Make it Italian

8 Notes

Mediterranean Spaghetti

After the New Year’s Eve, I don’t know why, but I usually start thinking of spring and summer. Actually I love these seasons: temperatures increase, the weather improves, you can leave coats and scarves in your wardrobe… and of course you can spend more time outside! Thinking of the coming warm seasons, I decided to make and publish Mediterranean Spaghetti. It’s a recipe able to evocate thoughts about sun, travels and sea. The ingredients are typical from the South of Italy: capers, almonds and tomato sauce! I think you will be surprised by this combination of flavours ;) Take a look at the recipe.

Suggested movie: Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (G. Tornatore, 1988)

“Alfredo: Whatever you end up doing, love it the way you loved the projection booth when you were a little squirrel”

01 Nov

5 Notes

Recipe: The Witch’s Fingers

As promised in the previous post…

Makes: 12 fingers
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

50 gr butter
140 gr plain flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon of baking powder
50 gr icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
12 almonds

Preparation method:
1. Let’s start by pre-heating the oven to 180°C. Now we can start to prepare the fingers. First of all sift icing sugar and flour together into a bowl. Add the egg, the vanilla extract, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into cubes and add it to the other ingredients. Using your fingers, mix the ingredients until there are no visible lumps of butter.
2. Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times, just to form a smooth dough.
3. Roll the dough into 12 small balls of 25 gr each. Work each piece with the palms of hands, turning it into a stick with length of 10-12 cm. These are the witches’ fingers.
4. Create the knuckles of the fingers with a knife. Place an almond at the end of each finger; this is the nail.
5. Place the fingers on a baking tin covered by a sheet of baking parchment. The fingers should be 3 cm apart. Bake them for 20 minutes, until the top is golden. Remove the fingers from the oven and set them aside to cool. If some almonds have moved away, you can use apricot jam to stick them on again.

Enjoy your witches’ fingers!

01 Nov

2 Notes

The Witch’s Fingers
Finally here is the perfect recipe for Halloween parties. The witch’s fingers are shortbreads with the shape of fingers. Mine are fingers of a really fat witch :P
If you want make them more scary, you can put some strawberry jam at the end of each finger, so they are more similar to cut fingers.
The witch’s fingers are realized with natural ingredients: eggs, plain flour, sugar … and an almond as finger nail.
Let’s prepare them together!

Suggested movie: The Addams Family (B. Sonnenfeld, 1991)
“Gomez: He wore that finger trap for two years. Mother had to teach him to eat with his feet. And the combination, and the password, and my cigar, and he slept so well!”

19 Oct

4 Notes

Recipe: Caprese Cake

As promised in the previous post…

Makes: 8 servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

250 gr very soft butter
300 gr ground almonds
200 gr caster sugar
250 gr dark chocolate
5 eggs
Icing sugar for dusting

Preparation method:
1. Heat the oven to 180°C and grease a large cake tin.
2. Now we need to smash the chocolate in chunks and to melt it at bain-marie
3. In a bowl whisk the butter and half the sugar together until creamy. Add the egg yolks (keep the egg whites aside) and stir until smooth.
4. Now it’s time for the chocolate: stir in the melted chocolate and mix until well combined.
5. Add the ground almonds and stir gently but constantly.
6. Beat the egg whites with the rest of the sugar until stiff. Add them to the mixture, delicately.
7. Pour the cake mix into the cake tin. Bake for one hour.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool. Remove from the tin and sprinkle with icing sugar.

19 Oct

2 Notes

Caprese Cake
Have you ever been in Capri? It’s a beautiful island in the Gulf of Naples famous for its climate, wonderful sea and breathtaking sightseeing. Oh… and it’s one of the most romantic places in the world! I’ve been there many times and it is always different: on a sunny day it can impress you with the bright white of its houses, when it’s cloudy it suddenly becomes mysterious. Capri has also a noteworthy gastronomic tradition. Today’s recipe is a really famous cake from this island: a delightful chocolate and almonds cake. And you don’t need flour to prepare it! The result is crunchy outside and soft inside. Try it with chantilly cream, and don’t forget a hot espresso once you’ve finished your slice of cake.
Suggested Movie: It started in Naples (M. Shavelson, 1960)
“Michael Hamilton: You have to approach the hamburger with assurance. If you show it that you are frightened you’ll end up with a shirt full of mustard. Show it who’s boss: you have to attack life the same way.”