Weekend cooking project: cooking during the heatwave
Two podcast episodes about summer effortless cooking and a recipe for a fresh Tuscan panzanella with tomatoes and mozzarella.
We had planned to share a recipe to make a spicy tomato jam for the weekend cooking project, but I feel it would be a joke suggesting you spend hours next to the stove during the heatwave that is hitting Italy these days. In Sicily, we reached the highest temperature that has ever been registered in Europe. Heatwaves, fires, floods… climate change is a reality.
So I’m instead sharing two old episodes of Cooking with an Italian Accent and a quick recipe to make caprese.
Episode 1x14. Eating during the summer heatwave. If you can, stay inside during the hottest hours, wear light clothes - linen helps! - close all the shutters and the windows during the day and keep them open during the night – this is the Italian AC! – keep yourself hydrated – drink tea, granite, and water, mainly water, - and cook wisely choosing food that not only is refreshing but is also quick to make, so that you can avoid spending hours in front of the stove.Â
Episode 1x15. Fragments of summer and seasonal effortless cooking. In this episode, I share fragments of summer, of old-fashioned holidays in Puglia. I’ll also share some of my favourite recipes for effortless summer cooking.
Caprese Salad
Caprese is perhaps the dish that my mum has prepared more often in the summer since I was a child, sometimes with ox heart tomatoes, large and fleshy, sometimes with San Marzano, that I prefer when they are still slightly unripe. We have slowly brought caprese to a higher level: the oregano comes every year from the South, it is intense and balsamic, dried by the Southern sun. Now I also love tiny ciliegini, cherry tomatoes, or datterini, date tomatoes, sweet as candy, possibly in various colours: red, yellow, orange… they make such a colourful caprese!
The awareness of the importance of the mozzarella uplifted our caprese. We used to move it directly from the fridge to the plate, cut it into thick regular slices like the tomatoes. Now we know how to turn the mozzarella into the protagonist of our dinner and make it shine on the plate. The mozzarella must be removed well on time from the refrigerator, at least one hour before, so that it can return slowly to room temperature. Rather than slicing it, I prefer to tear the ball of mozzarella with my hands into small morsels to add to the tomatoes: the extra virgin olive oil, salt and oregano soak the mozzarella bites in a marriage of love.
On the blog, you also find a caprese panzanella. It is a quick and light recipe that you can make for dinner with friends or with your family now that summer comes, but it is also an excellent alternative to spoon into a Tupperware for an office lunch. The milky taste of the room temperature mozzarella emerges, exalted by the good olive oil and the vinegar. If you add morsels of mozzarella to your Tuscan panzanella you will have a light main dish made with simple ingredients which are always available to everyone.
Find the recipe for this Tuscan panzanella with tomatoes and mozzarella on the blog.
If you decide to participate in the weekend cooking project, share the results with us on social media by using the hashtag #myseasonaltable and tagging @julskitchen on Instagram. It will be a way to shorten the distance in this time of social distancing.
If you have questions about the ingredients or the recipe, if you have a special request for one of the next cooking projects, or if you just want to have a chat, just reply to this email.
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Cooking with an Italian Accent
Don’t miss the next episode on Tuesday. After our trip to the Alps, now we’re travelling southward, towards the heel of the boot of the Italian peninsula, Salento. Today’s guest is Nina Gigante, a wellness, food, and travel journalist, and a qualified holistic nutritionist. You’ll hear us talking about what is home for Nina, what she likes about Mediterranean cuisine, and what to see, where to eat, and what to buy in Lecce. Nina will also give us a tip to visit a less known turquoise lake surrounded by a Martian landscape right there, in Salento.Â
Here you can listen to the previous episodes:
Episode 2×03 | Trentino and mountain life: in conversation with Vea Carpi of Mas del Saro. We’ll be travelling to the mountains to visit my friend @mas_del_saro. She is a cook, a farmer, a sourdough baker, and she is also passionate about wool. She has a maso up in the Trentino mountains and agritourism with her family. You’ll hear us talking about bread and wool, and what they have in common, about Alpine cuisine and local ingredients, about sustainable tourism in the Alps, and day trips to Valle dei Mocheni.
Episode 2×02 – Liguria e Cinque Terre: in conversation with Enrica Monzani. We also had a live talk on IG delving into Liguria, Cinque Terre, and other Ligurian hidden gems. We talked about recipes and local products, about Genova and its street food. Listen to this conversation to discover the best vegetarian recipes of the Ligurian cuisine, and how to experience Cinque Terre in the most sustainable way. Enrica also gave us a little anticipation about the cookbook she is writing!
Episode 2×01 – Let’s celebrate: Happy (40th) Birthday Giulia! This is the first episode of our second season, a special summer edition, a short collection of 4 episodes. In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent, I switched roles and asked our friend Valentina Dainelli, known online as Toomuchtuscany, to be the host of this conversation: I felt it would have been much more interesting for you than listening to a soliloquy.
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