The worst technological period of my life…

Ok, after the problem with my dsl line, now my mac is dead: it fell form the table and at the moment is at the mac’s hospital…
I love my mac...

Maybe all this is telling me I should stop using tecnology…

Rambling

Lately I do not have lots of recipe… I’m not cooking anything interesting (unless you think that pasta with pesto is interesting…) and since we’ve been in Paris last weekend, we even have the fridge completely empty… I mean, right now there is only lots of cheese from a nice Parisian fromagerie in the 17th arrondissement that ages its own cheeses… And we all know how much French cheeses stinks! So, empty and stinky fridge…
And as I’m not really inspired in writing or rambling about food issues, here are the picture I never posted because I wasn’t really satisfied with or with the recipe itself…
Right now I’m wondering about which way I may differ from other thousands of food blog we all read out there… And it is not simple to find an answer to that question, but soon or later I will come up with some ideas about it…

So, here is the collage: have fun wondering what the hell they could be and why I didn’t publish them! Well, some of them were obviously ugly, some just came not the way I wanted them, some were tasteless…

?

This made me wonder… A lot… And I didn't yet decide if I agree or not...

What do you think?

Paris vaut bien des macarons...

... some croissants (the best of the 9th arrondissement), North African patisserie and, of course, HIM: the best, the only, le merveilleux Pierre Hermé... And foodblogger meetings, of course!!! Oh, and the discovery of yuzu...

Chinese style pork

I completely invented this marinade and I called it Chinese marinade
just because the ingredients are Chinese like (all except one…), but
I wouldn’t say you will find it served in Chinese Popular Republic…
A little memoir from my childhood… When Comrade Mao Tze Tong died I
was little, like two or three years old, and his death must have made
quite an impression on my little self. I don’t know if only for his
name, funny for a little Italian girl, as mao in Italian is very
similar to the sound of a cat mewing (miao!), or because I was
already aware of his importance on my political life… Growing older I
propend for the first solution, but for many years I was sure of the
latter…
Anyway, from the night of his death, and for the week that followed,
I went around saying to literally everybody I encountered on the
streets, at home, at the kindergarten, “Mao is dead”, with a smile
(the smile was the part I omitted when telling this story to my
comrades during my years as a young passionaria protesting against
the first Berlusconi leadership… And I would be ready to hit the
piazza again if he arouses to the power for a third time!!!)! My
mother tried to persuade me that it wasn’t very nice to announce
someone’s death with a smile, even if she told me that Mao wasn’t a
very nice person, but nothing would stop me!
What a stubborn little girl! And growing older I didn’t change a
single bit!!!

And, now, after the choirs of “who cares??!” that are arousing among
you, fellows readers, here is the recipe!


300 g of pork cut in thin stripes

2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
1 teaspoon of grounded ginger
1/2 teaspoon of five spices mix

Steamed rice to serve


Marinate overnight, in the fridge, the pork with all the ingredients.
Stick two or three pieces of meat on metal skewers. Heat a heavy
grill and cook ithe skewers until golden and crispy.
Serve them with steamed rice.

P.S. For those whome are wondering if this meat is or isn't burn, I will assure you that it wasn't burn at all, but perfectly caramelized... and I have at least two no family related witnesses...

Amandines

Again something sweet from Donna Hay… Maybe I should buy more books
by her, so I can change trend…
Anyway, those amandines (almond tartlets) are so simple to make, and
to eat, that are worth even the effort of making the pastry base
(yes, sometime I’m so so lazy that I discard recipe that implies
pastry making…)!
For the pastry you can use half the recipe of the pastry from the Pumpkin
cake.

Serves 6

90 g of soft butter
55 g of sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
170 of almond flour
1 tablespoon and an 1/2 of flour
3 pinches of nutmeg
60 g of flaked almonds

Roll out the pastry very thin, 2 millimetres, and cut 6 circles and
cover 6 tartlet moulds. Let them rest in the fridge.
Preheat the oven at 150° C.
In a food processor, mix butter and sugar, add the egg, then the egg
yolk. Add almond flour, flour and nutmeg. Mix until you obtain a
smooth cream.
Fill each tartlet and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Serve cold.

Pumpkin, again… And forever!!!

Another Donna Hay recipe: this woman is full of wonder!
This cake has a sweet short crust pastry that has the incredible
advantage of remaining “crusty” (or croustillant, my favourite French
word!!!) for days, even with the moistest filling. On the other hand, I
found it a bit too much hard on the first day, but ok after the second
day in the fridge. And as I used my Kenwood chef to make there
wouldn’t even be the possibility of overworking it: it did everything
in 2 minutes…

For the base
270 g of flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
150 g of butter
2-3 tablespoons of iced water

If you have a Kitchen aid of a Kenwood chef (much much better than
the Kitchen aid!!! ;-)), put all the ingredients, but the water, in
the mixing jar and using the K beater, knead the pastry until
crumbled. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of iced water, knead until you
obtain a bowl. Cover it in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30
minutes.
Preheat the oven at 160° C.
Roll it in a 3 mm thick circle and cover a cake tin of 26 cm. Pick the base
with a fork. Cover it with greaseproof and fill it with rice or dry
beans, and cook it for 10 minutes. Discard the greaseproof paper,
altogether with the rice or the dry beans, and cook it for another 10
minutes.


For the filling
500 g of pumpink
65 g of brown sugar
2 eggs
75 ml of double cream
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Clean and cut the pumpkin in cubes. Steam it until tender.
While the base is cooking, mix the pumpkin with the rest of the
ingredients. Fill in the cake base and cook for another 45 minutes.
Let it cool, unmould it and serve it with cream, whipped with 3
tablespoons of brown sugar.

Pork Friday: Vietnamese pork

Vietnamese is one of my favourite Asian cuisine… I’m wondering if
there is an Asian cuisine that I do not like, but except canned food
form the Philippine (for a job, once I had to translate the
ingredients of some cans and you can’t imagine how many we had to
reject for the presence of ingredients not allowed in the EU…), I
think I would survive throughout the whole Asia continent without
speaking a single word of the local idiom, but just pointing at stuff
on menus or displays… I must try…
Anyway, as you can’t find Vietnamese cuisine in Italy, my great
source is France: on every corner there is a Vietnamese restaurant!
Many thanks to Colonialism!
Of course, I’m joking: I do not like Colonialism… Italian never had
colonies, that’s why I do not like Colonialism! Ok, ok, sorry, even
this was a sad historical joke and I know I’m the only one jiggling
about it!!! And still jiggling…
Anyway, I like Vietnamese cuisine (and that should be quite clear
right now), and as I didn’t want my house to smell of caramelized
pork for one week (like the last time we did it… Delicious, but
stinky!!!), I went for this version of marinated pork.


300 g of lean pork

1 clove of garlic
2 shallots
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of pepper
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine
1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Cut the pork in small cubes. Mix all the ingredients and let it stand
in the fridge overnight.

Grill it on a very hot skillet until golden. Serve with a salad or rice.

Indian curry rice

This dish is Indian cuisine made quick and easy! And if you do the
prep part before the guest arrive, all you have to do is cook it, and
once is all in the pan, you can chitchat and go back in the kitchen
just a the ring of the bell!
And as you can do it with any vegetables or adding any piece of meat
you like, is one of the most versatile dishes of all times!

Serves 4

1 medium potato, diced 1 head of broccoli cut in small heads 2 carrots, diced 2 onions, thinly sliced 200 g of meat, anyone you prefer, diced 2 tablespoons of ghee or olive oil 1 teaspoon of cumin 2 teaspoon of curcuma 1 teaspoon of mild paprika 2 pinches of grounded chilli pepper 250 g of basmati rice
1/2 tablespoon of garam masala to serve


First of all, prepare all the vegetables and the meat, and store it
in individual jars, keeping onions and meat separated from the rest.

Heat the ghee in a large and heavy saucepan. Fry the onions until
tender. Add the spices and fry for another minute. Add the meat, let
it coat with the spices. Add the vegetables and the rice. Turn it
several times. Cover everything with 600 ml of water.
Bring it to the boil, lower the fire, cover the pan and let it simmer
for 20 minutes.

Serve immediately, sprinkle with the garam masala.

Pumpkin cheesecake

It’s pumpkin time! Pumpkins are so good and delicious! And they are
orange, happy orange!!!
These cheesecake is from Nigella’s Feast, and it’s a glorious recipe,
expeccialy for the smoothness of the pumpkin filling! I substituted
cream cheese with ricotta, and the can of pumpkin purée with steamed
pumpkin. I divided by two the filling, as I needed a cake for 6
people, but as I really love the base, I used the amount she said for
an entire cake.

For the base
250 g of digestive biscuits
125 g of soft butter

For the filling
300 g of steamed pumpkin
500 g of fresh ricotta
100 g of sugar
3 eggs
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Prepare the base. Mix biscuit and butter in a food processor until
you have a crumbled mixture. Transfer it in a cake mould with movable
base covered with greaseproof paper. Push it in an even layer and let
it go over the edges. Refrigerate.

Preheat the oven at 160° C.
Mix the pumpkin with the other filling ingredients, adding one egg at
the time. Transfer it over the chilled base and cook for 1 hour and
half, until is firm and slightly brown on the top.

Let it stand in the oven for half an hour. Let it cool, unmould it
and transfer it on a serving plate.
This cake is even better after a night in the fridge.

Risotto!!!

Let’s speak about risotto!!! I was born and I live in Lombardia,
homeland of risotto, so for me it’s normal to eat risotto at least
once a week, especially during winter times.
Risotto is one of those Italian dishes that you can find around the
world, but how it is made, with which rice, following which method
it’s not always known…
When at my parents home I substituted my grandma in making risotto, I
began to study books on how to make it (yep, I’m a control freak!).
The basics are quite simple, and cannot be avoided or changed, if not
you do not have a risotto, but something that resemble to it…

Rice:
There are many schools about which type of rice is best to make
risotto. Sure Arborio is perfect, so as Carnaroli. Original rice must
be used only if you can’t get any of the above. DO NOT USE Asian
rice: nothing against them, I love them, but it will be like making
steamed rice with Arborio and not basmati or jasmine…

Preparation:
First of all, make plenty of good stock. When you begin to make
risotto the stock must be boiling.
Take an onion (small or medium, that depends on how many people will
eat the risotto) and thinly chop it.
Measure the rice: at my parents house rice was measured by pugni
(handfuls), and you will need 2 handfuls for each person, plus one
for the pan.
Prepare all the ingredients you whish to add. So, normally you add
everything just before the rice, but that depends on what you are
going to add: vegetables (except peas and tender vegetables), meat
and shellfish must be add before the rice and fried with the onions,
but cheese or saffron must be add near the end of cooking time… These
really vary on what you are going to use.
Prepare by your side a glass of white wine (but sometimes, rarely,
you will need red wine): normally a glass is enough for four people.
The cheese you normally use (except in fish risotto) is ALWAYS grated
Parmesan. I know it’s expensive, but there isn’t something that can
substitute it in the entire world. Of course when I speak about
Parmesan I mean Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano, D.O.C. products,
made only with natural ingredients, nothing added. There could be
some exception, but Parmesan it’s always a must.

The pan and other tools:
You will need a good saucepan, with a heavy bottom and high edges.
It’s essential!
You will also need a wooden spoon and a ladle. No more.

Cooking:
Traditionally risotto is made with butter, but you can make it with a
good extra virgin olive oil. NO other oil, just extra virgin olive
oil, ok? I know it’s expensive, but it’s worth it to the last cent! 2
tablespoons are enough for four people.
Heat the oil and add the onions. Fry them briefly until they just
begin to tenderize, but they are not yet golden. At this point you
can add any vegetables or shellfish or meat and fry everything on
high heat, briefly, turning constantly.
At this point you can add the rice and fry it too until is hot when
you touch it (about 3 minutes).
Add the wine, all at once, and let it evaporate, turning constantly.
Form now on you can begin to add ladles of stock: begin with four
ladles (always for four people) and before to add other ladles of
stock you must wait until the stock is completely absorbed. For best
result, keep turning the rice. If you are making yellow risotto,
dissolve saffron in a ladle of stock and add it to rice half way
through.
After 20 minutes the rice should be cooked, and the stock must be
absorbed completely, so, near the end of the 20 minutes, add less
stock. Take it of the heat and begin the mantecatura: you begin to
add little pieces of butter (25 g at most) and grated Parmesan,
turning until it’s all combined. Let the risotto rest for 5 minutes,
and then serve it, with extra Parmesan on the side.

Ok, and after the basics, the recipe!

Pumpkin and salsiccia risotto


Serve 4

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 little onion
Rosemary
Fennel seeds
Pepper
9 handfuls of rice
A glass of red wine
1/2 of a little pumpkin, cleaned and diced
200 g of salsiccia (sausage made with only pork meat, buy and
Italian, fresh one), peeled and crushed
Stock, boiling
Salt if needed
25 g of butter
Grated Parmesan

In a big saucepan, with an heavy bottom, heat the oil and fry the
onion with rosemary, fennel seeds and pepper. Add the salsiccia and
begin to crush it with a wooden fork. Add the pumpkin and let
everything fry for 2 minutes. Add the rice, fry it for 3 minutes,
than add the red wine and let evaporate.
Begin to add 4 ladles of stock, and let it boil, turning constantly.
When all the stock is absorbed, add 2 more ladles, let it absorb,
then ad more, and so on, until the rice is cooked.
Take it off the heat, add butter and Parmesan. Turn it to make it
absorb.
Let it stand for 5 minutes and then serve it.

A Sweeeeeet Tooth

Donna Hay is a recent discovery for me: in Italy is quite difficult
to find her books and her magazines. In one of
Milan’s best bookstore, Hoepli (they have the largest collection of
cookbooks in Italian, French and English of the city), I found one of
her books translated in French, Gourmandises (Modern Classics, Book
2), by one of my favourite cookbook publishing houses, Marabout. And
it was the only one they had by her…
What can I say: I just love this book!!! All the recipes are for
sweet treats and deserts: how can you not like it???

Of course her picture, or better, Con Poulos picture, is much more
polished and perfect then mine, but perfect appearance or not, those
little sweet treats are marvellous! If you have a sweeeeeet tooth and
cant’ imagine your life without a little treats after dinner, just go
for them!!! But on the other hand, if you have problem with sugar or
you are a diabetics, forget them: too much!!! Really toooooo much!!!

For the base
68 g of flour
25 g of dried coconut
50 g of sugar
63 g of butter

For the filling
65 g of black treacle (Donna suggests clear treacle, but I had only
black, and it’s already something I found it in Italy…)
62 g of butter, at room temperature
1 can (400 g) of condensed milk

For the topping
100 g of chocolate (60% of cocoa)
30 g of butter

Preheat the oven at 180° C. to make the base, mix all the ingredients
with a food processor. Lay the crumbled mixture on the base of a
rectangular ovenproof dish covered with greaseproof paper. Bake for
15 minutes, or until golden.
Let it rest while you prepare the filling.
In a small saucepan, heat black treacle, condensed milk and butter
until the mixture began to thicken. Spread it over the base and bake
for another 20 minutes, or until the filling is golden.
Let it rest and cool completely.
Melt the chocolate with the butter in a microwave oven. Spread it
over the filling.

Refrigerate over night and be ready to eat the day after for your
annual need of sugar!

P.S. Currently logging from a friend's home with a wonderful free connection provided by the office on the floor below... Yeah!

I will be back, alive and kicking!

So, the situation isn't looking so good: now even the modem is broken, so...
I honestly don't know when I will be able to come back...

But for sure, just to reassure all the “nice” people that are leaving “nice” comments on my posts, I WILL BE BACK, soon...
And about those “nice” people, obliging me to put again comments moderation, I would like to say few things...

Until now I did shut up, I never let my fillings to overcome and insult them, but right now I am not in the good mood to support all this cowardice from somebody I do not even know (I hope…).

I know the Internet is the biggest fishing pond in the world, and I even know that if I open a blog is implicit I put myself in the open, ready to be shot.
But from this to free insults to myself, my family, and a stupid food blog that doesn’t want to go nowhere if not simply chitchatting about what I like, sorry, it is too much!
I do not know why someone out there feels so insulted by my blog to find the time and the effort to leave nasty comments (and create nasty blog all dedicated to insult me... Ok, is someone that is crazier than the craziest lunatic...), and honestly, I care very little…

So, comments moderation… If someone has something to tell me, or something to spit in front of me, that it is not recipe or blog related, please, fell free to write me, at the address at your disposal on the side, and we can chitchat about your lack of guts of leaving SIGNED comments and your lack of politeness.

And for the record: I maybe do a lot of mistakes writing this blog in a language that it is not my own, but at least I’m trying to improve, and, above all, I’M DOING IT and I do not shield myself behind anonymous comments…
Duck and cover was never my motto... ;-)

I will be back

Sorry evrybody, but since last sunday my dsl line doesn't work...

But I will be back soon or later... I hope...

Pork Friday: grapefruit marinate

I had some cheap cut of pork and no idea how to make it, so I decided to marinated in different ways (stay tuned for the others).
Here is the simplest of all!

Pork, diced (any cut)
The juice of 1 grapefruit
Few drops of Tabasco

Place the diced pork in the grapefruit juice, add some drops of Tabasco and let it rest in the fridge overnight.
Drain it and cook it in a frying pan, without any fat, until caramelized.
Serve it with yesterday’s fennels or a crispy salad.

I LOVE FENNELS!

Fennels are one of those vegetables that are wonderful in every way! Raw and crispy in a nice salad or cooked and soft as a side dish, either cold or warm. I think I already spoke about it, but when I was living in England, in the late 90’s, even if Jamie Oliver was already teaching English people how to make a fennel salad, in fact fennels weren’t available on supermarkets stands: I do not remember a single one! So, after many months there I developed withdrawal symptoms and the urgent need of fennels! Back in Italy I remember eating fennel constantly, on any occasions and developing always new ways to cook them.
One of the best ways to cook them turned out to be the simplest!

Serves two (hungry)

2 fennels
The juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Clean the fennels and cut them in thin slices. Place them on a baking sheet covered with greaseproof paper. Drizzle with lemon juice and oil and generous pinches of salt and pepper.
Bake in a preheated oven, 180° C, until crisp and golden.
Serves hot, warm or cold.