scrappassion

WEEK 12 OF PROJECT 365

Another week gone!

 

78 - 365

 

 

Happy Father's Day with bigné di San Giuseppe

 

79 - 365

Lovely spring salad with fennel, oranges and pinoli

 

80 - 365

Cesar's foot in our yard

 

81 -365 The first strawberries of the year. They look better than they tasted. 

 

82 - 365

 

Smoothie time!!

 

83 - 365

Plants and more plants

 

84 - 365

My first red smoothie with strawberries and chia seeds

 

TFL!! See you next week!

WEEK 11 OF PROJECT 365

Another week in our life and around the house in photos!

 

71 - 365

No small miracle: an empty laundry basket!

 

72 - 365

The view from my bed

 

73 - 365

Sometimes I really REALLY miss the dishwasher...

 

74 - 365

Sage, mint and lots of oregano ready to be planted

 

75 - 365

Happy ending to a happy Sunday

 

76 - 365

Neighbor's flowers. I prefer this to her laundry ;)

 

77 - 365

The view from my studio. I love spring!

 

DAKOS

 

Here is another recipe for a fast and fabulous lunch. Cretan dakos, also called koukouvaia, is made with few ingredients and no cooking.

 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 of a lagre round barley rusk (sometimes I use Italian frisella)

2-3 ripe tomatoes, coarsely grated, discard skin (I chop them and leave the skin)

3-4 heaping tablespoons of feta, crumbled or grated

extra virgin olive oil

oregano

(olives)

 

Run the rusk under a spray of water to moisten. Grate (or chop) the tomatoes and spread them on the rusk. Top with crumbled feta. Sprinkle a generous amount of oregano and drizzle with oil. Add olives if you like them.

BUON APPETITO!

PASTA E FAGIOLI

Pasta e fagioli aka pasta and beans. One of our faves at the moment. And you don't have to add pasta, it's just as good as bean soup. My Hubs begs to differ but still. I've used both  borlotti beans (cranberry beans) and  cannellini beans (white kidney beans) and I like the latter the best.

 

 

INGREDIENTS FOR 8

500g  dried beans soaked overnight

400g fatty pancetta finely chopped

200-300g fresh pig skins 

1 onion

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

1  garlic clove

can of peeled/diced tomatos

1 potato

peperoncino (chili pepper)

salt, pepper

EV olive oil

parmesan

fresh maltagliati pasta

 

 

1. Flame the pork skins to remove bristles, rub them clean with a cloth, and cut them into strips. Or if you use the skin from pancetta, just cut that into strips. No need to clean.

3. Mince the onion, celery and carrot and combine them. Heat a bit of oil in a large pot and sauté the chopped pancetta until it begins to brown. Add the minced onion mixture, a crushed garlic clove and the spices and continue to sauté, stirring, for about 10 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes, the drained beans, the peeled potato, the skins and water to cover abundantly, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer until the beans are tender. Total cooking time about 1,5 - 2 hrs. Stir occasionally to keep from sticking.

5. After an hour, add 1-2 cups of water and salt.

6. When done, take an abundant cup of the soup with the potato (is it's still in one piece or in chunks) and use a blender to cream it. Add it back to the soup.

7. Cook the pasta directly in the soup checking the water and salt. 

8. Add a little bit of olive oil and grated parmesan to the plate

I always cook this amount even though we might be only 3 or 4 to eat. You can refrigerate or freeze the rest.

If you want to serve it as soup, add croutons or pieces of grilled bread.

FOR THE VEGETARIAN OR VEGAN ALTERNATIVE: leave out the pork skins and pancetta (and Parmesan)

BUON APPETITO!

 

 

 

WEEK 10 OF PROJECT 365

Weeks fly by!!! We're already on Week 10. Some days I feel frustrated and it seems I can't find anything interesting to photograph and some days the photo opportunities are endless! I guess that's life: some days are more interesting than others but they all make it a wonderful experience.

 

64 - 365

Burst of colors at a street vendor's table

 

65 - 365

Cut my hair even shorter than usual. Love it!

 

66 - 365

Time to clean up the scraproom... me thinks

 

67 - 365

 

My One and Only

 

68 - 365

Lovely typewriters at the antique market

 

69 - 365

Deruta ceramics from the antique market

 

70 - 365

That couch might be just a tiny bit short for him...

WEEK 9 of Project 365

Here's the batch of photos from week 9.

 

57-365

Franco made this (huge) plant box. It needs a tree.

 

58-365

But before planting the tree, the box needs bags of soil

 

59-365

Pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans).  Good healthy food for my two gardeners.

 

60-365

We chose an almond tree 

 

61-365

Saturday night treat from our fave pastry shop

 

62-365

The almond tree on the right and the nectarin tree on the background behind the lemon tree (note to self: take a picture with the zoom lens!)

 

63-365 

Cretan dakos (or koukouvayia)