Napoli

I have just come back from Naples to visit my family and I have, as always, been eating a lot during my stay.
My mum has cooked a lovely dinner to welcome me. The delicious Pasta Al Forno alla Siciliana, Roast beef, Zucchini alla Scapece e dolci.

The ingredients of Pasta all Siciliana are: Aubergine, mozzarella, tomato sauce, pasta (the so called mezzanelli type), parmesan and basil.
First of all cook a tomato sauce garlic, olive oil and tomatoes. Then fry the aubergine cut in thin slices.
Finally cook the pasta for only 5 minutes as it needs to be quite "al dente" as it will also cook further in the oven, and we Italians, don't like soft pasta!!
Cover the bottom of a pot with the fried aubergine add half of the pasta a generous sprinkle of grated parmesan, some chopped basil and mozzarella and some more tomato sauce. Cover with the other half of the pasta top it with some sauce and cook in the oven at 200 degree for about 20- 30 minutes.

When cooked a slightly cooled down, if you feel confident, and you have mum's resolve and nerves, you can place it upside down on a plate as if it was a cake. gorg!

Tricky manouvre!!!

Zucchini alla Scapece

This is a very simple but tasty dish.
Cut the courgettes in thin slices and fry.
Place in layers  with garlic, mint and drops of vinagair.
Put in the fridge until ready to serve.


and to finish gorgeous pasta mignon,  (little cakes)  including the traditional Rum Baba`.

My sister and I took my mum to an old restaurant in Borgo Marinari.
It is not a Michelin- star restaurant but coming from England it felt like one!
It is located by the sea, near the Angioin Castel dell'Ovo, surrounded by boats and "scugnizzi" diving in the sea. We ate lots of sea dishes. Really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere.

We had Risotto alla Pescatore (Risotto with shellfish, octopus and prawns) , zuppa di pesce (soup of seafood), Mezzanelli al Provolone and grilled fish. Really enjoyed it!

Time to go back to England, sad but with a full belly! And until the summer ....Arrivederci!

Cake bonanza

I have spent all day making two cakes for lovely Charles and Mr Natty.
Charles loves chocolate and Toy Story so I did a bit of Photoshop work on his photo and added it to the cake.
Mr Natty organized a pop up barber shop on Saturday so he needed a bit of refreshment for his hairy clientele (www.mrnatty.com).  I thought a pair of big "baffi" was  due on the cake! Inside was a lovely sponge layered with cream and strawberry.

Tagliatelle all''uovo

Hand made pasta is not difficult to make. It is really rewarding to make your own pasta and is so tasty. I love any dish made with hand made pasta; ravioli lasagna, tagliolini, cannelloni.
Tagliatelle are large stripe that goes well with sauces such as Bolognese while Tagliolini goes really well with broth.

Ingredients

500 gr flour "oo"
3 eggs

Place the flour on the table with a hole in the middle in which you open the eggs.
Mix all well then work the paste really well until smooth and elastic.
Roll it flat (about 3 mm thick) roll it over like a little sausage and cut it in little slices.
Sprinkle some flour over it and gently open to unravel the tagliatelle.
Cook in plenty of boiling water for only 5 minutes. Pass through a sieve and add sauce of choice.

Goat Cheeses and Grape salad

I love this salad the combination of tangy and sweet is lovely.
Mix lettuce, grapes, goat cheese, chopped walnuts and season with olive oil, salt, pepper and balamic vinegar.

Chocolate and Vanilla Biscuits

Ingredients

250 gr flour
125 gr butter
125 sugar
1 egg
70 gr dark chocolate (70%)
vanilla
pinch of salt


First of all mix the flour and the sugar then the butter, rubbing it in until all nicely mixed then add the egg salt, vanilla. Mix until nice and smooth then add the chopped chocolate and leave to rest in the fridge for an hour.
Take out of the fridge and roll the pastry about 2mm thick. Cut in whatever shape you like and place them in an oven metal tin and cook for about 10 minutes at 160 degree. When ready place them to cool on a metal wire.

torta alla deliziosa

This is a a lemon cake made with lemons zest, juice and limoncello liquor.
It has a very fresh flavour. Close your eyes and you are back into a gozzo bobbing up and down the Amalfitan coast.

Ingredients:

Pan di Spagna ( made as in the cassata recipes or fruit cake in previous post)
Custard Cream (as made for Fruit Cake in previous post)

Mix the cream with limoncello (about a small glass) a couple of spoon of lemon juice and mix well.
Add whipped cream About 5 spoons mixing gently.
Cut the sponge in half and fill with the lemon cream.
Cover with whipped cream and decorate as you like.
Buona!

Biscotti

I am back blogging! I am sure no one noticed I took a break but I feel compelled to announce that I am back! I have decided that after all is fun writing about recipes and food and though I don't want to spend all my time in front of a computer, I could probably spare some of it for this little project.
Anyway I am back with  recipes of humble biscuits.
Biscuits are my new obsession. I love biscuits and I love to accompany my cup with one or two crunchy bits. However I hate the majority of biscuits on sale. They are full of hydroginated fat, which is the worst think to enter your body (and veins) and also they taste quite frankly very badly. The only biscuits I like to buy are quite expensive, (usually the Duchy's chocolate and vanilla ones) and there are only 8 per packet. So in my house they last only for a blink of an eye. I often hide them (yes I do!) until my husband or kids find them and I have to find a new hiding place. So let's say I have run out of hiding places and it's getting boring. It is just easier to make my biscuits , they are delicious and in good quantity to satisfy my greedy lot.



Biscotti Semplici

Ingredienti

250 gr flour
125 gr butter
125 sugar
1 egg
vanilla
pinch of salt


First of all mix the flour and the sugar then the butter, rubbing it in until all nicely mixed then add the egg salt, vanilla. work until nice and smooth and leave to rest in the fridge for an hour.
Take out of the fridge and roll the pastry about 2mm thick. Cut in whatever shape you like and place them in an oven metal tin and cook for about 10 minutes at 160 degree. When ready place them to cool on a metal wire. Scrumptious!

you can choose a heart shape..

Yo can also give biscuits away as a gift. I made the box too. It looks cute, no?