Pan brioche with poppy seeds

I made this bread for the most traditional Italian picnic on Easter Monday. We in Italy usually say "Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi", that means "Christmas with your loved ones, Easter with anyone you like". Anyway, on Sunday it is more common to celebrate Easter with your family, while on Monday big groups of friends gather together to spend the whole day outdoors eating, drinking, dancing, playing sports, having a lot of fun. I really will never forget some Easter Monday picnics I had when I was younger: all was very organized, everyone had to bring something to eat or to drink or, as an alternative,  to pay a fee for the party. I remember it was an occasion to meet a lot of new people, and, sometimes... beer playing its part, some new loves bloomed...

This pan brioche is good for breakfast too, spread with your favorite jam, butter, or cream cheese. You can also  replace poppy seeds with sesame or a mixture of both. 

Pan brioche with poppy seeds

(the recipe is taken from the Italian Guida Cucina magazine, year 2011, n.3. Makes a loaf mold)

1 egg

300 g white flour "0"

1 sachet dried brewer's yeast

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 touch of ground cinnamon 

200 g warm cream

75 ml warm water

40 g melted butter

1 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Butter the mold and keep it warm. Beat the egg yolk with two drops water and leave it aside. Mount the egg white until soft. Mix flour, baking powder and dried brewer's yeast in a previously warmed bowl. In another bowl mix salt, cinnamon, cream, warm water, melted butter, honey and add to the the flour strongly stirring in order to let air be absorbed into the compound and soften it. Add the mounted white and pour the batter into the mold. Brush the dough with the beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with the poppy seeds. Cover with protective film and a hot moistened dishcloth and let it rise for 1 hour at warm temperature.  In the meantime preheat the oven to 180 C. Put  a kettle with steaming water at the bottom of the oven, place the  mold on the second shelf from the bottom and cook the cake for about 35 minutes. If the surface should get brown too quickly, cover it with an aluminium  foil. Let it cool before serving. 

Happy Easter! Nutella semifreddo

I think I am on Nutella overdose...I've just eaten and licked the plate of the Nutella semifreddo I photographed. My teeth hurt, but  I'm at peace with the world ...this is pure ecstasy I tell you! Ester is all about chocolate here in Italy (and Colomba as well, the traditional Easter cake): everybody exchange wishes with chocolate eggs. You can find eggs of all sizes and colors, and look what happened...I received a little pink sugar egg and a pink chick came out twitting Happy Easter!!! (yes, I am really doped....). I have to say one serious thing, anyway, I am very sorry that Pietro Ferrero, Ceo of the homonymous group, father of Nutella and many other deliciousness (Ferrero Rocher, Tic-Tac and Kinder brands), died unexpectedly last week in a biking accident in South Africa. Ferrero is one of those firms, whose contribution to the made in Italy around the world has been exceptional. Goodbye and thank you Mr Ferrero.  Maybe  you are revealing the secret recipe of the most famous nutty chocolate cream up there... Can paradise be even a happier place? With Nutella, yes, I think so. Here the recipe of the Nutella semifreddo, my Easter lunch dessert. So easy, so good!!!!

Nutella semifreddo 

(the recipe is taken from my class cookbook, www.peccatidigola.info, makes 10 servings)

500 g cream

750 g Nutella 

Whip cream to 70%. Soften Nutella in a bain-marie and add it to the cream, creating a variegated compound. Keep in the freezer for at least three hours before serving.

Welcome Asparagus! Pappardelle with shrimp and asparagus

It's spring time, nature is reawakening and flowering is all over. Asparagus is stretching out after the long winter revealing its shoot or "turione", the edible part of the plant. There are many different types of asparagus, as the plant is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. The most common are green, white or wild asparagus. In my area in the North of Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia, the white type is very typical, being included in the list of  traditional food farming products of the region. The taste of the white asparagus is very delicate, aromatic and lightly sweet,  and it is suitable to several preparations, such as risotto, cream soup, crepes filling, or simply paired with eggs and a abundant handful of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Asparagus in not just a delicious dish, it is also good for health. The botanical name of the plant, Asparagus officinalis L., underlines  its  beneficial and therapeutic features: it is an excellent source of fiber, folic acid, vitamins B and C, and mineral salts.  It has  important purifying  and diuretic effects, contributing to eliminate toxins and excess fluids from the body.   The "cleansing and healing" power of asparagus has been known for centuries, being already described by the Roman physician and philosopher Galen in the second century AD. To match its aromatic and green aromas the ideal wine is a fresh, smooth Sauvignon from Collio or Colli Orientali del Friuli Doc areas. I enjoyed my first asparagus of the season in this Pappardelle recipe (a type of pasta, wider than fettuccine), together with shrimp. Here the recipe. 

Pappardelle with shrimp and asparagus

(makes 6 servings)

400 g asparagus

300 g pappardelle

60 ml white wine

30 g butter

200 g shelled shrimp

1 chopped onion

150 ml cream

salt

pepper 

Clean asparagus and boil them, leaving the ends out of the water. Do not boil them excessively, as they have to maintain a certain consistency. Melt the butter in a pan and wilt onion, add shrimp, sprinkle with white wine and let evaporate. Cut asparagus into pieces, leaving aside the ends. Pan-fry the asparagus pieces with the shrimp, add cream and cook for a moment. Salt and pepper as desired. Drain the pappardelle and leave aside some cooking water. Add pappardelle to the prepared sauce, pan-fry briefly, adding if necessary, the  cooking water.  Add the asparagus ends and serve.  

Amaretto chocolate soft cake

My two loves joined together...amaretto cookies  and bitter chocolate are here fused to give birth to  a delicious cake, so rich of taste with the flavors of dark cocoa and almond, which also leave a wonderful scent in your kitchen and all over your house. The cake has a soft heart and a crusty outside. You can serve it when still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with a touch of chocolate syrup. Chocolate enthusiasts...don't miss it!

Amaretto chocolate soft cake

(the recipe is taken from Cucina Moderna, Italian magazine (February 2011), makes 8 servings)

250 g Amaretto cookies
120 g sugar
150 g butter (softened and cut into pieces)
150 g white flour
150 g potato starch
80 g  bitter cocoa powder
4 eggs
1 sachet baking powder
1/2 glass Amaretto liqueur (or rum)
butter and flour for the cake mold
icing sugar
salt

Work butter with sugar with a wood tablespoon until you get a cream. Add egg yolks one by one, stirring well, sprinkle flour and starch (sifted), and lastly add the Amaretto liqueur (or rum). Crumble the Amaretto cookies and mix them with cocoa, add to the previously made compound with baking powder. In a cold bowl beat the egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt, add to the mixture.  Butter a cake mold and put a thin layer of flour on the bottom, pour the mixture and bake  at 200 C for about 30 minutes. Check cooking with a toothpick, when ready take the cake out of the oven and let it cool a bit. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Pilaf rice flavored with spices

I served this rice together with the pork curry. The taste is very delicate, lightly sweet with a wonderful scent of butter and spices ( I used cinnamon, cloves and star anise). Moreover, the aroma is enriched with toasted almonds and  raisins (you can also add some chopped pistachios). The rice I chose is a very fragrant Jasmin long grain rice from Thailand, but you can use a Indian Basmati too. As for the wine, I suggest a aromatic or semiaromatic white wine, with a good freshness and smoothness, like a Gewurtztraminer from Alto Adige, a Malvasia di Candia aromatica from Colli Piacentini or a Zibibbo from Sicily (dry version). 

Pilaf rice flavored with spices

(the recipe is taken from Telesette magazine, makes 8 servings)

350 gr Indian rice

700 g vegetable stock

30 g butter

40 gr almond flakes

30 g raisins

2 tablespoons honey

1 cinnamon stick

4/5 cloves

1 teaspoon star anise

5 chives 

salt

Heat the broth (already salted) and dissolve the honey. Melt 30 g butter in a pan, add rice and toast it for a few minutes till it gets shiny. Move  rice in a baking dish, add broth, cinnamon, cloves and star anise and cook covered in the oven at 180 C for about 18 minutes, until rice absorbs all the broth. In the meantime toast almonds in a buttered pan for a few minutes, add raisins and cook for one minute more. When the rice is cooked, add almonds, raisins and chives, cut with scissors. Adjust with salt if necessary, cover the rice and let it flavor with all aromas for some minutes, then serve. 

Pork curry

This recipe was prepared  by my teacher Gabriella at my cooking class. I love curry and the exotic touch it  brings to the table.  Moreover, I like that you can play with colorful kitchenware and tablecloths to create an ethnic mood, adding some candles and Oriental music for a warmer atmosphere. I experimented chicken curry before, so I was pretty trained to try this variation with the pork. All went well and I and my family enjoyed this dish with a pilaf rice with spices that I will tell in my next post. To match this  tasty and fragrant meal, I suggest an aromatic or semiaromatic wine, with a good structure, freshness, complexity  and smoothness like a Sauvignon ,  a Gewurztraminer or a white blend  from both Alto Adige or Friuli  Venezia Giulia.  My choice was the Collio Bianco Col Disore Russiz Superiore, a very good white blend from the Collio Doc in my region (Friuli Venezia Giulia). It is composed of Pinot Bianco, (Tocai) Friulano, Sauvignon and Ribolla Gialla grapes,  fermented and aged (12 months) in large oak casks. Namaste (Indian greeting that means literally  "I bow to you")... and Buon appetito! 

Pork curry 

(the recipe is taken from my class cookbook written by Roberta Molani- makes 6 servings)

800 g pork loin cut into cubes of cm 2x2 

1 big onion 

1 clove of garlic

1 apple (granny smith type)

1 tablespoon white flour

1 teaspoon curry

2,5 dl milk

50 g finely chopped almonds

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt

pepper

Cook the almonds with the milk in a kettle and bring to boil. Remove from stove and leave in infusion for about 1 hour.  Brown the meat in a pan with 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. After browning remove the meat and leave it aside. Chop onion and garlic and let them brown lightly in the pan used for the meat, add the  apple (peeled and grated) and let it brown for a few minutes. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of white flour, add curry and two tablespoons of hot water and dip the meat into the curry sauce. Add salt and cook covered at low flame for about 1 hour. Strain the almond milk and pour it over meat. Continue cooking till the sauce get thick again. Adjust with salt and pepper. 

My "good little place" in Manhattan: the American Wing Café at the MET. Caramel Apple cupcake

There's a movie (I don't remember the name) where the  main character interpreted by Meg Ryan says that, when she visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, for the first time in her life she felt she was exactly where she wanted to be. That is to say she was in peace and happy. This positive sensation happened to me too when I was in New York and that's why I spent a lot of Friday and Saturday evenings there (the museum is opened till 9 pm in the weekend). What gave me this sense of serenity was to be surrounded by such magnificent works of art, the eternal beauty of those masterworks. Among them I felt I was safe and lucky to be in such a privileged place. The museum is so big (more than 2,000,000 square feet) that it takes several times to visit it, if you want to see its collections and exhibitions in quite an accurate way. Anyway, there was also another reason for my frequent visits to the Met: I loved to stop at the American Wing Café to have a coffee or tea with a pastry. The America Wing is that area of the museum where American paintings and sculpture are on permanent exhibition. The Café is located on the park side of the Charles Engelhard Court, overlooking a monumental collection of marble and bronze  large-scale sculptures by American master artists. I took some pictures of what I could see sipping my cappuccino, reading some poetry, writing, meditating and relaxing, while enjoying such wonderful environment. The designers who mounted the exhibition did a great job playing with lights and creating suggestive shadows that give the sculptures even more magnificence. 

Fragilina, Attilio Piccirilli (1866-1945)

The Struggle of the two Natures in Man, George Grey Barnard (1863- 1938)

Mexican Girl Dying, Thomas Crawford (1814 - 1857)

The Libyan Sibyl, William Wetmore Story (1819 - 1895)

Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii, Randolph Rogers (1825- 1892)

Evening, Frederick Wellington Ruckstull (1853- 1942)

Memory, Daniel Chester French (1850 -1951)

Not only my artistic appetite was satisfied...At the American Wing Café I found my favorite cupcake, that I enjoyed each time I went there. It was a Caramel Apple (from Crumbs company), an apple cinnamon cake with apple pie filling, frosted with vanilla cream and drizzled with rich caramel. At home I tried to recreate my Met "ecstatic" moment making a simpler copy of the cupcake (without filling). Here the recipe:

Caramel Apple cupcake

(makes 12 cupcakes)

180 g white flour

100 g brown cane sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 sachet vanillin

1 teaspoon powder cinnamon

100 g butter

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

2 apples 

Vanilla Caramel cream:

125 g vanilla icing sugar

25 g butter

15 ml milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

caramel syrup

Peel the apples, leave out the core and grate them (you can sprinkle a little lemon juice to avoid fruits darkening). In a bowl sift all dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, vanillin, cinnamon and mix them well. In another bowl work the softened butter with cane sugar till you get a frothy compound. Add then eggs (one by one) and milk. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients, add apples and stir well with a wood tablespoon. Pour the mixture into 12 paper liners until 2/3 full and bake in preheated oven at 170 C for about 25 minutes. Prepare the cream by mixing together butter (softened), icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract till you get a soft compound. Distribute the cream on the cooled cupcakes and decorate with caramel syrup.