From giallozafferano.it. Surpringly lovely to eat, crunchy little delights, even Florek said he’d have them again. Iza on the other hand announced they were her biggest nightmare, all they needed was an olive on top and it would be an ultimate schifezza! 🙂
I roasted 2 whole aubergines for about an hour in 200 degrees, cooled them slightly, peeled off the skins and then placed on collander to get rid of the excess water. Mashed them with a fork and then added an egg, 2 mashed garlic cloves, a generous amount of both breadcrumbs and grana padano, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. When eating them in the evening I thought a nice, crunchy green chili, not super hot, but flavoursome, will be added next time. Or a raw shallot. Or both!
Once formed in cute little polpette I rolled them in breabcrumbs again and they waited in the fridge for dinner. Deep fried until golden, sprinkled with salt before serving, also a fresh green salad and a dip made of Greek yoghurt, cucumber and mint went well together. I’m thinking they would make a great antipasto, maybe even with guacamole!
Yesterday morning I thought how nice it would be to have a lovely, fresh, crunchy croissant for breakfast on Sunday. I looked at recipes, picked one from the net and got busy. I’ve done half a portion not only because they are super calorific, but also because they’re delicious when fresh and warm, also wanted to make sure the recipe worked.
I used 250g of flour, a mix of plain and bread flour. 30g of sugar. 5g of salt. 140g of cold water mixed with milk. 25g of soft butter. Right before I went to bed last night I realized that I’ve messed up the amount of yeast I was supposed to use. The recipe called for dry yeast, but I like fresh, so as usual when they say 7g of dry, one is to use 21g of fresh, so I did, but I didn’t half it, like with the rest of the ingredients. In the end it wasn’t some super cock-up, but it made me wonder towards the end of the rolling out and folding process, just why is it puffing up so much!? 🙂
So, with all these a nice dough was created with the help of KA, it was left to rest and rise for over an hour, then once risen I rolled it out into a rectangle and I had my flat and pretty 125g of cold butter ready. And throughout the afternoon I rolled, folded and chilled it. Done it 4 times then left in the fridge overnight. It puffed up!
Last night I binged on “Heweliusz” on Netflix, this morning woke up aroud 7 and was done sleeping, so I got on with my dough. Rolled it out once more, cut into triangles and rolled into croissants, before leaving for an hour’s final proving.
When I was happy with the rise, I brushed them with beaten egg and milk and baked for about 22-25 minutes in 190 degrees. Together with an excellent cup of coffee they were fantastic. All 3 Bankses were very happy. I think what could have maybe made them even better, next time, if they were just a bit more salty and less sweet. Maybe salted butter next time? And less sugar?
It was curry night this evening. The time has changed last night for the winter one, so it started getting dark after 5pm. I thought a nice naan bread with that curry would be appreciated, especially by bread loving Child and curry loving Husband. I flipped through internet hoping to find a decent recipe, settled on one quite quickly and after sifting through thousands of unnecessary words leading up to the actual recipe, as usual, finally got cooking, with Izzie’s help.
We used 280 g pf plain flour, some of which made us a nice starter with 20g of fresh yeast and 120 ml of warm water. After about 10 minutes we added the starter to the remaing flour, plus a tsp of sugar and a tsp of salt, 120 g of youghurt bianco, a splash of oil and got it all working in the Kitchen Aid. I ended up adding some more flour, as the dough was super sticky and runny.
After less than an hour of resting it, we were ready to get on with it. Butter chicken curry from The Spice Tailor kit was nearly ready, today with prawns, rice was ready, melted butter with garlic and coriander was ready to be brushed all over the naans. Izzie rolled out the dough, I was cooking it really quickly on a super hot dry frying pan. It blistered beautifully.
First two were eaten immediately, barely cooled and they were gone. That good!
Definitely a keeper this recipe. Ron is coming to visit us in a month, I asked for some more curry kits, they really are excellent.
Last Saturday we were invited to Leszek and Ewelina’s. There was a lot of good food on their table, 2 types of curry, steamed rice, some chicken for meat lovers, naan bread that made me squeak, as mine is never that good and there were also those beauties. They were already on the table when we arrived, the toothpicks made it easy to pick up and enjoy. They were my favourite thing we have eaten that evening, I asked for a recipe and then also found it on the internet. Just like Leszek said, it is a Georgian dish, veggie, healthy, good for you. Pretty and tasty. I made it last night and ended up scoffing most of it by myself, as husband claimed the texture of aubergines made them ….challenging. Ma che cazzata!! 🙂
Thinly sliced aubergines were first salted and left to sweat for half an hour before being dried off and fried. The stuffing I’ve made a tiny bit differently. The original recipe and the one at Leszek’s used raw walnuts, I simply can’t stop myself from toasting them, there is so much more flavour after 10 minutes of gentle heat! They were then blitzed with a shallot, some garlic ( maybe a bit too much, I decided afterwards), fresh coriander, a pinch of chili and paprika, salt and all this creamed with a good splash of water to make it into a paste. Spread on the aubergine slices, rolled up, stitched with a toothpick and finished off with fresh pomegranate seeds and more fresh coriander. 10 out of 10 for me and I will be making them in a couple of weeks for a planned dinner party. Might play around with a completely different filling.
A delivery came from Bronte yesterday, from Tipici e Food, the place we visited in June. We ran out of everything we bought there long time ago, but signor Antonio ships his quality pistachios all over Europe ( apart from the UK, he said, too expensive after Brexit). So we now have a lovely stash of the most fantastic pistachio products and also 2 bottles of this delicious liquor, quite evil, when one tries to have alcohol free weekdays!
I’ve been looking for a nice recipe for a good pistachio cake, where I could use some of the ground pistachios I just received. So many food blogs out there, not all for me. When I’m after a recipe I don’t want to spend 5 minutes scrolling down somebody’s bloody life story. I don’t want to keep reading if the recipe is written for mentally challenged and explains in details, that they want me to use 2 whole eggs, which means 2 yolks and 2 whites. Next!!! The recipe for pistachio cake which recommends using a green food colourant – no. Why?!
I finally settled this morning on a recipe that called for no butter, no artiticial colouring, tweaked it just a touch and I’ve just finished my first piece.
I’ve had a packet of ground, raw pistachios, which I’ve gently toasted on the frying pan, I used 60g. 150g of plain flour, 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, a pinch of salt. 2 whole eggs I whipped with 120g of sugar, less that in the recipe, some of it was vanilla sugar. Some grated lemon zest went in and a tiny bit of cinnamon. The toasted pistachios. 150g of greek yoghurt and 150 ml of olive oil, all nicely combined, onto the lined baking tray. 175 degrees, 30 minutes, done.
Once cooled I tipped a small jar of pistachio cream from Bronte, which was perfectly sweet and had great consistency to spread, so I didn’t have to mess about with the original recipe’s ideas of dilluting it with water and adding sugar. A final sprinkling of ground pistachio completed the picture. Might share some with Lara. 🙂
Diane and Keith have popped in for a long weekend recently. It was our first get together in 9 years, so it’s fair to say we barely knew each other, but we got along really well. They appreciate good wine and food, which helped! Some Brunello di Montalcino was being enjoyed together on the evening they arrived, we have taken them to Nonna Clara’s in Lucca, which has been a hit. Then, on Monday, on our way back from Barga, which they both liked a lot, we stopped at Il Garfagnino di Nonna Clara, a joint by the main road to Garfagnana. We drove by it many times and always said we need to eat there one day. We did now. We were all decently hungry and all excited by the idea of having some meat. And meat we did have, none other than the famous Fiorentina. Cooked rare, mooing, much more bloody than I’d normally have, but it was spectacular. Diane said she never had a better beef in her life, so that’s saying something. We had some tomato salad on the side and some chips, a bottle of smooth Chianti( as you do with lunch on a Monday) and the beef ended up defeating us. We didn’t manage the whole thing, but we’ve taken it with us and made Nadia’s dogs very happy indeed. 🙂
“Lasagne”, not Lasagne, as I am still of firm belief that seafood lasagne is not a thing, it is a pasta with seafood. But I did use the lasagne sheets, so, ok, let us say- “lasagne”. 🙂
Recipe from the latest episode of Robert Maklowicz’s vlog, this time from Dalmatia. He said he actually tried it in Italy, but with the access to wonderful fresh prawns and fish he made it while in Croatia.
A first for me, but definitely not the last – I’ve peeled my prawns ( to the loud meowing of Gino who is a dog for prawns) and used all the heads and shells to make a rich, wonderful stock. On a bit of olive oil I have chucked 3 bay leaves and some rosemary, Rob also used some fennel seeds, I had none. Onto this the prawns’ shells and heads. A generous slosh of Sardinian white wine. A little splash of rum( dessert wine or brandy was Rob’s choice), some tomato paste and a whole tomato, gently punctured. Some salt, some water, lid on, 40 minutes on medium heat. Then a laborious process of sieving the stock to get as much out of it as possible and not wasting any of the goodness. With that done I proceeded to make a sauce, similar to bechamel, but instead of milk I used my stock. Ended up with a beautiful, flavoursome sauce that needed hardly any seasoning, it was that good. Into the sauce went the roughly chopped prawns, some fresh cod in small pieces and that was ready to be layered in between the sheets of pasta. Lovely, fresh pasta from Esselunga. On the top a bit of torn mozzarella, we are reasonable people and we don’t do seafood with parmesan. I will use another mild cheese next time, as mozzarella is a bit watery and didn’t look stunning on top, so I sprinkled some chopped parsley.
It eats really well, I love the sauce with that fresh stock with a lovely aroma of bay leaves. I have a feeling it is something my mum might like to try. And she’s arriving on Tuesday. 🙂 xx
A big dream came true, I’ve been to Sicilia. I’ve set my foot on that volcano, walked around, brought a few pieces of lava with me. I’ve been to Taormina, been to Siracusa, walked in the footsteps of Robert Malkowicz in Catania – even tried to go and eat in “U Sapuritu”, but they were closed for ferie. Been to Ragusa, after the stories I’ve heard from Michele. Tried a proper Sicilian cannolo. Tried caponata in 3 different places, all different, all delicious. Tried vino grown on the slopes of Etna, brought 2 bottles home. 🙂 Tried different granitas, including pistachio one, mandorle, limone- that one was excellent. Been to Bronte, saw pistachio trees, brought back a load of delicious things made with their famous pistachios.
The portions they serve are staggering. Our first breakfast in Trecastagni was a cornetto with pistachio filling, the size of a small loaf of bread. Delicious, but I could feel my waist expanding immediately.
On a visit to Bronte we all had a different granita, mine was pistachio, very rich, filling, delicious.
When we took our first look and taste of Catania ( dirty Catania, with piles of rubbish everywhere, the side of the roads where shocking) I wanted a nice tagliata di tonno, ordered one and received it quite overdone. Disappointing. I asked the owner where I could get a proper nice cannoli, he directed me towards a pasticceria with a bunch of rude, ignorant bastards for staff, but the cannoli, at 3 euro per piece were superb.
And then, on our doorstep we discovered a real gem. Well, we didn’t discover it, one of our Etna guides told us about the place and that it wasn’t that good. Therefore, off we went to Nicosia, a vineyard and an osteria. Stunning surroundings, beautiful building, great staff. A young Claudia, who matched some of their own wines to our food. Bread, olive oil, everything was superb.
Caponata served in a cannolo? Sure, why not?
Arancino version posh, amazing, with some rose wine Claudia brought over just to see what we thought of it.
We bought a bottle of their dessert wine to take home, but the next evening, our last evening in Trecastagni we went straight back to them. And one of the best looking and tasting plates during the whole week was their beef carpaccio, topped with everything- pistachio mousse, fresh fruit, ricotta salata, which I tried in different ways and I loved it, bought some on the market in Siracusa. Wild strawberries too, normally I’m not a fan of fruit and meat/fish together, but this was a triumph.
I wish I could have finished my secondo, but I struggled and then the chef came out of the kitchen to say hi and brought me a chunk of vacuum packed ricotta salata, cause Claudia told him we came from Tuscany. One of those will now go to Enrico, I know he will love it.
In the end I manage to not look like that:
When the time comes to revisit Sicilia I would go back to Nikosia in a flash. I’ve not tried a sweet iris, that Michele recommended. I would want a nice tagliata di tonno, but barely cooked. I will run back to mercato, the one in Siracusa was a real treat. Some fresh spices, nuts and herbs were brought home from there.
Sicilia was very much enjoyed, next top destination is up north and hopefully will happen in autumn. 🙂
On return from holidays I found a big bowl of nespole in my fridge, from Anna. Never knew much about them, never tried them, but with the size of the bowl I decided to make them into a jam. And what a pleasant surprise!
After peeling the pulp off the stones I ended up with about 750g of fruit, which I cooked down for about an hour and then still used a blender to improve the texture. About 120 g of sugar and one whole bag of Fruttapec went in, I now have 3 cute little jars of nespole jam. Will be enjoyed tomorrow morning on a toasted brioche.
I wrote the title, took another bite of this thing and I’m thinking how much my palate has changed within the last few years. I used to be obsessed with macaroons, with eclairs, now I barely touch anything that sweet. The idea of having a sweet cocktail, apple martini or something along these lines doesn’t excite me at all. Savoury flavours took over. Only the love for a good red vino remained unchanged! 🙂
I first tasted castagnaccio when Lara made one and brought me the whole thing. I’ve never tasted anything like it. Slightly bitter from the freaky flour, I could put the money on the fact there was no sugar added. It was heavy and stodgy and not a revelation, but then Lara never claimed to be a Masterchef. When Nadia and Cristian brought one to ours, it was a completely different story. The texture was much lighter and it wasn’t a chore to eat. A few weeks ago I obtained some castagne flour and today finally decided it was time to have a go at it. Nadia gave me a recipe long time ago, but I decided to go with Pappagallo, who said he never really liked it, but then he tweaked the recipe a bit and was now converted.
Surprisingly easy thing to make, this. Mine was small, trial round, so I only used 200g of castagne flour, around 300ml of water( more than in the recipe, but when Luca showed what consistency it was supposed to have, I didn’t want to risk a stodgy result). 25g of sugar. 15g of cocoa. A generous handful of raisins, that were soaked in Cointreau( in rum in the original recipe, but I had none, this will change next time we’re in Esselunga, with the mint now in abundance it is time to make some mojitos). A pinch of salt. All this combined with a whisk, while the oven was getting hot at 180 degrees. The tray was generously drizzled with olive oil. I spinkled some pine nuts on top and a lot of fresh rosemary, which I will chop next time, in the current form it is inedible and one keeps digging it out. And that’s it. It baked for 30 minutes until cracked all over.
I gave a chunk to Nadia, waiting to hear what she thinks about it. Ours is nearly all eaten. 🙂
