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‘Liguria’ Category

  1. Scent of the sea – Stuffed zucchini Ligurian style

    July 18, 2012 by Giulietta

    Yes, I admit it, I want to dry out in the sun (not in my garden, anymore), I want beach and seaside. But I don't want these things so much that I started to feel the smell or the sound of the sea in a bunch of zucchini .. I need a vacation, but not so badly! The scent of the sea (the Ligurian sea, to be accurate. But, given my revisions, it's the Ligurian side nearest to Piedmont) is in the stuffing of these zucchini.

    In a few days I'll leave for my holidays (it's likely that the next post will be written from another place), in a few days I'll see the sea again: every year I feel nostalgic about the sea, and every year I look forward to seeing it again, excited like a child with his favourite toy. And passing the time while waiting, I comfort myself with these delicious stuffed zucchini that scent like summer and sea, and with Baudelaire's beautiful words about this blue mirror that
    I love (and miss) so much.

    Man And The Sea

    Free man! the sea is to thee ever dear!
    The sea is thy mirror, thou regardest thy soul
    In its mighteous waves that unendingly roll,
    And thy spirit is yet not a chasm less drear.

    Thou delight'st to plunge deep in thine image down;
    Thou tak'st it with eyes and with arms in embrace,
    And at times thine own inward voice would'st efface
    With the sound of its savage ungovernable moan.

    You are both of you, sombre, secretive and deep:
    Oh mortal, thy depths are foraye unexplored,
    Oh sea–no one knoweth thy dazzling hoard,
    You both are so jealous your secrets to keep!

    And endless ages have wandered by,
    Yet still without pity or mercy you fight,
    So mighty in plunder and death your delight:
    Oh wrestlers! so constant in enmity!

    Charles Baudelaire, "Les fleurs du mal"
     

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    Category Dried fruit, Herbs, Liguria, Regional Italian cooking, Second course, Vegetables | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,, | 5 Comments

  2. About holidays and Ligurian style rabbit

    August 18, 2011 by Giulietta

    As I promised in this post I'll talk about holidays, my holidays, of course. This year, in spite of the few days off, we managed to have a triple holiday, thanks to a stroke of luck (aka the postponement of my coming back to work). I don't rule out a fourth little holiday, if luck assists me again, but I don't want to attract bad gods on me, so I won't go on. I'll talk about the past, so I'll play it safe!

    My long-awaited holidays began with a week-end in Verona: Verona greeted us with a hot sun, its peaceful calmness and its really italic center, in which you can walk without any rush, in search of its history or in search of some shade. Here below you can see some characteristic Verona glimpses: starting from top left, clockwise, you can see Ponte Pietra (Stone Bridge), the Lombardi Tower, a view from above, the Arena and a view on the Adige river.

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    Category Dried fruit, Herbs, Holidays, Liguria, Meat, Rabbit, Regional Italian cooking, Second course | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,, | 12 Comments

  3. Cheesy and delicious: focaccia di Recco

    June 27, 2011 by Giulietta

    If you happen by Recco, or other towns nearby on the East Coast of Liguria, you have to taste the famous focaccia di Recco, provided that you like stracchino very much, 'cause in a focaccia di Recco there is more or less the amount of stracchino that you could eat in a year or two.

    One of the major drawbacks of the focaccia di Recco is that it's almost impossible to find outside of its area of ​​origin. So, to avoid abstinence from this cheesy focaccia, why don't try to make a home-made version?! And, even before starting to search a fine recipe, it literally fell on me, and would never ignore a clear sign of destiny, especially when it comes to food!

    So, while I was surfing through my foodie friends' blog to keep me posted, I came across the perfect recipe to prepare my beloved focaccia di Recco, by Manuela from Manu's Menu.

    The recipe is very easy to prepare, doesn't require long waiting times (the dough isn't leavened), and it requires only a great amounts of stracchino (the original recipe suggested the use of 1 kg of stracchino for 500 g of flour; both Manuela and I halved -or almost- the doses). Are you ready for it?

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    Category Appetizer and Finger food, Breads and pizzas, Cheese, Liguria, Regional Italian cooking | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 21 Comments

  4. Giorgio’s, Federico’s and Sigrid’s classic focaccia

    February 25, 2011 by Giulietta

    Today I start a new class of recipes, called "cooking for dummies": I hope it will last long and be helpful to some of my readers. I called it "cooking for dummies" not because my audience is foolish, but because the recipes that I'll present you are dumb-proof; besides, all these recipes will be equipped with photos of middle passages.

    Having said that (I never would someone accuse me to call him/her a dumb), let's talk about credits. Giorgio, Federico and Sigrid aren't my friends, but they are (in order) a cook, a baker and famous foodblogger, responsible for this recipe. Giorgio is Giorgio Locatelli, chef of the Locanda Locatelli in London and author of Made in Italy: Food and Stories, the book containing the focaccia recipe; Federico is Federico Turri, the baker of the Locanda Locatelli, while Sigrid is Sigrid Verbert, aka "the Brussels sprout", a well known and great (IMHO) foodblogger and photographer. Thus, I invite you all to visit her blog, a great source of inspiration for me.

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    Category Appetizer and Finger food, Cooking for dummies, Leavened, Liguria, Regional Italian cooking | Tags: ,,,, | 2 Comments