Crema di riso

I’m reading our recipe book, and I find the recipe of Crema di riso!!!

THIS RECIPE: WITHOUT WHEAT.

Ingredients:
50 g rice originario (it's used to prepare dessert, it's adsorbe a lot of liquid)
60 g sugar
600 g milk
150 g double cream
Vanilla
Lemon skin

Process:
Mix with a whisk rice, sugar, milk, vanilla and lemon skin.


Put on the stove and wait


until the rice has absorbed the milk.


Whip the double cream and add to the rice, after letting it cool down.


Put it in a nice bowl and grate the chocolate on the top!!!

Easy and fast pasta

I’m back at home, after 3 weeks in Africa (Mali and Burkina Faso) and 1 week in Serbia (Novi Sad). I’ve been eating well there but I was longing for…. Italian pasta! So, as soon as I was back in my kitchen, I prepared this easy and fast recipe!

SPAGHETTI MELANZANE (eggplants) AND ZUCCHINI

Ingredients:
200 g spaghetti ( I chose the integrali ones!)
2 eggplants
2 zucchini
1 garlic clove (optional)
100 gr parmigiano cheese
6 tbs Extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper or peperoncino(Optional)

You can prepare it in 20 minutes!

Put a saucepan filled with water on the cooker and bring it to boil.
Cut the eggplants longitudinally in order to obtain long, narrow strips.


Sauté the eggplants strips in the olive oil at a high temperature, stirring frequently in order to obtain golden strips.


When ready


put them on a plate and put in the saucepan the zucchini, cut as the eggplants.


Sauté them,


and then put back again the eggplants strips in the pan with the zucchini. Remember to keep apart some eggplants and zucchini to garnish the dish.
In the meanwhile cook the spaghetti in the boiling salted water. One minute before the time indicated in the box, drain them and put in the pan with the eggplants and zucchini. Sauté for 1 minute.


Serve the spaghetti garnishing with some strips of zucchini and eggplants,


some garlic if you like it and parmigiano cheese on the top. If you wish you can also grid on the spaghetti some fresh black pepper or some peperoncino!

Spaghetti alla carbonara

Here I am in Paraguay, working on a international cooperation development project.

I, or better the NGO of which I am president, is involved in setting up a classroom with computers, printers and Internet connection in Coronel Oviedo (in the middle of nowhere, east of Asuncion, in Paraguay). The classroom will be used to train young people. One classroom is already set up in San Pedro (north east of Asuncion) and it's used all day, with 3 turns of lessons: in the morning, the afternoon, and at night. People are eager to be trained as they see the possibility to find a job if only they could develop new skills.

I’m staying at home with Zully and her son Stefano, who have lived in Italy for 10 years, and on Sunday morning I decided to cook spaghetti alla carbonara for them, a favourite with Stefano!

Here is the recipe. They are really easy to prepare... try it!


Ingredients - serving 4 persons
• 400 g spaghetti
• 4 tbsp extravirgin olive oil
• 100 g chopped pancetta (plain or smoked) or guanciale (if you can't find them, bacon will do well)
• 75 g grated pecorino cheese + 75g grated parmesan (you can use both or simply 150g of one of them. Using only pecorino will give a stronger flavour to your spaghetti)
• 3 eggs if large, 4 if small
• 4 tbsp milk (I know some people add cream - though it’s not traditional- because cream makes it easier to obtain the correct consistency. I suggest to add milk, to make the pasta lighter and creamy at the same time)
• salt and freshly grinded pepper


Preparation
• In a pan (large enough to contain the spaghetti) over medium heat, cook the pancetta, guanciale or bacon until crispy (don’t overcook it!). You will need about five minutes.
Leave it in the pan (and don’t leave the pan on the cooker if it’s electric!)


• In the meanwhile cook the pasta in a large pan with salted boiling water. Be ready to drain it 1 minute before the end of the cooking time indicated on the packet of pasta.
• While the pasta is cooking, beat the eggs in a bowl, season with salt (don’t put too much .. remember that the pancetta and the bacon are really salty!), add the milk and half the grated cheeses.


• One minute before the pasta will be ready (still al dente - see the post cooking ravioli, for an explanation of what 'al dente' means) drain it, reserving some of the cooking water.
• Pour the drained pasta into the pan with the oil and pancetta and cook for 1 minute, then take it out of the fire and add the beaten eggs (with milk and cheeses) and stir well. It’s important to add the eggs only once the pan is off the hob, to avoid cooking the eggs, otherwise you will prepare spaghetti with frittata (omelette) and not spaghetti alla carbonara…. The eggs must remain creamy and soft and get cooked only by the heat of the spaghetti.
• If you think that your pasta is not sufficiently creamy, you can add 2-3 tablespoon of the hot water in which you cooked the pasta.
• Stir well the spaghetti, add fresh ground pepper, the remaining grated cheeses and serve hot.


• To be eaten at its best, the spaghetti alla carbonara need to be very hot. It may be useful to warm the dishes before serving.


Buon appetito!

Typical Easter Italian recipe: Torta Pasqualina

Torta Pasqualina is a typical recipe Italians prepare for Easter. In fact, it means “Easter cake”.
Originally it was prepared in Liguria. It is a pie filled with spinach or bieta with ricotta cheese, Parmigiano, eggs and - for those who are not vegetarian - also little peaces of sausages.

The original recipe uses a particular pastry made only with flour, water and olive oil, and you would have to prepare 12 layers of pastry. It also uses in the filling whole eggs in their shell, which become hard boiled with cooking. We use a simpler and more contemporary version, equally delicious, with a type of shortcrust pastry.

Ingredients - serving 8 people

For the pastry
300g of Flour
2 table spoons of cold water
1 egg
150 gr of butter
salt


For the filling
1 Kg of spinach (or bieta- chard)
2 garlic cloves (if you like it)
3 eggs (add 5 more eggs if you want to put them whole in the filling!)
150 g of Parmigiano (grated parmisan cheese)
500 g of Ricotta
5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Marjoram


PREPARATION

Dough:
On a wooden board, or on the table, place the flour, make a well in the centre, add the salt, extra virgin olive oil, water and cold butter cut in little dices. Slowly mix the liquid with the flour and prepare the dough kneading it just the necessary time to prepare it. Otherwise you can use the food processor and do it in 3 minutes. Don’t overwork it!
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Filling:
While the dough is in the fridge, prepare the filling.
Clean the spinach or the chard, boil them (don’t overcook them!) and drain them well!



Cut the sausages in little pieces and put them in a pan with the olive oil, and let them cook for 4-5 minutes, gently stirring from time to time.



Add the vegetables and put everything in a bowl with the ricotta, parmigiano, 3 eggs, salt (if you have used sausages then add very little salt, as the sausages contain already a lot of salt!), pepper, marjoram and mix it well till smooth.





Take the dough from the fridge, divide it in two pieces, one a little bigger than the other. Roll out the bigger piece on a floured surface with a rolling pin, then cover with it a baking (springform) tin (24 cm diameter).



Fill with the filling. If you like make 5 holes in the filling and in each hole put one egg, taking care not to break them!






Now, cover the filling with the other piece of rolled out dough as shown in the picture and close the pastry with your fingers.

Brush the surface with a egg yolk beaten with 2 tablespoons of milk.



Put in the preheated oven at 180°C and bake for 50 minutes (or until the surface becomes golden).



You can eat it hot or cold. It will be delicious!

Buona Pasqua!