olmoelisa

Take a good Grappa, add some fruit (we Italian have a lot of recipes) and you'll obtain something quite similar to Slivovitz, only cheaper and more tasty!

A couple of Italian heat-proof cookies recipes. Both are from Sicily, where we have really hot summers. Your idea to make Amaretti is wonderful and you could also do Savoiardi (Lady's finger) biscuits or stuffed dates, dried figs or dried apricots. Marzipan is wonderful to stuff dried fruit, but you can also mix almonds, crumbled amarettis, candied fruit, little pieces of chocolate... ALMOND PASTE PASTRIES (Typical Sicily recipe) Ingredients: 4 ½ cups of blanched almonds 3 ½ cups of sugar 1 cup candied orange zest 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 drops bitter almond extract 3 ½ tbsp honey (better acacia honey) 2 tablespoons Red Rose Rosolio or Arancello or Amaretto Liqueur 1 ½ cups egg white a pinch of salt candied cherries, almonds and coffee beans to decorate Blend the almonds and the sugar in a mixer to obtain flour. Crush the candied orange zest in a mortar until they are creamy. Put in a bowl all the ingredients and mix well. Put the dough in a pastry decorating bag and squeeze out the pastries on a baking tin covered by baking paper. They pastries diameter should be about 4-5 cm (1.5 – 2 inches). Make a little tuft on the top of each pastry. Let rest for 24 hours in the fridge. Decorate each pastry with a candied cherry or an almond or a coffee bean. Preheat the oven at 390 F. Bake the pastries for about 10 minutes. Take out immediately when they turn pale yellow. The pastries should remain soft inside. Serve cold. Store the pastries for 2-3 weeks in a tin canister PETRAMENNULA (Typical Sicilian nougat) Ingredients: 3 ½ cups of honey 7 oz of almonds 1 lb of orange zests (the orange part only) olive oil Cut the orange zests into stripes from 5 mm to 1 cm (0.2 – 0.4 inches) wide. Coarsely crush the almonds. Boil the honey and orange zests in a saucepan until the mixture begins to solidify. Add the almonds and continue to mix the ingredients until the mixture becomes very hard. Grease a marble pastry board with olive oil. Pour the mixture on it. Let cool and cut into small rectangles.

This is the recipe for Ippocrasso, the oldest Vermouth of the world. IPPOCRASSO (MEDIEVAL SPICY WINE) Ingredients: 2 cinnamon sticks 1 tsp ginger powder 5 cardamom seeds 3 cloves 1 pinch of nutmeg powder 2 liter young red wine or rosè wine 7 tbsp of honey Crush all the spices in a mortar. Melt the honey and ½ liter of wine in bain-marie. Let cool. Put the spices, the melted honey and 1.5 liter of wine in a airtight jar. Let soak for 2 weeks in a dark place, shaking every day. Filter and bottle. A legend tells the Greek physician Hippocrates (V century B.C.) invented the Vermouth wine. During Middle Ages all the wines of this kind were named after him. This is one of the most ancient Vermouth recipes arrived to our times. Substitute the Vermouth in your cocktail with the Ippocrasso for a new taste.

My favorite refreshing mint cocktail: Put 3 crushed ice cubes a highball glass. Add 1 part of Peppermint Rosolio (or any mint liqueur), 2 parts of fresh milk, 2 teaspoon of sweetened condensed milk, 2-3 drops of Absinthe Liqueur and stir. Decorate with a sprig of mint.

An easy and fast Italian recipe: Farinata, a typical chickpeas bread. In the northern region Liguria they offer it as a snack whatever the occasion. Ingredients: 1 ½ cups of chickpea flour ¾ liter of water ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil salt pepper 1 minced onion Put the chickpea flour and the water in a large bowl. Beat with a whisk to mix well, add salt to taste and let rest for twelve hours. Remove the foam with a spoon. Stir the dough. Put the oil in a large and low pan. Sieve the dough and put in the pan. The thickness of the Farinata should be between 5 mm and 1 cm. Stir the dough with a wooden spoon to absorb the oil. Sprinkle with the pepper and the onion. Preheat the oven at 430 F. Bake the Farinata for 20 minutes or until it looks golden. Cut into big rectangles. Serve warm or cold.

I use to infuse Grappa. I'm northern Italian I inherited tons of recipes, the oldest from my great-grandmother Cecilia. Vodka is too flavorless to infuse it. And, when you infuse something, stay away from cheap liquors: use the best you can find or pure alcohol 90º.

I have three rules to prepare inexpensive meals: 1) never go to the supermarket. Little shops have usually less choice, but are cheaper. 2) Never buy offers such as 3X2. You will waste food (unless you have a big family). 3) A vegetable garden is a great idea. If you don't have a garden, do it on your balcony or even in the kitchen.

Miele: fast, silent and ...cheap. They last forever. Mine is quite new, only 8 years old but my mother bought one in 1992 (we remember because she moved to a new house that year) and it's still working. Still fast and silent after 21 years!

If grapes keep more than 5 days, they will be flavorless. It's better not store ripe fruit in the fridge, it becomes watery.

It's horrible to have en e-cookbook. I not only use to annotate my cookbooks, but I also put little sheets with other recipes between their pages. Try to slip a sheet between INTO an iPad! Ebay is more modern, but garage sales are wonderful to find cheap cookbooks. If you are very, very lucky you can also find handwritten family cookbooks.

About the same. Artichoke flavor is so strong it covers everything else.

Some Italian cocktails with Cynar: Cynar is an Italian traditional bitter liqueur. Drink on the rocks with an orange zest or use it in cocktails. Shake 1 part of Artichoke Liqueur (Cynar), 1 part of Curacao, 1 part of Cherry Ratafià, 3 parts of orange juice. Pour the Cynar in a frozen flute and add 2 parts of dry white wine. A typical Venetian aperitif: shake 1 part of Artichoke Liqueur, 1 part of Aperol (or Red Vermouth), 1 part of Dry Gin. Pour over ice in a highball glass. My recipe to make Artichoke Liqueur (Cynar): Ingredients: 1 liter of alcohol at 95º 30 tender leaves of artichoke 1 lemon 5 artichoke stems 1 flowering tops of yarrow 2 cloves 1/2 liter of water 1 cups of sugar 1/2 liter of dry white wine Wash the artichoke leaves in water and lemon. Peel the stems and cut them in little cubes. Put the spices, the artichoke stems and leaves and the alcohol in an airtight jar. Let soak for 3 weeks. Filter. Make a syrup with the sugar and the water. If you prefer a very bitter taste use only ¼ cup of sugar. Add the syrup and the wine to the alcohol. Bottle and let rest for 4 months.

When I drink a Spritz I remember my days at Padua University. The recipe? I cannot give you the REAL one, because every bartender in Italy (and specially in Veneto, the region where Padua and Venice are) has his own recipe. Three parts of Prosecco wine and two parts of Aperol is a simplification. It exists a Spritz for men and a Spritz for ladies, for example. Spritz recipe can also change depending on the time in the day.

Speaking about Italian Amaros, you can try China Martini or Rabarbaro Zucca in your beer. Avoid Unicum, Petrus and Braulio in the beer. If you like to taste something new, this is the recipe for a Artichoke Liqueur (similar to the Italian amaro Cynar). I hade never taste in in a beer, but I feel it can be OK. Artichoke LiqueurIngredients: 1 liter of alcohol at 95º 30 tender leaves of artichoke 1 lemon 5 artichoke stems 1 flowering tops of yarrow 2 cloves 1/2 liter of water 1 cups of sugar 1/2 liter of dry white wine Wash the artichoke leaves in water and lemon. Peel the stems and cut them in little cubes. Put the spices, the artichoke stems and leaves and the alcohol in an airtight jar. Let soak for 3 weeks. Filter. Make a syrup with the sugar and the water. If you prefer a very bitter taste use only ¼ cup of sugar. Add the syrup and the wine to the alcohol. Bottle and let rest for 4 months. Hints for cocktails (no beer involved): This is a traditional bitter liqueur. Drink on the rocks with an orange zest or use it in cocktails. Shake 1 part of Artichoke Liqueur, 1 part of Curacao, 1 part of Cherry Ratafià, 3 parts of orange juice. Pour in a frozen flute and add 2 parts of dry white wine. A typical Venetian aperitif: shake 1 part of Artichoke Liqueur, 1 part of Aperol (or Red Vermouth), 1 part of Dry Gin. Pour over ice in a highball glass.

A fish is good when it's so fresh you can eat it raw. This is one of the reasons why I moved near the Ocean.

The most refreshing, springtime cocktails are made with flowers liqueurs. In Italy we call them Rosolio liqueurs, because the most famous one is the Rose Rosolio. Some ideas: Shake 1 part of Citronella Rosolio, 1 part of Persichino (Peaches Liqueur), 2 parts of Amaretto Liqueur and serve in a cocktail glass. Garnish with a stripe of orange zest. Put 2 tablespoons of Orange Blossom Rosolio in a frozen flute and fill with Champagne. Decorate with half orange slice. Pour 2 parts of Spicy Chocolate Liqueur and 1 part of Orange Blossom Rosolio in a cocktail glass and stir. Decorate with two orange blossoms and cocoa powder. Mix 2 parts of Jasmine Rosolio, 1 part of vodka and 3 parts of watermelon juice. Pour over ice in a large glass. Let float 3-4 jasmine blossoms on the surface

For rainy nights: a soup with carrots, a lot of shallot, potatoes (3 part of carrots, 1 part of potatoes), bay leaf, chicken broth. When cooked (not too much, we don't need carrots puree!) add a spoon of butter, half a cup of fresh cream (or greek yougurt) every 4-5 cups of soup and blend. Put in the individual bowls and decorate with chopped parsley, black pepper and crumbled Amaretto cookies (for who don't know them, they are cookies made in the same Italian factory where they do the Amaretto di Saronno liquor and they have more or less the same taste - minus the alcohol, of course). To me it's a winter/early spring soup, but if the night isn't rainy you can also serve it cold - at room temperature, don't put into the fridge.

Thank you very much. I tried the Konjac sometimes (trying to make spaghetti) but I did a mess. I'll try with agar agar for the kiwi jelly. I cannot inactive the enzime but I'll try to raise the PH.

I like to prepare fruit jellies, such as strawberry or watermelon or .... and last week for the first time I tried to prepare a kiwi jelly. Ingredients: 1 liter of homemade kiwi juice, a little sugar, the right amount of jelly powder. Result: nothing. After 3 hours (but also after a night) I found only kiwi juice in the mold! A couple of days later, I tried again, this time using half kiwi juice and half orange juice. Result: the same! I'm sure the jelly powder is OK, because I used a bag from the same confection to prepare a wonderful strawberry jelly, so...what happened? Is there anything in the kiwi that prevents the jelly powder to work the right way???

Hi, the easiest cake in the world: Break 3 eggs and weigh them (everything, white and yolk) Weigh the same quantity of flour, butter and sugar. Put in the blender, add a pinch of salt, 3 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp on vanilla, 6 tbsp of cocoa powder and half a glass of milk. Blend very well, put in a silicon mold of 10-11 in. of diameter, cover with aluminum foil and put in pre-heated oven at 350 F (180 Cº). After 40 minutes take away the aluminum foil, and bake for other 20 minutes. You can't go wrong!

I had the privilege to preview Fabio’s Italian Kitchen by Fabio Viviani. Tons of Italian recipes, some traditional, but also a lot new and challenging. Clear, well written and with a lot of pictures. It's out on Amazon this week.

This recipe use chestnut flour, you can obtain from dried chestnuts. It's a traditional Lake Como recipe (well, probably it's traditional in all the Northern Italian region Lombardy). Chestnut TagliatelleIngredients: (4 servings) 1 2/3 cups chestnut flour 1 ¼ cup white flour 3 eggs A big pinch of salt Mix all the ingredients and knead an elastic dough. Add warm water if necessary. Wrap the dough in a plastic film and let it rest for at least half an hour in the fridge. Roll out the dough about 2 millimeters thick and cut the tagliatelle. Boil in salty water. Since it is a homemade pasta, the cooking time can vary, but usually it is between 5 and 8 minutes. Sauces: The easiest one: brown abundant garlic cloves and sage leaves in plenty of butter. Sprinkle with black pepper. Mushrooms sauce: whip some sautéed mushrooms with fresh cream. Calculate about 2-3 tablespoons of mushrooms and 4-5 tablespoon of cream per serving. Pesto alla Genovese: (not traditional on Lake Como, but delicious on chestnut tagliatelle): put in the mixer 50 basil leaves, 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons of grated Pecorino cheese, 2-3 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon pine nuts, ½ glass of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of warm water and a pinch of salt. Whip for at least 5 minutes.

I got married long years ago... We had the catering and everything, but my mother took care of the liquors table. We are Italian and she set a big, round table this way: about ten colored glass bottles, of different shapes, in shades from red to pink, and all around them little liquor glasses of the same colours. The tablecoth was white, embroied with Venice fine laces. All around there were little biscuit and cakes, the kind we use to offer with the liquors after dinner (flower petal cookies, almond pastries, stuffed dried figs, little ricotta and fruit puddings...). We offered homemade traditional liqueurs, mainly Rosolios and flavored Grappa, I don't remembr now, but sure there were my preferred ones, Violet and orange blossom Rosolios, and orange and coffee grappa for my (future) husband. The table was very elegant and it was the main attraction point at my marriage, for the delight of my mother. Have a wonderful day!

My recipe for Limoncello (but also Arancello and Mandarinetto, orange and tangerine) Cream Liqueurs: Ingredients (for the orange cream liqueur): 1 liter of alcohol at 95º1/2 liter of milk1 liter of fresh cream8 oranges1 cinnamon stick6 ½ cups of brown sugarPeel the oranges with a zester or a vegetable peeler so there is no white pith on the zests.Put the orange zests, the cinnamon and the alcohol in an airtight jar.Let soak for 2 weeks in a cold and dark place.Filter.Boil the milk and the fresh cream with the brown sugar, till the sugar is dissolved.Let cool and filter.Add to the alcohol and let rest for 2 weeks.Serve chilled. To obtain Limoncello (lemon) Cream Liqueur substitute the orange zests with 12 lemon zests and use a vanilla bean instead of the cinnamon stick. To obtain Mandarinetto (tangerine, THE BEST ONE) Cream Liqueur substitute the orange zests with 12 tangerine zests (6 ripe and 6 green) and use only half cinnamon stick, a clove and a pinch of grated nutmeg.