My Italian Cuisine

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine While it has been largely reported that Negroni cocktail was invented in Florence in 1919 at Caffé Casoni now called Caffé Cavalli and thet Count Camillo Negroni invented it by asking Fosco Scarselli, the bartender,  to strengthen his favorite cocktail, the "Americano", by adding gin rather than the normal soda water,  the paper back book by Luca Picchi, "Sulle tracce del conte",  la vera storia del cocktail "Negroni" (the true story of the "Negroni" cocktail) affirms that the entire Count Negroni story is invented and it's nothing more than a marketing pamphlet to promote visits to Mr. Picchi's bar in Florence (see the comment on this post by one of the membrs of the Negroni family, Colonel Hector Andres Negroni, whom I thank very much for the useful informations). That said..... the "Negroni cocktail" is a huge worldwi

  The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine I didn't know that Gnocco Fritto was famous all over the world, I just realised that reading this article from the webzine "Seriouseat" . Apparently in NYC you can find a very good one at "Bianca".... Anyway if you are not from NY or you can't find Gnocco fritto in your town: here is the recipe! But first let me explain what we are talking about: Gnocco fritto is a traditional (Emilia Romagna) fried appetizer, a square piece of fried kind of bread dough which can be served with italian deli meat, Parma ham, mortadella, culatello, salami or cheese or  with veggies like fried Cicoria or  Cime di rapa. The souther version of gnocco fritto could be the so called "Pizza fritta" but this is another story...... Preparing Gnocco fritto at home is very easy, you just need few ingredients and a little time. It's such a plasure to eat a warm

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine When we say Brioche we say France...I've tried all kind of brioches recipes and for me the best brioche is this one... and it comes from Germany, it's the Buchteln brioche, also called Butchy or Buchty. It's the most soft, moist, delicious brioche I have ever tasted and baked. It's also very light, no butter only heavy cream (crème fraîche épaisse, in french). The Buchteln brioche is very easy to prepare if you have a bread machine. Try it... you will fall in love with this recipe! It's perfect for breakfast or for your afternoon tea time, you can fill it with a small piece of dark chocolate or jam if you like, kids will love it!  Ingredients: 500gr bread flour 20gr fresh yeast or 10 dried 25cl of heavy cream (crème fraîche épaisse) 80gr sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs + milk (quatity of milk depends on your eggs weight) = total 200gr

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine Happy Easter Monday to everybody! Enjoy your outdoor picnic with this new recipe! The Torta Pasqualina is an Italian traditional and very savoury pie, made with silverbeet (also called swiss chard), lots of eggs and ricotta. This pie, a specialty from the ligurian cuisine, is commonly served cold during the traditional Italian Easter Monday picnic.  t's a very rich pie, you need 13 eggs just for the the filling!  In my version I used a commn puff pastry to avoid the long and difficult preparation of the traditional dough (rolled in several layers).You can also replace silver beet with spinach or cicory... some recipe use artichokes...  The preparation is nothig difficult but istruction must be carefully followed in order to reach a good final result. The Pasqualina pie is also a pleasure for your eyes, with the yellow, white and green colours. To make the preparati

  The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine Hello and Happy Easter to everybody! New year new version of my Easter bread: Easter rolls with coloured eggs! The sun  is shining and  it's time to dress our tables with garden colours.  Just to give a funny touch to my Easter table this time I shaped two different breads: a flower and a kind of bunny..... the dough is always the same (see recipe here ), then just shaped it differently ;) Makes about 12 bread rolls Ingredients: 500 gr Flour (55 type or another strong bread flour mix) 160ml water 40ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2 Wipped Eggs 1 teaspoon dried yeast 1 Tbs Sugar 1 Tbs Salt 1 Wipped Egg (for glazing) 2 Tbs Sesame Seeds (for decoration) 2 Tbs Poppy seeds or other(for decoration) Method : Place the ingredients in the bread machine (dough program) or in a food processor, or Kitchenaid, mix, let it rise for 2 hours. After 2 hours, place on a work

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine The Pastiera is the most famous Neapolitan Easter traditional pastry. Prepared since centuries, in the region of Campania almost every family own his special Pastiera recipe. It's a pie crust with a filling of boiled grains (grano cotto), milk, ricotta, candied fruits (cedro, zucca e arancia candita), orange blossoms water (acqua di fiori d'arancio). The  Pastiera is so famous to deserve its own website: www.pastiera.com, I have got Pastiera from the Italian bakeries since I was a child.... and now I've finally baked it myself, a few times, trying to get the good recipe.... finally I think I got it! This  is my own Pstiera recipe: the crust is the one I use for crust pies in general, the traditional recipe uses lard I prefer to use butter, you can use what you like. The canned cooked grains are a must, you will normally find it in the italian grocery stores, as wel

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine I'm just back from Italy where Carnival is everywhere, in the streets,  in the bakeries and food stores. Carnival in Italy means colours and fun.... but also a very large choice of desserts, every region has his owns:  Le Chiacchiere also called Bugie or Frappe, Le Zeppole di san Giuseppe, Le Castagnole (see recipe here ), Le Graffe napoletane(see recipe here ). Today I want to share with you a fantastic Carnival fritters recipe I found in the Italian food magazine Sale&Pepe . Very different from the Italian traditional fritters, this one has a soft heart of abricot and ginger, a taste of lime.....It's really a special one but so nice and easy to prepare. A Carnival dessert recipe  to try out if you have a little time, your children and friends will love it! Enjoy and have a very funny Carnival! Makes 15 - 20 fritters Ingredients: 200gr dried apricots 200

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine I'm back!!!!!!! I've been so busy cooking around ... I had to give up updating my blog for a few months. In the meanwhile I have collected an incredible amount on nice recipes to share with you ;) A while ago I've tried something special with round courgettes and rice...added cherry tomatoes (pachino) and basil... here is the delicious result of my experiment! Round zucchini ou "courgettes" are usually stuffed with meat, this is a nice variation suitable for our vegetarians or vegans friends, only rice, tomatoes, olive oil, fresh basil, garlic and courgettes of course, grated parmesan cheese is an optional but it gives a great taste to the filling, I suggest you to add it! It is a colourful, healthy, complete meal, easy to prepare and quickly done. Let's start! Serving 4 Ingredients: 4 round zucchini (courgettes) 16 cherry tomatoes (I prefer or