One-Pot Wonders

Three Birds Biryani is one among 250 recipes in my new book ONE-POT WONDERS coming out in February.  In Indian cooking, biryanis are grand and festive rice dishes cooked in layers in a casserole and highly seasoned with spices, especially saffron.

[photo: Clifford A. Wright]

Tuscan White Bean Soup

This smooth soup or velouté is the height of simplicity nevertheless any diner eating it will ask you for the recipe because its taste is soothing and delicious. You can find this recipe and a couple of hundreds more in my new book The Best Soups in the World. Tuscans favor a variety of small white navy beans, called cannellini beans, and use them to make a thicker version of this soup into a spread for crostini (toast points) as an antipasto. If you leave the carrot out, the soup will be whiter.
1 cup (1/2 pound) dried white beans
1 leafy sprig fresh sage
Salt to taste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 small carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped fennel bulb (optional)
For the garnish (choose 1)
Twelve 1-inch squares thinly sliced pancetta, cooked until crispy
1 cup croûtons, fried in olive oil until golden
1/2 cup cooked tiny shrimp
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1. Place the beans in a pot with 1 sprig sage and cover with water by several inches, but first pull off two leaves of sage from the sprig and set aside for later. Bring to a boil over high heat, salt lightly, and then cook at a boil until tender, about 1 1/2 hours, replenishing the water when necessary.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, then cook, stirring, the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, and fennel, if using, until soft, about 6 minutes.
3. Drain the beans, saving 4 cups of the cooking liquid. Place the beans in a blender with the vegetables from the skillet and 4 cups of the cooking liquid. Blend until smooth. Transfer to a clean pot, add the 2 leaves of sage, and turn the heat to low. Cook until bubbling and hot, about 5 minutes. Serve hot with one of the garnishes.
Makes 4 servings

In the Beginning...

Mediterranean cuisine is called one of the world's healthiest diets, but very few people will be able to tell you what Mediterranean cuisine is. This blog will hopefully get you started once it's up and running fully.

Specifically, I will be blogging about cooking and the food used in Mediterranean cooking. For the full range of the Mediterranean culinary experience and in the meantime, please visit my web site at www.cliffordawright.com to find your introduction to what the cuisines of the Mediterranean are all about. If you become a member you will have access to a thousand fully kitchen-tested heirloom Mediterranean recipes as well as a monthly and weekly newsletter. I call them newsletters rather than blogs because they are formatted differently, written differently, and have a different purpose than this blog will have.

If you are interested in travel information and restaurant recommendations in the Mediterranean you will do best by Googling the respective places you want to visit. If you want to know more about what might appear on a menu once there or what you should be ordering and eating...then stick around...this is the place.