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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Onion soup au gratin

Here in the Po Valley, the fog has been with us for a few days and do you know what dish I love on these days? Onion soup au gratin.

Hot, fragrant, with melted Pecorino cheese and crispy on the surface, the whole family loves it and it is perfect as a one-course meal.

For the onion soup au gratin, you will only need very few ingredients, a diving mask (I’m joking of course, but it’s the only tool to keep you from crying while slicing the large amount of onions you need!) and a cooking time of 40 minutes, which you will have to plan. After that, enjoy this fantastic dish!

I forgot, you can also follow the recipe step by step in the video that kept us company in the spring lockdown: enjoy the video.

Onion soup au gratin   

11.88g carbohydrates per 100g

 Ingredients

  • 1kg white onions
  • 1lt vegetable or meat stock
  • 200g fresh Pecorino cheese
  • 4 slices of bread** (in my case 160g, i.e. 40g per slice)
  • 50g matured Pecorino cheese
  • 30g extra virgin olive oil
  • 20g brown rice flour*
  • salt and pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Peel the onions and cut them into very thin slices, perhaps with the help of a mandoline. Heat the oil in a crock pot, add the onions, salt and let them stew slowly with the lid on for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  2. Sprinkle the onions with the sifted flour, stir well so that no lumps form, pour in the boiling stock, cover the pan again and cook for another 40 minutes.
  3. Divide the soup among 4 ovenproof single-portion bowls, cover them with a slice of toasted bread with a slice of fresh Pecorino cheese and put the bowls under the oven grill until the cheese has melted. Once removed from the oven, top with grated matured Pecorino cheese and a grinding of pepper.

zuppa di cipolle gratinata

Onion soup au gratin ready to eat

Version with gluten

Simply replace the gluten-free bread with standard bread.

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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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Escarole Cream with Speak and croutons

Cream of escarole with Speck and croutons is a perfect idea for warm dinners in the first cold days of autumn. Being vegetable-based, the cream itself is naturally gluten free and has very low carbohydrate content, possibly offset by the addition of fragrant and tasty croutons.

Escarole cream is very much appreciated by those who like slightly bitter flavours, while it might not appeal to children who are not used to these notes: my children love it and enjoy alternating Speck with cubes of sweet Salame Felino  (something that Parma’s homes almost always have in stock) which helps to balance the dish.

The version I propose is also lactose and egg free. If you like, and always lactose free, you can also season it with Parmesan cheese slivers and a few walnuts for a completely different taste.

In the calculation of carbohydrates, I have not considered croutons because the amount added to the escarole cream may vary greatly, as can the type of bread we decide to use to prepare them: personally, I am partial to wholemeal bread, such as the Dark bread with flax seedswhich allows us to obtain very fragrant croutons.

So with the cold weather approaching, be prepared that we won’t run out of creams and soups!

Escarole Cream with Speak and croutons   

2.70g carbohydrates per 100g without croutons

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 1kg escarole
  • 300g leek
  • 300g vegetable stock
  • 120g Speck in strips*
  • 30g extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Ingredients for croutons

  • 3 slices of wholemeal bread**
  • 30g extra virgin olive oil
  • salt, pepper, dried marjoram

Preparation

  1. Slice the leeks and sautée them in a large saucepan with extra virgin olive oil and a few whole chilli peppers, which you will then remove before blending; add the escarole cut into strips, allow it to take on flavour for about 5 minutes, then add 2 ladles of stock, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Transfer everything into the jar of a food processor and blend to a fairly thick cream; season with salt and pepper. Should the cream be too runny, return it to the heat and let it thicken.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the croutons. Cut the bread slices into 2cm pieces. Heat extra virgin olive oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the bread pieces and let them toast slowly until crispy. Towards the end, season with salt, pepper and a sprinkling of marjoram, then leave to season and turn off the heat.
  3. Serve the escarole cream in soup plates and complete with the Speck in strips, croutons and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Crema di scarola con speck e crostini

Version with gluten of Escarole cream with Speak and croutons

The recipe contains only naturally gluten free ingredients except for the croutons, so replace the gluten free croutons with standard croutons.

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Venere rice turrets with almond cream and tomatoes

When you don’t know what to do and are in the mood for a tasty, beautiful and complete and balanced first course or one-course meal, Venere rice turrets with almond cream and tomatoes are definitely a possible answer, even fun to prepare together with me.

Discovering Venere rice

Did you know that Venere rice is an all-Italian product? It is the first Italian brown rice born, cultivated and processed exclusively in the historical rice-growing lands of Piedmont and the beautiful Tirso Valley in Sardinia.

It was the seed co-operative Sapise (Sardo Piemontese Sementi) that in 1997 crossed a very hardy local white rice variety with a black Asian variety that could not be cultivated in Italy, resulting in this rice that was named Venere after the planet in our solar system, but also after the goddess of love for its alleged aphrodisiac powers (in Asia, these properties are attributed to the black colour of the rice!). The trademark is registered and you can find all the information by clicking on this link: https://www.risovenere.it/

Personally, I find the aroma and taste of Venere rice irresistible, which makes me overcome any reluctance in the face of the long cooking time, which is the characteristic of all wholegrain rice types. Well, we know that brown rice has a much lower glycemic index than white rice, so this characteristic also makes it preferable to other options.

The quantities I propose for the almond and tomato cream, will certainly leave you with a little more than you need to serve the turrets, but I think it is worth making more so you can combine it with vegetable Pinzimonio and croutons as a healthy and delicious dip.

One last note that certainly never hurts: Venere rice turrets are also a treat for the eyes!

My recipe for Venere rice turrets with almond cream and tomatoes    

11.26g carbohydrates per 100g

 Ingredients for 4 turrets

  • 160g Venere rice
  • 300g cow’s milk mozzarella
  • 300g San Marzano tomatoes
  • 40g peeled almonds (soaked in water for a few hours)
  • 30g bread**
  • 12 cherry tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon of anchovy sauce or a few anchovies in oil
  • 1 bunch of basil
  • basil leaves to complete
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • apple vinegar
  • salt and pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Boil the rice in salted water, drain it and season it with lemon juice and anchovy sauce or 2 anchovies melted in olive oil in a heated pan for a few minutes, then let it cool. Cut 6 slices of mozzarella and let them drip. Take some square cutters 6-7cm long and fill with a layer of Venere rice, one of mozzarella then one of rice and press the layers down. Let it rest.
  2. Drain the almonds and put them in a food processor with the chopped San Marzano tomatoes, a pinch of salt, a handful of basil leaves and the crumbled bread. Blend until creamy.
  3. Cut the cherry tomatoes and season them with oil, salt and apple vinegar.
  4. Unmould the rice and mozzarella turrets, garnish with cherry tomatoes and a quenelle of tomato and almond cream on top of the turret. Complete with a few basil leaves, a drizzle of oil and a grinding of pepper.

Foto delle Torrette di riso venere con crema di mandorle e pomodori

Version with gluten of Venere rice turrets with almond cream and tomatoes

Replace the gluten-free bread with an equal amount of standard bread.

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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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Legumotti Salad with Caramelised Tropea onion

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Salads are a perfect solution for summer and this Legumotti salad mixed in a smooth, velvety Swiss chard cream, completed by sweet caramelised Tropea onions will give you the pleasure of a great gourmet dish.

The recipe is naturally gluten free and is rich in vegetable protein and fibre, suitable to be eaten at lunch or dinner, warm or cold; it is perfect as a main course if eaten in a large portion, or as an appetiser or first course if served in smaller quantities.

The Swiss chard cream will be a real surprise that you can use for so many other preparations: use it as an accompanying sauce for flans and fresh stuffed pasta, roast meat, mixed salads and, of course, as a sauce for pasta dishes (gnocchi with this cream are delicious).

Caramelised Tropea onions don’t need to be introduced. The only attention we have to pay is to the sugar they contain, either naturally or by adding brown sugar to caramelise them. In fact, onions behave like some other vegetables (e.g. carrots and peppers) which, when cooked, considerably increase the amount of carbohydrates per 100g: the raw onion contains 5.7g/100g, whereas once cooked, the value rises to 23.6g/100g.

For this reason, I have given you the carbohydrate value of caramelised onions separately so you can better calculate the carb count when adding them to your dish or preparing them for many other applications. Oh yes, because once you have prepared the caramelised Tropea onion, you can use it to season a pasta dish, fill a sandwich or focaccia, accompany a meat or fish main course, or even to complete a spoon dessert that I happened to taste on one of my culinary adventures.

Insalata di Legumotti con cipolla di Tropea caramellata

Legumotti salad with Swiss chard cream, caramelised Tropea onion and topped with grated salted ricotta

Legumotti Salad with Caramelised Tropea onion

24.52g carbohydrates per 100g cooked Legumotti pasta with Swiss chard cream

47.62g carbohydrates per 100g caramelised Tropea onion

 

Ingredients for the Legumotti and Swiss chard cream

  • 250g Barilla Legumotti*
  • 300g fresh Swiss chard already cleaned (without the harder white ribs)
  • 80g spring onion
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • salted ricotta
  • marjoram
  • salt and pepper

Ingredients for caramelised onion

  • 450g Tropea onions
  • 30g apple vinegar
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 20g brown sugar
  • salt and pepper

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

Preparation

  1. Start with the caramelised onions, which are the most time-consuming preparation. Cut the onions in half and slice each half into fan shapes. Wilt them in a non-stick pan with extra virgin olive oil on low heat and with the lid on; after 10 minutes, add the apple vinegar and brown sugar; season with salt and pepper and cook for a further 10 minutes, leaving the pan uncovered in case there is liquid on the bottom. Put the onions aside.
  2. Wash and clean the Swiss chard. Put a pot of lightly salted water on the stove and when it boils, blanch the Swiss chard for a minute, drain it and throw it into cold water. Pour it into a colander so that it drains well.
  3. Chop the leek and put it in a non-stick pan with the extra virgin olive oil and the clove of garlic; add the lightly wrung Swiss chard; season with salt and pepper, a pinch of marjoram and leave to gain flavour for about ten minutes. Remove the garlic, transfer the vegetables to a food processor and blend them to a smooth, homogeneous cream.
  4. Put a pan of water on the stove, add salt and when it comes to the boil, cook the Legumotti for 9 minutes. Drain them and put them in a bowl. Dress them with the Swiss chard cream and serve them on individual plates. Complete with caramelised onions and a grating of salted ricotta cheese. You can eat Legumotti warm or cold as you like: I love them in all preparations, so here is another recipe that may interest you, Legumotti with vegetables.

Version with gluten

The recipe is naturally gluten-free, so no adaptation is required

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Saffron gnocchi with asparagus and grated Prosciutto

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Saffron gnocchi with asparagus and grated Prosciutto are an easy idea to make, they use Italy’s yellow gold (saffron), a seasonal vegetable, and honour one of the most extraordinary products of my home town’s culinary tradition, Prosciutto di Parma.

Gnocchi are a classic that everyone loves, they are perfect in any season and allow us to unleash our creativity by inventing sauces with any ingredient.

Yet, preparing soft potato gnocchi in which you do not taste the flour and which do not dissolve in the cooking water requires a few tricks. First of all, ask your trusted greengrocer for potatoes with firm, non-watery flesh, then remember that it is essential to mash the potatoes while still hot, but never add flour before they have cooled down completely. See here the video on how to prepare gnocchi.

In this recipe, I wanted to share one of my favourite ways of using Prosciutto di Parma in the kitchen, i.e. grated like cheese to flavour the dish and overwhelm us with its aroma released by the heat of the gnocchi. Remember that Prosciutto placed in the freezer will not freeze due to the presence of salt, but this operation will allow us to grate it without overheating it, thus leaving its taste and aroma unaltered.

I am sure that once you have tasted ham in this way, you will be tempted to use it in many other recipes to the infinite joy of you and your guests.

Saffron gnocchi with asparagus and grated Prosciutto

    carbohydrates 21.67g per 100g

Ingredients for the gnocchi

  • 1kg boiled and peeled potatoes
  • 200g gluten-free pasta flour, brand Molino Dallagiovanna**
  • 1 whole eggs
  • a pinch of salt
  • brown rice flour* for dusting the cutting board

Ingredients for the sauce

  • 300g asparagus
  • 200g milk
  • 50g Prosciutto di Parma in a single slice, kept in the freezer
  • 30g grated Parmesan cheese
  • 4g potato starch*
  • 0.5g saffron
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Mash the boiled potatoes while they are still hot, leaving the peel in the potato masher. Let them cool completely, then add the flour, the whole egg and a pinch of salt, mixing everything to obtain an even mixture.
  2. Take pieces of dough, form them into long cylinders with a diameter of about 2cm, then cut them into small pieces that you will slide over the tines of a fork so that their surface is grooved (this way the gnocchi will hold the sauce better!). Place the ready gnocchi on a tray lightly dusted with rice flour.
  3. Start preparing the sauce. Take the asparagus, wash, dry and cut into three parts: remove the woody part which you will throw away (unless you want to make a stock to use for a risotto), keep the middle part to boil and blend to make a cream and set aside the softer part and tips to use in pieces for the gnocchi.
  4. Put the asparagus tips in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper and let them soften.
  5. Prepare the cold sauce. Put the potato starch in a bowl and dissolve it with the milk, adding it gradually so that no lumps form. Add saffron to the mixture, stirring well with a whisk and set the sauce aside until use, stirring it occasionally if you are not going to use it right away.
  6. Take Prosciutto out of the freezer and blend it in a food processor as if it were cheese. Keep it aside.
  7. At this point you can assemble the preparation. Cook the gnocchi in salted boiling water; pour the saffron cream into the pan with the asparagus tips and when the gnocchi rise to the surface, drain them with a slotted spoon and toss them into the pan with asparagus and saffron, add the grated Parmesan cheese and allow gnocchi to gain flavour. Pour the gnocchi onto a serving plate and finish by sprinkling them with grated Prosciutto di Parma. If you love gnocchi, enjoy my Ricotta dumplings with radicchio.

Gli gnocchi allo zafferano pronti per essere gustati

Version with gluten of Saffron gnocchi with asparagus and grated prosciutto

Replace Molino Dallagiovanna flour with conventional wheat flour in equal quantities.

 

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Viva l’Italia vegetarian Supplì

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What is Supplì? A rice ball containing succulent fillings that will satisfy any palate. And why this Viva l’Italia vegetarian Supplì?

Viva l’Italia vegetarian supplì for the SuppliTiamo contest

Those of you who have followed me over the years know of my rice-related adventures and especially of the Risate & Risotti event from which my first participation in a cookery competition started, the stages of which became the leitmotif of my book ‘Food bloggers in viaggio’ (read here some stories and recipes that were featured in the contest “Rice Food Blogger Contest Chef Giuseppina Carboni”).

Since the initiative could not be organised this year due to the Covid emergency, a very nice contest was launched called SuppliTiamo dedicated, as the name itself reveals, to Suppli and in which this recipe participates.

What are Supplì? Supplì are a kind of elongated rice ball, stuffed and fried just like the Sicilian Arancini. Its name comes from the French surprise because such is the feeling one gets from eating it: the suprise of the filling contained within its crunchy shell. Supplì is a rustic speciality, typical of Roman cuisine, that has been popular since its origins: what better solution could there be for the soldiers’ ration than to have a single dish in ‘pocket’ size?

While the original recipe called for a ragout prepared with chicken giblets, the seasonings have since become more and more creative, although a classic of Roman cuisine remains ‘Supplì al telefono‘ (meaning Supplì on the phone) prepared with mozzarella cheese inside and amusingly named so to describe the moment when it breaks in half to be eaten, forming a long, stringy mozzarella dripping that is reminiscent of the telephone sets before the advent of wireless devices.

My proposal

So here is my Supplì which I wanted to dedicate to our country to which, never more than now, we must show a sense of belonging and support. So my Supplì ‘Viva l’Italia’ wants to wish all of us who live in this country to find the positive energy we need in this moment of restart. And you know who I wanted to give it to? To my friend Lucia, companion of adventures and help in my cooking classes, the friend who made me find shopping bags right in front of this gate in the most difficult moments of our quarantine.

Il supplì regalato alla mia amica Lucia

The supplì given to my friend Lucia

I made my Supplì using a delicious tomato risotto (drawing inspiration from my Mediterranean Risottowith a few minor changes) which I cooked by doubling the amount so that I would have half to make 8 Supplì. The other change was the cooking: in order to avoid fried food, which in our house should be eaten in moderation, I cooked the supplì in the oven under the grill and they turned out delicious!!!!

I supplì al pomodoro farciti di pesto di rucola e formaggio filante

Tomato supplì stuffed with rocket pesto and stringy cheese

Viva l’Italia vegetarian supplì  

24.35g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for the risotto for 8 supplì

  • approx. 2 litres of previously prepared vegetable stock
  • 360g Vialone nano rice
  • 300g tomato sauce
  • 60g grated Parmesan cheese
  • 40g butter
  • 30g carrots
  • 30g leek
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 15g celery
  • 1 egg
  • salt, pepper, chilli

Ingredients for the stuffing

  • 240g buffalo Bergamino cheese (or any cheese melting easily)
  • 160g breadcrumbs** (20g per supplì)
  • 70g rocket
  • 50g almonds, peeled
  • 2 basil leaves
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Put the extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan with the chopped leek, carrot and celery. Let the mince soften and brown, then add the tomato sauce, a pinch of salt and a ladle of stock; let it cook for about 15 minutes, then whisk to obtain an even sauce and set it aside.
  2. Start preparing the rice. Put a little oil in a pan and toast the rice on a high heat (it took me 3 minutes to get the grains well transparent with the white central part). Start adding the boiling stock. Continue stirring and add stock only when the rice is almost dry. After about 5 minutes, add the tomato sauce and continue to cook the risotto. When the rice is still al dente, turn off the heat and start stirring by adding the butter and grated Parmesan cheese and continue stirring until the rice is completely blended and creamy. Let the risotto cool down, then add the whole egg and mix thoroughly; let it cool down.
  3. Meanwhile, prepare the rocket cream. Put a saucepan of water on the stove, add salt and bring to the boil; blanch the rocket for 30 seconds, drain it (retaining the cooking water) and throw it into ice water.
  4. Put the peeled almonds in a blender and blend them to a flour; add the drained rocket, 2 basil leaves, a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and blend to a cream, adding a tablespoon of cooking water from the rocket if necessary.
  5. Assemble the supplì. Lightly grease your hands with extra virgin olive oil, place a layer of tomato risotto on the palm and fingers of one hand, place a heaped teaspoon of rocket cream in the centre of the rice, spreading it over almost the entire length of the layer, and on top place two pieces of cheese, amounting to about 30g. Using lightly greased fingers, take more risotto to cover the supplì and form the cylinder, sealing it well. Coat it in breadcrumbs and place it on a perforated baking tray covered with baking paper. When you have finished all the rice (I made 8 supplì), put a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on the breaded surface and bake them in a preheated oven at 230°C under the grill for 10-15 minutes until they are perfectly golden.
  6. Serve them hot and… don’t eat too many!

Version with gluten of Viva l’Italia vegetarian supplì

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

 

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Talent For Food 2019: Lentil flour dumplings

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If the adventures of the Mystery Box received for the Talent for Food contest were surprising, even more surprising was the news that I was one of the three finalists, so I would like to tell you about my adventure from a slightly different perspective than a mere report: how to try to make the impossible possible.

My Talent For Food 2019 adventure and my Lentil flour dumplings

Let’s start with the fact that in my day-to-day life I am a conference interpreter and CEO of a language service company, Interconsul srl – Benefit Company, based in Parma, so on Friday 11 October, duty called as it does every other day, and at 7.45 a.m., after the kids’ hectic school drop-off, I was expected to review the translations to be sent to customers before the weekend. Oh yes, because convinced that I would never be among the finalists of the Talent from the Veneto region, my schedule continued, ineluctable, so I had to switch to weekend mode at 3.30 p.m. that Friday by picking up my friend and food blogger Cristiana Curri at the station (https://blog.giallozafferano.it/chicchecris/) with whom I had organised a cooking class dedicated to the great pasta classics in Roman cuisine on Saturday 12 October in the afternoon. Also, because I like challenges (this is the conclusion I came to), at 9 a.m. on the same day I had a nice course dedicated to savoury recipes using alternative flours to wheat.

A message on WhatsApp: panic!

So what happens when you get a congratulatory message on WhatsApp on a Sunday afternoon as you are driving to Rimini (about 220 km from home) to work as an interpreter at a conference? You wonder what you are being congratulated for, you run through your head what has happened in the last few days, you give up and ask your interpreter colleague sitting in the car with you to answer: “For what?” Return message: “You are in the finals at Talent for Food. Panic. Yes, literally panic, but not because of the competition as cooking competitions always put me in a good mood, but because of the Rubik’s puzzle I managed to create. In my head it is a succession of thoughts to put the coloured boxes of the magic cube into place, and in the end it comes out like a risk-taking game plan: I calculate the Parma-Valdobbiadene journey time on Google Maps (3 hours), I beg Cristiana to change the train ticket so that I can get there before noon to accompany me to Valdobbiadene, and I ask AIFB if it is possible to give up (the most painful part) the discovery programme planned for Saturday morning. You know what? In the end it all seemed… almost simple!

A Friday afternoon in Valdobbiadene for Talent For Food

So I find myself on a Friday afternoon at the DIEFFE Academy of Professions in Valdobbiadene (Treviso) with 50 minutes to prepare, cook and serve a recipe using the ingredients provided by 29 companies from Treviso and Padua that have supplied ‘mystery boxes’ with products from the Veneto region. While cooking with Daniela Boscariolo (blog.giallozafferano.it/timoelenticchie the winner) and Daniela Pennisi (www.laboulangeriepatisserie.it), Angela Frenda – Editor-in-Chief of the monthly magazine ‘Cook’ (Corriere della Sera), writer and cooking teacher – gives the floor to Giovanni Taliana and Armando Serena, Presidents of the Food Group and the Wine and Spirits Group of Assindustria Venetocentro, to Anna Maria Pellegrino, President of AIFB, to Innocente Nardi, President of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg and to Alessandro Marzotto, Hospitality Wine Shop Manager of Santa Margherita Wine Group. Le tre finaliste alle prese con le preparazioni The three finalists whilst cookingFaithful to one of the guiding principles of the contest, in my recipe I combine the culinary tradition of Emilia with products from the Veneto region, which is why I prepare the ever-present stuffed pasta, but this time with Vicenza-style salt cod and artichokes inside, saffron in the dough and sautéed mushrooms as a dressing. What was missing on my plate? A crispy part, but I don’t like fritters, so I couldn’t think of any alternative… I’ll be ready for next time!

I tre piatti presentati

The three dishes presented

 

Impiattamento dei miei ravioli

My ravioli

After judgement, ritual photos, hugs and kisses between new friends and new acquaintances, we headed back to Parma, a stop at a gas station for a hot drink and a super, but brief sleep before a second day of challenges with two cooking classes and… this recipe prepared on the fly on Saturday evening for my super-helpful guest and dear friend Cristiana, naturally cooked with Talent for Food 2019 products!

Lentil flour dumplings with artichoke cream and stracchino cheese

13.32g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for the dumplings

  • 270g milk
  • 90g potato starch*
  • 60g lentil flour*
  • 40g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
  • 35g organic sunflower oil
  • 4 eggs
  • nutmeg, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for the Gnocchi sauce

  • 250g cream of artichoke*
  • 100g Stracchino cheese or another cream cheese
  • pepper

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

Preparation

  1. Put 270g of milk in a saucepan together with oil, a grinding of nutmeg and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and add starch and lentil flour in one go, stirring well so that no lumps form. Let cool, then add the grated cheese and one egg at a time, mixing well. Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag with a round tip, approximately 1.5-2 cm in diameter.
  2. Put a pot of water on the stove, bring it to the boil and salt it. With a pastry bag, drop small cylinders 2-3 cm long with the help of a knife (although the dough is very soft, so the knife is only needed to interrupt the flow of mixture) into boiling water and when they rise to the surface, let them cook 1-2 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl with the stracchino cheese and artichoke cream.  Stir well to melt the cheese.
  3. Serve the Gnocchi hot with a grinding of black pepper.
I miei gnocchetti alla farina di lenticchie con crema di carciofi e stracchino

My lentil flour gnocchi with artichoke cream and stracchino cheese

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