RSS Feed

Posts Tagged ‘mackerel’

  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"
     

    (more…)

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

  2. Mediterranean riz rouge de Camargue salad

    July 15, 2011 by Giulietta

    Ok, I admit it, I invented this recipe's name … but I invented the recipe, so I can claim the right to name it, or not? But I chose this name not by accident: both the rice and the ingredients I used for this recipe smelled like the Mediterranean, in my humble opinion, so why don't give the recipe the name of this sea and of this enclave of Countries that, somehow, contributed to its genesis?

    I was looking for a cold first course for one of my birthday parties (yes, I chose to make a cold dinner and, of course, the night I celebrated there were more or less 20° C… typical!) and I didn't want to make my classic rice salad, which is a bit banal …. so, starting from the beginning, ie rice, I made a replacement, and instead of "normal" rice I chose a more special, refined one, the riz rouge de Camargue, which is perfect for salads, 'cause it stays firm after cooking, and 'cause is very crisp.

    Reading here and there some information about this colorful and crisp rice, I read that one of the recommended combinations was with fish, so … why don't make a sea rice salad?! And so appeared shrimps and tuna/mackerel filets. But I had to put some vegetables (I love them) … and so I put some crispy celery, sauté zucchini and, for a real Mediterranean taste, sun-dried tomatoes and black olives -with their stone (I know that olives are not strictly vegetables, but grant me this unfair allocation). And yet something was missing … herbs, maybe Occitan ones … and so I added oregano, thyme and marjoram. Add some dressing (lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, a few tablespoons of dried tomato patè), et voila, you're done! This was more or less my thought process that, from the first choice (rice) led to the creation of a brand new rice salad, very tasty and crunchy, perfect for a dinner with friends (you can serve it in single portions, putting 3 or 4 tablespoons of rice salad in a pudding mold, and then turning it upside down, as you see in the first two pictures) or for a picnic (blessed be the Tupperwares) in good company.

    (more…)

    Category Cold dishes, First course, Herbs, Pasta rice and cereals salads, Sea first course, Shellfishes, Single course, Vegetables | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,, | 12 Comments