July 30 2004, 04:43 PM Things Come Together

The cool weather has afforded us the opportunity to make bread every few days. This has gone well; we have had chances at experimentation. We had an extra half cup of pesto, so into the dough it went, resulting in a lightly tinted loaf that slept well under a snowy light slice of fresh mozzarella. The most recent effort ended up with a half cup of flax seed meal added. The resulting loaf is chewy, deep, and run through with dark shot of flax.

As part of the farm share, we have been receiving green onions. We call them green onions; I have heard them referred to as those, or as long onions, or as bunching onions, or even as scallions (although I am not sure that it is correct to do so, the swampy feet of local dialects aside). They are mostly green, and lovely, too, a deep waxy vegetal green that gives way at the bottom of the stalk to a cream white. Sometimes, the very end is a blushingly dense purple. The remarkable thing about the particular onions are the size; we have been getting onions a yard long. We attempt to eat them up quick.

The cheese of the week was Baita Fruili. We do not know much about this cheese. Under a thin rind it is smooth, and light with the color of straw. It is creamy, with a gentle tang near the end of each piece. We had never had it before, and we will well have it again.

These pieces come together simply: a piece of bread, a folded strip of onion, a slice of cheese. Hold the onion in place with the cheese as the teeth make work of tearing the bread beneath. The cheese is soft, and enfolds the bright crunch of the onion over the drumbeat chew of the bread. It makes a good lunch.