Biologists' dinner

Last month we had another biologists' dinner.

With delicious cavaillon melon and ham

and pizza in two versions

one for the kids

and one for the adults (I'm glad to be an adult)

and for dessert I baked a crostata di marmellata with fresh apricots.

After this we participated in a walk combined with theatre for kids, organised by Bronks,

in which I humiliated myself with a football in front of a bunch of very good football players.

Biologists' dinner

Another biologists' dinner.

With marinated red pepper

and blinis - with salmon and sourcream, and with tarama - as appetizers

tuna cakes for starters

duck in walnut and tamarind sauce, with spicy root vegetables and basmati rice

and a frangipane-like pie for dessert.

The remaining recipes are available on request.

Stuffed courgette flowers

Today I went to visit my friends in the countryside. I witnessed the preparation of a house specialty and I asked for the recipe, so here comes.

180 g ricotta
100-200 g boiled spinach
some grated parmesan
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
15 courgette flowers
pinch of nutmeg
1 tbsp olive oil
125 g flour

Mix ricotta, spinach, parmesan, nutmeg and basil leaves. Season with pepper and salt.
Wash the flowers delicately, make an incision and remove the part in the middle.
Stuff each flower with a teaspoon of the ricotta mixture.
Make a liquid batter with flour, olive oil and some water.
Dip the the flowers quickly in the batter, let them drip a bit then fry them in frying oil.
Serve immediately, sprinkled with salt.

These were the flowers, straight from the garden.

Stuffing them

Stuffed

Frying them

and savouring them! Delicious!

Note: you can omit the parmesan for a lighter dish.

My friends live in a great house with a fantastic garden: they have a vegetable garden, a flower garden, chicken, sheep, fruit trees... and today was a beautiful autumn day, perfect for enjoying this.

We ate outside, probably for the last time this year.

My friends' dahlias

and sheep, in a meadow with an apple tree bearing loads of fruit

The hazelnut harvest

which needs to be peeled

and the walnut harvest, which we gathered in about 15 minutes; there are so many nuts this year!

and this is the loot I took home.

Biologists' dinner

With 4 fellow biology students we started to have dinners together over 10 years ago. The hostess would prepare the main course and the others would bring starters, dessert and drinks. Even though some of us lived abroad for 1-2 years, we managed to keep up the tradition. Recently we've started cooking together in stead of each preparing her own stuff. Today we were on again.


For starters we had a delicious salad with rucola, pomegranate seeds, cucumber and parmezan, with a dressing made from pomegranate juice, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. After that we had an enormous baked dish with fish, leek, onions, garlic and sour cream. The dessert was an Italian rice tart with apples.


Needless to say that after this meal we could do with a little walk in the countryside for digestion!