Tag Archive for: carb count

Krapfens with jam: Carnival sweets

Krapfens with jam are one of my absolute favourite Carnival sweets, so much so that every year I force myself to make them only at Carnival, a resolution I never manage to keep!

In my family tradition, Krapfen are always prepared with potatoes and strictly with homemade plum jam, another preparation that is a must when the plums ripen on the numerous trees that colour our farm.

However, if you prefer to fill Krapfen with custard, you can do this using a pastry syringe once you have fried a single disc, perhaps left slightly thicker than in the recipe below.

So along with Chiacchiere and  Fried Creamit is a joy for me to share these irresistible Krapfens that you will enjoy at every bite… maybe even licking your fingers.

Krapfens with jam

carbohydrates 37.91g per 100g of krapfen without sugar on the surface

Ingredients

  • 500g potatoes
  • 280g plum jam*
  • 250g gluten-free cake flour mix, brand Molino Dallagiovanna**
  • 250g gluten-free bread flour mix, brand BiAglut**
  • 120g milk
  • 65g butter
  • 50g sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 30g brewer’s yeast
  • grated rind of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • frying oil and caster sugar for the surface

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Knead all ingredients together until you have a smooth dough with a fairly firm texture. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1cm and cut disks of about 8cm in diameter. Place the plum jam on half of the discs, then close them with the remaining discs, taking care to seal the edges well, perhaps wetting them lightly with a finger moistened with water to make the dough ‘stick’.
  2. Let the Krapfen rest for 1.5 hours, then deep-fry them in plenty of oil and roll in caster sugar before serving.
La frittura dei krapfen

The frying of Krapfen

 

I krapfen pronti per essere gustati

Krapfens ready to be enjoyed

Version with gluten of Krapfens with jam

Replace the gluten-free flour (500g) with an equal amount of wheat flour and mix with just 100g milk and 2 whole eggs and 1 yolk.

 

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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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Cabbage, potato and shallot soup

If winter means soups, soups in January mean winter vegetables, of which cabbage and potatoes are surely the most common example, and this Cabbage, potato and shallot soup is also the symbol of peasant cuisine par excellence, enriched with an idea for a zero waste recipe.

Even if the Christmas holidays of 2020 were not all about socialising and big family meals, the rich menus of tradition are too good not to tempt us, and so, as a recipe for Epiphany that makes us turn off the lights of celebrations, I propose a simple dish, prepared with what is hardly missing in the kitchen in winter: the long-lived vegetables that love the cold and dark winter days, namely cabbage, potatoes and various onions.

Added to this is also a necessity. After preparing kilos and kilos of succulent fillings made from stewed meat and Parmigiano Reggiano of two different maturations for Anolini or Cappelletti alla parmigiana, my fridge is full of cheese rinds that it would be sacrilegious to throw away, so I urgently need ideas on how to make the most out of them, and soups are always a good solution.

And since it is customary to consume pulses, particularly lentils, as a wish for wealth and abundance for the New Year, I thought I would complete the soup by adding Barilla Legumottithe fantastic grains made with lentil, chickpea and pea flour, which in just 9 minutes give us the full and authentic flavour of pulses in the form of pasta: you know I am a real fan of Legumotti, which I have also proposed in other mouth-watering recipes.

With the simplicity of a zero waste dish, vegetarian and prepared with few ingredients, I wish you a 2021 of health, serenity and… lots of work for everyone!

Le verdure della zuppa

Cabbage, potato and shallot soup

6.65g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 1lt vegetable stock
  • 500g cabbage
  • 230g potato
  • 125g Barilla Legumotti*
  • 100g shallot
  • 50g rinds of Parmesan cheese
  • 1 clove garlic
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • pepper
  • salt

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

Preparation

  1. Cut the shallot into thin slices and brown it in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil. Add the finely diced potatoes and chopped garlic clove and season for a few minutes. Finally, add the cabbage cut into strips, mix well and cover with the vegetable stock.
  2. Also add the Parmesan cheese rinds: use a knife to scrape the outer surface to remove any dust, then cut them into pieces of a few centimetres. Put the lid on and cook for 20 minutes.
  3. Adjust salt, throw the Legumotti into the soup and add vegetable stock if there is not enough liquid to cook.
  4. Serve the soup with a drizzle of oil and a grinding of pepper.

Zuppa di cavoli, patate e scalogno

Version with gluten

This recipe is naturally gluten-free.

 

 

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Insalata di pesce spada

Swordfish salad is a fresh and quick summer recipe. Whether for lunch or dinner, it is naturally gluten free and has a negligible amount of carbohydrates, so swordfish salad is a light main course that brings everyone together and helps us find ideas for eating fish at least 2-3 times a week.

It might sound strange to you, but with my children I had more difficulty in getting them to accept and consume fish than vegetables. Therefore, as vegetables are among the most popular ingredients in our family, I thought of using them to make swordfish welcome as well, and the experiment was successful!

Not only has the swordfish been eaten with great voracity, but I have been asked to prepare it this way a little more often… so I will try to comply! Also because the meal will be ready in just a few minutes.

Insalata di pesce spada pronta per essere servita

Sword fish salad ready to be served

Swordfish salad

carbohydrates per 100g negligible

Ingredients

  • 400g swordfish
  • 300g small courgettes
  • 200g cherry tomatoes
  • 40g extra virgin olive oil
  • 30 g pitted Taggiasca olives*
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 basil leaves
  • grated lemon zest
  • rosemary, shallot, chilli pepper, salt and pepper to taste

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

Preparation

  1. First of all prepare the aromatic oil: heat about 20g of oil, then remove it from the heat and add a peeled and halved shallot, 1 clove of garlic and rosemary.
  2. Put a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and cook the julienne-cut courgettes over high heat; season with salt and pepper.
  3. Cut the swordfish into cubes of about 2cm and sauté them in a non-stick pan with the remaining oil.
  4. Now assemble the salad by placing the courgettes, swordfish, sliced cherry tomatoes, pitted olives and chopped basil in a bowl. Stir everything together, then season with salt, pepper, a pinch of finely chopped chilli pepper, a grating of lemon zest and the aromatic oil passed through a colander.
  5. Serve the salad warm or cold to taste. And if you want some ideas for another salad, try this Dominican Salad.

 

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Gluten-free from the world: Dominican salad

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I promised you that I would return from my Caribbean holiday with some new recipes! Here is the Dominican Salad, a gluten free proposal from another part of the world. In fact, our holiday diet relied almost exclusively on vegetables and fruit, perfect companions in high temperatures, and the ‘winter ingredients’ in hot countries are much more similar to the produce we can get in summer here in Italy.

In this Dominican Salad (which I prepared several times in the kitchens that hosted us on our trip to the Dominican Republic), the ingredients are available practically all year round even in Italy, except for the cherry tomatoes that I bought out of season even though they come from the greenhouses of our Sicily.

One aspect that struck me in Dominican salads was the presence in large quantities of red onion , and I was especially surprised that it was very sweet and did not leave the characteristic smell in the mouth that we are familiar with and which is certainly a deterrent to its consumption when raw, at least for those who, like me, love it in all ways.

Here, then, is a way to eat the onion almost raw, but treated in such a way as to remove the essential oils that cause the smell to remain once eaten: blanch it three times in boiling water, each time clean water, for a few seconds and you’re done. Of course, you will taste the intensity of its flavour a bit less, but you will be able to enjoy it without worrying too much about social life!

Furthermore, in our suitcase we still had a packet of gluten-free taco shells purchased from one of the rare supermarkets we found on the way on our travels, which was an invaluable accompaniment to the salad that nicely solved a fog-shrouded dinner with a touch of nostalgia for the turquoise colour.

Dominican salad

9.3g carbohydrates per 100g

without taco shells

Ingredients

  • 500g already cooked chickpeas
  • 300g avocado
  • 300g cherry tomatoes
  • 80g onions
  • ½ lemon
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • taco shells or tacos**

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

Preparation

  1. Take the onion and cut it into slices about half a centimetre thick. Put a small saucepan on the stove with a little water so that it can quickly come to the boil. When the water boils, throw in the onion slices and leave them for about ten seconds, then drain them. Throw away the water from the saucepan and put clean water back in; bring it back to the boil and blanch the onion again for 10 seconds. Repeat the operation a third time, then drop the onion into cold water for one minute and finally drain it.
  2. Drain the chickpeas and place them in a bowl, add the peeled and chopped avocado and the cherry tomatoes cut into 4 pieces; drizzle with the juice of half a lemon, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and finish with the well separated onion rings.
  3. Serve the salad with corn tacos, tortillas or simply home-made bread.

And if you like salads, try my Chickpea and octopus salad with balsamic vinegar.

L'insalata dominicana pronta per essere gustata

The Dominican salad ready to be enjoyed

Version with gluten of Dominican salad

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

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Gluten-free Celebration Sacher

A Celebration Sacher because for the first time in my life I will not be at home for Christmas and this makes me feel really strange.

The atmosphere is unusual because we have decided not to light up and decorate our house, which will remain closed during the holidays, but this makes me a little bit sad even though the reason for being away is a real dream: a trip we have been looking forward to for years!  So, to recreate a hint of Christmas atmosphere, I thought of one of my favourite cakes and dressed it up for the occasion: my gluten-free Celebration Sacher! And the Sacher is definitely one of my favourite cakes, as you can also see from my Lovers’ Sacher.

It was definitely a more quiet celebration, but at least we got a taste of the ‘sweetest’ and most anticipated holiday of the year since I don’t know what I will be able to bring to my family’s table on 24 December on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean!

Wishing you a peaceful Christmas and a sparkling start to the New Year, I hope to bring home some nice surprise recipes for 2020. See you soon!

Celebration Sacher

40.31g carbohydrates per 100g

 

Ingredients for the cake

  • 150g dark chocolate*
  • 150g butter
  • 150g sugar
  • 100g wholemeal rice flour*
  • 5 eggs
  • 50g rice starch*
  • a bit of vanilla from the pod
  • a pinch of salt

Ingredients for filling and coating

  • 450g apricot jam*
  • 150g dark chocolate*
  • 95g fresh cream
  • 30g water

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

Preparation

  1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bain-marie or microwave and mix well so that the two ingredients are perfectly incorporated. Let the mixture cool down.
  2. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and whip the latter until stiff with a pinch of salt, then set aside.
  3. Add sugar, then one yolk at a time to the chocolate mixture, stirring with a whisk. Add the sifted flour and vanilla, continuing to stir so that no lumps form.
  4. Finally fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
  5. Pour the mixture into a 24cm diameter cake tin lined with wet and squeezed parchment paper so that it adheres well to the sides of the tin, tap the tin on a surface to release any air bubbles and bake in a static oven preheated to 180°C for 40 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool. The cake will be fairly compact: this is typical of Sacher, which needs the apricot jam and the chocolate coating to express itself at its best.
  6. Cut the cake in half horizontally. Spread 250g of apricot jam on the lower half, then cover it with the top half. Pour the remaining jam into a thick-bottomed saucepan with the water, place it on the heat and allow it to melt slightly, then strain it through a thin sieve to obtain a kind of thick, smooth juice. Use this apricot juice to thoroughly wet the surface and sides of the chocolate cake with the help of a brush (you may have some leftover juice).
  7. Prepare the ganache for coating the cake by chopping the chocolate well and pouring over it the boiling cream heated in a saucepan.
  8. Mix well to obtain a smooth and uniform cream, let it cool and cover the cake with the help of a smooth-bladed knife or spatula. Decorate your Sacher with Christmas decorations of your choice. Sacher is even softer when eaten after 5 or 6 hours, or even the day after since the apricot jam will have been perfectly absorbed by the cake.

sacher-senza-glutine

Version with gluten of Celebration Sacher

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

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Chicken with peppers and goji berries

This is the second recipe dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the National Carmagnola Pepper Fair and is one of our favourites when we are very hungry, have little time and want something tasty and light: Chicken with peppers and goji berries, naturally gluten free and with very few carbohydrates. If you want to look at the first recipe again, here it is: Gazpacho of yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto.

Pepper is a typical summer vegetable, particularly popular in hot countries, although it is now cultivated all over the world. Its versatility in cooking is extraordinary, and from a nutritional point of view it is rich in vitamin C, even richer than oranges, which are often considered the champions in ‘this speciality’.

Well, by combining peppers with goji berries, which by the way belong to the same family, we can enjoy their countless health benefits. Goji berries are to be consumed with caution for those with diabetes because they have a high carbohydrate content, as much as 64g per 100g of product, and also calories, but at the same time are rich in protein, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, lipids such as omega 3 and omega 6, magnesium, chromium, vitamins C, E and B1, carotene, amino acids, fibre, lutein and germanium.

Eating a dish like this one that is a joy for the eyes, for the palate and for our well-being seems to me the best way to celebrate a very respectable birthday!

Chicken with peppers and goji berries

3.49g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 4-6 servings

  • 700g chicken breast
  • 380g yellow, red and green peppers
  • 80g leek
  • 30g goji berries
  • 1 sachet of saffron
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt

Preparation

  1. Soak the goji berries in lukewarm water for 30 minutes.
  2. Cut the chicken into strips, mix with the saffron and leave to season for about 30 minutes.
  3. Cut the leeks into thin rounds and the peppers into strips for sautéing. Heat a wok, pour in a few tablespoons of oil and sauté the leek alone first, then add the peppers; season with salt and cook over a high flame for 5 minutes, stirring often. Set them aside.
  4. Put another 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in the wok and stir-fry the chicken for 5-6 minutes, then add the goji berries, season with salt and continue cooking for 1 minute.
  5. Remove the chicken from the heat, mix it with the peppers and serve hot or lukewarm accompanied by a mixed salad.

 

Version with gluten of Chicken with peppers and goji berries

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

 

This recipe was submitted to the Contest ‘Carmagnola Pepper: 70 years in 70 recipes’

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Gazpacho with yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto

Why a Gazpacho with yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto? For the memories and for my love of Spain and peppers.

The first time I heard about the Carmagnola pepper was a few years ago when my neighbour gave me a jar of pickled peppers prepared by her parents who used to travel to Piedmont every year in September to buy the raw material.

I have never forgotten those peppers: the bright colours, the sweet but firm flavour and the crunchy texture made me fall in love at first taste. It was that taste that prompted me to find out where this delicious fruit of the earth came from.

Carmagnola and its pepper

Its land of origin is precisely the Carmagnola area in Piedmont and there are various types (the one I tasted was the ‘Corno di bue’, perfect for preserves). The pepper arrived in this area at the beginning of the 20th century and today it represents a fundamental resource for agriculture and the local economy and is a foodstuff known and appreciated in Piedmont and Italy for its intense yellow or bright red colour, its aroma and its wholesomeness.

Every year, in early September, Carmagnola hosts the National Pepper Fair, the largest in Italy dedicated to an agricultural product, offering 10 days of gastronomic, cultural, artistic events, and creative and engaging experiences for all senses and all age groups. Well, this year the fair reaches an extremely important milestone, namely its 70th anniversary, which is being celebrated by collecting recipes that feature pepper as their star. This fresh and fragrant Gazpacho is my way of wishing long life to a product of the earth that often graces our table with its flavours, aromas and colours. All the best, then!

Try also this recipe with Carmagnola peppers: Chicken with peppers and goji berries.

Gazpacho with yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto

12.58g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 500g yellow tomatoes
  • 3 peppers, 2 yellow and 1 red (approx. 270g when cooked and peeled)
  • 100g sandwich bread** or these Rustic loaves
  • 100g sliced Parma ham
  • 100g vegetable stock
  • basil leaves
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • chilli, salt and pepper

** Ingredients specific for celiacs

Preparation of Gazpacho with yellow tomatoes

  1. Clean the peppers, cut them in half, remove the stalk, seeds and white filaments, then place them in the oven under the grill at 200°C until the skin is slightly dark. Seal the peppers in a paper bag and when they are cold, peel them and set them aside. Cut ¾ of the red pepper into strips and keep aside.
  2. Place the tomatoes, bread, stock and peeled peppers (except for the red pepper in strips) in a blender to obtain a cream; season with chilli, salt and pepper.
  3. Place the Parma ham in the microwave oven on medium power and short time, and repeat the operation until the ham is crispy.
  4. Prepare small bowls with the tomato gazpacho, pepper strips, crispy ham pieces, a few basil leaves and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Il Gazpacho di pomodori gialli, peperoni e crudo croccante

The Gazpacho of yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto

Version with gluten of Gazpacho with yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto

For the version with gluten of the recipe, replace the gluten-free sandwich bread with conventional bread.

This recipe was submitted for the Contest ‘Carmagnola Pepper: 70 years in 70 recipes’

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Gluten-free sweets: Coconut puddings with liquorice flavoured chocolate cream

On these summer days, people look for something cool to quench the feeling of excessive heat, but taste always comes first. Our idea is an alternative to ice cream, a mouth-watering soft dessert with contrasting flavours to savour: Coconut puddings with liquorice flavoured chocolate cream. 

If you like cold desserts, try these Mini cheesecakes.

Coconut puddings with liquorice flavoured chocolate cream

19.57g carbohydrates per 100g coconut puddings without cream

Chocolate flavoured liquorice cream 

30.31g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 6 servings

  • 200g milk
  • 200g coconut milk
  • 150g fresh cream
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 50g sugar
  • 50g brown sugar
  • 45g grated coconut*
  • 25g wholemeal rice flour*
  • 1 organic orange
  • almond or hazelnut oil

Ingredients for the liquorice flavoured chocolate cream

  • 50g fresh cream
  • 35g water
  • 30g sugar
  • 25g dark chocolate*
  • 15g bitter cocoa powder*
  • 1 teaspoon powdered liquorice*
  • 6 raspberries

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

Preparation

  1. Bring milk, coconut milk and grated coconut to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave until the mixture has cooled.
  2. Beat the egg yolks well with the sugars, then add the rice flour while continuing to stir and the coconut-flavoured milk through a sieve (so that the grated coconut is removed). Place everything in a saucepan and over low heat, stirring until it starts to thicken. Remove from the heat, flavour with grated orange peel and leave to cool, stirring occasionally.
  3. Whip the cream and finally fold it into the coconut mixture so that it does not lose airiness.
  4. Brush 6 single-portion moulds with almond or hazelnut oil and fill them with the cream. Place in the freezer for about 6 hours.
  5. Prepare a chocolate cream. Dissolve the cocoa in the water, then add cream and sugar and cook over medium heat, simmering for 5 minutes, stirring well with a whisk (the temperature should be between 70 and 80 degrees). Turn off the heat and add the dark chocolate, stirring until completely melted; continue stirring until the temperature has dropped well, then add 1 teaspoon of liquorice powder, stir well and store in the refrigerator.
  6. Take the puddings out of the freezer, remove them from the moulds, place them on a serving plate and wait 30 minutes before serving. When serving, top them with 1 spoonful of liquorice flavoured chocolate cream and garnish with 1 raspberry.
Budino-cocco-crema-cioccolato-liquirizia-senza-glutine-uno-chef-per-gaia

Coconut pudding with liquorice flavoured chocolate cream

 

Version with gluten of Coconut puddings with liquorice flavoured chocolate cream

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.

If you like creamy desserts, also try Mahalabiya a journey through flavours.

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Gola Gola asparagus risotto

Summer suddenly arrived and, with the good weather, so did wonderful opportunities to meet. Like the Gola Gola Festival in Piacenza from 9 June. I was given the honour of opening the dances with my gluten-free proposal designed to tempt everyone: Gola Gola asparagus risotto.

In a festival dedicated to food, I believe it is fundamental to give space to local products, so I thought of choosing some of the many ingredients of the that area: Pontenure asparagus (given the season), Malvasia dei colli piacentini wine and Grana Padano cheese. All this on a very special base, namely my favourite Carnaroli rice, the one cultivated by Riserva San Massimo within the Lombardy Ticino Valley Park, a gift for the palate and for those who care about preserving biodiversity.

A possible alternative to the cheese crisp is another famous product from Piacenza: its pancetta, also made crispy in a non-stick pan, or in the microwave oven, following the same procedure as described for the cheese.

So run to buy some asparagus not to miss the season and enjoy this delicacy!

Gola Gola asparagus risotto

23.55g carbohydrates per 100g

without the reduction of Malvasia wine  

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 1.2 litres of previously prepared meat stock
  • 600g Malvasia dei colli piacentini white wine
  • 400g asparagus, already cleaned
  • 320g Carnaroli rice Riserva San Massimo
  • 100g Grana Padano cheese
  • 30g spring onion
  • 30g butter
  • 20g sesame seeds
  • 20g brown sugar
  • 3 cardamom berries
  • 1 star anise berry
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • nutmeg, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Preparation of the Malvasia reduction

  1. First, prepare the Malvasia reduction because it is the most time-consuming operation. Pour almost all the wine into a thick-bottomed saucepan (keep about 60g for dousing the rice), add the spices and brown sugar and let it simmer without a lid for about 1.5 hours or until the wine has turned into a rather thick, amber-coloured liquid.

Preparation of Risotto

  1. Wash the asparagus and cut them into 3 parts: remove the woody part, keep the tips whole and cut the middle part of the asparagus into pieces. Put the asparagus chunks in a saucepan with about 200g of stock and cook them, leaving the pan uncovered. Once cooked, put the asparagus in a blender to obtain a cream, season with salt and set aside.
  2. Prepare the cheese and sesame crisps. Mix 30g of cheese and the sesame seeds, then place a spoonful of the mixture on a plate, forming a kind of disc with the back of the spoon. Place everything in the microwave for a short time on medium power until the cheese has melted slightly. With the help of a scraper, remove the disc from the plate and keep it aside.
  3. You can now start preparing the risotto.
  4. Sweat the finely chopped spring onion in a saucepan with a little oil.
  5. Toast the rice in the saucepan with the leek for about 3 minutes in order to have the grains well transparent with the white central part, then sprinkle with the Malvasia kept aside and let it evaporate.
  6. Start stirring the rice adding a ladle of boiling stock. Continue stirring and add more stock only when the rice has absorbed almost all the liquid. After about 5 minutes, add the asparagus tips, then continue with the stock and stirring. A few minutes before the end of cooking, add the blended asparagus and mix well. When the rice is still well al dente, remove from the heat and add the frozen butter, stirring the rice well so that the starch is released to form a nice cream, add the grated cheese and continue stirring until it is completely incorporated; add salt to taste. Cover the risotto with a tea towel and let it rest for a minute.
  7. Plate the rice and complete with a few pieces of sesame crisp and drops of Malvasia reduction.
Risotto-asparagi-senza-glutine-gola-gola-festival

Gola Gola asparagus risotto

Version with gluten of Gola Gola asparagus risotto

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

If you like risottos, try my Celeriac risotto with apple and rose mayonnaise

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