Is carnival time here in Modena and one of the tradiotional sweets are the “frappe”. Also known as “chiacchiere”, “bugie”, “guanti”, “sprelle” and many other names, this is a typical dessert quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

• 500 gr. flour
• 80 gr. sugar
• 30 gr. butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 small glass of anise liqueur
• 25 g yeast
• 1 lemon (peel only)
• salt
• lard for frying
• powdered sugar

Preparation

Place all ingredients in a planetary and knead. If is needed you can finish kneading by hand.At this point, then pull the dough making sure to make it very thin. Once pulled, cut rectangles of 10 × 4 cm.According to tradition, you should make a cut in the central of each rectangle so you can fold the dough over itself by passing an end just inside the cut.At this point we proceed to fry it in plenty of lard making sure it has a suitably high temperature.Each piece is fried for a relatively short time, enough for browning.Removed from the pan and let it drain a bit on a paper towels then place it on a tray and cover with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar.

The chicken breast, “light” and easy to make, is a meat I use very often in my kitchen.
Tonight I was suppose to grill it and serve it with green salad. But after a hard day at work and a short run I was in the mood for something a little bit more … “tastier”.
So I open the fridge and start to pull out one lime, ginger, soia souce, tabasco and the never missing garlic.
I put the garlic finely chopped in a pan with just 10 drops of olive oil. I added the slice of meat sprinkle with freshly gound pepper and dried thyme. Once browned on both sides I added the lime juice, the soia sauce, a piece of ground ginger and just a couple drops of Tabasco. I cover it up and let it cook for 10 – 15 min top.
In this way you’ll have a light dish with an asian “aroma”. And if is not spicy enough add some very good Dijon Mustard while you’re eating it ….. divine

Ingredients, serves 2

• 2 / 3 slices of chicken breast
• 1 lime
• 2 inch  ginger root
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 5 drops of Tabasco
• 2 garlic
• 1 chilly pepper
• thyme
• salt

This Sunday I ventured in an adventure not exactly easy, especially because I’m an animal lover and the idea of having to kill a lobster didn’t appeals to me. The clerk at the supermarket obviously declined in a rather strong manner the fact that by law it is forbidden to “put out” in the store, the fish that is sold alive.

In short, I find myself with 2 lobsters on my hands. One (lucky me) has given up on the way home, but the other was still alive and kicking. This will be a great adventure.

Ingredients, serves 4

For the sauce:

• 2 lobsters
• 1 shallot
• 1 carrot
• 1 / 2 stalk celery
• 1 / 2 cup white wine
• tomato sauce
• salt
• chili
• extra virgin olive

For the dough:

• 200 gr. flour
• 2 eggs
• salt q.b.

Preparation

In my case I used fresh home made egg pasta but of course you can use the store bought pasta.

Personally I dont agree with the suppression of lobsters by boiling them. It seems much less cruel a “blow in the head”. So with a very sharp knife cut the lobster along the back in order to split it into two parts. Make two cuts in the claws too (where the pulp is) in order to break it easily after.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil and chopped shallots, carrot and celery and sauté them for 2 minuts.

Add the lobster, turning it on bouth sides, and only then add the white wine. Let it evaporate and then add the tomato sauce. Add the salt and pepper.

Cover it and cook for 15 – 20 minutes. If overcooked, the meat will be tough. Cook the pasta in plenty of hot water for 2 minutes. Drain and toss in the lobster sauce (remove the lobster before).

Serve with a sprinkling of parsley.

Sunday! Ever since I remember at my house, Sunday was the day of the cakes. My mother filled the house smells: vanilla, baking powder, chocolate and sometimes smoke, as she often forgot she had put something in the oven.
Although today is a beautiful winter sunny day, being forced to stay in, made us try some new dessert recepie. And here’s a really nice way of saying that I’m trying to exploit the desire of my husband to learn the art of pastry.
Today, thanks to a couple of bananas that happend to seat ther and do nothing, I decided to try (make him try), this recipe made with bananas and spices. A real delight “stolen” from Cavoletto.

Ingredients

300 g. flour

200 g. of brown sugar

2 eggs

4 bananas

110 g. of butter at room temperature

60 ml. milk

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom powder

hafe teaspoon nutmeg powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

a hint of clove powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

half teaspoon baking soda

a pinch of salt

Preparation

First, try to use fresh spices because their aroma is much better. In my case, I proceeded to grind in a mortar cardamom and cloves.
Peel the bananas and mash them in a bowl with a fork until it becomes a fairly uniform pulp. At this point we proceed by mixing together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and all spices.

In the mixer, mix the butter and brown sugar until you obtain a homogeneous mixture. At this point you add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Once is all mixed, we get to the end by adding the flour, bananas and the milk. Let it blend all togheter until you get a smooth and soft compund.

At this point you can fill the muffin stencils or you can just use a cake mold.

Put in the oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes (the muffins) or for about 30 minutes if you’re doing the cake.

One of the most popular dish of Emilia. A dish that dates back to the farming tradition of this land when the figure of “rezdora” dominated and the home made egg pasta was perhaps the most common activity in any Emilian cuisine.
The preparation requires a bit of time, especially for those not very experienced, but I assure you the result worth the effort.

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 500 gr. flour
• 5 eggs
• salt q.b.

For the filling:

• 500 gr. fresh ricotta cheese
• 200 gr. fresh spinachs
• 250 gr. grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• nutmeg q.b.
• salt q.b.

Preparation

For the pasta, place in a bowl the flour, eggs and a pinch of salt and proceed to knead until you get a nice smooth ball. Obviously, if during the operation the mixture is too wet or too dry, it proceeds with the addition of a little flour or water as appropriate. You have to let the dough rest and proceed with the preparation of the filling.

Boil the spinach in a large and high pan. When the spinachs are cooked (10. 15 min) drain very well and let them cool. You will find youselfs with the classical greenish moist “mass” spinach.
At this point add all the ingredients in a bowl (ricotta, spinach, eggs, nutmeg, salt) and stir for a few minutes so that everything blend perfectly.

Now that we have our two elements is time to put them together in this unique cuisine.

Proceed to pull the dough, I used the mechanical pasta roller, but the true “rezdora” will do it only by hand. The important thing is to create a uniform sheet rather thin (on the machine hit n. 6). Now we proceed to cut the dough in a square shape, but what size?

Well about this we could talk for hours, let just say that is goes a bit to “taste”. We like them rather big so we normally cut the pasta in squares about 8 cm x 8 cm. Surely you must be careful not to make them too small, otherwise you will get tortellini.

Now that we have our squares, we proceed to fill a pastry bag with the ricotta filling so pour a generous amount in the center.

We’re almost at the end, it now remains but to close the tortellone. And I think that the photos can describe this operation much better than I can.

With this dose and these dimensions you will get approximately 80 tortelloni. All that remains is to store them. Being fresh pasta, we proceed to a pre-boiled for 1 minute and then, once drained and dried, you can put them in freezer (the pre-boiling step is necesary in order to prevent the tortellone to break when you will put it again in the boiling water).

Tips for cooking

Cooking tortelloni is very simple, just put it (still frozen) in plenty of boiling salted water and wait for them to “reemerge” (about 5 minutes). Once drained, you can served them with various condiments, the classic way is with melted butter and fresh sage or ragù. But you are free to experiment.

It’s true that during the year you can just find about everything in the stores, but the aim is to try to eat seasonal food.

Today I bring to you a dish that is very, very simple, but so very tasty.

This is “only” a pork chop browned in little olive oil and served with a sauce made of butter, anchovies and capers. Preparation time? Less than 15 minutes!

Serves 2

• 2 pork chops
• at least 12 anchovies
• a generous handful of capers
• 1 / 2 lemon
• flour
• 100 gr. butter
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• salt & pepper q.b.

Preparation

Warm the butter in a frying pan, when melted, add chopped garlic, capers and chopped anchovies and fry for a few minutes (2 / 3 maximum). When cooked, pour the contents into a bowl and set aside.
In the same pan, cook the floured chops. I suggest you to cut away the bone in order to reduce the cooking time and in this way you can avoid to eat a shoe sole. When chops are golden add the sauce and lemon juice. Cook for 1 minute at most and serve.

We’re preparing for Xmas lunch with my colleagues and my bosses, ten (angry!!!) people to feed….

The Xmas music is playing and the Xmas light are on….

My husband is a Cinderella cleaning the house….

Cats running like crazy all around the sofa and rooms….

I’m in the kitchen trying to put together all the ingredients….

What else?

Oh yeah I don’t have so much time so I must hurry up. Stay tuned for the result….

We are now at the end of the autumn. Days are growing shorter and temperatures are every day closer and closer to zero. When I came home at night after a long day of work there’s nothing better then something appetizing  made with some simple ingredients. For some time I wanted to try this recipe, seen maybe on TV, I don’t know.  What struck with me was the contrast of colors between the rice and the red of the radicchio. And tonight is the perfect time to try it.

Ingredients for 2

• 200 gr. rice
• 200 gr. pork sausage
• 200 gr. red Treviso chicory
• 1 red onion
• 1 vegetable cube
• 1 garlic
• 1/2 glass of red wine
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First of all boil 1 liter of water in a pot with the vegetable cube. Chop the onion and put half in a pan with the chopped garlic. Add the sausage cut into small pieces and when the sausage changes color add the wine  and continue cooking until the wine evaporates.
Now that the water is boiling, put the remaining half onion in a large enough pot. When the onion begins to brown, throw in the rice and stir frequently for 30 seconds to prevent sticking to the sides of pan. Add a ladle of “vegetable broth” and continue stirring.

You must add the broth only when the rice seems dry. So for the time it takes the rice to be cooked  (from 15 to 18 minutes) you must never leave it out of your sight. This is the classic way to do the so called “risotto all’onda” – add the broth and stir, add the broth and stir.

In the meantime prepare the chicory, cut lengthwise into thin strips and when the meat is nearly done add it with salt and pepper and stir well.

Please note that the chicory tends to burn easily, so be careful. When the rice is nearly done, add the sauce so that all the flavor can mix together.

The final touch for the perfect risotto are 25 gr. of  butter and 1 or 2 tablespoons of Parmigiano Reggiano that you must add right at the end.

And now, all you have to do is open a bottle of PRAEPOSITUS PINOT NERO RISERVA DOC from ABBAZIA DI NOVACELLA and enjoy the bitter taste of the chicory blend with the sweetness of the meat.

Do not be alarmed by the acronym in the title but I didn’t know how to call this salad and so I abbreviate the different ingredientsIt is in fact a vegetarian salad consisting of apple, beetroot, carrots and celery root. Fast in its preparing is very, very tasty. Perfect all year both as a starter or side dish.

Ingredients

• 1 apple
• 1 large or 2 small beetroot
• 2 carrots
• 1 celeriac root (if too large only use half)
• white wine vinegar
• seed oil
• salt & pepper
• few mint leaves

Preparation

Grate all ingredients and put them together in a bowl, stirring well to mix everything.Season to taste with vegetable oil (olive oil would cover too much the delicate flavor of this vegetables), white wine vinegar, salt and pepper to your liking.Then serve in small bowls with some mint leaves to decorate. If possible, use white bowls to emphasize the contrast between the dominant red and the green mint. In this way you can have a very Italian dish in every sense!

We are studying and trying a fish menu for the annual Christmas dinner with my colleagues and boss. There are several weeks that we are leafing recipes, sites, books, friends for advice and it is now time to move from theory to practice.

Despite the fatigue accumulated yesterday after 8 hours of cooking and this gray weather that seems to dominate every weekend, this Sunday I decided to try the salmon trout with artichokes and hazelnut puree (recipe recovered from Cavoletto di Bruxelles).

Ingredients for 2 people

• 500 gr. of potatoes
• 2 fillets of salmon trout
• 4 artichokes
• 2/3 handfuls of hazelnuts
• 80 gr. of butter
• salt, pepper

Preparation

Peel and boil the potatoes. Blend the hazelnuts until you get almost a powdery compound. When the potatoes are ready mash them adding butter, salt, pepper and the hazelnuts. Clean the artichokes and cut them into strips making sure to keep them wet with water and lemon. Dry and then deep-fry them . When the strips are ready when they are all crisp. You need to let them rest on a paper towel to remove some of the cooking oil.

And now is the trout’s turn. In a frying pan heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. (You can use the same pan you used for the artichokes just with less oil). Start with the skin side until it is crisp (about 2 – 3 minutes), then turn on the other side for just 1 minute or so.

At this point we are ready to serve.

I have to say that I was a bit skeptical and afraid that the fish won’t be that tasty. But I was so very wrong. Is easy to make, simple and absolutely delicious.