All posts by Marlena Spieler

Today the mercury is climbing. I’m stretched out in the garden surrounded by three panting Jack Russells and one sprawled in the shade kitty. Its humid, its beyond languid, and lets face it, too hot to cook. Luckily we have salad. And this salad is a perky one: only a few ingredients and, really, they don’t match.  You’ve got your lettuce leaves, nice for all salads and your cucumbers, good, then you’ve got your feta cheese and you’re probably thinking: oh yes, Greek salad!

Forget it, I’m grabbing a handful of Thai basil and throwing it in: aromatic,  anisey and redolant of Asia: somehow, together with the salty jolt of really good feta, it is like magic. I stuck a little chopped green onion in, too, though you could use red or white salad onions; then dressed it as if I were on a Greek island: lashings of extra virgin olive oil, and a good hit of wine vinegar.

The bowlful is all about refreshment and vibrancy and ease. Two things I recommend however: accompany by a nice hunk of good good bread like a pain levain, and if you can, bring your plate outside to the garden, or your terrace, or even into your front yard. If you have no outside access at all, eat it next to the window. The important thing that is the salad seems meant to be eaten as near to the open air as possible.

Summer Evening Salad of Lettuce, Feta, and Thai Basil

Serves 2 as a nearly main course

1 head butter letter or small green leaf lettuce, cleaned, washed and dried, separated into leaves

1/4 English cucumber, cut into thin slices

4 ounces feta cheese, cut or broken into bite sized chunks

Onion of choice: 2-3 green onions, thinly sliced, or about 1/2 red onion or mild white/yellow onion, thinly sliced

Big handful Thai basil leaves (tough stems removed); if leaves are big, coarsely tear or cut them

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

About 2 teaspoons, or to taste, white wine vinegar

Salt and pepper (the amount of salt depends upon saltiness of the feta)

Arrange the lettuce in a salad bowl or plate, and scatter the cucumber, feta cheese, basil, and onions around the bowl or plate.

Drizzle with the evoo and vinegar, salt and pepper as desired, and eat!

A little bit of everything that came out of my summer 2014 vegetable pickle jar: cauliflower, red bell pepper, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and one bay leaf!  in some jars, there are sliced jalapenos. The pickling mixture is a salt water brine plus a bit of vinegar.

They have been about 2 weeks in their pickle, and are pickle perfection right now: crisp crunchy sour and salty. Perfect for the first heatwave of the season.

The fetching little shocking pink jewels below, are diced pickled turnips: its hard to explain exactly why they are so luscious: I mean: a turnip? but oh, what happens to a turnip in its salt water and vinegar brine: it gets crisp, and tangy, and turns a flattering bright pink (from the addition of shredded beets/beetroots). I added a few cloves and a hunk of mildish hot pepper for flavour, too. You can’t tell its either clove or chile, but it just gives a bit of depth.

Both of these pickles are at their best chilled until crisp and COLD, eaten as part of a summer mezze or even breakfast: with feta or other white cheese, freshly baked bread or flatbread, sliced cucumber and maybe a handful of fresh herbs like dill, mint, tarragon, coriander. You can  just eat the pickles out of a jar–remember not to double dip your fork, you’ll want to if you’re like me–or you can put the pickles out on a plate looking really really pretty, like a summer pickle party, like this plate below which has both the pickle selection plus the pink turnips:

A snapshot of my pickle shelf: the chillies, the turnips, and behind them is the jar of mixed vegetables. Sitting in the sunshine for a few days with the light streaming through them, they are beautiful, like stained glass.

If the weather is quite sunny, however, at some point I put them into the refrigerator, or into a cool dark shelf; the heat from the sunshine on hot days is strong enough to “cook” the vegetables, and i want them to remain crisp and snappy!

And since it would be cruel of me to show you my pickles, then not tell you how to make them, following is a recipe of sorts. The important thing is 1. the size of the jars 2. the ration of the salt-water-vinegar.

And no, i never measure but will give you measurements here; after a few times you can take it way and make it your own.

My Mixed Pickles of Summer

Really, these are just a riff on giardiniera, most delicious for their freshness. These are short-keeping pickles, which should be refrigerated once ready–a few days–after starting off in a sunny window. They only keep about 2 weeks if we’re following the rules, but you know: i use so much salt in my pickles that I don’t worry about nasty bacteria–not sure they can withstand it!

About 4 jars, aprox 2 pints/ 1/2 lires each, with lids

Salt as needed (about 6-8 tablespoons)

about 1 cauliflower, broken or cut up into small bite sized florets

2-3 carrots, either sliced or cut into short sticks

2-3 celery stalks, cut into bite sized pieces

1/4 cabbage, cut into small chunks

2 red bell peppers, cut into bite sized pieces (or similar amount red romano peppers)

1-2 onions, cut into bite sized chunks

6 garlic cloves, cut into slices or slivers

a small piece of fresh chile or hot pepper, sliced, as desired

4-8 bay leaves

Optional: 1/2 tsp turmeric

Optional: about a teaspoon mustard seeds

Vinegar, any kind, as needed (about a cupfull  in total)

Prepare the jars and lids by either running through the dishwasher, or washing then pouring boiling water into each jar, taking care to place a spoon or other metal utensil in the jar to keep it from exploding or breaking.

When cool enough to handle, pour out the water.

Into each jar place about a tablespoon of salt, then start layering the vegetables, a few pieces of cauliflower, carrots, celery, cabbage and so forth, sprinkling with a bit of salt as you go until you reach the top, somewhere along the way adding the bay leaves; when you reach the top add the turmeric and mustard seeds if using.

Pour cold water over the vegetables until the liquid is about half to 2/3 way up the side of the jar, then finish up with vinegar until it reaches the top. Finish by adding a spoonful of salt to the top, then close each lid.

The vegetables will be fermenting and will be short-lived pickles; the liquid may leak, and you’ll want to open it every so often to be sure that they have enough liquid; add more water or vinegar if they don’t, and sprinkle the top with salt so that any vegetables that bob up above the liquid line won’t rot; once the top vegetables go bad, the whole jar goes bad and needs to be thrown away.

These vegetables keep about 2 weeks according to sources of safety, but really, they have so much salt in them, I feel they are safe for much longer. I have been eating through the jars for several weeks already; if there is any food biochemist out there, please let me know. I was all of us to be safe and happy, and i know we can’t be happy unless we are EATING PICKLES!

Once they have pickled themselves, keep them chilled in the fridge because they are at their best crunchy cold!

Middle Eastern Pickled Turnips

About 4  2-pint/ 1.2 litre jars (alternatively, you can use smaller jars; that way you only have one open at a time).

About: 1 kg/ 2 1/2 lbs turnips, preferably fresh and crisp; youngest are best because their insides are firm and crunchy

3-4 raw beets/beetroots or if only cooked and vacuum-packed beetroots are available, use them

About 6-8 tablespoons kosher salt

Vinegar–any kind, as needed

Optional: a few mildy spicy chillies, a few whole cloves or allspice berries per jar

Wash and peel the turnips. If you cut them into chunks they will pickle themselves pink much sooner and be easier to fish out of the jar. You can pickle them whole, it is traditional, but i have long gravitated towards the chunk sized pickles. Also its easier to put them into the jars. So after you wash and peel the turnips, cut them into thick slices or bite sized chunks, say, a little larger than a big fat grape or about the size of a quails egg, or slightly smaller than a hens egg. Or any size you want.

Prepare the jars and lids by running them through the dishwasher, which is easiest and most effective, or washing well and then pouring boiling water into each jar and lid, with a metal fork or spoon in each to conduct the heat so that the jars don’t break. I don’t have a dishwasher so i always just use boiling water.

Pour out the boiling water and you’re ready to go once the jars have cooled enough to handle.

Meanwhile, bring a lot of water to the boil; i suggest an electric kettle because i am in love with mine.

Now, into each jar place a tablespoon or two of the salt, then start to pack in the turnips and a little beets; when you get about a third of the way up, add another spoonful of salt, then continue with the turnips and beet/beetroots. Two thirds of the way up, you’ll want to add some more salt, then more turnips and beetroots. Along the way stick in the chillies and cloves or allspice berries.

When you get to the top, Pour boiling water about two thirds up, then add enough vinegar to reach the top, above the turnips.

Finish with a last spoonful of salt, then when it is cool enough, close the lid. You won’t need to do anything else. these pickles will be alive as they ferment, and every so often you will need to see what level the liquid is at, adding more water or vinegar, and topping with another bit of salt so that the vegetables, if they rise above the liquid level, are salted and therefore pickled, and not rotten. If they rot, your whole jar is spoiled.

When they are tasty and crisp, you will want to transfer them to the fridge as these salty crunchy pink jewels are at their most delicious when they are CHILLED.

It was the last day of Il Mostra Artiginati, the Firenze festival of artisanale foods. Our group of buddies–food writers Julia della Croce and Greg Patent,  Frances Mercado from Italian food website Gustiamo, and myself– decided to split into two groups for the morning then meet up in the afternoon, for lunch.

Julia and Greg were going to conduct in-depth, serious interviews with food producers; and to be honest, Frances and I were a bit more…..how shall I say? rambuncious? we just wanted to walk walk walk and taste taste taste then taste some more. We wanted to flirt with Italian guys, girl-talk with Italian women, drink a little bit of everything that required it, and pet every doggy that came our way.  In general, we wanted to treat our last day at the fair as a big italian food and life party. You can’t blame Julia and Greg for needing a little serious-journalist time without the two of us.

We started the day all together,sampling the most divine, blissful, meltingly luscious, i mean really: I’m running out of adjectives here. It was a creamy concoction of truffled gorgonzola. I was so glad I had painted my fingernails green, because the combination of my green-tipped fingers and the wonderful little tasting spoon of these cheese, made me about as happy as a person could be.

So,  meeting time and place designated, we  figured that even if we missed each other, we could text or email with GPS changes. As the fair was contained in a relatively small area, we thought it wouldn’t be possible to miss each other. And even if our two groups weren’t in contact, we knew that we would all be returning to visit this creamy, seductive cheese for more tastes, so we weren’t worried.

Which is really silly, because of course we were going to get lost. And while we all admitted to revisiting the cheese man many times in the course of the day, the reality was that we spent the afternoon playing hide and seek. Our plans for lunch and an afternoon together evolved into what felt like a film: as we found ourselves in adventure after adventure inbetween texts and scrambling around.

“We are in Sicily, sampling chocolate.” tapped out Julia. When we got there, Julia and Greg were no where to be found of course. But, THANK GOD, the chocolate was there, and abundant, and eager to be tasted.

I kept getting distracted by olives and beans and spices, all out in barrels. I am going to share something here, but its a secret between you and I: when no one is looking, and I am standing in front of a barrel of dried beans, all shiny and smooth, I like to….quietly slip my hand into them, swish it around a little bit, letting the smooth shiny coolness of the beans slip around my fingers, a sensation almost like water. almost like sand but softer, smoother. Delicious.

The Mostra had invited international guests with their wares, too: Tunisia, Iran, and India were among the guests. I lusted after the row of tajines from the Tunisia stand, while the owner grabbed me for a foto. I texted Julia and Greg: we are in Tunisia! But…..we waited and waited, and then….

We were lured to Iran:  and  tray after tray of luscious sweet things; at the moment I clicked this pic I was in the midst of choosing a bag of treats: The girl at the stand was so sweet: she smiled, she gave me samples….and yes, i bought a little bit of everything.

Julia and Greg emailed: Missed you in North Africa, but we are in Sardinia now. And so we raced back to Italy and found ourselves smack in the midst of smoked fish, salted fish, preserved tuna, anchovies, and especially: bottarga, the salted fish eggs that are pressed into a hard shape, dried, and eaten shaved or grated onto almost anything: thin shavings piled up on top of crostini or bruschetta, or grated on top of a bowl of al dente spaghetti. But wait: I am forgetting! All this running around chasing each other throughout the fair, when I have forgotten my promise:  all of the dogs in Firenze.

Perhaps, though,  I have over-promised. I have pictures of SOME of the dogs of Firenze, though Firenze is a small town and there are many many dogs! So many dogs, so many people loving the dogs; it reminded me of Paris back in the day when the cafes and restaurants were full of dogs and I was brought to fits of giggles watching them. Now, I am a bit blase to Paris and its love affair with dogs, though I do want to move there for the sheer fun I know that Jake, Oscar and Lambchop would have there, but here, in Firenze, I saw that doggies were also loved: they were cherished and doted on, and everywhere I went, I saw them: in womens arms, at the end of men’s leashes, in shops and restaurants and parks and cafes. One morning I went into a caffe-bar: it was small: maybe 10-12 seats. And there were already six different dogs there, sitting with their masters/mistresses, getting ready for the day.

Oh the dogs of Firenze, unlike my own mis-behaving Jack-pack, were so well behaved! I snapped pics wherever I could find pooches: in addition to doggies I saw so many very happy human faces too.

At the mostra, a man and his pug. This little pooch totally loving the fair, her little nose sniffing the air which smelled deliciously of salami, cheese, all sorts of good things. To be honest, I was sniffing the air too! And the lady at far right: how much does she love her little chihuahua? (lots).And these two Jack Russells, i wish you could have seen them in motion: rolling over and over, on command. One minute rolling over, the next sitting up for treats!

And I don’t know about you, but this little fluffy fluffy poochie, sitting in the trattoria while we all wait for our lunch…..bellissima, right?

BUT WAIT: you just might be thinking, Frances and I are having a great time (we were!) eating, drinking, and snapping pictures of cute pups, but DID we EVER meet up with Julia and Greg again?

Yes yes yes yes yes! we finally finally finally found each other, and frazzled, we all sat down to pizza. (A happy ending).

After playing hide and seek and grab the grapes with the statues at il mostra artigianati in Firenze, I met up with Judy Witts Francini, aka Divina Cucina, for a walk around town–HER town: Firenze where she lived for many years; now she lives in a small town in rural Tuscany. Judy may have been born and raised in California, but from the moment she arrived in Italy many years ago, she was home. If you are going to hang out in Firenze and/or Tuscany, you couldn’t choose anyone better than hanging with Judy (www.divinacucina.com) .

We started off just walking around……walking around in Italy is as delectable as eating or drinking or listening to the gorgeous music of the language, and actually walking around is a great way to do it all.

I snapped photos, one here, another there, along the way: little morsellettes of a day out in firenze: a chalk-board bar snack menu…….fabulous building (Firenze is filled with them)……..very cute (stuffed) wild boar at a table set up in a deli–the term Norcia in a shop is usually an indication of salumi and other fabulous cured pork meats inside, often truffles, too……

Below you can see Judy in one of the most fragrant of shops, a Norceria: named after the people of Norcia famed for turning a pig into an array of the most luscious of salamis, and other cured meats. A Norceria is the kind of shop that simply walking in makes you realize: I’m in Italy! to be more clear: can you smell the salumi? but first: look at that mortadella gigante! then, the little plate at the right is full of samples of mortadella: fresh fragrant pistachio-studded mortadella. sigh. Don’t you love when mortadella is cut into small chunks instead of slices! for some reason when you bite into it and chew the little chunks, you taste a whole different flavour and aroma, feel a completely different texture between your teeth. it goes without saying that both are delicious in their own ways. I especially love to use chunks of mortadella in a flat omelet/fritatta, its something like the best “fried bologna you ever ate as a child transformed into your new best friend forever”. i mean: its delish!

One of the most iconic treats of the Mercato San Lorenzo, Firenze’s central market, is a sandwich made up of thinly sliced tripe, slathered in sauce and nestled inbetween slabs of gorgeous fresh bread. Here we are standing in line as the patron slices, hands out sammies……

As explained so well by  Judy: “the lampredotto is the 4th of the 4 cow stomachs– the other 3 are the white tripe which are more traditional. In florence, the lampredotto–which is more beefy in flavor and texture– is used for the sandwiches. It is the “Street Food” of Florence.”

and here is a tavola calda, an assortment of already prepared foods, to eat here or to take home: grilled vegetables, sauced and stewed meats, there is a little table on the right if you’d like to sit down right here and nosh!

the artichokes—the most divine, tiny little all-heart artichokes were in season at the mercato centrale. The vegetable stand owner told me he would choose the best for me! and he filled up a huge bagfull; that is the vegetable man hugging me to the right. he is so sweet! and his artichokes: his artichokes lasted and lasted, we ate them fried and sliced, in salads and in stews, with chicken and with fish and with pasta. we ate them and ate them and ate them. and when they were gone, all i wanted to do was return to firenze, and buy more.

Next stop: lunch at the cozy delicious Pepo on via Rosina: Judy to your left, on the right is food writer Julia della Croce, who writes about (mostly Italian) food for a wide variety of publications including a column in Zester Daily. Among Julia’s books is a pasta book, published by Dorling Kindersley, that was my pasta bible for years, its THAT good.

This snapshot was taken right before we order nearly everything in the restaurant–okay there were about 8 of us. so it was perfect. We ate lasagne, fresh pasta sheets layered between rich meaty ragu and creamy bechamel; spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and a few sprigs of basil, crisp fried little artichokes; a slice of polpettone–like a giant meatball, aka meatloaf–with roast potatoes and a tiny bowl of homemade mayonnaise that i started out by dabbing it onto the meat, then the potatoes, and ended up spooning it out of the bowl and eating just as it is. It was lush. Mega luscious. We ate porchetta, and crisp raw vegetable salad and i think there was even a plate of agretti, the plump strands of greens popular from Roma to Tuscany, with a flavour somewhere between samphire and green beans.

If you look on your right, just behind Judy you might see the most adorable little boy ever. Here is what he ate: the biggest ripest tomato salad ever. with a little basil. About 7 years old, with great seriousness and gusto, he ate his way through the tomatoes, forking thoughtfully, happily, and finally, at the end of his tomato-fest, taking a slab of bread and wiping up the juices before happily munching it. Everyone who moans and wails about how to get children to eat their vegetables needs to take lessons from this little boy.

And THEN……THEN we went to il Mercato Centrale– the central market San Lorenzo, near Santa Maria Novello, to the second floor which has just been redone as a food court/food hall, with a zillion tastes to savour and sips to enjoy, as well as a cheese counter (they make their own buffalo mozzarella from milk brought in every morning from Campania, the BEST bread in firenze (a French baker! he makes his levain from vin santo), as well as cooking classes. Oh, and did i mention the incredibly cute little brothers and their tramezzini shop: tramezzini being tradition small sandwiches on sliced bread kept fresh and soft by being covered with a damp towel, the insides stuffed with perky little fillings. Theirs are delightful.

Here is the logo for il mercato CENTRALE;  and here is Judy with Umberto Montana, the creative brains behind the renovation and creation of this amazing place. Umberto is a food guy, a design guy, a journalist and artist and people-loving italian food-loving Firenze-loving guy! To say that there is something here for everybody doesn’t even come close. There is SO MUCH here for everybody, even sweet Umberto himself!

Walking around the large, airy, high ceilinged space, i see prosciutti hanging, ready to be sliced off, their salty-sweet flesh melting as you eat it, accompanied by a glass of local wine. (the wine shop is amazing!). How proud the sommelier is of his choice, a fabulous rose.

The counter for the Gorgeous chocolates and other confections: big bows, elegant chic packaging, smooth seductive chocolately goodness.  The thing about chocolates, candies and confections in Italy is that they are gorgeous: they LOOK gorgeous, they TASTE gorgeous, and they make ME FEEL GORGEOUS as I take a bite and let that smooth chocolate melt…….Okay, slapping myself out of it……here are the two brothers who run a legendary stand selling the iconic Firenze market treat, Lampredotto: These guys inherited their tripe-making artistry; their grandfather was also a tripaio.

The “boys” take huge pride in the quality of their lampredotto. I had been hearing about lampredotto from italians who were waxing lyrical. I  couldn’t believe i had never eaten it before! However, when i realized what it was, i knew exactly why i had never eaten it: lampredotto is long cooked tripe. I was scared. i don’t like tripe. BUT you know, the boys were so cute and sincere, and this is served on thick bread or a roll, with spicy sauce. I was getting interested. The tripe cooks long and slow and ends up tender, fragrant rather than….well, you know tripe. so there it is, fragrant, and meaty, kinda like boiled beef in the most beautiful way possible,  and at this point it is all about the sauce: or in this case, the sauces, as there were three: a salsa verde: garlicky herby tangy delish, a red sauce that was spicy but not unbearably hot, and best of all: a tonnato sauce, a thick creamy puree of tuna, with capers and evoo. You can’t see it here but i licked my plate. Oh, God, everyone is so happy at il Mercato Centrale. I don’t know if its the delicious food (which is everywhere) or if they are just super-happy to see Judy (i’m sure of that too).

Someone brought us a pizza, truly neapolitan in all ways, from the ingredients to the oven to the guys were made them: this margharita, puffy lightly charred crust, topped with san marzano tomatoes and mozzarella, with a leaf or two of basil just because.

I love this spacey art deco lamp; the tramezzini guys also sell vintage furniture.

And THIS dessert: this dessert: buffalo mozzarella ice cream with candied cherry tomatoes, and basil syrup, and crisp sweet-toasted crostini. The flavours were familiar: tomatoes, mozza and basil, but the form and textures: dessert, melting where it should be chewy, chewy where it might be juicy, sweet where it might be herby, was completely different. And though i’m a little bit of a pendant on tradition for such iconic foods, this is a beautiful combination, the sweet concoction as blissful in its own way as the more familiar savoury one. If you would like to walk Firenze and/or the mercato centrale with Judy, contact her via her website. She also does tours of the Tuscan countryside, and classes with a variety of local and legendary chefs, as well as teaching her own.  her blog is Over a Tuscan Stove (adventures in Tuscan cooking and eating)  chez her website   http://www.divinacucina-blog.com/   and if you’re headed to Chianti she has an app for you!

And drop me a line if you’re going; maybe i’ll meet you there:  its always time for my return!

Tonnato Vinaigrette/Dip/Sauce

“The boys”, the tripe boys that is, served a tonnato sauce with their lovely braised tripe, a sort of riff on the classic: vitello tonnato, the summery dish from around Piemonte, the thick tuna sauce napping thin thin slices of cold braised veal. Of course you could serve it with turkey, chicken or pork instead: any white meat. Once, I ran a recipe in my column, The Roving Feast and recieved a letter from a reader yelling and screaming about how on earth could I concoct such a crazy dish of all-white as this (stupid) dish of meat with tuna sauce. what was wrong with me, was i nuts? who on earth could have come up with such a thing???? The reader was thoroughly convinced of her own culinary superiority against mine and against my utterly ridiculous as anyone could see, invention. Who on earth could come up with such a crazy dish, indeed!

And so I always get a perverted sense of pleasure whenever I eat this utterly classic dish, less invented rather than evolved over time, with no embellishments, a dish from the traditional Piemonte table: vitello (or turkey, pork, etc) tonnato. It is a rich dish, the thin slices of meat napped with rich thick tuna sauce. Because of this richness it is served in small portions, usually as part of the antipasto selection but I find, when the weather is hot and i’m really really in the mood, it makes the best summer lunch, with a handful of little greens such as baby arugula, and salty black olives scattered around the plate.

The combination might not look brilliant colourwise–slightly off-white on off-white, but tastewise? lush, completely and beautifully lush: the tuna is preserved which intensifies its flavour, pureed in a mayonaise-y mixture of olive oil and aromatics, a little egg yolk (or a spoon or two of good mayo), and hit it with capers as you whizz it up. Capers+tuna just combine into some sort of alchemistry: is it because the caper grows on the land which meets the sea where the tuna swims? I can wax lyrical here, but probably its just because both are preserved and salty and delicious.

Thick, the sauce can be eaten as a dip for raw vegetables, thinned down with vinegar or lemon juice, it makes a wonderful vinaigrette: I love eating it tossed with a lettuce-y salad, alongside a slab of porchetta. You MUST remember this next time you’re thinking of roasting pork!!!

1 tin tuna, in brine, drained
2/3 cup mayo
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tablespoons capers in brine
lemon juice (1 lemon?)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
extra vinegar for salad