Tag: cuisine

Jujubes, what they are and how they are used in the kitchen – Italian Cuisine

Greens with an apple flavor or scarlet and sweet like a date, jujubes are a panacea and are so good that they have become proverbial

Fruits such as plums mirabelle, apples rust, biricoccoli, cotogni, jujube, medlar, mulberry, carnelian, arbutus. And more vegetables like sprigs, cardoons and Jerusalem artichokes. Many people have never seen them, but until a few decades ago these foods were very common, so much so that they survive in certain idioms, such as "Going to jujube soup". And let's start from the latter, for give a "face" and a taste to these terms a little forgotten.

Jujubes, the fruit that comes from far away

In the case of jujubes the reason for their rarity is that there is no intensive cultivation and production is restricted to a family environment. The scientific name of the jujube is Zizyphus and comes from afar. The tree should be native of northern Africa and Syria, and from there he found fortune and a suitable climate in Asia, especially in China and India. In Italy, however, he arrived with the Romans who called him Zizyphus, in fact.

Properties of jujube

The plant can survive harsh winters, with temperatures well below freezing, but it is at the end of a beautiful hot summer that gives delicious fruits, rich in vitamin C and perfect for preparing for winter ailments. Moreover, thanks to the high content of flavonoids and glucosides they regulate blood pressure, while the concentration of anthraquinones gives these products discrete laxative properties.

Giuggiole or Chinese dates

If harvested when not yet fully ripe, jujubes are green (they look like olives) and have an apple-like flavor. When fully ripe they take instead a scarlet tint and the taste becomes decidedly sweeter, similar to that of a date (so much so that the tree is also called "Chinese date").

In jujube broth

It can be eaten fresh, just picked, or after a few days, withered, and therefore softer but with more fermented taste. It is excellent for jams and syrups, and much appreciated when preserved in spirit and of course when it is used for the jujube broth, a liqueur typical of Arqua Petrarca in the province of Padua.

Recipe Risotto with strawberry grapes with pistachios and first salt – Italian Cuisine

Ingredients

1 L Vegetable broth
420 g Strawberry grapes
320 g Carnaroli rice
280 g First salt cheese
80 g Butter
40 g Grated grain
20 pcs Peeled pistachios
Cornstarch
White wine vinegar
salt

Duration: 1 h

Level: Easy

Dose: 4 people

Cut the grapes of strawberry grapes in half (set aside some whole for decoration), collect them in a saucepan, bring to the fire, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Blend the berries in the blender at minimum speed and then sieve to remove the pips (strawberry grape purée).

Dilute 4 g of cornstarch in a little cold water. Bring the strawberry grape puree back to the fire and, when it has reached a boil, turn off the heat, add the diluted cornstarch and stir until it is completely melted (strawberry grape juice).

Grate the first salt coarsely. Toast the rice for less than 1 'in a fat-free casserole dish, then begin to wet with vegetable stock until the risotto is cooked in 16-18 ′.

Over low heat stir in the butter, parmesan and 3/4 of the first grated salt. Complete with a dash of vinegar and season with salt if needed.

Coarsely chop the pistachios. Serve the rice with the strawberry grape juice, the berries kept aside, the rest of the first salt and the chopped pistachios.

the classic recipe and the fast one – Italian Cuisine

In Liguria it is called "Fugassa co cheese" and is a specialty now famous all over the world. Recipe? Only three ingredients

There "Fugassa co cheese" (as they call it in Recco, a town in Liguria that made it its specialty) many years ago it was a typical recipe of the Day of the dead. Now, however, it is easy to find it all year round in the bakeries and inns.
It is a very particular focaccia, thinner compared to the classical one because the yeast is not put and because it is filled with soft cheese.
A fresh Ligurian local cheese should be used, but now almost everyone prepares it with the growth.
For its particular consistency and for the creaminess of the filling, this recipe appeals to everyone, adults and children.

Recco focaccia recipe

Preparing the Recco focaccia at home is very simple.
The cooking should be done at a minimum of 270 °, but you will hardly find an electric oven that arrives at those temperatures, so 250 ° will be fine anyway.
First pour into a bowl 250 gr of 00 flour or sieved manitoba with salt and mix well. Make a hole in the center and add 125 grams of water and 25 grams of extra virgin olive oil.
Knead until all the flour is absorbed and form a homogeneous and soft mixture.
Divide the dough into two equal parts and let them rest for 40 minutes at room temperature covered with a cloth.
Coat a round baking tray with baking paper and spread the first dough thinly.
Distributed on the base 250 gr of growth and settle down the second sheet spread out.
Seal the edges well and brush the surface with extra virgin olive oil.
Practice gods small cuts on the surface and season everything with a pinch of salt.
Cook the focaccia in a preheated oven for 12 minutes at 250 ° or even more if you can.
It is ready when the surface becomes golden and crunchy.
serve warm or warm.

Very easy variant with a touch of Sardinia

A version of focaccia similar to Recco's can be made with this faster recipe that involves the use of a Sardinian ingredient. Just fix up carasau bread sheets inside a well-oiled mold, wet them with vegetable broth, stuff them with the crescenza or stracchino (yes, this variant is allowed!) and then cover them with other sheets, always wet with the broth.
Bake at 230 ° until the focaccia is well browned.
The result will not be exactly the same and the consistency will be less crunchy, but the taste is delicious.