Pizza di Formaggio

Do you have a special food that shouldn't be missing on a Feast meal? 

For me Easter without Pizza di Formaggio isn't fine. This is a typical receipt in the Center of Italy. In general you can buy it some weeks before Easter in every Bakery, but since I'm now living in an other region (NW) I had to bake my own Pizza di Formaggio, because here they don't know it.

I had a receipt in a cuisine magazine that was pretty good, even if really poor in cheese! So, I modified it adding more cheese types. The result satisfied me, even if in my favorite Bakery they make them more cheesy and spicy.

My Pizza di Formaggio:

300 gr Bread dough (obtained by fresh Sourdough)

50 gr grated Emmenthal

50 gr grated strong Provolone

80 gr grated Parmigiano Reggiano

150 gr chopped Caciotta or fresh Pecorino 

6 eggs
Flour as you need (more or less 250 gr)
50 gr Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

In a large bowl beat the eggs with all grated cheeses, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon Pepper. When the mix is ready put it in the stand mixer bowl with the dough, stir well for some minutes until the dough has adsorbed the cream. Than start to add slowly the flour. I suggest you to stop when the dough consistency allows you to form a ball.

Oil a large bowl and let the dough's ball rest for an hour in a warm ambient (your oven, for example). When the ball doubles its size you can put it in a paper mold for Panettone, it has to be filled for 3/4 its volume. Let it rise for three hours than bake it at 200°C until the upper crust has a golden brown color.

My dough was too much for my paper mold, so I did three little Pizza di Formaggio using Muffin's paper molds. They looked pretty, I think it could be a really good solution for a party. You can serve them like cupcakes or use them as a support for place cards at your table, can't you?

Il pane naturale: i panini :D

Fragrant home made bread in different shapes :P

Crostata alla marmellata

Last week I was baking bread, trying to stabilize my process and in the meantime I took advantage of the hot oven baking something more. One of my classic tart and also one  of my husband's favorite is Crostata alla marmellata. 

You will find a lot of recipe for this cake, I think every family has the own one, but I can assure you that my Crostata is really good.

How to make a good Crostata? The secret is a good Shortcrust. The crust has to be crumbly and soft. So, which is the secret? Make the dough as fast as possible. When you see the ingredients well blended, form a ball and let it rest in the fridge for half an hour.

My recipe for shortcrust is:
300 gr Flour
2 Eggs 1 Yolk
150 gr Butter
120 gr Sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 On top you can use your favorite jam (Peach, strawberry, raspberry,...), or marmelade, or custard, or Nutella, in other words whatever you want ;P

Wild flowers

 Last week I spent some days in my hometown. During a little walk in the country I was attracted by a bunch of wild anemones, then nearby I found something more...




I always called them "Wild Iris", but I'm not sure it's its real name. They are so little (20 -25 cm) and their aspect is so mimetic, that is not easy to see them from a distance. However their smell is so good and intense like wooden Sowbreads. Beautiful, isn't it? 

    PS: I found it's name Hermodactylus tuberosa (Widow Iris)

Il Pane naturale 2

This is my second tentative of home made bread.
I used:
200 gr sourdough
250 gr all purpose flour
120 gr Manitoba flour
130 gr super fine flour
250 ml water
1 teaspoon salt

After 4 hours I obtained this! :D
 

This bread tested wonderfully with my Sister-in-law's Patè (Direct from France ;P)

Il Pane naturale

I decided to bake bread using sourdough instead of yeast, so I started to read blogs, posts and recipes all around the web. The universal suggestion is: once you have your sourdough try different solution in order to find your favorite bread.
Here you can find the method for the Sourdough
For my first loaf I used simple all purpose flour...

Primo tentativo - First tentative

L'interno - Inside

Violets

Today I found in a corner of an old brick wall a little surprise: a violets' tuft.

I love this little flower with its characteristic delicate perfume and vivid color (that's a pity I can only show you the last one, because this small bunch smell heavenly).

Spring is coming :D   

Waffles

Sunday morning breakfast has sometimes to be special.
Why not to prepare some delicious Waffles for your dears?

 
This is my version:
250 gr flour
100 gr butter (let it soften 1/2 an hour before)
250 ml whole milk yogurt
4 eggs
100 gr sugar
1 teaspoon backing powder
3 or 4 tbs Milk if it is necessary

I'm used to mix all ingredients with my Kitchenaid until the cream is soft and fluffy then I put it in the waffles mold.  

Mimosa

I should have posted this cake on March 8th, but my constant lack of time shifted the moment. So, happy International Women's Day pals!

Ingredients:

Sponge Cake 
100 gr Flour
100 gr Starch
4 eggs and 1 Yolk
150 gr Sugar
120 gr Butter
1 teas Backing Powder
1 Lemon (only the peel)
Vanilla

Filling cream
250 ml double cream
2 tbs sugar
Strawberries*

Prepare a classic sponge cake and let it cool.
Cut the cake in two discs and dig a basin in the lower one, keeping the crumbs aside. Place the whipping cream and sugar into a bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Spread the lower disc with 3/4 cream and put some cut strawberries above. Close the cake with the upper disc. Spread the remaining cream on top of the cake than cover the cake with the crumbs.
You can also put some strawberries on top as decoration. 

*The original recipe tells Pineapple in syrup, but in this period of the year I prefer to use fresh strawberries.

Callos a la Gallega

First of all, many thanks to my brother in law. He gave us his reserve of Chorizos Gallegos, a fondamental ingredient for this recipe :P

This is a tipical Tapa in Galicia and if you taste Cosme's Callos in La Coruña you'll have a real culinary experience. So delicious...

However, I don't have a specific family recipe for Callos, so I studied some cook books and surfed a little bit in the web. So, this recipe is the conclusion of my research and my husband's comments.

The most important things that you may need to know about Callos is that if you want to eat them on Sunday, you have to start preparing them on Friday :P

Don't be scared, it isn't a difficult recipe. You only have to respect some steps and they need time.

Day one: Before enjoying dried chickpeas, otherwise known as garbanzo beans, you must soak them for 12-18 hours. 

Day two: You can cook Callos, but if you want to fully enjoy them let them rest along the night.

Igredients:

500 gr dried Chickpeas

500 gr Tripe

500 gr Beef *

1 big onion

2 Garlic cloves
1 Chorizo
100 gr chopped Jamon
100 gr chopprd Bacon
3 tbs Tomato sauce
Parsley
1 ts ground Cumin
2 ts ground Callos Spices
1/2 ts ground Chilli
1 ts ground Paprika
White wine

In a large pot warm up 2lt water, than add chickpeas and tripe. Let them boil and cook for an hour. In the meantime chop finely the onion, Jamon and Bacon. Put three tbs olive oil in a large pan, add the chopped onion and let it cook for a couple of minute. Add all spices, Jamon, Bacon, garlic and stir well all ingredients. sprinkle with with wine and let it dry off.  

Add the mix to chickpeas and garbanzos, than add tomato sauce and parsley. 

cover your pot and let Callos cook for minimum 2 more hours. If tripe and garbanzos aren't soft after this time let everything cook until the texture is good.

 Day three: Warm your Callos and enjoy your meal!

* Well, the traditional recipe tells Marrowbones, but due my fear of BSE I decided to put only the meat.

Grembiule e presine...: Dorayaki

Dedico questo post a Bati che mi ha aiutato ad aggiustare i font! Se fossi stato più vicino te li avrei preparati :P 

Grembiule e presine...: Dorayaki: Eccoliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.... i miei Dorayaki. Sono proprio buoni e i due pancake (anche se non sono proprio uguali come impasto) che li form...

Pan Cioc

This is a nice recipe for your breakfast or a good snack for your kids. There are a lot of variations of the same recipe, I used this one and the result was extremely satisfying :P

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
•  4 tbs sugar
•  60 ml oil (I prefer peanut oil)
•  200 ml milk
•  50 gr butter
• Dried yeast for 500 gr flour
•  500 gr flour
•  salt
•  75 gr chocolate drops

I put all ingredients in my KitchenAid and let the dough mix well for min 15 minutes. Let the dough rise for a couple of hours, than prepare small balls (more or less 30 gr) and drop them onto a baking sheet keeping the necessary amount of space between each. Let them rise again two more hours and then bake them for 20 minutes (maybe more, it depends on the own oven) at 180°C.