La Recette du Jour

Taste & Create has come round again already, and I haven't even posted anything since last time! This time it's a different kind of challenge: Nicole emailed me to say my partner's blog is entirely in Italian! I should have guessed from the title ... Ma che ti sei mangiato.

Still, since I know French, Latin, and a smidgin of Spanish, and I've been to Italy a couple of times, how difficult could it be? I love Italian food, so I have a pretty good vocabulary of food items, and I can usually understand the gist of what Italians are saying to me once I'm fortified with a couple of glasses of wine. So I set forth to explore.

Honestly, with the aid of the photos there were loads of recipes that appealed to me enough to make the effort to understand them (a little Babelfish was required here and there). But I decided to start with a really simple one for which I fortuitously had all the ingredients: leek risotto. It was simplicity itself to make, and I liked the result, even if Steve wasn't so keen (he thought it was too sweet, but I think I reduced the wine a bit too much). Sorry about the photos, risotto just isn't photogenic, but it tasted good! Look for at least a couple more recipes from Rosella soon, and thank you Nicole for the introduction!

Another recipe from Rossella's Ma che ti sei mangiato. I didn't have any courgettes unfortunately, and I think it would have been better with. Next time I will roast and peel the pepper first for a more intense flavour. Quick to make, and vegetarian.

... or goodbye bread machine. There's been a growing buzz about this book on the web and I finally managed to get a copy last week. I've made one batch of dough so far and while the results are not perfect yet, they are startlingly good for such a low-effort method. They are certainly far better than any bread machine bread I've tasted.

Basically you make a large batch of rather sloppy dough using unbleached plain flour (not bread flour), and store it in a bucket in the fridge (no kneading; just mix it all together). When you want some bread, pull off a lump, shape it, and let it rest at room temperature for an hour, before putting it in the oven. Half an hour later, fresh crusty bread!

You can keep the dough for up to two weeks; my first batch lasted five days, and the last loaf I made with it had a pleasant sourdough flavour and improved texture compared to the first one.