FOODIE FRIDAY

In January I purchased a useful diary for 2.50 euros with La Sicilia newspaper. It has ample writing space, plenty of useful information and lots of recipes. The first one of these that I tried was pasta al forno colla zucca [baked pasta with pumpkin] and it turned out very well:

I don't like deep-frying but I'll make an exception for tortilla chips and for courgette flowers:

Just make your batter as instructed in your well-thumbed Cucchiaio d'Argento, dip the flowers [de-stemmed and with the pistil removed] into it, give them a shake and fry in oil [not olive oil] in a wide pan.

But my foodie find of the week has to be these:

They are called agretti and are a type of cress. I looked up several ways of serving them on the internet as they do not feature in the CA or any of my many other Italian cookery books. In the end I decided to treat them in the way that the lady in the greengrocer's had suggested, for simplest is often best: Just blanch the green parts, drain and dress with a little oil, lemon juice and seasalt. I added some red chilli flakes just for the hell of it but you could leave both these and the salt out if you wish. They were delicious!

Buon appetito, whatever and wherever you are eating tonight.