Peaches and Poetry

What does summer fruit have to do with poetry you ask?

The fragrant and juicy ripe peaches, which are abundant where I live at this time of year, often make me think of high school English lit class, and some particular lines from "The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock" by TS Eliot

I grow old ... I grow old ... 

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. 

Shall I part my hair behind?   Do I dare to eat a peach? 

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. 

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. 

I do not think that they will sing to me.

There is plenty more to the poem. Some of it easily digested, other parts needing further research and thoughtful consideration.  However, those are the lines that stuck over the years; as did the excitement my teacher expressed when leading the class discussion on the author and his work. To me the words were the musings of a man unhappy with growing older and having missed chances.  I took them as an inspiration to try to do more, to be more, to not look back with regret. 

"Live life to the fullest people!" Take chances and let things get a little messy.  The moments that are the most juicy are also the most rewarding and memorable.

Plus- the peaches are truly delicious: fresh on their own, on ice cream, with cheese, in a salad, baked into a cobbler..... 

There's more to Mascarpone than just dessert.

Butternut squash ravioli with bacon and mascarpone

With fresh peaches

On toast... For example, cherry pecan bread

Wanting to write about food

Everyday I want to learn and to write more about food.  It isn't easy when there is so much information floating around out there already.  What should I contribute to the global culinary conversation?  

I caught part of "Julie and Julia" on TV today and I recalled how much I enjoyed the books on which the movie is based.  And also it reminded me that if you want to write, so simply have to start somewhere and push forward.  

I don't need to have a large scale project as my focus.  I talk to people about food all day and that knowledge can be typed up too. So get ready for a whole lot of cheese articles coming your way!

Simple, but Effective, and Delicious

Sometimes the simple dinners are the most satisfying.  Such as good bread and great cheese!

One my favorites happens to be semolina bread topped with something rich and creamy.  

Semolina bread is made with durum flour.  This is the same type of hard wheat that is often used for pasta.  It has a nutty flavor and a high level of gluten relative to the soft wheats generally used in pastry.   While pasta and semolina, such as the rosemary and sea salt one pictured here, are to my mind Italian  food items, there are other dishes from North Africa and the Middle East based on durum wheat too.  

In Algeria, semolina pancakes and bread (ghraif and kesra) come from the Berber culture in N. Africa.  Other Berber dishes using this wheat are flatbread (avrum) and dumplings (tikerbabin).  The culinary influence from North Africa extends into Sicily through semolina couscous similar to what we refer to Israeli couscous in North America.

But what to put on top of this wonderful bread? 

I say cheese!

 

Personally, I tend toward mild and creamy, especially if it is on a bread with extra savory elements like the rosemary sea salt.  Burrata and fresh ricotta are excellent all on their own.   However, bacon jam is a stellar addition to this pairing.

And what is burrata you ask?  They take fresh mozzarella and shred it, soak it in cream and then stuff that wonderful mixture inside a mozzarella ball.  This is usually done with a cows milk mozz rather than the buffalo milk one but you get all that moisture and rich flavor too!

I often use burrata for my cypress salad instead of mozzarella since the cheese holds the other elements together quite well.

Wishing For A Foodie Summer Vacation

Time for Slow Food to focus on cheese!  This summer is the big Slow Cheese event in Bra and with the Expo 2015 being held in Milan, this is a great time to be in Italy for foodies....

With a cherry on top

Today's Pairing Post

Yes - it is a another antipasti platter but with carefully selected items to be eaten together... Yum!

Charcuterie    Toscano salumi and Lonzino

Olives: Sicillian green

Bread:  Greatful Bread Everything Crackers

Cheese: Sbrinz - Raw cows milk from Switzerland; Mozzarella di Bufala from Italy; Fresh Chevre from Georgia; Rembrandt aged gouda from Holland