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Yes, made from glass, I bought them here, I think that they are really cute, and it took me a while to choose the right ones to take home. I also have a collection of glass lollies :-).
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Making easy royal icing flowers' video tutorial, ed un premio!
This is my first ever video, made with Arantxa's ipod, we are in our kitchen and she is making easy royal icing flowers. Then our woofer Jacob helped me load it on Youtube (everyday learning something new!!!) and here I am sharing it with my blogger friends!
It is super short, so I hope that you will watch it, and I would love your opinion :-). And of course feel free to share it, in fact I would love that!
Thank you!
Alessandra
E adesso un po’ in italiano:
Prima di tutto vorrei
ringraziare Artù per avermi passato questo premio, che a quanto pare si assegna
ad un blog che:
1. E' aggiornato regolarmente
2. Mostra la passione autentica
del blogger per l'argomento di cui scrive
3. favorisce la condivisione e
la partecipazione attiva dei lettori
4. offre contenuti ed
informazioni utili ed originali
5. non è infarcito di troppa
pubblicità
Le regole di "Il blog
affidabile"sono disponibili a questa pagina http://www.gliaffidabili.it/a/altro/il-premio-il-blog-affidabile
(ironicamente piena di pubblicità), e magari io non le ho seguite
correttamente, ma in fondo non mi dispiace non essere 100% affidabile!!! (n.d.r.
qui dovete ridere).
Difficile però decidere a quali
5 blog passare il premio, ne avrei molti di più infatti che sarebbero, per
usare le parole di Artù,
una risorsa utile per gli
utenti della rete e meritevoli di essere conosciuti da un pubblico più ampio.
Comunque, eccone 5, e ovviamente questa non deve essere una catena di Sant’Antonio
quindi se non li volete io di sicuro non mi offendo :-).
(come non potrei, questo premio
sembra fatto per B.!)
(idem con patate a ciò scritto sopra!)
(un gentiluomo in cucina, le signore saranno daccordo con me)
(mi piace troppo il suo Avatar!)
(anche se ho appena passato loro un altro premio, Franci e
Vale curano molto il loro spazio e meritano di essere conosciute!)
E visto che sto scrivendo in
italiano, se non lo avete ancora fatto per favore guardate il mio primo video
su youtube, tanto è cortissimo! Mia figlia (12 anni) fa i fiori di glassa reale,
giratelo, postatelo. Twittatelo, FBookatelo, metteteci un commentino, fate il
LIKE, quello che volete (se vi piace ovviamente, e se non vi piace faccio l’offesa
e batto i piedi e trattengo il respiro fino a che divento viola tiè!! Lol! ) perché
voglio vedere se vale la pena farne altri, visto che abbiamo solo un ipod per
registrare e 0 esperienza!
Grazie e Ciao
Alessandra
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Leftover rice: two Tians
When I have leftover risotto I make croquettes, when I have leftover short grain rice I make fried rice, and when I have leftover long grain, Thai or Basmati, I make tians. I am not sure why I only use long grain rice to make a tian, it is one of those thing that looks logical to me, maybe because long grain is not sticky enough and so I need to add an egg? Anyway, this is my classic tian recipe:
I grease a terracotta round pan with olive oil. Mix the leftover rice with some cooked spinach (or similar green leaves), add one or two eggs (depending on how much rice I have) and then salt, pepper and nutmeg. Put everything in the terracotta pan and bake until the top is crispy. A bit like a baked rice frittata really!
The other day I had some rice left, but no greens. Also, the rice wasn't Jasmine or Basmati but standard long grain and it was a little sticky. I thought that I could make a tian without egg, a pizza tian!
I greased my terracotta pan with olive oil, pressed the rice down, topped with Italian tomato sauce (recipe here), then mozzarella and oregano. Another drop of olive oil and into the oven to bake!
Certainly a bit more difficult to serve because it doesn't cut perfectly like a tian made with eggs, but nevertheless my kids, who like everything that smells like pizza, gulped it down in no time! Maybe a good gluten free variation to a pizza??
Happy weekend everyone!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Friday, March 2, 2012
Ugly but Vegan...
...gluten free and sweet. It all started when my husband came back from Japan, I alway ask for some edible souvenirs, so this time I got a bottle of Choya Umeshu (sweet plum sake), soba noodles, umeboshi (pickled plums) and nama choco.
I love nama choco, it finished in no time, the kids loved it too since this was a type without liqueur, so maybe one day I should make it, it is so easy and blogger Nami has a good recipe for it here!
First of all kumara are much softer that Japanese sweet potatoes, then I only had an orange kumara at home (the red ones are better because they are white inside). I thought of baking my kumara, as steaming it was going to make it even softer and in the meantime I drunk a bit of Umeshu, and decided to soak a few sultanas in some too. Once my kumara was done I quickly realized that it was going to be far too soft for molding, so I reverted to plan B, i.e. not shaping the sweets by chakin shibori (with a muslin cloth or handkerchief), but simply dropping them on the baking tray with a spoon! For one mashed kumara I added 2 tsp of brown sugar, and then 'dropped' three tablespoons of the mixture on the baking tray. I did the other three adding the sultana soaked in Umeshu, just to make a variation.
I decided against brushing the top with beaten egg yolk, so that this could be also a vegan recipe, and I baked everything at 180°C for about 15 minutes. To look at them I think that these are among the ugliest sweets I have ever made, but they tasted incredibly good, especially the ones with the sultana. I will make them again, but I will also look for some more 'floury' sweet potatoes (not kumara) so if you know where I can get some in Auckland please let me know!
With this recipe I take part in the monthly blogging event Sweet New Zealand, this month hosted by a Kiwi blogger living in Australia who publishes lots of wonderful recipes and likes gluten free ones! Over to you Emma, and thank you for hosting!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Thursday, March 1, 2012
My favourite cheese at the Monteith's CheeseFest 2012
This year the Monteith's CheeseFest was even better than last year, I got a Monteith beer on arrival, but I was pleased to see that you could also have wine, and my friend Valentina got a white one, plus we were offered a small plate, fork and napkin (we didn't have those last year!). Then in we went for some serious tastings! Being both Italians I guess that we were a bit fussy (or at least I was, and Valentina obediently followed me to the cheese stalls that I wanted to visit).
Remembering the previous year, and my inability to eat cheese without bread, I had a box of crackers in my bag (sounds cheesy eehh!) but I was also happy to see that there was also some bread available this year from one of the sponsors (and we even got a couple of loaves in the goodie bag).
I didn't take many photos, in fact I only took these published below: it was hard to balance a bottle of beer, a small plate of cheese and fork, and get my iPhone out. So the photos this year are of my favourite cheese: Massimiliano's mozzarella!
I like to point out that his was the only cheese of which I had two tastings of (Valentina had three), maybe because we are Italian and mozzarella is what we like, or maybe because the cheese makers are Italians and it was great to see Massimiliano again (he even won a prize for his mozzarella so we were all happy), or a mixture of everything... anyway, the mozzarella I made at home and posted yesterday was quickly forgotten after tasting this one!
And Massimiliano gave Valentina and me a burrata each to take home! Yum, I saved mine for Arantxa, it is her favourite cheese and she was so happy when I told her!
We also bought lots of other yummy cheeses (really cheap on the night), and today I made a focaccia with some feta and some fresh goat cheese, a real luxury to have good cheese to cook with, instead of saving it only for after dinner treats!
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| Photos by Alessandra Zecchini © |
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
How to make mozzarella and ricotta at home
Making mozzarella and ricotta at home is possible and you don't need any special equipment except for a brewer or cheese maker thermometer. The basic recipe comes from my book Savour (page 12-13), it is quite detailed, so here I will do a quick step by step explanation, with a little trick to cut down time.
Start with 2 litres of full cream not homogenised milk, if it looks too fat take away some of the cream at the top. Gently heat the milk to 38°C (110.4°F).
Add 4 heaps tbsp of live yogurt, in New Zealand I only use Cyclops Yogurt (thick and creamy type) to make cheese. I tried with a variety of yogurts, but this really seems to have the right bacterias kicking into curd action! Stir.
Usually I only add yogurt, and then the waiting time after cutting the curd is about 4 hours. if you want speedy results add a little citric acid too. I am not sure how many cheese makers would do this, on the other hand I am not sure how many cheese makers would actually use yogurt for bacterias!
If you wish to use citric acid add it now, for a 2 litres of milk I added about half a tsp.
After stirring the yogurt (and citric acid, if using) cover with a lid and keep the temperature at 38°C, wait 10 minutes and then add the rennet. I use vegetarian rennet, 1ml of it mixed to 1 ml of cold water.
Stir for one minute, check that the temperature is still 38°C, then cover with a lid and then let it rest for 45 minutes. During this time the temperature shouldn't drop, but if it is a very cold day it would pay to have your pot inside a bigger pot with hot water.
After 45 minutes the curd will be set.
Cut the curd into 4-5 cm squares, cover and wait 15 minutes. This is the first cut.
After 15 minutes cut the curd a second time to 1cm pieces using a slotted spoon. If you didn't use the citric acid try bring the temperature to 35°C, then cover and rest the curd rest for 4 hours. During this time the temperature must be always kept at 35°C, so check often. If you used the citric acid bring the temperature up to 41°C and stir gently with the slotted spoon until the curd pieces look like a soft jelly (about 5 minutes). I am still not confident with the citric acid method but it was very successful during our Slow Food Waitekere mozzarella event, and Alli has the recipe here, so I guess that I mixed and matched a little with the two methods.
To check if the curd is ready drop a bit in hot water at 90°C, if it stretch it is ready to be rolled! I use a sieve to keep the curd in place, and the thermometer not to burn my fingers.
If the curd is not stretchy yet, wait 15 more minutes and try again, and again, and again... (if you follow the method of not adding citric acid. I guess that this is why so many people cannot be bother to make it, since you may have to wait a long time!).
Prepare a pot of water at 90°C, and one of cold water. Collect the curd into a colander or sieve and add a pinch of salt. Cover with the hot water (or lower the colander or sieve into the hot water), stir with the thermometer or a wooden spoon. I always forget to use rubber gloves, but here they would be a good idea: you need to pick up a piece and stretch it, and the water is hoooot!.
At this stage I had a surprise visit from Gwen, so I stopped everything to make us a cup of coffee (and maybe left the mozzarella in the hot water more that I had to), but on the other hand it was a good thing because I didn't consider the fact that with two hands occupied I couldn't have taken pctures. I gave Gwen my iPhone, she wasn't sure of when to click but she did a pretty good job, I think!
Stretch and stretch, working with big batches you just need to stretch and cut the end off, but with such a little batch unless you are making bocconcini instead of cutting the ends off you can just roll your mozzarella strip into a ball.
Don't roll it too tight or it will be hard, keep it really loose (I like soft mozzarella best),
and then drop it into the bowl with cold water. With 2 litres of milk I made 3 medium mozzarella and a little one. If you can, eat your homemade mozzarella on the same day :-).
Ricotta
Now with the whey you can make ricotta. Bring it back to 90°C, a froth will appear on top.
Turn the heat of and wait 5 minutes for the froth to set, then collect it with a slotted spoon,
and place it in a sieve lined with fine gauze, arranged on a container to collect the excess liquid.
I used to stop here and make very little ricotta indeed, and then I decided that patience was the best trick. So I just left the kitchen as it was, and covered the pot. Every 20 minutes or so I went back to the pot and collect the (now very fine) foam with a tea strainer (a slotted spoon is good only for the very first ricotta foam, the rest was too fine).
I did this all afternoon, I didn't need to heat the whey again, just leaving the pot to rest with the lid on was enough, and the ricotta kept coming up to the surface. I collected more that I ever expected.
By the evening I had a small ricotta, and the texture was very creamy. I think that I could have collected a little more but I got tired and needed the stove for cooking dinner, still, if next time I will use more than 2 litres of milk I could get enough ricotta for 4 portions (this one my daughter ate for dessert, and we all just had a tiny taste). We also ate the mozzarella for dinner, but I forgot to take a photo, sorry!
Well, this post was very appropriate for today, as this evening I am of to the Monteith's CheeseFest, to taste lots of cheese! Any other Kiwi blogger attending?
If you are interested in more homemade cheeses here is Halloumi (and ricotta again, this is my most popular post), and here is Labne.
Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini and Photos by Gwen Lenehan and Alessandra Zecchini ©
Monday, February 27, 2012
Seven sweet things to share
LaVally from the blog Il mio posto sicuro awarded me this. I often skip awards, but I couldn't resist the cute cupcake logo, in exchange I have to present 7 sweet recipes, so here they are:
The Cake
Turmeric Cake, one of my oldest post (I didn't even have the comments activated in my early blogging months) and possibly quite an unusual recipe, but a success!
The Cupcake
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Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes, a super chocolate cupcake from the book Party Food for Girls, perfect for girls and their Mums :-).
The Pie
Dolomiti Apple Strudel, my favourite of all apple pies and almost like my Mum's. In the same post also an apple cake (bonus :-))
The Pudding
Square Mangos, vegan, gluten free and super funky, mango pudding!
The Tart
Easy to impress Galliano Tart, this was also published in the Dante Alighieri newsletter, it seems that lots of people like boozy tarts here! (It's a joke...)
The Cookie
Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies, super chocolaty and easy and everybody likes them so much that they are positively dangerous!
The Sweet
Rose Turkish Delights, the most popular sweet post in this blog (the second most popular sweet is this one).
Visto che il premio arriva dall'Italia, lo ripasso a 10 italiane, ovviamente prendetelo solo se volete, non sentitevi obbligate :-).
Ecco il regolamento, copiato pari pari da LaVally, che ringrazio tantissimo!
- nominare e ringraziare chi vi ha inviato il premio, linkando il suo blog
- condividere 7 ricette dolci importanti per noi, che ci hanno “cambiato la vita”
- nominare 10 blogger a cui assegnare il premio
I
Le mie nomine sono per queste blogger che pubblicano tanti dolci:
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Miaooooo
I have been cooking so much this weekend that I actually don't feel like posting recipes, also I have guests coming soon and I don't even have the time. I thought of posting something about the garden, but the gardening too has been mostly weeding and clearing and cleaning... but there are the cats in the garden, and with very funny poses too! Look at Nikita, she is so fluffy (but really light when you lift her) that she looks so cute lying on her back to get some sun!
Yes close up she is quite sweet, but she loves to bite, especially she loves to attack my naked ankles when I walk by, especially if I am carrying the washing basket and can't defend myself. Marameo, the black and white, is older and wiser, but she is a milkoholic, sleep in unusual places (like homework, books and newspapers) and sit in strange positions. Do you like cats?
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Pasta with silverbeet cream and pistachio pesto
I am updating this post to let you know about this initiative.
If you have a blog and would like to join in, write a post about it, use the logo and let the Doveconviene.it team know by sending them an email here, and then they will plant a tree for your blog.
I did this in June 2011 (you can find the post -in Italian- here), and so far they have planted 927 trees, but if they get to 1000 trees by the end of February iPlantatree.org will plant 100 more trees for them.
And now the pasta recipe!
Pick the silverbeet from your veggie garden (or buy it!), as much as you can, since it goes down a lot! I used young tender leaves of rainbow chard. Sauté with olive oil, one sliced shallot and salt. Cover and cook in its own steam (if you pick it fresh it will have enough water, otherwise you will need to add a little). Once it is cooked blend everything with an immersion blender until you get a dark green 'cream'.
To make the pesto I used some basil (from the garden), garlic, salt, olive oil and this ground pistachios that a Slow Food friend gave me in Italy. I really love this product, you can put it on pasta, in sauces and dips, and desserts!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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