A very "foolish" cake from Tuscany

The “torta co bischeri” is a typical cake from a small village in the Pisa’s region called Pontasserchio (roughly translatable as “Serchio Bridge”).

This cake is very special because is quite impossibile to find it out of this small area.

The word “bischero” means “foolish/silly”. The Bischeri’s family was the only family in Florence that refused to sell its own palace in the area where the Duomo of Florence had to be built. At the end, all the Bischeri properties were dispossessed and they didn’t get any money for their assets.

This recipe requires almost 2 hour to be done.

First of all make the shortcrust. There are a lot of different recipes, but the following one is my favourite because is not too fat.

250 gr of flour
1 egg
100 gr of butter
100 gr of sugar
baking powder
a pinch of salt

Knead together all the ingredients to get a smooth dough. Then put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour.



Ingredients for the filling:

100 gr of rice
½ lt of milk
50 gr of sugar
150 gr of dark chocolate
50 gr of cocoa powder
50 gr of pine nuts
2 eggs
cinnamon
raisins
candied fruit
liqueur of your choice (in our case, we’ll use whisky).

Soak the raisins in liqueur.


Boil the milk with cinnamon powder. As soon the milk starts boiling add the rice and cook it for 25/30 min.


Strain the rice and add chocolate, cocoa powder and sugar.



Wait until the mixture is cold an then add the eggs, pine nuts, candied fruit and raisins with whisky.



Coat a backing tray with the shortcrust leaving enough pastry to fold the border and fill it with the rice mix.


Decorate the cake with pastry lattice.
Fold the pastry on the border and pinch it as shown below.

Cook it for 40 minutes at 180 C.

It's just delicious.

New hangtags and QR Codes for our products.

Traditional products get up to date. Can an extra virgin olive oil produced on hills whose olive trees were there since the greek colonies (more than 2000 years ago) meet the newest tech and IT discoveries?
Yes.
We designed new hangtags for our products, mini cards with pictures that you can also use as bookmark.



On the back of the card we added a QR code sticker.



Zoom on it with your blackberry or iphone camera using the QR code reader and you will be automatically directed to the web product page.

It was never so easy to re-order your beloved food!

What have I found in my fridge? Another quick recipe for a delicious dinner. Ravioli with ham, tomato and cheese.

Another long day of work. Meetings, tastings and more phone calls.
Back home, what have I got to cook?
I passed by my lovely stockist Italo Deli in Vauxall (you MUST go if you haven't yet!). As always I have got their amazing fresh ravioli pasta. Today's filling is a classic: spinach and ricotta.



Back home I have:
Onion
Garlic
EV Olive Oil
Tomatoes
Fresh Basil
Salt and Pepper
a little piece of Prosciutto Bazzone (our bespoke ham)
more leftovers: a piece of young pecorino with herbs and smaller piece of mature pecorino



Let's make a quick pasta then.
Side A: Boil water.
Side B: Frying pan + ev olive oil. Let the olive oil get warm enough, then add chopped garlic and onion.





Let them get golden and add the tomato sliced and diced ham.



Mix all and stir it for 3-4 minutes. Add salt and black pepper. Another minute or two and turn off the fire.
Once the pasta is cooked (the fresh ravioli only take 4-5 minutes to cook) add it to the pan and mix it with the sauce (turn the fire back on).



At this time add basil and cheeses.





Mix all together for 2 minutes more.



And there you go.



This was so simple and with a good glass of red DOC Macchion Del Lupo it's just a perfect dinner. Nom Nom.

Vado A Cena goes to Italy, Mamma Mia!

Mom is always mom!
For every italian, mamma is always a safe and warm place when they come home.
Mom spoils us, cuddles us, takes care of us, and most of all, she makes our favorite food.
Vado A Cena has come back home and "Mom" has the best welcome ever!
You know you're at home when opening the door, you are greeting with the smells from a day spent cooking.
This is what Vado A Cena had for dinner yesterday:

The meal start with an appetizer, prosciutto Bazzone hand cut and a little selcetion of cheeses: parmesan and Gruyère.





A good glass of red Campordigno.





Then go straight to the main dish: beef “tagliata” covered with rocket and parmesan and a side of peas.









At the end of the meal fresh fruit and a typical tuscan sweet : Castagnaccio
Castagnaccio is made with chestnut flour, pine nut, walnut and raisins.





At the end a good “Ponce”… a good espresso with rum, a slice of lemon and cinnamon.

A quick lunch... Fresh Tortelli with spinach leaves, balsamic vinegar and pecorino

I was tweeting more than usual today and almost forgot to have lunch.
I decided then to share the preparation of my quick meal. As always, working in food I often forget to do proper shopping and I find my self figuring out how to match what I can find in my half empty fridge.
I have got a lovely gift from my friend (she works at La Tua Pasta): a packet of fresh tortelloni filled with mushroom and cheese.
I take a clove of garlic and some fresh spinach leaves. Oh, I have got a little piece of our Pecorino, favourite cheese of our clients at the last street market.
And the pasta dish was already in my head:
Boiling water, salt.


(add salt only after the water is boiling)

Frying pan, ev olive oil, garlic and crushed chilli. When the garlic gets gold I added the spinach leaves (well I added also a few rocket salad because it was there...).


(I added a little piece of unsalted butter as well)

After a few minutes the spinach leaves are ready and I turned off the stove.
In the meantime the water was boiling... I cooked the pasta for about 3 minutes.





Drained the pasta and mixed in the frying pan (stove on again). Added our aged balsamic vinegar.



Grated our pecorino from Tuscany directly in the pan...



... and served. My lunch is ready and yes it's not too bad considering it took about 8 minutes to prepare it!





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Nonna Wilma and the cookies. Girandole di Carnevale

It’s Carnival time right now in Italy.
“Carnevale di Venezia”, “Carnevale di Viareggio” and the historical “Carnevale di Ivrea” are some of the most famous of the world.

Perhaps not everybody knows that the word “Carnevale” comes from Latin “carnem levare” and it means “eating meat is not allowed”
Indeed in the Middle age was not allowed eating meat from the first day of “Quaresima” till the “Holy Thursday” before easter.
During this period Italian bakery and family are used to make traditional sweets such as cenci, frappe, chiacchiere, frittelle di riso, zeppole, castagnole, struffoli, schiacciata fiorentina.
The carnival sweets are made in different ways and with different flavours and fillings such as chocolate, custard and home made jam. They are then baked in the oven or fried with spices on the top.

Today we show you how to make “Girandole” cookies.

Chiara’s Grandma Wilma used to make these biscuits, whose name comes from their shape that reminds us of the carnival “girandola” (pinwheel).
Making Girandole is very easy and quick, they are delicious and crumbly…perfect for your afternoon tea!
Ingredients
120g sugar
150g unsalted butter
1 egg
265g flour
1 table spoon of baking powder
A pinch of salt
vanilla flavour
150 gr dark chocolate powder

Let’s start mixing the butter and sugar with a hand mixer for 10 minutes, until the mix is getting light and well whipped.





Add the whole egg, salt and mix again.




Add flour and baking powder and cream it using a large spoon.




Separate the mix into two equal parts, adding the chocolate powder to the first one and the table spoon of vanilla flavour to the other.



Hand knead each piece of dough until it is smooth and elastic.
Wrap the dough in cling film and put it in fridge for 1 hour.



Take back the two pieces of dough and roll them, first the dark one and then the white.
Lay the two sheets one upon the other.
Make sure both sheets are the same size, and remove any excess dough, then roll the two sheets together.







Wrap the roll with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Slice the roll in 5 mm thick slices.



Lay them on a baking tray (don’t forget to put a grease proof sheet under your cookies!)
Put in the oven at the temperature of 180°C for 10 minutes.



Finally, leave them to cool and then…enjoy!