Pittule from Apulia

Today I want to recommend the Facebook page ricette di Nina because it is full of gorgeous recipes, most quite traditional, other more imaginative but all tasty and innovative.

Among them there’s the recipe of Pettole from Apulia, which are pretty much the same of the zeppole from Naples.

In Apulia this is a traditional preparation of holidays periods of Autumn, when the new wine is ready.
Ingredients are simple: flour, salt, yeast and water and sometimes even boiled potatoes. That’s all. Simple to make and even easier to eat.

In Naples they’re generally a street food that you can eat while walking .

Frying pettole at the Pettole Festival in the town of Noci

In Apulia, however, the preparation is almost a ritual occasion to gather the whole family around the kitchen, where the family mama frys these simple but delicious pancakes.

In few seconds they go from the pan into the mouth of some of the presents, immediately, without any seasoning or just sweetened or salted, depending on people taste, or dipped in honey, must or figs wine.
It’s said that ... pettole attract the new wine.
What do you think, might be true?

Crisp-coated fried fish, fine and good

Sardines and anchovies are a kind of fish we call blue fish in Italy, good anch cheep almost everywhere on the shores of the Mediterranean.
We cook and eat them from very ancient times.
This magic name, blue fish, comes from the habit of these fish to attend the azure waters close to the shore at certain times of the year, reproduction time, the time of loves.
The ancient Mediterranean people were fishing near the coasts and therefore they were consumers of these oily fish, as even today.
A healthy diet if the fish come from clean waters 

Sardines are the main ingredient of many recipes. Among these one of the best is this: sardine and anchovy breaded and fried.

In this version, I have used for breading, instead of the usual bread crumbs, other ingredients that give to sardines a different taste and color making this dish, not only good but even nice.

Ingredients for 4 people: 8 Sardines , 1 or 2 eggs, about 2Tbs water , 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup black sesame seeds, 1/2 cup blonde sesame seeds, 1/2 cup plain cornflakes chopped, 1/2 cup chopped peanut, olive oil for frying.

Clean the sardines, open them and gently pull out backbones. Spread fish flat, rince, drain and dry them with a towel. This cleaning could be done also some few days before frying, if you decide that fish will be frozen to guarantee against Anisakis, the parasite so prevalent in most fish today.
However, since we 're going to cook our sardines freezing is not absolutely necessary here.

Prepare everything for breading fish. Place flour in a shallow dish. Beat eggs and water in a small bowl and prepare peanuts, sesame seeds etc in separate shallow dishes.
Now dip well fish in four to coat both sides, then after removing excess flour dip in beaten eggs and let drip excess eggs and at last dip them well in the final breading, black or blonde sesame seeds or chopped peanuts or cornflakes, pressing coating with a fork or by hand on both sides of fish.

Fry gently fish in hot oil until crisp, place it on paper toweling to absorb excess oil and then serve your sardines with lemon wedges.  

Kolòkitho keftédes

Polpettine greche di zucchine e Feta  (Κολοκυθοκεφτέδες με φέτα)

Queste polpette sono uno dei miei piatti preferiti. Spesso sono anche servite tra i mezédes

Image from nostimada.gr

Ingredients for 4 people: 700gr small and temder zucchini, 2 medium and white onions, bunch of parsley, a bunch of mint, 3 o 4 bread slices, 1 garlic ( il you like it), 300gr of Feta cheese, 2 eggs, grated lemon peel, some spoon of white flour, a pinch of instant baking powder, salt and pepper,olive oil for frying.

Grate the zucchini on a coarse grater and leave in colander after the brining to strain. Finely chop the onions, mint and parsley. Finely chop Feta cheese that you can substitute with another kind of cheese you have at home.
Put in a bowl zucchini and chopped herbs. Mix the flour with the baking powder and add to the mixture with also eggs and mix everything together. Stirring constantly, add a pinch of baking powder, salt an pepper.
Please note that usually the feta cheese is already a little salty If you want to give to your croquettes a fine round shape, it's better to add also the bread, soaked first in water and then crushed. Otherwise don't use it but in this case, shape them with the help of 2 spoons just when you throw them in the frying pan.

Fry in a pan with not too hot olive oil is and turn them when they are cooked on one side. Garnish with a few slices of lemon. They are delicious served with the Lebneh or other Greek salad like Tzatzik, aside.

Banana Yoshimoto e la Tempura di patate dolci

I really like Banana Yoshimoto

I like the way she writes, but especially what she writes. His sensitivity and ability or willingness to give importance to what we call coincidences, to memories and the way they are revived and recalled in our mind as well as the unusual textures and her writing style so feminine.

She is one of the few writers that continues to intrigue me and that moves my deep and also cathartic thoughts. Her writings leverage aspects of myself that are certainly deep and often unconscious or dormant.

When rading her books, my subconscious relaxes and does fanciful dreams, completely original, that have nothing to do with the stories of Banana, and talk me about me

New thoughts, sometimes also far from the Western and Italian feelings and wrapped in dark and also hilarious scenarios at the same time that they are part of human life . In each tale, quite often some episodes take place in the kitchen, in a restaurant or in a cafeteria and even in some tipical places where to eat quick snacks traditional Japanese or Western.

Most of Banana Yoshimoto's books are now also in ebook format.

Just yesterday I was reading a short story part of "The body knows everything" where the main character, while thinking about her mother remembers tenderly the sweet potato tempura that her mother used to make when she was a little girl. Somthing she was fond of.

A few hours later I went out to buy something for dinner and I found casually sweet potatoes at the supermarket, medium sized and fresh. Was it a coicidence?

I just could not give up ...

Sweet potatoes Tempura

For the batter : 160ml cold water, 100gr. flour for tempura or a mixture of rice flour and corn starch or potato, oil for frying ( peanut oil , corn or sunflower)

For the sauce; 100ml of cold water, 3 tablespoons light soy sauce, 3 tablespoons mirin, A little grated fresh ginger (optional)
 

Wash and scrub well the sweet potatoes and cut them into slices without peeling, then put them to soak in cold water to eliminate any bitter taste.
Before frying, dry them well. The preparation of the batter is the most important part in tempura. In a bowl, briefly stir with iced sparkling water, with few ice cubes added, the special flour for tempura (if you have at home, after having sifted, or the rice and starch flour mixture.
This batter should not become sticky.

Heat oil for frying bringing it to about 160°C.
Lightly flour the slices of potatoes and then dip them quickly into the batter, just before to put them in the hot oil.
After a while, give them a pat to understand at what point of cooking they are and if the batter has already hardened remove from the pan and continue frying all other potatoes.

Frying in this way must let ingredient of a clear golden color. Arrange on a pretty plate, and apart, serve the sauce in a small bowl.

Chopsticks are a must.

I've lost the pictures, but I'll do better next time.

Frittelle di Salvia

Oggi avrei voglia di coccole, anzi di una coccola particolare.

Vorrei che qualcuno cucinasse per me della Salvia fritta, fatta bene e curata in modo speciale.

Spesso questi bocconcini me li preparo da me e mi diverto pure nel prepararli, ma oggi no, non ho per niente voglia di darmi da fare in cucina.

E poi non ho delle belle foglie fresche di Salvia, carnose ed abbastanza grandi per questo piatto. Infatti  ho acquistato per ben due volte già una piantina di questa meravigliosa erba aromatica ma entrambe le volte non ha attecchito e si è tutta rinsecchita. 

Allora, credo proprio che mi dovrò accontentare di raccontarvi una ricetta antica un po' particolare per le spezie che contiene e che a me pare buonissima. Ci è arrivata  dal Maestro Martino di Como che ha scritto nel XV secolo.

Frictelle de Salvia

Piglia un poco di fiore di farina, e distemperala con ova et zuccaro, et un poca di canella et zafrano perchè sia gialla; et habi de le foglie de salvia integre, et ad una ad una l'integnirai o involterai in questa tale compositione, frigendole nel strutto o in bono olio.

E le dosi? ... sono inutili, sono un optional!

Quale scalco, quale massaia del 1400 non è in grado di regolarsi da sé?