i am at i’s mountain house today in ormea. here the kitchen is the heart of the house. our afternoon meal borrows from last nights left over’s – cold tongue and a ‘zuppa di legume’ and ‘friselle’. for the first course i’s mum has put together a soup of legumes. it is thick, hearty and wholesome – a smattering of legumes, red, black and borlotti beans, chick peas and some brown lentils and quinoa in a seaweed flavored broth. it comes served in shallow bowls with a drizzle of olive oil on top.
after the soup we have friselle, a summery salad of tomatoes, basil and really good olive oil on moistened bread. friselle resemble bagels split around their middles and baked till they are very hard. because of this they have to be moistened in a bowl of water before they can be eaten. before putting them in water they are rubbed with a clove of garlic. friselle should only be moistened to the point that they are slightly soft; the bread should retain its shape and not disintegrate at all. i had halved cherry tomatoes, tossed then in olive oil and roughly torn basil leaves which were piled onto the bread. to finish off, we ate last night’s tiramisu and went off for a walk to build an appetite for the night’s meal.
