Tag Archive for: gluten-free with carb count

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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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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Crostini with non-liver pâté

Why Crostini with non-liver pâté? Tuscany is the home of liver pâté and Florence has become our adopted city because it is in this splendid city that Gaia and Nico are followed by the Meyer Hospital diabetology department, directed by our splendid Doc., Sonia Toni, who is always present, even at a distance, with timely information and medical and psychological support when worries prevail.

Not surprisingly, Dr. Toni is present in this blog to answer any questions about diabetes that you may have.

So, every three months, we go to the beautiful Medici city for my children’s regular check-ups and we always try, given the distance we cover and the fact that the day cannot include other commitments, to include a little visit to the city centre and maybe a lunch of Tuscan cuisine, which we love!

On one of many occasions, I went with Gaia to Trattoria Cammillo (https://www.facebook.com/Cammillo-201813633167651/) which, despite its name, is a fairly elegant and not exactly inexpensive restaurant in the centre of Florence, very close to the Arno river with a gluten free menu. Since Gaia had never tasted the typical Crostini with liver pâté and having finally found them gluten free, I recommended that she order this dish: I must say that Gaia and livers are not exactly in the same taste sphere! I’ll spare you the tale of some difficult moments at the table, and it’s a good thing I like Crostini so much, so with a quick exchange of dishes we got out of the impasse.

So I thought I would prepare some Crostini that are in every way similar to this Tuscan speciality, except for the ingredients used in their preparation: lentils! And I must confess one thing in all honesty: they did not make me miss the original!

Crostini with non-liver pâté   

16.29g carbohydrates per 100g

 Ingredients

  • 160g mixed lentils (red, yellow and green) (will be about 400g cooked)
  • 100g red wine
  • 50g sheep’s milk ricotta
  • 50g onions
  • 30 g butter
  • 1 bunch of aromatic herbs (sage, rosemary, parsley and thyme)
  • 1 truffle (to taste)
  • salt and pepper
  • bread (e.g. these gluten free rustic loaves)

Preparation

  1. Rinse the lentils, put them in a pot with the bunch of aromatic herbs, cover with water and boil for about 1 hour until the lentils are soft enough to mash.
  2. Chop the onion finely and sauté it in a pan with butter; add the wine and cook for about ten minutes. Put the onion and lentils in a food processor, add the ricotta and blend to a cream; season with salt and pepper.
  3. Place the pâté in a bowl sprinkled with truffle shavings and serve with bread croutons.

Version with gluten of Crostini with non-liver pâté

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

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Soft potato focaccias

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Soft potato focaccias for me are indelibly linked to my paternal grandmother. In fact, for many years, the tradition in our house was to make bread once a week, in large quantities, to be baked in the wood-fired oven on the farm.

The thing I remember most pleasantly is the time when we could eat ‘Torta del forno‘, a version of soft potato focaccias that my grandmother prepared by adding a boiled and mashed potato, extra virgin olive oil and salt to a loaf of bread. The new small dough (or sometimes large dough for everyone’s desire to eat this amazing food) was rolled out with a rolling pin, cut into strips of about 15x7cm and thrown onto the bricks of the wood-fired oven to test its temperature. Indeed, our wood-burning oven never had a thermometer, so based on the colour of the surface of the bread strips we could tell if the oven was too hot, and so we had to wait to bake the bread, or was not hot enough, and so we had to burn more wood inside.

These scones are a tribute to that flavour, although baking in a wood-fired oven certainly gives different aromas and flavours. However, I can assure you that my grandmother really liked this version.

Soft potato focaccias

43.66g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 400g water
  • 300g potatoes
  • 220g gluten free multi-purpose flour mix, brand Massimo Zero**
  • 170g flour mix for bread, brand Caputo Fioreglut**
  • 60g wholemeal rice flour*
  • 30g buckwheat flour*
  • 40g extra virgin olive oil
  • 16g yeast
  • salt, oregano, cherry tomatoes, olives, rice flour for shaping

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Boil the potatoes, peel, mash and let them cool.
  2. Knead the remaining ingredients, form a dough ball, brush it with a little oil, cover it with cling film and let it rise for 1.5 hours or until doubled in volume.
  3. Knead again with the planetary mixer adding the mashed potatoes, mix quickly well, then take spoonfuls of the mixture, roll it out first with your hands, then with a rolling pin using plenty of rice flour, and with a pastry cutter cut out discs about 2 cm thick and 10 cm in diameter. Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper and let them rise again for about 30 minutes.
  4. Brush the surface with a little oil and season to taste with oregano, olives, tomatoes, etc.
  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for about 40 minutes.
  6. To watch the video recipe, click here

Version with cluten of Soft potato focaccias

Replace the Massimo Zero and Caputo flours with wheat flour and reduce the amount of water to 300g.

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Turmeric and lemon chicken tajine

What to do with a free-range chicken if you have a Tajine pot in your kitchen equipment? A naturally gluten free dish to bring diabetes and celiac disease together: Turmeric and lemon chicken tajine.

Looking out of the kitchen window, a picture that changes daily according to the colours the sky takes on has been accompanying me for weeks. This is the maple tree that has lived with us since we moved in our current place, and every year in autumn it gives us palettes of colour that turn on and off depending on how the sun’s rays or the rain hit its leaves.

It was the colours of these leaves that made me think of the orange of turmeric and the yellow of lemon. Add to that the fact that my parents gave me some free-range chickens directly from the farm where they live, well, I couldn’t help but prepare a dish that is as simple as I like, but absolutely unforgettable.

And you know what? Although the colours are those of autumn, this chicken is a delight at any time of the year and with whatever side dish you are comfortable preparing.

Turmeric and lemon chicken tajine

carbohydrates per 100g negliglible

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 3-4 chicken legs (depending on size)
  • approx. 200g stock
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley or coriander
  • 1 lemon
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Preparation

  1. Heat the oil in the Tajine or in a saucepan. Gently fry the thinly sliced onion and the clove of garlic for 3-4 minutes without browning them. Add the chicken pieces and brown them evenly, turning the pieces often and adjusting the heat.
  2. Add turmeric, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley or coriander, stock, lemon peel (only the yellow part) in large pieces, salt and pepper, then simmer with the lid on for about 2 hours (cooking times depend on the chicken!).
  3. If necessary, remove the lid, turn up the heat and allow the cooking juices to thicken slightly.
  4. Serve accompanying the meat with a side dish of seasonal vegetables to taste or even these Cauliflower patties.
I colori della Tajine di pollo alla curcuma e limone

The colours of the Turmeric and lemon chicken tajine

Version with gluten of Turmeric and lemon chicken Tajine

The recipe contains only naturally gluten-free ingredients.

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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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Quinoa crêpes with broccoli

These cold, rainy winter afternoons are the right time to experiment with, and of course share, new dishes that warm and pamper the palate. And we are doing just that: tests and pairings to find tasty, balanced recipes such as Quinoa crêpes with broccoli.

Yesterday was one of those days in the kitchen, when the rain doesn’t stop, not even for a short walk. So, stove and ingredients are a fun solution not to get bored. Our Sunday led to the creation of a new vegetarian first course, naturally gluten free, which is also a complete and surprising dish for a dinner with friends. Here’s how to prepare it!

Quinoa crêpes with broccoli

8.03g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for crêpes for 6 servings

  • 200g water
  • 50g quinoa flour*
  • 50g buckwheat flour*
  • 2 eggs
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 5g salt
  • extra virgin oil to grease the pan

Ingredients for the filling

  • 380g ricotta cheese
  • 200g boiled broccoli
  • 165g béchamel sauce (see below)
  • 100g Fontina cheese
  • 100g Emmentaler cheese
  • salt, pepper and nutmeg

Ingredients for the béchamel sauce

  • 500g milk
  • 50g wholemeal rice flour*
  • 40g extra virgin olive oil
  • 40g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
  • salt

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

Preparation

  1. Prepare the crêpes. Put the quinoa and buckwheat flour in a bowl, then add the water, stirring with a whisk. Add the eggs and mix well, then complete with oil and salt. With a piece of kitchen paper lightly greased with oil, wipe the surface of the non-stick pan (about 20 cm in diameter) that you will use for the crêpes. Pour the necessary amount of batter to cover the pan in a thin layer. Brown the crêpes on both sides, then put them aside. Continue until all the ingredients are used up (I obtained 6 crêpes).
  2. Prepare the béchamel sauce by putting the oil in a saucepan and adding the rice flour; in the meantime, bring the milk to the boil, then add it to the flour and oil mixture while continuing to stir with a whisk. Put everything back on the heat and as soon as it starts to thicken, add grated Parmesan cheese, a pinch of salt, mix well then set the béchamel sauce aside.
  3. Shred Fontina and Emmentaler. In a bowl, mix the shredded cheese with the ricotta, the boiled broccoli cut into pieces, 165g béchamel, a pinch of salt and nutmeg.
  4. Roll out the crêpes and divide the filling into equal parts; spread the filling well and roll the crêpes into cylinders; place on a tray, cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator for a few hours. When the crêpes are firm, cut them into 5 pieces each and place them vertically in a baking tin. Cover everything with the remaining béchamel sauce and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes at 190°C.
Crespelle di quinoa e broccoli senza glutine

Gluten-free quinoa and broccoli crêpes

Version with gluten of Quinoa crêpes with broccoli

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 enjoyed making quinoa crêpes, also try these Three-colour crêpe rolls.

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Sweet Tortelli with Venere rice and blue corn flour

As is often the case, the best recipes result from mixing experience and pure chance. The recipe for gluten-free sweet Tortelli with Venere rice and blue corn flour is an example! Having to prepare a cake for Gaia for a snack with friends, I realised, when I had already started weighing the ingredients, that I had run out of traditional rice flour.

In the pantry, however, I had two alternatives that I had tried in other preparations with great satisfaction, namely blue corn and Venere rice flour and I decided to use them to replace common rice flour. The result is a crispy, aromatic and tasty shortbread! After making the cake for Gaia, the leftover shortbread was used to prepare our beloved sweet Tortelli with the apricot jam my husband Stefano had made with the apricots from our garden.

Sweet Tortelli with Venere rice and blue corn flour

64.78g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 200 g butter
  • 190g sugar
  • 170g wholemeal rice flour*
  • 175g apricot jam*
  • 150g multi-purpose flour mix, brand Massimo Zero**
  • 100g flour mix for bread, brand BiAglut**
  • 50g blue corn flour*
  • 30g Venere rice flour*
  • 3 eggs (2 whole + 1 yolk)
  • 8g baking powder*
  • a bit of vanilla from the pod
  • grated rind of 1 lemon

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Mix all the ingredients, except for the jam, to make the shortcrust pastry. Let it rest for 15 minutes wrapped in cling film.
  2. With a rolling pin, roll out the short pastry into a strip about 15cm wide, place the apricot jam in the centre, fold the shortcrust pastry over and cut out the Tortelli using the specific mould.
  3. Bake in a static oven preheated to 180°C for 20 minutes until lightly browned. Super simple!
tortelli-dolci-senza-glutine-uno-chef-per-gaia

Sweet Tortelli with Venere rice and blue corn flour

Version with gluten of Sweet Tortelli with Venere rice and blue corn flour

Replace the gluten-free Massimo Zero and BiAglut flours (400g) with equal amounts of wheat flour using 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg.

 

 

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Gluten-free and ‘sugar light’ Spongata

Spongata is a typical Christmas cake whose preparation evokes sweet memories of family gatherings around the kitchen table and that is part of the Advent calendar of the Italian Food Blogger Association, which gives us a typical family recipe in every box.

For years, ever since diabetes and celiac disease have joined our family, I haven’t prepared it because of the challenge the traditional recipe poses in terms of sugar: so here is my gluten free and ‘sugar light’ Spongata.

Spongata: a sugary challenge

This year, for the first time, my daughter Gaia asked me: “Mum, what does Spongata taste like?” I was speechless, not because I couldn’t describe the taste of this sort of tart filled with nuts and spices, but because I had never thought of preparing it in a gluten free and, above all, low-sugar version… probably too busy trying to make a Panettone and Pandoro worthy of the name!

Well, since we can finally find gluten free Panettone and Pandoro on the market today that are much better than a few years ago, the focus has shifted to this humble, but fantastic Christmas preparation (as an alternative idea for the holiday season, try my Celebration Sacher).

My family tradition

When I was a child, the preparation of Spongata was a kind of ritual because these cakes were cooked in large quantities to enrich the baskets of food products to give as gifts to employees, collaborators, relatives and friends.

Spongatas were prepared long before Christmas. Once cooked and perfectly cooled, they were first wrapped in a sheet of parchment paper to protect them, then in an airtight bag (and maybe even in gift wrap to give them prestige) to allow all the flavours to mix well and achieve the perfect dough texture for consumption.

The preparation of the filling started a few days before the planned date of the big bake because ‘the longer the filling is left to macerate, the better the taste’. However, this filling is generally very rich in simple carbohydrates due to the presence of plenty of honey and sugar, even icing sugar to cover the surface once cooked.

So here is my ‘sugar light’ version, which remains however very high in calories!

My ‘sugar light’ recipe

The pastry I used is a gluten free adaptation of my friend and course assistant Lucia’s family recipe because in her version the sugar was really already reduced to a minimum. The filling, on the other hand, is an adaptation of my family’s recipe where 150g of honey and 2 heaped tablespoons of brown sugar in the filling have been replaced by 150g of jam: in this way, the filling manages to stay together a little despite the absence of the definitely stickier honey.

Another small note concerns breadcrumbs: in many recipes from the province of Parma they are added in the filling, but this ingredient has never appeared in my home version, so you won’t find it in this Spongata!

Finally, the surface. It is traditional to sprinkle the baked cake with a lot of icing sugar because the surface is hardly homogeneous: the name Spongata derives from the Latin word ‘spongia’, meaning sponge, precisely because of the irregular appearance reminiscent of a sponge. In keeping with tradition, I wanted to top one of my Spongatas with icing sugar to take the photo, but I kept the second one ‘au naturel’ and, I confess, I like it even better.

Spongata

38.11g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for the crust for 2 Spongatas of 18cm in diameter

  • 250g flour mix for bread, brand BiAglut**
  • 125g butter
  • 50g sugar
  • 40g white wine
  • 1 tsp baking powder*
  • a pinch of salt
  • water as needed
  • Ingredients for the filling
  • 150g fruit Mostarda*
  • 150g coarsely chopped walnuts
  • 150g jam without added sugar (your favourite flavour)*
  • 100g coarsely chopped almonds
  • 25g pine nuts
  • 25g raisins
  • a small glass of liqueur*
  • cinnamon powder*, cloves and nutmeg

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Soak the raisins in liqueur.
  2. In a bowl, place the chopped fruit Mostarda with the aid of a rocking chopper or knife, then add all the other ingredients, including the soaked raisins and liqueur. Adjust the flavouring to your liking, cover the bowl with cling film and let the filling rest for at least a day.
  3. The next day, prepare the crust. Combine all the ingredients for the crust and knead adding the necessary water to obtain a smooth, homogeneous and rather soft dough. Cover the dough with cling film and place it in the refrigerator to rest for about 15 minutes.
  4. Divide the dough into 4 parts and roll them out with a rolling pin. Line a mould with one part and fill it with half of the filling, distributing it evenly. Then close with a second disc. Prick the surface with a fork and bake in a convection oven preheated to 200°C for about 30 minutes. Bake and allow to cool completely, then dust with icing sugar if desired.
  5. At this point, seal your Spongatas tightly with a sheet of parchment paper and place them in a closed bag or cake tin until ready to use… which could be several days later!
spongata-gluten-free-uno-chef-per-gaia

My sugar-light Spongata

Version with gluten of Spongata

Replace the gluten-free flour with equal amounts of wheat flour, adjusting the amount of water.

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Vegan muffins with almond butter

An alternative breakfast: Vegan muffins with almond butter.

For some of the ingredients I use in my recipes, I now have my absolute trusted suppliers and one of these is Andrea, the greengrocer who patiently accommodates my requests, including the most unusual ones!

Having now made my passion for cooking his own, Andrea often sources products that he brings from his wonderful homeland, Sicily. So I manage to have wonderful sheep’s ricotta for preparing Cassata my own way and other wonderful sweet and savoury preparations, fresh and mature Caciocavallo, oregano, cherry tomatoes, anchovies and a little gem produced by his cousin in Agrigento, the Mennulataa butter made from 100% almonds.

I must admit that I have used it in many preparations, but always around lunch or dinner time so I never managed to take a photo before my family had eaten everything up!

This time I am finally able to share a recipe that is a little unusual for me because it is vegan, but very interesting and tasty for those who do not want to give up a sweet breakfast while avoiding butter and eggs.

Vegan muffins with almond butter

36.30g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 9 muffins

  • 120g almond and rice milk* (or another type of plant milk)
  • 75g plant yoghurt*
  • 50g fine corn flour*
  • 50g dark chocolate*
  • 45g buckwheat flour*
  • 40g Mennulata almond butter*
  • 35g rice oil
  • 30g brown sugar
  • 27g corn starch*
  • 25g finely grated coconut*
  • 25g coconut sugar
  • 8g baking powder*
  • a pinch of salt

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

Preparation

  1. Pour the yoghurt into a bowl and mix it with the sugars and almond butter. Gradually add the flours, continuing to stir so that no lumps form, and when the mixture starts to feel rather thick, add the rice oil and the almond and rice milk; finally, add a pinch of salt, baking powder and the dark chocolate pulverised in a food processor.
  2. Place the paper cups inside a silicone or metal muffin tin, fill them ¾ full, then bake the muffins in a static oven preheated to 180°C for 20 minutes.
  3. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
  4. They are a great breakfast, especially cut in half and enriched with a teaspoon of raspberry jam.

muffin-vegani-senza-glutine-uno-chef-per-gaia

Version with gluten of Vegan muffins with almond butter

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

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