ZZAFF! Gazosa casalinga

Summer time has finally arrived! For the fourth episode of ZZAFF! I decided to try out a classic drink which is very commonly drunk during the warm season: gazosa. It’s sort of a homemade version of Sprite, and it is usally mixed with red wine or beer (this version is called panaché) but flavoured versions of the drink can be found in shops. One of the most common, and my favourite, is tangerine. This has been the first time I tried to make gazosa and I was very pleased about the result. Next time I will try and flavour it with other blends of herbs. Why don’t you try it out too?

Fagioli all’uccelletto / Fagioli all’uccelletto

Today I present you with a Tuscan recipe which I revisited, Fagioli all’uccelletto. A meat dish just for a change, a once in a while diversion from the usual bread baking routine. A nourishing and warming dish. Fagioli all’uccelletto is a traditional Tuscan dish, typical of the Florentine area. According to Pellegrino Artusi the name derives from the herbs and aroma used to cook this dish (especially sage) which where once used to flavour dishes made which had wild birds (uccelletti) as the main ingredient. This dish employs ingredients which are more readily available and serves as a mock version of those recipes. A rustic and rich meal, with plenty of animal and vegetable proteins, which is perfect to warm up the body and lift the spirit during those cold and gloomy winter evenings. I don’t know about you, but the perfume of meaty dishes, the sound of tomato and legumes splattering, mumbling and rumbling in a saucepan always get me in a good mood. It just smells like home…

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Rye Tagliolini with Oil and Sage Emulsion / Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Tagliolini con farina di segale con emulsione di olio e salvia fresca

And it’s Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook time again. And I’m back to making fresh egg pasta a couple of months after my recipe for Pici with sausage, hazelnuts and coffee sauce. I simply love making pasta at home. This time around I chose to use a beautiful rye flour, the same flour I used for my blood orange and onions chutney filled snails. The result is really good and rye, with its rustic quality, gives these tagliolini (as this very narrow pasta is called) a pleasant roughness.