Filled Zucchini Flowers "Fiori di Zucca Ripieni"

 Ingredients for 4 people:

    * 300 grams of minced meat
    * 300 g tomatoes
    * 16 zucchini flowers
    * 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
    * 1 egg
    * 1 slice of bread
    * 1 clove garlic
    * 20 g parsley
    * 4 tablespoons olive oil
    * Salt and pepper
 
Place the slice of bread to soak in water, then squeeze and crumble. Peel the garlic, peeled and washed parsley together and chop finely. Put in a bowl, bread, chopped garlic and parsley, Parmesan, egg, salt, pepper, minced meat and mix them. Gently wash the zucchini flowers, and green wires Privatel pistil without tearing it, fill with the mixture you have prepared, taking care not to break them.
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the zucchini flowers and fry over low heat, leaving brown, washed and sieved tomatoes and add them to flowers with a pinch of salt.
Cook in the oven  for 15 minutes at 180°, then serve

Pear and Chocolate Cake

 

Ingredients:
Macaroons 100 g
Butter 170 g
Dark Chocolate 200 g
Flour 200 g
Baking powder 1/2 Tea Spoon
Pears 7
Eggs 4
White Wine
Rum 350 ml
Sugar 100 g

Direction:
First peel the pears , cut into quarters, remove seeds and hard part central  and let marinate in the
wine white for at least 20 minutes, or lay them off in a pan without overlapping, pour the rum  and cook over medium heat until the complete evaporation of fun cooking liquid .
Meanwhile, chop the chocolate fondant  and dissolve in a water bath, add 100 gr. of butter into small
pieces , stir to dissolve everything and let cool.
In a mixer beat the remaining butter with the sugar and egg yolks until you get a nice creamy smooth and clear , which add to the mixture of chocolate melted warm now . Pour the mixture into a large bowl and add the finely crushed amaretti biscuits, the flour and baking powder sifted .
Beat the egg whites until stiff and when ready, add the rest of the sugar beating for a few seconds more.
Gently add the egg whites until stiff Monat to the mixture of chocolate and macaroons , stirring from
the bottom up, not to incorporate air and remove the amalgam.
Divide the dough in half and paid the first half in a buttered and floured  23 cm diameter, then
cover with the pear , which in turn cover the rest of preparation .
Put your cake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for at least 40 minutes. Once ready, leave for about 10 minutes in the cake pan to cool, so that no collapses, then the mold  and sprinkle with the sugar icing;serve warm or, better still, cold.

Tordelli Lucchesi

The place you go....the tordelli you find ! Yes,it's just like that,from Garfagnana and up to the "hills" of Versilia every home has its own recipe. There are even some people who use Mortadella,but i think that there is no reason to go in Emilia Romagna looking for taste that are not part of our own place.In the past the Tordelli were prepared on monday (at least in my grandmother Ida's home) but you may be asking yourself...why on monday ?  it's simple...the leftovers of the roast meat of the holy sunday were being chopped,then you would add some pecorino from garfagnana,some bread crumbs soaked in milk,eggs and a pinch of pepolino (thyme).

For the pastry:

500g Flour
5 Eggs


For the stuffing :

350g of Beef
350g of Pork
150g of Veal
Extra virgin olive oil
3 Eggs
Salt,pepper,nutmeg
1 Glass of white wine
a pinch of pepolino (thyme)
2 cloves of chopped garlic
a pinch of parsley
100gr of grated parmesan cheese
Breadcrumbs soaked in milk and then squeezed.

Direction:

Let the meat brown in the olive oil and then add salt and pepper. Add the wine and let steam.
Finely chop the meat and put them inside a bowl,beat the eggs and add them to the other ingredients.
Knead some dough and prepare the Tordelli  by putting on each one some stuffing and then seal it with the edge of the pasty using your fingers. Cut the Tordelli with a glass and close them all around with a fork (today we often use the proper tool for it called "rotella").
Heat a large pot full of salted water,let it boil and then cook the tordelli.
When they are ready drain them and add the meat sauce prepared separately (You can find the recipe here )

Today Miss Italia "Miriam Leone" came to my restaurant

 

Today famous Miss Italia Miriam Leone came to my restaurant !

Thank you Miriam for coming.

Guest Post... Thank you !

I said THANK YOU  to Oriana Papadopoulos "Tuscanycious" & SC Parry "Italytutto" for nice guest post in their blog. 

Fresh Peas & Ham (Piselli Novelli al Prosciutto)

Ingredients:

For 3-4 people

1 Large Onion Finely Chopped
1 Cloves Garlic
2 Clove (Chiodo di Garofano)
1/4 Lemon Peel
70g Chopped Tomato
90g Tuscan Ham
500g Fresh peas
3 – 4 tbsps olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and then fry the ham, onion and garlic together gently in the pan until the onion is soft which will take approximately 15 minutes. Add the clove, tomato and lemon peel.

Add fresh peas to the cooked mix in the frying pan, add a full glass of water and cook for 20 minutes
over medium-low heat

Serve with some fresh crusty bread.