Very easy to prepare, wonderfully tasting. Try to cook this spaghetti yourself…buon appetito!

Ingredients:

1 package Rapid Rise yeast
1.25 cups scalded milk, cooled to room temperature
pinch of salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar

3.5 cups flour (approximate)
1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon of water
6 dyed Easter eggs
sprinkles

Indications:

In a large mixer bowl, combine yeast, warm (not hot) milk, salt, butter, eggs and sugar. Add about half the flour and beat until smooth with dough hook.   Slowly add the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Don’t worry about how much flour it ends up being, just keep adding until the dough is not sticky anymore.  Knead until smooth with either dough hook attachment or turn out on floured board and knead. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.

Punch dough down, divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece to form a 1 inch thick rope about 14 inches long and, taking two pieces, twist to form a “braid”, pinching the ends,  and loop into a circle.

Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until double, about an hour again. Brush each bread with beaten egg wash. Put on the sprinkles. In the middle of each bread ring, gently place an Easter egg, making an indentation with the egg.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden – about 20 – 25 minutes. Cool on rack.

(source: http://italiandish.squarespace.com/imported-20090913150324/2008/3/19/italian-easter-bread.html)

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The strange name, “Carbonara” probably belongs to the fact that the dish was invented by the carbonari, the foresters making charchoal from the woods in the Italian Appennini. But let’s see how it is made:

For 4 serves
Preparation: 15 mins
Cooking: 10-12 mins
Difficulty: Medium

INGREDIENTS:
* 400 g (14 oz) Spaghetti (cooked “al dente”)
* 150 g (5 oz) Unsmoked streaky bacon slices (very thin – 1 mm thick)
* 50 g (2 oz) Pecorino cheese – matured (freshly grated)
* 15 ml (1tbs) Extra virgin olive oil
* 3 Egg yolks + 1 whole egg (use large size eggs, preferably free range organic)
* 80 ml (3 fl. oz) White wine
* 1 Small size onion (cut into thin rings)
* 5 g (¼ oz) Ground pepper grains (crushed in the mortar)

About the salt: Spaghetti is boiled in salted water, the bacon is salty and the Pecorino cheese is salty, so take care seasoning with salt!

DIRECTIONS:

Put 3 egg yolks plus 1 whole egg into a large bowl. While whisking, add the Pecorino cheese, but add it gradually because the cheese will dry the mixture and you need a smooth and creamy mixture. The remaining cheese can be used later for topping the pasta if you like. Take the crushed pepper you have previously prepared and add it to the bowl. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy, and then leave it to rest.

Put the oil into a frying pan and when it is hot move the pan around distributing the oil all over the pan surface. Lay all the bacon slices into the pan and cook at medium heat. After a minute or so, start stirring the slices in order to cook them on both sides. When you see the first sign of browning, remove the pan from the cooker and go to the next step.
Transfer the bacon slices into a small bowl and leave them for the moment. Now, put your spaghetti into the boiling water and while boiling start cooking the onion. In the same pan you cooked the bacon slices, which is still hot, add the onion rings and cook them for a couple of minutes; then, add the wine and cook for a couple of minutes. Then, turn the heat down and gently cook the onions until caramelised. Remove the pan from the cooker and put the bacon slices back into the pan. With the pan away from the cooker (in order to avoid the bacon to overcooking), stir everything together and set aside.

When the spaghetti is ready, put the saucepan containing the bacon and the onion back on the cooker (low heat) and meanwhile drain the spaghetti (remember to leave the spaghetti a little wet). Be quick draining the spaghetti because they shouldn’t cool down. Put the drained spaghetti back into the large pan you used to boil it, which is still hot, and quickly add the bacon and onions. Stir quickly for 10 seconds and move on to the next stage.

Quickly add the egg mixture. Stir everything together for 20 seconds. The heat of the spaghetti and the heat of the pan is enough to cook the egg mixture. Do not carry out this procedure on the cooker otherwise, you will dry the spaghetti too much (I do not think you want to reach this stage to have spaghetti and scrambled eggs!). The final result should be a creamy sauce coating the spaghetti.
Serve immediately and feel free to season with more pepper if you like, or sprinkle with some of the remaining Pecorino cheese, if you have any left. You can also try garnishing the plate with some parsley (flat leaf – torn by hand), but not too much.

(source: http://www.italyum.com/italian-recipes/pasta-recipes/spaghetti-carbonara.html)

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Apparently its origin dates back to the 17th century; it was created for the occasion of a visit by Grand Duke Cosimo de’ Medici III to the city of Siena (Tuscany). That time the dessert was named “zuppa del duca” (the “Duke’s soup”) but nowadays everybody knows it as “tiramisù” (pick me up). There are lots of version of tiramisù, but here is explained the most traditional, with a little change: the classic recipe requires the use of “savoiardi” biscuits, however, in the last two decades, many Italians has discovered that the use of “pavesini” biscuits gives the tiramisù a better finish, so let’s go for it!

SERVES 6

Ingredients:

• 500 g (1.1 lb) Italian mascarpone cheese
• 100 g (3 ½ oz) Icing sugar
• 4 or 5 Eggs (medium size)
• 1 Pack of Pavesini biscuits (for this recipe I used 59 Pavesini)
• 200 ml (7 fl oz) Strong espresso coffee (cold) or coffee prepared with a moka
• 100 ml (3 ½ fl oz) Marsala wine (cold)
• Cocoa powder for dusting
• Some dark chocolate shavings

Note: this is a dessert containing raw eggs, so be sure you buy fresh, top quality eggs.

Directions:

Separate the egg whites from the yolks.

Start beating the egg yolks with a whisk and gradually add all the sugar.

Keep beating until the mixture become pale yellow and thick.

Next, empty the mascarpone into a bowl and, with a wooden spoon, work it for few seconds so that it is a bit loose.

Now, add the mascarpone to the egg-sugar cream and blend all together.

The result should be a pale yellow mascarpone-egg-sugar cream. Set it aside, putting it in the fridge, while carrying out the next stage.

Next, add a tiny pinch of salt into the bowl containing the egg whites.

Whisk the egg whites until completely white and firm (into peaks).

Now, add the white fluffy mixture into the bowl containing the mascarpone-egg-sugar cream.

Gently mix all together.

Finally, we have the tiramisù cream.

Now we are ready for assembling our tiramisù. First, spread a thin layer of tiramisù cream in the bottom of the dish (I used a 30 cm x 22 cm rectangular oven dish).

For the first layer of biscuits, dip them in the coffee first (dip the biscuits, one at a time, for about 5 seconds).

Lay the biscuits side by side, leaving a tiny space between them.

First layer completed.

Having completed the first layer of biscuits, cover it with the tiramisù cream.

Then, start again with a second layer of biscuits. This time dip the biscuits in the Marsala wine.

Second layer completed.

Cover it with the tiramisù cream.

Finally, proceed with the third layer of biscuits. For this final layer, dip the biscuits in the coffee. Once done, cover it with the last spread of tiramisù cream.

Dust with cocoa powder.

Sprinkle with dark chocolate shavings.

Put the tiramisù in the fridge and leave it for about 4 hours. However, the longer the better because all the flavours blend together (I usually wait for 6-8 hours).

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