CROSTONI CON FORMAGGIO DI FOSSA E COMPOSTA DI CILIEGIE

I'M SO SORRY!

I literally disappeared lately. I started a new amazing job and there are friends visiting and always news and...I confess I have to get more organize to go on with my blog!

Today I can write a new recipe because I'm forced to stay home because of a little accident...and so, here I am! With a new recipe. This one is a ANTIPASTO, made with an amazing italian cheese: Pecorino di Fossa. It is produced in Emilia Romagna. "Fossa" in Italian means "pit" and it refers to the fact that this cheese is aged in ancient pits excavated in the sand-stone.

Pairing it with cherries is an amazing idea I found several years ago in an italian cooking magazine. The add of lavander gives this dish a floral and unexpected note...

CROSTONI CON FORMAGGIO DI FOSSA E COMPOSTA DI CILIEGIE

TOOLS:

• 1 pot (una pentola)
• 1 baking pan (una teglia da forno)

TIMING:

• 35 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 slices of rustic bread (country style) (due fette di pane casereccio)
• 5,2 oz sliced Pecorino di Fossa (150 gr fette di Pecorino di Fossa)
• 8 oz cherries (2 etti di ciliegie)
• 1 tablespoon honey (1 cucchiaio di miele)
• black pepper (pepe nero)
• a pinch of lavander fowers (un pizzico di fiori di lavanda)

FIRST STEP:

• Wash the cherries, stone them and put them in a pot with ½ a glass of water, Honey, Lavender, pepper and cook for about 20 minutes at low heat, mixing from time to time

• Toast the bread slices. When they are golden arrange over the top the slices of cheese and grill everything for 2, 3 minutes till the cheese starts to melt

• Arrange the bread on a dish, cover with the stewed cherries and enjoy!

Cestini di Pecorino con Fave al Timo

Hi everybody!

Today is an amazingly hot day in Manhattan, wow!

Saturady I went at the green market and I found a legume I really love: fava beans! Here in Manhattan it is so difficult to find them, while in Italy they are especially grown in Toscana where they are traditionally eaten raw (the tender ones) with Pecorino, another excellence of that region.

Remembering that amazing "marriage" I have thought at this different version. I used a young Pecorino Toscano DOP (in English POD, Protected Designation of Origin).

This recipe is fresh, nice to see and sooo gooood!

Let's start!

Cestini di Pecorino con Fave al Timo

TOOLS:

• 1 pot
• 1 frying pan
• 1 glass
• a grater

INGREDIENTS:

• 7 ounces fava beans - weigh of the seeds (200 gr fave sgranate)
• 3.5 ounces Pecorino Toscano grated (100 gr Pecorino grattugiato)
• 1 ounce butter (25 gr burro)
• thyme (timo)
• olive oil (olio d'oliva)
• salt

FIRST STEP:

• Cook the cleaned fava beans in boiling water for 10 minutes, than dry them and pour them in a bowl with cold water for some minutes. After this operation you will easily be able to shell them.

Cuocere le fave in acqua bollente per 10 minuti quindi scolarle e versarle in una ciotola di acqua fredda. Dopo questa operazione sarà facile sgusciarle.

• Dress the fava beans with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and fresh thyme

Condire le fave con 3 cucchiai di fave, sale e timo fresco.

SECOND STEP:

• Heat a frying pan. Add a little piece of butter and, when it is melted, pour 2 tablespoons of grated Pecorino in the pan. You have to create a sort of "crepe" round shaped.

Scaldate una padella. Aggiungete un pò di burro e, quando è sciolto, aggiungete 2 cucchiai di Pecorino grattuggiato. Dovrete creare una sorta di cialda sottile e rotonda.

• Cook on low heat until it become light brown on the bottom. At that point turn off the fire and wait few seconds.

Cuocete finchè non vedete che sul fondo diventa leggermente dorato. Spegnete il fuoco e aspettate qualche secondo

THIRD STEP:

• With the aid of a large paddle take the cheese and overturn it on an overturned glass (!) so that it can take the shape of a basket. Be careful to help it stick to the glass.

Con l'aiuto di una spatola larga prendete il formaggio e capovolgetelo su un bicchiere capovolto così che possa prendere la forma di un cestino. Fate attenzione che la cialda aderisca al bicchiere.

FOURTH STEP:

• When the basket gets cool, take it and fill it with the fava beans. Dish and Enjoy!

Quando il cestino si è raffreddato prendetelo e riempitelo con le fave. Servite e Buon Appetito!

Parmigiano Reggiano pasta brisée for a Green Peas Tart

Green peas are a wonderful seasonal vegetables. They always put me in a good mood (and in those days I really need something for the good mood). I don't know if it is because of the bright color, or because of the little round shape, or because of the pod...but they are a cheerful veggie!

Anyway I have made this recipe which is like a salted tart made with a Parmigiano Reggiano pasta brisée ...

Let's start!

TOOLS:

• board for kneading
• rolling pin
• baking pan
• frying pan
• bowl

TIMING:

• for the brisée 10 minutes + 30 min of rest
• for the recipe about 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

for the brisée:

• 7 ounces flour (200gr farina)
• 2,8 ounces butter (80gr burro)
• 1,76 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano grated (50gr parmigiano grattuggiato)
• 1 egg
• a pinch of salt

for the filling:

• 5 ounces green peas (shelled) (140 gr piselli)
• 1 scallion (1 scalogno)
• 2 slices of bacon (2 fette di pancetta)
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of cream (200ml di panna)
• thyme
• salt
• pepper

FIRST STEP:

• dispose the flour, the Parmigiano Reggiano grated and the butter (better if it has been out of the fridge for 10 minutes) in the center of the board, create like a hole in the middle and dispose there the egg and a pinch of salt

mettete la farina, il parmigiano e il burro a temperatura ambiente slla spianatoia, create un buco al centro della fontana e mettetvi l'uovo e un izzico di sale

• knead! With your fingers crumble the butter mixing it with the other ingredients, than use the whole hands and knead for like 2 minutes, not more, so that all the ingredients are well mixed together. Create a "ball", cover with a dish cloth and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. It's more difficult describing it rather than making it!

impastate! con le dita sbriciolate il burro con gli altri ingredienti e poi impastate velocemente tutto. create una palla e mettetela in frigo coperta da un canovaccio a riposare per almeno mezz'ora

SECOND STEP:

Preheat the oven at 350°F

Scaldate il forno a 180°C

• on a hot pan cook at low heat the bacon cut in little pieces, than add the onion and gently fry

su una padella calda mettete il bacon tagliato in piccoli pezzi e aggiungete lo scalogno facendo soffriggere a fuoco basso

• add the green peas, the salt and the thyme. Cook for about 25 minutes. Set apart.