Crumbs on the Table -- stories about food

Ciambelline al vino: red wine and aniseed biscuits

January 23, 2019 Leave a Comment

These are one of my most memorable culinary discoveries of last year, and one of the best cookies I’ve had in a lifetime (which is saying something — just ask my thighs). Crunchy, just-sweet, and deliciously fragrant, ciambelline al vino (‘little rings of wine’) have a long tradition in the regions of Italy from Rome to Tuscany, where they have been made for generations from a few ingredients that are plentiful, cheap and often home-produced: namely wine, olive oil and aniseed or fennel seed. They are made very differently from the more familiar cantuccini and other biscotti, but they fill a similar niche as they too are versatile keeping-biscuits designed to be enjoyed with something drinkable.

The alchemy of such simple yet characterful ingredients produces a flavour so complex, deep and satisfying it is almost indecent. Whether you dip them in wine as the locals do to finish a meal, or crumble one with an espresso to start (or re-start) the day, I honestly don’t think it’s possible to avoid a transcendent moment. And strange as it might sound for something so more-ish, one is so good, that one is good enough. It takes a little time to snap and crunch through a single bijou ring, and then there are all those little shimmers of sugar and sweet herbal seeds to savour…. I may be wrong, but I think these biscuits are unlikely to be your ruin, though they are undeniably addictive, especially as a batch keeps beautifully for many days; and in fact their aniseed flavour develops over time. [Read More…]

Umbrian baked rigatoni with sausage and peas

January 8, 2019 Leave a Comment

This luscious baked pasta dish was served to us as a primo piatto (‘first plate’ or first course) on our summer holiday in Umbria. Pasta al forno bianca con salsiccia e piselli is rigatoni dressed with a parmesan-rich white-sauce flavoured with the excellent sausage of the region and lightened with peas.

We fell in love with it, and upon our return to England set out to recreate it. Fellow tasters agree: it’s delicious. Wonderfully creamy without being heavy, it’s light enough for a summer’s evening, yet substantial enough for a warming winter meal. The textures, as much as the tastes, are heavenly: creamy sauce, bite from the pasta, pop from the peas, a crumble of sausage every other mouthful, and the crunch of burnished cheese on top.The sausage element acts more as a flavouring agent than a hearty ingredient in its own right, lending its important qualities, but without dominating the cheese sauce and pasta; and the peas are just as important as the sausage in that wonderful Italian way where vegetables are never relegated to low-status, however ‘ordinary’.

We’ve mostly enjoyed this lovely dish as a meal in itself with nothing more than a salad, but have also served it as presented to us in Umbria, in modest starter-portions followed by a simply grilled piece of meat or fish. This Italian way of enjoying pasta as a ‘first plate’ is a nice way to have a little of what you fancy without as many calories. Being a baked (al forno ) pasta dish makes it brilliantly convenient to make ahead, as well.

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Cinnamon rolls, twists and wreaths: one recipe, four shapes

December 18, 2018 Leave a Comment

Breakfast for us kids on Christmas morning was always cinnamon rolls: the soft, billowy kind with a simple filling of brown sugar and cinnamon and a sugary glaze, sometimes flavoured with orange, sometimes ‘regular’. We would eat from the outside, unwinding the layers bit by bit until the gloriously soft, sweet centre was left, saving the best for last.

Sometimes they were made from scratch, and sometimes they were the novelty kind from the supermarket, packaged in a cardboard tube designed to be smacked on the edge of the counter to open (what fun!), and then peeled one by one onto the baking tray. I still recall the smell: yeast, cinnamon and something chemical. For us youngsters it seemed the height of luxury to have this hi-tech alternative to homemade (and wiser Mom didn’t mind as she was a tad busy with everything else). We smile at those canned cinnamon rolls now in the same way we do at pop tarts and old hairstyles, with nostalgic respect for our former selves, but relief we’ve moved on. [Read More…]

Toscakaka: Scandinavian caramelised almond cake

December 15, 2018 Leave a Comment

This is a cake beyond the ordinary. I encountered Toscakaka (Tosca cake) years ago in Norway, where it is well-loved throughout the year. I associate it mostly with Christmas, however, as the best I had there was baked by a lovely woman named Elsa, who worked in the office of the student accommodation where I stayed. Elsa came to be a friend, and invited me to her home at Christmas time where she served a delicious Bergen fisksuppe and this memorable cake. The house smelled of caramel and toasted almond, and I remember the rapture of my first crunch through that sensational topcoat into the tender sponge.

I also had a favourite café in Bergen that had picture-windows overlooking the harbour, where I would sit with my notebook and a cup of coffee, and invariably a slice of this cake. I remember one magical winter afternoon there, dark as night, when snowflakes filled those windows with mesmerising whirls of sparkle and a tea light on the table charmed me with its gently dancing light.

That was the year I learned to appreciate winter. The Norwegians know how to make the dark days cosy, with a philosophical outlook, generosity with candles (lit the moment the light fades) and lovely things to eat. This was koselig — what the Swedes and Danes call hygge — and it taught me to love a season I had always wished away.
I encountered this wonderful recipe for Toscakaka years later through Emma Gardner, who bakes it from Signe Johansen’s recipe. Making it always brings a bit of Norsk koselig into the house. Emma recounts the praises sung for this cake by family and friends she’s shared it with, and those descriptions remind me of my encounter with it at Elsa’s: it looks like it’s going to be really good, but how good it is still takes one by surprise.

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Umbrian chickpea and pasta soup

November 1, 2018 2 Comments

We learned to make this deliciously flavoured and hearty soup in Perugia, Umbria from two companionable ladies who have been making it for many years, and eating it for longer. Of all the local dishes we learned to make with Nonie and Tita, this is the one I’ve made several times since, with the Umbrian-grown chickpeas we brought home with us while stocks lasted, and latterly with ones imported from elsewhere. It’s a keeper: simple to make, nutritious and economical, filling without being too caloric, extremely satisfying and interesting — it tastes even better the day after it’s made (and freezes well, too). It exactly suits my requirements at the moment, making a reluctant entry into winter a little easier to bear.

Using the cooking liquid from the chickpeas as the basis of the broth adds so much flavour, and makes one appreciate how good chickpeas (‘ceci’ in Italian) can be when they are grown well and get the attention they deserve in the kitchen. Dried chickpeas are the tastiest, but you do need to think ahead and give them a night (or day) to soak and then boil until tender before you can make this soup. As a speedy alternative you can use tinned, or for better flavour at a price, jarred chickpeas.

It’s the generous addition of rosemary, in company with garlic, bay leaf, a little chilli pepper, and an excellent olive oil, that elevates this soup from a bland bean soup to something to look forward to. As with much of the best Italian food, it relies on a few excellent ingredients, the cultural knowledge of what flavours enhance each other, and what cooking methods will bring out their best. We learned several tips and techniques from our hosts, and were astonished at the flavours they managed to extract from these few basic ingredients. [Read More…]

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