Focaccia with olives and tomatoes

·      3 cups 0 Flour (in the USA this would be Bread flour), divided

·      1 cup Warm water

·      ¼ cup Olive oil

·      1 tablespoon Sugar

·      1 tablespoon Fine salt

·      ½ tablespoon Rock salt

·      1 cube Fresh yeast (or 1 Satchel of dry yeast)

·      Two roma tomatoes, sliced

·      Olives

·      Pepper and oregano, to taste

1.     Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F.

2.     In a big bowl, dissolve the fresh yeast with the sugar.  Simply by moving it around with a fork and mixing a bit, the fresh yeast will turn to liquid.  If you're using dry yeast, it will dissolve in the water... Add the warm water.

3.     Sift 1½ cups of flour into the bowl. Mix the water into the flour with a strong wooden spoon. Add the salt and mix with the spoon for about 1-2 minutes.

4.     Add the other 1½ cups of flour and kneed the focaccia dough for about 3 minutes, mixing very well.  Add the dough into the bowl and add olive oil.  Using your hands, squeeze the olive oil into the dough for about a minute.  Simply mixing with your hands, do this for about one minute...there will be extra oil a the bottom of the bowl (this will be poured on top of the dough later).

5.     Make a ball with the dough, and put the dough in a pan with a sheet of baking paper.  Press the dough into the pan with your hands.  Then make dimples in the dough with your fingers.  Add the sliced tomatoes, the olives and oregano. Drizzle some olive oil.

6.     Let the focaccia rise for approximately two hours.

7.     Bake at 350F/180C for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Focaccia with potatoes and rosemary

Focaccia with Rosemary

·      3 cups 0 Flour (in the USA this would be Bread flour), divided

·      1 cup Warm water

·      ¼ cup Olive oil

·      1 tablespoon Sugar

·      1 tablespoon Fine salt

·      ½ tablespoon Rock salt

·      1 cube Fresh yeast (or 1 Satchel of dry yeast)

·      Rosemary, to taste

·      1 Potato sliced

·      Pepper, to taste

1.     Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F.

2.     In a big bowl, dissolve the fresh yeast with the sugar.  Simply by moving it around with a fork and mixing a bit, the fresh yeast will turn to liquid.  If you're using dry yeast, it will dissolve in the water... Add the warm water.

3.     Sift 1½ cups of flour into the bowl. Mix the water into the flour with a strong wooden spoon. Add the salt and mix with the spoon for about 1-2 minutes.

4.     Add the other 1½ cups of flour and kneed the focaccia dough for about 3 minutes, mixing very well.  Add the dough into the bowl and add olive oil.  Using your hands, squeeze the olive oil into the dough for about a minute.  Simply mixing with your hands, do this for about one minute...there will be extra oil a the bottom of the bowl (this will be poured on top of the dough later).

5.     Make a ball with the dough, and put the dough in a pan with a sheet of baking paper.  Press the dough into the pan with your hands.  Then make dimples in the dough with your fingers.  In a separate bowl, mix the potatoes with olive oil, salt and rosemary. Place the potatoes on the top of the dough.

6.     Let the focaccia rise for approximately two hours.

7.     Bake at 350F/180C for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Squash, sausage and mushroom sauce

200g squash, in cubes 200g your favorite mushrooms, fresh (if dry use 50g)
200g mascarpone
300g Italian Sausage
200ml white wine
2 shallots, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
A handful of walnuts
4 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of nutmeg
1 tea spoon of black pepper
Salt to taste
Truffle oil (optional)

In a big pan, fry the garlic and the shallots in olive oil. When is brown add the squash, nutmeg, black pepper and the wine. Cook medium heat for about ten minutes with the lid or until the squash is soft, then you add the mascarpone. Squish everything using a fork or you can even use an immersion blender if you prefer smoother.
In another pan, sauté the sausages without casing with the mushrooms. When is all cooked mix with the squash sauce and serve with pasta.

You can also serve with rigatoni, then after you mix with the pasta add a lot of cheese on top and bake it.

For making it vegetarian, substitute the sausages for broccoli and spinach!

Pizzoccheri

Pizzoccheri

Pizzoccheri are a short tagliatelle made with buckwheat flour. Pizzoccheri is a pasta typical from the Alps bordering Switzerland and Italy.

1/2 pound of pizzoccheri 

3 big potatoes

5 leafs of Swiss chard

1/2 pound of fontina cheese

5 oz of Grana Padano cheese

4oz of butter

A clove of garlic

4/5 sage leafs

Salt and pepper to taste

Clean the the chard and cut a V-shaped cut along the veins of the leaves, then remove the stem.  Cut into sticks of a width of 1 cm so that are cooked faster.  

Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks.  Cook the potatoes and the Swiss chard for 10 minutes in a vegetable stock; in the same pan (with the chard and potatoes still inside) cook the Pizzoccheri pasta for another 10 minutes. 

 After 10 minutes of cooking, drain the pizzoccheri with a slotted spoon and pour some in a hot oven safe pan, sprinkle with grated Grana Padano and Valtellina Casera (you can use Fontina, Puzzone di Moena or Emmental), and continue alternating pizzoccheri and cheese.  In a separate pan, melt the butter with the garlic cloves uncut and sage until the garlic gets brown, remove the garlic and pour the melted butter on pizzoccheri (do not forget to take out the garlic cloves or they will overpower the dish).  Serve the pizzoccheri hot and with a dusting of freshly ground pepper.

Meat Brazilian empanadas

Pastel Dough (Massa para Pastel)
Enough for 25 pasteis


1.1 lb (1/2 kg) flour
1/2 tbsp. salt

1 tbsp. lard or butter

1 bbsp. cachaça (you can also use tequila, vodka or any hard alcohol)
1 cup warm chicken broth, approximately
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Mix the flour and salt, then add lard. Add the cachaça to the warm broth, and add to the dough in 1/4 cup quantities, mixing in thoroughly and stopping just when the dough forms a ball. Do not over mix or add too much broth.

Form into a ball, then let rest for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, dough for the empanadas is ready for rolling out, filling and fried as desired.

Ground meat filling

Ingredients

2-3 Tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
¼ medium yellow onion, small diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ( 454 g) lean ground beef
Salt to taste (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon)
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or fresh juice of ½ lime
2 tablespoons chopped green olives (optional)
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro, parsley or basil
1 cup cream cheese

*Extra ingredient: Canola or vegetable oil enought to deep fry.

Instruction

1. In a medium skillet, heat the oil and sweat the onion over medium heat for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and let cook for about 1 minute, stirring occasionaly (NOTE: The purpose is to cook the onion and garlic, NOT to brown them).

2. Increase heat to medium-high and brown the ground beef, stirring every now and then. Stir in both the salt and pepper, and then the tomato paste. Stir in the vinegar or lime juice. Let ground beef cook, uncovered, for about 5-7 minutes or until cooked throughout, stirring occasionally. Stir in the olives (optional) and the chopped cilantro or parsley. After out of heat, add cream cheese and let cool a bit before filling the pasteis.

3. Using a rolling pin or a pasta maker roll your dough more or less1/10 inches (0,25cm). Be careful because this dough dries very easy. After you dough is rolled place on the top a wet cloth.

4. Place the pastel wraps on preparation surface. Fill each with ½ to 1 Tablespoon of the cooked ground beef mixture and brush the egg white or water around the edges. Overlay another dough on top on the filling and seal edges well, pressing firmly with your fingers.

5. Using a fork, make a pattern over the edges. Heat a heavy-bottom pot to 350 degrees F (about 180 degrees C). If you don't have a thermometer to measure the temperature, dip a small piece of pastel into the heated oil. If you hear a sizzling sound, the oil is ready.

6. Fry the pastel, a few at a time, turning them while frying so that they brown evenly on both sides. The first and second batches will take about 3-4 minutes while the next batches will only take 1-1/2 to 2 minutes to fry because the oil will be hotter. They should be lightly golden and crisp. They will darken further once they are draining on paper towels.Transfer pasteis to baking sheet lined with a double layer of paper towels to absorb any excess oil. Serve hot with hot sauce.

Pork stew with tomatoes, wine and almonds

1 kg pork loin, cut in cubes
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stick, diced
1 cup almonds, cut in half
2 bayleaves
6 ripe tomatoes or one can of tomatoes
3 juniper berries
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt & Pepper

First step is to marinate the pork with the wine and the juniper berries. Then in a big casserole, fry the onions, almonds, carrots and celery until golden brown. Add the meat without the wine, cook until is all seared. Combine the tomatoes, let reduce for 15 minutes. Add the wine with the juniper berries and the bayleaves. Cook in low/medium heat for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Serve with potatoes, polenta or vegetables.