JAM SESSION

Another kind neighbor gifted us with these prunes. This lady is almost 80 y.o. and her vegetable garden seems to come out from some book of the RHS. 

Each time I compare hers to ours I feel miserable. We have salads, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini and weeds. She has 2 m high tomatoes (once even won a competition for the taste) and her cabbages are so big you can easily imagine to find a baby under their leaves. No need to say she has no weeds at all.

Luckily for us she's so kind and so we can taste her prunes. She gave us a lot so I made this fool proof jam .

PRUNES JAM

1 kg prunes (cut in small pieces and without stones)

500 g caster sugar

pectin (I use Fruttapec 2:1 Cameo)

Just mix the ingredients, bring to boil, boil 3 minutes, then put in clean and dry pots, close and sterilize in boiling water for 20 minutes.

Turning ten

I just can't believe: that small baby that was falling asleep only if I hold her hand has turned into a smart girl. I'm feeling somehow older too and I think that many of my gray hair comes from kids feeling sick in the middle of the night or falling from the stairs or entering home yelling "MUM, I NEED A DOCTOR".

This afternoon came H's sister and we looked at old pictures, were D was just a little baby to cuddle and we wore funny dresses. No need to say that the kids were laughing at us.

As usual I asked D which cake she preferred for her birthday, but I should have been wiser and offer just two or three different kinds. She came up with a super-special-four-layer-birthday-cake, so that, to keep my promise, I made this.

I baked two sponge cake, one diameter 24 cm and one 20 cm, and I sliced in two the smaller, cutting from one slice a circle diameter 15 cm. I sliced the larger and put a layer of custard. Then I covered everything with my

WHITE CHOCOLATE FROSTING

350 g white chocolate

480 g Philadelphia-like cheese

230 g butter (softened)

melt the chocolate in the microwave and stir together with cheese and butter.

For her "real" birthday she asked for a cake that It comes from a book she received last year, "Disney recipes: from animation to inspiration", were it is called "the mad hatter and march hare's cheesecake".

I didn't follow exactly the recipe, because I have to cook gluten free, so I made my personal version

CHOCOLATE AND STRAWBERRY CAKE

200 g chocolate wafer

60 g butter softened

250 g mascarpone cheese

100 g strawberry jam

Crumble the wafer and mix with butter, put in a round mold and cook for 10 minutes in the oven (180°C). While it is cooling mix mascarpone and strawberry jam, then put on the pie crust and you are done.

Both recipes are simple, but high in fat, so now I think I'm going to eat only vegetables for some day.

Blossom for dinner

Mr P is one of our neighbors, he is in his seventies and has a wonderful garden. Our kids are fond of him and sometimes help him to look after his hen. Last evening D1 run home and asked if I would like some zucchini blossom from mr P. I was really glad and looking forward to have for dinner those wonderful fried blossom, may be stuffed with some ricotta cheese, parmesan, nutmeg and an egg.
Then the kids run in the kitchen with a bucket full, I mean FULL, of zucchini blossom. They were more than an hundred!
I love them, I love cooking for my family, but I didn't intend spend 2 hours fring all those blossom. What else could I do? I ended up with this





ZUCCHINI BLOSSOM FLAN

40 zucchini blossom
4 or 5 eggs
3 + 1 tablespoon of parmesan
some millk

First of all lightly wash the blossoms, trim the stems and remove the pistils
Beat everything together, sprinkle with a spoon of parmesan and put in the oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes, till it has a golden surface.

Happy birthday

On February 28th H turned 41 and he asked for a special cake: a multi-layer pancakes and honey. Very simple, but still very good, especially if you cut it in slice like a real cake and serve with strawberry and cream.
Dorit, a german friend, showed me how to make these all-around pancakes more than 10 years ago, cooking for new year's party in Vernazza.
I haven't got a real recipe, just mix flour, eggs, milk and a pinch of salt. No sugar, so you can use them also with cheese and vegetables or leftovers to give them a new appeal.
If you use a bit more milk, the pancakes will become thinner, so you can fold them as italian "crespelle".

Sunday afternoon

It's sunday afternoon, all homeworks done, outside it's raining, siblings are playing something childish and mum is sewing: what can a 9 yo ask for? Hot chocolate, of course!

So here you are: the REAL hot chocolate, made by D





HOT CHOCOLATE (serves 4)

2 cups of milk

200 g dark chocolate (very important: choose good quality)

50 g sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

half teaspoon cinnamon

Mix everything, bring to boil on low heat and whisk for about 4 minutes or until it looks enough thick.

Enjoy!

Zucchini & shrimps

Another cold day. I was coming home from my errands wondering what to cook to have lunch ready in less than half an hour for my hungry Ds, and I noticed my lovely thyme.
In our garden there are different fresh erbs (in season): sage, rosemary, chives, laurel, arugula (that is roquette or rucola), lemon balm (melissa in italian), alecost (St. Peter's erb in italian, used in omelette), but the one I prefer is thyme. I find it perfect with zucchini: there are no leftovers when I cook zucchini with thyme.

So I decided we would had

ZUCCHINI & SHRIMPS PASTA/RICE

You need



Zucchini, thyme, shrimps (I used the frozen ones) and pasta or rice. I used those rice noodles, but almost everything else works fine.

1. slice the zucchini, put in a big pan with oil, fresh thyme and a pich of salt. Put a lid on it and forget it on low heat. They should not fry, but simmer in their own juice till tender
2. put the rice noodle in fresh water according to the directions on the packaging, or cook the pasta/rice to the point
3. put the shrimps in boiling water for 2 minutes and than drain
4. when zucchini are done put in their pan the shrimps and after a while the noodles/pasta/rice and stir for a while
5. if you want you can and some soya sauce. I didn't because it's not gluten-free

Buon Appetito

Let it snow

This morning it's snowing again. Not so much to go skiing, but enough to freeze.

So I decided to go for one of our favorite comfort food: rice-peas-and-cheese (almost all my recepies are gluten free).
So head to your stove and in 20 minutes you'll have something yummy.

RICE PEAS AND CHEESE

1 cup frozen peas
2 cups rice
cheese

bring water to boil, add salt and frozen peas, when it start boiling again add rice and stir, cook according to its cooking time.
Meanwhile open your fridge find some cheese (different types are ok) and cut it in small pieces, as big as 3 peas max.
Drain, add some oil (not so much) and the cheese.

Note: the water in which you cook the rice can clog your sink, to prevent this fact just pour fresh water while draining the rice (not on the rice!)


Eat some fruit as tangerine or kiwi and you're done.