Torta di Verdure in Scapece, my Favourite Summer Recipe

I am off on holiday skiing, and not cooking at all (not even making a cup of coffee!) for the first time in a looooong time! I am eating the wonderful food that they are making at the Hotel San Lorenzo in Bormio (I will post more about it later on), so with this recipe I am just catching up a little with the Only Recipes blog (I didn't manage to copy all my recipes through yet) and offering something for those who are enjoying the last few weeks of Summer in the Southern Hemisphere with lots of wonderful produce like capsicums, eggplants and the last zucchini.

Yes, this is my favourite creation, it takes time to make but it can last a week, and the flavour gets better and better. For the ingredients...no measures really, just be aware that you will need a lot of olive oil and lots of eggplants (I use both Italian eggplants and the long Asian eggplants), plenty of zucchini, and red, green and yellow capsicums. Cut all the vegetables in long and large strips, sweat the eggplants with salt for 30 minutes, then rinse and pat dry. Then, using plenty of olive oil, start frying. This is going to take a looooong time. First fry the zucchini, then set aside. Fry the eggplants, set aside; finally fry the capsicums (which have the strongest flavour, so they would alter the flavour of the oil). You will need to add oil from time to time, and be very careful to cook well the vegetables without burning them. When the capsicum are cold remove and discard the skins.

Finely chop plenty of garlic with tons of parsley. Add few more herbs if you wish, either a little mint of a little basil are good. Add salt to taste. You should make about a cup of this. Line a container with grease-proof paper and make a layer of vegetables (this will be the top, so make it pretty!), add some chopped herbs, then a few drops of white wine vinegar and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Repeat, making as many layers as you can. Top with some more grease-proof paper and press down gently. Refrigerate for one day. Before serving you can tip the 'torta' on a platter, and then cut into small slices. You will get many portions out of it, as it is so compact and full of flavour!

Photo by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Singapore

I have already talked about Singapore food here (please read if you are vegetarian!), and I only have time to post some images now, but one thing I have to say: the children loved it!

Times and times again they came up with so many thank you that I got quite soft (maybe they are doing it exactly for this reason??), anyway, Singapore was a long thank you: thank you for taking us to the zoo it was amazing, it was so wonderful…thank you for the water games, for the river boat tour, for visiting our friend Milo (who now lives in Singapore and has the best lego), for the mango juices…..and thank you thank you thank you for going up the Singapore Flyer.

I have to say that I did enjoy the city with them, so thank you Marcella and Carmine and Milo for the hospitality. Bellissimo rivedervi!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Mihn City

Vegetation

and street wiring

Images of street life

At the war museum

And Reunification Palace museum

Tropical fruit: I ate dragon fruit before, but I never knew where it came from...

... and now I know!

Mango

Coconut

And the food? Very good! I have to say that in the city centre there are a lot of restaurants, bars and cafes which are good and not expensive. You can also have lots of fresh raw vegetables, especially greens and herbs, and of course fruit and fruit shakes. Salad leaves are used as wraps, or as a filling, with other raw vegetables, for rice paper wraps! Here some good things for vegetarians:

Here some vegetarian samosa and rice noodles with salad and herbs. Take some lettuce and roll your own!

Ready rolled: Vegetarian fresh spring rolls, and rice crepe rolls.

This was amazing: Banh xeo. Usually comes with prawns insides, but our host, Linh, asked for a vegetarian one (filled mostly with bean sprouts, mushrooms and onions), and she also told me that it is made with rice flower and cumin. It looked and tasted like a thin omelette, instead there is no egg in it... a truly vegan omelette!!!

Battered fried tofu with chili sauce, so nice and fresh and soft!

Thank you Linh and Peter for 4 wonderful days in Vietnam :-), and for all the incredible food, in particular for the - sorry no photo of these - water spinach and angel flowers (Vietnamese alum buds) which were delicious!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Kamo Kamo Maori Squash and Italian Borlotti Beans

No much time for posting while traveling, so I am copying some recipes I had on Only Recipes, starting from this one, since in NZ is kamo kamo season!

A crop which gives me great pleasure is borlotti beans, not only for their flavour but also because I love the idea of growing protein food! I eat fresh borlotti, or I dry them and then use them to make nice soups and stews; in particular I like soups with pumpkins, but since this year I am traveling on, I will not enjoy the pumpkins that are growing in my garden. So I tried a different 'pairing'. A friend gave me some kamo kamo, the traditional Maori squash, and told me that the way to eat it is to boil it (skin on) and then cut it and spread it with butter (or olive oil...) salt and pepper, and scoop the flesh out with a fork.

I had two kamo kamo so I boiled one (as a was told) and cut the other and sauted with a drop of olive oil and other vegetables from my garden: red onion, and celery.

Then I added the beans and some water, salt and pepper, and cooked everything until the beans were soft.

I added water little by little, when necessary, and I thought that this would be good with more vegetables (maybe a little carrot and some parsley leaves) but I didn't add anything else as these have quite strong flavours and I really wanted to taste the kamo kamo as much as possible. The resulting stew (or soup, if you use more water) was nice although the kamo kamo doesn't have a distinctive flavour like pumpkin.

For the second experiment: well, nice to have the kamo kamo as a side vegetables with butter or olive oil, but once agin I think that my husband liked it more than I did. Next time I will need to put something 'stronger" on, like pesto, or a sesame seed and miso dressing :-)

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

A vegan meal in Hong Kong

No no, I am still at home packing (leaving tomorrow)...and filing things away. But I found so many photos from last year travels which I haven't posted yet, and before they become too old I just wanted to add a few which, to me, are particularly meaningful. These ones are of a vegan dinner we had in HK (sorry, no restaurant's name because we were invited to the restaurant - and not even a vegetarian restaurant! - of a private club, for work reasons), but many of these dishes can be ordered in many Chinese vegetarian restaurants.

They were an inspiration to me and I can still taste them!

This is mock duck (made with gluten). Very nice!

Thin tofu 'skins' filled with mushrooms and vegetables and then pan fried, possibly my favourite dish of the evening.

Braised tofu with brassica (different types of bok choi and broccoli)

Noodles with mixed vegetables and shiitake

This was amazing: stewed eggpant

The dessert I didn't really like, it was just a sweet potato soup...it didn't feel like a dessert to me, but by this stage I was so full anyway, so it didn't matter.

Finally: we also went to HK Disney, not as big and beautiful like Tokyo Disney, but still very interesting, and the kids looooooved it! I met Goofy and Mikey Mouse. Mikey is a gentleman, he kissed my hand!!! I wander that Donald would have done! :-)

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©