According to today’s news, Italy ground to a halt with massive transportation strikes in the big cities, protests against the policies of our fave, Silvio B.
But we didn’t grind to a halt. We painted the railings on our balcony. Enrico came over, slapped me on the back, and said “Bravo!” before announcing that the olive harvest would take place next week and I should come.
So I want to talk about easy food. Tomino alla Piastra is it.
Tomino is a cheese from Piemonte that comes in a little round, like a miniature brie. What’s interesting is that if you heat up a big old round of iron, a “grill” called a piastra, until it’s smoking, then oil it up with some olive oil or butter and drop a whole Tomino on it and let it cook, the outer layer will actually brown and crisp up. You have to turn it before the molten cheese pops out from the sides or you’ll have a mess. But it worked for me. In the photo it looks like I’ve doused it in bread crumbs, but really it’s bottarga, the grated fish roe you get in Sardinia.
Tomino alla Piastra con Bottarga is a classic, and so easy to prepare it’s almost silly.