Francesca’s recipes: Coffee biscuits

Today, Francesca Morandin gives us an idea to brighten up our day with a mouth-watering recipe that is perfect for sweetening certain moments of the day, such as breakfast, afternoon tea or coffee and, why not, even a tasty after-dinner drink: Coffee biscuits.

To enrich your table with more sweet temptations, try one of my favourite biscuits: gluten free Canestrelli.

Coffee biscuits

51.28g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 250g buckwheat flour mix, brand Petra 5**
  • 120g butter
  • 100g sugar
  • 50g hazelnut flour* (or hazelnuts to be blended into flour)
  • 40g milk chocolate with no added sugar*
  • 10g sprouted buckwheat flour* (optional)
  • 10g ground coffee
  • 1 cup of espresso coffee
  • 1 egg yolk
  • a pinch of salt

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. In a planetary mixer, whip the butter left at room temperature with the sugar. When the mixture is well whipped, add the ground coffee, egg yolk and espresso; mix everything together and only at the end add the buckwheat, hazelnut flour and sprouted buckwheat flour. Mix well and place in the refrigerator for a few hours.
  2. Roll out the shortcrust pastry between two sheets of baking paper and cut the biscuits into the desired shape or, as in this case, form a ball and place it in a paper cup.
  3. Bake in a static oven preheated to 175°C for 20 minutes.
    Meanwhile, melt the milk chocolate in a bain-marie, or in the microwave, and decorate just the tip of the biscuits.

biscottini-al-caffe-senza-glutine-uno-chef-per-gaia

Version with gluten of Coffee biscuits

Replace the Petra 5 flour with 280g cake wheat flour.

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The simple freshness of Mint flavoured beans

Today we have come up with a dish that can become a light main course or a perfect side dish to enrich a meal. Simple, genuine, tasty and ideal for any palate: one ingredient and herbs and you’re done, Mint flavoured beans.

Here’s how to prepare them for a fresh, healthy, naturally gluten-free and diabetes-friendly dish, perhaps accompanied by seasonal vegetables. I chose Borlotti beans that are very common in northern Italy, but feel free to pick your favourite beans for this salad.

And if you want an idea for another fresh and tasty salad, try this irresistible Swordfish salad.

Mint flavoured beans

18.56g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 160g dried borlotti or white beans (soaked for 12 hours)
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1 clove garlic
  • extra virgin olive oil, mint, salt and black or pink pepper

Preparation

  1. Boil the beans in water with celery and garlic; once cooked, remove the latter and drain the beans.
  2. Let the beans cool and season them with fresh mint leaves, a good extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper: it is a very simple dish, but really rich in flavour and aroma.

fagioli alla menta

Version with gluten of Mint flavoured beans

The recipe contains only naturally gluten-free ingredients, so no adaptation is necessary for its version with gluten.

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Cold weather? Go for a Lentil soup

As the cold weather arrives, the best thing to do is to pamper yourself with food that will warm even the coldest of days, providing the right amount of nutrients without forgetting taste, and for this there is nothing better than a steaming Lentil soup.

Well, the season of soups, the main dish for winter evenings, has begun again. The protagonists of our recipe are pulses and, more precisely, lentils. If you like lentils, discover Rascino lentils and how to cook them to prepare a Pulse pasta with Rascino lentils.

So, ready to prepare it?

Lentil Soup

12.26g carbohydrates per 100g soup without pasta

Ingredients

  • 200 g lentils
  • 100g carrots
  • 90g onions
  • 50g celery
  • gluten-free Ditalini rigati pasta** (optional)
  • water, parsley, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

Preparation

  1. Cover the lentils with water in a large saucepan, add the carrot, celery, a small bunch of parsley and the onion in large pieces and cook without salt.

zuppa-di-lenticchie-uno-chef-per-gaia

  1. Once the lentils are ready, drain them but keep the cooking water and remove the parsley.
    Put the carrot, celery and onion (if you do not like onion, you can remove it) and possibly some of the lentils in a food processor with a few tablespoons of cooking water and blend to form a cream.
  2. At this point, you can decide whether to complete the soup with or without pasta. In case you decide to prepare it with pasta, cook some Ditalini rigati in the cooking water of the lentils and, only at the end of cooking, pour the cooked lentils and the vegetable cream in the pan with pasta. If, on the other hand, you do not want to use pasta, assemble the soup by mixing the cooked lentils with the vegetable cream and the amount of cooking water necessary to reach the desired density.
  3. Then serve the soup hot with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

zuppa-di-lenticchie-uno-chef-per-gaia

Version with gluten of Lentil soup

The recipe contains only naturally gluten-free ingredients, so no adaptation is necessary for its version with gluten. If you add pasta, replace gluten-free pasta with standard pasta.

 

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Vegetable buns

Today the topic is leavened products and, more specifically, gluten-free Vegetable buns, so a tasty bread that can also be enjoyed on its own, because it is extremely tasty and pleasant.

The only downside: one bite leads to another!

Ready to get your hands in the dough to prepare some soft and fragrant Vegetable buns?
Let’s get started!

Vegetable buns

54.57g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 1 kg flour mix for bread and pizza, brand Molino Dallagiovanna**
  • 700g water
  • 175g mixed vegetables already sautéed (courgette, carrot, spring onion, pepper)
  • 25g chia seeds (soaked in 60 g water)
  • 12g brewer’s yeast
  • 10g salt
  • oil for brushing the surface, salt for vegetables, rice flour for dusting*

** Ingredients specific for celiacs

Preparation

  1. In a non-stick pan, cook a mixture of vegetables cut into strips or chunks, adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. Brown.
  2. In a planetary mixer or bowl, mix all the ingredients for the bread, add the cooked vegetables and continue kneading to obtain an even mixture. Dust a cutting board with rice flour and put the dough on it; let it rest, i.e. pre-rise, for about 15-20 minutes.
  3. With the help of a metal scraper, form rectangular pieces of dough, place them on baking tins covered with parchment paper and let them rise for about 2 hours.
  4. When the rolls are nice and puffy and have doubled in volume, brush them with oil and bake them in a static oven preheated to 200°C for about 30 minutes.

panini-alle-verdure-senza-glutine-uno-chef-per-gaia

Version with gluten of Vegetable buns

Replace the gluten-free Molino Dallagiovanna flour with an equal amount of wheat flour and mix with 500g water.

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Quinoa pies with avocado

Today’s recipe is vegetarian and very, very tasty: Quinoa pies with avocado, a dish I tasted, in a more American version, on one of my overseas business trips and wanted to adapt it to a more ‘Italian’ taste.

Simple, healthy ingredients for a dish that is perfect as an appetiser, focusing on lightness without sacrificing taste. If you like quinoa, try also Quinoa surprises.

Get ready!

Quinoa pies with avocado

carbohydrates 14.84g per 100g without mozzarella and mustard chutney

 Ingredients

  • 95g avocado pulp (approx. ½ avocado)
  • 75g quinoa
  • 50g spring onion
  • 1 mint leaf
  • 1 sprig of parsley
  • extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, buffalo mozzarella, apricot mustard chutney*, valerian

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Cook the quinoa for about 15 minutes in lightly salted water (usually twice its weight), then leave to cool.
  2. Meanwhile, in a non-stick pan, soften the finely chopped spring onion on low heat. In a bowl, mash the avocado pulp with a fork and add chopped mint and parsley. Season the cooked quinoa with the avocado cream, add the cooked spring onion and, finally, season with salt and pepper.
  3. Using a pastry cutter, form a disc of quinoa directly on the serving dish; accompany the flan with sliced buffalo mozzarella, a pinch of apricot mustard chutney and a few valerian leaves as decoration.

tortini-di-quinoa-allavocado-uno-chef-per-gaia

Version with gluten of Quinoa pies with avocado

The recipe contains only naturally gluten-free ingredients, so no adaptation is necessary for its version with gluten.

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