Vegie of the Day: Cardoon

Cardoon looks like huge celery, but is related to artichokes. Prepare by stripping off leaves, pull off strings, and chop into small chunks. Drop into boiling water with lemon juice in it. Let it boil 5 to 20 minutes, until cooked through. It's OK if it's still crunchy.

At this point, you can cool it and make a salad or antipasto - add oil and vinegar, or saute with garlic and onions, maybe throw in another vegetable and serve with pasta, rice, or by itself as a side dish.

I tried my first tonight, cooked with pasta, and Mmmm-Mmmm. It was pretty good!

Afternoon Tea

When Nora is home from school, we try to go to the Camellia Tea Room at least once. We have tea sandwiches, little salads, maybe scones and a pot of tea for each. She likes the lavender blue tea best, which reeks of coconut in my opinion. I have been trying out all the green teas, since they are not so available here. Today I had the Gyokuro tea, described as "Japan's finest grade of tea".

I am beginning to think that I like the tea paraphernalia more than I actually like the tea. Teapots, tea cups, silver strainers, cute little spoons - this is the stuff that makes the tea. Slurping tea made from a teabag in a mug is not the same as sipping tea made from loose tea in a one-of-a-kind teapot.

When I cleaned out my parents house last year, I made a decision: I was taking every teapot and every tea cup. And, I did. I haven't unpacked them yet, but it is beginning to look like there is a collection beginning here. I can count 12 teapots sitting on the sideboard of the china cupboard.

You need the proper teapot for a specific tea. Japanese? Chinese? English teapot? Floral, geometric, or plain? 2 cup, 4 cup, 6 cup? These are all important factors to include in the final selection decision. Of course, the final decision is usually to use "the favorite".

Ribollita

During our stay in Florence, Italy, my husband discovered a new food: Ribollita, also known as "Tuscan Soup". It became his favorite meal at restaurants, along with gnocchi.

When we returned home, I decided to try to make ribollita. This is basically a combination of leftover minestrone soup and leftover bread. True peasant food.

I googled "Ribollita", and came up with quite a few recipes. They all involved chopping up vegetables, including lots of greens, white beans, and stale bread. The true Ribollita includes black cabbage, which I don't think is available around here at all.

I chose the one that seemed to have the most potential for authenticity, the most availability of ingredients, and the shortest cooking time. The winner was a recipe from 2003 posted by dmele.

(2021 - recipe location updated)

It calls for 3 cups of greens (chard, mustard greens, or spinach), shredded, and I chose KALE, because I thought its substantial leaf would stand up to the hours of cooking involved. In addition, with the use of vegetable broth it ends up being not only vegetarian, but vegan. (More obsession on vegan cooking later.)

Preparation took about 30 minutes, cooking about 2 hours. I used the immersible blender to whiz it up a bit.

I had some day-old bread, but it didn't seem to be, well, stale, so I cubed up some of the day-old bread and left it out on the bread board for a few hours to get good and stale. I added it to the soup, cooked the soup a while longer and was surprised to see that the bread puffed up like marshmallows!! It whisked right in, giving the soup a thick consistency.

They say that the true ribollita should be thick enough to eat with a fork.

The family review was that it was GREAT. Definitely passed the test. I caught the daughter sneaking a second bowl later in the evening, which is a very good sign.