Gocce d'oro (Golden tears)

 This one of my favourite dish for christmas....it's a grandmother's recipe that always reminds me my childhood.
Merry merry xmas to all my readers !!! Have a happy new year as well and remember...Love,Peace and....Food ! :-9

Ingredients :

150g Lasagne
70g Ham
30g Grated parmesan cheese
1/2 lt. Besciamelle Sauce
10g of dried porcini mushrooms
1/4 of a Onion
3/4 leaves of calamint

Procedure :

Before starting out put the dried mushrooms into a bowl with lukewarm water for about half an hour.
Saute the onion into a pan and when it's golden add the mushrooms and the calamint with a pinch of salt.
Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water for about 3 minutes,then when it's ready prepare a ovendish with some besciamelle sauce inside and do a first layer by putting the pasta on the sauce,then cover with ham and mushrooms and then start again with besciamelle sauce and the previous ingredients until the ovendish is filled up,the last layer should be ended with besciamelle sauce and then a generous sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Put in the oven at 180° for about 30 minutes.


Buon Appetito !

Nonna Ida's Stewed Artichockes

Since when i was a child,when i was roaming around the restaurant kitchen,this is one of my favourite recipes.
This is a very tasty plate and for me it's also full of good memories so i'm really glad to post it here for you all.

Ingredients for 6 people :

6 Artichockes
80gr. of Tuscan Rolled Pancetta
8 Leaves of Calamint
4 Sloves of Garlic
4 Spoons of Fresh Chopped Tomatoes
1 Onion
4 Spoons of Extravirgin Olive Oil
Water
Salt and Pepper

Preparation :

Clean the artichockes first,take one artichoke at a time and cut the stem off leaving up about 10cm from the flower head then remove any of the hard leaves around the stem that are not edible and then remove the pointed tops using a sharp knife.
Once you've cleaned them it's time for the stuffing....use the pancetta,the garlic,the leave of --- ,salt and pepper and ground them all finely.
Help yourself with a proper tool (i use a wooden spoon) and open the hearth of the artichockes to be able to fill them with the stuffing you did before.
Take the stuffed artichockes and cut their stems then put them all (with the cutted stems) into a pan and add tomato,olive oil and then put water in the pan until it's fully covered with it.
Let all cook on low fire until all the water it's gone,then serve it !

Enjoy !

I was a guest star in a cooking show "Aspettando il Tg"

"Ballocciori" Boiled Chestnuts

Chestnuts were called "tree bread" and used to be the main product of our earth..an irreplaceable resource for our farmers because they could use chestnuts for their daily meals,so they would be more tasty and nourishing.
With the chestnuts flour,our ancestors used to feed themselves every day by cooking it in the form of "necci" or polenta or chestnuts cake or simply as "ballocciori" (boiled chestnuts).

"Ballocciori" are a very simple recipe :
Take the chestnuts in the desired quantity and put them in plenty cold water. Add salt,some laurel leaves and some wild fennel. Let gently boil and then let it simmer until the chestnuts will be well cooked.
You can eat them both hot or cold. It's advised to use "Carpinesi" chestnuts as the skin will be easier to remove.

"Authentic" Cinta Senese Steak

Today the weather is really bad,and so i've decided to prepare this "Authentic Cinta Senese" steak !
I'm using the word "Authentic" because many people often sell or try to sell regular pork as Cinta and i get really angry when this happens....the one and only Cinta Senese is usually half fat half meat (as show in the picture below)...now that you know you won't get fooled !
I usually buy Cinta Senese from a farmer that feed the pigs with a 50% of chestnuts and acorns

This special kind of pork it's delicious,especially it's fat,which is what gives the particolar taste.
unlike the beef fat,this one is tender,soft and tasty..it's even better than the meat itself !
Some healty people might dislike but once in a while it's a fantastic "sin" :-)
Remember!!  That diets hurts your soul ! ;-)

You can have some more details on Cinta Senese by visiting THIS LINK