Fall Touches Montone

Summer Supper “I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.” –Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin.

My camera went on the fritz and had to go to the hospital. I found I didn’t want to blog without my camera; it’s as if I’ve lost my ability to see. The camera isn’t really passive, the camera operator chooses what is shown, how it shown, what tale the photo should tell.

To share Montone life with you, I’ll have to tell my tale with words and maybe some old photos.

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Kitchen Garden Gazpacho

Happy World Kitchen Garden Day!
Here’s hoping that all our family, friends and everyone else can ride out Hurricane Irene with not too much damage.

Is there a more appropriate way to celebrate International Kitchen Garden day than by making a Garden Gazpacho? I don’t think so!

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When to Eat A Caprese Salad

When the tomatoes are ripe on the vine and you bring them home still warm from the sun.

When the buffala mozzarella is so fresh that each slice of the cheese releases a creamy surge of goodness.

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A Few Hot Tomatoes

And the canning season begins.
A walk over to the orto to get some basil and I’m hit with the realization that there are a ton of ripe tomatoes that need to be dealt with…NOW.
On one hand a kitchen garden is forgiving; if you don’t need any onions, you can leave them in the ground for a few days and no harm done. On the other hand, there is a use it or lose it urgency to ripe tomatoes.

So much for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

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Cannelloni Crudo

Get your mind out of the gutter. Crudo means raw.
And no, the cannelloni wasn’t raw, the sauce was. Actually the fresh tomato sauce was almost raw or “quasi crudo” as they would say in Italy.
The story goes like this: it’s summer, no one wants to spend extra time in the kitchen, and we have tomatoes coming out of our ears.
And thus, I’ve learned inspiration and abundance make excellent cohorts.

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

It’s orto time! Orto is Italian for a kitchen garden and our garden looks set to keep our kitchens supplied all season long. May the gods of sun and rain smile upon us because we’ve got our pride on the line.

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Barely Heat Kissed

I like to play with fire, so after harvesting some ripe tomatoes and a fistful of basil, I decided to experiment with adding just a kiss of heat to two different dishes. Just a bacio of heat to soften up the tomato sauce, and another kiss to add a warm parmigiana crust to a fresh tomato salad, why didn’t I try this sooner?

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Pasta in Primavera with Asparagus

Pasta Primavera means “pasta in the springtime”. Its more about what you have on hand, than it is about being tied to a recipe. If you are just getting home from work, put the tomatoes in the oven, then go change your clothes, walk the dog etc. When you come back into the kitchen it will already smell good and you’ll be in the mood to make dinner.

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