Last week I read of a contest of food and photography to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and to showcase strawberries. I couldn’t decide whether to participate or not: I am not a photographer and here, in Italy, it isn’t the right season for strawberries… But it seemed to be funny, so I tried! I wondered for a while about the recipes, at the end I decided to present a very Italian dish with an uncommon sauce: flan of risotto with strawberries and wine. It was the first time that I prepared it and I wasn’t so sure about the result. At the end the photo didn’t win but the risotto was great!
People: 4
Difficulty: ***
Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
½ Kg/ 2.204 lb of rice
400 g/ 13.4 oz strawberry
4 tablespoons of white wine
1 scallion
Table salt
Butter
1 l / 0.264 U.S. Gal. of water
1 bouillon cube (or stock-cube)
Kitchenware:
A big pot
A knife
A bowl
A small mould
Method:
To decorate: Puree three strawberries and a splash of wine in a food processor for 2 minutes. Drizzle it with a teaspoon over the dish.
Place some chives near the cake.
Something to know: If at point 8 the rice appears too dry, add some tablespoons of hot water.
Have you many apples and you don’t want to cook too much? Try baked apples! It’s very easy and you don’t need many ingredients.
Ingredients:
4 large apples
30 g/ 1/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
30 g/ 1.16 oz butter
3/4 cup boiling water
Kitchenware:
A oven proof dish
An apple corer or a knife
A bowl
A small teaspoon
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200 C (375°F).
2. Wash apples. Remove cores of the apples. With an apple corer or a knife cut out first the stem area, and then the core. Use a teaspoon to dig out the seeds. Make the holes about 2/3-inch to an inch wide.
3. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Place the apples in a baking pan.
Stuff each apple with this mixture.
4. Add boiling water to the baking pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Remove from the oven and baste the apples several times with the pan juices.
I have prepared this chocolate cake so many times that I think that all my friends have tasted it!! It’s easy to make and nice. This recipe is from Piemonte, a region of North Italy, but I modified it a little bit.
One thing: be careful when you carry it. Once I tried to carry the chocolate cake by my scooter… Big mistake!!
Serves: 6 people or more
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: **
Ingredients:
250 g/ 8.82 oz of flour
100 g/ 3.53 oz of butter
1 egg
100g/ 3.53 oz dark chocolate
1 teaspoon of cocoa
100 g/ 3.53 oz of sugar
200 cc/ 45 gal of double cream
Kitchenware:
A rolling pin
A baking tray
A spoon
A small pot
A deep pot
An electric whisk
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (356 °F).
2. Take out butter from the fridge one hour before (or soften it in another way).
3. On a work surface, put the flour, make a hole in the middle, add the eggs, the teaspoon of cocoa, sugar and butter.
4. Work all ingredients with your hands, including the butter pieces with the tips of your fingers. Be very quick (it’s very important not to handle it too much!).
5. Let it rest for 15 minutes (or more) in the fridge.
6. Roll out the dough. It should be thick as one pound.
7. Place the dough on a floured baking pan. Cook for 15 minutes (no more!).
8. Meanwhile, fill a deep pan with water. Place the chocolate, a piece of butter and the milk in a small pot and place it in the water. Over a low-medium heat, melt chocolate while stirring occasionally. Don’t spill the water out of the pan!
9. Remove the cake from the baking pan.
10. Pour the chocolate mixture on the top of cake and let it chill.
11. Whisk the double cream and add it to the cake.
12. If you want with the head of a fork you can design some circles on the double cream. Start from the rim.
Something to know: Take off from the fridge 15 minutes before to serve.
It’s really easy to prepare this main dish with beef and rocket. The proof of the pudding is in the eating!
Serves: 4
Difficulty *
Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
400 g/ 14.11 oz slices of tender beef chopped very thin
70 g/ 2.47 oz of flour
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
30 g/1.06 oz of butter
1 teaspoon of table salt
Method:
An additional idea: If you have aromatic vinegar, use a few of this at the end and mix well.
