A good Chianti!

Chianti Vepri

Siro e Clio Cicogni

The winery is located at Ambra, in the Chianti area of Valdichiana.
Its name come from the quaint village of Vepri that borders one side of the property. This country has ancient pre-Roman roots and a special vocation for wine.
C conducted by Clio Cicogni who in 2010 bought an old vineyard of 15 hectares, abandoned from several years and immediately decided its conversion to organic farming.
The family Cicogni has a tradition in the field of milling wheat for bread (5 generations). Since 1976 developed the sector of cereals and in the past 14 years begun the production of organic feeds, and more recently converted the mill to exclusive organic production. (see website).

Clafoutis

The Clafoutis is a typical dessert of the Limousin, a region of south-central France whose territory is situated around the Massif Central and that includes 3 departments: Corrèze, Creuse and Haute-Vienne

 The original Clafoutis is only made with cherries, although today quite often the same name is used also for other desserts which in fact should be called Flaugnarde and that are prepared with the same method but  with different fruits such as apricots or plums, apples, pears, blackberries, peaches, plums, etc..

The term Clafoutis derives from the occitan dialect verb claufir, that means to fill and come from Latin clavum ficere = to fill of points similar to nails ( that are in this case the sweet cherries).

image from Wikipedia

The Clafoutis or Clafouti is a cake made with cherries and pancakes batter.
It is a very popular dessert in France but it's not rare to find others similar to it, as the cake called millard in Auvergne.

Tuscan Panzanella

Tuscan Panzanella is a salad made with stale unsalted bread from Tuscany, onion and tomatoes.
Its name could be a familiar short of the word panzana, a term used to indicate the usual meal: a way to say pap.

image from www.theblackfig.com

Further south in Italy, in Cilento, this salad of dried bread and vegetables is usually called Caponata or Caponatina and as bread are used the Friselle, those slices of toasted bread well known and available all over the eastern Mediterranean.

This type of preparation is now popular in most of the italian peninsula and, they told me also in the Sicilian province of Enna: each place has got time to create some local legend about its source.

In Lebanon and Palestine is very much liked a veggie salad, the Fatousha, made with Arab or pita bread, dried and broken.

Hasselback Potatoes

In Sweden these potatoes are called Hasselbackspotatis, name derived from the restaurant where they were created and served first in 1940: the 3 centuries old Hasselbacken Restaurant in Stockholm.

The recipe is simple.
Its gorgeous taste depends from the special way potatoes are cut, a shape that requires some care.
So prepared, potatoes become crispy outside and very soft inside.

Ingredients for 6 persons: 12 medium potatoes, 40g of melted butter, 2 tablespoons of olive oil,salt and bread crumbs.

Gazpacho Andaluz

Isabel Gonzales in his book Round ricos de Comida, Comida pobre writes:  

Sòlo decis que hay tantos gazpachos como pueblos incluso come familia, pues cada una le da su toque, su punto especial, quie es, desde luego, el mejor. Los gaszpachos veraniegos, ya sean majados o no, pues tutavia hay quien sigue majando y no por ello ha de ser octogenario, se hacen, cuando menos, a base de tomate, pimiento, pan, ajo, sal aceite y vinagre. Segùn los casos, les pueden anadir otros ingredientes. 
(There are many gazpacho many villages or families, everyone gives his special touch, which of course is the best. Gaszpachos the summer, which may or may not be purées without necessarily intended to be an octogenarian, prepare at least with tomato, pepper, bread, garlic, salt, oil and vinegar.Depending on the circumstances, you can add other ingredients.)

This is the queen of cold soups, a salvation for appetite in hot summer days

Ingredients: 1kg of Ripe red tomatoes, 2 green peppers, a cucumber average, a clove of garlic (optional), Mollica Bread or Crackers Corn, Olive oil, a tablespoon of vinegar, 3/4 of a liter of water and salt.

Lebanese Rice with Apricot Compote

I combined the recipe for Lebanese Rice&Milk  with an easy apricot compote to get a fresh and delicious dessert that fits well in the heat of these days

Ingredients for 6 servings: about 125g of small grain rice or basmati rice, the same volume of water, 1 liter of milk, 150g  sugar (preferably raw and cane sugar), 2 tablespoons scented water (orange blossom or thousand flowers), 1 kg of apricots cleaned and without stones, juice of 1 lemon, 300g of water.

Lebanese Rice&Milk

Ingredients: 3.5 ìl. of milk, 200g rice, 50g of orange flower water, 20g of cold water, 500g of sugar

Heat milk in a saucepan and add the rice when boiling.
Let boil gently for about 50 minutes.
So turn up heat and stir constantly until it becomes thick and dense.

Finally add orange scent water and sugar and let it boil longer.
Pour into a bowl or on a large individual dish and let it cool.
Serve garnished with a fruit compote.