Zeppole

Yesterday I had an incredible experience that I have to share with you…. We were asked to go to a friends house in the afternoon for some Zeppole, which I had seen once before, around this time last year. They were in a pasticceria, which I presumed we would be having yesterday….but no, to my surprise they were home made by our friends. At some point during the afternoon all the ladies rushed into the kitchen to check on their rising dough-it was ready to be fried and sugar coated. They invited me into the kitchen to watch them and to taste these fresh and hot sensations.
Of course the recipe is a secret passed down from their mothers and their nonna’s. But some hints were given that some ingredients include:
potatoes
flour
eggs
sugar
salt
yeast
oil
caster sugar for dusting
A Zeppole is commonly a light, deep fried dough ball about 5cm in diameter, these doughnuts are then topped with sugar once they are cooked through and golden.
Zeppole are traditionally consumed on La Festa di San Giuseppe, on the 19th March, but are present in pastry shops from now until then.
They were absolutely delicious……hot and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside….this was a truly fantastic experience that I was lucky enough to be invited into and will never forget!!!


mmmmmm le Zeppole sono Buonissime!!!

Carta da musica

Now a foody post from Sardegna, one about something that is in every Sardinian house…. “carta da musica” or music paper bread.

Pane Carasau is a local traditional wafer-thin Sardinian crisp/flat bread, which was born in Barbagia, a mountainous area of inner Sardinia, in ancient times because shepherds needed to have a bread that lasted longer, without going bad during their movement with the flocks.

The traditional Carasau has the shape of thin and crisp circular sheets of pastry and, because of its features, it also goes by the name of ‘carta da musica’ (music paper). The Sardinian name ‘Carasau’, instead, comes from the processing technique, which includes the ‘Carasatura’ phase (a double cooking), which makes it crisp. It can last up to a year if it is kept dry.

The basic ingredients of Carasau bread are: yeast, salt, water and flour. Traditionally there are two kinds of dough: the one with durum wheat flour, widespread particularly among the high class (nowadays the most used), the other with barley meal or fine bran, present particularly on the tables of middle and lower classes (the shepherds’ ones).
This is generally used to complement a savory meal.

j-b x

Spaghetti carciofi e scampi from the Sant’Elia markets

This morning Fed and I went to the Sant’Elia markets in Cagliari, which are on the sea front that faces the port. At the moment it is full of winter goodies including lots of fresh seafood. The seafood is at its best in winter because the waters are cold and clean.

The fisherman we bought the scampi from.

The view of the port from the markets.


Fresh olives and home-made olive oil.


The lovely guys we bought our bread from.

And the guy we bought the carciofi from- he insisted I take a photo of him and his beautiful artichokes!
We picked up some delicious carciofi and scampi and decided to make some pasta for lunch. Here is our recipe:
Spaghetti carciofi e scampi
6 fresh artichokes
18 scampi
1 splash extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic
1 sprinkle chili
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
Salt to taste
80g-100g of pasta per person


While wearing gloves cut the stalk from the top of the artichoke and peel the leaves away, until you have the hearts. Cut them into 8ths and cut out the little furry bit in the center. Place them in a small bowl of sparkling water for later. We put them in sparkling water so they don’t go brown.
Peel the scampi of their shells and place them to the side for later.
Peel and slight crush the garlic, place it in a large pan on the heat, with a splash of olive oil and the chilli, until the garlic is slightly golden. Add the drained artichokes to the pan, and slowly cook on a medium to low heat until they are almost cooked (about 20 minutes).
Put on the water for the pasta to boil, adding a heaped table spoon of salt to the water and when ready, put the pasta in.
At about seven or eight minutes, before the pasta is cooked, add the scampi to the artichokes, oil and garlic and cook gently until the pasta is just before al dente.
Drain the pasta and add it to the artichokes and scampi and stir through. Add a sprinkle of parsley and a little more extra virgin olive oil, then serve.



Buon appetito!
Tell us what you think of recipe…. we would love to hear from you!
j-b x

mushroom bruschetta

The word ‘bruschetta’ comes from the Italian word ‘bruscare’, which means to char. As long as you’ve got some raw garlic to rub on the ’pane bruscato’ (toasted bread) and some good olive oil you can make bruschetta.
Clean and slice the mushrooms and place them into a hot pan that has olive oil and a nob of butter already in the pan. Cook them until golden, season with some salt, pepper and fresh parsley.
Put your slices of sourdough bread onto a hot griddle and toast on both sides.

When the bread is nice and charred, rub the cut side of the garlic all over it. Drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil then top with a small handful of your mushroom mixture then drizzle with a little more olive oil. And just like that you’ve got a lovely lunch or snack.




j-b x

Say Cheese!

French cheese’s are one of my top 5 weakness’s….take a look at some of these photo’s that I took this weekend at some French food markets….you will understand why…

all photo’s taken by me!
j-b x

La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy cookbook

“La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy” by Accademia Italiana Della Cucina

Foodies can refer to this collection of recipes as a culinary map of Italy. Over 50 years in the making this unique book was compiled by the Milan based Accadamia Italiana della Cucina, an organisation passionate about preserving the nation’s recipes. The dedication of these members sees them visiting villages and towns across Italy to collect never-before-documented recipes from grandmothers and farmers. All 20 regions of the country are featured- resulting in over 2000 recipes, eight chapters and two handy indexes.

“La Cucina” is truly an old-fashioned cookbook, where you can hear the grandmothers all over the Italian countryside telling you how to really make a dish the traditional way. It isn’t a modern day cookbook where the chef takes you by the hand and tells you everything step by step.

However, some recipes will require a bit of common sense because there are couple of mistakes, probably lost in translation.

Whether you cook the recipes from this book, or just want to read it for fun, you will gain a better understanding of the country through its cuisine. Most of the recipes are simple, and vary from region to region - which in my opinion is fantastic to see where a particular dish originated.

We love it!!!

j-b x

Christmas Delights

Everywhere we go now we are surrounded by the delights of Christmas- the snow, the sparkling lights, the lovely smell of the pine trees, the Christmas carols….and it always gets me thinking about the yummy Christmas desserts I can look forward to… the buttery, spicy scents of the kitchen can mean only one thing – Christmas is here.

Here are a few I think look delicious and I cant wait to try them out for myself!!! What are your favourite Christmas sweet treats?

Christmas mince pies

http://www.jamieoliver.com

Pandoro gourmand

http://www.marieclairemaison.com

Almond shortbread wreaths with brandy glaze

http://gourmettraveller.com.au

Christmas morning muffins

http://www.nigella.com/

Almond sherry christmas trifle

http://www.gourmet.com

Sables aux fruit confits

http://www.marieclairemaison.com

Contemporary Christmas puddings on a spoon

http://www.jamieoliver.com
They all look pretty good to me……
j-b x