Posts tagged recipes
Canary in a Coalmine
"It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop"
Cranberry and orange Christmas Tree cakes
So looking forward to trying this recipe!
Cranberry and orange Christmas Tree cakes (makes two cakes to fit two Lakeland Christmas tree moulds, or 2 x 20cm round cakes - halve the recipe to make just one cake):
500g unsalted butter, softened
300g caster sugar
200g light brown soft sugar
Grated zest of 4 oranges
150ml orange juice
8 eggs, beaten
500g self-raising flour, sifted
200g fresh cranberries
Icing sugar, silver balls and a clementine, to decorate
Pre-heat the oven to 170C/fan 160C. If using normal cake tins, grease and line them.
Beat the butter, zest and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (this should take around 5 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition and adding 1tbsp of the flour each time. Finally, fold in the flour and slowly mix in the orange juice. Fold in the cranberries.
Pour the mixture into the tins and bake for around 45 minutes, or until they spring back when touched and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
When the cakes have cooled thoroughly, remove from their tins (if using metal tins). Mix icing sugar with a little clementine juice to form a fairly runny white icing, then drizzle this over the cake. Stick silver balls to the icing.
I suggest opening a bottle of Picolit to compliment this mouthwatering cake.
(source nutmegs,seven)
Mussels in Prosecco Sauce
Pumpkin gnocchi evening.
I went for a a mix of pumpkin and potatoes gnocchi with butter, sage and smoked ricotta.
Ingridients:
500gr. of pumpkin + 500gr. of flowery potatoes + 200gr. flowers + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder + 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg + butter + sage + smoked ricotta
Cut the pumpkin into halves. Scoop the seeds and strings out using a spoon.
Cut into chuncks and fit into a baking tray. Bake at 180 C° until soft. Leave to cool. Boil the potatoes in salted water. Peel and mash them.
Scoop out the pumpkin flesh using a spoon and mash it together with the potatoes. Add in the cinnamon and nutmeg and then the flour. Working quickly and gently, use a bench scraper or a fork to reach underneath the ingredients and lightly toss them together. Begin kneading very lightly. If the dough feels sticky, sprinkle on a little more flour, but as little as necessary to form a dough that is moist but firm and not sticky.
Roll the dough into long strips and cut the “gnocco” in the size you prefer. Drop 10/15 gnocchi at the time into boiling salted water and wait for them to float.
Quickly drain them with a slotted spoon and place them into a bowl.
Add the melted butter and the crispy sage leaves, sprinkle with smoked ricotta and…enjoy!
I can assure you the fantastic four devoured them!
Flavours of Kras - Okusi Krasa - Sapori del Carso 2011
The 10th edition of Flavours of Kras is starting this weekend on the Kras, the plateau running along the border between North East Italy and Slovenia and will finish on the 8th November.
Once again this land, FVG, is full of surprises and enogastronomy is one of its strenght.
Runnig aside the “Invito a Pranzo” event, a selection of osterie and small restaurant associated to the Slovenian Regional Economic Union of Friuli Venezia Giulia will be offering you a chance to discover their traditional products and family recipes, local wines, cultural and artistic events.
Click on the picture for the brochure with a list of the participating restaurateurs and their menus.
Booking is advised.
Prosecco Zabaglione with Lemon Polenta Cookies
Makes: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
· 110g unsalted butter
· softened ½ cup sugar
· 1 tsp lemon zest
· ½ tsp salt
· 2 large egg yolks
· ½ cup polenta
· 1¼ cups plain all-purpose flour
· ½ cup golden raisins
Zabaglione
· 6 large egg yolks
· ¼ cup sugar
· ½ cup Italian Prosecco or Essencia
Preparation
For the Cookies
Preheat oven to 180°C. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in lemon zest and salt, then egg yolks. Beat in polenta, then flour. Fold in raisins. Knead dough just to combine; transfer to sheet of plastic wrap. Using plastic, shape dough into a log 3cm in diameter, cut in half and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, 3 hours or up to 1 day.
Slice dough log into 0.5cm-thick rounds. Arrange rounds on prepared baking sheet, spacing 2cm apart and reshaping into rounds if uneven. (The cookies do not spread too much so there is no need to space them too far apart.) Bake cookies for about 15 minutes or until they have become golden in colour. Cool on tray for 2 minutes, then lift cookies from tray using a spatula and transfer to a wire rack.
NOTE: The dough can be made up to 48 hours ahead and stored in the fridge.
For the Zabaglione
Whisk egg yolks and sugar in large metal bowl and gradually whisk in Prosecco. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bowl to touch water) and whisk until mixture is thick and foamy, about 4 minutes. Divide zabaglione among 6 cocktail glasses.
Serve immediately with Lemon Polenta Cookies.
The tomato sauce session that ended with homemade gnocchi
Last weekend I finally finished the transformation of 20kg of fresh tomatoes into sauce. It took me a while because of time issues: working during the day, cooking at night.
It is a satisfying process: I adore the smell of freshly made tomatoes sauce and basil! I have not quite managed to stock up my larder as I did last year but I could not find anymore of these kind of tomatoes. A phenomenal shade of red, very rich, very vibrant and a lovely consistency: it could be a… vintage?
It was almost dinner time when I finished and I decided to boil some potatoes while preparing r-a-g-ù, a rich meat sauce the British call “b-o-l-o-g-n-e-s-e”. To be fair not only the British!
Lots of peeling, chopping, sizzling and cooking later I poured the freshly made sauce into the meat and cooked slowly for another 40 minutes. Little tip: my cousin, an Italian cook from Bologna, always told me “the more you cook the meat without the tomatoes, the better the flavours”.
Potatoes where ready to peel and gnocchi preparation started:
1 kg. potatoes
200 gr. flower
1 egg
1 shot of Grappa (this is Mum’s tip!)
Mix it together and roll the so formed dough into long “sausage” shapes. Cut into little dice shapes, roll over the back of a fork (the grooves so created will help collecting the sauce) and put them into boiling water.
The gnocchi came rapidly up to the surface, the ragù sauce was ready. I scooped the gnocchi out and placed them into a bowl, added the ragù and served them to my crew with two large handful of grated Parmesan cheese.
Success!
NB: Sorry for the pics quality, rather handle my phone than my camera while having flowery sticky hands.
