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new grains, old grains September 3, 2010

Posted by molly in : italian, risotto , 2comments

very often, we eat what we’re given – what’s abundant and available. i know this to be very true in the states, but it’s also increasingly the case in england. this is odd, considering the proximity to europe and all of the diverse foods found therein. so it came as a bit of a shock when i had to track down farro in london. farro is to italians what spelt is to us – same thing, different name. it’s an ancient grain which we find most often in flour, bread, or pasta form. i happen to LOVE spelt pasta and flour – it has the exact same consistency as regular wheat flour but is much easier on the digestive system and is far better for your health. let’s take a look at some health benefits of spelt/farro (and other whole grains):*

while on vacation in tuscany, we came across farro salads everywhere – similar to the quinoa salads we love to make at home. once i tracked down a bag of farro back home in london, i thought it would make a nice substitute for rice in a risotto-type dish. and after a bit of googling, it seemed i wasn’t the only one with that idea! farro risotto is everywhere – but the word “risotto” is a bit misleading. it is nothing like the consistency, texture, or flavor of a typical risotto, and it certainly isn’t made in the same way. but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a wonderful dish for dinner. with autumn fast approaching, give it a try (if you can find some farro for yourself!) – but if you can’t find the whole grain, pick up a bag of spelt pasta or spelt flour and try it instead of the regular stuff next time you’re having an italian dinner or baking something delicious. you might love it!

here’s my first attempt at farro risotto – it’s a definite keeper. the nuttiness of the farro combined with the slight sweetness of the squash and the punch of herby goodness? it all works together really well. even phil loved it and he’s a risotto fanatic.

farro risotto with butternut squash

serves two; recipe adapted from good housekeeping

the particulars:

  • olive oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 3/4 cup farro (could use brown rice instead – increase stock amount)
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1 2/3 cup vegetable stock in boiling water
  • 1/8 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/8 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
  • 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • optional: 1/8 tsp chili flakes
  1. in a large skillet or wok (which has a lid), add some olive oil, the onion, and salt & pepper. cook until the onion is tender.
  2. add the farro and cook 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly
  3. add the white wine and cook until absorbed
  4. pour in the hot vegetable stock, thyme, and rosemary. cover with a lid and heat to boiling point. then stir in the butternut squash pieces and reduce the heat. cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the farro is just tender (mixture will be soupy). you may need longer depending on the type of farro you have.
  5. uncover and cook 1-2 minutes longer over a very high heat, stirring constantly, until the liquid is absorbed. remove from heat and stir in the parmesan, parsley, and red chili flakes (if using).

* i am not a medical professional, but i am studying to become a nutrition consultant. if you have any questions or would like any more information, please feel free to email me or leave a comment. any nutrition advice i offer on the blog is supplemental to any medication you may be taking for a pre-existing condition.

biscuit gifts September 1, 2010

Posted by molly in : desserts , 2comments

when you’re invited around to someone’s house for dinner for the first time, what do you bring?

flowers? a bottle of wine? or do you make something either to accompany the meal or as a thank you?

last night, phil and i had dinner with a family of 5, the middle child of which will be phil’s newest student this school year. at his school, it is an unspoken tradition to invite the new tutor around for dinner to get to know the parents as well as the child a bit better.

this is my second time being invited along as phil’s date :) and i wanted to make a good impression, so i decided to bake some cookies as a present. we don’t need to talk about how i ate 4 of them during the day because they were slightly burnt. no we don’t.

the cookies were based on a recipe i saw in the most recent issue of delicious magazine, although i put my “particular” spin on them, as usual. they are very crumbly, as they are essentially shortbread cookies with a hefty crunch. if you’d prefer yours to be perfect circles, simply cool the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before rolling out and using a cookie cutter. however, i like things a bit rough around the edges, rustic-looking, so i hand-formed the cookies and pressed them down with the back of a fork. which gives them a nice little flourish… even if they are a little burnt.

hazelnut shortbread cookies

makes approx. 20 cookies

the particulars:

  • 1 cup shelled hazelnuts
  • 3/4 cup goat’s butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups plain gluten-free flour
  • pinch of salt
  1. heat the oven to gas mark 5 / 375F. spread the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes until golden. remove and spread out on a tea towel – wrap up and roll around with the palms of your hands to remove any excess shell/skin. pulse in a food processor until finely chopped.
  2. beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. mix the flour and salt and sift into the butter and sugar. add the hazelnut pieces and stir.
  3. with your hands, bring the dough together. at this point, you can place the dough back in the fridge to cool and roll out. otherwise, start separating the dough into small pieces.
  4. on two cookie sheets lined with greaseproof paper, place the cookies, evenly spaced and pressed down with your palm. with the back of a fork, create an indentation in the center of each cookie (if you want!) – bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden. do not leave for too long – they will harden as they cool, do not go by touch to determine their “done-ness”.
  5. cool on the trays, and sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

seasonal dessert August 30, 2010

Posted by molly in : desserts , 4comments

it’s certainly been a while since i vowed to recreate my cookery school plum & orange crumble, but i finally got around to it this week. good thing, since plums are hugely in season right now – you can’t MOVE for plums, to borrow a phrase from my wise old dad. they are more of an oval shape than the plums you get in the states, and the flesh is much paler. when cooked in the oven in a crumble, they take on a baked apple-like consistency: delightfully mushy!

this past new years eve, i attempted to make this using nectarines instead of plums – not the same, i’m afraid. of course, this would work well with apples and pears (minus the orange zest). and maybe before the summer is officially over, i’ll try doing a berry version. raspberries are gorgeous right now.

this pudding is best served with something creamy: vegan ice cream? goat’s cream? i had mine with goat’s yogurt, which was slightly too bitter but did the trick in a pinch. and the topping can certainly be adapted to a vegan diet – just use a non-dairy shortening or margarine instead of the goat’s butter.

plum & orange crumble

recipe adapted from leiths cookery school – serves 4-5

the particulars:

  • 12 plums (approx), halved and stoned
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 1.5 cups gluten-free flour mix
  • 1/2 cup goat’s butter (or other butter/margarine), cut into small cubes
  • 1/3 cup soft dark brown sugar + 4 tbsp for plum filling
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  1. make the crumble topping. sift together the flour, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. add the butter and rub together in the flour mix with fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. stir through the 1/3 cup of brown sugar.
  2. heat the oven to gas mark 6 / 400F.
  3. place the plum halves in a baking dish. sprinkle the orange zest and 4 tbsp brown sugar over the top. stir together – then sprinkle the crumble topping over the plums. put the dish in the center of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the plum mixture becomes syrupy and bubbly around the edges of the pan.
  4. serve warm with ice cream or something equivalent!

nuts and seeds August 24, 2010

Posted by molly in : fish , 2comments

while i continue my studies at bauman college (from afar) i keep finding so many tidbits about nutrition that i want to share on the blog. most of it is head-smackingly simple stuff: eat less sugar, drink less alcohol, etc. but sometimes, you know what you should be eating, but how to incorporate it?

the underlying philosophy behind bauman college is what’s called “eating for health“. it was originally designed as an alternative to the usda food pyramid (or in england, the eatwell plate). it adds in extra special nutrients called “booster foods” that will provide that extra dose of health in your daily meals. some might consider nuts and seeds to be an added extra in their diet – but bauman believes they should be a basic staple. booster foods include things like spices, algae, nutritional yeast, and seaweed. flaxseed, sesame seeds, almonds – these are perfect for snacking and sprinkling onto almost any meal of the day.

for example, the other night phil and i had fish with rice. of course, it was a bit more complex than that – the fish was beautiful organic salmon simply fried with olive oil, salt and pepper, and the rice was brown basmati with chopped apricots, chopped walnuts, toasted mixed seeds, and a mixture of spices. all of a sudden, our seemingly bland dinner turned into an omega-3 party!

seared salmon with brown rice pilaf

recipe adapted from waitrose magazine – serves 2

the particulars:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, finely diced
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 90g brown basmati rice
  • 30g dried apricots, chopped
  • 450ml vegetable stock, hot
  • 30g walnuts, chopped
  • 30g mixed seeds
  • 2 salmon fillets
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 1 lemon, cut into wedges
  1. over a medium-low heat, warm some of the oil in a pan and cook the onion for 8 minutes. add the garlic, cumin and coriander and cook for another minute.
  2. add the rice, apricots, and stock. bring to a simmer, then lower the heat, cover, and cook for 20-25 minutes (until the stock has been absorbed by the rice). stir occasionally.
  3. meanwhile, warm a frying pan over a medium heat and dry-fry the nuts and seeds for 2 minutes until they are just fragrant.
  4. a few minutes before the rice is done, warm 1 tsp oil in the same frying pan used for the nuts and seeds over a medium-high heat. season the fish and fry for 3 minutes skin-side down, then for 2 minutes on the other side.
  5. stir the nuts, seeds, and parsley into the rice. serve with the salmon on top and the lemon wedges.

two week italian feast August 22, 2010

Posted by molly in : afk (away from kitchen) , 1 comment so far

some more recap goodness before things get back to normal with recipes and advice and whatnot… (all photos by the philtographer)

so, in between greece and italy, there was a week or so of absolute insanity – phil and i moved apartments (across the hall, but still), he baked a wedding cake in our small kitchen, we went to said wedding, had a caterer tasting dinner, and then less than 24 hours after that were on our flight to pisa. while our 15 days in italy were certainly relaxing (mostly), i think we were both a little anxious in the back of our minds about getting back to normal life, setting up our new place, getting some work done, having things installed, etc. which is why i’m actually not that sad about coming home after our holiday. i mean, of course, yes italy is gorgeous and wonderful and we had an amazing time – but it was unfortunately in the middle of a month where we probably could have used the time at home to settle things before taking off on another adventure.

but i don’t want to downplay the superb trip we took. it had been planned for months, and involved three distinct (and completely different) parts.

part one:

we flew to pisa airport, rented a car (try driving an automatic diesel engine car in italy and see what happens – it ain’t pretty), and drove to florence. spent 3 nights exploring that beautiful city. our quirky little hotel (rosso 23) was in a great location, right on the piazza di santa maria novella with great spots to sit and watch the world go by on a warm evening.

only one of the days was ruined by a raging thunderstorm (somewhat of a theme on this trip, more later) – but we happily spent a few hours in our hotel, waiting for the rain and thunder to pass, and went out for a fabulous meal as recommended to us by the hotel’s concierge. i’ll put links to all of the great restaurants we experienced in italy at the end of this post.

part two:

a two and a half hour drive from florence brought us up towards the alps, on a very windy mountain road just outside the bustling town of castelnuovo di garfagnana. there we found our huge villa where we would be living for the next week with 10 of our closest friends. the villa’s manager, giovanni, was so gracious – made us lunch when we arrived as he and his team finished cleaning from the previous tenants’ stay and told us some general top tips about the area. when our friends arrived later that day, we all took full advantage of the solar-heated swimming pool and had the first of many homemade dinners out on the terrace.

this was by far my favorite part of our whole trip – just being in a big house with friends, soaking up all the italian goodness, the food and wine, the sights and smells, the local villages and towns, our property’s wildlife (hope you like lizards and scorpions!), and relaxing in the sunshine for as much time as possible. we did a couple of day trips during our stay: once to lucca, a beautiful old town about an hour away, and another to barga, right after the second massive thunderstorm phil and i experienced during our trip. the clouds were amazing, hovering just below the peaks of the mountains for most of the day, creating a very surreal atmosphere – very unsettled but beautiful. our last evening saw us in castelnuovo for a big meal followed by the town’s opening night of a weeklong festival – we saw flag waving, italian dance parties, marching bands, and it seemed as though everyone in the town was out in the streets celebrating, saying hello to their neighbors. a great way to end the week.

part three:

back on the road, phil and i said goodbye to the villa and our friends and headed south, past livorno and on towards grosseto. our third location was somewhere in between the two cities, the nearest village called scarlino.

it was a very sleepy area of tuscany, and would have been beautiful had it not been for the horrific weather we endured on the drive down. after getting lost in the general area of our hotel for a little while, we eventually arrived only to find they were on their 3 hour lunch break (god bless the italians) – so we hopped back in the car reluctantly and found a great little spot for lunch in a nearby town where i had some amazing seafood salad – we were definitely by the coast now. our five nights at tenuta col di sasso were not as we had hoped, but still we made the best of our beautiful surroundings. we spent the day at a waterpark, went to a natural thermal spa another day, enjoyed the hotel’s beach the next, and wandered around the swanky of port town of punta ala another. but the highlight had to be the vineyard and restaurant across the street from our hotel – we brought back a bottle of red after the gratis wine tasting and enjoyed a truly special meal at sunset in the restaurant next door. our final day in italy was spent exploring pisa, as our flight didn’t leave until the evening. yes, we saw the leaning tower and took the obligatory photos…

so to wrap it all up, i can say that i: gained a ridiculous amount of weight from all the bread and pizza rosso… got a decent tan… feel confident enough to drive like a maniac on the autostrade… had a blast with phil and my friends… and can’t believe that the next time i leave the country (other than a visit to the states for new years) will be for our honeymoon in april!

delicious spots in tuscany: