Guests

 

We were sent the most beautiful brochure from a lovely Finnish couple who stayed with us last year. 

I was totally bowled over.  Not just for the thought, but also because it was so very professional and full of  stunning photographs.  

I asked if I could put some of the photos here. 

So pleased they agreed.

Here is “my” bottle green Ape again:

If you look closely, you’ll see A. in the sunflower field: 

I think P.’s photos are excellent.  He took them all on various “days out” and made this book as a memory of the holiday he and A. had here.   What a great idea!

I’d like to share this photo of P.’s with Joe from Italyville who asked for pictures which “scream Italy”.  This one certainly fits the bill.  Non è vero?

Formaggio di Capra

I love cheese.  All cheese. 

As there are over 400 different varieties of Italian cheese, I’m in the right place, particularly as Parmesan, Gorgonzola and Mozzarella are among my top favourites.  Well, with Asiago, Fontina…  any formaggio di fossa… Provolone…  Taleggio…  Oh dear!

Another of my favourites is goat’s cheese, but in our corner of Le Marche, I’ve found it difficult to find. 

Daniele asked at the local shop. 

“Nobody wants it”, was the reply. 

“We do!”, he said. 

“Alright, I’ll order some.”  

 

It arrived today: 

Now, a little bit of Cheddar and some Stilton…Cheese Heaven.

Olive Conservate

Not all our olives are destined for the press.  Some are set aside to preserve.  Until now, I’ve used the brine method as explained by Patience Gray in “Honey From A Weed”:

• Wash the olives and soak them in glazed jars for 40 days. 
• Change the water every two days.  This removes any bitterness.
• Drain and place in jars with alternate layers of coarse sea salt.  (About two handfuls of salt for every three kilos of olives.) 
• Fill jars to the brim and top up with water.  
• They will keep for two years if stored in a cool, dark place.

 

This year I tried the salt version that both my neighbour L. and Over A Tuscan Stove swear by:  

• Rinse the olives and pat dry.
• Put in jars, alternating olives with coarse sea salt. 
• Drain the water from the jars every day.
• They are ready when no more water comes out.
• Fill jars to the brim and top up with the very best olive oil. 

I think this recipe is better than the brine version and I’ll be making them the same way next year.  However, I’d make more because they’d reduced by half in volume by the time they were ready.  (They didn’t reduce nearly as much using the brine method.) 

You can play with either method by adding spices, garlic, orange/lemon peel, etc.  Personally, I don’t think they need any frills.  The olives are more than capable of taking centre stage without any assistance.

Feasting & Fasting

I am offering a squid dish as one of the courses for “The Seven Fishes Feast” held by Joe over at Italyville and Maryann from Finding La Dolce Vita. 

Fish is traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve in Italy as a means of fasting during the Vigil before the arrival of Christ.   

In southern Italy they go a step further and eat 7 different types of fish served in 7 different ways.  It’s supposed to be a fast, but if you just pop an ‘E’ in there, you’ll have a feast.  

  

Casarecce con seppie e piselli:

• 250g pasta
• 250g squid
• 100g peas
• 150g passata
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 teaspoons of peperoncino fresco tritato
• 1 heaped dessert spoon of chopped agretti sott’acetto or 6 capers (preserved in salt and rinsed well)
• 1 good handful of parsley chopped in a mezzaluna
• 1 large glass of white wine

1. Cut the body of the cleaned squid into rings and coarsely chop the tentacles.
2. Put a little olive oil in a pan over a gentle flame then add the squid, garlic, peperoncino and chopped agretti (or capers).
3. Sauté for about 8 minutes, then add a good splash of white wine.
4. When the wine has reduced a little, add the passata and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
5. Lastly, add the peas and cook for another 4 minutes.
6. Adjust seasoning.
7. Add cooked, drained pasta to the pan and serve immediately.

 

For more information check out:

Italyville

&

Finding La Dolce Vita

The authors of the Seven Fishes Fast Feast also write this blog.

Frantoio

We took our olives to the Oleificio Rosini - as we always do.  They are a family run business in San Paolo di Jesi, which is about 9 kms from us. 

I couldn’t resist asking this lovely gentleman if I could take his photo whilst he loaded his Ape with the fruits of his labour.  I love Ape.  You can forget your Ferraris and whatnots, I’d like one of these and in this colour too.

And, here is the fruit of our labour. 

We watched the olives pass through every single step:

weighing, 

washing,

sifting, 

crushing,

until…

it finally came through the tap.

The first thing we did when we arrived home was to make bruschette.  No garlic, no trimmings, just our own fresh, extra virgin olive oil on warmed bread from stufa.  It doesn’t get any better than this.

Il Raccolto

 We finally picked our olives.

 I love this job.

It’s very therapeutic.

 Not something you can rush.

 Now they are ready to take to the press: frantoio. 

We should have enough to make about 30 litres of extra virgin olive oil.  That’s 1st cold press extra, extra virgin!

 

These are destined to be conserved: 

More on both processes to follow soon…

Mela Cotogna (Quince)

Our quince came into full bloom in mid April.  Beautiful large white blossoms with a generous flush of pink.  It’s a lovely tree.  Even its name sounds quaint, old fashioned and rather magical and mystical.

You can do a number of things with the fruit (except eat them raw, of course), but I have always been intrigued by Quince Cheese.  I’d tried making this before using the oven method, but it didn’t work out too well.  I searched the net and found Easy Quince Cheese by The Cottage Smallholder.  This is the site which introduced me to blogs; I’ve loved it ever since.

Quince Cheese:

1. Wash and quarter the fruit.
2. Remove the pips and cut into small chunks. 
3. Place in saucepan with enough water to cover and simmer until soft.
4. Strain overnight through a jelly bag.
5. Press the pulp through a sieve.
6. Measure the pulp and put it into a large heavy bottomed pan.
7. Add an equal volume of granulated sugar.
8. Add the juice and zest of 1 lemon.
9. Simmer gently, stirring regularly until it becomes stiff in consistency.
10. Either put it into sterilised jars, small ramekins, or set it in moulds. 

You can make ”cheese” with all sorts of fruit. 

HomeMadeS gives recipes for both Apple Cheese and Plum Cheese.

 

I just learnt that the Americans call fruit cheese ”butter”. 

Well, it makes just as much sense as calling it cheese!  

• Here is a recipe for Apple Butter by Flavors of Abruzzo. 

 

 

 

Market Day

There is a market held in one of the surrounding towns/villages on every single day of the week – even Sunday.  None is further than a fifteen minute drive from Casalba.

Thursdays = Staffolo. 

This is one of the smallest markets (particularly during the autumn and winter months), but you can be sure of finding all the basics and bagging a bargain.

I met up for a coffee with a friend before doing the ’spesa’.

 

I dithered over the cyclamen, particularly the scarlet ones, but did come home with some fruit and veg, a loaf of wholemeal bread and two types of pecorino: ultra fresh and stagionato.   

Dan and I had a slice of each after lunch with the Quince Cheese I made from our own fruit.

 Staffolo market:

Tears & Laughter

I was tagged by my favourite site: The Cottage Smallholder. It’s a down to earth, no nonsense site which is full of common sense and tips on cooking, gardening and smallholding.

Vita Lenta nel Bel Paese also tagged me on the same theme. I only found this site recently, but it’s already among my favourites. She has a good eye for detail and her photos sum up life in Italy.  

The rules are that I should give six details about myself, link back to the original site(s) and tag six more people.  

As I was tagged twice, I’m offering eight details and tagging eight people.  (I’d rather that than do this twice!)  

• I don’t like I’m not too keen on parties.
• But I love dinner parties. It doesn’t matter if I’m the host, or the guest as long as there aren’t too many people around the table.  My preferred numbers are five, seven and nine – just call me odd. 
• I don’t like department stores.  This has everything to do with the neon lighting and air conditioning.  My dislike intensifies during the winter months when the heating is on so high that the sales assistants are wearing short-sleeved blouses/shirts and I am struggling to find what I came in for whilst sweating under layers of clothing.
• But I love markets, village shops and specialist stores. 
• Like The Cottage Smallholder, I cry easily. In my case, too easily.   
• But I love to laugh.  I have lovely side-splitting laughs with one of my very best friends, whose company I miss terribly.  We speak frequently on the phone, but it’s not the same.  (Oh for goodness sake! I’ve started to cry again and this was supposed to be the happy bit!) I also have great laughs with my sisters, and Dan and I have at least one good laugh and several giggles every single day.  My favourite comedians are Eddie Izzard, Paul Merton, Billy Conolly and the late Tommy Cooper.  I also adored the fantastically whacky Spike Milligan.  Perhaps the person who makes me laugh most is my dad, who starts to laugh so much himself when he tells a funny story, that he can never reach the end.  It doesn’t matter though, because the journey is always hilarious. 

• I’m not very good at reading fiction and have read fewer novels than I care to admit.  The last novel I read that I can honestly say I loved was: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, by Mark Haddon.  It made me laugh (particularly the battenburg bit) and (this won’t surprise you) it made me cry too. 
• But I love reading non-fiction, particularly books on linguistics, history of language - anything by David Crystal or Noam Chomsky.  I also read cookery and gardening books.  My greatest loves are poetry and Shakespeare.  OK – just call me odd and pretentious.

Here are the people I’d like to tag: 

• Ogni Piacere: Because she’s got a HUGE heart and loves dogs and poetry.
• Jo at Little Ffarm Dairy. Who makes her own goat’s cheese and is an Artisanal Gelato maker.  She left a really informative message on my ‘Gelato‘ post.
• Compost In My Shoe whose post “Angels Come To Dinner” is one best I’ve seen recently.  Not sure this tagging thing is up his street, but I wanted to share this with you, in any case.
• A Tuscan View From Umbria whose blog I always read.  Moreover, they tagged me a while ago, but I messed up!

 

• The Feast Within written by Gabi in the States.  She once left a message here saying she wished she was my neighbour.  “Ditto”, except that I couldn’t keep up with her incredible cuisine.
• Proud Italian Cook.  Another great cook who also offers many cook-ahead dishes, which I always love to do when entertaining
• Napa Farmhouse 1885, because she always starts with good basic ingredients, doesn’t mess about with them and comes up with some great recipes.

• Lastly, I really want to share this site with everyone: foodOgraphia.  I’ll eat my hat if this guy isn’t a professional food stylist and/or chef.  He writes in Italian, but then gives a translation in English.  Apart from the photos, there are some really original, yet simple ideas for desserts – always my weak point, but his I think I could do and would love to eat.

Nuts!

I love all nuts, but if I had to choose just one, it would be the hazel.  It is the favourite food of dormice too and essential for the survival of several species of moth and a rare fungus. 

The tree is beautiful at all times of the year: during the winter s/he goes into hibernation along with the dormouse; the spring gives you the little catkins dangling on barely budding branches; s/he is in full leaf during the summer and the autumn brings the fruit.  

That is, s/he should!  I opened one up – nothing.  I opened a second – that was also completely empty. A third, fourth, fifth… I can’t believe it!  Not a single nut and they looked so promising with their heads poking through their Elizabethan ruffs…  What a swizz!

We asked the agronomo.  The first question he asked was, “How many have you got?”  “Just the one.”  “Well, that’s the problem. You need two to fertilise it.”

We will plant another, because the expert said so, and now is the perfect time to do it, but I always thought the hazel was bisexual (or whatever the botanical name is). 

Thank goodness the almonds cheered me up.  Not a dud amongst them and every one as sweet as…a nut, actually.

Just to cheer me up further, here is a picture of the almond in blossom:

 

And here is a lovely link providing some history and folklore on the hazel (Coryllus Avellana), plus information on its relationship with moths, dormice and other flora and fauna important for the biodiversity of our planet.  (Did you really think I knew all that stuff off the top of my head?) 

Apparently the twigs make excellent magic wands.  Who am I going to cast a spell on?  Without hesitation, it’s my new computer.  It’s literally driving me nuts and is so sensitive that I can’t read some of my favourite sites.   I’ll try to fix the problem from here, but I’m not exactly sure what needs fixing.