"Bella Baita View"

Spring fling with Asparagus

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:15:00 +0000

Spring has finally not only sprung, but is well underway here in the Alps. It has gotten a cool and very soggy start. I think many of our normal blooms are a bit behind schedule this year not only up here but down in the valley as well. Now that it is here I don't mind so much, but certainly am enjoying the spring green everywhere and all the tiny blossoms and color that springs forth this time of the year. I know everyone enjoys the quickening of our natural world coming back to life after a long winters sleep.

Our self adopted cat Misha frolicking in our garden

We finally have been able to put our early season window flower boxes out as we wait for our geraniums to wake up and get going. Still a little cool for their taste. They certainly prefer a warmer clime before they give up their blossoms. So we enjoy what is here at the moment, drinking it all in.

Looking up toward Merla peak, from our balcony

And what is in season now, is what is probably my favorite vegetable, the elegant leggy Asparagus. I adore asparagus in just about every way I have ever had them, I think. And if truth be told, as a kid when Mom served them, even from a can, I still thought I had died and gone to heaven. I still pretty much feel that way whenever I have them even now, but the days of opening a can of asparagus are a very distant memory. It's fresh all the way for me. Even if the season is short, it certainly is sweet. So when I recently found I had some smoked sliced salmon waiting for just the right occasion, it didn't take me long to pair them up with the tender fresh spears I got from the market. The soft smoky flavor of the salmon pairs perfectly wrapped around rosemary infused, oven roasted stalks. I've made them a couple of times lately and I find myself pining for more as I type this blog post out. So do make sure you try this easiest of treats or even if you find you don't have or want any salmon, oven roasting asparagus is a treat. I think oven roast most vegetables is a wonderful treatment for most vegetables as it concentrates the flavors and adds a natural sweet to their flavor. So do have a go. I added a cheese and prosciutto crudo filled piadina (an Italian tortilla- like flat bread from the Romagna countryside of the Emilia Romagna region), to fill out this simple lunch. I served the bundles as a side dish for supper the other night and it pretty much upstaged everything else on the plate. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Buon appettito!

Oven roasted Asparagus Salmon Bundles

4-5 bundles

Ingredients
500 g or 1 bunch asparagus , ends trimmed (about 20 spears, more or less)1- 2 lengths of fresh rosemary or about 1 T chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Pinch coarse salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
2 T olive oil

4 to 6 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400* F/ 190* C.
Lay the asparagus on a paper lined baking pan. Tuck the sprigs of rosemary under the spearsor sprinkle the chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper over the spears.Drizzle with olive oil.
Lay the asparagus on a paper lined baking pan. Tuck the sprigs of rosemary under the spearsor sprinkle the chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper over the spears.Drizzle with olive oil.
Roast until cooked and starting to brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough to handle.
Gather about 4- 5 spears together and wrap each bunch in a slice of smoked salmon. Arrange on a serving platter and serve at room or warmish temperature.

Gianduia Cheesecake, a Springtime Delight

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 17:24:00 +0000

Remodeling and gardening projects around our house

Springtime is here, but it seems to have taken it's good sweet time about it this year. It's been unseasonable cold for awhile. Now the weather seems to frolic back and forth between warmth and bursting into blossoms and greenery and a shivering standing on one foot waiting for the warmth to return. One minute we are rushing to the garden to lay out new beds and the next rushing back indoors to keep moving on the remodeling of the downstairs space. It is a never ending dance around the building and property as times and circumstances change and we change along with the circumstances and times. Fabrizio has been steadily working on a giant remodel of our family garden trying to keep our neighborhood cinghale (wild boar) and Olympic leaping food crazed caprioli (small roe deer) from having their way with our much missed vegetable patch. When the rain suspends that action he then makes his way through the myriad projects of remodeling our building that houses our B&B and cooking classes that has been in great need of attention. It is never a dull minute. I am banished to keeping the grub going to keep him and our various helpers fueled up to keep the projects moving. We're making progress and hopefully the weather will pass into a distant memory soon as the guests arrive and the season of visitors gets fully underway.

In the meantime one of my ways to keep up our spirits is to keep making treats to keep everyone sweet.

This light and simple northern Italian style cheesecake features the blessed union of chocolate and hazelnuts that Piedmont is so famous for. Hazelnuts are plentiful here, but if you find them difficult to source, this recipe would work well with almonds as well. I love dark chocolate and think it adds the punch that is needed, but of course you can use milk chocolate if you prefer. Whatever changes you make to make this dessert your own, it won't matter, because I think you will find you'll want to make this dessert over and over. Just ask your taste testers, I'm sure they will oblige.

Gianduia cheesecake

Gianduia/Gianduja Cheesecake
Servings 8 generous

Ingredients:

50g/ 2 oz/1/4 c butter
150g /1 c dry cookies, your choice, graham, ginger, petit buerre, vanilla wafers,
1 T / 12 g brown sugar

200g / 7oz / 1 c hazelnuts, whole or pieces. toasted

200-300g / 10 oz chocolate bittersweet I like mine a bit more chocolatey
30ml rum, brandy, hazelnut or chocolate liquor I used a 1 T brandy and 2 T Hazelnut

250g / 8-9 oz mascarpone cheese
200g / 7-8oz heavy cream for filling a little more to whip for garnish.

Method:

Toast the hazelnuts lightly in the oven or on top of the stove in a cast iron pan in a single layer till the nuts are lightly golden and fragrant. If using the on top of the stove method. make sure to shake the pan frequently and don't wander off as the nuts can burn more easily and you need to pay attention to them.

Set aside to cool. When cool, either chop fine with a knife or pulse them in a food processor till they are fine but not a paste. Do make sure they are completely cooled so that when you chop them up they don't turn into a paste. Divide the nuts into two portions. Set aside.

Melt the butter. Crush the cookies into coarse crumbs. Mix the melted butter with the dry cookies crumbs.

Presse the mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a buttered 25cm or 10" pan with removable collar. Chill the pan with the crumbs while preparing the other ingredients.

Place the chocolate in a double boiler with the heavy cream and heat with out stirring, until the chocolate is melted. while still warm, gently whisk the cream and chocolate together, add the brandy or other alcohol and mix until smooth. Add half of the chopped hazelnuts to the chocolate mixture.

Cool until the mixture is no longer hot to the touch. Whisk in the mascarpone cheese lightly until all is mixed and smooth, but no more than necessary to mix. Taste and add a little more alcohol if desired. Pour the mixture into the chilled crumb crust and smooth flat. Sprinkle the top with the other half of the crushed hazelnuts covering as much as possible. Chill for at least 3 hours and over night is even better.

To serve, remove from pan and place on platter. Garnish the top with 8 rosettes of whipped cream and sprinkle chocolate shavings on the cream. I served mine for Easter, so I used small chocolate Easter eggs as garnish. You could serve with a chocolate, fruit or carmel sauce if desired.

Easter table with Gianduia cheesecake primroses and Easter eggs in hankies

Pane alla Zucca or Pumpkin Bread for Easter 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:23:00 +0000

Officially, according to the calendar, spring is here, but it seems that winter has made a comeback with plans to stick around. Easter is early this year and it seems that the real color, aside from a few primula and purple phlox, comes from Easter decorations. Store window dressings are colorfully extravagant, while colorfully wrapped Easter eggs festoon the grocery stores and market. I guess that will just have to do till spring blooming gets fully underway.

Colorful Italian chocolate Easter eggs on display at the Pinerolo market

This year in addition to that bread and other I am going to make Pumpkin bread or Pane alla zucca. It is not a sweet quick bread like most of us from the US think of, but a yeasted bread that replaces the water in the recipe with pumpkin puree. It's a colorful and flavorful bread that will help me use up the last pumpkin of last season that is need off being used before nature has it's way with it. When I saw this being made on our local cooking show they hollowed out the center and filled it with some cooked broccoli and pancetta. If made into small loaves, it could be a soup or dip holder, but that is not what I am going to do. I'm looking forward to thick slabs of colorful bread. This year I decided to make and bake a full load of various breads the night before Easter in our wood fired oven. Not only will we have plenty of bread for the Easter feast, I 'll have some loaves to send home with our cousins. I'll make some normal daily sourdough bread and add in some specialty breads for Easter. I am going to do a Casatiello Napoletano, because not only is it delicious it looks great with the whole eggs in their shell baked on top. You can find my recipe to it here.

My home made Casatiello Napoletano

This bread is best made with dense fleshed pumpkins or squash. I made this loaf in the photo with butternut squash. So not really a pumpkin bread the winter squash varieties are so mixed up and interchangeable, suffice it say that a dense orange fleshed squash or pumpkin is what you are looking for. I will be using what is called here a Mantua squash, but as best as I can place it, it is some variety of kabocha squash, probably of the delica variety. It is a smaller but dense squash that keeps well all winter, but now, it's time to use it and I think it will be a welcome addition to the bread basket.

Pane alla Zuccca

It's pretty easy to make if you know what you are looking for in the way of rising. If you use the commercial yeast, it should be a one day bread if you start in the morning. If using sour dough it may take longer. I don't mind the longer rises, as I think it develops the flavor of the bread, so take you pick, but do try making this bread. It has a delicate flavor and beautiful color that is sure to please.

Butternut squash chunks being steamed

Pane alla Zucca

My adapted recipe of Gabriele Bonci recipe

Ingredients:

10c /2.2 # / 1 kg flour I used a high gluten flour that is called manitoba here in Italy
3/4c / 7 oz / 200g sour dough or livieto madre -- I refreshed mine the night before so that it was quite active
or for secure results use some commercial yeast
7 g yeast, dry instant
3 3/4c / 1 1/2 # / 700g pumpkin/ winter squash pulp, cleaned*
2 tsp Salt (q.b.)
Poppy seeds, optional for topping

Method:

If you are using a dense squash and are going to steam it, then peel and deseed your pumpkin or squash. Weigh it to make sure you still have enough . Cut the squash into chunks and steam it till soft. Run the pulp through a food mill, ricer, or food processor.
If you are baking your squash, weigh your pumpkin to know what amount you have and cut the squash into slabs with the peel still on. Bake in the oven till soft. Scrape flesh off the peel and run the pulp through a food mill, ricer, or food processor.
Add the salt to the pumpkin either when cooking or when turning it in to a puree.
Measure or weigh out your flour into a large bowl.
Add the cooked prepared pumpkin pulp to the flour.
Add the dry yeast or sour dough
Mix together first with a spoon or spatula till a rough dough forms. You can continue to mix it in the bowl with your hands in till smooth adjusting the flour or liquid if needed. I like to finish mixing and kneading on the generously floured table. Mix and gingerly knead till the dough is smooth and pliable.
Lightly oil your bowl add the dough turning to oil the entire dough, cover with plastic wrap ,and set in a warm place to rise for about 5-6 hours.
Once the dough has risen well and is full of air and feels well risen, turn out of the bowl onto the table. Cut into two pieces. Lightly form the bread into to loaf rounds, tucking your ends underneath, being careful not to deflate the bread too much.
Dip the smooth top of each loaf into a bowl of water and then lightly press the wet dough into a bowl of poppy seeds.
Place the seeded side up on a baking tray. I usually use a silicon pad or baking paper to keep the bread from sticking to the tray. Let the loaves rise a little longer if you think they need it. Otherwise, with a pair of kitchen scissor, cut four gashes in the top in a circle to form a top knot. And if you like make 4 cuts with the scissors around the outside and through the sides top to bottom to make large petals.
Bake in a very hot oven. I usually start my oven at the highest temperature. Once it comes up to temperature. I spray the oven with water to form some steam and then quickly put the loaves in. I turn the heat down to 375*F (190*C) and bake the loaves for about 30-40 minutes. I have a convection oven and it does;t always take that long. Sometimes it is only 25 minutes. When the bread looks a golden brown and has a hollow sound when thumped, the bread should be done.
Let cool a while before slicing so the texture is not crushed. Breath deep and enjoy the bready wonderfulness before devouring.

* Cooks Notes

This recipe is originally in metric measures, so when adapting to cups it sometimes takes a little adjusting to get the right amount for your ingredients.

If I am using dense fleshed winter squash or pumpkins I will cut up it up into chunks and steam them till soft and then puree them by using a ricer or food mill.

If I have some of the larger varieties of pumpkins or squash that are sometimes stringy and very watery, I might consider baking them in the oven to reduce the liquid and intensify the flavor. Either way if you find your dough too stiff you can always add a bit of water or if the dough is too wet, then add a tad more flour. Bread is like that, so don't be afraid. Knead on.

Pumpkin or Squash Bread

Back in the U.S. of A and Bagnèt Verde

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:30:00 +0000

As you can see, I have been away for awhile from my poor little neglected blog. I have been visiting in the US trying to see everyone and everything that I can as my visits are few and far between. As much as I love living in Italy and all of my friends and family here, I do miss my American family and friends. With my hectic schedule attempting to take it all in, I didn't seem to find any time to share here on my Bella Baita View, so today I will remedy that.

Snowshoeing in Frisco and Skiing Copper Mt Colorado

I have three brothers and their children scattered throughout the states and I was blessed in that I was able to see most of them. Along the way I was also able to spend some time in Summit County in Colorado, which I still consider my last home in America. Fortunately for me, I still have a lot of friends making the visit all the more sweet. I got to do a little snowshoeing and skiing as well as chatting and sipping beverages with friends. The world around, we all do enjoy our "catching up" over food and drinks. This trip was no exception. My friends Mary and John, were kind enough to open their home to my friends for a potluck one night so we could all do a bit of catching up while we sampled each others food and drink.

Friends at the potluck

Since my hosts were working the day of the party I took the opportunity to do a bit of cooking, using seasonal vegetables and making some dishes vegetarian and vegan with some traces of Piemontese influence in the various dishes. To provide a protein or meat dish that I could make ahead so as not to be busy when everyone arrived, I braised a beef roast and served up the room temperature slices with a classic Piemontese sauce, salsa verde. I also made green cabbage rolls filled with spicy sausage and covered with a marinara sauce. Vegan cabbage rolls made with Chinese cabbage, as it was more similar to Savoy cabbage, which I couldn't get, and filled with mixed quinoa, tempeh bacon and a sweet fruit and vegetable relish begging to be used up in the fridge. I grilled some eggplant slices and filled the with firm tofu that had been sautéed up with garlic and 2 colors of kale and covered with the marinara sauce. I added some of my home made focaccia to go along with a great selection of Wisconsin cheeses, many made by small producers from the Devils Head area, thanks to a great gift from my Wisconsin friend Marcia. We had met up in Chicago for lunch and she gifted me with a fabulous treasure trove of artisan cheeses. Everyone loved them. There were a lot of great dishes brought along to share but I got so busy chatting I forgot to take photos, so you'll just have to believe me.

Potluck buffet

A great dish for Easter lunch or brunch, plated or on a buffet anytime, is the braised beef slices warm or room temperature, served with the salsa verde. This green sauce is a garlicky punch that usually finds itself served alongside the beloved bollito misto, or mixed boiled meats that is so popular here in Piiedmont and other parts of Italy. Often when we enjoy Easter lunch with my in-laws, the evening meal, after the traditional "passeggiata", or walk in the neighborhood after groaning through lunch, we have a simple bollito misto accompanied with both green and re sauce. So here is my version based on my mother in-laws, which can vary depending on taste or what's on hand. It's great on any type of simple meat that adds just the right amount of zip and brightens up the plate. Adjust the amounts to suit your palette to make it your own.

Bagnèt Verde Piemontese or

Green Sauce or "Bath" Piemontese Sauce

1-2 large fistfuls of parsley, washed and dried

2 garlic cloves

2 whole or 4 fillets of anchovies in salt, cleaned (in oil if you can't find those in the salt)*

1 T capers in salt, washed to remove the salt

1 hard boiled egg **

2 c (bicchieri) olive oil

1/2 c (bicchiere) vinegar, white wine, red wine or apple cider all are nice

salt if needed to taste

The easy way would be to buzz it all up in the food processor, but my mother in-law would not approve as it would not have enough texture.

I hand chop all the various ingredients fine or sometimes I use a mezzaluna (curved knife with two handles) to get a uniform texture.

I place all of the chopped ingredients in a bowl and mix the oil and vinegar in to taste adjusting any of the ingredient quantities if I feel it needs more or the flavor isn;t well blended.

Serve at room temperature. This will keep a few days in the refrigerator also, so you could make it ahead of time.

Spoon liberally over your cooked meats and enjoy.

** Some make the sauce with the egg yolk only and use a slice of soft white bread chopped uo to thicken. Our family is more practical and we add the whole boiled egg, chopped fine.

* Anchovies and capers that are preserved have more flavor once the salt is removed than the anchovies in oil or capers in vinegar. You may need to adjust the seasoning depending on which variety of these two ingredients you use. Do not add any salt without tasting first and you might want less vinegar if your capers were preserved in vinegar.

World Nutella Day 2013 - Nutella Frolla Bites

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 11:11:00 +0000

Way Hey, It's World Nutella Day

Mini muffin type sweet pastry cups, filled with Nutella goodness inside

What can I say? I live in the Italian province of Piedmont, where Nutella was born, so I can not resist joining the World Nutella Day celebrations that started a few years back. This event was conceived and spearheaded by Sara Rosso, who writes the Ms Adventures in Italy blog, amongst all the many other hats she wears and Michelle Fabio who too wears many hats of which the blog Bleeding Espresso is one of her creations. You can learn more about World Nutella Day here. I have a few recipe offerings from past years that you might want to check out after you try this one.I'll put some links at the botton of the post. I have to say that we are all rather taken with this one and think it will make it into the rotation a little more frequently that maybe it should. It's basically a cookie cup filled with Nutella creaminess. They keep well in a cookie tin and served with a little caramel or chocolate sauce, they can double as an easy dessert in a pinch. I find it a delight alongside an afternoon espresso. Mmm, Mmmmm. Give it a whirl and see what you think.

Two crusted pasta Frolla bites. I ran out of tops for the last one, but it tasted just fine.

Nutella Frolla Bites

Yields: 24 double crusted mini bites

Oven Temperature: 350*F / 180*C

Pasta Frolla dough:

2 c (280g) plain flour
1 tsp (4g) baking powder (about half a package that you find here in Italy)
1/2 c (100g) sugar
Zest of 1 orange or lemon, I like to use a rasp micorplane, just try not to get any of the white pith
Pinch salt
4 ounces (110g) unsalted butter, chilled but not straight out of the refrigerator, cut into small pieces

1 large egg
1 large egg yolk

Nutella Filling

Method:
Measure your flour into a largish bowl (Italians often make this directly on the wood work table)
Add the baking powder, salt, citrus zest, and sugar. Lightly stir to mix all. Drop the cold butter into the flour mixture. Either cut the butter into the mixture or use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour quickly to get small clumps and it starts to form a dough. Work quickly so the butter doesn't get too soft. Make a shallow well and add the whole egg and yolk. Mix in a circular motion until the dough begins to come together. Form in to a cohesive dough, Cover and refrigerate at least an hour. You can leave it overnight if you prefer.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/4'/ 1cm thickness.
Make the bases larger than the diameter of the mini muffin tin. I used a round cookie cutter to make the bases slightly larger bottoms than the tops if you have a couple of sizes. I couldn't find my set of cutters, so the tops were the same size as the bases and bigger than needed. Place the pastry disc into a greased and floured (or a no stick) mini muffin pan, or petit four cups. Press the dough in lightly. Place a small dollop of Nutella into the depression. Cover the filled bases. I either tucked the top into the depression of the filled base or pinch the dough around the edges. I didn't seal it and used a light touch. They seemed to self seal when baked.
Bake the bites at 350*F / 180*C for about 15-20 minutes till they start to get some color, but be careful not to over bake.
Cool slightly before removing from the muffin tins, to cool completely.
Delicious warm or cold.
I think you'll find they disappear quickly.

Viva la Nutella!

Inside the folla bites

My other World Nutella Day recipes:

- Nutella Crumb Crostata

- Nutella Cornetti/ Hazelnut cream filled pastry horns

- Banana Nutella Cakelettes/Tortino di Banana e Nutella

- Bugie al Carnevale / Nutella filled Fried Dough

Fresh Orange Tart- adding a bit of sun to winter

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:47:00 +0000

Francesco, our favorite citrus vendor

This winter the snow has been slow to arrive after a very early appearance around the 26 October when all was green and the leaves were still on the trees. Now that the white blanket of snow has covered up the unrelenting brown of the winter, it's time for a splash of color. My favorite winter remedy would be the luscious citrus fruits from the south of Italy. Our Sicilian citrus farmers send up some of the tastiest oranges, clementines, and mandarins found anywhere. I always look forward to late autumn when the road side trucks laden with oranges begin to reappear randomly and in regular pull off points where they beckon you to buy a case or two of sunshine and sweetness. Drawn to pull over and inspect the vendors goods, unable to resist the siren song of oranges, we come away with a case of oranges and mandarins. Orange indulgences to follow. We've peeled and juiced these globes of desire until I finally begin to use them up in other ways that requires a tad more effort.

Tarocco or "Tarot" oranges which are called red oranges here never called blood oranges

I made this orange tart to try and replicate it after having enjoyed a fabulous slice at Caffe' Roma, which is one of our favorite bars in Pinerolo, The cafe is located at the corner of Piazza Roma, where the daily Farmers market usually draws us in on our market visits. Caffe'Roma is owned and run by 3 brothers, of which 2 work in the bar and one brother, Francesco, runs the kitchen. I frequently run into the chef shopping at this market and that always puts a smile on my face. I actually see a number of local restauranteurs shopping here and that is so encouraging. Caffe' Roma is a popular lunch time choice, as they serve deliciously genuine and reasonably priced food. You can choose to dine inside or al fresco at one of the curbside tables. I love Franceso's orange tart as it is not one that I have made or enjoyed much before coming to live in Italy. His selection of desserts are always enticing. He has shared his talent, teaching workshops at the restaurant, and at Frossasco's Mueso del Gusto. Unfortunately, I have not been able to attend, so I am left to my own resources. My recipe for this tart is pretty simple as he told it should be. Perhaps not the perfection that I found in his balance of flavor and technique, but tasty and worth making when you want to bring a little sunshine into your day.

Crostat di Arance---Fresh Orange Tart

Fresh Orange Tart or Crostata di Arance

Yields: 1-10 inch or 1-25 cm crust
Oven Temp 200*C /375*F to blind bake the crust then later to 190*C / 350*F

Pasta Frolla

Ingredients:

200g flour, plain flour or Italian 00 (1 1/2 c / 7 oz flour**)
125g butter, chilled, but not soft or too hard (1/2c / 4.4 oz)

75 g sugar, granulated or castor (6 T / 2.6 oz)

2 egg yolks

Add sugar to the flour and mix.

Cut the butter into smallish pieces and rub the butter into the flour with your fingers.

Make a well in the middle of the dough.

Add the egg yolks, and stir or mix well with your hands till it comes together in a soft dough.

Knead lightly and briefly to get a smooth dough, being careful not to work the dough too much

Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, as it makes it easier to handle.

Roll out on floured surface or between lightly floured parchment paper for ease.

**Cooks notes: I have found the dough might require more flour as weight to volume flour conversions can vary greatly. Add a little flour at a time if you think the dough is too sticky to get it to be a manageable dough and if necessary, be generous with the flour when rolling the dough out.

For the filling:

Orange peel (organic is best)

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c water

500g oranges slices, peeled (a little over a pound of oranges, after peeled, maybe 4)

Apricot preserves or Orange marmalade, a goodly amount as needed for covering the crust and glazing the top,

Brandy or rum

Directions:

Mix up the pasta frolla and refrigerate.

While waiting for the dough to chill, prepare your filling.

Wash the whole oranges and wipe dry.

Before removing the peel from the orange, I either zest or use a channel knife to remove the orange peel zest or strips before actually removing it from the orange itself.

If you hve neither tool, remove the peel form the oranges, making sure to remove the white pith from the orange. If the white pith is too plentiful scrape some off with a small paring knife.

Julienne (cutting the peel into thin slivers) the peel.

In a small sauce pan add the water and sugar and heat to boil.

When the sugar is dissolved add some or all of the peel. You might need to increase the amount of equal parts of sugar/ water if you have a lot of peels.

Simmer the peels in the sugar water till softened and translucent. Remove from the syrup and lay flat on a plate or waxed paper when cooled to dry slightly.

Set aside.

Slice your peeled oranges into rounds and set aside also.

Roll your pastry out to fit a 10" or 25 cm removable bottom tart tin.

Place your pasta frolla in the pan and trim as needed.

Prick the bottom of the pastry generously with a fork.

Line the pastry with baking paper and weigh down with beans or another pan that fits inside.

Blind bake at 200* C / 375*F for about 20-25 minutes, removing the pan partway though the baking so the middle bakes more thoroughly. With beans or weights, i would bake with them on top the whole time.

Cool slightly.

Mix your preferred preserves with a few drop of brandy or rum to thin slightly. Warm up on the stove top to make it easier to spread.

Cover the bottom with a thinnish layer of preserves. I used marmalade as I have quite a bit on hand that I make.

Now cover the bottom with your jam and crust with the orange slices in a decorative circle, slightly overlapping the edges, till all is covered.

Lower the temperature of your oven to 190*C/350*F

Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes to cook through.

Thin more marmalade with liquor to make a thin glaze and light glaze the whole tart while warm. Let cool at least 15 minutes before trying to cut it. It will be hard to resist the urge to devour it right out of the oven, but do wait or the crust will crumble.

Great served at room temperature and is just as tasty the next day or so.

Let the sun shine through!

A Surprising December

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:36:00 +0000

It's a new year and a fresh start for projects already imagined and others still to present themselves. I am looking forward to meeting new people through their visits to our B&B in Val Chisone, but also people that I meet who present themselves through this blog or other various paths to our door. I started this blog back in 2006 when I had barely even heard of blogs, but had read that they helped bring traffic to connected websites. Ah ha, a way to help people find out our little known alpine valley before the 2006 Winter Olympics actually put us on the map. It's challenging to have people find you if they don't know to even be looking. Anyway, my blog originally was to focus on our surrounding area, events that happen here and reasons to visit with us here. Being a keen cook and baker, it didn't take me long to realize that food posts always bring more traffic than anything, so I included some of the recipes that I make along the way. I am not always the most disciplined recipe follower, more of a bit of this and that, so I find that my recipes are a slow process to write so I don't chronicle everything I make and often times I forget to take a photo...oops! Sometimes I even add in my personal experiences, but usually shy away from that as I want to stay focused on promoting this area. Today, I want to reflect on one of my very recent past experiences before moving on to 2013's new experiences, as I feel compelled to speak my mind on this subject. As an American expat I am forever noticing similarities and differences in my two countries. It's just natural curiosity for me. I don't believe either country is better or perfect but there are some striking differences at times on both sides that gets me a bit fired up a bit.

Pinerolo'a emergency entrance of the Agnelli hospital

Todays topic is Italian health care, socialist healthcare at it's best. Early in December I found myself experiencing some abdominal pains that I have been managing for quite a while as I had been diagnosed with gall bladder disease. I didn't know before, but it seems to run through my dad's side of the family. It was recommended for me to have the gall bladder removed, but I resisted, as I am a big believer in trying to heal my body naturally. So I embarked on a path to improve the health of my gall bladder and had quite a bit of success. Unfortunately, not enough, as I finally realized as the pain became less manageable. I knew it had taken a shift, but didn't realize what that meant exactly. On my merry way I continued, until it became apparent that things were not going in the right direction and something needed to be done. There were missteps on both my part and the national health organization in that I missed my operation date and wound up in the emergency room in distress. I wanted to go home as the symptoms subsided while waiting, but Fabrizio wouldn't hear of it. Smart man. Anyway, the gall bladder was idling along while the pancreas became inflamed and threatened to create far more difficulties than originally diagnosed. Silly me.

Christmas tree on the surgery floor and lots of Panettone for the staff.

So they admitted me to the hospital and began to treat me for the pancreatitis until it was safe to remove the gall bladder. It was a long 12 days. It was good experience considering, as all the doctors and nurses were as dedicated and caring as any that I have ever come in contact with in America. I found that my Italian was better than I realized, learned a lot of new words, and had the notion reinforced once again that caring and professionalism knows no language or any other barrier.

Who knew how delicious semolino soup, with grana Padano cheese instead of salt could taste soooo good!

So what was different and why do I feel so compelled to write about this experience? It is because the financial underpinnings are so very different. So vastly different. Socialized medicine in Italy means you pay little or nothing at all and the care is first rate. Free or affordable health care is a basic human right in Italy. Everyone on our floor was equal and receiving excellent care no matter what our economic status might be. That usually is the case in the hospital, but at least none of us were worrying about financial ruin. The staff worked very hard and I appreciate what a tough job being a doctor or nurse is anywhere in the world. i take my hat off to these under appreciated professionals. A heartfelt thank you from me to you! I know there are probably many other people that can tell other stories, but this was my experience. I am sure that larger cities and other places feel the strain at times to be able to offer excellent health care, but our local system is excellent and I am very grateful.

New addition to our hospital

Our local Pinerolo hospital originally built with the support of the Angelli family, our areas patron saint, of Fiat fame and fortune, has recently been updated and expanded. I was fortunate enough to be in the new wing and it truly was a pleasant place to stay if you find yourself in need of their services. I have been intrigued since I have been living here about how you, the patient/customer are more involved and responsible with your own care on different levels. Pharmacies all have a licensed doctor that is able to prescribe needed medicines, often eliminating a doctors visit. Over the counter drugs are pretty much non existent and you will pay more for some of those types of medicine, but most prescriptions are quite reasonably priced. There is much interest and support in preventative measures for diseases like heart disease, diabestes and such sometimes hereditary predispositions. When you need to see a doctor you show up at one of their offices, that they keep regular hours at with your medical records in hand, no receptionists, you just need to see who is the last person in line and find your place in the queue. First come, first served. The doctor has their computer and all of your records are on file. When you need a test done the doctor gives you a computerized order form that you use to get your test done and then to use to pay the hole in the wall machine who gives you a receipt and change if you need it. The receipt then gets you a copy from the staff who manage the records and make special appointments for you. Pretty efficient in spite of sometimes needing to wait a bit. But hey, whenever I have gone to the doctors in the states, I have waited incredible amounts of time even with an appointment. No perfect system anywhere. America has great healthcare, if you can afford it or if you have a job with health care benefits. Those benefits are getting very difficult to obtain these days. Health care in America has become big business and for me that seems like the wrong direction to go. Italy has all kinds of economic woes, and I am sure health care is a part of it, but it isn't the main problem. and it is still considered a basic human right, so hooray for that. I know that the new health care reform is not a perfect piece of legislation and yet I think it is a step in the right direction for everyone in the states. I guess my point is please do not fear this change so much as embrace that all Americans may afford the health care that in my opinion is a basic human right. We are all in this together and need to find solutions that include for the greater good of us all. We all need to take care of ourselves and each other, because in the end, it's all that really matters. At least that is how it seems to me...Thanks for listening to my personal belief, that we all matter! And now on to a more healthful and prosperous 2013 for all!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Oh yes, I am fine and doing well.
I had a quiet and wonderfully peaceful Christmas at home and a happy New Year with friends.
Thanks for asking, now you don't need to! Ciao Ciao....Marla

PS....the volunteer clowns were a nice touch, even for us old fogeys!

Our Holiday Wish for You!

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 16:48:00 +0000

Digital ecard made with Smilebox

Salone del Gusto 2012 -- Come and Gone Again

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:36:00 +0000

Delectable cured meats and cheeses

What happens when you gather approximately 1, 000 vendors together in one place to show off their distinctively exceptional culinary wares for all the world to see and sample? Well, I'd say there would be a whole lot of sampling and chatting going on, and, I would be right.

This past October 25 -29, 2012, brought together an extraordinary gathering of people to present, sample, and discuss what has come to be known as "Slow Food". Every two years "Slow Food International" puts on a food extravaganza they call "Salone del Gusto", which roughly translates to halls of taste, or an exhibition of flavor. We live in the mountains of Italy's Piedmont region, in the heart of the Slow Food Movement which was born 1986 in Bra, Italy, just slightly over an hours drive from our mountain perch.

Tomini cheese with a slice of black truffle

That is one of the reasons this movement is so near and dear to our hearts. The other reason is its lofty goals of promoting genuine food that is produced in a way that does minimal damage to the earth, encourages, biodiversity, strives for fair wages for the producers and food that still tastes phenomenal. Pretty easy for us to get behind this movement. I have written about this movement and biennial event on numerous occasions, but it's just too festive an occasion to let it pass without sharing a few photos and some stories about this years ninth event. If you want to read some of my other posts about this event, you can read about it here, here , here and here. If you want to know more about about the organization do go to their website, "Slow Food," as it is a wealth of information about many wide reaching projects around the world. Consider becoming a member in a local chapter where you live or adopt one of their myriad projects, like supporting a vegetable garden in Africa, in their latest project, A Thousand Gardens in Africa. I guarantee you'll find it an interesting read, and it just might even change someones life, possibly your own.

Bernard Elxirs, featuring Genepy

The event for us is an opportunity to see old friends and make new ones. One lovely Canadian chef I met one year, kindly brought me a bag of dried cranberries two years later as he remembered me mentioning my longing for cranberries that are not available here. It was a wonderful surprise that we enjoyed for quite some time!

Gabriele Bonci , famoux for his Roman style pizza made from Marino Mulino flour from nearby Cuneo

This year I was especially delighted to get to taste some of Gabrielle Bonci's famous pizza. It lived up to the hype and I was honestly impressed how hard he and his coworkers worked during this event. There was nearly always a line to taste his focaccia style pizza made famous at his "Pizzarium" restaurant in the Trastevere area of Rome. I try to catch his television segments on our local "La Prova del Cuoco" cooking show, as I love his style. He uses Mulino Marino organic flour, that is a local brand that I have loved for many years. The Marino family have been committed to stone ground organic flours from their family milling business for at least 3 generations.

Gabrielle Bonci and me, Marla

Another thing that really impressed me about Gabrielle, was the fact that he shopped every morning in the exhibition hall from his fellow exhibitors, supporting their businesses right on the spot, and giving the hungry pizza eaters a taste of the possibilities of the food being presented there. And lastly, at the end, of what had to be at the very least, a 12-14 hour, day, when he had been on his feet all day, selling his pizza, and, chatting to the masses; he cheerfully indulged me with a photo together and a little "bread making shop talk." Thanks to my Fabrizio's outgoing nature, I got to meet this icon of modern pizza. What a charming experience for me all round. Grazie mille, Fabman.

Fabbrica della Pasta always has a unique display for their unique pasta

I never tire of going to this event as it is just so fascinating with people from all over the world bringing along not only their food but their culture as well. Also, running simultaneously at this event is "Terre Madre" (Mother Earth), an international network for food communities. This brings many diverse food communities from all over the world to discuss and look for solutions to common challenges as well as network for getting their foods out to a larger market. Many people wear their local traditional clothing and some times perform their music as well, making for plenty to see and do. I hope you enjoy these collages I have made. Perhaps we'll see you here in 2014.

Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, in the center of the collage

Autumn Thankfulness

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 22:41:00 +0000

Today in America, people have probably already sat down with friends and family and eaten more than their fill of roast turkey and all the fixings. It's usually a relaxing day with time to reflect on what one is grateful for. I always like the holiday even if the meal was just a tad on the side of overkill, vu I like the reflective nature of the day. Here in Italy it's not a day to indulge oneself with turkey and such, but I do find myself counting my blessings. I'm grateful for a warm home and food on the table with family and friends, old and new, to share with. I live in a beautiful part of the world and grateful to be able to enjoy the daily dose of mountain splendor. I am grateful to be able to share it with you.

Thanks for stopping by and coming back. I still have things I look forward to sharing. The collage I put together above is just a sampling of autumn colors as this season comes to a close and early winter is just around the corner. Stay tuned for more food and fun and whatever else comes along, coming up shortly.

Fennel Flan or Sformato di Finocchi with a Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:12:00 +0000

This part of the world is crazy about vegetable flans. If you've never had one I recommend trying one some time soon.They are easy and make a wonderful change of vegetable or eggy type offering. It makes a light luncheon course or a first course addition to a multi course meal. This time of year the local favorite is a pepper flan usually with a bagna cauda sauce to go along for a bit of a flavor punch up. I like that one quite a lot, but as there are so many people out there that tend to have an aversion to anchovies, I decided to make the pepper into the sauce to go along with the delicately flavored fennel variety. Piedmont is famous for their peppers, so I make sure to indulge. I think the peppers and fennel worked well together and seemed to be a big hit with some recent friends that came to dinner. Vibrant red, orage and yellow peppers are everywhere at the moment, so it's hard to resist using them as much as possible. The roasted red pepper sauce made for a colorful contrast to the white flan. This particular flan calls for a thin béchamel sauce. I added a few slabs of local seirass cheese to add a bit of interest as it holds its shape when cooked. It is rather like a ricotta salata, but not quite as firm. Flans here generally tend to be smooth through and through, but my preference is for a bit of texture, so I blend up part of the vegetables and leave some small chunky bits so you also have a better idea of what you are eating. The flan is still smooth and silky, but make the adjustments to your taste.
Sformato is a large dish that can be cooked in a souffle or ring mold. Sformatini are individual servings that can be made in muffin cups. We have aluminum baking cups here perfect for a nice presentation on your plate.
I usually roast my peppers first while I am preparing everything else. I serve the pepper sauce at room temperature and the flan piping hot, but of course, you can serve it as you like as it is delicious when the flan and sauce are at room temperature or piping hot.

Fennel Flan

or Sformatini di Finocchi (or Sformato)

Ingredients

For the béchamel:

1 1/2 cups whole milk

40 g /3 Tb butter, unsalted

20 g / 3 Tb flour

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg

For the Fennel filling:

2-4 bulbs (about 1 kg / 2 pounds) outer fronds removed, inner part diced

2 large eggs

1 cup freshly grated cheese

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup fine bread crumbs

Instructions:

Make the béchamel:

Melt butter a heavy medium saucepan

Add the flour, whisk together and sauté for a few minutes.

Whisk in the milk, bring to a boil and simmer till thick, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat, set aside.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

In a medium saucepan, cover the fennel with enough water just to cover and a big pinch of salt.

Cook, covered until fennel is tender, about 20 minutes; then drain, reserving some of the liquid.

Pulse fennel in a food processor or with a hand blender until finely chopped, adding a little reserved water if needed to make a smooth paste with some texture.

Heat oven to 325°.

Beat eggs in a large bowl;

Add béchamel and whisk to combine.

Add chopped cooked fennel, cheese, salt and pepper; stir to combine.

Butter a 1 1 ⁄2- to 2-quart baking dish or a similar size ring mold or individual tins or muffin cups with olive oil or2 Tb butter to coat and then tip in bread crumbs, swirling to cover.

Add fennel mixture.

Place dishes into a pan with hot water to make a bain mare.

Bake until sformato or sformatini set and are lightly browns about 20 - 40 minutes depending on the size.

Remove the sformato from oven; let rest for a few minutes for small ones and 15 minutes for larger ones then unmold .

Serve warm or at room temperature with a sauce if desired.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 whole red peppers

2 T olive oil

1 cloves garlic, Minced if you wanted a milder garlic flavor, you could also roast the garlic

Flat Leaf Parsley or basil, optional

Preparation Instructions

Roast red peppers, and then place in a bag to allow to sweat. Peel the charred skins from the peppers, then remove seeds.

Puree peppers with the garlic, oil, parsley and or basil.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add more oil if you need it a bit thinner.

You can adjust this as needed for more servings.

Postcards from Bella Baita

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:35:00 +0000

Bella Baita View- for us, the start and finish of every day

It's not like there hasn't been anything going on here in the Alps! It's just I can't seem to gather my thoughts into a cohesive post and so I have just been pasting photos into Facebook and giving little teasing one liners while the whirlwind of summer has happened. Well, I am going to try really hard to be "back", but we all know that is easier said than done. Ok, at least I know that, and you can just trust me on that matter. so I thought I might do a little recap of some of the things going on for us this summer at Bella Baita. We didin't get too far from home other than the mercato and further up our valley to our local attractions. Here are some highlights.

Our family garden

Our projects took on a new addition this year as Fabrizio's parents have been renovating his mother's childhood home for a lower elevation winter home and put in their garden down in town, leaving us to tend the mountain homestead garden, Naturally Fabrizio needed to put his stamp on it by promptly by starting a new fence renovation.

Fabrizio and Ryan's rock wall

With help from our Wwoofer's Fabrizio was able to make a new retaining rock wall, Now we just need to get the fence finished as the local capriolo (roe deer) has been devastating the salad patch.

The garden giveth and the roe deer taketh away

Thankfully we've managed to get our fair share from the garden. It's a labor of love and a battle with the elements too, of course. We;ve had lots of visitors that have cooked with us learning some new dishes to take back home and make again and again, well, hopefully.

We cooked together with a variety of people and dishes.

Team Texas

Gnocchi for a crowd

Pork roll

Apricot Blackberry Crostata coming right up

or our home made strawberry sorbet

And I canned (or jarred) when I could

Mirabelle and wild purple plums

And baked up a storm

My hearth breads made from my own natural sourd dough starter

Savory rustic tart, plum cake, giardiniera and rye raisin walnut loaves

Raspberry frangipane cream cakes

And we dined together sometimes and on a wonderful impromptu occasion, we were treated to the dulcet music of Michael Ryan. What a delightful treat indeed.

Michael Ryan sharing his classical guitar talent with us after dinner

We visited Turin, hitting some of the top touristic sights

Mole Antonelliana

The stunning Juvarra staircase

The Roman gate, the original dating back to 25 BC

We made sure to get out and about in our neighborhood for the local sights as well.

Colorado friends under the porticos in Saluzzo

Carbondale. Illinois friends in front of the Agnelli church in Villar Perosa

Hannibal's bridge at the bottom of our road

Fenestrelle Fortress from top to bottom

Fenestrelle Frotress from the bottom

Usseaux

Murals and flowers in Usseaux

Piemontese breed of goat

Giving milk so we can enjoy some Tomini cheese

We made sure to sample some of course.

Tomini cheese in the center surrounded by a variety of other local types

Home again, home again jiggety jog. I hope you have enjoyed a pictorial account of some of our happenings while I have been remiss in writing about all of our adventures. I hope you have enjoyed tagging along with us. See you again soon.

Where it all happens for us in the alps.

BITEG 2012 -Gastronomic Tourism

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 11:38:00 +0000

Piazza Carlo Alberto- Turin

Some things are just too special not to share and this recent event happened back in May and the time has just gotten away from me so that I am only now getting around to posting about it because I think you will find it of interest. I certainly did.

Piemontese Cheese Sampler

"Gastronomic Tourism", may not be a familiar term for you, but I can assure you it is an up and coming venue for travel that is getting the attention of the tourism industry. People have various reasons to travel to particular destinations, but in today's globalized world the opportunity to learn and experience ethnic cuisine first hand in it's native home, is leading people in search of the best places to have that very experience. My husband and I know from our experiences with visitors that many people have completely designed their holiday to shop in the local open air markets, prepare the food of Italy in Italy and pair it with wines that speaks volumes about terroir and local traditions.

Local wine of Torinese

When our Regione Piemonte acquired the already established organization "BITEG – Borsa Internazionale del Turismo Enogastronomico" or International Food and Wine Tourism Exchange, about 5 years ago, our governing region made a commitment to put Italy and especially Piedmont's gastronomic charms forward to the world. Piemonte's has long been recognized nationally and somewhat internationally as a region with an enduring heritage of exemplary culinary traditions, premium wines and exquisite white truffles. BITEG's mission is to promote all of these traditions and tourist attractions, to a wider audience throughout the world. Each year they have organized a familiarization trip for top tour operators, buyers and importers as well as the press to experience what all Piemonte has to offer.

The venue for BITEG 2012 was hosted in Turin this past May and organized by various organizations to showcase the citys beautiful city center with its interesting architecture, museums, history as well as it long established culinary traditions like it's long term love affair with chocolate and coffee just to name a couple and the famous surrounding wine regions. Over the multi day events, the group experienced the sights and flavors that are uniquely Piemontese. The grand finale of this edition was held in the recently refurbished National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento of Turin. They invited a few of the "Maestri del Gusto" masters to provide a delicious array of local specialties that featured, grissini/ stirati, which were originally invented in Turin for one of the Royal Savoy family, along side artisan cheeses, salami, Carmagnola peppers, as well as chocolate to die for, wine and spirits and digestivi to cap off the sampling for the evening.

Stirati Torinesi Breadsticks

Artisan Cheese - "Toma La Sabauda"

Carmagnola Peppers

We have long been involved in doing our part to sing the praises of our part of northern Italy's under appreciated Piedmont Region, so when our friend Enrico Bernard, a long time "Maestri del Gusto" (masters of taste) for his family's hand crafted mountain herbal elixirs, asked us to join him for the evening, we jumped at the chance to help serve and explain his unique products. We were more than delighted to join him as it turned out to be a lovely evening in Turin.

Fabrizio Roncaglia and Enrico Bernard

Guido Castagna

The setting in the Risorgimento was stunning and the people we met interesting and eager to try our spirits and learn about our mountain traditions. Lucky for us too we were located between the wine table and Guido Castagna's exquisite chocolates, making the evening delightful in and of itself! Yet another reason to visit and explore the diverse corners of our Piedmont region. Bring some friends, make new ones and experience the charms the city, plains and mountains of Piedmont has to offer. I'm convinced you'll be glad you did.

Mole Antonelliana in the distance

Time to make a Crostata

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 08:24:00 +0000

I don't know about you but, it's been a hectic time around our house these days, with all of the small fruits starting to coming in full force and the weeds in the garden holding their own too. No shortage of jams to make and weeds to pull. I happened to have some ricotta the other day that seem destined to become something sweet to eat instead of its customary roles as a savory offering. This a versatile easy recipe that works well with cherries and pears as well. I used pecora ricotta as it gives a bit more depth to the flavor, but regular cows ricotta will do fine. Make this soon and enjoy yet another way to get all that fruity goodness into a treat the whole family will love.

Apricot and Ricotta Crostata/ Crostata di Albicoche e Ricotta

Prepare your fruit first and set aside.
Prepare your pasta frolla and refrigerate.
Finish your filling, roll out your pastry and assemble

Apricot and Ricotta Filling (Cherry or Pear is nice as well)

250 g ricotta

400 g. 3/4 lb of apricots, wash and pit

60 g/ 1/2 c. sugar

juice from 1/2 lemon, just a touch of the grated peel or orange if preferred

2 T or a healthy splash amaretto if desired

pinch salt

Cut your apricots into small pieces. My apricots were small so I quartered them

Add the sugarm lemon peel and amaretto

Set aside to absorb flavors.

Adjust the amounts of sugar and lemon according to the tartness of your apricots or desired sweetness you prefer.

Once you have rolled out your pastry and placed in your prepared pan, add the ricotta to the fruit mixture and stir well. Add a pinch of salt to pull all the flavors together.

Fill your crust with the ricotta and fruit filling before placing pastry strips on top.

Pasta Frolla
(also known as sweet short paste or cookie crust dough)
1-10" or 25 cm crust with lattice
Serves 8

For the pastry

350 g (approx 2 1/2c) flour, pastry or plain

200 g (7 oz)butter, softened

125 g (2/3 c approx.) sugar, granulated

1 egg

1 egg yolk

Add sugar to the flour and mix .

Cut the butter into small is pieces and mix together, lightly

Make a well in the middle of the dough.

Add eggs, and stir or mix well with your hands till it comes together in a dough and gingerly pull together into a smooth dough.

Divide into 2 flat disks, one larger than the other.

Refrigerate for 15 minutes or so, especially if your butter is very soft, to make it easier to handle.

Roll out between lightly floured parchment paper for ease.

Can be rolled with out paper, just make sure you keep lightly flouring and lifting and don’t let the dough get too warm.

Prepare a removable bottom tart or cake pan by greasing and flouring.

Roll the larger disk out to beyond he edges of the bottom of the pan. Carefully lift and place in the tart pan allowing the edges to fall over the edges.

Roll out the top portion in a slightly oblong fashion again about 1/2 inch beyond the edge of the pan.

Cut into wide strips and lay across the top of the filled bottom crust, in a criss cross pattern, one direction and then the other, or weave the strips as you go from the center with and over and under method finishing on the outer edges.

Trim and excess dough the might be hanging over and crimp edges of the strips to bottom crust, if necessary.

Brush top with egg wash, sprinkle with coarse sugar for a bit of sparkle and bake at 190*C / 350*F for about 25 minutes or until brown and bubbly.

Let cool till warm before cutting and serving.

And whatever else comes along...

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:47:00 +0000

Busy times around Bella Baita these days. We've had a cool watery spring that has held us back from getting out garden in and so we are trying to make up for lost time or as we used to say in my part of the midwest, make hay while the sun shines. Having said that, our mountain garden tends to get put out quite a bit later than the valley as our temperatures and weather is just so much more unpredictable, so in some ways we aren't so terribly behind. Although when we go into the market and there is so much there early on and even all through the winter, it kind of makes me wonder how mountain people really did survive in the mountains in the old days. I am sure that some years, they didn't. In our little neighbor hood they use to keep a few cows or goats, so they had butter and cheese and lots of savoy cabbage, leeks and potatoes, now repeat. Springtime must have been such a welcome relief with dandelion, nettles and various other greens and porcini mushrooms poking up through the grey earth with a splash of color and enlivening the daily cooking pot after what might have been a long long winter.
This year we have entered a new phase by becoming members of Wwoof, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. That's a mouthful for sure, but it is a win win situation for people that could use a helping hand with their agricultural endeavors as well as provide room and board and useful experiences for someone wanting to live, learn and work close to the land with people wo are already living this life. It can be experienced all over the world. The organization started in the UK in 1971, by a woman who wanted to have access to the countryside and thought others like herself might want to do so as well. You can read more about the history of Wwoof here. Her idea took root, evolving and spreading thoughout the world creating a world wide network of people dedicated to sharing their knowledge, work and homes, striving to not harm the environment but to sustain and nurture it along the way. We have some ideas ourselves about how we want improve and expand our gardent as well as incorporating a few animals and an extra set of hands is most welcome.

Rachel replanting peas

Rachel is our first helper on our new venture and arrived a week ago today. She has already made herself an integral member of our family and we're happy and honored to have her join us here at Bella Baita. She's hard at work with Fabrizio down at the garden right now as I write this post. I'm in charge of keeping everyone fed and fueled up, so I need to sign off and get that done now. I just wanted to make sure to welcome Rachel and share with you my readers some of the things that comes along on our way. Rachel is here for about a month and then we have another young American coming our way and possibly someone else after that. Still to be determined. It another set of interesting people that we are happy to meet and share some time with. Maybe one of these days you'll find your way to our door as well. More stories to follow as we work our way down the road. If you want more specific information about the Italian program that we are involved with you can check out their newly revamped website here, Wwoof, Italia.

Cin cin..trying porcini and quince paste for the first time

May Day and and Multi Frolla Cookie Crust

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:03:00 +0000

A happy, albeit somewhat soggy. "May Day" to all of you out there. I do hope you are still there. We have had odd weather, like most of the rest of the world, in that we seemed to have had a couple of weeks of summer back in March only to have April with more than it's fair share of showers, bone chilly too. That is normal, although it usually is broken up with more sun with warm and wavering temperatures. Oh well, at least the flowers are still blooming and furry creatures still want to scamper about.

I wanted to share a recipe I have been working on ever since I stumbled across some multi cereal cookie bars in a bakery we popped our head in to a few weeks back. I'm not sure I have replicated their recipe, as mine seems far darker than their buttery, flavorful bars, but we found these to be quite tasty and thought you might enjoy them as well. My original recipe is in grams, as I have happily adopted what I think we were foolish not to adopt in America, the metric system. In cooking it just makes life, well actually baking, so much easier, as it is so much easier to get even number to divide in and out and balance a ratio when needs be. I still seem to think in terms of cups as a first basis, as the lifetime of imprinting never seems to completely fade. I don't think I will ever get all that familiar with temperatures in Celsius other than hot or cold, as the temperature subtleties relating to outside temperatures are lost on me. I said all of that to say this... the cups and oz in the recipe may need slight adjusting as they don't always come out exact when adjusting on a conversion chart. The only thing you might need to adjust would be the amount of flour. If it seems like the cookies are spreading too much when baking add a little more flour when rolling out. I think it should be fine though.

I didn't know what to call this recipe as it is a basic Italian pasta frolla dough, which here is used for making sweet tarts or pies and is in reality a cookie dough and so makes delicious cookies as well with a little adjusting. I didn't want to call it multi cereal as it had seeds also and I made a single crust apple tart with the dough as wel, so the name multi frolla cookie crust was born. Feel free to try other flours. I really love the buckwheat flour here and am always trying to find more ways to use it. This being polenta country it seemed like a natural mix with the buckwheat. I think they gave it an intriguing flavor with the seeds giving it a nice bite. I think spelt or farro would be another nice addition or change. Give it a whirl and see what you think. The cookies were crispy for a few days and softened as they sat in my cookie tin. The softening is a good thing when used as a tart crust so that your tart doesn't go skittering across the plate when cutting it. The photo at the bottom of the post is a very simple apple tart that I normally add a crumb topping but didn't this time. I just thinly slice apples on to the prepared tart crust drizzle a fair amount of marsala wine over the apples and add a crumb topping. I keep it simple so the flavor of the crust comes through. Without the crumb topping the tart is only slightly sweet and your apples may get a little brown, but it makes for a flavorful and not so sweet afternoon snack and dessert. i think the cookies would taste great sandwiched together with a dab of apricot jam. The possibilities are endless. So be my guest and enjoy my multi purpose "Multi Frolla Cookie Crust"

Multi Frolla Cookie Crust

Yield: 36 cookies approximately and 1-10” / 25cm crust

Ingredients

¾ c / 125 g Sugar, granulated

14T or 9 oz / 200 g Butter, softened

2 Eggs

1 tsp vanilla

½ c / 70 g buckwheat flour

½ c / 70 g cornmeal

1 T / 10 g each of sesame seeds, light and dark flax seeds, (3T / 30 g total)

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 ¼ c / 300 g flour, pastry, all purpose, plain

Method:

Place sugar with the butter in a medium to large mixing bowl.

With a whisk or hand mixer, cream until fluffy. Normally, I do this by hand, of course you can use a hand mixer.

Add two eggs along with vanilla and incorporate thoroughly.

Mix your 3 types of flour with your baking powder and salt before adding to you wet ingredients.

Mix until it starts to come together.

Finish by bringing the dough together with some flour on your hands, either in the bowl or on the table with a light dusting of flour.

Gingerly, knead into a smooth dough.

Flatten into a rectangle, divide in half if you want two uses and cover in a bag or your bowl.

Refrigerate for about a half an hour to an hour.

You can let this sit overnight as well if you wan to prepare ahead.

I used half for cookies one day and a couple days later made a tart out of the other refrigerated half.

Roll out on lightly floured table or between parchment paper for ease. Make sure you keep lightly flouring and lifting the dough so it doesn’t stick to the table or paper.

Work somewhat quickly so you don’t let the dough get too warm as it will become sticky and more difficult to manage.

Roll out to about 1/4” (1/2 cm), thicker if you like.

Cut into shapes or bar lengths. I cut out scalloped rounds and cut out the center. The tiny centers fit perfectly on a small espresso cup and saucer. I also made some bars for dipping in our cappuccinos as well.

Bake at 350*F / 190* C for 8 -10 minutes depending on how thick your dough is and how quickly your oven bakes. Mine is convection and tends to bake quite fast.

Whisker licking good...

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:03:00 +0000

Things are so tasty around here even our cat Misha thinks so!

New recipe to follow very shortly!

Promise of Spring and a Casatiello Napoletano Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Traditional Italian chocolate Easter egg given to us by our butcher

It's springtime and Easter is just around the corner this Sunday, April 8th. What better way to add some zippety-do-dah to your Easter table than with a dramatic Italian Easter bread, Casatiello Napoletana. Easter seems to focus on eggs and chocolate so it seems that my last years offering of a chocolate cake and this savory Casatiello added enough of both that I have been asked by the family to make them again this year. I'll see what I can do.

Chocolate always tries to steal the show

Casatiello is a traditional celebratory special bread of Naples. This light savory brioche type bread is laced with abundant salami and cheese to make it irresistible and then dolled up with whole eggs on top held in place with crosses of dough to make it a conversation piece for sure. It is often made quite simply with the salami and cheese being adding to the dough and may be varied with all sorts of various cheeses and meats. This Napolitano Easter bread is rich with religious symbolism from the various ingredients to the presentation. Every bite tells of the celebration of the rebirth of Christ and earth. The use of milk, eggs and sheep cheese recalls the birth of Christ in the manger amongst the farm animals. The ring itself representing Christ's crown of thorns embedded with eggs like jewels held in place with crosses like the one he was put upon and yet there is rebirth with this bread. Rich indeed.

My photo of a photo in Sapori di Pasqua magazine

I want to make this again this year to work on my presentation as my dough was not entirely cooperative. The dough seemed to want to engulf the eggs and keep them out of sight. Tasted great and we make quick work of it even if the eggs weren't as distinctive as I would have liked. It was enjoyed by all anyway. I saw an interesting variation of it yesterday by a popular Sicilian chef who chopped the cooked eggs up and put all of the salami, cheese and egg on the rectangle of dough before rolling it up and baking it off in a tube pan, making it more of a appertivo treat. I will be trying that as well. I hope you will enjoy making this bread and sharing it for years to come as I think you will find it a worthy treat for all of your senses.

Buona Pasqua!

My own Casatiello Napoletana

Casatiello Napoletano per Pasqua

Recipe based on Peter Reinhart's version with some traditional twists

1 large round or 2 smaller loaves

Ingredients:

Preferment:

1T/.33 oz (18-20 g) yeast, dry instant traditionally in Italy they will use 25g fresh yeast
1T /.33oz (15 g) sugar
1/2c/2.25 oz (70 g) flour, here a "00" is used you can use a bread flour and all purpose flour combination to get a somewhat similar result or all of one or the other
1 c/ 8 oz (236 g) milk, luke warm

Main addition

3 1/2 c (16oz) (450 g)"00" flour, same as above, bread or combo with all purpose
1 t (5 g) salt
1/4c / 2 oz (50 g) pecorino finely grated or parmigiano if you can't find pecorino
1/2 c/ 3.5 oz (100g)butter, room temperature, although lard is the traditional fat used here

Additions

3/4c /6 oz (170-200) provolone, cubed or caciocavallo or other firm but easy melting cheese with some flavor, even swiss would be tasty
4 oz (100g) Italian style salami, here usually thin sliced, cut into strips or diced, your preference

Topping

5 eggs raw in their shell, washed and dried
egg wash

Method:

Mix the flour, instant yeast, sugar and milk together in a medium bowl. Mix till smooth, cover and let rise for an hour.

Mix the other flour together in a large bowl or on the table of you prefer, with the salt, the pecorino cheese and add the fat into the middle of the flour working it into the flour till it is crumbly.

Add the risen preferment to the middle of the flour mixture and work it all together to get a workable dough adjusting flour or liquid if needed. If mixing by hand be generous with keeping your hands and fingers floured. Work the dough till it is soft and pliable.

Cover with a plastic cover in a bowl and let it rise for about an hour and half or till it has risen till almost double.

Sprinkle some flour on the table, and turn the dough onto the table.

Gently work your dough our into a rectangular shape with your finger tips, gingerly pulling the dough trying to not lose all the air bubbles and lightness.

Cut a few lengths of dough from one end to make crosses for securing your eggs on top later.

Cut your strips into 10 even lengths.

Sprinkle all the salami and cheese over the rectangle and roll up the dough into a roll.

Grease a tube style pan with removable bottom for ease of removing after baking.

Place the dough roll into the tube pan with the seam side down. Press down gently and make 5 indentations, even distance around the ring.

Place one egg into each indentation, pointy tip up.

Place two strips of dough in a cross over the egg, pressing the dough cross ends into the dough ring.

Cover and let rise for an hour and maybe a half more or until the dough has risen till light.

Brush egg wash all over the top of the dough ring and crosses.

Bake in a preheated 330*F/ 170*C oven for about an hour till evenly brown and cooked through.

Remove the bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing the sides of the pan.

Wait another half an hour before removing the bottom pand and allow to full cool om the rack.

Cut after a full hour of cooling. The eggs will be full cooked as well.

Enjoy with friends and family.

Forte di Exilles - Val di Susa, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 22:57:00 +0000

Forte di Exilles

When the winter is getting to you and you don't feel like skiing because it's too bitterly cold or maybe you just don't fancy jostling around in the crowds, perhaps it's time to check out what's on offer in the sight seeing department. We did just that a couple of weeks back. We were invited to visit the Exilles Fortress in Val di Susa, with a small group of educators and promoters of tourism from our area. It really was a great day out. The weather was on the bitter side and over cast and just not all that brilliant of a day, but going to visit a site that has escaped me to visit in the years I have been here seemed like a good idea. I'm so glad we did. As we headed over from our parallel valley of the Chisone we headed around and up the Susa valley to the foreboding Exilles fortress. We have driven by it on numerous occassions, and now I am glad we finally stopped in and had a look round. What better to do on a somewhat dreary day?

Elevator up from the parking area to the fortress

Calvary Courtyard of Exilles Fortress

The history of the Fortress is long and first dates back to 1155 when there was only a small portion of all that came later. The official website lays out the history and is quite a fascinating read. You can access it here, Forte di Exilles.

There also is a guide on the web site, of the different routes and artfully presented depictions of the various periods down through the centuries. I was particularly struck by the thoughtful approach to a subject matter that can be rather grim and colorless. The displays were a fine misture and wide range of multi media source.

You'll find displays of military uniforms and stone sculptures of soldiers and scaled models of the various stages the fortress has acquired over the years. The window views are enticing and serve to remind you, how many a soldier, had, most likely, looked out of these same windows with incredible longing, no doubt.

Lost in the Fog

I found the "Area of Memory" in the The Royal Battery section to be rather moving with sculptures and passages from a letter to his family about the hardships of the soldier's life in the mountains. Winter must have been brutal at times, cold, misty and lonely. You really can get a sense and almost feel the harsh reality of life here in the silence of these thick cold walls..

Part of the Royal Battery

We wandered on through the various passages and displays and then finished off the visit with a much more contemporary exposition of Torino's 2006 Winter Olympic Games memories. It was a pleasant surprise to find that Exilles has given a home to the 2006 Winter Olympic memorabilia. It is an interesting display for a memorable event which, we enjoyed seeing the events displayed through photos and actual memorabilia. Nicely done also.

2006 Olympic torch and prototypes

The games on display

The fortress museum has much to see, but for me the breathtaking views of the Susa valley were every bit as worthy as the displays inside. Make sure you if you find yourself in this part of the world, that you take the time to visit the Forte di Exilles.

View up the Susa valley, towards France from under the roof of the fortress

Farro Tajarin Pasta with Artichokes and Leeks

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:44:00 +0000

There are days when pasta is the only thing I crave. I don't know about you, but for me pasta is a comfort food that is so easy to dress up or down. We had a last minute, impromptu luncheon guest yesterday, so what to do? Lucky for me I had some home made farro, as spelt flour is know here in Italy, pasta dough in my freezer. Between that and some fresh artichokes and leeks ready to jump into the pan it made for a very easy choice. As with much of my cooking, ingrediens and amounts vary depending on what's on hand and how much of it, so this recipe is a guideline and open for much improvisation. You knew you would improvise anyway, so be my guest. As I said I had pasta dough in the freezer and it didn't take long to thaw and roll out. The smallest setting for cutting pasta on my machine is a specialty of our Piedmont region called tajarin. Classic tajarin dough is very rich in eggs and yolks, but I made this one on the leaner side. You can, of course, use dry farro pasta or any of your favorite shapes. We get a great dry farro pasta by the brand name od Alce Nero. I have found all of their organic flours to be of excellent quality. Feel free to use any variety of pasta that appeals to you.

I feature a lot of farro pasta in my recipes I have noticed. I think it is because I tend to add recipes during our slow period and I try to eat a lot more whole grains that isn't always possible during our season when we are cooking for a wide range of tastes. Rest assured we eat lots of white pasta and rest assuredneither of us are very fond of straight whole wheat pasta. It's a texture thing for me. So suit yourself and enjoy what tastes best to you.

For the pasta

Farro or Spelt Pasta

Yeilds: about 800g of pasta dough

or approximately 8 servings (depends on your appetite and if it is part of a multi course meal)

80-100 g per person per serving

Ingredients:

140 g (3/4- 1c) faro or spelt flour, your taste

100 g (1/2c) semolina flour

260 g (2-21/4 c) plain flour, as needed

4 eggs, lg. room temperature

60- 120 ml (¼-1/2c) water, this will vary depending on the size of your eggs and absorption of flour

Pinch salt

Method:

Mix your flours together in a large bowl.

Make a well in the middle.

Crack your eggs into the well

Add ¼ cup water to start with.

With a fork, whisk your eggs to break them up, and emulsify.

Gradually pull the flour into the eggs in a circular motion little by little incorporating the flour into the eggs until you have workable dough.

If you find the dough too dry, add a bit more water, but you do want stiff dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.

Cover and allow to relax for about 20 minutes

Cut into 8 portions keeping the pasta pieces covered as you work with one piece at a time.

Roll out all 8 portions ( or save have in one lump, wrap well and freeze for another time)

Roll out each piece by hand or by machine. On my machine it goes to number 6 and I stop at 5 as it needs to have some body to it.

Let the strips dry slightly before cutting, usually about 15 minutes. Dust liberally with flour if your dough seems too wet, other wise dust with a little flour so it doesn't stick together when rolling and then underneath the strips on the table.

I used the thinnest width on my machine to cut the tajarin shape or angel hair, as it is know in the US.

I hang the strips on a pasta holder, but if you don't have one a broom handle between to chairs works just as well.

Separate the pieces so that they don't stick together. Let air dry for 15 minutes to keep from sticking together when they are boiled.

Cook for 5 minutes or less when cooking fresh. You can let any extra hang overnight to dry and use at another time. Depening on your humidity level, completely dry pasta will last for quite a while, weeks, but humidity will make it go off if you are not too careful. That's why I prefer to store extra dough in the freezer and roll out when needed.

Once cooked add to your hot sauce, toss together.

Serve with fresh grated parmigiano.

For the sauce:

Fresh Artichoke and Leek Pasta Sauce

Serves about 4

4 medium fresh artichokes, cleaned and trimmed up, choke removed

2 medium leeks, sliced into 1/4 inch half moons,

using some of the green as long as it is tender

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

Olive oil, I generally use all olive oil

2 Tb butter, optional

1/4 c white wine, or brandy if you like

1/2 c chicken or veggie stock

4oz yogurt or sour cream

Salt & pepper

Fresh chopped chives and parsley of you have any on hand.

*For a heartier version add 150g (4 oz) prosciutto crudo cut into slender 1"baton lengths

Add the parma ham when the vegetables are about cooked halfway

Method:

Clean and slice the artichokes into ½ rounds, cutting from the base up toward the tips discarding tough leaves if you haven't been ruthless enough earlier when cleaning.

In a medium to large sauté pan (better if it has a bit of a side to it),

Add the olive oil/butter.

Sauté leeks, adding the artichokes and garlic

Continue cooking until they start to pick up a little color. Add the ham now if desired.

Sauté over a medium to low flame a minute or two more.

Deglaze the pan with your wine, cooking until all the alcohol has evaporated.

Add the stock. Stir and cover letting it simmer for a few minutes till the artichokes are soft.

Reduce the stock a bit, removing lid if necessary or add more liquid if needed.

Add the yogurt or sour cream and whisk in.

Tastes ad season the sauce with a bit of salt and pepper, a few snipped fresh chives or flat leaf parsley would be nice as well

Warm through.

Add Cooked pasta.

Toss together and serve immediately garnished with fresh grated Parmigiana.

*Recipe easily scaled up or down.

Valdesians or Waldensens, Walking Proud and Free

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:49:00 +0000

Pomaretto Vadesian Temple and marchers February 17, 2012

If you have read my blog over the years you may have read about one of our most famous local historical points of notoriety, being part of the original home of the Valdesians, as they are referred to here and Waldensens elsewhere. Our Chisone valley along with the Germansca and Pellice valleys are collective referred to as the Valdesian valleys. They were purportedly to be the first Protestants arriving here from Lyon with their leader Peter Waldo, somewhere in the late 12th century. These valleys all share a certain rugged remoteness that kept the "heretics" safe at least for many years. They have had a rough and often brutal history being persecuted for their beliefs, but found a home here that still holds them safe in the heart of these Cottian alps.You can read about their history here, although I have heard different versions and much discussions of some of this information, but as it dates back over 800 years, and they were so viciously persecuted, it stands to reason that much written history has been lost over the years and much speculation survives.

February 16th bonfire night for the Valdesians


The remains from the Pomaretto bonfire

Leaving this dark part of the history behind we find that February 17, 1848, when they were finally granted their civil rights, a time of great celebration. To get the word out that they were free and equal citizens, they lit bonfires up and down the valleys to celebrate this momentous occasion. Today the celebration lives on with bonfires on the night of the 16 of February, followed by a procession the following morning through the valley joining up with neighboring Valdesians, accompanied by the local band, stopping along the way for refreshments featuring local festive pastries, like "bugie", which translates to lies. These are rectangular fried dough pieces that can be puffy and filled with either jam or chocolate, or long and thin and fried crispy. Both usually dusted with powdered sugar or not and eaten with abandon.

Refreshments for the Marchers

You can find my bugie recipe here. After a bit of a breather, some refreshments and a bit of catching up with one another, the procession continues until they reach their church called a temple and all gather to worship together and commemorate this joyous day.

Catching up

Our friend Loredana

This year we had gorgeous blue skies and temperatures were quite mild for this time of the year and you could see everyone was enjoying the glorious day. I joined in and enjoyed the day as well meeting some our good friends along the way as well. Most families gather together after church for a special meal at home or out in one of the restaurants that will feature some of their favorite dishes. One menu I saw, featured Valdesian soup, and Bollito Misto. It was a beautiful day and I hope you enjoy a brief peek into one of our valley's centuries old traditions.

Young Valdesian girls

Valdesian women marching on Liberation day

Links to my posts from other February 17ths

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins for Your Honey

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:08:00 +0000

Nothing says loving, like something from your oven, and something made fresh from your oven will say it best. Yes, those of you from the US and of a certain age, will probably remember this as little jingle that one particular baking company used to hawk their products. It was a memorable one as I can still hear it jangling through my head. Well, I have always maintained that your own scratch recipes are tastier and more memorable than a packet or the refrigerator. This is a variation on my general "go to" muffin recipe that I endlessly vary. I am constantly aiming to make my baked goods more healthy and still be a welcome treat. To that end the results can be varied. This muffin is not overly sweet, moist. comes together easily and is delicious, even after a couple of days languishing in a covered tin. This my version for my funny valentine with whom I am celebrating our anniversary today. And because "nothing says loving, like something from my oven", here is my offering, amore mio. Tiamo tanto!
Hope you love em too.

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yields 10-12 medium muffins

Ingredients

2-3 bananas, medium, very ripe, mashed

1 egg

1/2 c (1/2 bicchiere) oil, I use light flavored olive oil, butter if you prefer

1/2 c (1/2 bicchiere)yogurt, plain

1 c (1 bicchiere) brown sugar, I used muscovado

1 tsp vanilla if desired

pinch salt

1 c whole wheat or farro flour

1 c white flour, plain or all purpose

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 c 1/2 bicchiere) chocolate chips, I used dark chocolate mini chips

Pecans or walnuts would be a nice yet optional addition

Mash your bananas and set aside

In a roomy medium to large mixing bowl, whisk together your egg and sugar till fluffy.

Add the oil, mix

Add the yogurt and vanilla, mix

Combine separately your two flours, baking powder and salt.

Add to the wet ingredients and start to mix lightly.

Add the chocolate chips and combine until just barely mixed.

Scoop with a ice cream scoop if you have one into pregreased muffin tins.

I have some shallow ones that I like very much for a more compact muffin disk.

Bake at 375*F (190*C) in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes, depending on the size of the muffins.

Serve warm or room temperature.

Store extra in a air tight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, They also freeze well.

Happy Valentines Day!

Nutella Bullseyes for World Nutella Day 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:27:00 +0000

Here we are again on February 5th, at what has come to be known as World Nutella Day according to 2 bloggers, Sara and Michelle that I have come to know through their blogs and other various cyber space adventures. In their own words, "Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso solemnly declare Sunday, February 5th “World Nutella Day 2012″ – a day to celebrate, to get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella." You can find them on Facebook, Twitter (hashtag #nutelladay) and over at the WND site all day sharing what's going on today.
This is the 6th year they have hosted this event, exhorting one and all to indulge in what is one of Italy's most beloved treats, Nutella, in any way you see fit, but most of all enjoying it. This is my 5th year to participate. You'll find some links to my other recipes through the years at the bottom of the post.
Nutella is a fairly sacred household staple in most Italian homes, especially if there are children still at home. It's a staple in our house and we're the only children indulging. It is quite beloved through out Europe as well with Germany being the number one consumer of Nutella. The formula varies from locations and tends to be a stiffer version as you go north and even in America as well, but here in Italy, it is a super creamy chocolate hazelnut spread suitable for spreading on all sorts of things. This year I chose to spread it between two layers of semi crispy cookie layers with the top having a heart cut out of it for a peek a boo effect that would be perfect for using for Valentine's day also. I can't imagine anyone turning away from one of these.
Nutella has a special place in our hearts here in Piedmont as it was born here in nearby Alba. The combination of milk chocolate and hazelnut was born in Turin due to necessity. Napoleon's blockade made chocolate supplies difficult and necessitated a way to stretch the chocolate that the Torinese so loved. Hazelnuts were a natural addition as our region especially from the Langhe territory grew ample supplies of them. It wasn't long before this combination came to be a symbol of Torino. Nutella was born in Alba as a creamier version of the original Gianduja. It was due to shortages due to WWII and the desire to stretch the favored treat that Nutella was born into the Ferrero family in Alba. There are many claims to the various origins of both Gianduja and Nutella but that is the general story line from my understanding. I found Wikipedia a bit lacking and not really authenticated in its various descriptions.
Our home here in Chisone valley is a part of the vast province of Torino and part of Piedmont, so chocolate hazelnut combinations are an important part of our identity and traditions. That is one of the reasons I enjoy participating in world Nutella day. I think you will enjoy my recipe for Occhie di Bui con Nutella cookies and if you want to know more about Nutella and have a few more recipes, Sara and Michelle have also put together an inexpensive and fun "Unofficial Guide to Nutella" ebook available at Amazon and you don't need a kindle to read it, just a computer. Check it out.
My recipe for my Nutella Sandwich Cookies was born out of a local cookie specialty called Occhie di Bui or Bull's Eyes. The original cookie consists of two small cookie disks, one that has a disk cut out of the center and the are sandwiched together with jam, usually apricot or cherry, with the tops dusted with powdered sugar. They seem to give the appearance of an eye or a bullseye. I ran with that theme, making my cookie dough, which here is called a pasta frolla, a combination of ricotta and butter base and used some buckwheat flour for a more unique and wintery flavor. This recipe will work just fine using all butter and all white flour if you prefer, but I think you'll find the buckwheat is a welcome addition. The cookies are not extremely sweet if you forego the powdered sugar and I think you will find them tasty either way with a steaming strong cup of coffee or tea. Oh yes, I used a small heart cutter to cut out the center for a heartfelt treat. The cookies store well in a tin and retained their gently snap over night, although I think over time they will soften up.

Nutella Bullseyes or Occhio di Bue con Nutella

Makes 24 - 2 inch/ 4cm sandwiched cookies and several small hearts
Ingredients:

1/2c (100g)butter, room temperature
2/3c (125g) sugar, I like organic raw cane sugar, but granulated is fine
1/2c (100g) ricotta
1 t vanilla
1 whole egg
1 yolk
3/4c (115g) buckwheat flour
1 1/2c (220g) white flour
2 t baking powder
pinch salt
**Nutella, enough to sandwich the layers together
I used almost half of a 400g jar of Nutella
Powdered sugar, optional if you prefer a less sweet cookie

Method:
Cream your butter together with the sugar till smooth. I mix mine with a flat whisk by hand. If using an electric mixer, don’t whip too much just till it is light and mixed well.
Add the ricotta and and vanilla. Mix well.
Add the whole egg and yolk and mix till completely incorporated.
Blend the 2 flours, baking powder and salt till all is distributed.
Combine the dry ingredients with the egg butter mixture thoroughly mixing, being careful not to handle too much.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions, flatten, place back into to your blow, cover and refrigerate the dough for about ½ hour. It will be easier to roll out.
Remove one disk of dough from the cold and keep the other in the fridge while you roll out the disk between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper, being careful to work as quickly as you can so the dough doesn’t become too warm and sticky. Return dough to the cold if too soft to handle.
You can also roll it out on a floured surface being careful not to pick up and add much flour into to your dough.
You want the dough to be about ¼”/1cm thick.

Too thick and they won’t be so crispy and a big mouthful.

Cut out round disks with a 2 ½ inch (6cm) scalloped cookie or biscuit cutter and lay disks out on greased or paper baking sheets. My trays held about 20 cookies each.
Continue with the second disk till you have used up your dough. I also gathered up my dough scraps and rerolled them to use up all the dough. Keep at least half of the cookies as cold as you can while you roll the others out as it will make it easier when cutting the centers out.
Once you have all the dough cut out and on trays, Take half of your cookies and cut the center out with a small heart or round cutter about 1inch (3 1/2cm). You want to have enough border to keep the cookie together and yet have enough removed to see your Nutella inside.
I kept the heart cut outs intact and baked them as they were.
Bake at 325*F (180*) till lightly brown, about 10 minutes. I am not entirely sure of the time as I have a convection oven that bakes quickly so I tend to bake them on a lower temperature for a shorter time. A regular oven temperature and time may vary. You might need a 350* oven.
Cool so they are manageable and won’t break, but while they are still slightly warm spread your Nutella over the bottoms of the whole disks. The top will sit flat if you use the bottom of your cookies to cover with Nutella.** I use Nutella straight out of my jar as it is super creamy. If your variety isn’t you could soften it up with a little honey or a few drop of vegetable oil.
If you want to dust the tops of your cookies with powdered sugar, do so with a sieve or small strainer before you top the cookies that have the Nutella spread over them.
Other wise top all of your cookies with the cut outs.
I also spread Nutella over half of the heart cookies and sandwiched them together.
Serve with espresso or your favorite hot beverage.

Prepping the cookies

My previous Nutella day recipe links

Baked Pears in Red Wine Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:26:00 +0000

Finally winter has arrived complete with sugar frosted trees, a blanket of snow and temperatures low enough to keep you running to stoke the fire. My mind continues to turn to foods that bring comfort on these winter days. Although February has arrived with long anticipated snow and the days are somewhat longer and lighter, comfort dishes still beckon like a siren calling you to crash on the shore.
Pears figure in often during these comfort seeking days. I'm a huge fan of poaching pears as well as pear cakes and tarts, but I must say that the simplicity of oven baked in red wine till glisteningly caramelized with a luscious gorgeous thick wine sauce underneath that you might find you will want to make a bit more as it is just that tasty. It's a wonderful drizzling sauce to go over ice cream, plain yogurt with bananas or just about anything that strikes your fancy.

Caramelized Pears in Red Wine sauce
Pere Caramellate in salsa al vino rosso

Serves 6
easily doubled

Ingredients:
6 Pears, firm variety like Kaiser or Williams, medium sized, if organic you won't need to peel them
100g (1/2 c) sugar, I like to use a granulated organic raw cane sugar, but regular white is fine
350g (1 1/2c) red wine, I use a barbera or dolcetto table wine. It does't need to be an expensive wine

Method:

Wash and pat dry. If you prefer you can peel them, but I found them deliciously rustic with the skins on, although you will get more color contrast when peeled. which may be n ice for serving guests.
Trim the bottom of the pears so they will sit up straight, peel, if desired.
You might want to use a ceramic baking dish that you can bring to the table. Lightly butter or oil. I used a metal rectangular pan, lined with baking paper and stood the pears upright.
Pour the wine over all the surfaces of the pears.
Sprinkle the sugar over the pears so that the sugar sticks to the tops and sides of the pears. **
Bake in a preheated oven 400* oven. I have a convection oven and bake at 180*-190*C (350*F) for about 45 minutes. If you have the time you can baste the pears with the sauce every 15 minutes for a deeper color.
The pears should be soft and the wine sauce thicken and deep rich color.

**Optional spices if you like, but they are quite nice as is.

Do use a simple combination of spices, as too many will over complicate it.

I prefer them without the spices for the pure clean flavor.

Use whole spices so they are easily seen and fished out.
Some suggestions

**A few citrus peels, a few pink or black peppercorns, 6 juniper berries, a stick of cinnamon, broken in two, 2 whole cloves, 4 whole allspice, 2 star anise, a few peeled ginger slices.

Snow Time

noreply@blogger.com (Bella Baita View) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:25:00 +0000

Bella Baita all in white

At long last winter has arrived with a blast of cold that has set our teeth chattering and running to stoke our wood fired stoves with as much wood as we possibly can. This winter has been so mild that it seemed we would just bypass it all together. My geraniums and lavender have put out new growth while lounging in their winter storage spot. We had a variety of strange weather these past few months, dry and warm like September, leaving the forest so dry that it didn't take much for a wildfire to spring up and take hold, just a few kilometers behind us. It was clearly visible and we watched it warily spread out and become unmanageable due to the ferocious winds that fanned the flames for a couple of days. Alas, the fire was contained, thanks to the effort of many volunteers, and then snow arrived. Peace reigns in the kingdom again. Hurrah! We received about 1/2 meter or a foot and ad a half or so and now we're still waiting for the promised blue skies, but the sparkly white down comforter is a welcome change, not only for it's beauty, but also with the knowledge that our water supplies will be sufficiently replenished. That bodes well for a bounteous porcino season come spring. That alone makes even the haters of shoveling and cold temperatures warm up to our latest weather.

Now you see why the shoveling isn't so much fun

A walk in the neighborhood

Home again, home again, jiggity jog...