Valdesian (Waldensen) Liberation Day, February 17

 

This is a special day for our valley, Chisone, Germanasca and Torre Pellice, as it is home to about 70% of all Protestants in all of Italy, and the spiritual home of the first religious groups to break away from the Catholic church and were persecuted for it, for many long years, centuries actually. 

Prepared  Bonfire ready to light

We can hear the beating of the drums from down in the valley, as they prepare to march in traditional costume to meet their neighbors in the next village and  worship together, afterwards they will eat and drink a few celebratory dishes and generally enjoy the day with frineds and family.

Last night there should have been bonfires recreating the proclamation, granting them citizenship, in 1848, to finally be able to vote and practice their religion out in the open without fear of persecution. It was a long time coming.  Our valleys are known as the Valedesian valleys, from being followers of Waldo of Lyons, he is buried in Torre Pellice and  as they are a bit remote and tucked up into a large expanse of mountainous region that is scarely populated. It may seem inhospitable to some, but it is a beautiful part of the alps and has afforded a life to many in a sometimes harsh enviroment, but one where it's easy to feel close to the heavens and yet grounded here to a land that yields a modest living.  It's a day to celebrate and be thankful for what we have and we are grateful. 

I have a couple of other post about this celebration if you would like a bit more information a pictures click here or a traditional recipe of filled cabbage packets in a broth recipe, click here.

Have a Chocolate Heart today!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you out there.

It's a day to enjoy chocolate as far as I'm concerned and that can't be bad. I must say that I started with a piece of toast this morning with a slathering of Nutella on just to kick the day of on a celebratory note. I made this cookie a ways back, but love the photo so I decided to trot it out, but alas when I tried to open my recipe in my files, it keeps telling me it is either corrupt or isn't supported. Computers are so great when they work. Unfortunately, I can't find a hard copy of it any where in my miles of recipe files and scraps of scribbled stacks of recipes and ideas anywhere, so I'll just give you an Alice Medrich recipe that I based my recipe on. I had the great pleasure of taking a cooking class from her years ago down in Boulder, when I was still up in the high country of Colorado. She was a delightful teacher and it was great to not only sample all of her chocolate decadence, but to listen to her stories and see her in action. OK, yes these are not traditional Italian cookies, but they are very tasty.  I used a cookie press to make the star on each of the cookies before popping them into the oven.

Mexican Chocolate Cookies

Recipe courtesy of Alice Medrich 

• Prep Time: 1 hr 30 min

• Yield:  40 to 45 cookies
  

• Times: Prep1 hr 30 min 
  

  Inactive Prep--Cook--Total:1 hr 30 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch Process cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons sweet butter, slightly softened
• 3 tablespoons stick margarine, I used all butter, which will make them crispier
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Generous pinch of ground black pepper (I was very generous with both peppers)
• Generous pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg white

Directions

Combine the flour, cocoa, soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix thoroughly with a whisk. Set aside. Combine the sugars in a small bowl and mix well with fingers pressing out any lumps. (Process in a food processor if lumps are stubborn).

In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter and margarine until creamy. Add sugar mixture, cinnamon, peppers, and vanilla. Beat on high speed for about one minute. Beat in egg white. Stop the mixer. Add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until incorporated. Gather the dough together with your hands and form it into a neat 9 to 10-inch log. Wrap in waxed paper. Fold or twist ends of paper without pinching or flatting the log. Chill at least 45 minutes, or until needed.

Place oven racks in the upper and lower third of the oven preheat to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Use a sharp knife to slice rounds of chilled dough a scant 1/4-inch thick. 

Place 1-inch apart on prepared baking sheets. 

Bake 12 to 14 minutes. Rotate baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through. Cookies will puff and crackle on top, and then begin to settle down slightly when done. Use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Allow cookies to cool completely before storing or stacking. Store in an airtight container up to two weeks, or freeze up to 2 months. 

Here are a couple of pictures of us on Valentine's Day in years past.

 

We were awarded gold medals by our Dutch guests after returning from one of their many nights of attending the Speed Skating competition in Torino in 2006. They had friends competing and well you know how the whole of Holland is just mad about skating! 

Valentine's Day, 2007 

 

We took a lot of people by surprise when we went skiing on a powder day to Loveland ski area and got married along with 60 other couples, some who were renewing their vows, in what was a very cold and yet very emotional ceremony on top of Loveland Pass, Colorado. We celebrate 9 years together this May, but just got around to officially getting married 3 years ago.

Who knows what lies in store for future Valentine's days. I'm sure it will be fun. Today we're just taking it low key and happy to be healthy and together. Can't ask for much more. 

Happy Valentines Day 2010!

Winter Olympics 2006- Vancouver 2010

 

Passion still lives here 4 years on. 

Today the world's attention turns to Vancouver and their Winter Olympic games, as well it should, but naturally for us the memory of one of the best two weeks, I mean actually more like a month when you add in the Paralympics, which were a lot of fun also, for our valley and  us, turns back in retrospect.

  

The flame has come and gone on to Vancouver 2010

But here are a few images of our 2006 ones 

from our Val Chisone and Val Susa

and of course, Torino

 

Sestriere, Men and Women's Downhill

  

Pragelato Ski Jump

 

Nordic 

Free style

Skelton

Hockey

Speed Skating

The winners 

and the celebrating

And what would the games be with out the fans and innkeepers!

Thanks for the wonderful memories

and

Forza Vancouver 2010

And Forza Azzurri!!!

 

The various photos are courtesy of Phil Huff, Albert Pater, Willy Coyote and myself, as well as Vancouver's logo. If you want more photos I have a long version photo album of the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics, where the photos are contributed by the many people we met and some that stayed with us during the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics on Picassa here.

Nutella Cornetti for World Nutella Day 2010

It's that time of the year again.
Which one you might ask?

 World Nutella Day 

(of course, silly)

Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso 

solemnly declared Friday, February 5th “World Nutella Day 2010″ 

 A day to celebrate and get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella.

Heck, why not?

We live in the region of Piedmont, where Nutella was born, (over in Alba), so we take our nutella consumption very seriously. We also love to sample all the other home grown varieties that you'll find through out our area, made by local chocolatiers. Ferrero aren't the only ones making a tasty chocolate hazelnut confection. They may have been first and it may be good, but it's worth trying a few for comparison. We know a few places to try do some serious tasting and research....

If stay with us at Bella Baita for a few days, you are more than likely to come across these little crescents on the breakfast table. This nutella filled pastry strikes a delicious balance of not too flaky and a slight chewy texture after the initial crispy bite. They are a perrenial favorite around our house and make an appearance regularly along with our home made apricot preserves tucked inside some too, just in case, gasp, someone might not like nutella.

Nutella filled Cornetti
based on a recipe by Anna Moroni
of "La Prova del Cuoco" fame, an Italian cooking show
(for 12 small cornetti)

Ingredients for the dough:

• 125 g butter (8.7 TB/ 4.4 oz)*
• 125 g yogurt (1/2c)*
• 1 T sugar 
• 250-300 g flour (2 1/2-3 c)*
• 2 tsp baking powder
•  pinch salt

*I haven't actually made these with the American measurements and have only looked up the conversions on line to convert the amounts, so proced with caution. I find that conversions for the weight of flour is wildly variable, so if you  have a metric scale, I would reccomend weighing everything at least the first time. I will try and update this in the future to secure American measurements. so stay tuned.

The filling:
Nutella 
or anything that strikes your fancy
marmalade/ fruit preserves
or ricotta or cream(sweetened with 1 Tbsp sugar)
with mini chocolate chips or
nuts with cinnamon and other spices


Pre-heat the oven at 200C (400F)
Melt the butter
Add the yogurt  and butter along with the sugar and  blend well
Add  the flour, pinch of salt, and baking powder and gingerly make the dough.
Try not to handle to much, but do combine all thoroughly. I find that at 250g it is quite sticky, so I add the other 50g more or less around the edges of the bowl to make the dough more manageable without losing any tenderness.
Split the dough into 2 pieces and cover with a towel or plastic shower cap
Let rest for 20 minutes or in the refrigerator if it is really warm
Roll one ball out into a circle about 12cm or so (6-7" across)
Cut into 6 slices with three cuts across the circle(triangle shape).
Put a generous dollop of Nutella on each slice  at the wide end of the dough
Roll it to make a little "cornetto" (which in Italian means "small horn" for the shape) or crescent
Repeat with the other dough ball.
(I have also refrigerated the second dough ball over night and had good results the next day as well)
Place on baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or till golden brown
Let them cool down and then sprinkle with icing/powdered sugar or cocao powder
Watch them disappear.

Tomino di Talucco

 

Recently, we went to visit some local cheese makers in Val Lemina, the small valley directly up and over the hill behind Grandubbione, the hamlet at the end of our road.  Valeria and Mauro Gaido very kindly let us join them during their daily ritual of making a soft, ricotta style cheese, called Tomino, a local speciality and favorite.  Tomino can be all cows milk or a combination of cows and goat. 

This day they had about liters of milk from 15 cows and 45 goats. After bringing the milk t a boil the added their coagulating ingredient, allowed to set for the curds and whey to separate. Then they drain off as much whey as they can, which gets fed to the pigs, before dipping up the curds and dispersing then in to their containers to drain in. At one time they used terra cotta pots, but now, by law, those are no longer used. Pity, as I imagine there was something lost with that change.

Tomino is a mild, fresh cheese eaten simply as is, or as an accompainment to polenta, drizzled with hot pepper oil or a few grinds of black pepper on top.  After a few days as the water drains out and the cheese becomes more compact they will then be rolled in black or red pepper and left to dry out, getting a stronger flavor as it ages and in some cases, a wayyyyyy strong flavor. 

I use it as I would ricotta and it becomes a filler for pasta as well as one of my favorite dishes which is as an addition to a rustic torta, often made with spinach. I made the torta with some of this batch of Tomino with a seeded spelt crust and cima di rapa greens along with the tomini to make an outstanding, flavorful torte. Unfortunately, we were too greedily hungry to wait in order to get a photo. Guess I'll just have to make it again, so I can post a recipe for it. In the mean time, you can use my recipe for a spinach ricotta tart to tide you over, as it really is a wonderfully sastifying meal this time of year.

I tried to learn how to use my imovie function on my computer and so this post is much later in coming than expected as learning a new program always takes more time than I think it will. Hope you enjoy this journey into a cheese makers profession.