The sun in my kitchen

An ode to orange foods

Benvenuti! Welcome! Thank you for your generosity in supporting my work in so many ways: by sharing my stories with others, by becoming paid subscribers, by joining my cooking classes and with your heart-warming praise. I love your company ♡!

There is something inherently beautiful to the first few weeks of the year. The clamor of the holidays has gone, together with their sparkle and excess. Somewhat, there is more space to breathe.

In another life, we spent these weeks roaming around Asia, tasting extravagant food, napping on beaches surrounded by jungle. We never ceased to admire all that life, the colors, the aromas and the kindness of people.

enjoying the company of lovely pilgrims at a temple in Sri Lanka

I enjoy the slow pace of January. Now that I can’t chase the sun in far away countries, I bring the sun to my my kitchen in Rome.

The market is clad in all hues of orange and pink this month. In winter, I hardly ever buy the “summer” vegetables: zucchini, eggplants, peppers and tomatoes. They are beautiful but have very little flavor. I feast on impossibly sweet Sicilian oranges, rich, jelly-like persimmons, pomegranate and gorgeous pink grapefruit.

And of course, we still have plenty of squash (Zucca in Italiano): the Francese, also named Moscata, perfect for risotto, the Mantovana and Hokkaido, which are great when roasted with rosemary or sage, the almost sweet as candy Delica to use for lovely velvety soups and of course the ever popular Butternut.

What’s up

cartoon by Ray Harvey

The fact that I enjoy January’s slow pace, does not mean I haven’t been busy! This wonderful cartoon by my friend Ray depicts so well my situation of the last 4 months: dust and destruction! My brilliant builder Mr. G. is working non stop as the kitchen is coming at the end of the month and he still needs to paint and tile the back-splash.

This is the status at the beginning of last week, however by now we have the first layer of white plaster so it does not look so sad. In fact, I am quite excited by the progress. Imagine this place with a new glass door, shiny white cabinets with a black quartz worktop, green tiled backsplash and oakwood floor. I think it’s going to be quite pretty. Wish me luck please 🙏🏻.

More exciting news: private online cooking classes!

I have been wanting to re-launch my online cooking classes for quite a while and this is the perfect time of the year for learning from the comfort of your home, don’t you think?

Would you like to brush up your techniques - perfect cacio e pepe anyone? - or acquire new ones? Get ideas to add more vegetables to your diet? are you looking for an opportunity to celebrate a birthday or other event with family and friends who live far? Please let me know and we will create a custom event for you.

All classes are private with a flexible schedule to adjust to your needs and time difference. I will be happy to address most special diets and allergies.

making green stringozzi with a zucchini sauce

What to cook this month

This is what’s happening in my kitchen right this afternoon. While I am writing this article my yearly batch of candied orange peel is slowly simmering and the house smells like heaven (recipe).

I had actually made a smaller batch for Christmas gifts in December, but I always make more in January when the beautiful Washington Navel oranges are plentiful. I need a lot of peel every year, for all sort of reasons. First of all it’s great for gifts. I pack a few slices in small cellophane bags for people who travels and they are always received with great praise. They never get to the end station of their trip, I am told.

Also the peels give a different dimension to fruitcakes, cookies and sweet breads like the Torcolo di San Costanzo which is a January tradition in my native Umbria.

The Torcolo di San Costanzo half-way between a panettone and a ring cake, makes a great baking project for a winter weekend (recipe)

Another favorite winter preserve, is persimmon jam. Persimmons are fussy to cook and their flavor easily boils away. A long time ago I have developed a special recipe which combines the concept of jam with the concept of candied orange peel. This is the only recipe I have written in my life that has been defined “orgasmic” by a friend 😂. I’ll let you judge, but I’d just be completely happy if you might just try making it.

As you might have guessed already , I never tire of oranges. Later in the month I will also produce several jars of sweet orange marmalade based on a slight modification of Pellegrino Artusi’s recipe, published in 1891. It's still popular in Italy as it's simple to make and the results are wonderful. Makes great gifts too and I also use it as a topping for pannacotta.

But, how about the savory foods?

By now you might be wondering is there is any orange colored recipe for dinner in this article. Well, you could look up all my squash recipes on the blog, for example the vegetarian roasted squash lasagna with pecorino cheese, or the butternut squash and orange risotto or the attractive green stringozzi noodles with creamy roasted squash.

You could also try this month’s simply risotto with roasted squash and mushrooms. I truly hope will bring the sun to your kitchen too. A presto!

Recipe