I’ll be talking more about this book soon. I fell in love with Fanny’s synaesthetic use of language and with several recipes she shares. There’s a warm sense of home that permeates the whole book, vivid with memories and characters you learn to appreciate immediately. The author is Alice Water’s daughter, and she shares moments of ordinary life with her mother, but you can perfectly imagine how these ordinary moments are completely extraordinary for us. This year I picked Fanny Singer’s memoir, Always Home, and it is a winner. This is why I’m so particular when it comes to choosing the book to bring with me. Reading during the summer holidays is a sheer pleasure that rivals the time spent sunk in an armchair lost in crime stories during the Christmas holidays. I approach the stove just to prepare Livia’s meals and a couple of summer favourites, like pappa al pomodoro or the green bean and potato salad I’m sharing below. They are golden, heavy in your hand, slightly greasy-the best representation of Southern street food. These are two discs of puff pastry stuffed with béchamel and mozzarella, seasoned with a generous pinch of black pepper and a few peeled tomato fillets. We’re feasting on fish soup, frittura mista, raw red shrimps from Gallipoli (I might have had one too many of those), eggplant parmigiana wrapped in pizza dough – yes, you’re reading it correctly, and yes, it was just as good as you can imagine -, baked snapper on a bed of thinly sliced potatoes, pasticciotti (I’ll be sharing a recipe for these custard stuffed pastries in our subscription-based newsletter soon), and rustici. I used the leaves of the lemon to grill some chicken breast, and my immediate thought was: I want a lemon tree for my upcoming 40th birthday! The sink is outside, next to the shower we use after the beach, facing a giant lemon tree that occasionally drops a lemon with a thud. Huge aluminium pans belonging to the years when the whole family would gather here for the summer holidays are hung on the wall along with braids of onions and garlic, bunches of rosemary, bay leaves, and chilli peppers. Not much, actually, as in these days I’m mostly sitting at a set table, enjoying all the food the Fabio, Tommaso’s uncle, is constantly putting together in his quaint kitchen. Read it to discover also 10 recipes to cook this month. And now, as always, a list of things I’m cooking, listening to, watching, and reading, as this is what is keeping me inspired and connected from our last newsletter. We feel so cared for, so grateful to be here. The years pass by, loved ones are gone, but this family beach life is still the same: food, smells, naps, and coffee included. We’re visiting Tommaso’s family, giving Livia the chance to experience the same beach holidays her dad had since he was born. From the closed shutters, I can see the scorching sun of the summer afternoons in Salento, at the southern end of Puglia.įinally, after almost two years, we’re here, in the heel of the Italian booth. I’m sitting in a quiet room, nibbling on taralli, the addictive ring-shaped white wine and olive oil crackers from Puglia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |