta, flour, spinach, pumpkin and so on. And gnocchi's versatility is beloved by chefs, in Italy and abroad, who don't stop experimenting with textures and flavors, from saffron to beets to anything in between. But whatever version of gnocchi you choose, to be really delicious they have to be light, airy and delicate; in fact at their worst they can be dense, chewy, or soggy or, even worst, they come apart in the boiling water. So it is important to make gnocchi properly, that may be less easy than it seems; but with some practice, probably a few failures, and perseverance everybody can become a master at making gnocchi. For the pleasure of all family members ...and of course great personal satisfaction.

Italian inspiration: Orecchiette with eggplant and roast tomatoes

Making a recipe read on a cookbook, magazine, website or blog is somehow reassuring. If the recipe has been issued somewhere (and in the connected world we live in, it is very likely to find the same recipe pictured and published more than once) it means it has a long story: somebody conceived it, made it, tasted, maybe improved it and made it taste to others, who probably gave suggestions on how to refine it. At this point the road goes down: the creator makes the dish again, takes a picture (hopefully beautiful), write down the recipe with some comment or history behind it and releases it. Something with all this work behind is for sure reliable and probably worth trying, unless it is too distant from our taste or believes (related to food, I mean).
But making a recipe of this kind requires some preparation: at least one needs the list of the ingredients before going shopping. Considering how I do food shopping, especially for fresh stuff - basically I am inspired by the freshness, quality and, why not, appearance of what I found in the shop, be it a fruit and vegetable market, a butcher shop, a fish market or even the supermarket - it is not easy for me to replicate a tested and trusted recipe. I mean, I like to try recipes found in book, magazines or the web, but for me it is easier to do it if I have all ingredients already available at home. In most cases, when I prepare a new dish this is improvised on the basis of what I have in the fridge and in the pantry. But the inspiration for choosing the ingredients and deciding how to cook them comes from a mix of sources: memories of something tasted in the past, family recipes, a glimpse to some pictures, recipes rapidly read somewhere and, of course, the mood of the moment.
The recipe I share today has a story like this: one day at the end of the summer of a couple of years ago I had some eggplants in the fridge and wanted to make some pasta with them. I initially thought to "pasta alla Norma", a famous Sicilian dish, typical of the city of Catania (where the composer Vincenzo Bellini, author of the opera Norma, was born) and made with deep-fried eggplant, tomato sauce, grated ricotta salata and basil. But I wanted to make something lighter, then excluded to fry eggplant, and did not have time to make the tomato sauce. Then I thought to a dish tasted in Puglia, made with tomatoes (not remember if sauted cherry tomatoes or tomato sauce) and ricotta forte (a very typical cheese of this beautiful region). But I had on hand ricotta salata! What I did was to pan-fry the eggplant and cherry tomatoes in two separate pans, cook orecchiette in boiling water, and finally mix all in the same pan to combine all the flavors, add some fresh basil and grated ricotta salata and the recipe was born. We liked it very much and I made this several times before making an improvement: instead of roasting tomatoes in a pan, I started to bake them in the oven with herbs and garlic; much better! The oven roasting enhances the flavors of cherry tomatoes and, at the same time, preserves them from getting mushy. At this point the recipe had been finalized and this is how I make it now. Unfortunately here in Dubai I haven't found  the ricotta salata yet, then I use scamorza, but the dish is delicious as well.