I have been a week in Italy for my birthday and I turned back to my mum food because I couldn't cook that much.
At the begin I didn't get too hung up on their food style, because my parents eat tones of veggie and I was missing my mum scents.
But eating again in that way reminded me some odds.
Get drowsy after a meal, the mind blurred, my creativity completely dormant. A sense of irritability that I was trying to calm down with fruit or bread, or both.
My parents diet is based on raw fruit, vegetables and olive oil; plus, over-boiled veggie, long pressure cooked minestrone soup and bread, pasta, bran.. I should say that almost everything is whole, organic and from local farmer production.
But, the cooking styles are a Yin-Yang gymkhana.
I introduced pressed salads, crispy-cooked vegetables, grains boiled in carrot juice and kanten. In few days I felt fit again.
Well, but since bread and salad are one of the most simple, easy and delicious summer in Italy, I decided to made a Macro variation of the a traditional Tuscan salad: Panzanella, my father's love.
I served Panzanella at my birthday party and all guys drove into my dish... they licked their bowls clean! My father found my choice more digestible and even more appetizing than the original recipe.
"Instead" time: Instead of raw salad I used pressed veggie.Carrots which contain fibers and are a very good source of Vitamins A. Celery, good source of amino-acids, Vitamin K and Potassium. Cucumber rich in fiber and minerals and amino acids. So adding other foods with complementary amino acid profiles to this veggies may yield a more complete protein source and improve the quality of some types of restrictive diets. Pressed salad is refreshing as well as the raw, but slightly fermented are easier to digest and doesn't make you feel swollen.
Instead of white bread I used my Kayu bread, a mixture of whole flour and overcooked grains. Is a yeast free, overnight fermented bread. A digestible potion also rich in amino-acids.
Instead of tones of oil I used Ume vinegar. Sour, salty and fruity, is a mount-watering condiment.
Umeboshi is used as natural preservative in the hot&humid Japanese weather so was been perfect in the Italian summer.
The following recipe is for 12 serving.
{ingredients}
{pressed salad}
6 large carrots
4 large cucumbers
2 beautiful red onions
1 stalk celery, very tender
3 tablespoons sea salt
a few drops of lemon
{panzanella}
¼ loaf of bread Kayu or 1 / 3 of
sourdough bread,
5 tablespoons of ume
1 tablespoon of shoyu
lemon juice to taste
½ cup sunflower seeds
4 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil or toasted sesame oil
few leaves of basil
oregano or marjoram to taste
{tecnique}
{insalata pressata}
Wash and dry the vegetables.
Clean the carrots with a coconut brush or a sponge, without peel. Grate or cut into thin matches, sprinkle with lemon juice so don't turn dark.
Peel the cucumbers, cut into 4 lengthwise and remove seeds. Cut into eighths, then into cubes.
Clean the celery from any hard wire and cut it to thin diagonal slices.
Cut the onion into half, following the veins, and then into very thin slices, always following the pattern of veins.
Place all vegetables in a glass or ceramic bowl, add salt and mix with your hands. Place a second smaller bowl oinside the first, and let stand for 2 hours or more with a weight on top (a bottle of water for example).
{panzanella}
Cut the bread into thick slices and steam for 10 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, toast the seeds until gold, turn off the heat and sprinkle stirring with soy sauce.
So cut the bread into squares, being careful not to break it.
Drain the vegetables from the water that is formed, (which you can keep as a base for a soup or to moisten salad if it is too dry, remember that is salty!).
Chop a few leaves of basil. Who likes and digests it, can add some chopped garlic.
{to assemble}
Gently mix the bread, vegetables and basil, add the seasoning little at a time, tasting to feel how much you prefer.
Garnish with the toasted seeds and fresh basil just before serving.
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