Pomodori gratinati (roasted crumbled tomatoes)

I have a special affection for this dish!

Because it is exactly what can be called a family recipe: in fact I learned how to make it from my mother,  my mother from hers and so back for generations. 

It is a classical in my mum's summer repertoire, as she makes it at least once a week when local tomatoes are in season - she is a fanatic of seasonal cooking and for no reason would buy a fresh tomato in winter.

Using the right products this dish actually has all the flavors and colors of summer: ripe tomatoes, herbs, garlic and not much more, just some olive oil, breadcrumbs and salt.

And it's one of those dishes that you can never be bored of, because it's simple but tasty like all the "peasant dishes" are, especially when born out of necessity (why throwing away a piece of stale bread, when you can make crumbs out of it?).

Panzanella (Tuscan bread and tomato salad)

I always love trying new dishes and recipes, making variations on familiar ones, experimenting with ingredients, spices and techniques. But there are some traditional recipes that I consider almost perfect in their original, classical version and that I therefore like to make without any particular innovation or personal addition. And panzanella belongs with honor to this group.

Panzanella is a recipe from the Italian region of Tuscany; even if it can be found with small local and/or family variations all across the region and even in other Italian areas, the main ingredient for this recipe is stale bread soaked in water or in a mix of water and vinegar.  In fact panzanella is one of those recipes born out of necessity as a way to use old bread and make it appetizing with the addition of fresh vegetables and extra virgin olive oil.

Like many other traditional recipes, panzanella's origins are not totally clear, but are for sure centuries old and probably date back to the Middle Ages.

Some legends say it's a dish of rural tradition created by peasants mixing old bread (at that time bread was baked only once a week or less) and the veggies available in the field; others believe that it comes from the custom of old mariners from Tuscany and Liguria to soak their bread (which was dried to keep during their long travels across the sea) in sea water before seasoning and eating with their meals.

Pappa al pomodoro (Tuscan tomato and bread soup)

Pappa al pomodoro  is one of the most popular and prepared recipes of the Tuscan culinary tradition.

Literally pappa means mush (but it is also the term used to indicate semi-solid baby food) and, as almost anybody knows, pomodoro means tomato. From this description it doesn't sound so appetizing, does it? But, trust me, the only reason why this dish is so famous and timeless is that it is absolutely delicious, mainly thanks to its simplicity and "poor" origin.

And in fact this tomato and bread soup (this definition sound better indeed) is one of those classic Italian dishes created out of necessity, when it was not possible to waste food, not even a piece of stale bread, that has to be reused to make it still edible: in pappa al pomodoro old bread is cooked with ripe tomatoes (or even canned or preserved ones when fresh are not available), garlic and / or onion, a generous quantity of extra virgin olive oil, some liquid (stock, when available, or salted water), salt, pepper (or chili in some versions) until everything turns into a thick, creamy and really comforting soup.

Focaccia with cherry tomatoes

I find the science of making bread very fascinating. 

And somehow poetic is the Italian expression used to call it, "arte bianca" meaning "the white art", where white obviously refers to the color of flour (at least the type most commonly used ) while the word art emphasizes how valuable and noble this activity is.

Even if I have been cooking and baking for many years, only recently I started practicing in making bread and similar baked goods. The reason of this late approach to this field is that I was somehow scared to try: I thought that making bread was a complicated job, just for experts, and I also considered almost necessary to have an electric mixer.

But then, a couple of years ago, I finally found the courage to try. To make it easier (and don't risk much) I started with one of the several possible versions of the so called no-knead-bread, where most of the work is made by yeast and time. Luckily results were satisfying enough after the very first attempts - in fact, in case of initial failures, I am not sure whether I would have continued making bread - so that now I bake on my own most of the bread, as well as other baked goods, we have at home. And to be honest, eating so often homemade bread I've become much more demanding and selective when it comes to buy it from shops (and there aren't many shop-bought breads that we really like now).

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).

Grilled cauliflower with tomato, dill and capers

I eat lots of vegetables, every day. I like almost any kind of veggies and enjoy having them in several different ways: raw in salads, boiled. steamed, roasted, sauted as a side dish, with pasta or rice or other grains, in soups, in quiches ... in short, I eat some kind of veggies at every single meal (except breakfast). For this reason I like to try and create always new recipes containing vegetables and also alternate during the week different varieties of seasonal products. Among all the vegetables I already know - in fact there are some that I have never tried or cooked by myself, because they are not farmed or available in Italy - I have some favorites, that I could eat every day (to name a few, tomato, green salad, broccoli, eggplant, bell pepper, zucchini, and others). But cauliflower doesn't belong to this group. I can't say I don't like it (actually there are only few types of vegetables that I really don't like so far), but I find it a bit tough, so I do not prepare it very often.
But considering that cauliflower is in season (go to The Farmer Market on the Terrace for a fresh local, organic product) and that it contains many nutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other phytochemicals) which are so important for our health and well-being, I try to include it in my rotation and prepare it in some appetizing way.
I recently made Grilled broccoli with chile and garlic from  "Ottolenghi The Cookbook" and I liked much the flavor added to the vegetable by the grilling treatment, so I wanted to try a recipe for cauliflower (from the same book) using the same cooking technique. And I did well. The boiled then grilled cauliflower, mixed with other flavorful ingredients in a unusual combination, was a good surprise: an healthy, tasty and seasonal side dish which goes particularly well with chicken or turkey dishes.

Almost peperonata

I have a backlog of recipes for the blog - and I mean recipes with pictures edited and ingredients and preparation steps already written - waiting for being published. But the last two months have been a bit odd to me (I don't want to talk of how fast they passed: it seems last week that I came back from my summer holidays!). At the beginning of September my two years old son started going to the nursery, for the very first time in his life. And since then he attended his class less than half the scheduled time. Not because he doesn't like the school - on the contrary he is always very happy and excited to go - but because he repeatedly gets sick: three, maximum four days in school and then fever, cold, cough, sore throat. We are going to the doctor every other week, and she says that everything is absolutely normal: the immune system is developing, there are many viruses in schools (and in Dubai in general), it is the very first time he gets in contact with many other children  ... with time everything will go better. All things I already knew, but when they really happens are a bit annoying. Not much for me but above all for the kid: one whole day at home (and he wakes up at 6.30 a.m. and sleeps at 8.30 p.m.) is really long and it may difficult to find many different activities to do; I said many different, because the interest of a two years old boy lasts no longer than 20 minutes, with cartoons the only exception. So this is how I spent most of my days during the last two months: finding something to do for my sick little boy. I thought that after the beginning of the school I would have had much more time for doing things I was always postponing (exploring better the city because I am still new to it, knowing people/making new friends, and pampering myself sometimes) and above all dedicate more time to my blog. But nothing went as planned and on one side I am still postponing the same activities, on the other I can work at the blog much less then I would (when my son sleeps in the afternoon, in the evenings or during weekends while the child is playing with his dad); but there is also a very positive aspect of all this: I stay with my son, and the time spent with him is the most precious. And another consequence of this, not so serious indeed, is that some of the not-published-yet recipes are no more "in season", in the sense that they would be more suitable for the past summer than for the incoming fall. Considering the concept of seasonality that I have always had as an Italian living in Italy. I try to explain. I have always preferred to use seasonal (and local as I have already said) product and also to make dishes coherent with the current season, but I have to admit that after moving to Dubai I have slightly changed my idea of "seasonal": when living in Italy I wouldn't have prepared a farro salad or a gazpacho in November, preferring maybe a more warming risotto; but here in November the weather is almost the same as in July in Italy (and also the range of available local products). This means that some of  my "expired" recipes are still good for Dubai's fall and winter, like this peperonata, an Italian side dish made with onion, peppers and tomatoes.

Stir-fried sirloin beef with cherry tomatoes, green olives and capers

I spend a lot time in the kitchen, and I like it. I can stay a whole afternoon tempering chocolate, lining pans, whisking eggs and flour, spreading batters, whipping cream, just to make a layered cake or mono-portion triple chocolate mousse; also I may enjoy shaping dozens mini-croissant. Or even, considering that both me and my husband eat huge quantities of veggies, I do not mind washing and cutting as many vegetables as a restaurant kitchen (I am not exaggerating) for the dinner side dish.
But when it comes to prepare meat, I don't know the exact reason, I prefer not to spend much time. Probably it is because I like rare meat (as I have already said in the post for Asian-style strip steak), or maybe because most of the times I cook meat only for two people - my two years old child has chosen a vegetarian diet, with pasta as favorite dish (I hope he will change, sooner or later) - and a slowly roasted piece of meat for dinner is not worth the effort and time.
The good thing of this habit is that I have an interesting repertoire of fast recipes, really helpful for busy-day dinners as well as in case of unexpected guests. One of these is the recipe for stir-fried sirloin beef  with cherry tomatoes, green olives and capers which is really tasty and easy to make. Since the meat is cooked just few minutes, without many additional ingredients and spices, it is important to choose quality meat to have a really good result.

Mediterranean tart (eggplant, cherry tomatoes and ricotta)

Fast post today, just to share the recipe of a very nice savory tart that inspired me as soon as I saw it on the cover of the Food magazine's May issue.
Since I had invited some friends for a dinner at home, I decided to try it for the occasion. I think that a quiche is a perfect start for an informal meal with friends and has many advantages too: it can be prepared in advance, and served hot, lightly warm or at room temperature, especially during summertime; it is very beautiful and, even more important, delicious.
And if there is any leftover, you have the lunch ready for the day after: all you need is a green or mixed salad and a slice of bread (and - why not? - a glass of beer).
Since I liked the combination of ingredients suggested in the recipe I did not make any modification, except for reducing a bit the quantity of halloumi cheese to put on top; but both the pastry and the filling are suitable for a big range of variations and future experimentation.

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.