Showing posts with label rome countryside. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rome countryside. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 February 2019
Foraging in the Rome countryside
Foraging for wild herbs and vegetables is an ancient art, here in the Sabine Hills. It's a great way to integrate the vegetables you grow in the garden. My favourite is 'rapacciola' or 'ramolaccio', which essentially is a type of wild broccoli and it's closely related to radish as well. Part of the brassica family, rapacciola is delicious just boiled, then pan-fried with olive oil, garlic and salt. The leaves, the new shoots and the buds are cooked, while the tiny root can be eaten raw, thinly sliced and with a little olive oil on top. A great alternative to cultivated broccoli varieties, the rapacciola is full of good nutrients and vitamins.
Thursday, 24 January 2019
The beautiful Sabine Hills captured - Guido's story.
Sabina, the Sabine Hills, a non-touristy area close to Rome, is quintessential Italy.
Every time I look out from my kitchen window, I am captured by the magic of this ever changing view I have before me. The vast expanse of agricultural land, medieval hilltop villages, ancient monasteries, olive groves, change in clarity and colour within one day and with the seasons.
I fell in love with the Sabine Hills ('Sabina') area when I was a child. When I was young, my father used to take me around the Roman countryside on weekend excursions to locate the finest cheeses and wines. Baskets of fresh ricotta were prepared in front of us by the local shepherd and loaves of wood-fired sour dough bread were bought hot from the bakery. It was an incredible education.
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| View of our home, olive grove and valley below |
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| Sunset as seen from our home terrace in the Sabine Hills |
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| Selected images from Instagram : conviviorome.Italy |
Friday, 16 February 2018
How to cure olives, the Italian way
I've just finished the process of curing our own olives using the simplest local recipe from the Sabine Hills. It is so easy, that I wanted to share the local secrets on how to cure olives.
The olives (a 'carboncella' native Italian variety) collected from one of our trees back in December, were put inside a bowl, under layers of sea salt for 60 days.
Then, I simply rinsed the olives and left them to dry on several cotton towels. I turned them every now and then to ensure they dried well.
I then chopped some orange peel and some garlic until I had a small handful of this mixture.
Finally, I put the cured olives in jars, mixing them with the orange peel and garlic and finally covered them with our own olive oil. Fatto (done)!
PS: Nothing is ever wasted: for once all the olives are eaten, the olive oil from the jars can be re-used for dressing or cooking, with its wonderful flavour of orange and garlic.
Every Italian region have their own local recipes and methods on how to cure olives.
Let me know what way you cure olives as I would love to hear from you.
Convivio Rome conducts Rome Olive Tours, Italian Cooking Classes, 3 and 5 night Italian Culinary Vacations and Wine tours, all in the Sabine Hills, just north of Rome in Italy.
The olives (a 'carboncella' native Italian variety) collected from one of our trees back in December, were put inside a bowl, under layers of sea salt for 60 days.
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| Covered with large sea salt for 60 days |
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| After rinsing off all the sea salt I left the olives to dry for 2 days on a cotton towel |
Then, I simply rinsed the olives and left them to dry on several cotton towels. I turned them every now and then to ensure they dried well.
I then chopped some orange peel and some garlic until I had a small handful of this mixture.
Finally, I put the cured olives in jars, mixing them with the orange peel and garlic and finally covered them with our own olive oil. Fatto (done)!
 |
| Making sure all the olives are covered with extra virgin olive oil |
PS: Nothing is ever wasted: for once all the olives are eaten, the olive oil from the jars can be re-used for dressing or cooking, with its wonderful flavour of orange and garlic.
Let me know what way you cure olives as I would love to hear from you.
Convivio Rome conducts Rome Olive Tours, Italian Cooking Classes, 3 and 5 night Italian Culinary Vacations and Wine tours, all in the Sabine Hills, just north of Rome in Italy.
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