Do you have a vegetable garden?

[southernX]

yes we have a large ish garden as well
we both are handy gardeners our garden is in similar class to dolls

we are lucky to plant all seasons with tomatoes , cucumbers , capsicums[papriks ] chillies , onions, garlic , corn , peas , broccoli , lettuce , muzzuma [ruccola ] spinach , parsley, celery , eggplant , cauliflower , potatoes basil, rosemary , thyme

fruit trees we have are lime , lemon , grapefruit , apple , peach , plum , apricot , grapes ,mandarins , pears nectarines & olives

it all gets either eaten by us or given away to neighbours ,chooks get the left overs we get the eggs ,  it sure is nice to spend time out in the garden at home , especially watering it

SX

[SANDRO43]

rosemary , thyme

What, no parsley and sage ?

muzzuma [ruccola ]

BTW, I don't know what muzzuma is, but rucola (Eruca sativa, a.k.a. salad rocket, roquette, rugula, colewort, arugula) is spelt with a single C, if it's  this plant .

Here it used to be called the poor men's salad because it could be picked up for free in open fields and road ditches, now they put it almost everywhere .

[southernX]

sandro 
we do grow  parsley , it was up my list ,both italian and affro varietys
sage ??  no use for it

 rucola , ?? well here it is a generic catch all term my wife uses for any leafy green vegetable that can be used in salads , our muzzuma is a very similar plant

SX

[Anotherkiwi]

...rucola , ?? well here it is a generic catch all term my wife uses for any leafy green vegetable that can be used in salads, our muzzuma is a very similar plant

SX

You mean there's more than one type of lettuce in Australia? 

[SANDRO43]

we do grow  parsley , it was up my list ,both italian and affro varietys

Add basil, simple to grow and with a gorgeous aroma . With sliced tomatoes and a mozzarella-type cheese, it's very simple to make...

...an insalata Caprese

[southernX]

sandro , 

are you reading my posts ?? lol
BASIL was also already in there

we love basil , parsley mixed with /over sliced tomatoes, red salad onions , balsamic , then shaved parmesan

with bruschetta or any good grain garlic bread , delicious !!

we are lucky to plant all seasons with tomatoes , cucumbers , capsicums[papriks ] chillies , onions, garlic , corn , peas , broccoli , lettuce , muzzuma [ruccola ] spinach , parsley, celery , eggplant , cauliflower , potatoes basil, rosemary , thyme

SX

[Aloe]

I'm afraid i'll die a horrible death if i make a vegetable garden in Belgium! Not only was it covered by chernobyl cloud in the 80's, but there is also some warm infestation in the news, said 1/3rd of all fruits and veggies grown in the south of the country are affected, so better not eat any uncooked self grown veggies. Also Belgium has highest incidence of breast cancer in europe. I wonder if chernobyl had anything to do with that ;o

[SANDRO43]

sandro ,  are you reading my posts ?? lol BASIL was also already in there

Oops, had missed it , glad you have it already in your plantation.

[PaulK]

With sliced tomatoes and a mozzarella-type cheese, it's very simple to make...

Now I crave it...

[mendeleyev]

Sandro, I've enjoyed that salad on hundreds of Russian tables. Is it an Italian creation?

I marvel at Russian food and the influences from the countries along the Mediterranean to China and to the nearby Stans, especially the wide variety of salads.

[Gator]

Sandro, I've enjoyed that salad on hundreds of Russian tables. Is it an Italian creation?

Sandro will know the chef who invented it and the year.   
 
My guess - definitely Italian, probably from the Isle of Capri, at the tip of the Sorrentine Peninsula.  Wonderful region encompassing Amalfi Coast,  Positano,  Sorrento with Pompeii nearby.  Truly one of the world's garden spots.   
 
As simple as the salad can be, fresh vine ripened tomatoes and fine cheese elevate it to the special category.  The area is also home of  limoncello.   

[SANDRO43]

My guess - definitely Italian, probably from the Isle of Capri, at the tip of the Sorrentine Peninsula. Wonderful region encompassing Amalfi Coast,  Positano,  Sorrento with Pompeii nearby. Truly one of the world's garden spots.

Yes, it originates in Capri, its first mention on a menu from the early 1920s for a dinner at Grand Hotel Quisisana (est. originally in 1845 by British doctor George Sidney Clark as a clinic with a well-wishing Italian name that is equivalent to "Here You Are Cured"):

The dinner was in honour of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the poet who founded the Futurist movement in 1909 and an ardent nationalist, a fact probably born in mind by the unknown chef who prepared it using materials with the 3 colours of our national flag (green, white, red) .

The cheese should be water buffalo mozzarella, its flavour quite distinct from the bland cow's milk mozzarella used for instance in pizzas all over the world.

[Anotherkiwi]

The cheese should be water buffalo mozzarella, its flavour quite distinct from the bland cow's milk mozzarella used for instance in pizzas all over the world.

Sandro, you are welcome to try milking what is regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in the world! 

[SANDRO43]

The area is also home of limoncello.

The area being known as Riviera Amalfitana . Limoncello is made with the zest (scraped rind) of Sorrento lemons, left in alcohol for a few days to extract the essential lemon oil and later added with sugar syrup. It's usually served cold .

[Boethius]

Add basil, simple to grow and with a gorgeous aroma . With sliced tomatoes and a mozzarella-type cheese, it's very simple to make...


...an insalata Caprese

Your mozzarella bears almost no resemblance to what most North Americans know as mozzarella.  Unlike Italian mozzarella, in North America, mozzarella is made from cow milk curds, is stretched, then sold in plastic sleeves.  It is almost tasteless, but is a good binder for sauces (pizza, mostly).

[SANDRO43]

Sandro, you are welcome to try milking what is regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in the world!

Not in the case of our benign water buffaloes of the general area around Naples, they have been in Italy since the VIth- VIIth century AD -  Paul the Deacon (c. 720s – 799), also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefred, Barnefridus and Cassinensis, a Benedictine monk and writer of the “Historia Longobardorum”, refers that the Langobards first brought to Italy "wild horses and buffaloes which created wonder in the local population".

After so many centuries, the wild beasts probably absorbed our Chi se ne frega (Who gives a damn) attitude .

[SANDRO43]

Your mozzarella bears almost no resemblance to what most North Americans know as mozzarella.

I had no idea myself, either, until I happened to drive through its producing area many years ago - motoring down to the Isle of Ischia - and had the opportunity of tasting it on the spot, its flavour quite a revelation!

Isola d'Ischia, castello aragonese

These past decades fresh buffalo mozzarella has become available in our supermarkets, too, trucked over from our south. The problem is that it does not remain firm for long, after 3-4 days in the fridge it starts to crumble and loses its appeal .

It's a typical summer dish here, I made a Caprese for my own consumption just a few nights ago . Originally, it used only to be made into "tresses":

 

[Gator]

Sandro will know the chef who invented it and the year.    
   

Sandro, you did not let me down.   Well done!      You even knew the occasion for its introduction.
 
The quality of the mozzarella is so important.  When I first heard of buffalo mozzarella, I thought the term "buffalo" was some esoteric Italian term, not realizing it meant water buffalo milk.   
 
Boethius, I am sure if you looked around stores such as Fresh Market (if you have one) you will discover that they have buffalo mozzarella packaged in brine.  As in Tampa, an Italian market store may sell buffalo mozzarella from  a brine filled wooden barrel.   You can select your balls of cheese.  I have not noticed crumbling if maintained in brine. 
 
Sandro, believe it or not!  In the Tampa area a farmer produces mozzarella from his own water buffalo raised in the swamps.  Being water buffalo I imagine they are as happy as pigs in mud.   The farmer is a Sicilian.   
 
http://www.tampabay.com/features/travel/florida/buffalo-mozzarella-a-florida-souvenir-that-begins-in-a-swampy-field/1260656
 
Looking at the photos, I see that the water buffalo have a small udder, making me think milk production is small.  No wonder it is expensive. 

Over the past 30 years, America has made great strides in appreciating fine food.  Nevertheless, the insipid Kraft cheese is ubiquitous. 
 

[mendeleyev]

How is it made?

Whenever I can get access to real raw milk, organic and non pasteurized, I like to make Queso fresco from whey. It can be either from cow or goat milk. Some of the monastery farms outside Moscow have raw milk available from time to time. My MIL must have a radar for who does and who doesn't so we usually rely on her talents to find the right thing.

The whey can then be used for other things including the fermenting of beet kvas.

[SANDRO43]

How is it made?

Production stages

"The richness of buffalo milk makes it highly suitable for processing. To produce 1 kg of cheese, a cheese maker requires 8 kg of cow milk but only 5 kg of buffalo milk. Producing 1 kg of butter requires 14 kg of cow milk but only 10 kg of buffalo milk. Because of these high yields, processors appreciate the value of buffalo milk.".

The steps to produce buffalo mozzarella are:

- Milk storage (raw buffalo milk stored in big steel containers).
- Milk heating (thermal treatment)
- Cream separation
- Curdling (addition of natural whey).
- Curd maturation (the curd lies in tubs to reduce the acidifying processes and reach a pH value of about 4.95).
- Spinning (hot water is poured on the curd to soften it, obtaining pasta filata).
- Shaping (with special rotary machines).
- Cooling (by immersion in cold water).
- Pickling (by immersion in pickling tubs containing the original whey).
- Packaging (in special films cut as bags or in small basins and plastic).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_mozzarella

[Ooooops]

Nope.   The only plants that survive my TLC are cactuses.   

[SANDRO43]

Nope.   The only plants that survive my TLC are cactuses.   

Terrible Loathing Curses ?

[Ooooops]

Terrible Loathing Curses ?

I guess...   

[ghost of moon goddess]

The only plants that survive my TLC are cactuses.   

Ooooops, you have dry sense of humor and your MIL is a seeker of pricking sensations, I guess

[mendeleyev]

...quite the ottoman. 

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