Joanie’s Italian Plum Pie
Although Joanie and I hardly ever see each other anymore, especially now due to the pandemic, she follows my blog faithfully. Several days ago, she emailed me with a request. A friend had Concord grapes, she told me, and she remembered a delicious Concord grape pie she had several times, a specialty of the Finger Lakes region of New York State. If she got the grapes to me, she wondered, could she pay me to make her that pie?
Joanie went on to explain that she used to cook a lot, but her eyesight has been diminishing and she really cannot cook anymore, but would really love to taste that pie again. I told her I could give it a try. But then it turned out there weren’t enough grapes.
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Fried Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms
For the second summer in a row I’ve been able to score some zucchini blossoms! This year, as I posted earlier, I made one bunch into Nidi di Rondine, at the suggestion of my friend, Romina, who lives in Gubbio, Italy.
Another Italian favorite is fried, stuffed squash blossoms, and now, on my third attempt, I think I’ve really figured it out! The first two endeavors were delicious, but this last one really came together so much better!
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A Project with Zucchini Flowers
Romina, one of my dear friends from Gubbio, Italy, posted zucchini flowers on Facebook a while back, long before we were ever going to see any here in the Berkshires! And I told her how jealous I was, not only because they were months away, but also because it is not easy to obtain zucchini flowers here in the States. (Yes, I know I could grow them, but our property is on a hill of ledge, with solid rock just below the surface, so growing is a challenge.)
Romina responded with a link to a recipe for Nidi di Rondine, swallow’s nests, filled with sausage and zucchini flowers. I bookmarked the link waiting until I might be able to acquire some fiori di zucca.
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Cream Cheese and Pumpernickel Bagels
I think it’s probably been about 30 years since I bought milk from a large-scale commercial dairy at a supermarket. Back when I lived in the central part of the state, I would get milk from Cooper’s Hilltop Farm in Rochdale, MA, and from then on I’ve been devoted to buying milk and cream from small local dairies. When I first moved to Berkshire County, High Lawn Farm was still delivering milk, and I loved having milk delivery for over 10 years! Fortunately, even though the delivery service ended ,High Lawn is available at all our local markets.
The other day, I saw that High Lawn has started making cream cheese, and so I decided I needed to make bagels.
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Pasta Fresca All’Eugubina
You can consider yourself lucky if you have friends in Italy! Italians are the most thoughtful generous people you will ever know, and I feel very lucky that I have some wonderful, dear friends in Umbria, the heart of Italy, in the small city of Gubbio. I am now on my third visit to this beautiful, charming town, and this time we are so lucky to be doing a gnocchi-making class at Pasta Fresca All’Eugubina!
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