The Winter Flower: Strozzapreti with Radicchio and pumpkin fondue

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Radicchio di Treviso PGI in gluten free cuisine: how to cook Strozzapreti with Radicchio and pumpkin fondue to colour your table and make the whole family happy.

The ‘Winter Flower’ contest

To publicise the work and attention that farmers in the typical area devote to radicchio, the Consorzio Tutela del Radicchio di Treviso PGI and Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco PGI which gathers together the producers of these incredible vegetables (also known as‘winter flowers‘ for their shape that evokes that of a flower) decided to launch a contest throughout Italy where 10 bloggers from various regions were asked to marry Radicchio with their own culinary traditions and to propose a recipe to be enjoyed when seated and one to be eaten standing.

Are you ready to see my ideas? Let’s start with the “seated recipe”: Strozzapreti with radicchio and pumpkin fondue.

The term Radicchio does not indicate a single vegetable. Depending on personal gastronomic habits and one’s area of origin, certainly the word Radicchio brings to mind different types of vegetables.

In Italy, the place in the front row is certainly taken by Radicchio from Treviso, a radicchio that holds many surprises, not only in terms of taste and versatility in cooking, but also for the way in which it is producedrarely known to consumers.

Radicchio Rosso di Treviso PGI: early and late

The acronym PGI stands for Protected Geographical Indication, but what does this designation imply? It implies that the Radicchio referred to is grown in a very specific geographical area where the soil, climate and production method make it unique and inimitable.

The characteristics of Radicchio di Treviso are therefore different from any other product, to the point that if a seedling were grown in another part of the planet, the end result would be profoundly different: this is one of nature’s many miracles.

Early Radicchio, called “precoce”

As the name implies, this is the Radicchio whose harvest begins in September (which is why you will not see it used in these recipes as it is not available) after the plants are tied with a rubber band so that light cannot penetrate them for 15-20 days. Consequently, when the large tufts are harvested, the outer leaves are removed directly in the field, while the precious dark red central part is washed and destined for our tables.

Late radicchio, called “tardivo”

Radicchio tardivo in vendita

Radicchio Tardivo for sale on the shelves of a greengrocer

This is the Radicchio we most often associate with the name Treviso and is also the type I used in my recipe for Strozzapreti.

Unlike what one might imagine for a vegetable, its colour and flavour are highly dependent on the process. It is called Tardivo because it is after four months in the field, in November, that a turning point occurs: the first cold weather ‘burns’ the outer leaves, giving them their typical ‘blade’ shape. At this point, Radicchio heads are extracted from the soil with their roots, transported to the growers’ farms and placed in tanks filled with 10-12 degree water from local springs.

The process is called “forced whitening‘: water and the absence of light cause new leaves without chlorophyll to develop inside, with a typical white and purplish-red colour.

Careful trimming and a final wash prepare Radicchio for its final destination on a long and fascinating journey: the most varied and extraordinary dishes.

I hope you are now looking forward to using Radicchio in the kitchen and preparing this fresh homemade pasta, for which I recommend involving even the youngest members of the family: it will be much more fun to forge these tasty little cylinders than to play with any toy modelling dough! Watch the video to find out how to cook this recipe. And if you want another idea for using Radicchio, try my Ricotta dumplings with radicchio.

Strozzapreti with Radicchio and pumpkin fondue

22.8g carbohydrates per 100g

 Ingredients for Strozzapreti for 4 servings

  • 100g Radicchio di Treviso PGI Tardivo
  • 100g water (taken from the water used to blanch Radicchio)
  • 100g gluten free breadcrumbs, brand Nutrifree**
  • 100g gluten free pasta flour mix, brand Molino Dallagiovanna**
  • 1 egg
  • salt

Ingredients for the pumpkin fondue

  • 200g pumpkin already peeled and seeded
  • 120g milk
  • 120g fresh cream
  • 50g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
  • Radicchio di Treviso PGI Tardivo
  • salt and pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparing the dough for Strozzapreti and fondue

  1. Put a pot of water on the stove and bring it to the boil; throw in the washed Radicchio tardivo and blanch it for about 1 minute in the boiling water. Remove the Radicchio with the help of a skimmer and throw it into cold water immediately, but keep the scalding water. Drain the Radicchio and leave it in a colander so that it loses as much water as possible.
  2. Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl and, to wet them, use 100g of the boiling water used for the Radicchio: pour it in gradually while stirring the breadcrumbs with a wooden spoon. Let everything cool down.
  3. Slightly wring the blanched Radicchio with your hands to remove excess water and chop it finely on a cutting board using a knife or a half-moon. Add the chopped Radicchio to the breadcrumbs, then complete by adding flour, egg and salt.
  4. Knead all the ingredients to obtain an even mixture that will be rather moist. Wrap it in cling film and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, prepare the fondue. Place milk and cream in a thick-bottomed saucepan, bring to a gentle boil and allow the liquid to reduce to half. Remove from the heat and add the grated Parmesan cheese, stirring until it melts perfectly.
  6. Cut the pumpkin into cubes and cook it in the microwave for 4 minutes at maximum power in a closed container, or in a static oven at 200g for the time needed to make the pumpkin soft (the time will depend on the size of the cubes). Mash the pumpkin with a fork to obtain a purée, then add it to the fondue, mix well and season with salt and pepper.

Shaping Strozzapreti and completing

  1. Take small pieces of dough and, with the help of a dusting of brown rice flour, roll them out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 2mm; cut small strips about 4cm long and 1.5cm wide, place them between the palms of your hands and slide your hands in the opposite direction so that the strip becomes a sort of twist.
  2. Lay the Strozzapreti on a tray lightly dusted with brown rice flour and continue until all the dough is used up.
  3. Heat up the Radicchio blanching water; pour the pumpkin fondue into a large non-stick pan and heat it up slightly. When the water in the pot comes to the boil, throw in the Strozzapreti, cook them for a few minutes until they rise to the surface and with a slotted spoon remove them and throw them into the pan with the fondue.
  4. Allow the Strozzapreti with the fondue to take on flavour for a few minutes, then serve hot, topped with a few pieces of fresh Radicchio.

Strozzapreti al radicchio pronti per essere gustati

Strozzapreti with Radicchio ready to be enjoyed

Version with gluten of Strozzapreti with radicchio and pumpkin fondue

Replace the gluten-free flour with standard flour and adjust the amount of water used to scald the breadcrumbs so that all the breadcrumbs are moistened, but not creamy.

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Yoghurt flat bread

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Yoghurt flat bread means homemade bread, which is one of the most satisfying preparations: what could be nicer than the fragrance of bread baking that fills the room? But we don’t always have time to let bread rise and bake it for 45 minutes or more. Try this simple:

Yoghurt flat bread made with baking powder and wholemeal flour.

So a convenient, homemade bread, ready in minutes: we only need 30 minutes to let the dough rest, which is the time needed to set the table, dress the salad and serve the other courses or ingredients with which to top our flat bread. And besides being able to prepare it with and without gluten, this wholemeal version is also very diabetes-friendly thanks to fibre content and yoghurt, which slow down the absorption rate of carbohydrates.

A bread from the Orient

In the cuisine of many Central and South Asian countries, as well as in the Middle East, flat and rounded types of bread are prepared that are suitable for meat, fish and vegetable dishes in small pieces, making them easy to eat as street food.

One of the most popular types of these breads is Naana bread made famous by Indian restaurants all over the world. It is served hot to accompany other dishes and seasoned with butter or ghee (clarified butter used in this cuisine) as well as being flavoured with spices and herbs.

For convenience, it is nowadays prepared using baking powder and yoghurt in the dough instead of water to make it softer. And while in India they use the characteristic clay oven called Tandoor, the oven used to cook tandoori chicken, perhaps the best-known Indian dish outside its country of origin and always present on the menus of these ethnic restaurants, we will use a simple non-stick frying pan with a thick bottom.

In this video recipe you can see how to prepare the wholemeal yoghurt bread and I suggest you serve it in the Emilian way, therefore with some of the products of this land such as Squacquerone cheese and Prosciutto di Parma, but when you have a moment of time I invite you to try it with some meat and vegetable dishes accompanied by curry and spice sauces that will certainly make you travel with flavours at this time when physically doing so is still rather difficult.

Focaccina allo yogurt farcita

Yoghurt flat bread ready to be enjoyed

Wholemeal yoghurt flat bread 

38.32g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 12 pieces

  • 400g fat free Greek yoghurt
  • 300g gluten-free wholemeal bread flour mix, brand Massimo Zero**
  • 100g brown rice flour* (you can also change the proportions and make 350g Massimo Zero Bread Mix** and 50g buckwheat flour: the dough will be darker and easier to roll out)
  • 8g baking powder*
  • aromatic herbs to taste
  • dried cherry tomatoes to taste (optional)
  • salt
  • dusting flour**

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Mix the flour with yoghurt, baking powder and a pinch of salt until smooth.
  2. Cover it with cling film and let it rest for 30 minutes.
  3. Divide the dough into 3 parts and flavour one part with chopped herbs, a second part with dried tomatoes to taste and leave the third part plain. Finally, divide the dough into 4 pieces of each type, form them into balls, then roll them out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 3-4mm.
  4. Heat a non-stick frying pan or a smooth griddle. When it is hot, place the bread on it and cook it on both sides until brown, with darker bubbles scattered on the surface.
Cottura della focaccina

Cooking the bread

  1. Serve the bread with toppings to taste. And if you like flat bread and have a little more time available, try also potato patties.
Focaccine allo yogurt con Squacquerone,Prosciutto di Parma e rucola

Yoghurt flat bread with Squacquerone cheese, Parma ham and rocket

Version with gluten

Replace the gluten-free flour and rice flour with 400g of wholemeal wheat flour and mix it with 350g of fat free Greek yoghurt.

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Bacchus Cristmas: my Pisarei e fasò got drunk!

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“Bacchus Christmas‘ is the name of the initiative organised by the Tuscan Wine Tourism Movement with the Italian Food Blogger Association to propose to all food and wine enthusiasts new pairings between recipes inspired by the Christmas festivities and the wines of one of Italy’s most vocated regions: Tuscany. With this in mind, my Pisarei e fasò got drunk!

The cellar assigned to my recipe: Artimino 1596

As luck would have it, I was assigned to the Artimino 1596 winery, and diving into its reality, I soon discovered some pleasant coincidences on which I had fun fantasising to create a recipe to pair with Poggilarcaa 2017 Carmignano DOCG whose history and characteristics I will briefly tell you about.

The winery is located on the Artimino Estate in the province of Prato, where in 1596 Ferdinando I de’ Medici built his hunting lodge, Villa Medicea La Ferdinanda, now a Unesco heritage site. Here is the first coincidence: my maternal grandmother was a Medici whose origins we have never researched further than the memories of family elders.

And the second coincidence is that my paternal grandfather was a great fan (as we would say today) of the current owners’ grandfather, Giuseppe Olmo, who bought the estate in 1980 with great entrepreneurial foresight, but who in 1935 had gone down in history as a cycling champion by setting the Hour record.

Carmignano is both the name of the town in the Tuscan hills where the estate is located, and the name of the DOCG wine that is perhaps the least known of the great Tuscan red wines, even though it is very ancient (its origins date back to Etruscan times) and praised in numerous works , including the eulogy to Tuscan wine, Bacco in Toscana (1685) by Francesco Redi, who warned that ‘it is a very ugly sin to drink Carmignano when it is watered down‘.

Certainly, its notoriety has been somewhat tarnished by the fact that it was incorporated into the Chianti appellation as its own sub-zone until the 1970s and only managed to obtain recognition as Guaranteed Controlled Designation of Origin in 1990 .

Poggilarca contains the grapes of the great Tuscan wines: Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and, like the great reds, prefers grilled and roast meats, but I wanted to bring it closer to the Emilian traditions of fresh homemade pastas by pairing it with a great classic revisited and, above all, in a gluten free version: my drunken Pisarei e fasò.

Why Pisarei e fasò?

Because they mean celebration and family meals, because they mean the warmth of tradition in which wine also plays an important role in terms of diabetes and celiac disease. In fact, if for celiacs wine can be consumed with serenity as it is always a safe product (you can find further clarifications on alcoholic beverages on the website of theItalian Celiac Association), for those with diabetes it must be consumed with some precautions.

Alessandra Bosetti, clinical dietician at the Vittore Buzzi Children’s Hospital in Milan, explains: “People with diabetes must consume wine in moderation, but especially never on an empty stomach because it must be compensated for by the presence of complex carbohydrates as wine first gives hyperglycaemia and then significant hypoglycaemia. I would say that with a dish like Pisarei e fasò in which there are pasta and Borlotti beans, a nice glass of red wine can definitely fit, provided that the meal is then completed with a double portion of vegetables‘.

Although Pisarei e fasò is considered a first course, the version I propose in combination with Carmignano is a one-course meal to be completed, dietician docet, with plenty of vegetables. I wanted the wine to have a leading role in the preparation of the pasta to play with both taste and colour, so I substituted a part of the water with Carmignano to mix the two ingredients of the preparation: breadcrumbs and flour.

Pisarei impastati con il vino

Pisarei kneaded with wine

Wine and dish pairing

This version of Pisarei e fasò is a feast of fragrances, flavours and colours, just what we like to bring to the table when we indulge in the ‘slow’ food of our days at home, which perhaps this year we have rediscovered to the full.

Poggilarca should be opened at least 30 minutes beforehand, but above all it should be left on the table to become familiar with the environment and, once it reaches a temperature of 18°C , it begins its harmonious conversation with the dishes. And with the drunk Pisarei, the conversation soon becomes a melody. The fatty part of the sauce finds in the tannins and slight acidity of Poggilarca the answer to cleanse the mouth and leave a scent of vanilla, which plays with the sweetness of the Borlotti beans and duets with the bay and pepper aromas of the rich seasoning.

And bite after bite, sip after sip, in the mouth, one can also find the ebony memories of red fruits that always linger with the ever-present vanilla: what a great way to celebrate the Christmas season and to celebrate the New Year with hope!

For those who would still like to prepare Pisarei e fasò following the traditional recipe, I gladly share the videobut in this case the dish would not be strong enough to stand up to the personality of Carmignano!

Pisarei e fasò got drunk!    

16.73g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for Pisarei

  • 250g gluten free pasta flour mix, brand Molino Dallagiovanna**
  • 170g Poggilarca Carmignano DOCG 2017
  • 80g water
  • 75g gluten-free breadcrumbs, brand Nutrifree**
  • salt

Ingredients for the sauce

  • about 1 litre of water
  • 400g tomato sauce
  • 300g sausage*
  • 200g dried Borlotti beans (or 400g canned Borlotti beans*)
  • 65g carrot
  • 50g Poggilarca Carmignano DOCG 2017
  • 50g onions
  • 30g celery
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt and pepper
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Start preparing Pisarei. Put 80g water on the stove and bring it to the boil. Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl and gradually start to wet them with the boiling water, stirring continuously so that the mixture is moist, but not sticky.
  2. Add the flour to the breadcrumbs, a generous pinch of salt and pour in the red wine, stirring until the mixture is compact. Transfer the mixture to the cutting board and knead it as if it were egg pasta. Knead the dough until firm, smooth and perfectly homogeneous. Cover it with cling film and let it rest for the time needed to prepare the sauce.
  3. Chop the onion, carrot and celery, then put them in a saucepan with a little oil and brown them. Add half a clove of finely chopped garlic, crumble the sausage well and brown it, then douse with Poggilarca. Once the wine has evaporated, add the tomato sauce. At this point, add Borlotti. If you use soaked dry Borlotti beans, add 2-3 ladles of water to cook the beans (you will need about 1 hour), while if you use canned Borlotti beans, cook for about 15 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, prepare Pisarei. Take pieces of dough, form cylinders of about 1.5cm in diameter, cut them into 1-2cm long pieces and with the fingertip of your thumb (I am more comfortable using my middle or index finger) create a hollow in each piece.
  5. Once you have prepared all the Pisarei, boil them in plenty of lightly salted water until they rise to the surface (taste Pisarei to check when they are cooked), drain them and throw them into the saucepan with the beans. Let everything season for a few minutes, then serve the peas with grated cheese, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a grinding of pepper to taste.

 

Piatto pronto di pisarei

Pisarei dish ready

Version with gluten of Pisarei e fasò got drunk!

The only ingredients containing gluten in this recipe are flour and breadcrumbs. So replace gluten-free flour and breadcrumbs with their standard counterparts, but you will have to slightly reduce the amount of wine to knead the Pisarei. Everything else in the recipe remains unchanged.

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Peach pudding with coconut and mint with no added sugar

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Peach pudding with coconut and mint is a fruit salad disguised as a dessert and is the answer to two needs: the first is to find an alternative to ice cream for Gaia and Nicolò on long, sultry summer days, the second is to use the very sweet peaches my greengrocer friend gave me before closing for the holidays.

In fact, this Peach pudding with coconut and mint can be prepared without adding sugar to what the sweet seasonal fruit already contains, or, as I did to make the preparation really resemble a real dessert, I added a few drops of liquid sweetener in the preparation of the pudding.

By using coconut milk (strictly natural and unsweetened) I have avoided adding fat to the preparation, the carbohydrate intake per 100g of coconut milk is only 2.7g and, a gift we can give to friends who cannot consume dairy products, it is also lactose free.

Finally, a touch of freshness with the mint that grows in the corner of aromatic herbs of my vegetable garden at home could not be missing… even if the sprig gave me a lot of trouble by twisting itself around the whisk I used to make the pudding… check it out!

Any other soft desserts? Take a look! 

Il budino di pesche al cocco e menta pronto per essere gustato

Peach pudding with coconut and mint

Peach pudding with coconut and mint with no added sugar    

7.56g carbohydrates per 100g

 Ingredients for 6-7 puddings

  • 400g coconut milk
  • 300g peach pulp (approx. 2 peaches)
  • 30g rice starch*
  • 8g gelatine sheets*
  • a sprig of mint plus a few leaves for garnishing
  • sweetener* or sugar to taste

Ingredients for the sauce

  • 125g blackberries
  • 125g raspberries
  • ½ lemon, juice
  • slivered almonds*
  • sweetener* or sugar (optional, I did not add anything)

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

Preparation

  1. First of all, soak the gelatine in a bowl with cold water.
  2. Peel the peaches and cut them into coarse pieces which you put in a food processor with some of the coconut milk. Blend to obtain a homogeneous and perfectly smooth mixture.
  3. Mix the rice starch in a saucepan, gradually adding the remaining coconut milk while stirring with a whisk; add a sprig of mint and place the mixture on the heat; when it is lukewarm, pour in the blended peach and when the cream starts to thicken, remove it from the heat and add the squeezed out gelatine, stirring well with the whisk so that the gelatine melts and is perfectly incorporated.
  4. Allow the peach cream to cool, stirring occasionally, then, when the container is cool enough, cover it with cling film and chill for a few hours in the refrigerator.
  5. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Put the berries in a non-stick pan with the juice of half a lemon and cook on high heat. When the fruit has released its liquid, turn off the heat and allow to cool.
  6. Remove the peach cream from the refrigerator, remove the cling film, and mix the cream with a spatula in bottom-up movements. Using a ladle, transfer the pudding into serving cups and top with a spoonful of berry sauce and almond slivers to taste. Garnish with mint leaves.

Immagine ravvicinata del budino pronto

Version with gluten of Peach pudding with coconut and mint with no added sugar

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

 

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Tuna loaf with green sauce

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Tuna loaf with green sauce is the dish that answers my question ‘what to cook for dinner in the summer‘. If there are many cold dishes that can bring us pleasant relief when the heat is almost unbearable, tuna loaf does it very well (here is how to prepare it).

To prepare it, you need six ingredients and they are all ingredients that I generally have in my pantry at home: tuna, anchovies, capers, olives, egg white and Parmesan cheese.

It also meets dietary requirements: all ingredients are naturally gluten free and the amount of carbohydrates is well below 1g per 100g of finished recipe. Furthermore, the recipe is lactose free (Parmesan is lactose free, but remember that in case of dairy protein intolerance you will have to buy Parmesan matured for at least 36 months), so it is also suitable for those who cannot consume dairy products.

As it is suitable for using creativity when plating, this recipe is perfect if you have guests. You can also prepare it the day before so you can devote yourself to other dishes and then slice the meatloaf at the last moment.

Finally, the green sauce is very quick to prepare and is also excellent to accompany other dishes or to be used as a dip for vegetables!

  

Tuna loaf with green sauce

carbohydrates per 100g negligible

 Ingredients for the tuna loaf for 4-6 servings

    • 400g tuna in oil
    • 2 egg whites
    • 20g anchovy fillets
    • 20g pitted green olives*
    • 20g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
    • 10g salted capers
    • pepper

    Ingredients for the green sauce

    • 50g extra virgin olive oil
    • 30g pitted green olives*
    • 10g parsley leaves

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

    Preparation

    1. Drain the tuna and put it in a blender or robot with the egg whites, capers fully desalted under running water, anchovy fillets, olives, Parmesan cheese and lemon peel. Blend everything together to obtain an even mixture.
    2. Take a sheet of baking paper, wet it and wring it out, then roll it out and pour the tuna mixture in the middle, forming a kind of cylinder. Wrap the cylinder with paper and close it at the ends with two metal hooks.
    3. Put the meatloaf on a baking dish, cover it completely with water, then bring it to a gentle boil and cook over a low heat for 45 minutes. Pour off the water and let the meatloaf cool down.
    4. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Put parsley and olives on a cutting board or in a food processor and chop everything to the desired size. Transfer the mince to a small bowl and coat it with extra virgin olive oil.
    5. Slice the meatloaf, arrange the slices on a serving platter, season with a teaspoon of sauce and serve with fresh vegetables or pickles.

Polpettone di tonno con salsa verde affettato

Version with gluten of Tuna loaf with green sauce

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

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Macedonia di pesche con crumble di lenticchie

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Peach salad is a delicious way to enjoy this sweet and soft fruit, enhanced by the contrast with the crunch of the lentil crumble. As I picked peaches from the tree in my garden yesterday, I thought about how I could turn them into a dish that could be used either as a dessert or a fresh breakfast, both perfect versions for hot summer days. Here’s how to do it!

The lentil crumble is a real surprise in terms of its goodness and, at the same time, it allows us to use a pulse flour and almonds in the preparation of a sweet, making it certainly more ‘friendly’ to blood sugar levels.

I invented it a year ago to participate in the Talent for foodcontest, where it had taken me to the finals. This is a slightly simplified version (I removed a few ingredients and changed the proportions) and since then I often use it to top spoon desserts or to mix with the seed mixes that I love to add to yoghurt for breakfast. So, while you are preparing it for peaches, you can double the amount to enjoy it as a snack or many other uses!

Macedonia di pesche con crumble di lenticchie

Peach fruit salad with lentil crumble

      carbohydrates for the crumble 42.75g per 100g

carbohydrates for peaches 6.1g per 100g without sugar

Ingredients for the lentil crumble for 8 servings

  • 55g lentil flour*
  • 55g almonds with peel
  • 3g brown rice flour*
  • 30g whole coconut sugar
  • 20g grapeseed oil or other oil to taste
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 pinch of salt

Ingredients for the peach salad for 8 servings

  • 4 yellow peaches
  • 125g lemon juice (the juice of 2 lemons)
  • 2 star anise berries
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • sweetener* or sugar to taste
  • dark chocolate* (optional)

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

Preparation

  1. Combine the lentil flour, brown rice flour and coconut sugar in a bowl; add the seed oil, egg white and coarsely chopped almonds, then knead with your hands to a crumbly mixture.
  2. Drop the crumbs onto a baking tin covered with parchment paper and bake the crumble in a static oven preheated to 180°C for 10-15 minutes (the time will depend both on the size you gave the crumble and the power of your oven), until the crumble is crispy. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
  3. Prepare the peaches. Put a pan of water on the stove and when it comes to the boil, throw in the ripe peaches and boil them for 3-4 minutes. To check that they are blanched just right, use the tip of a knife or a fork to see if the skin starts to peel away slightly from the flesh. Drain the peaches with a slotted spoon.
  4. Cut the peach skin with the tip of a knife, then the skin should come off very easily. Cut each peach into 4 segments, trying to keep the segments as intact as possible, and place them in a bowl.
  5. Pour the lemon juice over the peaches, add the whole star anise and cinnamon, sweeten to taste with sweetener or sugar, stir, and leave the peaches to gain flavour until the serving time.
  6. When it is time to serve the peaches, take two peach segments for each person and place them in a fruit salad bowl, add the crumble on top and, to taste, top with a sprinkling of dark chocolate cut with a knife and serve.

Macedonia di lenticchie vista dall'alto con ingredienti utilizzati

Version with gluten of Peach fruit salad with lentil crumble

The recipe is naturally gluten free, so no adaptations are needed.

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Raspberry panna cotta

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La panna cotta ai lamponi è uno dei dolci più semplici e flessibili che conosca (credetemi!). E’ naturalmente senza glutine quindi perfetta per i celiaci ed è perfetta anche per chi è affetto da diabete avendo l’accortezza di sostituire una parte o tutto lo zucchero con un dolcificante di propria scelta.

Durante l’estate, la panna cotta è un dolce fresco e pratico che potrete accompagnare con salse preparate con qualsiasi frutto di stagione.

Raspberry panna cotta is one of the simplest and most flexible desserts I know (believe me!). It is naturally gluten free, making it perfect for celiacs and it is also perfect for people with diabetes, taking the precaution of replacing some or all of the sugar with a sweetener of your choice.

During the summer, Panna cotta is a fresh and practical dessert that you can accompany with sauces made from any seasonal fruit.

You can also decide to make it more or less rich in fat by playing around with milk and cream: the important thing is that you have a total of 500g when you mix them together, but you can vary their proportions as you like… bearing in mind that if it is called Panna (i.e. cream) cotta, the original recipe certainly expresses its preference.

Preparation will only take you a few minutes, but you have to allow time for the Panna cotta to solidify, so remember to plan ahead if you want to serve it to your guests, perhaps making it the day before so you have less to do at the last minute.

Raspberry panna cotta    

19.64g carbohydrates per 100g raspberry panna cotta with sugar

Ingredients for 6 servings

  • 250g milk
  • 250g cream
  • 100g sugar or sweetener* as desired
  • 10-12g gelatine sheets* (follow the instructions given for the product you choose)
  • a bit of vanilla from the pod

Ingredients for the raspberry sauce

  • 220g raspberries
  • 30g sugar or sweetener* to taste
  • 30g lemon juice

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

Preparation

  1. Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan, add the sugar or sweetener and put everything on the heat, stirring occasionally so that the sugar dissolves well.
  2. Separately, soak the gelatine in water to soften it. When the milk is about to reach the boil, remove from the heat and add the squeezed gelatine while stirring with a whisk. Let it cool down, then fill the moulds you selected. Put them in the refrigerator for a few hours until the mixture becomes thick.
  3. Meanwhile, prepare the raspberry sauce. Place the raspberries in a non-stick pan with the lemon juice and sugar or sweetener. Let the raspberries cook for 5 minutes over high heat until they release a bright red sauce. Let it cool down.
  4. Remove the Panna cotta from the moulds and place it directly on the serving platter, decorate it with the raspberries and their sauce either cold or warmed in a microwave or on the stove.

Version with gluten of Raspberry panna cotta

The recipe is naturally gluten free, so no adaptations are needed.

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Grandma’s Bundt cake

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Who doesn’t have a Grandma’s Bundt cake to remember? I think nobody. Every family has a recipe to which their memories are attached. I have the memory of the huge Bundt cake that my grandmother used to make every week to sell in slices in the local coffee shop she owned when I was still very young.

And do you know what was the most popular way to consume it? In the morning in your cappuccino or in the evening after dinner dipped in a glass of sparkling Malvasia dei Colli di Parma.

The other special feature I remember about that cake was its baking, which was done in the Dutch oven, as the only other oven we had was the huge wood-burning oven that was only heated when bread was made for the week.

My version of Grandma’s Bundt cake is definitely lighter and in line with our needs, although my grandmother used corn and potato starch for this cake, but to these she added a lot of butter, which I replaced with seed oil and almond flour. See here how to prepare it.

I also like to use the doughnut as a dessert at the end of a meal, and if we don’t want to dunk it in wine as traditionally, I like to accompany it with a cream so that it doesn’t turn out too dry, for example a lemon-flavoured custard, some melted dark chocolate, or, since we are now expecting the warm weather, a scoop of ice cream for a little refreshment.

Grandma’s Bundt cake     

46.72g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 140g brown sugar and coconut sugar together
  • 125g rice cream*
  • 100g corn starch*
  • 100g potato starch*
  • 100g grapeseed oil
  • 100g ground almonds to make a flour
  • 3 eggs
  • 16g baking powder
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • stack spray*
  • grated lemon zest

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

Preparation

  1. Whip sugar with eggs in a planetary mixer until white and frothy.
  2. Gradually add the other ingredients while continuing to mix and in this order: flour, almonds, rice cream, seed oil, baking powder and salt. Season the mixture with grated lemon zest, or vanilla or cinnamon to taste.
  3. Spray the Bundt cake mould with suitable stack spray (or butter and flour the mould, using lactose-free butter if you are lactose intolerant) and pour the mixture into it, levelling out. As a variation, you can take a few spoonfuls of the dough and add cocoa that has been diluted in coconut or almond milk so that no lumps form, and drop the chocolate mixture randomly into the mould containing the white mixture to make a variegated cake.
  4. Bake in a static oven preheated to 170°C for 35 minutes.
  5. Take the doughnut out of the oven and let it cool. You can serve the doughnut as it is, dusted with just a pinch of icing sugar, or you can top it with a bit of melted dark chocolate, lemon icing or any other cream you like.

Version with gluten

The recipe is naturally gluten-free, so no adaptations are needed.

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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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Brioche braid

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Brioche braid means above all breakfast, surely the most important meal of the day because it allows us to recharge the energy we will need to tackle the tasks ahead.

There is therefore nothing worse than limiting it to a quick coffee or tea, without accompanying it with the right amount of nutrients. It is true that sometimes you don’t feel like eating as soon as you get up, and this also happens to children during the school term if we wake them up early and have to constantly urge them to get ready quickly so as not to be late for the bell to ring.

And if at the beginning of 2020 we did not have to fight with our children to wake them up before 7 a.m., there was still the struggle to convince them to eat a good breakfast so as not to arrive at 11 a.m. hungry and desperately seeking forbidden foods… at least the forbidden in our house where industrial snacks, whether sweet or savoury, are an absolute taboo: forgive me, but this is one of the rules on which I am immovable!

If you want help with this, I would say that the Brioche braid is an excellent ally! Who can say no to a lightly toasted slice of fragrant pan brioche with a smooth layer of jam? Probably no one, not even the most stubborn no-breakfast people.

Then prepare it in the shape you prefer: single-portion mini buns (note that in this case you will have to reduce the cooking time to 20-25 minutes) or the braid I explain in the recipe, which you can cut into slices, once cooked and cooled, and store perfectly in the freezer until a few minutes before consumption. Thawed briefly in the microwave, then toasted, your brioche bun will be as good as freshly made.

Have I convinced you? See here how to prepare the recipe. You will see that your day will be ‘as good as bread’!

Brioche braid     

44.71g carbohydrates per 100g without granulated sugar

 Ingredients for the starter dough

  • 250g gluten-free flour mix for bread, brand BiAglut**
  • 200g low fat milk
  • 25g brewer’s yeast

Ingredients for the dough

  • 300g gluten-free flour mix for bread, brand Nutrifree**
  • 120g low fat milk
  • 100g butter
  • 40g sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 10g salt
  • granulated sugar*

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Dissolve the brewer’s yeast in lukewarm milk and add it to the flour in a bowl or a food processor, mix until a soft, smooth dough is obtained. Shape into a ball, cut a cross on the surface and let it rest in a bowl covered with a tea towel until it has doubled in volume (approx. 1 hour in the oven at proving temperature or 1.5 hours in a warm place).
  2. When this starter dough has risen well, in a second bowl or in the planetary mixer, place the remaining 300g of flour and start mixing; gradually add the soft butter, 1 whole egg and 1 yolk (keep the egg white to brush the surface of the brioche), the starter dough, salt, sugar and start adding the milk until it is completely incorporated.
  3. Put the dough on a floured cutting board, cut the dough into 3 equal parts and form a long cylinder from each piece and finally twist the cylinders to form a plait that you will place in a large non-stick mould. Brush the surface with the egg white you set aside and leave to rise for about 1-1.5 hours, brushing occasionally with egg white.
  4. When the braid is nice and swollen, brush the surface again, top with granulated sugar to taste then bake in a static oven preheated to 180°C for about 35 minutes, covering the surface with foil to prevent it from becoming too brown.
Treccia di pan brioche pronto per la colazione

Brioche braid ready for breakfast

Version with gluten of Brioche braid

Replace the gluten-free flour with a conventional flour of your choice, also multi-grain or wholemeal, and reduce the milk used for the dough to 80-100g

 

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