TARTE TATIN

TARTE TATIN

This really famous cake was first created by accident at the Hotel Tatin in France in the 1880s. The hotel was run by two sisters Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin who gave name to the tart.

I usually serve it as a desserts with some homemade icecream as a side. The original version is made with apples but is delicious also with pears.

Prepare “pasta brisè”: 200gr flour, 100gr melted butter, 60gr water and salt. Pour in a bowl all the ingredients knead quickly then let sit in fridge for about half an hour. Peel 4 big apples, cut in 8 pieces each and put aside.

Cover the bottom of a baking pan with sugar, then let candy. Out of the stove add the apples, splinkle with sugar, cinnamon and some butter flakes.

Stretch pasta brisè using a rolling pin and roll over the apples soldering well the sides. Bake in pre-heaten oven 180° for about half an hour. Roll over in a tray when the cake is still warm. Rolling over when it is cold could make the cake break.

                                   

PANZANELLA

PANZANELLA

We always discuss about the real ingredients of Panzanella, a very simple Tuscan course. In Florence it is a habit adding cucumber, not in Siena. Celery is admitted but I do not use it.

Ingredients for 6 people:

400gr hard bread

3 tomatoes

3 onions

1 cucumber

Basil

Red vinegar

Olive oil and salt

Cut the bread and put in the water for about 10 minutes. Squeeze well the bread and crumble in a bowl, add chopped onions, salt and vinegar. Let sit for a couple of hours in the fridge. In the meantime prepare a salad using tomatoes, cucumber, basil, olive oil and salt. Before serving mix bread and vegetables.

It is important bread soaked with onion and vinegar would sit in the fridge because onion become sweeter and bread flavour itself.

CARROT CAKE

CARROT CAKE

Ingredients:
300 gr. peeled almonds
300 gr. carrots
300 gr. sugar
4 eggs
1 lemon
80 gr. flour
salt
1 dose of baking powder

Pass almonds to the mixer then add chopped carrots, sugar, eggs and salt. Mix all together until smooth. Pour in a bowl and add flour, juice and lemon zeist, baking powder, mix them. Bake 180° for about 40 minutes

MULTIGRAIN BREAD

MULTIGRAIN BREAD

The season at Il Caggio has started again and we just had the first guests. They were really interested in my cooking so today I want to write about my homemade bread and my carrot cake. There are lots of different and  ready flours to prepare a good bread but they all contain preservatives. So I prefer mixing various organic flours to prepare different kind of bread. I use for 75% soft wheat flour adding kamut, rice, corn, barley or spelt in variable dose.

Today I prepared 1kg flour mixing (I prepare 2 breads with these ingredients):

750 gr. soft wheat flour
100 gr. Kamut flour
50 gr. spelt flour
50 gr. rye flour
50 gr. rice flour

To have 700 gr. bread:

500 gr. mixed flour, add 10gr dehydrated malt and 10gr salt. Make a hole in the middle of the flour and pour in the middle 20gr olive oil and 280gr warm water with 20gr sugar and 25gr fresh yeast melted inside. Knead using a fork and hands, then add 30gr flax-seeds and 40gr sunflower seeds. Make a ball and let rise in a warm place. To have a better rising: after 1 hour knead using hands then let rise again. Bake 200° for about half an hour. To have a softer crust put in the oven some water in a pot.

                        

                                      

PAPPA AL POMODORO

PAPPA AL POMODORO

Most of our contryside traditionl recipes were prepared using what farmers used to harvest. They used to go to the market but they could afford very few things. Women had to do the best they can preparing meals for a large family. “Pappa al pomodoro” is said to be born from the need to have a nutritional and easy to chew course for children and old people. My grandmother used to prepare it often, then for a period we have forget it. In the ‘90s some important restaurants in Florence rediscovered it and today it is synonymous of Tuscan cooking.

I usually say the secret for a good “pappa” are the ingredients. I will never cook it during the winter when tomatoes have no taste and basil is not scented.
For 4 people:

gr. 300 stale bread
gr. 500 tomatoes
3 gloves of garlic
1 liter stock
basil
6 spoons of olive oil
salt and pepper

In a saucepan put garlic and olive oil, when they start browning add chopped and peeled tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes. Pour the stock and when start boiling add the sliced bread. Cook for half an hour stirring. 10 minutes before remove from the fire add basil. Serve warm not hot with a bit of olive oil on the top. It is great! ask my granddaughter Bianca.

RICE CAKE

RICE CAKE

This is a traditional Tuscan cake, it cames from Massa Carrara so its name is “Carratina”. The number of the eggs can seems to high, but this is the original recipe.

It is also gluten-free because it contains rice and no flour.

For 6 people:

100 gr. rice
7 eggs
1/2 liter milk
300 gr. sugar
grated orange zeist
1 small glass of rhum
vanilla and salt
butter and wheat middlings for the baking tray

Boil the rice, drain and let cool.  Mix eggs with sugar until clear and foamy them add rhum, orange zeist, salt, vanilla and warm milk.

Grease a 25cm baking tray and spread on it the wheat middlings. Pour in the bottom the rice and pour over it the mixture. Bake middle temperature for about an hour.

It is delicious room temperature.

FENNEL AU GRATIN

FENNEL AU GRATIN

I usually prepare fennels salads or “pinzimonio” with good olive oil, salt and pepper. If I have to cook them I can not just boil them because they are not so tasty!

For 4 people:

3 fennels

250gr butter

100gr milk

50gr flour

50gr parmesan cheese

Nutmeg and salt.

Cut the fennels and boil them. In a pan put the butter and 2 gloves of garlic. When the garlic start browning remove it and add floured fennels. Let cook until a bit  tosty then add milk, salt and nutmeg. When the milk dry pour the parmesan cheese and serve warm.

If you want to prepare them in advance, put in a baking tray fennels cook with the milk, add parmisan cheese on the top and bake for 5 minutes.