Orange Cake

It’s  a cold and snowy afternoon, so sitting in front of the fireplace  we sip a hot  tea( a little bit English style) and  a simple cake

Torta d' Arancia

• 300 g Sugar 
• 3 large eggs
• 2 oranges
• 350 g flour                                
• Butter 100 gr                
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Start by squeezing the oranges .Melt the butter.

Beat the egg yolks with sugar until frothy, add now  the orange  juice .

Now slowly add the flour and stir quickly  not  to form lumps, then add the melted butter and baking powder.

Now whisk the egg whites until stiff and embed them into the mixture

.Butter a cake pan, pour the compost in  and bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.

When  ready decorate with powder sugar.

Hearts with Pumpkin

Valentine's Day Recipe

For the dough:               
300 g flour                  
3 eggs                
1 tablespoon of olive oil   
a pinch of salt
For the filling:
200 kg of pumpkin
80 g of grated Parmesan cheese
50 g cream
50 g of bread crumbs
2 eggs     
nutmeg and salt to taste
for 27 hearts

Clean the pumpkin, removing the seeds from the central part , cut into thick slices, wash and dry them, then put them to cook in the oven at 200 ° C for one hour.

When the pumpkin is cooked, remove the peel and pass the pulp through a strainer, collecting it in a bowl.

Add the eggs, cream, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt and nutmeg.Stir  the mixture with a  spoon and then let it rest for a few hours.

 With flour, eggs, oil and a pinch of salt, prepare the dough and roll it out , not too thin. Cut into squares. Place in the center of each square a spoonful of filling, fold in on itself and cut with a heart shaped cookie-cutter .Press the edges with your fingers  to make it adhere well.

Boil a pot of salted water, bring to a boil, pour the hearts  (7/8 at a time) in the water  to cook  for seven or eight minutes.

Pull them out of the water with a slotted spoon when they float, pour in layers in a bowl and toss with butter, sage and parmesan cheese.

Tuscan Week Menu

An idea for a Tuscan menu from Toscana Mia cooking classes last week


Apetizer/Starter  Antipasto

Black Olives Crostini  
Crostini alle Olive Nere

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2011/12/italian-black-olives-apetizer.html

First course Primo Pasta

Tuscan Spaghetti with  Garlic and Cherry Tomatoes  
                           Pici all' Aglione 

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2011/12/how-to-make-pici.html

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2011/12/cherry-tomatoes-garlic-sauce.html

Second Course  Secondo 
Balsamic Vinegar Scaloppine Scaloppine all' Aceto Balsamico

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2012/03/scaloppine-balsamic-for-poultry-day.html

Contorno
Beans Tuscan Way   Fagioli al Fiasco

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2009/01/cooking-cookery-typical-tuscan-cooking.html

Dessert  Dolce 
Panna Cotta with Chocolate and Safron Panna Cotta con Cioccolato e Zafferano

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2009/10/panna-cotta-in-tuscany.html 

Black Olives crostini

Pici with Garlic and Cherry Tomatoes

Fagioli al Fiasco

Pici all' Aglione

balsamic Vinegar with Beans

Panna Cotta with chocolate

Panna Cotta with Safron and Chocolate

Italian Chocolate Gelato

The chorus of the song from the 80s, presented by the Tuscan Pupo, still occasionally plays in the ear

“Gelato al cioccolato

dolce e un po' salato

tu gelato al cioccolato

un bacio al cioccolato

io te l'ho rubato……..”

"Chocolate ice cream

sweet and a little 'salty

you chocolate ice cream

a chocolate kiss

I've stolen from you ........

CHOCOLATE GELATO 

100 gr. dark chocolate

1 egg

200 gr. sugar

250 gr.  whipping cream

250 gr. milk

Half a vanilla bean

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler with a little milk, flavor with vanilla.

Leave to  cool.

Beat the egg with the sugar, dilute with milk, cream and melted chocolate.

Prepare the gelato.

SCALOPPINE BALSAMIC for Poultry Day

Day of poultry and then Scaloppine with Balsamic Vinegar. A simple, delicious and unexpected flavor!

SCALOPPINE BALSAMIC

• 8 slices of turkey breast
• 60g butter
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• A few drops of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Lightly flour the turkey breast. Gently melt the butter in a pan, add the turkey and lightly brown on both sides. Season with salt and pepper. Add the balsamic vinegar and finish cooking them.

Serve with a few drops of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar. Tips: Instead of balsamic vinegar you can use lemon or Marsala wine. You can use turkey instead of beef or chicken. Oops, we’ve been using  Balsamic for so long and this time  we tried to purchase online and it worked well with Parmashop

They  sent us Vinegar  from Acetaia Paltrinieri  

4 Cheeses Sauce for you

Catherine  and Marlene were with us  in October and warmly requested this recipe, very good with Penne  ( cut short dry pasta ) and also with gnocchi

FOUR CHEESES SAUCE 

100 g Gorgonzola
Gruyere (or Emmental cheese) grated 80 g
200 ml whole milk
50 ml fresh cream
80 g Parmesan cheese
Penne pasta 400 g
Ground white pepper a pinch
Salt q.b.

Gorgonzola & Taleggio

Parmigiano & Gruyere

Put a large pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil.
Prepare the cheeses, cream in a saucepan on low heat and throw in the grated Parmesan cheese , gorgonzola and taleggio cheese cut into cubes ,add them to the pan  with milk, cream and parmesan cheese.
Stir with a wooden spoon  until the complete melting  of the cheese, taking care to place the pot on a flame with a flame diffuser, then add salt and pepper.
As the water boils, pour in the pasta and cook al dente, then drain and put them  for a few seconds in a pan with the 4 cheese sauce  .
Arrange the pasta with 4 cheeses in the serving plates and serve immediately.

Suggestion
The pasta with 4 cheeses sauce cools, it tends to dry out quickly, so once it is ready, serve it immediately to your table.
If you prefer, you can replace or add the cheese like Fontina, Provolone, Emmentaler, Pecorino, etc. ... if you want to lighten the sauce you can replace the cream with just 50 ml of milk.

Penne ai 4 Formaggi

Italian cooking on Italy' s birthday

Pesto Sauce Day

Pesto Genovese is the official dish of the  International Day of Italian Cuisines  on Monday January 17,2011 

We have chosen to remember our recipe for a tasteful  Pesto Sauce

10 Scaloppine recipes : Pinkish Scaloppine

Today we want to suggest you a delicious recipe for scaloppine , a friend gave us this recipe last weekend :

Pinkish Scaloppine

5 slices  turkey breast 

Butter: 30 gr

flour   4 tbsp.

Milk  half  a glass 

Mascarpone 250 gr

Tomatoe puree 2  tbsp.

Extra vergin olive oil 4 tbsp

Vino rosato 1 glass 

Salt & Pepper

Pinkish scaloppine are a  delicious and light dish, fast to prepare  but with a surprising taste. 

It’s very important the meat is  of high quality .It’s possible to realize it with turkey, chicken and  veal.

Slice the breast and flour them on both sides. In  a pan let some butter melt and add some olive oil. Lay the scaloppine in the pan  and cook on both sides till they have  “got  a little bit of colour ” . 

Pour the wine in and let it evaporate. At the same  time dilute the tomato puree with  two spoons of water.

Add the tomato on top of the  scaloppini, adjust with salt and pepper. Add  the  milk   and then the mascarpone. Stir everything to let it melt perfectly. Thicken the gravy.

Serve the scaloppini  warm  with the  pinkish gravy on top.

Gnocchi alla Romana

Thinking of  the important meals  probably most of us are going to  have during  next holidays, we’d like to suggest something light but filling,  coming from the  typical Roman cooking .

1 l milk

250g ( 2 cups) semolina

100g (half  a cup) butter

2  egg yolks 

Abundant grated Parmigiano

Salt

Bring the milk to a boil, add 1/5 of the butter and 2 pinches of salt . Gradually stir in the semolina, stirring constantly to prevent lumps and keep the mixture from sticking to the pot. 

The mixture will become quite thick; continue cooking and stirring for about 20 minutes, and remove the pot from the fire.

Beat the yolks with a little more milk, and add them to the semolina, together with the cheese, solid butter, and a pinch of salt.

 Mix well and spread the mixture out onto a moistened work-surface and using a moistened spatula . Roll out a thick sheet, half an inch thick ( 1 cm.)

Let the semolina cool for 2 hours, and cut it into squares or diamonds or , using a glass, make 4cm-wide discs.

In   an ovenproof dish  make 3 or 4  layers of the discs .In between each layer and on top, sprinkle melted  butter and the Parmigiano .

Bake the gnocchi 15 minutes in a hot (400 F or 200 C) oven, until golden, and serve at once. 

 4-6 servings

Suggestion : Some recipes suggest to cook the discs in boiling water for a min. and then lay them on the oven dish.