Cipolline in agrodolce "Small onions in a balsamic vinegar reduction"

INGREDIENTS

1.5 lb small white pickling onions
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
4 cups of vegetable stock

DIRECTIONS

Peel off the onions of any remaining skin.
In a heavy pan, brown the onions in a little olive oil,until they are golden.
Add the vinegar and let it evaporate.
Add the sugar and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring when needed. 
Add with vegetable stock, cover the pan and cook on a slow heat for 45 minutes, adding a little more stock gradually as needed.

Happy Birthday to me !!!

Today's my birthday and this lovely cake has been made from my future wife Fabiana.
Thank you to be always present in the most important moments. I love you!!!

Little Tommy the steak eater !

Tommy is the son of an old customer,and since his mom was pregnant he was already getting started to eat meat....now he's about 5 and he's really enjoying it ! 

His favourite foods are Spaghetti with Bottarga and Florentine steak with french fries

Buon Appetito Tommaso ! :-)

Torta Cò Becchi alle Erbe "My mom's recipe"

The Torta Cò Becchi alle Erbe is a typical of Lucca. It is a cake made of chard, cheese,pinoli,bread and currants. In Lucca this cake is prepared throughout the year but especially for the feast of Santa Croce (Holy Cross,the patron of Lucca) or during the Easter.

The ingredients for the pastry are:
500 gr. of flour, 5 eggs (4 yolks and 1 white), 100 gr. of butter, a drop of milk, a pinch of salt, 2 small glasses of liqueur, 250 gr. of sugar.


The ingredients for the filling are:
a bunch of  chard cooked in butter, a pinch of parsley, 200 gr. of bread soaked in milk, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, liqueur, parmesan and pecorino cheese, 3 eggs, a bit of sugar, pinenuts and raisins.

Prepare the pastry by making a "fountain" with the flour, working it well with the other ingredients.
After working the dough, leave it to rest. After it has been well rested, roll it out and drape it over a well-buttered baking tin, being sure a good amount hangs over the edges of the tin.
Mix all the ingredients to prepare the filling that we will lay down on the baking tin. With the dough that hangs over the edges, fold them towards the center, giving them the shape of cones - the famous "becchi".
Cook at moderate heat for approximately 40 minutes

"Save the authentic d.o.c. food" by Irene Arquint "Il Tirreno" 20-03-2010

Tagliolini with Wild Asparagus

A quick and easy pasta dish inspired by my Italian grandmother "Nonna Ida"


Ingredients:

1 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons olive oil 1 Small Fresh Onion 1 bunch wild asparagus, trimmed and coarsely chopped salt to taste grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese to serve Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium low heat. Sauté onion and asparagus, until asparagus is bright green and tender but crisp. Toss with tagliolini and sprinkle with grated cheese before serving.

Wild Asparagus

It's that time of the year again: spring is springing in bounds and leaps, back and forth and roundabout. What used to be April weather now passes as March, at least in this neck of the woods. Elsewhere winter is still tightly holding on, while in other regions it never really settled in, in the first place. One of the most wonderful spring things to sprout at this time of the year (to my taste, anyhow), is wild asparagus. Regular cultivated asparagus bolts in May, but the wild variety pops up a little earlier. They are much daintier, but a delicacy nevertheless. Foraging for asparagus is not like ordinary foraging. It is more akin to mushroom hunting, for asparagus has a great talent to hide itself among the briars and bushes and often you won't see them at all until they are way too old and have started to sprout their feathery fronds. But once you have developed a 'nose' for the right season and the right places where the elusive spears might be found, hunting them down is an exquisite, fun-filled adventure, which may land you in some very strange places...