Had to Relax

I was so busy in the kitchen and some folks had me in such a lousy mood that I did not have time to eat some lunch. I took a break mid-afternoon and went home where I had some cooked cannelloni beans, a small can of Flott Tuna packed in olive oil, some red onion, an orange and some lemons. I mixed the beans and tuna, chopped red onion, chunks of peeled orange, and some lemon juice. Some Sicilian coarse ground salt, and plenty of black pepper brought the whole thing together. What a treat that was with chunks of bread. I sipped a glass of Grecanico, a Sicilian white wine, and suddenly was calm and happy.

Ciao,
Carlo

Black Figs

I just bought some black figs (Mission), removed the stem, cut them in half and put them on sliced, toasted ciabatta bread thickly slathered with whole milk ricotta, fresh ground black pepper, and lots of extra virgin olive oil. OMG!

It Must Be Summer

I can tell it is summer, because now I am dreaming about cold, sweet, red, dense watermelon – lots of it. Even though I can get by with just a spoonful of ice cream if absolutely necessary (you know about waistlines, don’t you?), when it comes to cocomero (Sicilian word for watermelon) it is either huge slices or forget it.

My wife Lisa and I had lunch in our garden yesterday. Simple chicken salad with huge beefsteak tomatoes, Japanese cucumbers, raw snap peas, bruschetta, the best extra virgin olive oil – what a meal. Watermelon in huge chunks was our dessert. With the giant Bing cherries I got the day before, it was heaven; a bit of melon, a cherry, and so on. Ah, summer.

Ciao
Carlo