Pulse pasta with Rascino lentils

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Do you remember my Amatriciana? It was the first stop of the trip to the province of Rieti during which I had anticipated the second stop: Pulse pasta with Rascino lentils.

Pulse pasta with Rascino lentils.

But what is so special about Rascino lentils and where are they from?

These small lentils are only grown on the Rascino Plateau in the mountainous Cicolano area (did you know it? Discover Lago del Salto and Lago del Turano: two enchanting corners of Italy where tourism rarely arrives) at an altitude of almost 1200m and without the use of herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilisers. The seed is handed down by the farmers of the ‘Associazione dei produttori Lenticchia di Rascino’ (Rascino Lentil Producers’ Association), which safeguards its qualities and cultivation techniques, and since 2014, the Rascino Lentil has been a  Slow Food Presidium.

The Rieti Chamber of Commerce kit

The recipe we prepared live from every corner of Italy with the products of the kit shipped by the Rieti Chamber of Commerce is a summary of its territory: lentils, lentil pasta, guanciale amatriciano, extra virgin olive oil Sabino PDO and Sabino chilli pepper.

In addition to lentils (which do not need to be soaked), the new ingredient for this appointment is lentil pasta, made from water and flour obtained by stone grinding the small pulse. This pasta is handmade using bronze dies, is then dried at low temperatures, is naturally gluten-free and has a truly amazing texture! And the shapes are incredible, so much so that we prepare the recipe with the shape called rakes which I have never had the pleasure of tasting before.

Il tavolo pronto per cucinare con gli ingredienti ricevuti nel kit

The table ready to cook with the ingredients received in the kit

The only downside to such goodness is that it is not suitable for consumption by celiacs, as the stone mill in which the flour is milled is not dedicated solely to pulses. What better occasion than this article to appeal to the manufacturers to give us this pasta in a totally gluten free version! In fact, for Gaia, I had to replace the pasta with a commercial lentil pasta, no comparison… what a pity!

It always amazes me how a few ingredients, simple and of poor origin, can give rise to such refined dishes: not only for me, but for my whole family, this soup prepared with Rascino lentils and guanciale amatriciano is the best lentil dish we have ever eaten!

Are you ready to prepare it? Remember, however, that for an unforgettable result, you must have the patience to seek out the original ingredients: I did this by buying directly from the producers and in this way I did a good thing for our bellies, our health and our national economy.

Pulse pasta with Rascino lentils

11.21g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 1.5 l boiling water
  • 200g Rascino lentils
  • 160g lentil pasta*
  • 80g tomato sauce
  • 50g Guanciale amatriciano* (pork cheek)
  • 50g carrots
  • 40g onions
  • 30g celery
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 hot chilli
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Prepare chopped onion, carrot and celery and brown the vegetables in a pan (I chose a crock pot) with the garlic clove, extra virgin olive oil and the diced Guanciale. As soon as the vegetables are sweated, add tomato sauce and chilli pepper, then let everything gain flavour.
  2. Wash the lentils well in a colander, then add them to the sautéed vegetables with the bay leaf and boiling water to cover the lentils. Cook the lentils for 20 minutes, when they are still al dente.
  3. Add hot water to the soup before throwing in the pasta, which you cook for the time indicated on the package so that it absorbs the added water.
La pasta con l'aggiunta di acqua per portare a cottura gli ingredienti

Pasta with water added to cook al the ingredients

  1. Serve the soup hot and with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to enhance the flavour of all the ingredients. Since I love soups, don’t miss my Lentil Soup and my Pumpkin and lentil soup with paprika.

Pasta di legumi con lenticchie di Rascino

Version with gluten of Pulse pasta with Rascino lentils

The recipe contains only naturally gluten free ingredients (note, however, that the pulse pasta must be marked ‘gluten free’ or bear the crossed-out ear of wheat symbol to be suitable for consumption by celiacs), so no adaptation is needed for the version with gluten.

 

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The perfect Amatriciana

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Do we really know where this dish comes from and how to prepare a Perfect Amatriciana?

Pronta a cucinare online dalla mia cucina

Ready to cook online from my kitchen

Discovering Amatriciana

Although the fame of Amatriciana sauce is linked to the city of Rome, its true cradle lies in the heart of our country. If you were to take a compass and place it in the centre of Italy, its point would probably end in Rieti, the easternmost city in Lazio between Umbria and Abruzzo, which gathers gastronomic traditions and extraordinary products from all these regions, and in whose province the city of Amatrice is located.

And it is from Rieti that the virtual journey in which I participated together with other bloggers, journalists and cooking enthusiasts began. Since we could not physically go there due to Covid restrictions, the Rieti Chamber of Commerce thought of making the products travel and sent us the kits containing the ingredients to prepare some traditional local recipes, more or less well-known outside their province of origin.

For our journey, from every region of Italy we went online armed with equipment, ingredients and a lot of curiosity. As good and diligent students, we listened to find out where the products we had received came from and how we should use them in our recipes, guided step by step by a local chef.

The perfect Amatriciana

First gastronomic encounter of the trip: Gricia and Amatriciana. Having to choose which of the two recipes to cook live, at my place they overwhelmingly opted for Amatriciana… and we didn’t regret it! This is how I find out that Amatriciana is a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed regulated by Specifications where, I must admit, some ingredients are a surprise. In fact, in addition to the ever-present guanciale (mind you, not pancetta!), extra virgin olive oil and  tomato sauce or peeled tomatoes, there are also white wine and chilli pepper. Naturally, the recommended ingredient is Pecorino cheese of the Amatriciano or Pecorino Romano DOP type.

Io, pronta per la diretta per cucinare gli spaghetti all'Amatriciana

Waiting to cook spaghetti all’Amatriciana live

Ingredients

Each of these ingredients tells a story. The matured pork cheek, Guanciale, tells us of the shepherds who were forced away from home for 4-5 months, usually from May to September, for the transhumance. For their sustenance, they carried some easy to store and nutritious products, such as Guanciale and flour. In an iron frying pan with a long handle, shepherds could thus cook their frugal, hearty main course: Pastasciutta (i.e. pasta), where pecorino cheese was the ingredient always available in the cool mountain pastures.

And the tomato? Just think that in Italy, this much-loved fruit only met pasta in the 1800s and, in the Amatrice area, the encounter became eternal love, giving rise to one of the best-known dishes of Italian cuisine. From here, shepards arrived in Rome with the many inhabitants of the town of Amatrice who emigrated there in search of work and found it mainly in restaurants and food shops offering products from their area of origin, which soon became the symbol of cheap, popular cuisine.

Which pasta shape should be cooked with Amatriciana sauce? Our precious kit contained artisan spaghetti made with Senatore Capelli wheat which we had to give up due to the presence of gluten, so we replaced them with a gluten free version accessible to the whole family. The alternative to spaghetti is definitely Bucatini, a shape that I have, however, never found on the market in a gluten free version.

I must admit that this Amatriciana was indeed one of the best I have ever tasted and, given the simplicity of its preparation, it is once again confirmed that it is the ingredients that make the difference. Guanciale by Salumificio Sanolocated between the Monti della Laga and Monti Sibillini National Parks, caressed our palate with the soft and fragrant crunchiness of the strips dipped in sweet tomato, but the product that really bewitched me was the mature Pecorino cheese from Azienda Agricola D’Ascenzoa small business located in the heart of the Riserva Naturale dei Laghi Lungo e Ripasottile, a green oasis in the Rieti plain where the flock can graze freely, feeding on fresh herbs that give the cheese scents and flavours that leave their mark.

So are you ready? Would you like to know how we prepared our Amatriciana?

Here is the recipe!

Spaghetti all’amatriciana

26g of carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 400g spaghetti**
  • 400g peeled tomatoes or tomato sauce
  • 200g Guanciale Amatriciano Sano* (pork cheek)
  • 80g matured Pecorino, La Riserva D’Ascenzo, grated
  • 50g white wine
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • chili
  • a grinding of black pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. We cut Guanciale into strips of about 5x10mm and put them in the iron pan (which was sent to us together with the ingredients because this also makes a difference!) with a drizzle of oil, taking care to have only one layer of Guanciale in the pan so that all the pieces could be in contact with the hot iron bottom. We let the fat melt slowly, allowing the Guanciale to cook, becoming crispy on the surface.
  2. We doused Guanciale with the wine, then added the peeled tomatoes broken up with our hands (I added passata) and the chilli pepper. The chef told us that at home the sauce was put on the stove in the morning and left there for hours, whereas today the custom is to let the sauce cook for no more than half an hour.
  3. To complete, we added grated Pecorino cheese directly into the tomato.
  4. We put a pan of water on the stove, brought it to the boil, salted it and threw in Spaghetti.
  5. We drained Spaghetti and poured them into the pan with the sauce to finish cooking, added a grinding of pepper and served.
  6. Finally, we added a sprinkling of grated Pecorino cheese and a spoonful of sauce left in the pan. Simply divine!
Il piatto pronto da mostrare allo chef

The dish ready to show the chef

The second recipe we will prepare on the journey? Pulse pasta with Rascino lentils. Stay tuned!

Gli spaghetti all'amatriciana pronti per essere gustati

Spaghetti all’amatriciana ready to be enjoyed 

 

 

 

 

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Parma Accoglie: Savoury biscuits with Parma Ham mousse

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This Savoury biscuits with Parma Ham mousse  is my second recipe dedicated to the project Parma Accoglie that I presented in the recipe dedicated to Parmigiano.

Why Food Valley?

Have you ever wondered why Parmigiano Reggiano and Parma Ham come from the same area? This is certainly no coincidence and the link between them should make us reflect on the sustainability of the supply chain. In fact, the whey left over after making Parmigiano cheese (thus a product that would be processing waste) is one of the main foodstuffs in the diet of the Po Valley Heavy Pig intended for the production of ham and the rich range of deli meats that take their name from the villages in the province of Parma where they are made, a veritable map of specialities (Culatello from Zibello, Salame from Felino, Spalla from San Secondo).

Parma ham, especially with the lengthy maturation as in this recipe, is extraordinary as it is, and the best advice may be to handle it as little as possible in the kitchen. For this reason, I thought I would propose a recipe in which the ham is not cooked, but on the contrary is kept cold because that does not alter its aroma and flavour.

An unusual use of Parma Ham

It may seem like a waste to put a 24-month Parma ham in the freezer, but beware: thanks to the presence of salt and the scarcity of water, the ham will not freeze, it will merely become cold and harder. This way, we can blend it to obtain what I like to call ‘grated ham’, without it heating up and changing its smell and taste (see how to use it in other recipes).

As the ham returns to room temperature and you serve the Savoury biscuit with Parma ham mousse, the ham releases all its wonderfully sweet aromas. I adore the combination of those with the notes of the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar produced a few kilometres further east.

If you want to discover the secrets of how Parma Ham is madein addition to enjoying it in local trattorias and restaurants during your visit, you can come back during the Prosciutto Festival held every year in early September in the town of Langhirano towards the Apennines (unfortunately not in 2020) or organise a visit to one of the 200 ham factories. I assure you that after seeing the level of care and detail put in its production, it will taste even better!

And to find out what to do in and around Parma, explore some suggestions on the blog posted by my friend Aura.

I biscotti salati con mousse di Prosciutto di Parma e gocce di Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale

Savoury biscuits with Parma ham mousse and drops of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar

Parma Accoglie and my recipe for Savoury biscuits with Parma ham mousse

43.45g carbohydrates per 100g of savoury biscuits

2.6g carbohydrate per 100g mousse

 Ingredients for the savoury sablé dough (you will need half)

  • 200g flour for bread and yeast BiAglut** (or wheat flour for those who can have it)
  • 130g butter
  • 60g almonds
  • 1 egg white (approx. 40g)
  • 30g wholemeal teff flour*
  • 30g corn starch
  • 7g salt

Ingredients for the ham mousse (15 single portions)

  • 220g real or vegetable cream
  • 80g Parma ham matured for 24 months in a single slice and placed in the freezer
  • 5g gelatine sheets*
  • Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena or Reggio Emilia
  • parsley leaves for decoration

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Prepare the mousse, which needs to rest for at least 1 hour in the freezer. Soak the gelatine in a small bowl of cold water. Place the ‘frozen’ Parma ham in the  food processor and blend it finely, but without it heating up. Add 100g of cream to the grated ham.
  2. Pour 20g of cream into a saucepan and heat it; add the soaked gelatine so that it melts completely, then pour it into the container with the ham.
  3. Whip the remaining cream and fold it in the ham mixture with a spatula. Fill the chosen moulds with the mousse (I chose these), determine the size according to the sablé biscuit you will be making. I chose a 5cm diameter) and place in the freezer until the mousse is hard enough to be taken out of the moulds without difficulty.
  4. Prepare the sablé dough for the biscuits that will serve as the base for your mousse. This dose is about twice as much as you will need, but, unless you use pasteurised egg whites, it cannot be divided. So take advantage of this to make extra savoury biscuits that you can combine with dips and soft cheeses for your aperitifs. Mix the flour with the butter to form crumbs, then add all the other ingredients to form a smooth, compact mixture.
  5. Take two sheets of baking paper and place the sablé in between; with the help of a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 4mm and, leaving it on the paper and placing it on a tray, put it in the refrigerator to rest for at least 20 minutes. When the sablé is firm, cut small disks with a 5cm diameter biscuit cutter and place the disks on a perforated silicone mat. This way you will be able to knead and cut the dough very well.
  6. Bake the biscuits in a static oven preheated to 160°C for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
  7. Remove the mousses from the moulds. If you are going to serve them soon, keep them at room temperature for about 30 minutes before finishing them or store them in the fridge until you need them: they will last perfectly for 2 days.
  8. Take a biscuit, place the mousse on it and top with a few drops of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena or Reggio Emilia. Decorate with a parsley leaf.
Il biscotto e la mousse: perfetti finger food

Biscuits and mousse: a perfect finger food

Version with gluten of Savoury biscuit with Parma ham  mousse

Simply replace the 200g of gluten-free flour for the savoury sablé biscuit with an equal amount of wheat flour.

 

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Parma Accoglie: Crème brûlé with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

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When something good happens you cannot keep it to yourself, you have to share it and rejoice in it all together. And the project ‘Parma Accoglie‘ is really something beautiful. It is a simple, yet extraordinary way to say thank you to the people who made themselves available to the community during the Covid emergency.

What does the ‘Parma Accoglie’ initiative consist of? Federalberghi Parma in collaboration with Ascom Parma, Consorzio Albergatori Promo Parma, FIPE – Pubblici Esercizi and Parma Quality Restaurant, with the patronage of the Municipality of Parma, have decided to offer a stay of up to two nights free of charge in a local hotel with the possibility of a typical Parma dinner, at a special price, in one of the participating restaurants to health, medical, nursing, volunteer, Civil Defence, Public Assistance and  Italian Red Cross personnel.

Any ideas of what you’ll do while in Parma? In the meantime, here are some shots of the city taken by my photographer friend Francesca Bocchia then I will share some activity proposals with you shortly!

And I hope to contribute to your desire to come to my city through the extraordinary products that have made it world-famous and through a few recipes that you will certainly not find in the city’s restaurants… because you absolutely must try the fresh stuffed pasta and the deli meats and cheese platters!

A land of great products

To tell you about my land, I have decided to propose recipes in which Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma (here is the recipe) are used in an unusual way as I am sure that the ‘usual way’ will be known even to those who are not from Parma!

My ‘obligatory’ starting point is Parmigiano Reggiano, the product I was born and raised with, as my family has been producing it since 1895. It is natural that I adore the product that has accompanied me for as long as I can remember and that has marked the rhythms of my family’s life, but Parmigiano has remained a table companion even after diabetes and celiac disease entered our lives, so it is even more precious to us!

Parmigiano Reggiano contains no carbohydrates and is allergen-free. It is also suitable for those who are intolerant to milk proteins if it is purchased with a maturation of 36 months or more. And to alleviate the guilt in case we are overwhelmed by its goodness and can’t stop ourselves in front of its fragrant slivers accompanied by fresh fruit, bread, nuts or a glass of full-bodied red wine, you should know that Parmigiano is a semi-fat cheese as it is made with half of the milk partially skimmed (find out how)!

My recipe to try to make you forever prisoners of the Parmigiano Reggiano spell and continue to welcome you to Parma? A soft cream enveloping fruit and enclosing it under a crunchy caramelised crust… after all, popular culture has warned us: don’t let the farmer (and us) know how good cheese with pears is!

La crème brûlé pronta per essere gustata

Crème brûlé ready to be enjoyed

Parma Accoglie and my recipe for Crème brûlé with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

10.93g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 6 servings

  • 250g ripe pear (or white grapes)
  • 300g real or vegetable cream
  • 100g milk
  • 50g grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
  • 40g egg yolk (2 yolks)
  • 30g brown sugar
  • ½ lemon
  • ½ vanilla pod

 Preparation

  1. Bring the cream and milk to the boil with the seeds contained in half a vanilla pod. In a bowl, whip the egg yolks until stiff and pour the hot milk over them in a trickle. Add the grated Parmesan cheese and incorporate well.
  2. Cut the pear into small pieces, put it in a non-stick pan with the juice of half a lemon and let it soften slightly, allowing all the lemon juice to dry.
  3. Take 6 mini-mouldsput the pear pieces or cut grapes on the bottom, pour the milk, egg and Parmesan mixture on top and put the moulds on a baking tin containing hot water that should reach halfway up the moulds.
  4. Bake in a static oven preheated to 120°C for 1 hour. Remove and allow to cool, then transfer the moulds to the refrigerator until serving time.
  5. At this point, sprinkle the surface with brown sugar and caramelise it with the special torch. Serve the crème brûlé immediately.
La superficie caramellata della crema

The caramelised surface of Créme brûlé

Version with gluten of Crème brûlé with Parmesan cheese

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

 

 

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20 di cambiamento: Polenta di roveja alle alici

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This is my second (and last… at the moment) recipe from the Umbria stop of the ‘20 di cambiamento  project”. Roveja polenta with anchovies (polenta that here takes the name Farecchiata or Pesata) tells of a pulse, much less known than the Castelluccio Lentils, indeed I would say almost unknown outside the area where it is grown: Roveja.

Unknown foods

Roveja is a small pea-like pulse with a pod that, at first green in colour, turns dark purple as it matures; it is harvested between the end of July and the beginning of August. The dried pulse is brown in colour.

La roveja essiccata, materia prima di zuppe e farine

Dried Roveja, the raw material for soups and flours (photo: La Repubblica)

In ancient times, Roveja was cultivated on the entire Umbria and Marche Apennine ridge, from the Colfiorito Plateau to the Gran Sasso mountain through Cascia and Castelluccio, thanks to its resistance to low temperatures and its low need for water for cultivation.

Although it was the mainstay of the diet of shepherds and farmers, especially in soups prepared also with other pulses, Roveja almost completely disappeared from the market after World War II due to its tiring and unprofitable cultivation methods.

To save this cultivation from oblivion, in 2006 Slow Food turned it into a Presidium involving a few farmers from the Valnerina valley in the municipality of Cascia who continue to cultivate it to this day very similarly to lentils. Roveja can be eaten fresh or dried, or it can be stone ground to obtain a flour with a slightly bitter aftertaste, and it is the main ingredient in our recipe.

Il fiore della roveja

Roveja flowers (photo: Bikers in cresta)

A recipe for ’20 di cambiamento’

And this is my second recipe (the first recipe was Ricotta and lentil tart) because I tasted Roveja for the first time in my life thanks to a trip to Castelluccio and to my friend and blogger Cristiana Curri (https://blog.giallozafferano.it/chicchecris/). It is a pulse and therefore it does not contain gluten, but it does contain complex carbohydrates which, by absorbing a lot of water during the digestive process, contribute to a gradual rise in blood sugar levels, keeping them constant and avoiding peaks.

I also like the fact that the Polenta is flavoured (given the difficulty of finding salt in these mountains, it is no coincidence that unsalted bread is also common here) by an anchovy sauce, the fish that used to be preserved in salt, becoming long-lasting, nutritious and practical to transport, which is present in many recipes from areas that are far from the sea precisely because of these extraordinary characteristics (just think of Piedmont’s Bagna Cauda).

It is an iconic dish of Umbrian cuisine and by preparing Roveja polenta, we will therefore be doing ourselves a favour, but above all we will be helping to safeguard the biodiversity of this area and to keep alive a product and its centuries-old tradition. Furthermore, you will only need four ingredients to prepare a truly amazing dish… in addition to water!

A little anecdote: when I first made Roveja Polenta, I cooked a lot of it because I did not know its yield, texture and taste. In fact, I ended up with a whole dish full of Polenta I hadn’t even touched! The next day, when the Polenta was perfectly firm, I used it to prepare a gratin by alternating layers of Roveja Polenta, stewed Tropea red onion, chopped celery and grated salted ricotta cheese… a delight!

La polenta di roveja con le alici pronta per essere gustata

Roveja Polenta with anchovies   

7.78g carbohydrates per 100g

 Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 450g water
  • 100g Roveja flour*
  • 60g extra virgin olive oil
  • 10 fillets of salted anchovies or anchovies in oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • coarse salt for the water
  • celery (optional)

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

Preparation

  1. Put the water on the stove and bring it to the boil; add salt to the water and when the salt has completely dissolved, remove the pot from the heat just long enough to pour in the Roveja flour, stirring with a whisk so that no lumps form.
  2. Put the pot back on the heat and stir the mixture frequently with a wooden spoon so that it does not stick to the bottom. Cook the Polenta over low heat for about 25 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. If you decide to use salted anchovies, remove the salt on the surface with a sharp knife and remove the central bone. For convenience, I opted for anchovy fillets in oil. Then put the oil in a small pan, add the garlic cut in half and let it brown slightly, then remove it and add 6 anchovy fillets and let them melt.
  4. When the Polenta is ready, assemble the dishes by making a layer of Polenta, season it with the anchovy sauce and finish with 1 whole rolled anchovy fillet. I decided to serve the Polenta accompanied by celery sticks to give the recipe a fresh touch and make it more suitable for the warm season.

 

Il piatto finito con i pochi ingredienti necessari per prepararlo

Version with gluten of Roveja Polenta with anchovies

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

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20 di cambiamento: Ricotta and lentil tart

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The Ricotta and Lentil Tart is the start of a wonderful journey in the company of a blogger friend, Aura from the blog www.aurasenzaelle.comduring which we will accompany you to discover the regions of our enchanting Italy with an itinerary of trekking and typical dishes.

The ’20 di cambiamento’ project

My friend Aura’s project is called ‘20 di cambiamento‘ and is a tour throughout Italy divided into weekends. I summarise it in 4 points, but you can read the full description in this article:

  • One visit in each of the 20 Italian regions;
  • One trek in each of the 20 visits;
  • A different person for each of the 20 visits to act as a guide to connect with that place;
  • A virtuous local company (for sustainability, environmental commitment, production respecting the land) to be visited, supported and promoted.

This is where I come in with the recipes of the dishes that you will find if you travel to that region and that you can then reproduce at home, in gluten or gluten free versions and with a carbohydrate count, to relive the experience also through taste.

The first stop

The journey starts from a region, Umbria, which is often not at the top of the list of those visiting Italy, but which is a jewel for its historical and monumental wealth (just think of Assisi), for its natural beauty (and here you can enjoy this trek) and an unexpected source of culinary specialities.

La Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi

Umbria owes much of its identity to the presence of the monastic orders that attracted the faithful from all over Europe. And it was precisely the pilgrims who had a very significant influence on the cuisine of the area because of the need they had to carry food in their saddle bags that could be stored easily. It is no coincidence that roasted meats, cured meats, Schiacciate (flat bread) and Polenta, desserts prepared with nuts, but above all pulses are the mainstay of traditional regional cuisine.

The widespread use of herbs for both cooking and curative purposes is also linked to the presence of religious orders with the liturgical calendar often imposing ‘lean’ periods during which herbs were used to replace fragrant, rich meats.

In addition to truffles, fish from Lake Transimeno and wines, here is a list of Umbria’s PGI and PDO products:

  • Extra virgin olive oil PDO
  • Spelt from Monteleone di Spoleto PDO (which we eating ‘gluten free’ cannot use)
  • Colfiorito red potato PGI
  • Prosciutto di Norcia PGI
  • Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale PGI
  • Lamb of Central Italy PGI
  • Pecorino Toscano PDO
  • Italian Salamini alla Cacciatora PDO
  • Lentil of Castelluccio di Norcia PGI

The first recipe

The first recipe (see also the second recipe!) that I want to share with you starts from the flower fields of Castelluccio di Norcia where lentils are harvested in summer after flowering, between May and the end of June, next to a multitude of wild flowers that make the phenomenon an enchanting and unique attraction.

La fioritura a Castellucchio di Norcia

The flowering of Castelluccio di Norcia (photo: Aura Moia)

The Castelluccio lentil is small, round and has a thin skin so that it does not have to be soaked to cook it. This pulse was one of the main sources of sustenance for the shepherds of the area, who combined it with the other ingredients offered by sheep farming. This is the origin of the Ricotta and lentil tart, a cake where lentils replace chocolate chips in a delicious way. I wanted to prepare this recipe because for those of us who do not live in Castelluccio, eating lentils as a dessert is certainly less common than the wonderful soups that, here, are often flavoured by the presence of pork.

Zafferano di Cascia dell'Associazione Zafferano Purissimo dell'Umbria

Cascia saffron of the Associazione Zafferano Purissimo dell’Umbria (phooto: Aura Moia)

Another small but pleasant discovery: the ricotta and lentil tart can be made even more delicious by flavouring the ricotta with Cascia Saffron – Pure Umbria Saffron another of the jewels of small family farms whose economy is linked to the production and direct sale of saffron and the other products they grow, such as lentils, grass peas, spelt, Roveja (do you know it? It will be the star of the next Umbrian recipe) and cheese. I tried it using the yellow gold of the Zafferano e Dintorni company which I recommend you to try by going there as soon as you can or by ordering it directly from their website.

Gli ingredienti del ripieno della Crostata di ricotta e lenticchie

Ricotta and lentil tart   

36.61g carbohydrates per 100g

 Ingredients for the pastry for a 20cm diameter tart

  • 125g GF flour mix for sweets, brand Sarchio**
  • 50g butter
  • 50g brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 15g brown rice flour*
  • ½ lemon, peel
  • a pinch of salt

Ingredients for the filling

  • 400g sheep’s milk ricotta
  • 60g sugar
  • 40g Castelluccio lentils*
  • sweetener* or sugar
  • cinnamon powder

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Prepare the shortcrust pastry (of course you can also use other recipes for shortcrust pastry); pour the powders (flour and sugar) into a mixing bowl or planetary mixer, add the butter and start to knead it into the powders, then add the egg, the grated peel of half a lemon and a pinch of salt. Mix until the mixture is smooth, then place it in the refrigerator wrapped in cling film while you prepare the lentils and the filling.
  2. Place the lentils on a plate and make sure they do not contain other pulses or cereals, then rinse them well and place them in a saucepan with water and a bit of sweetener (I used Tic) or a teaspoon of sugar. Bring to the boil and cook the lentils for 15 minutes. Drain them and keep them aside.
  3. Put ricotta cheese in a bowl, add sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and the drained lentils.
  4. Roll out the shortcrust pastry into a thin disc; I used a 20cm diameter perforated metal ring to cut the base on a perforated silicone mat and then I covered the ring to form a pastry shell for the tart; alternatively, cover a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Fill the pastry with the ricotta and lentil filling and bake in a static oven preheated to 180°C for about 30 minutes. Let it cool and serve.
  5. Bake in a static oven preheated to 170°C for 45 minutes.

La Crostata di ricotta e lenticchie con gli ingredienti per il ripieno

Version with gluten of Ricotta and lentil tart

Use a standard shortcrust pastry, whereas the filling is prepared with naturally gluten free ingredients, so no other adaptation is necessary for its version with gluten.

 

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Talent for food: What would you have prepared?

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For a foodie, what could be nicer than getting to know the products of an area? This is the purpose of Talent for Food, the event designed to put bloggers from all over Italy in contact with companies producing and processing food, wines, spirits and liqueurs from the provinces of Padua and Treviso, of which Valdobbiadene, recently recognised as an intangible heritage of Unesco, is the best known expression.

Talent for Food: discovering the products of an area

How can you say no to such an extraordinary opportunity? So, I too submitted my application to participate in the initiative and after a few weeks I received the Mystery Box containing the 18 products to choose from to make a recipe… mouth-watering!

You can imagine that every time I embark on these wonderful adventures, there is always the fear that I cannot use most of the ingredients because of the presence of gluten… so bated breath until the mysterious box arrives!

I must admit that the first impact was… shocking, do you know why? Because the box had been damaged in transit, causing a bag of Agugiaro&Figna Molini organic wholemeal flour (one of their mills is just a stone’s throw from my house!) to break, which, of course, covered everything like a fine snowfall. What to do? Panic in the ranks! In the end, I decided to separate the gluten free products and subject them to a nice bath in the garden to try to remove all the flour from the waterproof packaging to avoid contamination of their contents when opened.

Having overcome my fear, I was finally able to ‘see’ the gifts from the land of Padua that I could use. Are you curious? Drum roll and here are the products to choose from for my gluten free proposal:

Agricola Grains high oleic sunflower oil https://www.agricolagrains.it/

Bbovis granulated stock preparation https://www.bovis.it/

Dialcos rice and quinoa pasta https://www.dialcos.it/

Molino Favero lentil flour http://www.molinofavero.com/

Goppion Native Coffee http://www.goppioncaffe.it/

Italdroghe saffron powder https://www.italdroghe.it/

Lazzaris strawberry mostarda https://www.lazzaris.com/

Serbosco artichoke cream https://www.serbosco.it/

Well organic stock https://www.brodowell.it/

My first idea of making a pie with a lentil crust, rice and quinoa pasta topped with artichoke sauce and saffron cream vanished in front of the packet of Dialsì pasta, which I found damaged, thus contaminated by the broken bag of wheat flour. I had to find an alternative quickly.

What would you have made with these ingredients?

What would you have prepared with these ingredients considering that the regulation required at least 5 ingredients to be used amongst the ones provided? One of my favourite desserts immediately came to mind: saffron panna cotta! All that was left for me to do was to think about how to use at least four more ingredients in the preparation and, despite the somewhat daunting premise, it only took a moment to come up with my dessert!

Saffron panna cotta is a bit of a workhorse of mine and I usually serve it by simply accompanying it with crumbled amaretti biscuits (super quick version), so I simply had to replace the amaretti biscuits with something similar, but more interesting: a lentil flour crumble. For this crumble, pre-cooked lentil flour and sunflower oil were two perfect allies. In fact, pre-cooked flour allows for better workability and texture, as well as shorter cooking times, and the high oleic oil is a perfect substitute for butter, but allows you to use half the amount.

Another ingredient I chose was coffee. I love coffee and its aroma paces my days, generally associating it with moments of pleasure and tranquillity, so pairing it with a dessert, the quintessential expression of pleasure, was almost a must. A nice coffe pot on the stove and voilà: I could replace water with coffee in a chocolate icing to obtain a coffee-flavoured chocolate sauce for an unforgettable treat.

The unexpected touch to the dish is the spicy sweetness of the strawberry Mostarda: Lazzaris often accompanies my cheese-based desserts (of which, as a good daughter of Parmigiano Reggiano producers, I am very fond), but never before has it accompanied a classic dessert: I’d say it passed the test very well!

Before I unveil the recipe, I’ll give you a smile: I decided to prepare the panna cotta in single portions (whereas I usually prepare it in a large version to be sliced) because I wasn’t sure about the plating…coffee chocolate cream on top or underneath? crumble on top or on the side? and the strawberry? So, with all these doubts, I prepared 8 single portions and set the whole family to work, asking each person to serve their favourite version of this panna cotta. We had a lot of fun and, above all, we ate up all the panna cotta we had prepared as a test! Fortunately, I kept a few aside to photograph and our favourite version is the one I’m sharing with you!

These are the official hashtags for Talent For Food: #talentforfood, #t4f, #aifbt4f, #aifb and this is anoter Panna cotta if you like this type of dessert.

Saffron Panna cotta with lentil crumble and strawberry mostarda

Panna cotta 20.22g carbohydrates per 100g

Crumble 46.83g carbohydrates per 100g

Coffee flavoured chocolate sauce 31g carbohydrates per 100g

Preparation time: 35 minutes

Cooking times: 30 minutes

Rest time: 6 hours

Ingredients for 8 servings

  • 500g fresh cream
  • 250g milk
  • 150g sugar
  • 2 sachets of saffron powder
  • 15g gelatine sheets* (3 sheets)

Ingredients for the crumble (you will have some left over to use as granola for breakfast)

  • 55g red lentil flour Bio Miks*
  • 40g almonds
  • 40g Demerara dark sugar
  • 30g wholemeal rice flour*
  • 20g organic high oleic sunflower oil Agricola Grains
  • 1 egg
  • 15g pine nuts

Ingredients for the coffee flavoured chocolate sauce

  • 150g fresh cream
  • 100g Goppion Coffee
  • 100g sugar
  • 75g dark chocolate*
  • 50g bitter cocoa powder*

Ingredients to complete

  • Lazzaris strawberry mostarda*

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

Preparation

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water.
  2. Mix cream, milk and sugar and put them on the stove in a saucepan. Stir to melt the sugar and when the mixture is hot, add the saffron and squeezed gelatine; stir until the gelatine is completely dissolved.
  3. Leave to cool and pour the mixture into 8 single-portion moulds of the desired shape. Put the moulds in the refrigerator for Panna cotta to solidify and cool for at least 6 hours.
  4. Prepare the crumble. Coarsely chop the almonds, leaving some whole, and mix them with the lentil flour, rice flour, pine nuts and sugar; then add the oil and egg to moisten the mixture and when it forms large crumbs, spread them out on a sheet of parchment paper and bake in a static oven preheated to 180°C for about 15 minutes or until the crumbs are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
  5. Prepare the chocolate sauce. Prepare 100g of coffee; put the cocoa powder in a small pan, pour in the coffee and stir with a whisk to obtain a lump-free cream, then add the cream and sugar and put on the heat for 5 minutes, stirring well with the whisk (if you have a thermometer, the temperature should be between 70 and 80 degrees, if you do not have a thermometer, keep the mixture just below the boiling point).
  6. Turn off the stove and add the lightly chopped chocolate, stirring with a whisk so that it melts completely, then leave to cool, stirring occasionally. Once the sauce has cooled, keep it in the refrigerator until it is time to serve the Panna cotta.
  7. To complete the Panna cotta, unmould each single-portion on the serving platter, top with the coffee chocolate sauce, sprinkle with crumble and complete with a Lazzaris strawberry.
Gli ingredienti della mia ricetta per Talent for Food

The ingredients of my recipe for Talent for Food

Version with gluten of Saffron Panna cotta with lentil crumble and strawberry mostarda

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

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Oh, deer! Potato and venison ravioli with Grappa del Trentino

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Why participate in a contest entitled ‘Trentino Grappa on your plate’?

For many reasons, but firstly because Grappa is a naturally gluten free distillate and because, when used in cooking, it can be enjoyed without too much concern by those with diabetes, so try my Potato and venison ravioli with Grappa del Trentino.

The invitation from the Istituto Tutela della Grappa del Trentino therefore came to me with immense joy also because I wanted to know more about Grappa since it is an exclusively Italian product (distillates produced in a similar way in other countries of the world are called Acquavite).

After meeting my fellow adventurers, namely the three other bloggers involved Annalisa from the blog Mi manca il saleOrsola of Ockstyle and Paola of Profumo di vaniglia, some chit-chat, a bite to eat and off to face the lion’s den of Trento (who said it’s cold in northern Italy??).

How Trentino grappa is produced

The first stop on this short but intense journey is the Pisoni Winery and Distillerywhere the family has been producing grappa since 1852 in a corner of paradise known as Valle dei Laghi, a strip of land between Lake Garda and the Brenta Dolomites where the microclimate resulting from the presence of large expanses of water and the altitude of the surrounding mountains guarantees those temperature swings between day and night that allow the grapes to develop unique perfumes and aromas.

Esposizione di prodotti della distilleria Pisoni

Pisoni distillery product display

We are accompanied by Giuliano, the brother who takes care of grappa in the family. He starts explaining to us that grappa is an alcoholic beverage obtained from the distillation of grape marc, i.e. the skins and seeds that remain after the grapes have been pressed to make wine.

Here at Pisoni’s, the vats and stills, in the silence immobilised by the seals affixed by the Customs Agency controlling the production subject to payment of excise duties, seem to be waiting for the moment when they will puff with steam, from September to November.

At that time of year, the vat is filled with grape marc and water, the latter is heated and turns into steam which, carrying with it the alcoholic and aromatic part, rises to the top, entering a tube that passes into a cooler where it condenses and returns to liquid form. This first distillate is called phlegm and has an alcohol content of 20-22 degrees since it still contains a part of water.

The phlegm is then cleaned by placing it in a bain-marie vat, i.e. heated by steam flowing through an interspace, so as to separate the good vapours from the less pleasant ones according to evaporation temperatures: the first ones to evaporate and be eliminated are called heads, the central part known as heart is kept, while the final part called tail is also removed. The great difficulty and skill of the master distiller lies in knowing when to make these “cuts” during distillation in order to preserve only the best of the distillate’s aromas and scents.

From raw grappa to finished grappa

The result of so much work is the raw grappa, i.e. a distillate at 80 degrees, which must undergo a final transformation that consists of adding water to lower the alcohol content to around 40 degrees and filtering it by freezing to remove traces of copper and fat (essential oils derived from grape skins) to obtain a perfectly clear liquid. At this point, the grappa is ready to be bottled or to continue its ageing in barrels for products that will develop specific characteristics.

Do you know how many litres of grappa you get from 100kg of grape marc? From a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 20 litres of raw grappa depending on the quality of the grape marc used: if the grapes are good, healthy and well ripened, they will give us not only better organoleptic characteristics, but also a greater quantity of finished product! The quality of grappa, Giuliano tells us, is made by nature and the master distiller’s cuts.

Giuliano also accompanies us into the cellars dug under the rock of the mountain on which the distillery building rests: here thousands of bottles of Trento DOC sparkling wine rest at a constant temperature of 10°C… a wonderful relief on a ‘red dot’ day of the hottest week of the year according to the weathermen! Well, we enjoy a glass of this splendid bubbly wine before moving on to Palazzo di Roccabruna, home of the Enoteca Provinciale del Trentino and our cooking contest.

The ‘Trentino Grappa on your plate’ Contest

Chef Sebastian Sartorelli , who prepared our mystery boxes, is also waiting for us here. The only certainty is that we will have to use grappa, while on the other ingredients the strictest mystery reigns. At 6 p.m. sharp, after a few photos and the heat rising as the oven and cooker are turned on, we can finally unravel the mystery: venison fillet, buckwheat, Fontal cheese and pear are the compulsory ingredients for our dish, but we also have ‘universal’ ingredients such as flour, eggs, seasonings, some vegetables, herbs and spices… in short, a riot of colours and scents!

You know what? There is no doubt in my mind: my dish will be a ravioli! Of course, here I have wheat flour on hand in addition to buckwheat and not the flours I am used to using to make gluten free ravioli… well, for those of us who are used to working with doughs that are as delicate as silk, a dough made with flour containing gluten is child’s play: rolling out the pastry is incredibly easy, it never breaks!

IMG_4756

The filling is a Trentino version of my grandmother’s potato tortelli: boiled potatoes, pears sautéed in grappa, grated Fontal and more grappa to flavour everything instead of Grandma Rina’s liqueur concoction.

Finally, the deer. “Oh, deer!” my interpreting background says to me when I see the venison fillet in the box, an “Oh, my God!” that turns right into “Oh, venison!”, which of course becomes the obligatory name of my dish: Oh, deer! Potato and venison ravioli with Grappa del Trentino.

Yes, I have never cooked venison before, even though I theoretically know how to do it. I macerate it with herbs and grappa while I boil the potatoes and prepare the dough. Finally, butter in the frying pan and when it is hot, I add the venison fillet and brown it on the surface, then add the marinade to evaporate the grappa and obtain a fragrant, slightly hazelnut-coloured cooking juices: exciting aromas!

The tasting and the jury

By now everything is ready and I just have to complete my project and let the judges taste it: Mirko Scarabello, President of the Istituto di Tutela Grappa del Trentino, as well as our mentor on the subject, Sebastian Sartorelli, chef for the events at the Enoteca and chef at the Hosteria Toblino in Madruzzo (TN), and Maria Grazia Brugnara, in charge of the promotion of wine and food products within the Trento Chamber of Commerce, as well as being a cheese, wine, oil and grappa taster.

The judges evaluate our dishes based on 6 criteria and on a scale from 0 to 10… but do you know the extraordinary thing? We all rank within a voting range of only 2 points and the winner of the contest is Annalisa from the blog ‘Mi manca il sale’ (I have no salt) because her dish is the one that goes best with grappa even when tasting it, bravo!

The one for which my ‘Oh, deer!’ stood out? The creativity and the techniques used… I assure you that as soon as I find a venison fillet like the one Chef Sebastian gave us, I will immediately cook it for my family, also because in Parma now there will be no shortage of Grappa!

‘Oh, deer!’ Potato and venison ravioli with Grappa del Trentino

carbohydrates 27g per 100g of raw ravioli without venison fillet

Ingredients for the buckwheat egg pasta for 6 servings

  • 200g Petra 1** or Nutrifree flour for fresh pasta** (in the contest I used 250g wheat flour 00)
  • 50g buckwheat flour*
  • 3 eggs
  • salt and water (only if the dough is too hard)

 

Ingredients for the filling

  • 400g potatoes
  • 100g pear
  • 80g Fontal cheese
  • 1 generous shot of aged Grappa del Trentino
  • salt and pepper

Ingredients for the venison

  • 1 small venison fillet
  • 30g butter
  • 1 small glass of aged Grappa del Trentino
  • aromatic herbs to taste
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt

Ingredients to complete

  • lemon peel
  • fresh oregano
  • flowers of aromatic herbs

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation of Potato and venison ravioli

  1. First boil the unpeeled potatoes until soft when piercing them with the tines of a fork.
  2. Marinate the venison fillet with herbs to taste, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a small glass of grappa.
  3. Prepare the dough: make a well with the 2 flours, crack the eggs in the centre, add a pinch of salt and start by beating the eggs with a fork; gradually incorporate the flour until you can knead the mixture using your hands. Only if the dough is too dry, wet your hands with water to complete the operation. When you have obtained a smooth and homogeneous mixture, put it to rest in a clean plastic bag.
  4. Peel the pear, cut it into small cubes and soften it for about ten minutes in a non-stick pan with a dash of grappa. Set it aside.
  5. Mash the potatoes while they are still hot, season with grated Fontal cheese, grappa, cooked pears, salt and pepper.
  6. Prepare the venison fillet. Put the butter in a non-stick frying pan, heat it very well, then add the venison fillet; brown it on all sides over a high heat for a few minutes until the surface is well browned, then add the marinade liquid to reduce it and enhance the browning. Remove from the heat, place both fillet and cooking juices in a small bowl and cover with aluminium foil.
  7. Prepare the ravioli. Roll out the dough thinly, but not too thinly (I set the machine on its last-but-one hole), place ‘nuts’ of filling 5cm apart, fold the pastry over to cover the filling, press the pastry tightly around the filling using your fingers, then cut half moons with a pastry cutter.
  8. Boil the ravioli in lightly salted boiling water, cook them for as long as necessary, feeling the pasta from time to time, drain them with a slotted spoon, place them on a tea towel, then on the serving dish. Dress them with a very thin slice of venison fillet, the venison’s cooking juices, a little grated lemon peel and a few small leaves of fresh oregano and herbs.
Oh, deer! Raviolo di patate e cervo alla Grappa del Trentino

Oh, deer! Potato and venison ravioli with Grappa del Trentino

If you like making ravioli, you can also try Ravioli with prawns and cherry tomatoes

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