FIDANZATI CAPRESI ALLA RICOTTA, POMODORO SECCO E FRUTTA SECCA

The sun is shining and I'm about to go out for some shopping, but before that I'd like to tell you about the gorgeous recipe I made up last Saturday.

Serving 6 starving people

600 g of Fidanzati Capresi (it's a lovely pasta shape made by Gragnano)

300 g of sheep ricotta

2 dried tomatoes, chopped

1 good handful of roasted, peeled and chopped pine nuts, walnuts and hazelnuts

1 garlic clove

about 10 fresh basil leaves, washed, drained and roughly chopped

5 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil

salt

black pepper

half a glass of fresh milk

freshly grated parmesan cheese

Pour the extravirgin olive oil in a large frying-pan, add the garlic clove, the chopped dried tomatoes, the chopped nuts and let cook on a high flame for about 3 minutes, then get rid of the garlic clove, add the ricotta, the milk, some salt and stir until creamy. Turn off the fire and allow to rest for few minutes. Drain your pasta but not completely: leave some water in order to avoid drying off. 

Transfer into the pan, add the basil and stir well for half a minute. Serve with some ground black pepper and parmesan cheese.

AFTERNOON CUPCAKES

Today is a grey day, the first cold wintery day. I'm sure you have those days in which you just wish to spend your afternoon and evening rolling from the sofa to the carpet and back...like a cat with its puppies...possibly with your oven switched on...

This is what we proudly baked a while ago...

Ingredients for 12 cupcakes

125 g of flour 

125g of caster sugar

125g of soft unsalted butter

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of milk

12 muffin papers

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line the tin with the muffin cases.

Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs with a little of the flour.

Add the vanilla extract and add the rest of the flour, pour the milk in order to get a fluid texture.

Spoon the cream in, filling each case equally.

Put in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cup cakes are cooked and golden on top. As soon as bearable, take the cup cakes in their cases out of the tin and let cool.

Decorate with the toppings you love. We made a lovely and light icing, mixing a little water with icing sugar (125 g should be enough) and adding different food colours to it. 

Easy and sooo pretty!

And while cupcakes were cooking...they were painting... 

HOT LEMON AND CINNAMON FONDENT PUDDING

You all almost certainly know the famous, lustful and to-die-for hot chocolate fondent pudding.

Well, i have to admit I truly adore it, but lately I'm not in that chocolatey mood at all. So yesterday evening I thought I'd change it a bit and came up with this lovely and creamy hot lemon fondent pudding. 

I'm so proud of what I baked!

Ingredients for 4 hot lemon puddings

60 g of softened butter

      2 egg yolks

200 g brown sugar (I've used Demerara)

      50 g Corn Flour

finely grated rind and juice from 1 small lemon

200 ml Milk

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (or less, depending on one's taste)

a tablespoon of icing sugar for the topping

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees

Cream the butter with the sugar and the ground cinnamon until soft, add the egg yolks and beat together

Add in the corn flour, the grated rind and juice of the lemon, and then the milk. If the mixture appeared lumpy it would be a good idea to smooth it with a mixer. 

Pour the custard into 4 ramekins and bake in the preheated oven for 25 mins, or until just set.

Cool slightly and dredge icing sugar over the top.

LEMON AND POPPY SEEDS BISCUITS

Lemon and poppy seeds. Without a doubt one of the happiest union in my bakery repertoire.
I had tried almost every solution, from the birthday cakes to ricotta cheesecakes, from my creamy lemony mousse, so refreshing after an "important" meal, to the fragrant muffins that remind me so much of those I used to buy every sunday from a californian gentleman who had a bakery stand at People's Park Market in Dun Laoghaire.
There was only one thing left to try: biscuits or, as we call them in Italy, frollini.
It was a grey, rainy evening but my kids and I had a lovely time making them and they were so delicious that we couldn't keep our hands off!

250 g of flour
100 g of caster sugar
70 g of butter (take it off the fridge a  good 30 minutes before and let it soften)
1 egg
8 g of baking powder
few drops of vanilla essence
half a teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of poppy seeds
the grated zest of two lemons

In a large bowl cream the butter with the sugar and the vanilla essence, then add the egg and keep beating until soft, foamy and smooth.
In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, poppy seeds and grated lemon zest. Add the dry ingredients to the butter cream and work with your hands until you get a dough.
Wrap it with clingfilm and store in the fridge for about one hour.
Meanwhile get your work surface ready.
(note: I generally start by placing a sheet of baking paper on the table, I flour the rolling pin and the biscuits cutters and I cover the baking tray with baking paper)
After one hour switch on the oven and turn the temperature to 180 degrees, take the dough off the fridge, lay it on the baking paper sheet you have placed on the table and roll it to the thickness of half a cm.
Cut the biscuits with the cutters and place them on the baking tray. Cook for 10 minutes then take off the oven and dust with icing sugar.
Try them with fruit jam or even Nutella or, simple as they are, with your "cuppa tea" at five o' clock.

HOMEMADE POPPY SEEDS BREAD

Is it ever possible for a person to wake up in the morning with the only idea of baking some bread? Well I don't know if it is, but it happened to me!

I was dreaming of  nice, fragrant bread, just popped out of the oven, with a gorgeous crunchy crust and a soft inside; so soon after my breakfast I found myself kneading with all my energy.

It isn't "just" bread, because I sprinkled some poppy seeds into the dough to make it even crunchier and to add a touch of romantic femininity and because I used no ordinary flour but Molino Manitoba flour which is indeed of a superior quality!

Ingredients

1 kg of Manitoba flour

400 ml of milk

300 ml of water

25 g of brewer's yeast

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons of salt

2 teaspoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of poppy seeds

Pour flour into a large salad bowl and, little by little crumble the yeast in with your fingertips.

Add milk, water, oil, sugar, salt and mix well.
Finally work the poppy seeds in, kneading the dough quite quickly.

Form a ball, cover it with clingfilm and let it stand for 10 hours at room temperature.

Then take your dough and knead it in order to obtain few loaves, about 4 or 6, depending on the size you want to get.
Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Lay the loaves on a baking tray covered with baking paper and cook  for about 40 minutes.

VISIT TO THE CULTIVATED FIELD AND AUBERGINE CHEESY PIE

 

Happiness has many faces.

I've seen one today, actually, two. 

Those of my children, being back from a visit to the cultivated field of a family friend.

My parents, extraordinary granparents, drove the two rascals to the beautiful garden, while my husband and I stayed home with little Mickey Mouse, downhearted with his roseola infantum.

They were back in three hours time, with a massive crate filled with fruit and veggies such as peppers, leeks, aubergines, black cabbage and green beans. 

They, of course, brought me an incredibly fragrant bunch of multicolour flowers as well, which I placed into a vase at the centre of my table.

I cooked the aubergines straight away and here is what I made.

 

Ingredients

2 small aubergines cut in slices (1 cm thick)

200 g of caciotta cheese (but mozzarella would do the trick as well!)

200 g of grated mature sheep cheese or parmesan cheese

a handful of basil leaves

3 eggs

salt, as needed (I don't use much anyway)

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

fresh ground black pepper

1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs

Stirfry the aubergines in a large pan with the olive oil and add very little salt. 

When they change their colour into a slight golden shade turn the heat down and cover with the lid. Cook for about 20 minutes.

Apart beat the eggs with the black pepper and sheep cheese or parmesan, depending on what you have in the fridge.

Arrange the first layer of aubergines in an oven dish, top with basil leaves and thinly sliced caciotta (or mozzarella, again depending on what you have) than lay the remaining aubergines on top. Finally pour the beaten cheesy eggs on the whole surface and garnish with breadcrumbs and more grated cheese.

Pop in the oven and cook at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes.

POTATOES AND RED PEPPERS FRITTATA

Perfect for a rich pic-nic in the country, but also nice as an apetizer, cut in small, nit square, while you're sipping a glass of fresh, sparkling, white wine with your guest, waiting for a special pasta to be cooked "al dente".

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 red pepper (remove pepper's stalk and seeds and dice it)

2 potatoes speeled and diced

1 shallot, peeled and chopped

100 g of grated parmesan cheese and 50 g of grated mature sheep cheese

1 small courgette (for a nice hint of green), sliced in rounds

1 teaspoon of dry rosemary

1 teaspoon of dry marjoran 

salt

ground black pepper

4 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil for stewing the veggies and half a glass of olive oil for frying the frittata

In a large pan, stirfry the red pepper, the potatoes, the courgette and the shallot. Add salt, black pepper and the herbs. Let the veggies get a nice golden colour on their surface, turn the heat down and cover with the lid. 

Apart beat the eggs with parmesan and sheep cheese and very little salt, add to the veggies and blend. Pour the nice chunky mixture you got  in a frying pan with half a glass of olive oil and fry carefully both sides of your frittata.

Serve at room temperature

LEEK AND PARMESAN MINI SOUFFLES

More and more leeks. I think I'm just fallen in love with these gorgeous veggies and it's so hard to stop me from buying them!

Frankly I  believe that they have a "just-perfect-for-every-dish-taste" and that they give to your food a hint of irresistible homey flavour.

Ingredients for ten souffles

200 g grated parmesan cheese

350 g of bechamel

6 egg yolk, beaten

6 egg whites, beaten until stiff

2 leeks sliced in rounds

salt

ground black pepper

2 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon of olive oil

breadcrumbs for dusting the oven shapes

Stew the leeks in a large pan with butter and olive oil.

Add the cooked leeks to the beaten egg yolks; pour the bechamel and the parmesan cheese, add salt and ground black pepper.
At last pour the egg whites and stir very gently from the bottom to the top.
Butter the shapes and dust them with breadcrumbs.
Divide the mixture into the shapes and cook in preheated oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees and for 15 minutes at 150 degrees.

OLD FASHION FALL SOUP

 I love smooth soups, but every now and then I long for one of those old fashion, chunky ones, the ones the one italians call minestrone. 
Here's a very easy one, perfect for this season. Fall hasn't kicked in quiet yet, it's struggling against a very stubborn summer which doesn't want to be left behind.

Ingredients per 4

250 g di peas (Birds Eye's are perfect)

10 small champignons mushrooms (sliced along their wide section)
6 baby potatoes (diced)

1 leek (sliced in thin rounds)
a mix of chopped herbs (dry or fresh depending on what you have at home) such as marjorane, basil and parsley.

1 tablespoon of butter 
3 tablespoons of e.v. olive oil 

half a teaspoon of very hot chopped dry chilly pepper
salt 

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the olive oil and stew the leek, potatoes and champignons. Pour the peas, hot chilli pepper, salt and herbs i piselli. Cover with boiling vegetable stock or  boiling water and add salt according to your taste.  
Cook for about one hour and serve with croutons.

CREAMY CARROT AND EMMENTHAL CHEESE RISOTTO

Risotto, mon amour.

Fall's kicking in and I just can't help but think of confort food: creamy and hot dishes suddenly fill my mind and the cooler air makes me long for cooking again.

Here's a great recipe for both children and grown-ups.

Serves 4: 

350 g arborio rice
1 thick slice of  emmenthal cheese - about 250 g
50 ml of fresh cream, 1/2 litre of milk and 1/2 vegetable stock, 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
half  a glass of white wine, 6 medium size carrots, a tablespoon of butter, salt and white pepper

Peel the carrots and blend them with the white wine. Pour this cream in a large pan with the olive oil, cook for 5 minutes than add your rice. Stir and allow the rice to get all the flavours. Now start adding milk and stock little by little and one after the other, always stirring in order to avoid that rice sticks to the bottom of the pan.  Add salt, freshly ground white pepper, the fresh cream and the butter. Add the diced emmenthal cheese just 5 minutes before you turn the heat off. Allow the risotto to stand for another 5 minutes before serving and finish with a nice handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

RAIMBOW CAKE

Sometimes kids ask for unusual stuff, but now and then their requests can be really inspiring.
My three years old daughter Isabella asked for a supercoloured cake with loads of pink in it; well, few days ago I baked something similar to her description and despite the genetically-modified look it was delicious!
It can be a great idea for children birthday parties or even for halloween if you just pick the right colours...lots of orange and extra dark cocoa powder.
Here's trhe recipe.

200 g plain flour
100 g caster sugar
60 g icing sugar
100 ml sunflower oil
100 ml fresh full fat milk
2 and a half teaspoons of baking powder, about 14 g
food colours

Turn the oven to 180 degrees then butter and flour your tin.
Beat the egg whites with the icing sugar until stiff, apart beat the yolks with the caster sugar and add to the whites very gently. Pour the other ingredients one by one, mix carefully and add the sieved flour at last. Mix again until smooth.
Divide the mixture into 4 or 5 parts (or more if you really want a raimbow effect!) and colour them with food colours.
Pour the coloured mixtures in the tin one by one, put in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes.

CHILI CON CARNE

Great for informal dinners with friends you feel totally confortable with, because your fingers are going to get dirty and so are the corners of your mouth.
In winter chili is the panacea for surviving the coldest days because it really warms your body and in summertime, by raising your body temperature, it makes you sweat and sweating is the most natural remedy to desperse heat. Try to believe!

for 6 people

500 g mixed mince meat (pork and beaf)
3 red peppers
1 medium size white onion
250 canned black beans
250 g peeled chopped tomatoes
half a glass of white wine
1 tablespoon of ketchup
2 teaspoons of tabasco
2 teaspoons of chopped fresh parsley
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of ground chilli pepper
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
salt

Wash the peppers, cut them in halves and take all the seeds off. Rinse and drain them. Peel and chop the onion, fry it in a large saucepan with the olive oil till soft, add the mince meat and cook at high flame. Add salt. When the meat has got a nice golden shade add the white wine and let boil off. Add the peppers, beans, the chopped tomatoes, parsley, ketchup, chilli pepper, paprika, and tabasco. Cover with lid and turn the heat down to a simmer fiamma. Cook for an hour and a half.
Serve hot with tortillas and nachos chips.

CAVIAR, PRAWNS AND COURGETTES CREAM FUSILLI

This is the creamiest pasta I've ever made, warm and reassuring in winter time with a hint of fresh cream, or light and zesty with the addition of grated lemon peel on a lovely summer day.

for 4 people

400 g of fusilli
2 medium light green courgettes
3 or 4 spring onions
300 g of prawns
40 g of caviar
100 ml of fresh cream
30 ml of brandy
1 teaspoon of dried thyme and marjoram
5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
salt and white pepper

Carefully wash  the courgettes, drain them, chop them and put them into a large pan with 3 tablespoons of  olive oil. Do the same with the spring onions then cook until the vegetables will soften. This will take about 15 minutes. Add salt, ground white pepper, thyme and marjoram and the fresh cream, then transfer into the beaker of your blender. Blend until smooth and creamy, add the caviar and stir gently, then pour into a large pretty serving dish.
Meanwhile bring the water to the boil in a large pan. Add salt and fusilli when water's boiling.
Apart, in a small pan quickly fry the prawns. I've been lazy and I used the freezed ones...they are not as good as the fresh ones but they will do the trick, plus you won't have to shell them, which is one thing I hate!
Pour the brandy into the frying prawns and let boil off, add a little salt and take off the heat. Add the prawns to your courgettes cream, drain the fusilli and pour them into the cream, stir gently then serve with extra freshly ground white pepper. Your guests will simply adore it!

ROMAN-STYLE GNOCCHI

I simply love gnocchi di semolino: they are the quintessence of confort food, the food I'd dream to plunge my fork in when I'm feeling cosy, on a freezing, rainy evening. It's something I'd definitely cook for my children on a feast day
Here's the super-easy recipe.

for 4-6 people

750 ml of milk
200 ml of semolina
3 egg yolks
120 g of butter
5 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
salt

Heat the milk in a non-stick saucepan and, when it starts to boil, add salt and sprinkle in the semolina, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the semolina is very stiff and hard to stir. Take the pan off the heat and add 80 g of butter, 3 yolks and 3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese. Mix well until the mixture becomes smooth and not sticky.
Now, this is how I cut the semolina rounds.
Place a sheet of baking paper on the table and on top of that lay your semolina mixture. Leave it there until it's cold. Switch on the oven at 200 degrees and grease a nice baking dish with a little butter.
When the semolina's cold you can start rolling it with the rolling pin to the thickness of 1 cm. Now cut the rounds with a glass or with a biscuits cutter.
Start to fill the baking dish with the scraps, and between a layer and the other sprinkle some parmesan cheese and few butter flakes. Last of all arrange the rounds of semolina overlapping them partially. Dust with more parmesan cheese, add the chunks of the remaining butter and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes.
People sitting at your table today will adore you!

WHITE WINE AND TERRAGON SALMON

This dish brings me back to Dun Laoghaire and reminds me of its colours and perfume. The sunday market, the peaceful morning walking along the seaside and the cold wind messing people's hair.
It's happening again...I'm feeling homesick more than usual and I need a taste of HOME.

for 2 people

2 fresh salmon steaks
half a glass of white wine
3 tablespoons of olive oil
a teaspoon of dry terragon

a teaspoon of chopped fresh parsley leaves
salt
ground black pepper

Put the salmon steaks into a large pan with the olive oil, add salt and cook until both surfaces are kind of crispy. Add the white wine, the terragon and let boil off for two to three minutes on a high flame, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cover with the lid.
Cook for about 20 minutes.
Turn the heat on again and add the parsley and the black pepper, cook for another 5 minutes and serve with boiled baby potatoes or peppers.

PUNTARELLE FRITTATA

This is definitely the last minute frittata, I prepared with the external leaves of the puntarelle salad. they were so nice and  tender I couldn't possibly throw them away!

for 4-6 people

the external leaves of the puntarelle salad (more or less 200 g), thoroughly washed and drained.
3eggs
3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
extravirgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
salt

Cut the leaves in about 5 cm long segments then put then into a pan of 20 cm in diametreporle in una padellina with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a garlic clove. Fry on a high flame and remove the garlic clove before it gets brown. Cook for about 10 minutes, then take off the heat and let cool.
Apart, beat the eggs with the parmesan cheese and a pinch of salt, add the cooked leaves and transfer the batter into the same pan (cleaned out with kitchen paper) with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Fry until both surfaces of the frittata become crispy and golden.
The result is super especially for the sweetness of puntarelle.

PUMPKIN ORECCHIETTE

 Chestnuts, mushrooms and pumkin.
Together with the warm shades of the leaves that cover our town's sidewalks and  wood's paths, these are for me fall's real tresure.
Yesterday night I prepared for a couple of friends a nice pasta with soft pumpkin, a delicate and easy-to-make primo piatto.
Here's the recipe.

for 4 people

400 g of pumpkin, peeled and diced
1 leek peeled and cut in thin rounds
1 teaspoon of fresh roughly chopped parsley
2 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of white wine
about 40 g of butter
salt
black and white ground pepper

Put the diced pumpkin in a glass bowl with 80 ml of water, cover with a lid (suitable for microwave) and cook in the microwave for about 15 minutes at the maximum power.
Meanwhile bring the water to the boil in a large saucepan. When water's boiling add salt and the orecchiette.
Apart put the leek in a pan with butter and olive oil and cook on a high flame in order to soften the leek. Add the wine and let boil off.
Drain the pumpkin and add it to the leek in the pan, add salt, pepper and parsley and cook for about ten minutes or so.
Drain the orecchiette al dente and transfer into the pan with the pumpkin sauce, let cook for another minute, then serve topping with  parmesan cheese.

PUNTARELLE SALAD

This is a fresh, crunchy italian style salad, ideal as a side dish - delicious with salmon but also with chicken and pork - and as a solution for a light lunch, when served with nice toasted brown bread.

for 4 people

1 puntarelle salad
6 anchovies fillets

for the vinaigrette
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
the juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil
half a teaspoon of crushed dry chilli pepper
sea salt

Take the external leaves off *.
Cut the puntarelle into thin strips and put them into a salad bow.
Drain and chop the anchovies fillets and add them to the salad.
In a small bowl prepare the vinaigrette mixing together the lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, sesame seeds, salt and chilli peppers.
Top the salad with this sauce and serve...nothing easier!

* with the external leaves I made a great frittata...I'll post the recipe next!

NUTELLA AND CHOCOLATE CHIPS MUFFINS

There's nothing better than a muffin for breakfast. And what are the two things that children and grown up most loves? Without a doubt Nutella and chocolate!
Here's the delicious recipe for the muffins I've baked this afternoon. For the very first time I have weighed the ingredients in order to write down the exact quantities required.

240 g of flour
140 g of caster sugar
24 g of baking powder
half a teaspoon of baking soda80 g of dark chocolate chips
200 ml of lukewarm milk

60 g of melted butter    
2 eggs

1 good scoop of Nutella

for the icing

100 g of dark chocolate
120 g of icing sugar
2 tablespoon of water

a handful of chopped hazelnuts to garnish

Turn the oven on to the temperature of 180 degrees.
Put about 14 to 16 muffin cases on an oven tray.
In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and chocolate chips. In another bowl mix well the milk with the eggs, the butter and the scoop of Nutella. Then add the wet mixture to the dry one and blend with a spoon until you get a lumpy batter.
Scoop the batter into the muffin cases and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Take off the oven and allow to cool.
Apart prepare the chocolate icing, this is my way and it always work!
Put the chopped chocolate and the water into a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, allow to melt then take off the heat, let cool then add the icing sugar and stir carefully.
Spread the icing on the top of the muffins, then sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts on top of the icing and finally...enjoy your creation!

PORK STEW WITH FRESH CREAM AND EVERLASTING

Have you ever taken a walk on a country road of Sardinia?
If you have then you've almost certainly smelled the sharp, sweet and sour essence of Helichrysum, aka Everlasting. It's one of the most characteristic herb of the Macchia Mediterranea and it's renowned for its antinflammatory properties.
But that's nothing new.
My aunt has always used it for cooking and, as scepctical as I was, I hardly believed it could work.
Well, I had to change my mind the day I tried it for the first time.
Since then, everytime I'm stewing pork or veal meat I sprinkle few dry leaves of everlasting and that makes a huge difference!

for 4 people

600 g of loin of pork, diced
4 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil
half a glass of white wine
3 tablespoon of fresh cream
a little twig of everlasting
salt
black pepper
fresh parsley and marjoram to garnish

Season the diced pork with salt and pepper, put it in a pan with the olive oil and cook on a high flame until the meat surfaces have picked a golden shade and the meat liquid has boiled off. Add now the white wine, soon after the cream and let boil off for a while, then add the twig of everlasting, turn the heat down to a simmer and cover with the lid.
Cook for one hour.
Before taking the pan off the heat check that the juice is nice and thick. If it's not take the lid off and turn the heat up for few minutes.
Garnish with fresh parsley and marjoram and serve with a fresh salad on a side.