Tag: Italian

Cinnamon cookies: the recipe – Italian Cuisine

Prepare them at home with an easy recipe and then eat them, give them or hang them on the tree!

They are characteristic of this period of festivals and are a tradition of the northern countries: i Cinnamon cookies they conquer for their perfume and for that particular taste that immediately immerses us in the atmosphere of Christmas. You can prepare them in easy and fast way even at home, using this spice from recognized antiseptic properties is protected from diabetes: cinnamon has the ability to regulate the amount of sugar in the blood, breaking it down.

Cinnamon: which variety?

This spice was known in China since the second century BC and was used for therapeutic purposes. The name derives from the small cane shape that it takes when it is dried. Among the varieties available, the best is the one called "Queen", while the less valuable is the "cassia" variety, also rich in coumarin, a substance that, if taken in high doses, has undesirable effects.

All the benefits of this spice

In addition to having antiseptic properties and control of sugars, cinnamon protects the digestive system because it prevents intestinal swelling and renal colic, and is protective against Alzheimer's, since two active ingredients contained in this spice prevent the formation of tangles of proteins that are the basis of the degeneration of brain cells.

The recipe for cinnamon cookies

Ingredients

300 g flour 00

110 g sugar

1 egg yolk and 1 egg

160 g butter

1 pinch of salt

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

Method

Mix the flour with sugar and cinnamon. Add a pinch of salt, butter at room temperature and start kneading, just with your fingertips. Add the egg and the yolk and knead the dough quickly until it is homogeneous. Wrap it in a sheet of foil and let it rest in the fridge for an hour. After this time, roll it out on a sheet of baking paper, spread another one over it and roll out the dough to a thickness of half a centimeter. With molds made as many biscuits as pasta, place them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and cook (in a convection oven) at 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until you see the pastry brown. Remove them and let them cool before tasting them.

Crema Pan di Stelle, the new rival of Nutella signed Barillla – Italian Cuisine

The lucky Mulino Bianco biscuits will soon give the name to a spreadable cream made with sugar, hazelnuts, cocoa and sunflower oil. The challenge of Barilla in Ferrero

Pan di Stelle… in can! And the new cocoa and hazelnut cream of Mulino Bianco. As soon as the news leaked that it will be available on the shelves of the supermarket in a couple of months, the product has already been renamed as the rival of the Barilla house of the most famous cream spread in the world, the Nutella produced by Ferrero.

The ingredients of the Pan di Stelle Cream

The details of the new cream still do not know each other well: the name will recall that of the Cookies Stars Pan (which will probably also be found crumbled inside), but the jar and the label have not yet been revealed. It will be based on sugar (not too much), hazelnuts (Italian), sustainable cocoa is sunflower oil. It is not the first time that a Mulino Bianco product comes from the lucky biscuits: there are already the Pan di Stelle cake, the Pan di Stelle snacks, the Moon Cake, the ice cream and the cereals.

Homemade Pan di Stelle cream

If you are greedy and can not resist, waiting for the cream to come out, you can try to make one home version, a little different. The recipe is explained on the site dedicated to cookies.
You need them 30 g of Pan di Stelle biscuits, 200 ml of milk, 35 g of sugar, 50 g of dark chocolate, 25 g of cornstarch or cornstarch.
To proceed chop the biscuits with a mixer until they are reduced to flour: put them in a saucepan together with the sifted cornstarch or starch and sugar. Add the milk to the wire, stirring with a whisk: place on the heat and stir until a thick cream forms. Halfway through cooking add the chopped chocolate. Store your cream in well-cleaned jars and store it, once it is cold, in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

Also discover how to make Nutella at home!

The real sturgeon caviar and low cost alternatives – Italian Cuisine

Small fish eggs, they all look the same, but they are not: here is a reasoned guide to orient yourself in the world of caviar. The qualities, the methods of production and conservation, the false myths to dispel and the alternatives of other fish – cheaper but equally tasty

It should be served directly in its container, or in a glass container, on a base of ice that preserves its freshness, better if accompanied by blinis: to bring the caviar to the table you have to follow some good rules, like when you have a dealing with an important guest. Because caviar is a symbol of luxury and elegance, but it is also a product whose quality must be respected and valued. In the first place knowing him.

From the sturgeon the "true" caviar

With the term caviar we indicate the salted and preserved sturgeon eggs. If the salt that is added is little, you have the caviar malossol, literally, "slightly salty": it is the fresh caviar, with a delicate taste that is both complex and persistent. It is the most prized, produced only with whole sturgeon eggs, large and perfect. In some cases the eggs come instead pasteurized, to give a product of lesser value, more "crisp" but which is preserved longer. You can then find the "pressed caviar", based on small or broken eggs, salted and decidedly salted.

Several species of sturgeon, different types of caviar

A second classification is given by the varieties of sturgeon from which the eggs come. This is how caviar is made Beluga, extracted from the sturgeon Huso Huso: large eggs, bright gray, juicy and fat, highly appreciated and precious. Caviar is rare and prized Oscietra, with a golden hazel color. On the other hand, the eggs are small and dark Sevruga, the most intense in terms of taste.
"The types of caviar are numerous and each has its own history – Stefano Bottoli points out, sales manager for Italy of France Calvisius Caviar – currently we are experiencing a great success with the Tradition that is given by White Sturgeon and it is characterized by an elegant and delicate taste at the same time .

Quality is not just a question of price

As for quality, Bottoli emphasizes that "Beluga is certainly the most expensive but not necessarily the best. There are other caviars such as Oscietra and the Sevruga of Ars italica or the Siberian or the same Tradition of Calvisius which are certainly listed as caviar by connoisseur . The choice must be guided by several elements: «taste is definitely the main factor, but also the smell, during the selection phase, is important: it must be almost absent . Then there are gods myths to dispel, continues Bottoli: "color and size are instead factors linked to legends that, in reality, are not confirmed by an organoleptic level: there are small and dark caviar exceptional and yellow eggs (given by albino Sturgeons) of large size that do not they keep their promises ".
As far as the provenance is concerned, the caviar that is increasingly widespread and appreciated is the Italian one which, in these years, is considered a real qualitative reference point.

Not just sturgeon

By extension they are called mistakenly "caviar" also the eggs of other fishes: next to the very popular lumpfish eggs, it should be remembered those of salmon, bright orange red and delicate perfume, and those of trout; those of herring and those mullet, perfect to use in the kitchen, and the very special ones of whitefish of Lake Kalix, in Lapland.

VEGETARIAN CAVIAR