That is, when the Puglia meets the America.

Now, some of you would ask, the muffins are not originally made in UK?

The truth is that the English muffins, with the crushed shape and the savoury taste have their origin in Victorian England. The Americans Muffins instead, mostly sweet and with the typical mushroom shape, have in common the name of their English cousins but they are much different one from the other.

Muffins In America are an institution, a kind of national symbol, so much so that some States have their own representing muffin!

(more…)

Black rice flan with ricotta sauce rosemary flavoured, pork fillet breaded with spinach flour, potato Dauphinoise and mini cranberry muffins with lemon custard.

Let's tell the truth: I was in absolute and pathological cooking abstinence.

Among moves (yes, plural), my job and definitely not expected hernia (sigh) I have sadly neglected mine "closet of the skilled cook", casket of every kind of utensil and ingredient and precious keeper of my greatest passion.

Yesterday, after a long and forced waiting,I have announced on Twitter and Facebook what would have become the post that you are reading right now: a menù for two, from the first course to the dessert, to remind and to remember that every day can be special.

And it is so.

I have used many of the ingredients purchased during first Foodies in Rome meeting: spinach flour, so perfumed; double cream, a very dense and rich in fats milky cream; and finally the candied cramberries, genuinely delicate.

The supper has been a success, I used up to my culinary creativeness and I have picked up some material for my newborn blog  unaware victim of the total frenzy of these days.

But now is enough chatters, let's start with the recipes!!!!

Black wild rice flan with ricotta sauce rosmary flavoured

INGREDIENTS:

• Black Rice 100 gr

• Ricotta Cheese 60 gr

• Rosemary

• Milk

• Salt and Pepper

Cook the rice in a pan with boiling water just slightly firm (about 15 minutes). Add cold water into the pan to stop cooking, strain the rice an put into a bowl.

From the other side take the ricotta cheese and stir it with milk: it has to be fluid, not too liquid. You can do it straight in a small pan and put it on the stove with a moderate fire. Then add the rosmary to the Ricotta souce In the meantime, prepare the ricotta cheese sauce: put the ricotta cheese in a saucepan to heat gently. Add milk gradually to obtain a fluid cream but not too much liquid. Put some fresh rosemary in the sauce and remove the pan from the heat. Pan fry the rice in a pan with oil and add more Rosemary.                                Salt and pepper to taste.

To give the shape of a rice cake I used a pasta cutter (iron ring) not too large, I placed it at the center of the dish and I filled with the rice. Complete the dish with the ricotta cheese sauce.

Pork fillets breaded with spinach flour with potatoes Dauphinoise

INGREDIENTS:

• Pork fillet 300gr

• Spinach Flour  50 gr

• Flour 00 50 gr

• Potatoes Dauphinoise

• Yellow potatoes 250 gr

• Milk 50 ml

• Double cream 100 ml

• Garlic 1 clove

• Gruyere cheese grated 50 gr

• White wine

Mix the two flours and bread carefully the pork fillets. Heat the oil in a frying pan and when it is hot put to fry fillets 3 minutes per side. Put in the pan 1/2 a cup of white wine. Slice the potatoes not too thick and put them in cold water. Put on the fire a saucepan with the double cream, milk and garlic: stir the ingredients and bring them almost to boil. Dries the potatoes and put them in the same saucepan, stirring gently. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, turn on the oven and take it to 180 °, grease with some butter a baking pan and put inside the potatoes. Cover with the grated Gruyère and bake for 25 minutes. Put in a serving plate the pork fillets with the potatoes and serve hot!!!

Mini cranberry muffins

INGREDIENTS:

• Mini muffins

• Soften Butter 90 gr

• Sugar 100 gr

• 1 whole egg

• Flour baking powder 180 gr

• yeast 1/2 teaspoon Milk 125 ml

• Cranberries 50gr  (these measures are enough for 12 mini muffins or 6 regular)

Heat the oven to 180 ° and grease the moulds for muffins. Then melt the butter and once cooled mix it well with sugar. Add the whole egg and mix thoroughly. Add gradually the dry ingredients and milk and at last the cranberries. Fill the buttered moulds for 2/3 and bake the muffins for 15 to 20 minutes, until they become golden and firm to touch.

• Cream lemon

• 1 egg yolk

• milk 125 ml

• sugar 50 gr

• wheat starch 13 gr

• Half a lemon zest (untreated;))

Heat the milk with lemon zest taking care that  it does not reaches a boil. In a bowl mix the sugar with the egg yolk and the wheat starch. Add gradually a little warm milk (the one with the lemon, of course) and then pour everything in saucepan with leftover milk and lemon zest. Continues to mix and soon the cream starts to thicken, shuffling quickly to avoid lumps and make a smooth mixture. If it seems too dense, add a dash of milk to obtain the right consistency. You can serve it hot or cold, I've played with contrasts: muffins still hot and cold cream. And to complete, some Cranberry to decorate

Delicious!!

I thought I had some familiarity with computers and the web but instead… Had no idea that publishing a blog would be so complicated.

And so here it begins! I left the comfortable room of just having ideas and theories about my culinary adventure, and crossed over to the much bigger, scarier room of having to actually do it! It is like being in a pastry case and getting hit in the face with having to make a hundred choices among all the delicious creamy cakes in 30 seconds flat! Delirium!

But, before I could get to the part I was excited about, like sharing my love and knowledge for all things culinary, I was required to answer so many crazy technical questions… Like This or That blog platform, free services or not for free, templates, fonts and gadgets of any type, color, and shape: what is all this stuff??

Does every blogger really need to know all these complicated stuff for getting a few recipes online? Needless to say, I felt nothing short of clueless….

Let me tell you I had no other choice than asking for guidance and help from my own fellow bloggers, and help I received… But, the more information I received, the tougher things seemed to become… But after a piece of good chocolate for consolation I went back to it…..

And so here I am, still struggling with fonts, colors, templates and images, but I am finally online and ready to help you discover fantastic recipes from Italy and around the world, both newly invented and revisited. I am a native Italian from Cassino, this blog is about my passion for cooking and sharing my knowledge and love for Italy. While I may not be a computer genius, I was told to be pretty good in the kitchen, and you can trust that every dish and recipe I will share with you will have all my passion and love for the art of cooking and will always have a pinch of Italy.