So I made a flatter and thinner version of it.

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There are some different ways to make it but I will share the way it was taught to me, even though in this particular recipe I will show an alternative to ‘cotiche’ which is basically the smoked skin (rinds) of pork. The kind you find on whole pieces of ‘guanciale’ (pork cheek) or ‘panchetta’ (pork belly).

You can use either or both at the same time.

For this recipe I used white beans, but any type of bean is fine except green.

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Tastes slightly tangy and to my understanding the taste may vary depending on how much sugar or the type of bread you use.

It is possible to make this naturally alcoholic but since I started drinking this first thing in the morning (even before my coffee), I do not make mine alcoholic.

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It is one of the easiest recipes but the result is a delicious side dish or salad ingredient.

Boiled, salted and oiled bell pepper.

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But I think I have distinguished three different versions of it, correct me if I am wrong.

• It can refer to the cultivated cichoria which is a green leafy plant. Not to be confused with chicory which is something else entirely, although also an edible and not cultivated.

• It can refer to the leaves of the dandelion which is also cultivated for consumption, at least in Italy. But can also be foraged and found in the wild.

• Or it can refer to the combination of dandelion and two of its lookalikes which are found in the wild and not cultivated. And is actually very popular in rural Italy, the field next to our house is often visited by people looking for them to sell and/or eat.

In this article I will show which specific plants I used, how to recognize them, how to cook them and what to potentially combine them with. Although in Italy this is usually served as a ‘contorno’ which are standalone dishes of (often) seasonal vegetables or potatoes, which are enjoyed after the ‘prima piata’ (pasta) and/or ‘secondo piata’ (meat or fish) have been finished.

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I saw it on facebook, a page that cooks historical recipes and this is that recipe:

https://eatshistory.com/the-roast-of-kings-13th-century-andalusian-roasted-lamb/

But!

I did have to make some modifications to the recipe because I did not have all the ingredients and quite frankly I don’t even know what ‘murri’ is and I did not like the idea of soy sauce on lamb. I also didn’t have caraway and I have never even seen it being sold in any of my local supermarkets. I also added some ingredient that is not in the original recipe.

The side dishes you see on the picture will be posted soon after, they contain some foraged ingredients which are currently growing everywhere in my neck of Italy.

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I have ordered growing bags to do it in but they haven’t arrived yet.

This recipe uses some herbs from the garden, and as I am definitely going to want to restore the chicken coop, in the unforeseeable future we will also have fresh eggs.

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Feeling proud over my first crop and sowing my first seeds.

But also second guessing some things around the grove. The video ends abruptly because the last clip where I find a possible solution for the pool got corrupted and I could not salvage the clip as I had already deleted it from my phone. Ah well.

As new things are growing I will do a new post about foraging in the garden soon.

I have added a part on making your own vegetable stock but you can of course buy stock to use. The stock I made for this is the easiest you can make.

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Perhaps this is normal weather in this neck of Italy, it’s my first winter here closer to Rome so I have nothing to compare it to.

We moved a bit further down south from our old place, which is often referred to as Lazio Alto or high Lazio. There we had the tramontana winds battering us during winter. Which is also called the black wind because it tends to make people a bit crazy, and yes it is very unpleasant to be in that wind. When it was blowing down from the mountains we could hear it in our entire house, howling like a hungry demon.

We don’t have to suffer that wind in this part, but the amount of rain and storms we have experienced has been significantly more than where we lived before. Which certainly came with its own set of problems and issues we were unprepared for.

Which helps me get a better idea of the things I want to accomplish in the future.

Miniman and me doing our inspections before the work started.

And sweet onion sauce is something that can go very well with game and pork dishes, but also as a garnish or dip.

There are two types that are made through the same process but with different onions (optional) and only one different ingredient that you add to the red version but not the white version.

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Candied orange peel.

And it is very easy.

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I have new recipes lined up and one is coming out tomorrow.

I realized I forgot to add the toad in the video so here it is!

Thank you for your support and your viewer- and readership!

I do not grow my own potatoes nor leek … yet! But I sure hope to do so in the near future as they are relatively easy to cultivate and care for.

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Where to plant some god poles.

And cats!

Thank you very much for your support!

In this recipe I will show how I pickled some of it, why it is such an underrated edible forageable and a few ideas on how to incorporate it in recipes.

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Normally the best time to harvest rosehips is the day after the first frost.

But since I live in Italy, when the first frost arrives it will be too late so I usually start harvesting them nearing the end of October and start of November.

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In this recipe I used marmelade made from oranges but you can use all types of marmelade, best ones are the ones you make yourself.

Since we have an overabundance of kakis right now, one of my future recipes will be of how I made marmelade with that.

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