Recipes
| Tuscan Crostini | |
| Ingredients: 300 grams (approx. 10.6 ounces) chicken livers 1/2 onion 40 grams (approx. 1.4 ounces) of butter 1/2 cup of dry Marsala (an Italian dessert wine) 20 grams (approx. 0.7 ounces) of pickled capers 5 fillets salted anchovies |
Trim the fat from the livers. Clean them thoroughly and cut them in pieces. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the thinly-sliced onion and the livers. Sauté them well for about 10 minutes and add the Marsala. When the wine has evaporated, finely mince the mixture on the cutting board, using either a regular knife or a crescent knife. Return it to the dish and add some meat broth to soften the mixture. Then add the finely minced capers and anchovies. Bring the mixture back a boil for a few minutes. Serve on toasted bread. |
| Tirami su | |
| Ingredients: 1 1/2 packages lady fingers 5 eggs 4 T sugar 6 t coffee (we use 3 large Pavoni espresso) 1 lb mascarpone cheese 2 shot glasses rum 1 t vanilla extract cocoa shaved semisweet chocolate (we use Valrhona Noir 71%) |
Scramble 1 shot glass of rum with the egg yolks and sugar, then add the cheese and mix until smooth and light in color. beat the egg whites to soft peaks, and fold into the yolk mixture. In a separate vessel mix the remaining rum with the coffee and vanilla. Now lay out a layer of lady fingers in a rectangular glass pie plate, and dribble half the coffe mixture over them -- should be wet, but not flooded. Pour half the cheese mixture over the soggy fingers, then sift a bunch of cocoa over it, and some shaved chocolate. Now lay out a second layer of lady fingers, and do the coffee and cheese thing as before, this time finishing with a light dusting of cocoa and a generous layer of shaved chocolate. refrigerate a few hours before serving. and don't tell folks they're eating raw eggs, at least not until they're done. |
| Bread seasoned with vegetables | |
| Ingredients: 8 slices stale home made bread, 4 ripe tomatoes, some basil leaves, 1 onion, 1 cucumber, extra olive virgin oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. |
Soften bread in water, squeeze it lightly and put into a bowl. Finley slice cucumber, tomatoes, onion and basil leaves and add to bread mixture. Add salt, oil, pepper and vinegar. Mix all the ingredients and place in refrigerator until time to serve. |
| Octopus cooked with odours | |
| Ingredients: 800 grams of small octopus, 100 grams of extra virgin olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. |
Clean octopus removing eyes, mouth and ink sacks and intestines. With a paring knife skin octopus. Clean well and slice into pieces. Fry slightly in oil, chopped garlic and parsley. Add the just cleaned small octopus, add salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and move sometimes the pan so that octopus don't stick on bottom of the pan. Cook for no longer than ½ hour. Stir occasionally. Serve warm. |
| Fried pumpkin flowers | |
| Ingredients: 10 pumpkin flowers, 2 eggs, white flour salt. |
Clean pumpkin flowers well and remove stalks and inside. In a bowl, add eggs and flour, salt and mix well, add water, and beer. Beat mixture, which should resemble thick batter. Add flowers to batter and fry in hot oil. Serve hot. |
| Pomodori alla mugellana | |
| Ingredients: 3 tomatoes not very ripe, flour, parsley, 3 cloves garlic, 1 stock cube. |
Slice tomatoes in 1cm slices, and remove seeds. Flour tomatoes pieces. In a fry pan fry parsley, garlic. Add tomatoes. Add stock cube liquid and leave to cook for 20 minutes. |
| Sant’anna tomato beans | |
| Ingredients: 500 grams Sant’Anna beans,(tender, long and thin), 200 grams of ripe skinless tomatoes, 1 hand full of pine nuts,4 slices of stale bread, 1 clove garlic, 2 unsalted anchovies, 1 cup of stock cube broth, 1 handful of parsley ,5 tablespoons olive oil, salt. |
Peel beans, and add to salted water to boil until al dente. Drain a then cut into pieces. Fry beans in oil, with diced cloves, pine nuts and parsley. Add a little of water which beans were boiled in. Add tomatoes, and diced anchovies. Cook sauce for 10 minutes, and keep adding water. Place bean mixture in casserole dish, which has been greased. Layer toasted bread on bottom, then placing bean mixture on top. Warm in oven until mixture thickens. Serve warm. |
| Zucchine trippate | |
| Ingredients: 4 zucchini, 1 onion, tomato puree , salt, pepper. |
Cut zucchini into 3 cm strips. Place in fry pan and add oil, diced garlic. When onion is cooked, add tomato puree, salt and pepper. Cook for further 20 minutes, Serve warm. |
| I ricciarelli (Specialty from Siena) | |
| Ingredients: 200 grams skinned almonds, 100 grams pine nuts, 200 grams sugar, 100 grams of icing sugar, two egg whites, I egg yolk, orange rind, wafers. |
Grind almonds and pine nuts to fine powder. Add all though sieve and add icing sugar and sugar. Beat egg whites till firm peaks, add orange rind, almond, pine nuts and mix gently. Place mixture on wafer and leave to rest for hours. Bake in 150 C oven for 15 minutes. Serve cold and sprinkle icing sugar on top. |
| Panforte (Specialty from Siena) | |
| Ingredients: 350 grams whole almonds, 350 grams hazel nut, 150 grams self-raising flour, 450 grams castor sugar, 450 grams honey, 450 grams of crystallized melon. 500 grams crystallized orange, 350 grams crystallized lemon skin, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, ginger, coriander, and ½ teaspoon powered vanilla, icing sugar. |
In a stainless steel pot heat honey and sugar for 5 minutes, when honey starts to boil, remove from heat and add crystallized orange, lemon and melon cut finely, add flour, vanilla, and spices and mix well. Place in mould and place in oven for 30 minutes at 180 C. Sprinkle top wit icing sugar and serve cold. |
| Castagnaccio | |
| Ingredients: 400 grams of chestnut flour, 50 grams of pine nuts, rind of one orange, 1 twig rosemary, pinch of salt, extra virgin olive oil |
Mix flour, salt and water, until mixture is thick and creamy. Add rosemary, orange rind, pine nuts and 1 tablespoon oil. Add mixture to mould and cook for 35 minutes at 180C. |
| Buccellato | |
| Ingredients: 400 grams flour, 150 grams sugar, 50 grams butter, 2 eggs, 1 egg white, 20 grams beer yeast, 5 grams bi-carbonate, 10grams anise seeds, grapes, and rind of 1 lemon Rind |
Add yeast, which has been dissolved in warm water, to flour and mix till dough is formed. Place in bowl and leave to rest. Sift flour, make well in center and add sugar, rind of lemon, grapes, aniseeds, butter, and eggs. Mix well. Knead well and mix with yeast dough. Knead together well. Place in loaf tin and brush top with egg white. Leave to rest. Heat oven to 150 C and place loaf tin for 40 minutes. |
| Ficattole | |
| Ingredients: 300 g di farina bianca tipo 00, 30 g di lievito di birra, acqua, sale e olio per friggere. |
Place flour on board, add yeast, pinch of salt and warm water. Mix all ingredients well into soft dough.. Add more water if necessary. Knead well and roll into ball and place in cool area for 1 hour. Roll and cut into strips. Fry in oil. Serve hot. They are great accompaniment to prosciutto, salami, mortadella. |
| Shepards sticks | |
| Ingredients: 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 white onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 1 twig rosemary, 2 sage lives, 2 cloves garlic, 300 grams chicken livers, 1 rabbit liver, 110 grams of pig mince, salt, pepper and stale bread. |
Dice finely onion, carrot, celery, rosemary, sage and cloves of garlic. Heat oil and heat onion, carrot, celery, sage, rosemary and garlic. Meanwhile clean all livers taking care to remove bile. Add pig mince to vegetable mixture and add boiled broth. Strain mixture and add to toasted bread as a spread. |
| Easter Cake | |
| Ingredients: 1kg flour, 100g bread dough (beer yeast, flour, water), 100g parmigiano reggiano cheese, 200g pecorino cheese, 6 whole eggs, 2 egg yolks, 100g lard, 1 glass of extra virgin olive oil, pinch of salt, black pepper, 50g yeast. |
Combine the bread dough with a little tepid water and flour. Leave the mixture to rest in a dry, closed corner covered by a tea towel. Beat the eggs and mix in the other ingredients. When the bread mixture has doubled in size pour the remaining flour onto your work surface. Create a space in the middle for both the bread mixture and beaten egg ingredients. Knead all carefully together for at least 20 minutes. Once done take the Easter bread mixture and place it in a floured baking tin. Make sure the tin is double the height of the bread as it should once again be put to one side to rise, for about 90 minutes. To finish, place the Easter bread in a hot oven and cook for around one hour. |
