Agretti Spaghetti - An Ode to Spring

Agretti Spaghetti with lemon and blue Toma cheese

If you have ever had the pleasure of eating agretti, barba di frate, which translates to friars beard, then I know you have probably been in search of it ever since. This is a veggie that just screams "spring" to me. It's also called saltwort, and was once highly sought after throughout Europe for it's leaves that were reduced to ashes which were then used in the process to make glass. 

Italian Agretti. barba di frate or  Salwort

This harbinger of spring has a short lived appearance in the markets and when I spy them, I make sure to bring them home. It's a funny looking vegetable that resembles a bunch of skinny succulents. The flavor of these fleshy needle like leaves are a little reminiscent of pencil thin asparagus with a subtle and slightly mineral taste. 

Lightly boiled and then slightly sautéed in olive oil and garlic before adding cooked  pasta

Most of the time I lightly boil or steam them, drizzle with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. They do need a bit of salt even though I have confused them with seaweed, as they are sometimes referred to as land seaweed. I thought they would be salty, but they are not. Their delicate flavor is almost nutty sweet and they taste best when least fiddled with.  
Most agretti and spaghetti recipes I have found call for boiling them together before saucing it all with a gorgonzola cheese sauce and maybe a light sprinkling of toasted hazelnuts or walnuts. That sounds great, but in the end I found that I preferred a light handling of the cheese,  a few cheese crumbles on top and was fresh out of nuts and found that we liked this version very much. I preferred to boil the spaghetti and agretti separately so I didn't over cook the agretti. Next time I might start the spaghetti first and then add the agretti a little while into the cooking for a one pot wonder dish, and I will definitely sprinkle a few nut pieces, or I might just make just like this again, cause to me it was just that good. 

Moncenisio Blue Cheese

Agretti and spaghetti united 

Agretti (barba di frate/ friars beard)

 Ingredients for 4 :

• 500g spaghetti 

• 400g di agretti o barba di frate

• 1 lemon, juiced and the zest from the peel  

• olive oil

• 1 clove of garlic

• salt and fresh ground pepper

• 100 g or so Blue cheese crumbles, I used a local toma called Moncenesio - ricotta salata or parmigian are other good choices

Method:

Wash the agretti thoroughly and trim the roots off from the stems.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.

Mince the garlic and have your other ingredients ready to go as it all comes together quickly at the end. 

Either cook your agretti first till desired tenderness, about 5 minutes and remove from the water and then add the spaghetti and cook till al dente.

or begin to cook your pasta adding in the agretti a little later so they cook at the same time. 

While the pasta is cooking heat the oil in a large flat sauce pan 

add the garlic and only let the garlic barely cook and then add the cooked agretti.

Cook a minute or two to coat and soften the garlic before adding the cooked spaghetti. 

Once all is coated with olive oil and thoroughly mixed, season with the lemon juice and zest. Season with the salt and pepper. 

Serve the pasta and sprinkle the pasta with blue cheese crumbles to taste on individual servings. 

Agretti spaghetti with lemon and blue cheese crumbles

Salone del Gusto / Terra Madre 2014 - The Marketplace and Dinner Dates

In my last posting I tried to give a condensed overview and explanation of what "Slow Food" is exactly, at least from my perspective. You can of course go over to their website and have a nosy around to suit yourself, of course. As it is a concept and a movement then there are not only many interpretations as to what that means, but it also means that there are many directions that this multi faceted organization could and has gone.

The first and most obvious direction was to recognize the multitude of small farmers and food producers that are, not only the backbone of food production here in Italy and worldwide as well, but are often an almost hidden part of the economy that needs and deserves to have more light shown on them.  Italy has done pretty well over the years to cultivate an awareness of traditional foods and methods of making products that were maybe once everyday products that have now become artisanal as they have been overshadowed by the enormous companies that dominate the food landscape. You can find many programs on TV that go around Italy seeking out small family farms and artisanal producers and focuses on their foods and lifestyle and community as part of travelogues here in Italy. I must say it is a tradition that I have noticed and greatly admired since I have lived here. 

"Slow Food" has built on that tradition and in 1996 they organized the first "Salone del Gusto" (roughly translated as an exhibition of taste or flavor)  in Turin "dedicated to artisanal, sustainable food and the small-scale producers that safeguard local traditions and high quality products."  This food fair has been built on the platform of an Italian and International marketplace for showcasing, sampling and purchasing what the exhibitors have brought to this biennial event. Held in the historical old Fiat factory building, called the Lingotto, it is an enormous sprawling showplace that offers an overwhelming sensory experience. The event runs from 11am to 11pm for 5 days, so you would think there would be plenty of time to take it all in, but I must warn you that there are just so many intriguing facets to this event that you will be hard pressed to make your way through the swirling sea of gustatory offerings.  

I have tried to share a small portion of the Marketplace spectacle through my collages of my photo impressions this year, so that you might get a feel for the breadth of the show. 

One of the more well known parts of the "Salone del Gusto" that takes product tasting to another level, are what are called "Dinner Dates".  These are exclusive dinners featuring special ingredients some familiar and most likely,  some not, but all of the highest quality interpreted by celebrated chefs from around the world in a variety of exclusive settings. This year there were 20 dinners over the 5 nights with limited seating and so these are highly sought after dinner dates, which sell out quickly inspire of their pricey tickets. This type of exclusivity does play to what has been an ongoing critique of "Slow Food" as being an exclusive eating club. It is a fair criticism, and one that they have tried to address through many of their ever expanding initiatives that promotes their core belief that everyone deserves "good, clean and fair food" which you can learn more about following the link. 

I personally think they have done much to counter balance this criticism, but there is still so much to do in this area and in so many directions whether it is fighting for the right to biodiversity, competing on a more level economic field where small produces can actually compete, not damage the environment doing so, and ultimately having pricing that the producers make a decent wage, whilst still being affordable to all economic incomes. Much work ahead to accomplish that goal and it will take a lot more of us banding together to make that happen. More on that in the next post. 

The two Antonias 

So back to the Dinner Date. 

I was very fortunate to accompany my friend Antonia, visiting from Florida, and enjoy the dinner date entitled "Antonia's Vision." Antonia chose this dinner based on their common name and it turned out to be a wonderful selection. The food was accessible and to me familiar and yet with interesting and artful interpretation from Antonia and her team of what looked like female chefs, when they all came out at the end to take their much deserved bows. Each of the six courses were paired with some lovely wines from the Veneto region from where Chef Antonia Klugmann hails from. She was just awarded a Michelin star to her restaurant L'Argine in Venco` (Go), which is in the Friuli, Venezia, Guilia region and all of her dishes seemed to echo the culinary tastes of these two regions with the turn of her unique touch. 

I won't go into all the details as I have added the menu with some snaps of the food to give you an idea of the dinner and do believe me that it was all quite delightful, sometimes surprising and definitely delicious.  I have been asked if I thought the dinner was worth the €90 price tag and it is something I have asked myself as well. By nature and how I was raised, I have trouble spending a lot of money on food, when I am generally thinking how many groceries it will get me, especially when I may have found the meal lacking. This meal did not disappoint, but frankly the aspect of the dinner that knocked it out of the park for me, was the people that we were seated with for the dinner. The two couples what we were randomly seated with were delightful  and interestingly enough, we had much in common. Three of us were avid bread bakers, all Slow Food members and believers. My friend Antonia's business is called The Loft 5 from Anna Marie Island in Florida. She is a tour de force with her talent and staff that goes from designing and planning your event, to catering, styling it and making sure everything goes off without a hitch.  She has teamed up with the King Family Farms and created their very successful "Table to Farm" dinners, that were featured in Southern Living Magazine. You can read about that event here. The two Antonias had much in common. 

The other two couples were charming and extremely fascinating as well. One couple were from Switzerland and both were graphic artists and interesting conversationalists as well. The other couple were from Portugal. They have a business aptly called Food, People & Design. What style and beauty in these talented hands. If that business isn't enough, they also have a farm a couple of hours out side of Lisbon where they have reclaimed some ancient olive trees that are said to be over 1,000 years old.  They work in conjunction with their neighbors and even have set up an adoption program for their trees, to help nurture and provide for these very special trees. Do go to their site and consider adopting one of their trees or purchasing some of their organic oil. I am so impressed with their vision and hard work. Go to their site Azeitona Verde here.  

Needles to say, our dining experience was lifted even higher with such lively exchanges of stories and ideas. For me that was as much of the highlight of the dinner as the food and wine. In regard to the earlier question that was posed to me, "was it worth the money?" I would have to say unequivocally in this case, yes. I only hope that everyone else who attended any of these dinners would be able to say the same.  You just have to make the most out of whatever comes your way and we enjoyed every aspect of this dinner. I'm still savoring this experience even today.

My next post on this event will be on what "Slow Food" does beyond the sensory experience. I hope you will return for that post coming up shortly.

Ravioli Gnudi- A Spring Time Delight

Ravioli gnudi

The signs of spring are everywhere, in the lengthening of the day, the snow piles slowly but surely shrinking in spite of the best efforts of mother nature to keep them topped up. I have spoken before about how we only have to go two turns down our mountain road and we find a dramatic change in the advancement of spring. We're still up there in the snow zone, but we are on the teetering edge od full on winter and full on spring. It's an interesting place to live. The primula are starting to finally poke their heads up wherever the snow has begun to retreat in earnest. The market is full of spinach and dandelion greens and soon there will be all manner of various greens gathered and foraged to perk up the taste buds from our sturdy cabbage and potato winter fare. 

Springtime beginning to arrive in Val Chisone

I had elaborate plans to share a couple of pizza recipes, but have failed to get the recipes down on paper so I will share the next best thing that I have recently made. That would be the ravioli gnudi, or nude ravioli. A peculiar name for most of us, but what it is referring to is that the spinach ricotta mixture is oftentimes what you find in many a filled pasta and this time there is no pasta. There is flour used in the mix and then later rolled in the flour to help hold it all together, but there is no firm pasta covering. The emperor has no clothes! Ok not exactly, but I think you get the drift. 

Ravioli gnudi is the name given to them by the Tuscans, from whence I think they originated, or at least became most well known from. Up here in the north, we are fond of our gnocchi and so these are really just a variation on a gnocchi for us. What ever you want to call them, we just mainly call them delicious, and please don't call me late for dinner.

These really are easy enough, but my main tip would be to make sure that you have a dough ball that will stay together. My first attempt a few years ago almost made me give up on them as I was gingerly handling them as I wanted to make sure they would be tender and fluffy. Well, what I got was a pot full of spinach ricotta water. They disintegrated in the boiling process. I salvaged them best I could, but was sorely disappointed. Next time I sacrificed light and fluffy for sturdy and durable and eventually came upon a nice middle of the road, light and sturdy dough ball that didn't mind simmering and then being sloshed around in a pan with a bit of sage butter and a light coating of marinara sauce upon occasion. The spinach is plentiful right now, so it's a great time to give these a go and let me know what you think. I have a feeling they may be something you will enjoy again and again once you get the hang of them. 

Ravioli Gnudi

about 6 servings (depending if you serve more courses)

Ingredients:

350 g (12 oz) fresh spinach, cooked in minimum of water

350g (12 oz or about 1 1/2 c) ricotta

4 T parmesan cheese, grated (or more if you like)

¼ tsp fresh ground nutmeg

3 eggs, medium, if large I would use 2 whole and 1 yolk

125 g (about 1 ¼ c) flour all purpose,

(divide into 5 T to add to the dough and the rest to roll the balls in

pinch or two salt after adding the Parmesan if needed

Method:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil while you prepare the dumplings/gnocchi/ravioli.

Once you have cooked the spinach and allowed it too cool.

Squeeze very dry and chopped medium fine.

Mix the spinach well with the ricotta.

Add the parmesan and nutmeg and a pinch of salt

Add eggs and mix well.

Sprinkle the 5 Tb of flour in, mixing lightly. Add a bit more flour if it doesn;t seem to be holding together.

It will be a soft sticky mix.

Pour the flour into a flat pan

Flour your hands

Drop teaspoons of dough int the flour, roll around and then lightly make the balls coating so they hold together when you simmer them. I tried for thumbnail sized but they were a bit bigger than that.

You don't want them too large so they cook easily.

Once you have all the balls prepared drop them into, a couple at a time, the rolling boil. You may need to do two batches depending on the size of your pot. They will sink like gnocchi and the boil will stop. Gently stir them and bring them back toa boil, but lower the heat as soon they they start to boil, so they simmer gently and don't boil so hard that they fall apart. It should take about 5-6 minutes, depending on the size of the balls.

Once done I put them in a large pan with a little melted butter and fresh sage and gently shook the pan, to coat. Sprinkled parmesan on top and served them with a side of marinara sauce.

I made 2/3  of the batch as I was a fraud we would eat them all in one sitting. We did!

Baci di Dama - Piedmont's Lady Kisses cookies

I don't know about you, but I have been in a very low key mode this year during this holiday season. There is still so much to catch up on after a satisfyingly busy season and a more than quiet Christmas period, that I find it easy to not go too over board on making holiday foods. However saying that, I do like to make a few specialties and try some new ideas and recipes or it just wouldn't feel like the holidays. So if you are looking for a special addition to your holiday cookie plater, look no further. Baci  di Dama, which translates as Lady kisses, are an ancient traditional favorite biscotti in these parts. They are not necessarily a specially cookie made just for the holidays, as there isn't really that sort of tradition here, but are enjoyed year round. They cookies are delicately flavored with one of Piedmont's most prized nuts, the ever so enticing hazelnut, made in to small balls, baked to crumbly perfection and when cooled sandwiched together with melted dark chocolate. You can't really go wrong there in my humble opinion. I think you will find these little "kisses" will become a star in your holiday cookie repertoire. The sparse ingredients, in which hazelnut plays the staring role, belie their delicious nature. Whenever I go to Colorado, I find hazelnut or filberts as the cultivated version are called in the states, are one of the most elusive ingredients to find in the wild west. If you are blessed to have access to them, do try these, as they look lovely mixed in any cookie platter or as a star in their own right. I know every time I have opened the cookie tin when someone has stopped by for coffee or if my mother in law is over, the little sigh of recognition and anticipation is more than worth the effort. 

This recipe which came from a friend of Fabrizio's, is in grams, which I find so much more accurate than the much faster scoop method of cups and spoons, but I have attempted to put it into ounces when I can and close enough cup or tablespoon format. It will probably need a little adjusting to your technique, but worth it.

Baci di Dama - Lady Kisses

Ingredients:

180 g ((1 cup / 6.3 oz)) sugar (I will use 160 g or 3/4 cup next time as I felt these were too sweet)
150 g (1 1/4 cup /5.3 ox) all purpose or plain flour 80 g (5.5 Tb or 2.8oz) butter, room temperature 100 g (3.5 oz) hazelnuts or filberts, lightly toasted, just barely any color
100 g(3.5-4 oz) dark chocolate, melted

Method:

Lightly toast your whole or pieces of hazelnuts in a medium hot oven or on top of the stove in a pan, shaking frequently so toast evenly. Set aside till cool. 

In a food processor ( I used my attachment for my immersion blender), add the sugar and the nuts and blend till evenly ground to a fine sandy texture.

Beat your room temperature butter by hand or with a mixer till smooth and light (yes, I did it by hand, with a flat whisk).

Mix the sugar and nut mixture into the butter and when thoroughly blended, add the flour. 

Blend well to incorporate the flour, but don''t over handle.

Shape your dough into small nickel sized /1 inch balls and place on baking sheets. Give the a slight press downward to help them stay in place and not roll around when moving the tray, I set my trays in the cold for a little while to make sure the dough was firmed up before baking.  

**The cookies in the photo were just a little too large, so next time this should yield a few more cookies. I got 25 sandwiched cookies this time but can see it increasing next time.

Bake the cookies in a 320*F / 160*C oven till just beginning to get color. Be careful not to over bake them. The recipe called for 15-20 minutes in a conventional oven. I have a convection oven and that was way too long, as it dried them out and made them hard. Certainly not inedible, but better when they crumble.

Once the cookies have cooled you can pipe or spread an abundant amount of melted chocolate on flattened cookie half and place another flatten half together with it. Once the chocolate has cooled, it will firm up and hold the cookies together. I know some people like to use Nutella or milk chocolate , but it doesn't always firm up as nicely as dark chocolate.

Enjoy them with a little cup of espresso and think of us in the Alps of Piemonte.

Bagna Cauda Season

It is well and truly full on autumn now. If I really admitted it I would say we are well and truly on our way to early winter. Sigh. I love all of the seasons, but I always am reluctant to see summer and autumn leave us as the color of those seasons slip away for another year.
 I took this photo on Sunday November 2, Oggisanti, All Saints day. It was quite stunning and lasted a  long time. One of our friends across the valley from us said he saw a double that day too. Must have been a blessing from all of our loved ones.

Anyway, the wind kicked up good and fierce and blew all the color away. Double sigh. What to do?
Well, one of the perfect antidotes for Piemontese mountain people to chase the blues away, is to make Bagna Cauda. This means hot sauce in local dialect. If it doesn't chase away your blues it will certainly scare away any errant vampires that might still be lurking around, as it has a pretty healthy dose of  garlic, and anchovies too for that matter. I know a lot of people don't like anchovies, and I didn't either growing up, as I never really had it well presented. Once I came to Italy, I have become rather fond of the little darling fishes. I've always been intrigued as to why they are such a big part of mountainous and land locked Piemonte. One story goes that  back in the day when salt was  in high demand and extremely expensive because it was such a precious mineral, it was common to buy salted fish to have a little change ones diet and have some salt as well. When the main diet in the mountains consisted of what you could grow, you ate a lot of dishes with potatoes, cabbage, onions, leeks, eggs and cheese, repeat.  Add salty anchovies and your routine diet is lifted to the next level or two.  It helps too that they will sit in the pantry for quite a while till needed and it was a great way to obtain expensive salt as a more reasonably priced staple.
Anyway, we have been enjoying a round or two of this local specialty with friends and guests lately. It's kind of festive to have a large platter of all sorts of seasonal vegetables, cooked and raw, laid out ready to be dipped or drizzled. It's gone over well, so I though I might as well share the local valley version here.
Enjoy with a friend or two while chasing those harbingers of the blues far, far away. We certainly have been.

Bagna Cauda Val Chisone

Enough for 6

Ingredients

2 T olive oil (27 g)

6 anchovies, salted variety preferred, (12 fillets)

6 garlic cloves medium (crushed)

7 T cream (100 g) (optional )

2 T plain flour (12 g)

½ cup milk (118g)

Method

• Wash the anchovies removing salt and scales.
• In a small to medium saucepan, add olive oil, cleaned anchovies and crushed garlic.
• Cook on low heat until the anchovies have melted and all is combined.
• Add the cream, whisk together.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together milk and flour.
• Whisk in the flour mixture with the anchovy mix, in a steady stream.
• Bring to a boil and gently simmer until the mix begins to thicken, being careful not to boil hard.
• Remove from heat and keep warm until you are ready to serve.

Serve with grilled eggplant/aubergine, peppers, and zucchini.

• Prepare the peppers by roasting in the oven or on the stovetop burner.
• Peel the skin off and cut into serving pieces.
• Peel the eggplant/aubergine and slice into lengths or rounds, medium thickness.
• Slice the unpeeled zucchini into long slices, medium thickness.
• Lightly salt the vegetables drizzle with a bit of olive oil
• Grill on a stovetop pan or an electric or outdoor grill.

To serve

Arrange prepared vegetables on a serving dish and drizzle warm bagna cauda sauce on top.

Cooks Suggestions:

Other vegetables that can be included, boiled sliced potato, steamed cauliflower, baked onions, Cooked beets, raw cabbage, cardoons, fennel, turnips, radicchio, and Jerusalem artichoke.

A little history

Traditionally bagna cauda dipping sauce, is garlic, anchovies, and olive oil only, served in a small ceramic pot heated by a votive candle, accompanied by with a great variety of vegetables. This version is a more luxurious variety, popular in our valley. It was a specialty of Fabrizio’s family’s restaurant, “La Baita” , and was served as an occasional special evening. It was the main and only offering, as was the tradition, for those special “Bagna Cauda” evenings.

Gianduia Cheesecake, a Springtime Delight

Remodeling and gardening projects around our house

Springtime is here, but it seems to have taken it's good sweet time about it this year. It's been unseasonable cold for awhile. Now the weather seems to frolic back and forth between warmth and bursting into blossoms and greenery and a shivering standing on one foot waiting for the warmth to return.  One minute we are rushing to the garden to lay out  new beds and the next rushing back indoors to keep moving on the remodeling of the downstairs space. It is a never ending dance around the building and property as times and circumstances change and we change along with the circumstances and times. Fabrizio has been steadily working on a giant remodel of our family garden trying to keep our neighborhood cinghale (wild boar) and Olympic leaping food crazed caprioli (small roe deer) from having their way with our much missed vegetable patch. When the rain suspends that action he then makes his way through the myriad projects of remodeling our building that houses our B&B and cooking classes that has been in great need of attention. It is never a dull minute. I am banished to keeping the grub going to keep him and our various helpers fueled up to keep the projects moving.  We're making progress and hopefully the weather will pass into a distant memory soon as the guests arrive and the season of visitors gets fully underway. 

In the meantime one of my ways to keep up our spirits is to keep making treats to keep everyone sweet. 

This light and simple northern Italian style cheesecake features the blessed union of chocolate and hazelnuts that Piedmont is so famous for. Hazelnuts are plentiful here, but if you find them difficult to source, this recipe would work well with almonds as well. I love dark chocolate and think it adds the punch that is needed, but of course you can use milk chocolate if you prefer. Whatever changes you make to make this dessert your own, it won't matter, because I think you will find you'll want to make this dessert over and over. Just ask your taste testers, I'm sure they will oblige.

Gianduia cheesecake

Gianduia/Gianduja Cheesecake 
Servings 8 generous

Ingredients:


50g/ 2 oz/1/4 c  butter
150g /1 c  dry cookies, your choice, graham, ginger, petit buerre, vanilla wafers, 
1 T / 12 g  brown sugar

200g /  7oz / 1 c  hazelnuts, whole or pieces. toasted

200-300g / 10 oz  chocolate bittersweet I like mine a bit more chocolatey
30ml rum, brandy, hazelnut or chocolate liquor I used a 1 T brandy and 2 T Hazelnut

250g / 8-9 oz mascarpone cheese
200g / 7-8oz  heavy cream for filling a little more to whip for garnish. 

Method:

Toast the hazelnuts lightly in the oven or on top of the stove in a cast iron pan in a single layer till the nuts are lightly golden and fragrant. If using the on top of the stove method. make sure to shake the pan frequently and don't wander off as the nuts can burn more easily and you need to pay attention to them.

Set aside to cool. When cool, either chop fine with a knife or pulse them in a food processor till they are fine but not a paste. Do make sure they are completely cooled so that when you chop them up they don't turn into a paste. Divide the nuts into two portions. Set aside.

Melt the butter. Crush the cookies into coarse crumbs. Mix the melted butter with the dry cookies crumbs.

Presse the mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a buttered 25cm or 10" pan with removable collar.  Chill the pan with the crumbs while preparing the other ingredients. 

Place the chocolate in a double boiler with the heavy cream and heat with out stirring, until the chocolate is melted. while still warm, gently whisk the cream and chocolate together, add the brandy or other alcohol and mix until smooth. Add half of the chopped hazelnuts to the chocolate mixture.

Cool until the mixture is no longer hot to the touch.  Whisk in the mascarpone cheese lightly until all is mixed and smooth, but no more than necessary to mix. Taste and add a little more alcohol if desired. Pour the mixture into the chilled crumb crust and smooth flat. Sprinkle the top with the other half of the crushed hazelnuts covering as much as possible. Chill for at least 3 hours and over night is even better. 

To serve, remove from pan and place on platter. Garnish the top with 8 rosettes of whipped cream and sprinkle chocolate shavings on the cream. I served mine for Easter, so I used small chocolate Easter eggs as garnish.  You could serve with a chocolate, fruit or carmel sauce if desired. 

Easter table with Gianduia cheesecake primroses and Easter eggs in hankies 

Back in the U.S. of A and Bagnèt Verde

As you can see, I have been away for awhile from my poor little neglected blog. I have been visiting in the US trying to see everyone and everything that I can as my visits are few and far between. As much as I love living in Italy and all of my friends and family here, I do miss my American family and friends. With my hectic schedule attempting to take it all in, I didn't seem to find any time to share here on my Bella Baita View, so today I will remedy  that. 

Snowshoeing in Frisco and Skiing Copper Mt Colorado

I have three brothers and their children scattered throughout the states and I was blessed in that I was able to see most of them. Along the way I was also able to spend some time in Summit County in Colorado, which I still consider my last home in America. Fortunately for me, I still have a lot of friends making the visit all the more sweet. I got to do a little snowshoeing and skiing as well as chatting and sipping beverages with friends. The world around,  we all do enjoy our "catching up" over food and drinks. This trip was no exception. My friends Mary and John, were kind enough to open their home to my friends for a potluck one night so we could all do a bit of catching up while we sampled each others food and drink.

Friends at the potluck

Since my hosts were working the day of the party I took the opportunity to do a bit of cooking, using seasonal vegetables and making some dishes vegetarian and vegan with some traces of  Piemontese influence in the various dishes. To provide a protein or meat dish that I could make ahead so as not to be busy when everyone arrived, I braised a beef roast and served up the room temperature slices with a classic Piemontese sauce, salsa verde. I also made green cabbage rolls filled  with spicy sausage and covered with a marinara sauce. Vegan cabbage rolls made with Chinese cabbage, as it was more similar to Savoy cabbage, which I couldn't get, and filled with mixed quinoa, tempeh bacon and a sweet fruit and vegetable relish begging to be used up in the fridge. I grilled some eggplant slices and filled the with firm tofu that had been sautéed up with garlic and 2 colors of kale  and covered with the marinara sauce. I added some of my home made focaccia to go along with a great selection of Wisconsin cheeses, many made by small producers from the Devils Head area, thanks to a great gift from my Wisconsin friend Marcia. We had met up in Chicago for lunch and she gifted me with a fabulous treasure trove of artisan cheeses. Everyone loved them. There were a lot of great dishes brought along to share but I got so busy chatting I forgot to take photos, so you'll just have to believe me. 

Potluck buffet

A great dish for Easter lunch or brunch, plated or on a buffet anytime, is the braised beef slices warm or room temperature, served with the salsa verde. This green sauce is a garlicky punch that usually finds itself served alongside the beloved bollito misto, or mixed boiled meats that is so popular here in Piiedmont and other parts of Italy. Often when we enjoy Easter lunch with my in-laws, the evening meal, after the traditional "passeggiata", or walk in the neighborhood after groaning through lunch, we have a simple bollito misto accompanied with both green and re sauce.  So here is my version based on my mother in-laws, which can vary depending on taste or what's on hand. It's great on any type of simple meat that adds just the right amount of zip and brightens up the plate. Adjust the amounts to suit your palette to make it your own.

 Bagnèt Verde Piemontese or 

Green Sauce or "Bath" Piemontese Sauce

1-2 large fistfuls of parsley, washed and dried

2 garlic cloves

2 whole or 4 fillets of anchovies in salt, cleaned  (in oil if you can't find those in the salt)*

1 T capers in salt, washed to remove the salt

1 hard boiled egg **

2 c (bicchieri) olive oil

1/2 c (bicchiere) vinegar, white wine, red wine or apple cider all are nice 

salt if needed to taste

The easy way would be to buzz it all up in the food processor, but my mother in-law would not approve as it would not have enough texture. 

I hand chop all the various ingredients fine or sometimes I use a mezzaluna (curved knife with two handles) to get a uniform texture. 

I place all of the chopped ingredients in a bowl and mix the oil and vinegar in to taste adjusting any of the ingredient quantities if I feel it needs more or the flavor isn;t well blended.

Serve at room temperature. This will keep a few days in the refrigerator also, so you could make it ahead of time. 

Spoon liberally over your cooked meats and enjoy. 

** Some make the sauce with the egg yolk only and use a slice of soft white bread chopped uo to thicken. Our family is more practical and we add the whole boiled egg, chopped fine.

* Anchovies and capers that are preserved have more flavor once the salt is removed than the anchovies in oil or capers in vinegar. You may need to adjust the seasoning depending on which variety of these two ingredients you use. Do not add any salt without tasting first and you might want less vinegar if your capers were preserved in vinegar. 

World Nutella Day 2013 - Nutella Frolla Bites

Way Hey, It's World Nutella Day

Mini muffin type  sweet pastry cups,  filled with Nutella goodness inside

What can I say? I live in the Italian province of Piedmont, where Nutella was born, so I can not resist joining the World Nutella Day celebrations that started a few years back. This event was conceived and spearheaded by Sara Rosso, who writes the Ms Adventures in Italy blog, amongst all the many other hats she wears and Michelle Fabio who too wears many hats of which the blog Bleeding Espresso  is one of her creations. You can learn more about World Nutella Day here.  I have a few recipe offerings from past  years that you might want to check out after you try this one.I'll put some links at the botton of the post. I have to say that we are all rather taken with this one and think it will make it into the rotation a little more frequently that maybe it should. It's basically a cookie cup filled with Nutella creaminess. They keep well in a cookie tin and served with a little caramel or chocolate sauce, they can double as an easy dessert in a pinch. I find it a delight alongside an afternoon espresso. Mmm, Mmmmm. Give it a whirl and see what you think.

Two crusted pasta Frolla bites. I ran out of tops for the last one, but it tasted just fine.

Nutella Frolla Bites

Yields: 24 double crusted mini bites

Oven Temperature: 350*F / 180*C

Pasta Frolla dough:

2 c (280g) plain flour
1 tsp (4g) baking powder (about half a package that you find here in Italy)
1/2 c (100g) sugar
Zest of 1 orange or lemon, I like to use a rasp micorplane, just try not to get any of the white pith
Pinch salt
4 ounces (110g) unsalted butter, chilled but not straight out of the refrigerator, cut into small pieces

1 large egg
1 large egg yolk

Nutella Filling

Method:
Measure your flour into a largish bowl (Italians often make this directly on the wood work table)
Add the baking powder, salt, citrus zest, and sugar. Lightly stir to mix all. Drop the cold butter into the flour mixture. Either cut the butter into the mixture or use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour quickly to get small clumps and it starts to form a dough. Work quickly so the butter doesn't get too soft. Make a shallow well and add the whole egg and yolk. Mix in a circular motion until the dough begins to come together. Form in to a cohesive dough, Cover and refrigerate at least an hour. You can leave it overnight if you prefer.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/4'/ 1cm thickness. 
Make the bases larger than the diameter of the mini muffin tin. I used a round cookie cutter to make the bases slightly larger bottoms than the tops if you have a couple of sizes. I couldn't find my set of cutters, so the tops were the same size as the bases and bigger than needed. Place the pastry disc into a greased and floured (or a no stick) mini muffin pan, or petit four cups. Press the dough in lightly. Place a small dollop of Nutella into the depression. Cover the filled bases. I either tucked the top into the depression of the filled base or pinch the dough around the edges. I didn't seal it and used a light touch. They seemed to self seal when baked. 
Bake the bites at 350*F / 180*C for about 15-20 minutes till they start to get some color, but be careful not to over bake.
Cool slightly before removing from the muffin tins, to cool completely.
Delicious warm or cold.
I think you'll find they disappear quickly.

Viva la Nutella!

Inside the folla bites

My other World  Nutella Day recipes:

- Nutella Crumb Crostata

- Nutella Cornetti/ Hazelnut cream filled pastry horns 

- Banana Nutella Cakelettes/Tortino di Banana e Nutella

- Bugie al Carnevale / Nutella filled Fried Dough

Fresh Orange Tart- adding a bit of sun to winter

Enrico,  our favorite citrus vendor

This winter the snow has been slow to arrive after a very early appearance around the 26 October when all was green and the leaves were still on the trees. Now that the white blanket of snow has covered up the unrelenting brown of the winter, it's time for a splash of color. My favorite winter remedy would be the luscious citrus fruits from the south of Italy. Our Sicilian citrus farmers send up some of the tastiest oranges, clementines, and mandarins found anywhere. I always look forward to late autumn when the road side trucks laden with oranges begin to reappear randomly and in regular pull off points where they beckon you to buy a case or two of sunshine and sweetness. Drawn to pull over and inspect the vendors goods, unable to resist the siren song of oranges, we come away with a case of oranges and mandarins. Orange indulgences to follow. We've peeled and juiced these globes of desire until I finally begin to use them up in other ways that requires a tad more effort. 

Tarocco or "Tarot" oranges which are called red oranges here never called blood oranges

I made this orange tart to try and replicate it after having enjoyed a fabulous slice at Caffe' Roma, which is one of our favorite bars in Pinerolo,  The cafe is located at the corner of Piazza Roma, where the daily Farmers market usually draws us in on our market visits. Caffe'Roma is owned and run by 3 brothers, of which 2 work in the  bar and one brother, Francesco, runs the kitchen. I frequently run into the chef shopping at this market and that always puts a smile on my face. I actually see a number of local restauranteurs shopping here and that is so encouraging. Caffe' Roma is a popular lunch time choice, as they serve deliciously genuine and reasonably priced food. You can choose to dine inside or al fresco at one of the curbside tables. I love Franceso's orange tart as it is not one that I have made or enjoyed much before coming to live in Italy. His selection of desserts are always enticing. He has shared his talent, teaching workshops at the restaurant, and at Frossasco's Mueso del Gusto. Unfortunately, I have not been able to attend, so I am left to my own resources. My recipe for this tart is pretty simple as he told it should be. Perhaps not the perfection that I found in his balance of flavor and technique, but tasty and worth making when you want to bring a little sunshine into your day.

Crostat di Arance---Fresh Orange Tart

Fresh Orange Tart or Crostata di Arance

Yields: 1-10 inch or 1-25 cm  crust
Oven Temp 200*C /375*F to blind bake the crust then later to 190*C / 350*F

Pasta Frolla

Ingredients:

200g flour, plain flour or Italian 00 (1 1/2 c / 7 oz flour**) 
125g butter, chilled, but not soft or too hard (1/2c / 4.4 oz)

75 g sugar, granulated or castor (6 T / 2.6 oz)

2 egg yolks

Add sugar to the flour and mix.

Cut the butter into smallish pieces and rub the butter into the flour with your fingers.

Make a well in the middle of the dough.

Add the egg yolks, and stir or mix well with your hands till it comes together in a soft dough.

Knead lightly and briefly to get a smooth dough, being careful not to work the dough too much

Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, as it makes it easier to handle.

Roll out on floured surface or between lightly floured parchment paper for ease.

**Cooks notes: I have found the dough might require more flour as weight to volume flour conversions can vary greatly. Add a little flour at a time if you think the dough is too sticky to get it to be a manageable dough and if necessary, be generous with the flour when rolling the dough out.

For the filling:

Orange peel (organic is best) 

1/2 c sugar 

1/2 c  water

500g oranges slices, peeled  (a little over a pound of oranges, after peeled, maybe 4)

Apricot preserves or Orange marmalade,  a goodly amount as needed for covering the crust and glazing the top,

Brandy or rum

Directions:

Mix up the pasta frolla and refrigerate.

While waiting for the dough to chill, prepare your filling.

Wash the whole oranges and wipe dry.

Before removing the peel from the orange, I either zest or use a channel knife to remove the orange peel zest or strips before actually removing it from the orange itself. 

If you hve neither tool, remove the peel form the oranges, making sure to remove the white pith from the orange. If the white pith is too plentiful scrape some off with a small paring knife. 

Julienne (cutting the peel into thin slivers) the peel.

 In a small sauce pan add the water and sugar and heat to boil. 

When the sugar is dissolved add some or all of the peel. You might need to increase the amount of equal parts of sugar/ water if you have a lot of peels. 

Simmer the peels in the sugar water till softened and translucent. Remove from the syrup and lay flat on a plate or waxed paper when cooled to dry slightly. 

Set aside.

Slice your peeled oranges into rounds and set aside also.

Roll your pastry out to fit a 10" or 25 cm removable bottom tart tin.

Place your pasta frolla in the pan and trim as needed.

Prick the bottom of the pastry generously with a fork.

Line the pastry with baking paper and weigh down with beans or another pan that fits inside. 

Blind bake at 200* C / 375*F for about 20-25 minutes, removing the pan partway though the baking so the middle bakes more thoroughly. With beans or weights, i would bake with them on top the whole time. 

Cool slightly.

Mix your preferred preserves with a few drop of brandy or rum to thin slightly. Warm up on the stove top to make it easier to spread. 

Cover the bottom with a thinnish layer of preserves. I used marmalade as I have quite a bit on hand that I make. 

Now cover the bottom with your jam and crust with the orange slices in a decorative circle, slightly overlapping the edges, till all is covered.

Lower the temperature of your oven to 190*C/350*F

Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes to cook through. 

Thin more marmalade with liquor to make a thin glaze and light glaze the whole tart while warm. Let cool at least 15 minutes before trying to cut it. It will be hard to resist the urge to devour it right out of the oven, but do wait or the crust will crumble. 

Great served at room temperature and is just as tasty the next day or so. 

Let the sun shine through!