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Many thanks to all who illuminated my week by contributing their images to edition #84 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event. And a big thank you to Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook who created the event and to Cinzia of Cindystar who is now organizing it.

Enjoy this weeks show!

Rosa of Rosas Yummy Yums: Port And Cheese Straws Make Jack A Happy Man

Sandra of ...indovina che viene a cena?: Fried Flowers

Claire of Chez Cayenne: Tomatoes and Garlic

Meena of Encourage Spice: Empty Bowl

Haalo of Cooking Almost Anything: Merinda Pomodori

Cinzia of Cindystar: New Old Props

Julie of Stregatto cuciniero: Tarte au Fromage Frais et aux Pruneaux

Rekha Vengalil of Food0licious Pictured: Princess Cake

Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook: Time to Entertain

Usha of Sizzling Indian Recipes: Fresh coconut, Hemp Hearts & Chia Seed Ladoos

Simona of briciole:

sign at the farmers market

handmade _pezze rigate_

I hope you like the page divider I have used in the post. I downloaded it from this page.

As of today, Priya of The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen is accepting submissions for edition #85 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event. You can send her your contribution to pickwickcorner AT gmail DOT com.

On this page, you can find out who is hosting the event. And if you are interested in hosting a gallery, contact Cinzia at casacortella AT tin DOT it.

I do hope I have not left anybody out of the roundup. If you find that, notwithstanding my best intentions, I actually have omitted a photo , please send me a note.

_Arrivederci a presto!_

with the first pink rose from my garden

I have sometimes thought about the menu of my own small café. I dont believe it will ever exist outside my imagination, but I enjoy adding to the list something that I think would go well there, like these scones — or the ones with red beet, apple and pistachios I made recently.

I love scones, I always have, from the day, many years ago, when I tasted my first one during my first visit to the UK. They are flavorful and not sweet, nourishing and versatile. They prefer to charm you with their flavor and texture rather than polished looks. I could bake a batch every day. When I do bake a batch, I feel like the day starts on the right note.

The theme of opening a café is present in the book we are currently reading in our Cook the Cooks Club: THE COLOR OF TEA by Hannah Tunnicliffe. I wish I could find an elegant way to say this, but I didnt like the novel — and I dont like macarons, which feature prominently in it. The scones were inspired by the novel in the sense that they were a reaction to it. They are unadorned, crisp outside and tender inside, a bit rustic, a bit surprising with their nuanced flavor of carrot punctuated by the small pieces of candied ginger, simply irresistible. Scone are traditionally served with tea and without roses, but I was too excited about cutting the first pink rose of the season from my bush not to share it here.

Todays scones start with two pounds of freshly harvested small carrots, which I prepared using this simple yet lovely recipe by Lynda of TasteFood with a couple of minor adjustments (see below). The result was very much appreciated at the table. As I was putting away the leftovers, I thought about using some to make scones.

The morning after, I had to solve the problem of turning the roasted carrots into a form suitable for scone-making. After some deliberation, I decided to chop them and add them to the food processor after the butter had been cut into the flour. It worked and the scones were a success, so the following week, when I found more carrots in my CSA share, I was ready to repeat the sequence of roasting followed by scone making. As an aside, this time I had a smaller amount of carrots, so I added to the pan a mix of baby turnips (_rape novelle_) and radishes (_ravanelli_), a great duo of root vegetables (I will soon share a recipe featuring them).

Ingredients (see my earlier post for additional information on the original recipe and the ingredients; overall, I halved the quantities):

* 3 ounces (85 g) leftover roasted carrots, chopped * 3 1/2 tablespoons (1.75 oz.) unsalted browned butter (or 4 tablespoon unsalted butter and no _ricotta_) * 2 tablespoons buckwheat flour + 1 tablespoon cornmeal + 1 tablespoon teff flour + enough all-purpose flour to make 1 cup OR 1 cup (130 g) all-purpose flour * 1/2 cup (65 g) whole-wheat pastry flour * 1/4 cup finely chopped uncrystallized candied ginger (_zenzero candito_) * 1/2 tablespoon baking powder * 1/4 teaspoon baking soda * 3/8 teaspoon sea salt * 1 teaspoon ultra-fine or granulated sugar * 1/2 tablespoon _ricotta_ or plain kefir cheese or cream cheese * 1/2 cup (120 ml) homemade kefir; original recipe alternatives: buttermilk (_latticello_), plain yogurt or sour cream (low-fat or non-fat is fine) HOW TO ROAST THE CARROTS The evening before I baked the scones, I prepared the carrots using this recipe with the following minor adjustments:

* I used thyme leaves rather than whole sprigs * I used only 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar * I did not add the sugar in the last step Since my carrots were more like toddlers than babies, I cut the bigger ones lengthwise and/or crosswise, and it took me some 25 minutes to get them to the tenderness I desired.

You can, of course, choose your favorite method for oven-roasting carrots.

The morning after, weigh the amount of carrots needed for the scones (making sure to incude a nice amount of thyme leaves) and chop them. Set aside.

golden mix

How to make the scones Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle flour over the surface.

Take the browned butter out of the fridge and let it soften slightly while you prepare the other ingredients. Measure the flours and set aside a tablespoon or so to flour the pieces of candied ginger, so they stay separate when you add them to the dough at the end. Put the rest of the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar into the food processor fitted with steel blade. Cut butter into pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times for several seconds until the flour mix resembles coarse meal.

Add the chopped carrots to the food processor and continue pulsing until you see that the carrots have been finely chopped into the flour mix, which will turn into a delicate golden color (see photo above).

Pour dry ingredients into a bowl. Add the floured candied ginger and stir to distribute. In a small bowl, whisk together _ricotta_ and kefir, then add them to the drier mix. Stir with a spatula until ingredients are just combined.

Turn dough onto the lined baking sheet and, with your hands, shape into a 1/2-inch thick square. With a bench scrape, cut into four lengthwise and then crosswise to get 16 small squares. With the help of the bench scrape, separate the pieces, so that they are at least one inch apart. If the corner pieces are much smaller than the rest, join them, so youll end up with 14-15 scones of comparable size.

Bake for 16 minutes, then check the bottom of one scone: if it is golden brown, they are ready, otherwise, bake for another two minutes and check again. In my experience, these scones take a bit longer to bake than other types of scones I made with the same base recipe, so besides checking the bottom, I also tap on the top to make sure it is crisp, before deciding that the scones are ready and I let them sit for a minute on the baking sheet before moving them onto a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature (_temperatura ambiente_).

These scones are perfect for breakfast and I like to serve them for dinner as well, as a bread substitute, with creamy homemade kefir cheese or a spread, like my roasted red pepper and almond dip. As I said above: they are simply irresistible.

Once cooled completely, the scones can be frozen. When I want to serve them, I put them straight in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes.

This is my contribution to the current edition of COOK THE BOOKS, hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. You can find the guidelines for participating in the event here, and here is the announcement.

------------------------- I am contributing my scones also to the May edition of Bake With Love! (formerly Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Roxana of Roxanas Homebaking.

------------------------- Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

_scone alle carote arrosto_

or launch the _scone alle carote arrosto_ audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

scone, carrot, ginger

experimenting on the kneading board

I am determined: One day, I will invent a new pasta shape. As an intermediate step, I have created an innovative variation of an existing pasta shape called _fainelle_. I decided to give my pasta a different name, because it is made quite differently from the inspiring one (see details below).¹

According to my source, the "Encyclopedia of Pasta" by Oretta Zanini De Vita, _fainelle_ are typical of Foggia (Puglia). The word _fainella_ in dialect refers to the fruit of the carrob tree (in Italian, _carruba_), to which the pasta shape resembles. I was not able to find a reference to it outside of the page in Zanini De Vitas book, so the idea I have is based on the drawing and the text on that page.

_Fainelle_ belong to the _strascinati_ family of pasta shapes and are made with a _sferre_: "A typical knife of Puglia used to make many types of pasta. It has no handle, so it can also be used horizontally to make long _strascinati_." To approximate the shape, I decided to roll the dough with one of the pieces of dowel I had purchased during my experiments to make _garganelli_. I realized that using a mini rolling pin meant my pasta would not be a type of _strascinato_. (A _sferre_ is now officially on my wish list.)

The result reminded me of a patch made of cloth, in Italian _pezza_. I made a couple of _pezze_ and then the presence on my working surface of my _gnocchi_ board gave me the idea of rolling the pieces of pasta dough on it to get a ridged surface and _pezze rigate_ were born.

Then I thought about a variation: instead of placing the cylinder of dough parallel to the board grooves, I placed it a bit angled and as a result the ridges on the surface of the _pezza_ came out oblique.

You can see my hands at work on both versions in this short video:

Based on Zanini De Vitas description of the flours used for this pasta shape, I decided to make a blend of whole-wheat flour and semolina flour. I could have used _farina di grano arso_, also mentioned in the book, but I wanted to vary.

first batch of pezze

I am reading a cookbook for an upcoming review that is all about using flowers in the kitchen. I had some calendulas (_calendule_) I had obtained to make one of the books recipes and I added some of their petals (_petali_) to the pasta dough.

with calendula petals

_Pezze rigate_ are probably not the best choice to show off the use of flowers in the kitchen, but it was an interesting experiment and I will certainly work more on the idea.

Ingredients for the pasta:

* EITHER 25 g / 1 oz. stone-ground whole-wheat flour + 75 g / 2.5 oz. semolina flour of good quality * OR 100 g / 3.5 oz. semolina flour of good quality * 50 g / 1.75 oz. warm water (I recommend weighing the water) * A pinch of salt HOW TO MAKE THE DOUGH AND SHAPE _PEZZE RIGATE_ Make a dough with the pasta ingredients and knead until nice and smooth. Let the dough rest, well wrapped to avoid drying, for half an hour or so.

Shape the dough into a thick roll, then cut it into 5-6 pieces and shape each one into a roll about 3/8 inch (1 cm) in diameter. Cut each roll into approximately 1 1/2-inch (4 cm) long pieces, then place each cylinder on the gnocchi board with the long sides either parallel to the boards grooves or slightly angled. Run the mini rolling pin — a piece of dowel of 3/8 inch (1 cm) or 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) in diameter — over the piece of dough 2-3 times to thin it and "stamp" it. The resulting _pezza rigata _will be about 2 inches long. Lay out to dry ridged side up on a surface lightly dusted with flour.

Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Lightly dust the gnocchi board as needed to prevent the dough from sticking too tightly when you roll it.

ready for the fork

COOK THE PASTA Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, then toss the _pezze rigate_ in it (what in Italian we call: _buttare giù la pasta_). The time needed to cook is a bit variable, depending on the size of _pezze_, how dry they are, etc. Taste and stop the cooking when the pasta is ready. Pour a glass of cold water in the pot, stir and drain the _pezze_.

Place in a bowl, distribute some _sugo di pomodoro (_tomato sauce), reheated if necessary, and toss. Finally, sprinkle some _Parmigiano-Reggiano_ on top and serve immediately.

Alternatively, while the pasta is cooking, place a few tablespoons of the tomato sauce in a small skillet and warm it up. Drain the pasta and drop it into the skillet with the sauce. Stir well over medium-low heat for a minute. Sprinkle some of the cheese and stir one last time. Plate and sprinkle a bit more cheese on the top. Serve immediately.

The recipe makes two small portions (served as Italian first course).

I will add this recipe to my growing collection of pasta shapes. Please, do let me know if you try your hand at making any of them.

1 If you are aware of another pasta shape that is similar to (or the same as) what I made, please let me know.

------------------------- This is my contribution to the current edition of Pasta Please, a new pasta-centric event created by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes and hosted this month by Simona of briciole . The theme this month is: homemade pasta.

You have until May 28 to link to your contribution in this post.

------------------------- The top photo is my second contribution to edition #84 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted this week by Simona of briciole.

The photo was shot in color and then converted to black and white (Lightroom preset Split Tone 1).

On this page, you can find out who is hosting the current and future editions of the event.

------------------------- Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

_pezze rigate_

or launch the _pezze rigate_ audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

handmade pasta, semolina flour, whole-wheat flour, Italian cuisine

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scatola di biscotti / cookie tin

annuncio / announcement: Pasta Please

_[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]_

the photo could be better, but the scones are perfect

The recipe started with yet another batch of small red beets freshly harvested and promptly roasted. It went on with an apple too large to eat all as my breakfast. En route, it picked up some fresh dill (_aneto_) and to complete the party, it invited pistachios to join: what a success!

I had a hard time setting up this shooting session, even within the realm of my minimalist style of food photography. I baked four batches of these scones and every time, my camera wanted to be outside, focusing on large landscapes rather than small edibles.

On the other hand, the scones have a kind of rough beauty that comes across in the photos and that I find quite attractive. I like that the color is not uniform, but somewhat marbled. Above all, I like how the scones taste.

I keep using the same scone recipe, making small adjustments to accommodate each variation I come up with.

Ingredients (see my previous post for additional information on the original recipe and the ingredients; overall, I halved the quantities of the original recipe):

* 3 1/2 tablespoons (1.75 oz.) unsalted browned butter (or 4 tablespoon unsalted butter and no _ricotta_) * 2 tablespoons buckwheat flour + 2 tablespoons cornmeal + enough all-purpose flour to make 1 cup OR 1 cup (130 g) all-purpose flour * 1/2 cup (65 g) whole-wheat pastry flour * 1/2 tablespoon baking powder * 1/4 teaspoon baking soda * 3/8 teaspoon sea salt * 1 teaspoon ultra-fine or granulated sugar * 1/4 cup grated roasted red beet (use the medium side of your grater) * 1/4 cup grated apple (use the extra-coarse side of your grater) * 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh dill (_aneto_) * 1/2 tablespoon _ricotta_ or cream cheese or plain kefir cheese * 1/2 cup (120 ml) homemade kefir; original recipe alternatives: buttermilk (_latticello_), plain yogurt or sour cream (low-fat or non-fat is fine) * 1/4 cup (1 oz.) roasted and lightly salted pistachios, chopped HOW TO ROAST BEETS Preheat the oven to 375 F. Rinse and scrub well beets, then wrap each in foil, place on a baking sheet, and bake until easily pierced with a knife. Alternatively, place clean beets in a baking pan or dish, add 1/4 inch of water to the pan and cover tightly with foil or dishs lid, then proceed as with the other method. Let beets cool until easy to handle, then slip off the skin.

Note: If you are like me and prefer to buy bunches of beets with their greens still attached, cut the greens an inch above the beet, then proceed with the preparation. I usually bake a number of beets at a time, for efficiencys sake. There are many ways you can use them, for example, this soup or this spread. I also set aside the greens to make a _frittata_ or to add to kale in this dish. And I prepare the stalks in this way.

HOW TO MAKE THE SCONES The procedure I follow is also a bit different from the original recipe.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle flour over the surface.

Take the browned butter out of the fridge and let it soften slightly while you prepare the other ingredients. Grate red beet and apple. Measure ingredients number 2 through 8 and put into the food processor fitted with steel blade. Cut butter into pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times for several seconds until the flour mix resembles coarse meal. Due to the red beet, it will be pink.

Pour dry ingredients into a bowl, add apple and dill. In a small bowl, whisk together ricotta and kefir, then add them to the drier mix. Stir with a spatula a couple of times, then add the pistachios. Stir briefly until ingredients are just combined.

Turn dough onto the lined sheet and shape into a 1/2-inch thick square. With a bench scrape, cut into four lengthwise and then crosswise to get 16 small squares. With the help of the bench scrape, separate the pieces, so that they are at least one inch apart. If the corner pieces are much smaller than the rest, join them, so youll end up with 14-15 scones of comparable size.

Bake for 15 minutes, then check the bottom of one scone: if it is golden brown, they are ready, otherwise, bake for another two minutes and check again. When ready, move them onto a rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

marbled, fragrant, excellent scones

These scones are perfect for breakfast and I like to serve them for dinner as well, as a bread substitute, with creamy homemade kefir cheese or a spread.

Once cooled completely, the scones can be frozen. When I want to serve them, I put them straight in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes.

This is my contribution to edition #383 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyns Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week by Simona of briciole (that is, me). _This post contains the roundup of the event._

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

_scone con barbabietola rossa, mela e pistacchi_

or launch the _scone con barbabietola rossa, mela e pistacchi_ audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

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scone, red beet, apple, kefir, pistachio

_PER I LETTORI ITALIANI _

la foto non è gran che, ma gli scone sono perfetti

_La ricetta comincia con un po di piccole barbabietole rosse appena raccolte che ho subito cotto al forno. Continua con una mela un po troppo grossa per essere mangiata tutta per colazione. Per strada, dà un passaggio a dellaneto fresco e per completare la festa invita dei pistacchi tostati. Il risultato: un successo!_

_ Ho avuto un po di difficoltà a fare foto, anche nel mio stile minimalista. Ho preparato gli scone quattro volte e ogni volta la mia macchina fotografica voleva essere allaperto e puntare a vasti paesaggi piuttosto che a piccoli oggetti commestibili._ _Daltra parte, questi scone hanno una loro bellezza rustica che le foto mostrano bene e che io personalmente trovo molto attraente. Mi piace il fatto che il colore non sia uniforme ma un po marmorizzato. E soprattutto mi piace il sapore di questi scone._

_Continuo ad usare la mia ricetta base degli scone e faccio piccoli cambiamenti per adattarla a ciascuna variazione che invento._

_Ingredienti (vedi il mio post precedente per ulteriori informazioni riguardanti la ricetta originale e gli ingredienti; ho dimezzato le quantità della ricetta originale):_

* _ 50 g burro nocciola (oppure 57 g di burro normale e non usare la ricotta)_ * _2 cucchiai [30 ml] farina di grano saraceno + [30 ml] fioretto di mais + abbastanza farina di grano per arrivare a 130 g, oppure 130 g di farina di grano_ * _65 g farina integrale fina (da dolci)_ * _1/2 cucchiaio (7,5 ml) lievito per dolci_ * _1/4 cucchiaino bicarbonato di soda_ * _3/8 cucchiaino sale fino_ * _1 cucchiaino zucchero bianco fine_ * _1/4 tazza (60 ml) barbabietola rossa cotta in forno e grattugiata con la grattugia a buchi medi o grossi_ * _1/4 tazza (60 ml) mela grattugiata con la grattugia a buchi grossi (un quarto di una mela medio-grossa)_ * _1 cucchiaino aneto fresco tritato_ * _1/2 cucchiaio (7,5 ml) ricotta o formaggio cremoso_ * _120 ml kefir fatto in casa; la ricetta originale offre varie alternative: latticello, yogurt bianco o panna acida (va bene anche parzialmente scremato o magro)_ * _30 g pistacchi tostati e leggermente salati, tritati_ COME CUOCERE LE BARBABIETOLE ROSSE Scaldare il forno a 190 C. Pulire bene la barbabietola (o barbabietole), avvolgere in pellicola di alluminio, porle su una lastra da forno e cuocerle in forno fino a quando è facile perforarla con una lama. Lasciar intiepidire e poi rimuovere la buccia.

_Nota: Se siete come me e preferite comprare barbabietole con ancora attaccate le foglie, tagliate i gambi 2-3 cm sopra alla radice e poi proseguite con la preparazione. Di solito cuocio un certo numero di barbabietole per volta, per amor di efficienza. Potete usarle in diversi modi, a parte quello descritto in questo post (per esempio, questa zuppa o questa crema da spalmare). Io utilizzo le foglie per fare una frittata o insieme al cavolo riccio in questo gratin. E gli steli li preparo in questo modo._

COME PREPAREARE GLI SCONE _La mia procedura è un po diversa da quella descritta nella ricetta originale._

_Scaldare il forno a 218 C. Foderare una lastra da forno con un tappetino di silicone per forno o carta da forno e spargere un po di farina sulla superficie. Togliere dal frigorifero il burro nocciola e farlo ammorbidire leggermente mentre preparate gli altri ingredienti. _

Grattugiare barbabietola e mela. Misurare gli ingredienti dal numero 2 all8 e metterli nel robot con la lama dacciaio. Tagliare a pezzi il burro e aggiungerlo agli ingredienti. Pulsare un po di volte per diversi secondi per sabbiare. La barbabietola rossa fa diventare il composto rosa.

_Versare gli ingredienti secchi in una ciotola, aggiungere mela e aneto. In una ciotola piccola, mescolare ricotta e kefir e poi aggiungerli agli ingredienti secchi. Con una spatole, mescolare brevemente, poi aggiungere i pistacchi. Mescolare solo fino a quando si ha un impasto coeso. _

_Rovesciare limpasto sulla lastra foderata e dargli la forma di un quadrato spesso 1,25 cm. Con un raschietto, tagliare il quadrato in quattro per lungo e per largo in modo da ottenere 16 quadretti. Con laiuto del raschietto, separare i quadretti in modo che siano distanti almeno 2,5 cm. Se i quadretti dangolo sono molto più piccoli degli altri, uniteli a due a due in modo da avere 14-15 scone di dimensioni simili._

_Infornare e cuocere per 15 minuti, poi controllare il fondo di uno scone: se è bello dorato, gli scone sono pronti. Se no, cuocere per un altro paio di minuti e controllare di nuovo. Quando sono pronti, trasferirli su una griglia e servirli caldi o a temperatura ambiente._

marmorizzati, fragranti, buonissimi

_Questi scone sono ottimi per colazione e a me piace anche servirli per cena, al posto del pane, con formaggio di kefir cremoso o una crema salata da spalmare._

_Una volta raffreddati, surgelo sempre una parte degli scone. Quando poi voglio servirli, li metto direttamente in forno riscaldato a 175 C per 10 minuti._

_Questo post è il mio contributo alledizione numero 383 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyns Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di briggishome, e ospitata questa settimana da Simona di briciole (che poi sarei io)._

Questo post contiene il raccolto dellevento.