The US vs John Lennon

You know we love food, but we also deeply love cinema; especially cinema that makes you think and that sometimes teaches you a bit of history.
I recently watched this documentary on the life of John Lennon, because I heard about it on the radio and was really happy I did. People of my generation might not be familiar with John Lennon & Yoko Ono's battles for peace: it was much more than pretty songs. They really exposed their own lives and personas for peace, they were really amazing.
All that you'll watch in this movie is still so relevant to today's world it's almost sad, as it feels that not much has changed.
I strongly recommend this movie as it is a great insight into the life of John Lennon, not just as musician, but very much as political figure. It is also an incredible journey through American contemporary history.

Risotto or Farrotto?

That is the question!
Hi all, this time I'm going to talk about an excellent alternative to risotto as main dish.
In Italian cooking, we tend to have primi piatti/first courses based on carbs, either pasta or rice, but I recently found out about how farro/spelt can be cooked exactly like risotto (riso + otto, otto being an Italian suffix to describe something plumpy and cute), that's why I'm going to call the result farrotto (farro + otto)!
In addition, because it's very easy and yummy to add some proteins to a primo piatto/first course, your risotto or farrotto can easily turn into an excellent main!



In this picture you can see farrotto with asparagus, chicory (endivia) and scamorza cheese. It looks a bit reddish because I only had red wine to cook the spelt with. You just need to be creative with your favourite risotto recipe and use dry spelt instead of the rice: same procedure, same cooking time, but probably a new flavour. The texture of the spelt grain is also very enjoyable and tasty. Just give it a go and comment on how it went!

Purple Soup, Purple Soup

Hi all,

I know you missed us... So we're back! Back with an amazingly colourful suggestion for your winter meals.
If you love veggies and soups and your favourite colour is purple, then this is the advice you've been waiting for.
I am a big fan of minestrone, as it'a great tummy-soothing food after a long busy day and I alway try to add some cabbage to it. I recently bought red cabbage to see if I can cook it and when I found myself chopping up vegetables for my next minestrone I just added a good amount of red cabbage to the mix and... Behold! As it cooked, everything else took on a purple colour, especially potatoes and, later on, the pasta I added. In terms of lavours, red cabbage tastes like the white one: very delicate and it mixes perfectly with other traditional minestrone veggies. My personal suggestion is to have borlotti beans in the mix as they complete wonderfully the sweet cabbage flavour.



So, red cabbage can be more than a purple side, enjoy!