Tag: version

Cantarelle, the Romagna version of pancakes – Italian Cuisine

Cantarelle, an ancient dessert characterized by poor and genuine ingredients and a simple recipe, are the Romagna version of pancakes

The scent of cantarelle hot, freshly made and covered with a light sprinkling of sugar, they represent a pleasant childhood memory for many people from Emilia. For those who do not know the Romagna cantarelle, sweet of the tradition of old Romagna made with flour, water and salt, they are the regional version of the most popular and international pancakes.

How to prepare the cantarelle according to the Romagna tradition

Cantarelle, like any other poor recipe of peasant origin, have always been prepared with simple ingredients, inexpensive and always present in our pantries. To cook them, according to the original recipe, pour some flour in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and gradually pour somecold water (slightly more than the weight of the flour), mixing with a whisk; once the flour came directly from the mill, nowadays 00 flour can be used or, as we will see later, you can opt for a mix of different flours. Unlike pancakes, therefore, the cantarelle contain neither yeast nor eggs.
Once a smooth, soft and rather dense batter is obtained, it is poured with a ladle on a hot plate (today a non-stick pan is also fine), so as to form discs of about 10 centimeters in diameter. The cooking process is similar to that of crêpes, and requires that the pancake is cooked well on both sides. Meanwhile, pour it into a large plate or a large bowl drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a little granulated sugar, on which a first layer of cantarelle will be placed. Then continue with the cooking, going from time to time to add several layers of seasoning between the pancakes. What we got was a sweet poor, but tasty, genuine and fragrant, perfect for a quick and abundant snack.

The many modern variations of this sweet from Romagna

There is no Italian dish of peasant origin that has not undergone changes, also based on the ingredients available from time to time, giving rise to personalized recipes, kept and handed down from family to family. For example, many people from Romagna love to add a pinch of bicarbonate or replace the milk, so as to obtain even softer pancakes. The introduction of the yellow corn flour, which is often mixed with the white one. What over time deviates more and more from the traditional recipe is above all the final filling; in modern times, in fact, many replace icing sugar with granulated sugar or butter with extra virgin olive oil. Then there are those who, like pancakes, like to pour honey or maple syrup on hot cantarelle, or serve with homemade jams and preserves such as, for example, fig or berry jam. To give this dessert an original touch but still faithful to the Emilian culinary tradition, it can be garnished with a few teaspoons of savor, or a sort of jam of Modena origin made with grape must and with the addition of autumn fruit.

In short, this sweet from Emilia is really quick and easy to cook and can be adapted to your tastes; all that remains is to choose whether to opt for the peasant recipe or to try some imaginative experiment.

Photos from Instagram @ nadina.serravezza, Valverde, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (https://www.instagram.com/p/B47cd8aFfNU/).

the Vesuvian version of the pasta – Italian Cuisine

A traditional dish that brings together the aroma of tomatoes and the delicacy of mozzarella, for an imaginary journey to the slopes of Vesuvius

A thread of pasta twisted on an iron: this was the most common way that women used to prepare fusilli, one of the most popular formats in the whole Peninsula, from north to south. Their tapered shape allows you to perfectly capture the seasoning, whether based on vegetables or meat, and perhaps it is precisely this characteristic that has made them loved so much. And at the foot of Vesuvius, the volcano that dominates the Sorrento Coast, they are served with two excellences of this magnificent territory: mozzarella and tomato, and become the fusilli alla vesuviana.

How a fusillo is born

Fused with durum wheat semolina and water, the fusilli took shape thanks to the skilled hands of the housewives who twisted small pieces of dough around a square-based underwire, similar to the spindle of the spinners. All this before two Italian emigrants in New York conceived the machine to produce them in the early twentieth century, completely identical to those we know. The bronze drawing then gives a rough and thick consistency to this pasta, and makes it even more suitable for trapping the sauce.

Tomato and mozzarella, two Neapolitan excellence

A long and stringy paste, perfumed with milk and born almost by chance. This is the magic of mozzarella, the cheese that the whole world envies us and that saw the light in the XII century in Capua, in a monastery, when the monks in order to conserve milk created this delight, whose name derives from the verb " cut off, which means cutting into parts. An indispensable ingredient for many traditional dishes, it is the undisputed queen of pizza, together with tomatoes, which in this part of Italy have an unforgettable flavor and aroma. Cherry, datterini, pizzutelli, coppery, there are many varieties grown in this part of Italy, all suitable for the preparation of Vesuvian fusilli. The secret to a full and intact taste? Cook them very little!

And now the recipe for Vesuvian fusilli

Ingredients for 6 people

600 g fusilli, 600 g pizzutelli tomatoes, 200 g mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, 200 g grated pecorino romano cheese, 70 g oregano, salt, pepper.

Method

Put oil in a pan, add the tomatoes, washed and cut into small pieces, sliced mozzarella, pecorino cheese, salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and let the sauce cook for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, boil the fusilli in plenty of salted water. One minute before the end of cooking, drain them and put them in the pan with the tomatoes and mozzarella, to make them risotto. After a minute, remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle with a pinch of oregano and pour everything into an oven pan. Bake the pasta at 200 ° for 5 minutes and then serve the steaming fusilli alla vesuviana.

Zeppola, millefeuille or pasticciotto? The Italian pastry in ice cream version – Italian Cuisine

This summer we will eat the traditional big desserts on an ice cream cone. Rampant fashion? Want the flavors of the past (and a new line of preparations for ice cream parlors that we bet will make a splash)

From the Zeppola of southern Italy to the Strudel of Trentino, passing through the very American Apple Pie or the Black Forest of Germany: we are ready to bet that the next flavors of ice cream that will flood the ice cream parlors of half of Italy will be these. A widespread passion among ice cream makers? A new trend? Definitely a desire of consumers to rediscover the flavors of childhood and holidays. But above all, a new line of products presented at Sigep, the Rimini fair dedicated to ice cream, from Fabbri 1905.

In addition to historical sour cherries, in fact, the company is a leader in the sector of preparations and ingredients for ice cream all over the world and has now transformed the delights of pastry into ice cream cones thanks to the latest creation, "Nonna Rachele", a "Sourdough" that allows ice cream makers to recreate the basic taste of all pastry preparations.

The Bolognese company presented 20 new flavors of ice cream which faithfully reproduce as many masterpieces of the national and international confectionery tradition, to discover the typical regional and different countries, capable of bringing us children, evoking the most genuine flavors of the house, parties and moments of joy that only sweets can immortalize. Here then make their entrance to the ice cream shop "Aragostella"Neapolitan, the"Plier"Bolognese, the"Zeppola", The"Typical Italian cake with custard cream filling"Lecce, the"strudel"Trentino, the"Tenerina"Ferrara, but also the"Apple Pie", The"Black Forest", The"Sacher cake", The"Mother-in-law languages", The"a thousand leaves"And many more, and even the very famous" Rusk ", all rigorously in an ice cream version. Appointment in ice cream parlors throughout Italy.