Tag: winter

winter preserves – Italian Cuisine

Jellies and compotes to accompany a pecorino or a slice of panettone: all strictly handmade, for a gift to be enjoyed during the holidays or to keep for the months to come

You will be invited for a dinner or lunch at the home of friends or relatives between Christmas and New Year. In the embarrassment of what to bring as a present do not panic: think of something that you can taste even in the days to come, calmly and with more tranquility. A gift made by you, like winter preserves, well packaged, which your friends can enjoy in the evenings after the great festivities, or why not, also present on the tables of these days. Here are some suggestions, good work!

Beer jelly

This jelly is perfect to be served with mature cheeses, or you can also enjoy it on warm bread croutons, as an appetizer. Preparing it takes almost no time. It is important to choose a beer that is not too bitter, because the jelly has a good taste: excellent double malt red, soft. First of all pay a liter of beer slowly, to prevent it from making too much foam, in a pot with high walls. In a bowl with cold water soak 20 g of isinglass and when it is soft, squeeze it and keep aside. Pour 300 g of brown sugar into the pan with the beer and cook over low heat until the liquid has reduced by one third. At this point add the squeezed gelatin, mix and pour into your previously sterilized jelly jars, turn them over and let them cool down, to form the vacuum. When they are cold, check that the vacuum is formed and then pack them for your friends. They remain intact for 3-5 months.

Mandarin jelly with Moscato wine

Even this jelly is excellent if accompanied by cheese with a crust like the Camembert, but is also perfect served with a slice of Panettone or Pandoro. First, squeeze the juice of a kg of clementines, pour it into a large pot and add 50 g of brown sugar and 200 ml of sweet Muscat. Cook over low heat until the liquid has reduced by half, add 15 g of soaked and squeezed gelatin, mix well and pour the gelatine into the already sterilized jars. Close, turn it upside down and let it cool. Before serving, leave the gelatine in the fridge for an hour.

Pumpkin and pear compote

Take 500 g of Igp Mantuan pumpkin, peel it, remove the inner seeds and cut it into cubes. Put the pumpkin in a saucepan, add a pear, peeled and cut into pieces, add 250 g of brown sugar, two spoons of Brandy, little fresh grated ginger and cook over low heat until the mixture has reached a soft and homogeneous consistency. Add a few tablespoons of water if the mixture is too thick. Blend everything, add 16 g of soaked and squeezed fish glue, mix well and pour the compost into the jars you have previously sterilized. Let it cool downside down and then pack your little sweeties and let them taste to your guests.

Tropea onions and pine nuts

Excellent with cheese or boiled meats, this compote is very simple to prepare. First peel 600 g of Tropea red onions, slice and place in a saucepan with 100 g of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 bay leaf, 100 g pine nuts and the filtered juice of a lemon. Cook over a gentle heat for about an hour and then pour into the jars, turn them over and leave to cool to form the vacuum. This compote is stored for about 6 months in a cool and dry place.

Quince jam and cinnamon

An excellent accompaniment for many preparations: whether they are pies, cheeses or boiled meats, this jam is easy and quick to prepare and gives great satisfaction. Obtain 1 kg of quince, 600 g of brown sugar and two untreated lemons. First of all, sliced and cored the apples, without peeling them, and cut into small pieces. Put everything in a large pot, add the sugar and bring to a boil. Cook for about 30 minutes, add the juice of the lemons and their peel. Turn off, add a sprinkling of cinnamon, stir and mix with a mixer. Pour into the containers that you have already sterilized, close and invert, waiting for the mixture to cool and then form the vacuum. This jam is kept for about 3 months properly closed, while once opened, it should be consumed in three or four days.

Appiola, the little-known colorful winter apple – Italian Cuisine

The apple apple, from the ancient Greek origin, is a colorful and delicious winter fruit, but not widespread in Italy

The apricot, unusual and little known winter apple, is famous above all for the beauty of its colors, which oscillate between bright red on one side and green and yellow on the other, and even more to be one of the oldest European apples. This apple, today at risk of extinction, it is not easy to find, but it deserves to be known, not only for its characteristics but also, precisely, for its fascinating history.

The small sweet apple appiola

The apple tree appio (or appiolo) is the tree that produces the àppio (or apio), the name of some varieties of apples, also called bees, which includes the apples appiole (in French) bee pomme) as well as the characteristics and even more rare starry appellations, of a similar but distinct cultivar. THE'appiola, also called casolana, is a small fruit (5-6 cm in diameter), with a typical rounded shape and a bit 'flattened. The white pulp has a refreshing scent reminiscent of that of quince, a sweet taste and a juicy, crunchy and fragrant consistency.
This apple is particularly widespread in France and, in French, his name recurs in the famous nursery rhyme Pomme de reinette and pomme d'api, whose refrain, due to a wrong oral transmission, has been transformed into Italian Ponte ponente bridge pì that we all know. In Italy it is possible to find it only in some regions, where it is known with different names, ie in Sicily (milappiu), Calabria (milu lappiu), Basilicata (melaciola) and Sardinia (apiu and melapiu).
It has also been widespread for a long time in the Senio Valley, in Emilia Romagna, as Antonio Morri testified in his 1840 Romagna-Italian vocabulary in which méla apia is defined as "apple appiola or casolana", or in a Casolana chronicle of 1559 where he appears among the gifts that that year were sent to the president of Romagna.

From the apiar it is possible to derive the melàppio, a julep (drink made with fruit juice boiled with sugar, diluted and clarified, from the definition of Treccani) of apple apples, used as a popular remedy against colds. Beyond this curative use, the apple can be used in the kitchen for preserves, jams, sauces, cakes but also for savory dishes such as soups and main courses of meat.

The origins of apple appiola

The first written mention of apple appiola dates back to 1600, when the French agronomist Olivier de Serres told his story from ancient Greece, and in particular from the Peloponnese area, starting from 300 BC, which makes it exactly one of the oldest varieties in Europe. The agronomist cited in his writing a passage from Pliny the Elder, according to which the name derives from the poet and scholar Appius Claudius the Blind, notoriously fond of Greek culture, since he was the first to import the apple cultivation in Italy.
On the name and on the origins there are different theories, such as that of the Dictionnaire de pomologie by André Leroy of 1873 which places its origin in the Apis forest in Brittany, but that of Ancient Greece is considered the most accredited.

Foto: Apple peel (elma tepkisi Yeni Akit)
Photo: Apple appiola (Wikipedia)

Healthy hair in winter? Here's what to eat – Italian Cuisine

THE cold months they are a delicate period for the health and beauty of hair. Humidity, smog, temperature changes and other factors can make them off and dull and make them look unhealthy. In addition to targeted treatments, to have beautiful and healthy hair can be useful take care of it at the table too, eating foods rich in nutrients that restructure them in depth, giving them nourishment, vitality and strength from within. But in what foods to find them? Let's find out with the help of the nutritionist Nicoletta Bocchino.

Go ahead for good fats

«Essential fatty acids, in particular the Omega 3 of which the good sources are fish, like the blue one (mackerel, anchovies, herring, etc.) dried fruit in shellsor, for example walnuts and oil seeds he Omega 9 of which he is rich extra virgin olive oil, are lipid substances similar to those contained in the hair. They nourish it from the inside, giving it strength and resistance and protecting it from the stress caused by external agents, "suggests the nutritionist.

Table space for proteins, vitamins and minerals

«Proteins, vitamins and minerals are indispensable for the synthesis of keratin, a substance of which the hair is made that strengthens the stem. In particular, the good quality proteins contained in meat (lean), in fish and in eggs they are complete with all eight essential amino acids, essential to give vigor to the hair, "suggests the expert. In order to have beautiful, strong and luminous hair in the daily menus, the nutritionist suggests "we must not miss foods rich in vitamins, especially those of the group B, including vitamin B8 also called biotin, of which they are an excellent source eggs, green leafy vegetables including spinach and mushrooms, which improves the structure of the hair, making it stronger and more resistant suggests the expert.

Gordon Ramsay Recipes