As the tasting panel is taking a pause (due to upcoming holidays in Italy), why not change the sweet theme for a while?
And so here it is this artichokes dip, so simple that everyone can make it, even a 3 years old child!
In the mixer, roughly mix a jar of drained Grilled artichokes or Whole baby artichokes with some spoonful (depending of your taste) of Organic Mayonnaise. Salt, if needed, and serve with grilled bread.
A simple recipe, inspired by Martha Stewart (but she uses chicken breast), which made me discover a good alternative use for Orange marmalade! And I’m beginning to think that even for duck cannot be that bad!
The basic rule for this dish is in two steps: marinate and bake! That’s it!
Marinate the pork in the orange marmalade, spreading it over the pork rind, and let it rest, in a oven dish with high edges, in the fridge, over night. Take it out of the fridge at least one hour before to cook it, and add a glass of water.
Preheat the oven at 180°C, then bake the pork. After half an hour, lower the temperature to 150°C and bake for an additional hour.
Slice and serve.
Note on the picture: the black part in it are actually slightly burned (I was too concentrate in chatting and drinking wine!), but are basically the pork rind, which, honestly, we weren’t’ going to eat it anyway! :-)
Fill in a shortcrust pastry shell (here the recipe for the pastry) with son Strawberry extra jam and cover it with apple slices. Bake until golden.
The San Lorenzo olive cookies are sweet, but they are quite interesting even matched with some strong cheese, as a end to a light meal or as a meal on its own.
It may sound strange, but give it a go: you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Some French classic are so good that you wouldn’t say it’s an old recipe, from a granmother or so!
It is the case of this wonderful tart, normally made with fresh cherries, but works perfect with the extraordinary Cherry Jam produced by San Lorenzo. As you can see in the picture, there are actually cherries in side, or better: there is only halved cherries inside!!!
For the pastry
250 g wholegrain flour
50 g cane sugar
150 g butter, room temperature
A pinch of salt
Quickly work all the ingredients with the tip of your fingers. Add some water, and work it until you have a smooth pastry, then let it rest for at least 1 hour in the fridge.
For the almond filling
50 g confectionery sugar
70 g ground almonds
1 teaspoon of cornstarch
1 egg
50 g butter
3 cl cream
Mix all the ingredients.
Preheat the oven at 160° C and cook the empty pastry shell for 25 minutes.
Spread the almond filling on the cooked pastry shell, pour over the Cherry Jam and cook for other 20 minutes.
Serve it warm.
I always wanted to make the semifreddo recipe on Jamie’s The Naked Chef: it always looked extremely appealing to me! And for once I had all the ingredients at home (except cream that I substituted with ricotta: much lighter!) and why not use the last Hazelnut cookies to ad some kind of crunchiness to the creamy texture?
500 g of ricotta
4 eggs, yolks and whites divided
4 tablespoon of sugar
Few Piedmont Hazelnut cookies
Whisk ricotta, egg yolks an sugar, until fluffy. Whisk in a separate bowl the egg whites, until stiff. Mix the two together. add the crumbles cookies, spoon in little moulds or glasses and freeze for at last 3 hours, remembering to take them out of the freezer at least 1 hour before serving.
I’m the biggest fan in the world of Charlotte: they are easy peasy, quick, and they pleased the crowds…
With this one I outdone myself: its the easiest I ever made!!!
1 jar of Chestnut cream
150 g of bitter sweet chocolate
500 g of Mascarpone (or 300 ml whipping cream)
Lady finger biscuits
Melt the chocolate.
Mix it with the chestnut cream and the mascarpone (if you are using whipping cream, whip it very stiff, then add it the the chestnut and chocolate).
Coat a charlotte mould with film. lay the lady finger biscuit on the vertical sides, add the cream in the middle. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Take it out of the fridge 1 hour before serving.
A jam tart (Crostata in Italian) is a typical dessert: every grandma or mother has its own version. The basics are very simple: a good short crust pastry and a very good jam.
The jam I used is the Extra apricot jam: a marvel for the mouth, thick, not so sweet, velvety but still with chunks. Once you open it, let’s try not to eat it all, spoon after spoon!
For the short crust pastry
300 g of flour
150 g of cold butter
125 g of icing sugar
3 egg yolks
Extra Apricot Jam
Amaretti morbidi
Make a wheel with flour and sugar. Place diced cold butter and egg yolk in the middle, and begin to quickly work it with the tip of your fingers. Work it until you have a smooth pastry, then let it rest for at least 1 hour in the fridge. If you avoid this passage you’ll end up with a crumbly pastry when trying to roll it.
Preheat the oven at 160° C.
Roll out the pastry very thin, roll it over the rolling pin and lay in a tart mould. Add the apricot jam, crumble over it some amaretti morbidi, and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the side of the crust are golden.
Let it cool before to serve it, for breakfast, teatime or dinner.
For the short crust pastry
300 g of flour
150 g of cold butter
125 g of icing sugar
3 egg yolks
Lemon marmalade
4 medium pears, firm, not too ripe
Make a wheel with flour and sugar. Place diced cold butter and egg yolk in the middle, and begin to quickly work it with the tip of your fingers. Work it until you have a smooth pastry, then let it rest for at least 1 hour in the fridge. If you avoid this passage you’ll end up with a crumbly pastry when trying to roll it.
Roll out the pastry very thin, roll it over the rolling pin and lay in a pie mould. Lay a thick layer of lemon marmalade. Peel and clean the pears. Cut them in thick slices and add them to the pie. Cover the pie with the remaining pastry. Close the dies with a fork and chill for at least a day.
Preheat the oven at 160° C.
Cook the pie until it’s golden.
Let it cool before to serve it, for breakfast, teatime of as and after dinner dessert.
