Ingredienti
250 gr di lenticchie
500 gr di passata di pomodoro
1 carota
1 sedano
1/2 cipolla
2 spicchi d’aglio
Preparazione
1. Sciacquare le lenticchie e metterle ammollo alcune ore prima di cucinare
2. Preparare il soffritto con la carota, il sedano, la cipolla e l’aglio in una pentola
3. Aggiungere la passata di pomodoro
4. Sciacquare le lenticchie e cuocerle nella pentola del sugo per 30 minuti circa aggiungendo alcuni bicchieri di acqua bollente se necessario
Variante
Per una variante non vegetariana cuocere una salsiccia tagliata a pezzi in una padella e condirla con le lenticchie al sugo
Ingredienti
200 gr di penne rigate
80 gr di funghi
1 carota
1 sedano
1/2 cipolla
2 spicchi d’aglio
1 cucchiaio di farina bianca
brodo vegetale
Preparazione
1. Preparare il soffritto con la carota, il sedano, la cipolla e l’aglio in una padella
2. Scaldare il brodo in un tegame
3. Aggiungere i funghi tagliati fini
4. A metà cottura aggiungere 2 bicchieri di brodo e 1 cucchiaio di farina setacciata
5. Cuocere le penne e scolarle 1 minuto prima della cottura indicata
6. Ripassare la pasta in padella con i funghi
I love Guinness and I love bread so why don’t combine the two things together?
Ingredients
250 gr strong white flour
250 gr rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried yeast
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
300 ml Guinness
1 spoon black treacle
olive oil
Preparation
1. Mix together in a bowl the strong white flour, the rye flour, salt, yeast, and caraway seeds.
2. Warm the Guinness with the treacle in a saucepan, then mix them with the dry ingredients to obtain a moist dough. Add more Guinness if the dough is still dry. Knead the dough, cover it with cling film and leave it to rise for 2 hours in a warm place.
3. Knead the dough and shape it into a loaf. Place it on an oiled baking sheet, sprinkle caraway seeds on top and cover it with a dampened tea towel. Leave it to rise for an hour in a warm place.
4. Remove the tea towel and make few slashes on the top of the loaf. Preheat the oven at 230 degrees, then bake the dough at 200 degrees for 25 minutes.
5. Tap the loaf and if it sounds hollow the bread is ready. Leave it to cool on a wire rack.
I participated at a healthy cake baking competition at work and got 3rd place with this lemon roll (aka tronchetto al limone). I adapted the original recipe I got from my friends Giovanna and Paola and made it gluten and dairy free.
Ingredients
for the tronchetto:
3 free range Columbus eggs
60 gr gluten free flour
80 gr unrefined sugar
grated lemon peel
vanilla pod
a pinch of salt
for the lemon cream:
1 free range Columbus egg
75 gr unrefined sugar
25 gr cornflour
150 cl carbonated mineral water
lemon juice from 1 lemon
lemon skin (roughly sliced)
Preparation
Separate yolks from whites
Add a pinch of salt to the whites and beat till stiff. Add 30 gr sugar when the whites start getting stiff
Mix yolks with the rest of the sugar, add grated lemon peel and sieved flour
Add the whites little by little and mix slowly
Put a parchment on a tray and spread the batter evenly in a rectangular shape to form a thin layer of sponge cake
Bake the sponge cake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes
Lay the sponge cake with the parchment on a wet tea towel and roll it while removing the parchment
Wrap the roll back in the parchment and the wet tea towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
In the meantime prepare the cream:
Mix lemon juice, egg, sugar, sieved flour, mineral water
Cook it a bain-marie with the lemon skin and stir regularly until stiff
Finally:
Unwrap the roll, remove the lemon skin from the cream and spread it inside the roll. Keep 1 cm free on each side
Roll the tronchetto, clean overflowed cream, wrap it in a clean parchment and keep it in the fridge for 2 hours
Despite the French sounding name roulade is a typical German recipe I learnt from my German flatmate Anna. It is quite similar to what in Italy we call involtino.
Ingredients
4 beef steaks in large, thin slices
Slices of ham or bacon
4 carrots
1 celery
1 leek
2 onions
6 big gherkins – from the Spreewald if you can!!!
Mustard
Salt
Pepper
1 glass red wine
olive oil
Preparation
1. Prepare the Fillung (filling) by chopping half the carrots, celeries, leeks, onions and gherkins and seasoning them with salt and pepper. Mix everything up with a mixer until you reach a spreading texture.
2. Make the beef steaks flat and softer by hitting it with a glass or something similar – this is what the Germans call plattieren!
3. Spread a layer of mustard, add one or two slices of ham or bacon and then add a layer of filling.
4. Roll the steak and tie it up with a string.
5. Cut the rest of the carrots, celeries, leeks, onions and gherkins, and season it.
5. Oil the casserole with olive oil, add the meat, cook it alone for some minutes then add the wine and chopped vegetables. Add some water and braise it for at least 40 minutes at low temperatures.
6. Serve the roulade with the gravy and a green salad.
I post the recipe of one of my favourite desserts. Tiramisù literally means “pick me up” and if you try it you’ll understand why! Thanks to Maria for helping me and shooting the beautiful pictures.
Ingredients
250 gr. of mascarpone cheese
3 eggs
150 gr. of sugar
200 gr. of ladyfingers biscuits (savoiardi)
several cups of coffee
cocoa powder
Preparation
1. Start by preparing a strong Italian coffee – this is always a good start for anything!
2. Separate the yolks from the whites.
3. Mix the yolks with the sugar, then add the mascarpone.
4. Beat egg whites until stiff, then gently fold in the mix. The cream is ready!
5. Soak the ladyfingers in the coffee and line them up in the dish.
6. Spread the cream over the biscuits to form a layer and dust it with cocoa powder at the end.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to form 1 or 2 layers.
8. Chill the tiramisù in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
Katja and Diana came to my place to prepare – and eat! – this classic German cake. All the pictures are from Diana. Lecker!!!
Ingredients
120 gr. sugar
200 gr. butter
1 egg
350 gr. flour
1 tea spoon of baking yeast for cakes
1 glass of sour cherry
1 small packet of vanilla sugar
cinnamon
Preparation
Make a pastry dough by mixing sugar, egg and butter. Add the yeast and work the pastry until the dough is soft.
Butter the baking pan, grate some old bread in order to get a tin layer of breadcrumbs and spread the dough using the fingertips. Keep apart half of the dough for the crumbles.
Separate the cherries from the juice using a colander. Keep the juice.
Warm up the juice in a small pot, add slowly 4 spoons of flour and mix until the juice becomes a thick liquid.
Add the cherries in the pot and pour everything on the dough.
Use a palette knife or a spoon to spread the cherries and the juice so that the dough is fully covered.
Prepare the crumbles: mix the rest of the dough with 4 spoons of flour, vanilla sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon and breake the dough into crumbles.
Sprinkle the crumbles on top of the cherries…
… until the cake is fully covered and ready to go into the oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes at 175 degrees.
Marion, Pierre e Mayliss mi sono venuti a trovare da Ginevra e insieme abbiamo preparato la treccia, una specialità svizzera per la colazione. Ecco la ricetta di Marion:
Ingredienti
1 bustina di lievito secco o mezzo cubetto di lievito fresco
500 grammi di farina
1.5 dl di latte tiepido
1 dl di acqua tiepida
20-25 gr. di burro
1 cucchiaino di sale
Preparazione
Sciogliere il lievito nell’acqua tiepida, aggiungere a poco a poco la farina, il sale, il burro ammorbidito, e un po’ d’acqua quando necessario. Lavorare bene l’impasto con le mani – perché secondo Marion il calore delle mani trasmette tutto l’amore che si può mettere in un piatto! – fino a farlo diventare morbido, elastico ed omogeneo. Lasciar riposare l’impasto in un luogo tiepido ed asciutto.
Intrecciamento
Dividere l’impasto in due pezzi, lavorarli in modo da dare una forma di bastone ed intrecciarli come nelle foto.
Prima di infornare la treccia, dorarla con un tuorlo d’uovo sbattuto aiutandosi con un pennello. Infornare per 20-30 minuti a 220 gradi finché la crosta diventa dorata.
Gustarla tiedida in buona compagnia insieme ad una buona marmellata ed un caffè.
Grittibänz
Con lo stesso impasto della treccia si può fare anche un Grittibänz, un simpatico omino tutto da mangiare! Ecco le foto per modellarlo con un paio di forbici, i bottoni sono fatti di uvetta.
Ingredienti
200 grammi di linguine
un grosso mazzo di prezzemolo
10 cucchiai d’olio
un pugno di noci
parmigiano
1 spicchio d’aglio
un pizzico di sale
Preparazione
Far cuocere le linguine in una pentola con abbondante acqua salata. Tagliare grossolanamente il prezzemolo e frullarlo in un robot insieme all’olio, al parmigiano grattugiato, all’aglio tagliato a pezzetti, alle noci e al sale. Aggiungere un po’ di acqua della pasta se il pesto e’ troppo secco. Versare il pesto in una terrina e aggiungere un altro po’ di acqua della pasta per renderlo piu’ cremoso e meno forte. Scolare le linguine e mescolarle nella terrina insieme al pesto. Buon appetito!
Ingredienti
1 kg di farina
6 uova
400 gr. di zucchero
6 cucchiai d’olio
2 bustine di lievito
2 bucce d’arancia grattugiate e 2 spremute d’arancia
2 bucce di limone grattugiate
500 gr. di uvetta
Preparazione
Mettere a bagno l’uvetta in acqua bollente per 10 minuti e asciugarla con un panno. Mescolare uova e zucchero, setacciare la farina e unirla lentamente al composto, aggiungere le spremute d’arancia e frullare bene fino a rendere il composto omogeneo ma non duro. Infine aggiungere il lievito setacciato, le bucce d’arancia e di limone e l’uvetta.
Dare ai biscotti una forma abbastanza larga e cuocere a 180 gradi per 10 minuti. Da tenere a mente: i biscotti devono rimanere morbidi all’interno!