Cavolo Nero

Ever since I glance upon the Cavolo Nero chapter of Maggie's Harvest by Maggie Beer I wanted to cook something with Cavolo Nero (also known as Italian black cabbage or Tuscan cabbage). Until now, I have never tasted it or even seen it at the local grocer but my stomach told me something good was going to come out of it.

Wondering around a larger grocer last week, I spotted my Cavolo Nero. Quickly, I abandoned the stalk of celery in my hands and with concealed excitement I stuck my hand out to reach for the leafy dark green vegetable.

I am not sure how many uses this vegetable has - I am sure there are many that I don't know of - I was planning to make minestrone anyway and this will be perfect (with a bit of speck and parmigiano reggiano). There is not a strong 'cabbagey' flavour, so if you don't like cabbage you should try this, there is some texture even after cooking the minestrone for 1.5hrs so it made a nice addition to the normal 'cubes of veg' found in the soup.

Minestrone with Cavolo Nero and Speck

I still have half a bunch left over, I think I will try it with some pasta later this week.

Star Spangled Cupcakes

How hard is it to find blue sprinkles?! The answer: very hard.

I wanted to use blue sprinkles on these cupcakes but failed to find any. Actually I couldn't find any blue lollies. I almost gave up after 1.5 days of searching when I spotted some at one of those lolly kiosks in the shopping centre.

Happy be-lated 4^th of July!