Tarte tatin (French caramel apple pie)

Tarte tatin

250g puff pastry
75g soft butter
175g caster sugar
750g firm apples
Vanilla ice cream

Roll out the pastry on lightly floured surface and cut out a 26cm disc, slightly larger than the top of a 20cm tarte tarin dish or reliably non stick cast iron frying pan. Transfer to a baking sheet and chill for at least 20 minutes.
Spread the butter over the base of the tarte tatin dish it frying pan, and sprinkle over the sugar in a thick, even layer.
Peel, core and halve the apples, trimming them very slightly if necessary to fit but keeping the sugar. Place the tarte tatin dish or frying pan over a medium heat and cook for 20/25 minutes, gently shaking the pan now and then, until the butter and sugar have amalgamated with the apple juices to produce a rich toffee colored sauce and the apples are just tender. At first the caramel will be pale and liquid from the juices from the apples, but as you keep on cooking the juices will evaporate and the butter and sugar will become darker and thicker. Just take care that the butter and sugar are not allowed to burn.
Preheat the oven to 190C. Lift the pastry top of the apples and tuck the edges down inside the pan. Prick the pastry 5 or 6 times with a tip of a knife. Bake for 25 minutes.
Remove the tarte from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge and invert it onto a round flat serving plate.
Serve warm with ice cream or cream fraîche.

Stracchino bread

This soft bread has a delicate cheese flavour, it goes well with cold cuts so it's perfect for your sandwiches! It's very quick to make!

2 cups Bread flour
100g Stracchino (like philadelphia)
3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cube of fresh yeast or 1/2 package of dried yeast


Mix the yeast and the sugar together.Mix cheese, milk, eggs and salt. Add the flour  sifted and work until the dough is smooth. Transfer it into a buttered and floured cake tin, level it with the back of a spoon and bake in the preheated gas oven at 180C for 35/45 minutes,(do the toothpick test. Stick a wooden toothpick into one of the thickest parts of the bread. If it's dry when you pull it our, the bread is done). Remove it from the oven, let cool before cutting.

Pasta fredda alla Mediterranea

For a fancy picnic!

1 package of your favorite short pasta
1 cup of your favorite olives (pitted)
1 tbsp capers
1 cup of cacciota or feta cheese in cubes
2 cups cherry tomatoes (chopped)

1 red and 1 yellow pepper cutted in cubes
2 cloves of garlic very thin sliced or on the garlic press
Oregano or fresh basil
Pepperoncino (optional)
Roasted pine nuts (optional)
½ cup Olive oli
½ cup Balsamic
Salt & Pepper

In a big bowl mix all the ingredients except the pasta.  Cook the pasta al dente and mix the sauce with the pasta very well. Wait at list an hour to serve.

Fresh filled pastas

Agnolotti Alla Siciliana

Agnolotti alla Siciliana

For the impasto:
2 cups Semonina flour
1 1/2 cup 00 flour (cake flour)
1 pinch of saffron
1 cup war water

Add the pinch of saffron to warm water. Knead it into the flour. Should be consistency of play dough.
Cover in plastic and let it sit for at list 15 minutes.
Roll into the pasta machine on the number five if you use a Marcato brand.

For the Ragu:
400g pork belly
400g pork ribs
1/4 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic (cut cloves in 4 pieces)
3 leaves sage
2 cups tomato pure
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup water
Salt & Pepper


In a big pan, brown the pork belly and the ribs. in a separate small pan, brown the garlic and the sage. Add the garlic and sage with the meat. Add the tomato pure and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid cover.

Filling:
1/2 kg Ricotta
400g sausage
A pinch of ground pepperoncino (crushed red peppers)
A pinch of cinnamon
3 leaves of sage diced up
Salt & Pepper

Mix all together with hands

Bavaroise with white chocolate and mint sauce

300ml fresh whole milk
300ml heavy cream
3 eggs
100g white chocolate
50g sugar
1 vanilla bean
3 gelatine leaf of 1tbsp powder

For the mint sauce:
100g heavy cream
50g sugar
2 tbsp mint syrup

In a bowl with water, add the gelatine leafs to hydrate.  In a pan, heat the mild with the vanilla and add the gelatine leaves.
Separate the eggs in two bowls. Using a mixer, mix the egg yolks and sugar until is creamy. In another bowl, mix the egg whites until peaks.
Add the white chocolate on the pan and until melt.
In another bowl mix the heavy cream until is peaks.
Start folding all the ingredients. Be careful to do not over mix! :)
Put the Bavarese for at list 3 hours on the fridge!

Making the mint sauce:
In a small pan, heat the cream and sugar. Add the mint syrup and let reduce.

Pollo alla Cacciatora

Six pieces of chicken tight
3 carrots cut in big cubes
1 onion cut in big cubes
1 celery stick in big cubes
6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 bay leafs
1 rosemary stick
1 cup black pitted olives
1 cup red wine
1 cup cherry tomatoes
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Pepperoncino (optional)

In a big sauce pan, sear the chicken with olive oil. Reserve the chicken and cook the carrots, onion, garlic and celery in high heat. When the vegetables are brown add the chicken and the wine. Let cook in high heat for about five minutes and then add the tomatoes, olives and the herbs. Add salt & pepper and slow cook until the sauce is thick.
Serve with baked potatoes or polenta!

Pollo alla San Patrizio

Recipe created for the Saint Patricks day class in 2015!

For the chicken:
1 Kg (2 pounds) of chicken breast cut in fillet.


Salt & Pepper
Olive oil

For the Pesto sauce:
A jar of pesto (1 cup) or make a homemade pesto recipe. PESTO RECIPE LINK
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1 jar of sundries tomatoes

Grill the chicken. Mix the pesto with the heavy cream. Pour about 1 tbsp of the sauce in each chicken breast. Add a sun dried tomatoes on the top. And is ready to serve! :)

Creme Brûlée

• 
  2 cups heavy cream
  
• 5 egg yolks
• ½ cup granulated sugar, plus more to sprinkle for topping
• 1½ tsp. vanilla extract or one vanilla bean
• optional: fresh berries or mint for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Whisk together the egg yolks and ½ cup sugar in a medium mixing bowl until smooth and creamy. Add cream and vanilla and gently stir to combine, taking care not to mix quickly so as not to introduce extra bubbles. Place un-filled ramekins in a baking or casserole dish and fill baking dish with hot water until about half-way up sides of ramekins. Pour egg mixture into ramekins.
3. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, checking every 10 minutes after 35-40 minutes. When done, a knife inserted into the center of the egg mixture should come out mostly clean.
4. Remove from baking dish (I use a spatula) and lay onto clean dish towel to dry, set and cool. Allow to sit for 15 minutes.
5. Set oven to low broiler setting.
6. Sprinkle a thin, even layer of granulated sugar over the top of the cooked custard. Completely, but lightly, cover the custard with the sugar. Place the ramekins back into the baking dish and surround by ice and cold water until the water almost reaches halfway up the sides (don't fill too high with water, as the ice will melt and add to the volume of water).
7. Place baking dish with ramekins under broiler (or use crème brûlée torch, if you'd prefer) for 3-5 minutes, or until the sugar has melted and creates a golden brown, caramelized crust.
8. Garnish with berries and/or some fresh mint leaves.

Baked sausage with mushrooms and onions

1kg of Italian Sausages
4 cups of your favorite fresh mushrooms
1 sliced onion
3 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
Olive oil to coat the pan (can also use truffle oil)
Salt & Pepper

In a big roasting pan, add all the ingredients and mix together very well! Bake in a high temperature oven, about 200C/220C for about 30/40 minutes or until the sausages are all the way cooked.
Optionally you can add gorgonzola cheese after is baked, mix all de ingredients again with the cheese will create a delicious sauce!
Serve wil polenta.

Colli Euganei Fior d'Arancio

Colli Euganei Fior d'Arancio is a Muscat wine made from Fior d'Arancio grapes grown in the Veneto wine region's Colli Euganei hills, in north-eastern Italy. These wines were sold asspumante and sweet, dried-grape passito forms.

Fior d'Arancio is a member of the Muscat family of grapes, and also goes by the name Orange Muscat and Muscat Fleur d'Oranger. Its name, more elegant in its French and Italian forms, means 'orange blossom'. This is appropriate: Fior d'Arancio wines have a fresh, delicate, slightly sweet, blossom-like aroma, very similar to that which blows around citrus groves on warm, breezy spring afternoons.

The ideal food matches for these wines are the locally made biscotti (biscuits) or sweet pastries,  also goes very well with cheeses like Gorgonzola and Taleggio.

Taleggio

Taleggio 

Taleggio is a smear-ripened Italian cheese named after the caves of Val Taleggio. It’s one of the oldest soft cheeses produced in every autumn and winter. During cheese making, the acidic milk is brought to the lab, and kept on the wood shelves in the chambers as well in caves according to tradition. In order to prevent it from mold infestation, the cheese is washed with seawater once a week. The maturation takes 6 - 10 weeks forming a thin crust.

This cheese has been granted a PDO designation and contains 48% fat. The cheese has a strong smell, but its taste is relatively mild with an unusual fruity tang. To make it brighter and moderate, factories add spices, raisins, nuts and some lemons to it. When grated on salads such as radicchio and rucola, it tastes like a wonder, as well melts well. Taleggio can be served with Italian Nebbiolo wines, and also a wide range of Reds, whites and dessert wines.

• Made from pasteurized cow's milk
• Country of origin: Italy
• Region: Val Taleggio
• Type: semi-soft, smear-ripened
• Fat content: 48%
• Texture: creamy
• Rind: washed
• Colour: pale yellow
• Flavour: fruity, mild, tangy
• Aroma: pungent, strong
• Vegetarian: no

Asiago 

Asiago, is a cow's milk cheese, produced only on the Asiago plateau in the Veneto foothills in Italy. The

cheese-making tradition in the provinces of  Vicenza and Trento dates back to more than thousand years. Traditionally, it was made from sheep's milk but today it is produced from unpasteurised cow's milk.

Texture wise, Asiago goes through many changes, assuming different textures, according to its aging. There are two types of Asiago - fresh Asiago (Asiago Pressato) has a smooth texture while the aged Asiago (Asiago d'allevo) has a crumbly texture. Asiago d’allevo is matured for different time periods; Mezzano for 4-6 months, Vecchio for more than ten months and Stravecchio for two years. On the other hand, Asiago Pressato made with whole milk is matured for a month and sold fresh as a softer, milder cheese.

Depending on age, the rinds of Asiago can be straw coloured and elastic to brownish gray and hard. The paste can be white to dark yellow, with small to medium irregular holes. Based on the aging, Asiago can be used for grating, melting, slicing on a variety of salads, sandwiches, soups, pastas, and sauces.

• Made from unpasteurized cow's milk
• Country of origin: Italy
• Region: Veneto, Trentino
• Type: hard
• Fat content: 34-48%
• Texture: compact, crumbly, open and smooth
• Rind: natural
• Colour: yellow
• Flavour: full-flavored, mild, milky, sharp
• Aroma: pungent
• Vegetarian: no