Spaghetti con Moscardini (Musky Octopus)

Small tentacles here, there and everywhere.  Because Riccardo loves this pasta, I prepare it.  Because he eats with enthusiastic enjoyment, I prepare it.  Because Sofia copies him in eating it, I prepare it.  But because I don't like tentacles, I wish I was not preparing it.   Can you imagine my uneasiness in cleaning so many little octopuses?   But I am a mother so I will just shut up. 

Spaghetti con moscardini is usually cooked with tomato sauce (canned or bottled) but I had a lot of datterini tomatoes that I thought using fresh ones would be a pleasant change.  They are sweet & intensely-flavoured that I love cooking them or eating them raw.

In fairness to my little moscardini, I ate this pasta heartily even if I was picking the tentacles and passing them on to Riccardo's bowl.  Well, sometimes, a mother can be picky with her food too. 

Spaghetti con Moscardini (Musky Octopus)

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 400 g. spaghetti
• 500 g. moscardini (musky octopus), cleaned
  
• 300 g. datterini, cherry, grape tomatoes (also canned or bottled tomato sauce), halved
  
• parsley, chopped finely
  
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 cloves garlic, halved or crushed
• 1 chili, chopped
  

1. Boil water in a cooking pot.  When it boils, add salt.  Add pasta and cook following the number of minutes stated in the box.
2. In the meantime, saute' garlic & chili in a saucepan with extra virgin olive oil.  When garlic turn golden, discard.  Add the moscardini.
3. Cook over medium-high flame for about 5 - 10 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes.  Cook for about 15 minutes.  
5. Add white wine.  Cook for another 15 minutes or until sauce is reduced & becomes thick.
6. Add cooked spaghetti (al dente) with the sauce and mix for about a couple of minutes.  
7. Turn off fire.  Sprinkle with parsley & drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

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Shrimp Cooked in Red Wine and San Gregorio da Sassola

It is the time of the year when you never wear the correct clothes.  It's either you're too hot in a jacket or too cold in a shirt.  The weather had been fantastic lately (until the disastrous storm in The Cinque Terre area) and the sun had been shining the strongest on weekends.  It is autumn and some people are already bundled up like Eskimos and some are still prancing around in their tropical island attire.   I secretly think that the ones bundled in heavy clothes have already switched their wardrobes from summer to winter while the ones with the light garb have yet to do this arduous work.   I already did mine.  It's my least favorite part of the changing seasons.  

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Verdure in Padella (Mixed Vegetables)

Vegetables cooked in a saucepan is the literal translation of verdure in padella.  I was asked to post more Italian vegetable dishes so here is an example of a very simple and classic cooked vegetables.  The vegetables vary according to season and of course, whatever you have available in the kitchen.  No rules, really.  Just dump those beautiful, fresh veggies you have and cook away.

Most vegetable shops sell packs of mixed diced vegetables for cooking in a saucepan, but just a tad more expensive.   I buy them voluntarily because you just rinse them in running water, dump them in the saucepan with extra virgin olive oil and forget about them for the next half an hour.  End result is a very healthy and delicious vegetable dish that can be a side dish to practically anything.

I have been seeing these packages of mixed diced vegetables but never gave them a second look because I like  selecting & chopping my own veggies.   I should have given them a chance before because they really are practical & easy to cook.  No leftover raw veggies & no dicing, which takes so much time. 

It's the farmer/vegetable seller herself who told me to just put all the diced vegetables that already include onions & tomatoes into a saucepan with extra virgin oil and cook for about half an hour.  It's one of the simplest and best advice I got in cooking.  It's kid friendly too.  My two vegetable fussy eaters ate them with only a slight noise of complaints.   

Verdure in Padella (Mixed Vegetables)

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 2 zucchini. diced leaving the skin on
• 4 - 5 medium tomatoes (I used datterini tomatoes which are small, about 8 pcs.), quartered
• 1 big white onion, sliced
• 300 g. fagioli corallo or Italian flat beans, chopped, the same size as the other vegetables
• 2 big potatoes, diced
• 200 g. squash, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 cup or 250 ml. water

1. Warm up a big saucepan with extra virgin olive oil.  
2. Put all the vegetables in the saucepan plus the water.
3. Cook for about half an hour or until vegetables are cooked through.  Stir once in a while to avoid sticking to the pan.  
4. Season with salt & pepper. 

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Pickled Radishes

Like what I said, anything touched with vinegar is delicious to me.  And I am presently in a vinegary food binge.  I recently cooked the salt & vinegar potato chips and it fixed my craving (for now) for those very good French potato chips.  Then came the avocado, tomato & spring onion salad which was so good with the grilled salmon that I bought some more avocado and salmon soon after for an encore. 

Here is a discovery from Jun Belen's Jun-blog (who in turn got it from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home) that takes almost no effort in making but is lipsmacking good.  The sweetness & sourness of the pickling agent is just perfect.  From the original recipe, I had to add a pinch of salt & a dash of pepper.   I felt like I had to break the sweetness & the sourness a bit.  That is how I would like my pickled radishes to taste like.  It can be different for you so the salt & pepper are of course, optional. 

I prepared these pickles much in advance.  When I tried them a few hours after preparation, something like 3 hours, the radishes already caught the taste of the pickling liquid.  But then, when I had them again the following day, the radishes completely absorbed the liquid.   They were strong and delicious.   I was amazed at how the vinegar took the color of the skin of the radish and in turn made everything red. 

I finished the radishes in no time but the pickling liquid remained.  The penny pincher in me didn't want to throw out the liquid so I did another batch of radishes using the same pickling agent.   They didn't taste as good as the first batch.  In fact, even the day after, they still didn't catch the full taste like they should.  So based on my little experience, you can't recycle the pickling liquid.  Maybe you already know that.  I didn't. 

Pickled Radishes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup champagne vinegar (I substituted it with white wine vinegar.)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup red radishes, washed, trimmed, thinly sliced or quartered
• salt & pepper (I added these on my own.)

1. Combine vinegar, sugar, and water in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  
2. Remove from the fire and let cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator.
3. Put the radishes in a canning jar or other storage container and pour the pickling liquid over them.   Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes, then cover and refrigerate for up to 1 month.  
4. The radishes absorbed the vinegar mixture after a few hours in the pickling liquid.   I enjoyed them better the day after.

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Grilled Shrimp with Tamarind Sauce

I was in the kitchen alternating between grilling the shrimps and cooking the tamarind sauce when I saw my blog's traffic viewing counter turn 100,000.  I had been watching it go up the whole morning.  As apprehensive as I was, I had been trying to do all things together to keep my mind off the numbers for a while.  Just seeing so many 9s already gave me an odd sensation of disbelief.  Then when I saw the magical number, it gave me a sense of completion.  I was more than happy.   It's like time stopped when I was staring at the screen.  Jubilance can give strange reactions sometimes.  You see, it is not just a number to me.  I see it as a number of times I have opened my kitchen to anyone who knocked, looked in and checked what I was cooking.  One hundred thousand times, I opened my door to you and during those times you bid me goodbye and you came back over and over again.  Thank you for holding that interest and visiting my kitchen. 

When I started Apron & Sneakers 8 months ago, I was convinced that I will not interest anyone other than myself & my husband.  I watched the trickle of traffic to my blog.  10 a day at the beginning already made me happy.  During that time, I never even thought a thousand viewers can possibly be interested in what I cook, write & photograph.

When my counter turned 100,000, I received a lot of heart-warming messages sharing with me the exultation I felt.  And I would like to share with you this accomplishment I feel because if not for your constant visits, I wouldn't have realized this.  My small kitchen can accommodate only 4 but through the window of my blog, I am able to accommodate 400 of you a day from each nook & cranny of the world.   I could have baked a cake but since I don't have a relationship with baking that I can be proud of, I made this simple tamarind sauce.  Sour, salty, sweet & a bit spicy.  Diverse tastes in one dish to celebrate the diversity of everyone who comes from all parts of the world united in a single thing - food.

If there is an accomplishment, there is a reason to celebrate.   From the time I formed my very first post until this 170th, my husband, who had been tirelessly tasting, criticizing, relieving me from some mom duties & proofreading, took me to a wonderful restaurant to celebrate.  Il Tino is a restaurant that opened in 2006 but the owners retained the iconic name of the best restaurant in Ostia (close to Ostia Antica) of the past decades.  They serve contemporary food and an exemplary list of wines with degustation menus that change constantly.

with love, claudio & daniele

1.   warm calamari, scallions cooked in old vinegar, hazelnuts & wild celery.   2.  octopus in sweet & sour sauce plum & chive sauce.   3.  potato & tarragon gnocchi, green apple & marinated mackerel.   4. a plate of their own bread

  

1.  secco bertani 2009.   2.  caffe' macchiato with their own biscuits.  3.  souffle' with vanilla & mandarin sauce.   4.  grilled pork tenderloin, strong mustard, black grapes & dark jerusalem artichokes (topinambour).   5.  milk chocolate mousse.

Now back to the recipe, tamarind is naturally tangy & sweet at the same time so expect a slight explosion of all tastes imaginable in one forkful.  I would compare it to chutney but stronger.  I prefer to cook the shrimp and sauce separately to attain the distinguishing tastes of the shrimps & the tamarind.   Both are delicious and you have the option to gauge the amount of sauce you would like to mix the shrimp with.  I'd like to be given the upperhand to do that than seeing my food drowning in the sauce. 

If you don't have Port to mix it with, just use whatever red wine you have.  I did cook my first tamarind sauce with red wine but when I mixed it with Port the following time, I tasted a difference.  Port was better.   I understand that there are also tamarind pastes available.  I bought a block of the pure seedless fruit so it's quite concentrated & strong.  I never tried the paste but it should be the dilluted version of the pure block.  I concocted this recipe for the pure fruit.  If you try it with the paste, do tell me how it went. 

Grilled Shrimp with Tamarind Sauce

Ingredients:
Serves 2, makes 4 skewers of 3 shrimp each

• 12 pieces large shrimp, deshelled & deveined
• 2 tbsp. pure tamarind fruit (I used the one that's in one block.)
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 to 1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
• 1 chili, minced (seeds discarded)
• 1 sprig spring onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup Port
• 1/2 cup water

1. Dillute tamarind in the water.  Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, saute' chopped chili and spring onion in extra virgin olive oil.   After 2 - 3 minutes, add the ginger.  Then add the dilluted tamarind immediately.  
3. Add sugar.  Season with salt & pepper.   Pour the Port.  Let it evaporate. 
4. Adjust the taste.  Add sugar & salt if you think it still needs adjustment.   Set aside.
5. To grill the shrimp, put the shelled & deveined shrimp in  a skewer.   About 3 in 1 skewer is already good if you have the large shrimps.  
6. Drizzle the griddle with extra virgin olive oil and wipe off excess with a kitchen paper towel.  Sprinkle salt on the griddle.  When it's hot, start grilling the skewered shrimp.  
7. Serve warm.  Serve the sauce under or on the side of the shrimp.  

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Avocado, Tomato & Spring Onion Salad

I am the last person on earth who would buy anything heart-shaped, and even red for that matter.  I am not a Valentine nemesis.  I am just not into them.  I might consider pastel colored hearts made of wood.  A country-style look is always irresistibly cute.  So, I surprised myself when I grabbed this red heart-shaped bowl from the shop.  I didn't even think twice about buying it.  I think I am getting old.  All my life I have turned my back on red hearts and now reaching my 4th decade, I was to be found in a shop holding the only thing I wouldn't even think of looking at.  A red heart-shaped bowl.  P.S.  I find it beautiful. 

The last time we had a family trip to the supermarket, Riccardo was insistent that I get some avocados.  The avocados didn't look so great so I explained it to a disappointed 6-year old.  "Next time I find good ones, I'll buy you some", I promised.  I wondered how he suddenly liked avocados when the last time I prepared it, I remembered that he negated all my proddings for a little taste.  He didn't like it and that was more than a year ago.  Children.  I think I need a crash course on effective parenting.

I love avocados but there is only one recipe I know.  Mashed and mixed with milk & sugar.  I didn't feel like being limited again to the singular recipe I grew up with.  I wanted something salty this time and I needed to come up with a side dish for the salmon I was grilling.  Checking out the meager contents of my vegetable drawer, I was able to take out some datterini tomatoes & spring onions.  That should do.  Drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar & balsamic vinegar flavored with raspberries sealed this salad with a smack in the lips.  Buonissima!

We enjoyed this with the grilled salmon.  From now on, I will be making this salad often and I would like to pair it with other kinds of food.   If ever you try it as a side dish to something else, let me know.  Thanks!

Avocado, Tomato & Spring Onion Salad

Ingredients:

Serves 2

• 2 avocados, peeled, stoned & diced
• 1 sprig spring onion, chopped or julienned
• 100 g. daterini tomatoes, halved
• aged balsamic vinegar
• balsamic vinegar flavored with raspberries (Or any vinegar really like white wine, red wine, apple cider.  I added this vinegar to make the vinaigrette more sour.  If you are fine with just the balsamic vinegar, you can omit this.)
• salt

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  
2. Drizzle with vinegar & sprinkle with salt.  
3. Serve alone or as a side dish.  It went well with grilled salmon.

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Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips, Terracina and Fondi

I love anything with vinegar in it.  Much to my husband's dismay, who absolutely hates the smell of vinegar, he has to live with it.  He married me so he also married my vinegar side.   He doesn't really like anything pungent so I can't toss back to him the Tsk! Tsk! look he sends my way when there's a whif of anything particularly acidically strong in the kitchen. 

Lately, I had been into vinegary food.  It's a phase I am going through so he just has to keep the kitchen windows open all the time and wear a thicker sweater for now.

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Pomegranate & Lemon Spritzer

At six o'clock on the dot, an unsure little voice came out from the dimly lit corridor.  "I'm awake.  I can't sleep anymore."  I looked outside through the window and saw that it was still pitch dark.   It is Sunday morning.   We were hoping to gain an hour of two of more sleep today.  We cajoled Riccardo to go back to bed but he was insistent.  He was awake and he refused to go back to bed.  How come he never wakes up this early when it's a school day?  He watched TV at the other end of the house while he waited for his Papi to prepare his breakfast.  I noticed that my husband closed the door of the kids' room so that Sofia remains unbothered.   If she wakes up too,  any hope of prolonging our sleep will be gone. 

I heard a faint crying then it became insistent.  Unbelievable.  Child number 2 is also awake at 6 o'clock on a Sunday morning.  What luck.  It's going to a long day today.

I had been thinking of making this spritzer for some time but I kept on getting sidetracked by other recipes.   Besides, it's not so easy to find pomegranates in the shops.   When I finally found some, I didn't have a reason anymore not to do it. 

When Riccardo drank it for the first time, he gulped down about half a liter in one sitting.  He almost didn't leave enough for the rest of us.   He was captivated by it.   We loved it too.  No one drinks soda pops anymore when I make this.  It's spritzy like a soda but 100 times healthier. 

After the calamansi juice with mint, this second drink gave the soda pops at home a stiffer competition.  That makes me really happy.  What parent doesn't want to take away all the Cokes & Pepsis from their kids' clutches?  I recently made 4 liters of this spritzer and they disappeared so fast.  The bottle of soda?  Still full in the fridge. 

This drink is such a runaway success that we decided that we should have our own supply of pomegranates.  We are now on the lookout for a pomegranate tree (or maybe trees) to plant in our garden. I can't wait to see them dangling from the branches.  Patience my dear.

I squeezed the last pomegranates today and made some potato chips.  My hours of work in the kitchen were consumed in a matter of minutes.   I didn't mind it because it was such a lovely sight to see both kids enjoying the food & drink that I prepared for them. 

Pomegranate & Lemon Spritzer

Ingredients:

• 3 big pomegranates
• 1 liter sparkling water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• a lot of ice
• 2 lemons + 1/2 for decoration
• mint leaves (optional)

1. Melt sugar with a little bit of sparkling water in a cup or glass.  
2. Put water in a pitcher.  Squeeze lemons & pomegranates through a sieve. 
3. Add the melted sugar mixture, mint, chopped pieces of lemon & ice. 

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Potato & Calamari Salad with Kiwi & Lime

It took me some time to get used to this salad.   I usually can't dodge it because it's always a part of the antipasto freddo (cold appetizer) platter in the restaurants.  I love everything but this one.  It is very good, don't get me wrong.  What invokes this refusal is the sight of the chopped tentacles.    I really don't find that inviting.  Then it all changed when I was once served this dish without the tentacles.  I was relieved and for the first time, I enjoyed it because I was spared the job of segregating.  And what do you know, it was actually more than good. 

I recreated it at home.  This time, I had the option of doing choice parts.  Tentacles went to my husband & the kids while I got a clean tentacle-free plate of calamari & potato salad.  

I tried two ways in preparing this dish.  Since I was on unfamiliar ground, I followed what everyone does in cooking the calamari in this salad.  Boiled.  I didn't like the idea of boiled calamari but I went for it because the conformist in me decided that's that.  But then I added a twist of kiwi & lime instead of the classic lemon.  I liked the taste inspite of the crunch of the kiwi seeds that bothered me a bit.  The vitelotte potatoes did not really complement the dish like how I hoped it would.  Still, the yellow or red potatoes are the best for this salad.

I used red potatoes on my second try.  This time, I grilled the calamari on a griddle pan.  I hit the jackpot!  I loved it.  Grilling the calamari took out its delicious flavour.   It won me over.

Potato & Calamari Salad with Kiwi & Lime

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 1 kilo potatoes, boiled, peeled & diced
• 600 g. calamari, cleaned
• 1 - 2 stalks of celery, chopped finely (optional)
• 1 kiwi, liquified in a food processor or electric chopper (optional)
• 1 spring onion (optional)
• 1/2 - 1 lime, juice
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• parsley, chopped finely
• extra virgin olive oil

1. Boil potatoes.  Peel & dice.  Let cool.
2. Put the calamari in a pot of salted water and boil for 20 minutes until tender.  Take them out of the water & chop.  Let cool.  Another option would be to grill them on an oven-top griddle.  They come out tastier this way.   Personally, I prefer the grilled ones.  Chop.
3. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.   When squeezing the lime, start with 1/2 of the fruit first then add more if you want the taste to be stronger.  
4. Drizzle with a fresh round of extra virgin olive oil.  Serve cold.

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Ciriole with Pistachios of Bronte, Sword Fish & Tomatoes

I had been using a considerable amount of pistachios from Bronte, Sicily lately to the point of being excessive.  Just for the bread swirls of my kids, my supply of ground pistachios was almost depleted.  It's a good thing my mother-in-law was in Sicily recently and replenished my dwindling supply.  When I was there last month, I brought home all sorts of pistachio products from Bronte that I could find.  Pesto di pistacchio, crema di pistacchio (cream), pistacchio granulato (ground) & croccantini di pistacchio (pistachio brittles).  I was a traveling advertisement of the town. 

I got this recipe from Profumo di Sicilia and curiosity got the better of me why the pistachios from Bronte are referred to as the l'oro verde (the green gold).   They are considered one of the best, well perhaps the best pistachios in the world as evidenced by their gastronomical price (are they serious?) which I learned from David Lebovitz's pistachio gelato recipe where he wrote extensively about these prized pistachios from a small town in Sicily.  

I feel guilty.  I had been sprinkling them everywhere without limit.  Maybe now, I will use these l'oro verde sparingly.   They are really good.  I first tried them in a pistachio gelato of a Sicilian gelateria in Rome and it was the first time I encountered pistachios that can actually be tasted.  They are usually so subtle that you can just imagine the taste.  I find it awkward when, after taking a few spoonfuls of pistachio ice cream, my eating buddy elbows me conspiratorially remarking how good pistachio ice creams are.  What pistachios?  I don't even know how they really taste like.  I just know that they are green.  Bronte pistachios changed this whole perspective because these very green nuts are nutty, flavorful and the best I've tasted.  My love for Bronte pistachios was established. Now we're talking pistachios.

Do you know that the pistachio plants have to be planted in groups of 8 females & 1 male?  The male plants have to be windward while the females are downwind so that the pollen from the male plants can be transported by the wind to the pistils of the female plants.  I had to share that.  It's quite interesting.

When I saw this recipe, I knew it would be very good.  I couldn't wait to try it.   I was not disappointed.  It's a scrumptious dish that puts together the Mediterranean flavors.  If you want something different, try it.  It's worth your time & effort.  I think you will agree with me.  It won't disappoint you either. 

There are some changes I did from the original recipe:  I replaced the parsley with thyme.  Instead of sparkling white wine, I used a normal one.  I augmented the amount of pistachios from 4 tbsp. to 6 and I doubled the amount of tomatoes.  Lastly, I used ciriole pasta instead of fresh chitarra although I would definitely use chitarra the next time I cook it.

Ciriole with Pistachios of Bronte, Sword Fish & Tomatoes

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 400 g. ciriole (or any slightly thick long pasta like chitarra)
• 250 g. sword fish, diced
• 150 g. daterini tomatoes (or grape or cherry tomatoes), halved
• 6 tbsp. ground pistachios
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• fresh thyme

1. Boil water in a pot.  When it boils, add rock salt.  Put the pasta and cook according to the cooking time suggested in the box. 
2. Meantime, saute' garlic in a big saucepan with extra virgin olive oil.  When golden, discard.  Add the tomatoes.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  
3. Add sword fish and put up the flame.  When they start to color, add the white wine, maintaining the high flame.  Season with salt & pepper.
4. Cook for another 5 minutes or until the sauce becomes a bit thick.  Add the thyme and half of the pistachios.
5. Mix in cooked pasta.  Toss well with the sauce.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  Sprinkle the remaining pistachios. 

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Sword Fish & Vegetable Skewers

How many times did I write that to have vibrant natural colors in my food matters a lot?   As I was preparing these skewers, I felt like summer was still here to stay.  It was a desperate attempt to keep it a while longer, even if I can feel that the temperature has already dropped.  The weather had been so erratic.  The morning had opened up with a promise of a beautiful day but then it became windy, cold, dreary, gray and just plain ugly.   We were cooped indoors.  

As soon as I watched Monica Bianchessi cooking her spiedini di sogliola (sole fish skewers) a few days ago, I knew I would be doing it too.  And this is the day.  I was aware that I was actually a season late, being a perfect summer plate.  But then she featured it as a dish for kids, cooked on a saucepan.  I added the capsicum & grape tomatoes from her original recipe to add more colors.  They are also excellent when grilled.   Her fish rolls are stuffed with breadcrumbs, parsley & capers.  I couldn't follow the original recipe of the fish rolls because I didn't have all the ingredients.  Sole was replaced by sword fish, parsley was supplanted by basil and I also added some sundried tomatoes to make them full-flavoured. 

The truth is, my parsley plants never recuperated from too much snipping the past months.  It's a perrenial so they should still spew out some leaves later on.  I'm crossing my fingers that they survive the cold season.  The basil, however is an annual, so my plants are taking out the last leaves before they die down.   That herb epitomizes summer.  The scent & taste exudes sunshine and freshness.   They are slowly pulling back along with the season they came with.   Which reminds me.  I should start freezing them!  They are so scarce in winter.

Summer fruit slices and a sauce of extra virgin olive oil, lemon, salt & herbs for grilled food that I recently learned in Sicily.  

According to Monica, you don't cook the vegetables too long, cooking them at same time as you cook the fish, leaving them crunchy and I think I prefer them that way.   Since she didn't put capsicum in her skewers, she didn't have the same problem I did.  Figures, she's a chef, I am not.  I left the yellow peppers slightly cooked, with the crunch as you chew them.   I loved the rest of the ingredients however, especially the zucchini, cooked and raw.  And leaving the fish for last, they were divine.  Absolutely.  Really.  My husband graded it dieci e lode (top marks).  

A few days ago, we decided to have our last outdoor summer barbecue.  We were able to time it perfectly right before the temperature started dropping.   Grilled meat & vegetables, bruschette, fresh fruit, cold drinks..... all eaten under the olive trees.  We will have to wait for a few months until we set the table in that spot again.

We are packing up.  Party time is over.  I am plodding through a gruelling work of season-changing in the closets this week.  Our chilled bodies are calling out for longer & thicker clothes.   The shorts, sandals & tank tops are going, to be replaced by sweaters & pants.  Beiges & whites will be tucked away while the blacks & grays come out again. 

And I will leave you this post as a last salute to summer.  After we have imbibed the beauty and warmth of this season, let's move on to the next step.  I'm ready for autumn.

What is grilling without some tomato bruschette & corn?

Fish & Vegetable Skewers

Ingredients:
Serves 4 (Yields 8 big skewers)

• 250 g. sword fish fillet (or any other white fish)
• 1/2 cup capers
• 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
• 3 - 4 medium zucchini
• extra virgin olive oil
• a few sprigs of thyme
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 yellow capsicum, diced
• a big handful of basil
• 16 grape tomatoes
• about 1 cup breadcrumbs  

1. Cut off both ends of zucchini.  Discard.  Slice thinly with a vegetable slicer.  Put them in a bowl.  Mix with salt, thyme & extra virgin olive oil.  Mix gently with your hands until all the slices are completely covered with the condiments.  Prepare about 16 rolls.  Get 2 thin slices of zucchini.  Roll together.  Set aside.
2. Rinse capers under the tap.  Squeeze lightly while doing this.  Take away excess water with a kitchen paper towel.  Chop sundried tomatoes & capers together.  Set aside.
3. Make sure your fish fillet are sliced thinly & about 8 cm. (3 in.) wide. The length should just be enough to close the roll, about 12 cm. (5 in.).  
4. Lay the fish flat on a plate.  Sprinkle with a bit of salt & pepper.  Sprinkle a generous amount of breadcrumbs.  Distribute the chopped capers & sundried tomatoes.  Put one basil leaf.  Roll.  Repeat until you finish all the fish.  Allot 3 rolls per skewer.  
5. Prepare the skewers.   Put the vegetables & fish in any order. 
6. Warm up a stove-top griddle or thick bottomed non-stick pan.  Drizzle some oil and wipe off excess with a kitchen paper towel.  Sprinkle salt on the griddle.  When it's warm, put the skewers.  Cook both sides.   Fish should get a beautiful golden color while the vegetables can retain a slightly crunchy consistency. 
7. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil before serving.  Serve warm with the fresh zucchini salad that remained. 

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Bread Swirls with Honey, Pistachios & Chocolate (Girelle al Pistacchio, Miele e Cioccolato)

 

These bread swirls caused a lot of excitement with the kids.  There is no other kind of food that gives me pleasure in creating than the ones that are meant for the little ones.  Especially when I am able to divert them away from the commercial snacks.  Lately, as I had been reading the ingredients of the biscuits & snacks at the supermarkets, I noticed so much E-number additives in every product.  Even the simplest biscuits contain more chemical additives than natural ones.  I cannot swear that I will never feed my kids these food because my realistic side reminds me that it's impossible to avoid them.   I myself, am not able to abstain from grabbing some "goodies" from the forbidden supermarket aisles.  So that takes out an aim.  I will prepare their biscuits & snacks as much as I can.  Being a non-baker, it's a big challenge for me.  I will try.

I first encountered these girelle di pancarre' (bread swirls) when a friend took a big round plate of them stuffed with savory ingredients at home.  It was an eye-catcher.  Beautiful, simple and delicious.   I didn't need to surf so much at the Italian food sites to understand its popularity as appetizers.  There are a thousand ways to stuff them.  After all, they are just plain, bread so anything can go well with them.  No exceptions.

 

Riccardo has started a new sport, the third after two trials.  Swimming at 4 years old didn't work out.  He's not meant to be a little Aquaman.  Karate at 5 years old was strongly refused after one session.  There went our prospective Karate Kid.   At 6, he decided that he wants to run and keep on running.  So it was track & field after all.  He found what he is happy with.   When the kids turn 4 here, everyone assumes that your child is doing some sport but sometimes, it's just too early for them to decide what they want to do.   His energy never faltered and for that we didn't really worry that he started his sports two years later than the rest of his peers.  What is important is that he is doing something he loves. 

Sometimes we find our niche after traveling different roads and getting lost in the process.   It can be easy for the others and it can be a struggle to reach for some.  When you do get it, you will know that it is the one.  My father comes to mind when I think of happiness in careers.  He attended Medical School because his parents wanted him to be a doctor.  However, after one year, he couldn't take it anymore and dropped out.  His parents were not happy of course but he knew in his heart what he really wanted.  He wanted to fly on top of the world.  He wanted to be a pilot.  Newly married and with barely enough money to sustain them, he found ways to live until he became a non-payee scholar to the best flying school in the country.  He became a pilot just like what he aimed for.   And when he was recounting his stories about flying, he would assume such a splendidly happy expression.  He found his niche.

I don't know if I found my place but I'd like to think that I did find it.  What I know is that cooking takes me to a different world, a happy one.  Writing and photographing accentuate this love.  I will keep on creating in my kitchen and keep my family healthy.  And I will keep on sharing with you everything that transpires in my little realm because I believe that food takes out happiness.  And I want to share this wonderful feeling with you.

Bread Swirls with Honey, Pistachios & Chocolate (Girelle al Pistacchio, Miele e Cioccolato)

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 5 (equivalent to 250 g.) long, soft bread slices, sides taken away (fette di pancarre')
• honey
• pistachios, ground
• chocolate spread
• Nutella

1.   Lay the bread flat on a board.  If you are using normal sized bread, connect them by laying them flat on the board with about a cm. of the sides overlapping each other.  It helps if you wet the edges with a little bit of water.  Pass the rollingpin on them until they are joined together.

2.   Spread the honey/Nutella/chocolate spread evenly on the bread from edge to edge, leaving one end with about half a cm. free. for closing.   Sprinkle with ground pistachios.

3.   Roll tightly.

4.   Enclose the roll tightly in a plastic wrap.  Keep it in the fridge for about an hour or two.

 5.   Peel off the plastic wrap.  Cut thin slices with a sharp knife.  Cut only the amount you need.  Keep the unsliced bread swirls in the fridge to keep them moist & soft. 








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