Fennel Flan or Sformato di Finocchi with a Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

This part of the world is crazy about  vegetable flans. If you've never had one I recommend trying one some time soon.They are easy and make a wonderful change of vegetable or eggy type offering. It makes a light luncheon course or a first course addition to a multi course meal. This time of year the local favorite is a pepper flan usually with a bagna cauda sauce to go along for a bit of a flavor punch up. I like that one quite a lot, but as there are so many people out there that tend to have an aversion to anchovies, I decided to make the pepper into the sauce to go along with the delicately flavored fennel variety. Piedmont is famous for their peppers, so I make sure to indulge. I think the peppers and fennel worked well together and seemed to be a big hit with some recent friends that came to  dinner. Vibrant red, orage and yellow peppers are everywhere at the moment, so it's hard to resist using them as much as possible. The roasted red pepper sauce made for a colorful contrast to the white flan. This particular flan calls for a thin béchamel sauce. I added a few slabs of local seirass cheese to add a bit of interest as it holds its shape when cooked. It is rather like a ricotta salata, but not quite as firm. Flans here generally tend to be smooth through and through, but my preference is for a bit of texture, so I blend up part of the vegetables and leave some small chunky bits so you also have a better idea of what you are eating. The flan is still smooth and silky, but make the adjustments to your taste.
Sformato is a large dish that can be cooked in a souffle or ring mold. Sformatini are individual servings that can be made in muffin cups. We have aluminum baking cups here perfect for a nice presentation on your plate.
I usually roast my peppers first while I am preparing everything else. I serve the pepper sauce at room temperature and the flan piping hot, but of course, you can serve it as you like as it is delicious when the flan and sauce are at room temperature or piping hot.

Fennel Flan

or Sformatini di Finocchi (or Sformato)

Ingredients

For the béchamel:

1 1/2 cups whole milk

40 g  /3 Tb butter, unsalted

20 g / 3 Tb flour

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg

For the Fennel filling:

2-4 bulbs (about 1 kg / 2 pounds) outer fronds removed, inner part diced

2 large eggs

1 cup freshly grated cheese

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup fine bread crumbs

Instructions:

Make the béchamel:

Melt butter a heavy medium saucepan

Add the flour, whisk together and sauté for a few minutes.

Whisk in the milk, bring to a boil and simmer till thick, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat, set aside.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

In a medium saucepan, cover the fennel with enough water just to cover and a big pinch of salt.

Cook, covered until fennel is tender, about 20 minutes; then drain, reserving some of the liquid.

Pulse fennel in a food processor or with a hand blender until finely chopped, adding a little reserved water if needed to make a smooth paste with some texture.

Heat oven to 325°.

Beat eggs in a large bowl;

Add béchamel and whisk to combine.

Add chopped cooked fennel, cheese, salt and pepper; stir to combine.

Butter a 1 1 ⁄2- to 2-quart baking dish or a similar size ring mold or individual tins or muffin cups with olive oil or2 Tb butter to coat  and then tip in bread crumbs, swirling to cover.

Add fennel mixture.

Place dishes into a pan with hot water to make a bain mare.

Bake until sformato or sformatini set and are lightly browns about 20 - 40 minutes depending on the size.

Remove the sformato from oven; let rest for  a few minutes for small ones and 15 minutes for larger ones then unmold .

Serve warm or at room temperature with a sauce if desired.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Servings: 4

Ingredients

            2 whole red peppers

            2 T olive oil

            1 cloves garlic, Minced if you wanted a milder garlic flavor, you could also roast the garlic

            Flat Leaf Parsley or basil, optional

           

           

Preparation Instructions

Roast red peppers, and then place in a bag to allow to sweat. Peel the charred skins from the peppers, then remove seeds.

Puree peppers with the garlic, oil, parsley and or basil.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add more oil if you need it a bit thinner.

You can adjust this as needed for more servings.

Postcards from Bella Baita

Bella Baita View- for us, the start and finish of every day 

It's not like there hasn't been anything going on here in the Alps! It's just I can't seem to gather my thoughts into a cohesive post and so I have just been pasting photos into Facebook and giving little teasing one liners while the whirlwind of summer has happened. Well, I am going to try really hard to be "back", but we all know that is easier said than done. Ok,  at least I know that, and you can just trust me on that matter. so I thought I might do a little recap of some of the things going on for us this summer at Bella Baita. We didin't get too far from home other than the mercato and further up our valley to our local attractions. Here are some highlights.

Our family garden 

Our projects took on a new addition this year as Fabrizio's parents have been renovating his mother's childhood home for a lower elevation winter home and put in their garden down in town, leaving us to tend the mountain homestead garden,  Naturally Fabrizio needed to put his stamp on it by promptly by starting a new fence renovation.

Fabrizio and Ryan's rock wall

With help from our Wwoofer's Fabrizio was able to make a new retaining rock wall, Now we just need to get the fence finished as the local capriolo (roe deer) has been devastating the salad patch.

The garden giveth and the roe deer taketh away

Thankfully we've managed to get our fair share from the garden. It's a labor of love and a battle with the elements too, of course. We;ve had lots of visitors that have cooked with us learning some new dishes to take back home and make again and again, well, hopefully. 

We cooked together with a variety of people and dishes.

Team Texas

Gnocchi for a crowd

Pork roll

Apricot Blackberry Crostata coming right up

or our home made strawberry sorbet

And I canned (or jarred) when I could

Mirabelle and wild purple plums

And baked up a storm

My hearth breads made from my own natural sourd dough starter

Savory rustic tart, plum cake, giardiniera and rye raisin walnut loaves

Raspberry frangipane cream cakes

 And we dined together sometimes and on a wonderful impromptu occasion, we were treated to the dulcet music of Michael Ryan. What a delightful treat indeed.

Michael Ryan sharing his classical guitar talent with us after dinner

We visited Turin, hitting some of the top touristic sights 

Mole Antonelliana

The stunning Juvarra staircase

The Roman gate, the original dating back to 25 BC

 We made sure to get out and about in our neighborhood for the local sights as well.

Colorado friends under the porticos in Saluzzo

Carbondale. Illinois friends in front of the Agnelli church in Villar Perosa

Hannibal's bridge at the bottom of our road

Fenestrelle Fortress from top to bottom

Fenestrelle Frotress from the bottom

Usseaux

Murals and flowers in Usseaux

Piemontese breed of goat

Giving milk so we can enjoy some Tomini cheese

 We made sure to sample some of course.

Tomini cheese in the center surrounded by a variety of other local types

Home again, home again jiggety jog. I hope you have enjoyed a pictorial account of some of our happenings while I have been remiss in writing about all of our adventures. I hope you have enjoyed tagging along with us. See you again soon.

Where it all happens for us in the alps.

BITEG 2012 -Gastronomic Tourism

Piazza Carlo Alberto- Turin

Some things are just too special not to share and this recent event happened back in May and the time has just gotten away from me so that I am only now getting around to posting about it because I think you will find it of interest. I certainly did. 

Piemontese Cheese Sampler

"Gastronomic Tourism", may not be a familiar term for you, but I can assure you it is an up and coming venue for travel that is getting the attention of the tourism industry. People have various reasons to travel to particular destinations, but in today's globalized world the opportunity to learn and experience  ethnic cuisine first hand in it's native home, is leading people in search of the best places to have that very experience. My husband and I know from our experiences with visitors that many people have completely designed their holiday to shop in the local open air markets, prepare the food of Italy in Italy and pair it with wines that speaks volumes about terroir and local traditions.

Local wine of Torinese

When our Regione Piemonte acquired the already established organization "BITEG – Borsa Internazionale del Turismo Enogastronomico" or International Food and Wine Tourism Exchange,  about 5 years ago, our governing region made a commitment to put Italy and especially Piedmont's gastronomic charms forward to the world. Piemonte's has long been recognized nationally and somewhat internationally as a region with an enduring heritage of exemplary culinary traditions, premium wines and exquisite white truffles. BITEG's mission is to promote all of these traditions and tourist attractions, to a wider audience throughout the world. Each year they have organized a familiarization trip for top tour operators, buyers and importers as well as the press to experience what all Piemonte has to offer. 

The venue for BITEG 2012 was hosted in Turin this past May and organized by various organizations to showcase the citys beautiful city center with its interesting architecture, museums, history as well as it long established culinary traditions like it's long term love affair with chocolate and coffee just to name a couple and the famous surrounding wine regions. Over the multi day events, the group experienced the sights and flavors that are uniquely Piemontese. The grand finale of this edition was held in the recently refurbished National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento of Turin. They invited a few of the "Maestri del Gusto" masters to provide a delicious array of local specialties that featured, grissini/ stirati, which were originally invented in Turin for one of the Royal Savoy family, along side artisan cheeses, salami, Carmagnola peppers, as well as chocolate to die for, wine and spirits and digestivi to cap off the sampling for the evening. 

Stirati Torinesi Breadsticks

Artisan Cheese - "Toma La Sabauda"

Carmagnola Peppers

We have long been involved in doing our part to sing the praises of our part of northern Italy's under appreciated Piedmont Region, so when our friend Enrico Bernard, a long time "Maestri del Gusto" (masters of taste) for his family's hand crafted mountain herbal elixirs, asked us to join him for the evening, we jumped at the chance to help serve and explain his unique products. We were more than delighted to join him as it turned out to be a lovely evening in Turin. 

Fabrizio Roncaglia and Enrico Bernard

Guido Castagna

The setting in the Risorgimento was stunning and the people we met interesting and eager to try our spirits and learn about our mountain traditions. Lucky for us too we were located between the wine table and Guido Castagna's exquisite chocolates, making the evening delightful in and of itself! Yet another reason to visit and explore the diverse corners of our Piedmont region. Bring some friends, make new ones and experience the charms the city, plains and mountains of Piedmont has to offer. I'm convinced you'll be glad you did.

Mole Antonelliana in the distance

Time to make a Crostata

I don't know about you but, it's been a hectic time around our house these days, with all of the small  fruits starting to coming in full force and the weeds in the garden holding their own too. No shortage of jams to make and weeds to pull. I happened to have some ricotta the other day that seem destined to become something sweet to eat instead of its customary roles as a savory offering.   This a versatile easy recipe that works well with cherries and pears as well. I used pecora ricotta as it gives a bit more depth to the flavor, but regular cows ricotta will do fine. Make this soon and enjoy yet another way to get all that fruity goodness into a treat the whole family will love.

Apricot and Ricotta Crostata/ Crostata di Albicoche e Ricotta

Prepare your fruit first and set aside. 
Prepare your pasta frolla and refrigerate.
Finish your filling, roll out your pastry and assemble

Apricot and Ricotta Filling (Cherry or Pear is nice as well)

250 g ricotta

400 g. 3/4 lb of apricots, wash and pit

60 g/ 1/2 c. sugar

juice from 1/2 lemon,  just a touch of the grated peel or orange if preferred

2 T or a healthy splash amaretto if desired

pinch salt

Cut your apricots into small pieces. My apricots were small so I quartered them 

Add the sugarm lemon peel and amaretto

Set aside to absorb flavors. 

Adjust the amounts of sugar and lemon according to the tartness of your apricots or desired sweetness you prefer.

Once you have rolled out your pastry and placed in your prepared pan, add the ricotta to the fruit mixture and stir well. Add a pinch of salt to pull all the flavors together.

Fill your crust with the ricotta and fruit filling before placing pastry strips on top.

Pasta Frolla 
(also known as sweet short paste or cookie crust dough)
1-10" or 25 cm  crust with lattice 
Serves 8

For the pastry

300 g (approx 2 1/4c) flour, pastry or plain 

200 g (7 oz)butter, softened

100 g (2/3 c approx.) sugar, granulated

1 egg

1 egg yolk

Add sugar to the flour and mix .

Cut the butter into small is pieces and mix  together, lightly

Make a well in the middle of the dough.

Add eggs, and stir or mix well with your hands till it comes together in a dough and gingerly pull together into a smooth dough.

Divide into 2 flat disks, one larger than the other. 

Refrigerate for 15 minutes or so, especially if your butter is very soft, to make it easier to handle.

Roll out between lightly floured parchment paper for ease. 

Can be rolled with out paper, just make sure you keep lightly flouring and lifting and don’t let the dough get too warm.

Prepare a removable bottom tart or cake pan by greasing and flouring. 

Roll the larger disk out to beyond he edges of the bottom of the pan. Carefully lift and place in the tart pan allowing the edges to fall over the edges. 

Roll out the top portion in a slightly oblong fashion again about 1/2 inch beyond the edge of the pan. 

Cut into wide strips and lay across the top of the filled bottom crust, in a criss cross pattern, one direction and then the other, or weave the strips as you go from the center with and over and under method finishing on the outer edges. 

Trim and excess dough the might be hanging over and crimp edges of the strips to bottom crust, if necessary.

Brush top with egg wash, sprinkle with coarse sugar for a bit of sparkle and bake at 190*C / 350*F for about 25 minutes or until brown and bubbly.

Let cool till warm before cutting and serving. 

And whatever else comes along...

Busy times around Bella Baita these days. We've had a cool watery spring that has held us back from getting out garden in and so we are trying to make up for lost time or as we used to say in my part of the midwest, make hay while the sun shines. Having said that, our mountain garden tends to get put out quite a bit later than the valley as our temperatures and weather is just so much more unpredictable, so in some ways we aren't so terribly behind. Although when we go into the market and there is so much there early on and even all through the winter, it kind of makes me wonder how mountain people really did survive in the mountains in the old days. I am sure that some years, they didn't. In our little neighbor hood they use to keep a few cows or goats, so they had butter and cheese and lots of savoy cabbage, leeks and potatoes, now repeat. Springtime must have been such a welcome relief with dandelion, nettles and various other greens and porcini mushrooms poking up through the grey earth with a splash of color and enlivening the daily cooking pot after what might have been a long long winter.
This year we have entered a new phase by becoming members of Wwoof,  World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. That's a mouthful for sure, but it is a win win situation for people that could use a helping hand with their agricultural endeavors as well as provide room and board and useful experiences for someone wanting to live, learn and work close to the land with people wo are already living this life. It can be experienced all over the world. The organization started in the UK in 1971, by a woman  who wanted to have access to the countryside and thought others like herself might want to do so as well. You can read more about the history of Wwoof here. Her idea took root, evolving and spreading thoughout the world creating a world wide network of people dedicated to sharing their knowledge, work and homes, striving to not harm the environment but to sustain and nurture it along the way. We have some ideas ourselves about how we want improve and expand our gardent as well as incorporating a few animals and an extra set of hands is most welcome.

Rachel replanting peas

Rachel is our first helper on our new venture and arrived a week ago today. She has already made herself an integral member of our family and we're happy and honored to have her join us here at Bella Baita. She's hard at work with Fabrizio down at the garden right now as I write this post. I'm in charge of keeping everyone fed and fueled up, so I need to sign off and get that done now. I just wanted to make sure to welcome Rachel and share with you my readers some of the things that comes along on our way.  Rachel is here for about a month and then we have another young American coming our way and possibly someone else after that. Still to be determined. It another set of interesting people that we are happy to meet and share some time with. Maybe one of these days you'll find your way to our door as well. More stories to follow as we work our way down the road. If you want more specific information about the Italian program that we are involved with you can check out their newly revamped website here, Wwoof, Italia.

Cin cin..trying porcini and quince paste for the first time