Pistachios, Anchovies and Buffalo Mozzarella Arancini / Arancini ai pistacchi, acciughe e mozzarella di bufala

Summer is over. Fortunately the days of sweltering heat wave are only a distant memory. I do not know about you but this summer’s heat was reall unbearable to me. I stopped counting on the sleepless nights spent gasping for fresh air. Oh what a relief when the first rains came, finally, in late August. Finally the right climate to bake and experiment with doughs. July and August were particularly intense, with a lot of hard work to come up with a good recipe for croissants and different projects and works that popped out of the blue to both my surprise and delight. This year is ending definitely better than it started and I hope that 2016 will see a new chapter of my life unfold, hopefully one of many stimulating collaborations.

Oops I did it again! Almond, Candied Orange Peel and Aniseed Sweet Rice Cakes! / Oops I did it again! Tortine di riso alle mandorle, arancia candita e anice

Oops I did it again (didn’t I say I would no longer post sweet recipes?)! Well this is an old recipe, part of a menu I made up a few months ago for a project that never came to life. I kept those recipes aside for any emergency, a Plan B to keep the blog post flow constant. It was a smart choice.

MTC Challenge: Onigiri filled with Courgette Jam wrapped in Apple “seaweed” / MTC Challenge: Onigiri dolci con marmellata di zucchine e “alga” di mela

It seems like ages since the last MTC Challenge, with the epic Piada Menu challenge. Such a long time that I almost forgot that in September it would all start again. And, like every month, anxiety sets in. This month not a recipe to be reinterpreted but an ingredient, as it was for the legendary chestnut challenge (remember my ravioli?) thrown by Serena, aka Miss Pici. This month Acquaviva challenged us with rice. She restricted our choice to three methods of rice cooking, which she illustrated in a very thorough post on the subject.