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Italian food: Cannoli siciliani

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

The “Cannoli” are probably the most famous Sicilian desserts. Their names is due to the word cannolo, which in Sicilian means “little tube”. Because of the many Italians from Sicily living there, they are very popular also in America.

Our Cannoli are made of a tube-shaped shell of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet filling usually made out of ricotta cheese and chocolate chips or succade; they are produced in various sizes, from the very small ones to the huge ones you can see in the original Sicilian confectioneries.

They were created in the Palermo area, for the period around Carnival (simbolizing fertility); however, now they can be eaten all year-round and are very good in Summertime also because of their freshness.

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Italian recipes: Torta pasqualina!

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Easter is already approaching! We can feel it in the air…so why not surprise your guests with a special and savoury typical Italian easter recipe? Try to bake the Torta Pasqualina your own!

The Torta Pasqualina finds its origins in Liguria, a region in northeastern Italy. It is mostly made of a green mixture; the most common is swiss chard but you can also use spinaches or arugula. In Liguria they add to the mixture a slightly sour fresh cheese called prescinsena in place of the ricotta. Originally, the Torta was made with layers of filling alternated with paper-thin sheets of pastry: 33 layers of dough were used representing each year of Christ’s life. Also, 12 eggs were added to represent the apostoles. The one we propose here is an easier one,  made with 2 layers of douogh forming a top and a bottom crust. Good luck in the kitchen!

Ingredients for the dough

  • 2-1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup water

Ingredients for the filling

  • 10-12 ounces Swiss chard, washed and trimmed
  • 10-12 ounces spinach, washed and trimmed
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • 6 eggs, divided
  • 1 cup ricotta
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
  • Pinch of grated nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
  • Olive oil

To make the dough:
Combine the flour and  salt  in a large bowl. Stir in the oil and 1/2 cup water to make a smooth, non-sticky dough.   Knead just to bring the dough together. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, one three times the size of the other.  Wrap each piece with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

To make the filling:
Combine the Swiss chard and 1/2 cup water in a large pot. Cover and cook over medium heat until tender and wilted, about 10 minutes. Add the spinach and season with salt.  Cook 5 more minutes or until spinach is wilted.   Drain the greens and allow to cool. Squeeze out as much water as possible from the greens.   Place on a cutting board and finely chop.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Add the onions and cloves. Cover and cook over medium heat until the onions are tender, about 5 minutes.   Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, beat 2 eggs until blended. Add the greens, onions, ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan, marjoram, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Oil a 9-inch springform pan.

On a floured surface, roll out the larger piece of dough to a 15-inch circle. Place the dough into the pan, pressing it against the bottom and up the sides.   The ends will overhang the edge of the pan.
Add the filling to the pan and smooth the top. Make four evenly spaced indentations in the filling.   Carefully break on egg into one of the indentations. Repeat with the remaining 3 eggs.
Sprinkle each egg with some of the remaining tablespoon of Parmesan.

Roll out the smaller piece of dough. Cut out a 9-inch circle, using the bottom of the pan as a guide, if desired. Place the dough circle on top of the filling. Trim the overhanging dough to 1-inch.   Fold the dough inside the pan over the edge of the dough circle.   With your fingers, crimp the rolled edge to seal.  Brush the top of the dough with olive oil. Make several small slits in the top crust. Bake for 45 minutes, or until browned.   The top with puff up during baking but will relax when cooled. Cool on a wire rack about 10 minutes before removing the side of the pan. Serve hot or at room temperature.

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Italian recipes: Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Friday, February 26th, 2010

A very popular recipe, known all over the world for its tempting taste: try to cook it yourself and surprise your guests!

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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Traditional recipes from Florence: the “Ribollita”!

Friday, March 6th, 2009

The Italian Cuisine is famous all over the world for its full tastes and unforgettable dishes: how could someone forget the taste of Lasagne, Pizza or Pesto?
With hundreds of different recipes, which can be different from region to region, lovely smells and genuine
ingredients, coming to the “Belpaese” will be a wonderful experience for your palates!

But why not learn how to prepare something by yourself? It’s easier than it seems! Let’s start with a special recipe coming directly from Tuscany, the heart of Italy: ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you the “Ribollita”.
Well, the name could sound quite strange and actually means “re-boiled”, beacuse during the poor periods the Italian farmers used to cook it on Friday and to reheat it on Saturday in order to have something to eat until Sunday. It’s a simple stale bread and vegetable soup.

INGREDIENTS
500 g stale Tuscan bread (not salty, really important)
300 g dried white beans
250 g ripe tomatoes
3 carrot
1 Tuscan black cabbage
3 potato
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 stalk of celery
a few springs of parseley
thyme
extra-virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
chilli powder

LA RIBOLLITA
There are many versions of this traditional Tuscan dish, depending on the season and the availability of the ingredients. Start by preparing a good bean soup. Leave the dried beans tio steep for at least 12 hours, then drain them. Cover with fresh water and cook over a low heat in a covered pot. Meanwhile in a pan cook the diced onion, carrot and celery in a little oil. Add the crushed garlic, the skinned and chopped tomatoes, the red chilli and the thyme and after about 5 minutes add the potatoes cut into small cubes and the thinly sliced cabbage. Cook over a low heat, adding a little water. Pass the beans and their liquid through a food mill and add this mixture to the vegetables. Check the seasoning just before removing from the heat, after about 20 minutes. meanwhile, in a large ovenproof dish arrange two thin layers of bread and pour the soup over them. Make another two layers of bread and cover with more soup. The ribollita is obtained by reheating the soup over a very low heat. Make a dent in the centre, add some olive oil and boil very slowly, protecting the pot with a heat-diffuser plate.

Try it and you will be surprised – absolutely delicious!

This recipe is included in the Italian cooking course  “Da Lino” offered by the Institute Galilei.

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