The Grissini, originally from Torino, are the well known breadsticks that are usually thin and crunchy.
When we were living in Italy and used to go buy the fresh bread in our neighbourhood bakery daily, the baker used to offer my daughters a grissino each to keep in their hand and to munch on while they waited for me to get ready with my errands. That was a kind gesture that they appreciated a lot and made them happy.
When I made this recipe, my girls were likewise happy and ate them up in less than one hour, but with a bit of nostalgia.(Francesca)
Ricotta al Forno from Sicily, is one of the uncountable delicious recipes we love from this incredible Italian island.
If you’ve been there you may know how amazing the food is. It’s not a mystery why I put on a kilo a day, without regret, when I’ve been visiting Sicily in the past. I tried all the delicacies I could, but I literally fell in love of the baked ricotta cheese.
In the Sicilian markets, of which the most famous is the Palermo’sBallaro’ market, there are several varieties of Ricottaal Fornodisplayed in the early morning on trays, along with other Sicilian cheeses. Depending on the topping added to the ricotta, you can have the ricotta covered with Sicilian oregano, spices or even with pistachio with orange marmelade.
The version we want to give you is the simplest but you can enrich it by using a mix of herbs or, for the sweet version, served with a mix of nuts and a few drops of honey.
It takes just a few ingredients (plus salt and pepper) and about thirty minutes to prepare this Red Pepper Flan withZucchini Cream appetizer dish that will easily fit to any menu plan. If you’re a creative mind, this recipe can also turn into a highly aesthetic dish, but that’s up to you!
A different dinner than usual or a refined appetizer with cheeses and jams? Whatever the occasion, cheese is always a good idea. Make your cheeseboard colorful and tastier by pairing the cheese of your choice with the right jam and some fresh seasonal fruit and crunchy nuts.
Don’t forget to serve a good wine: Sangiovese Ca’ Storta Red Wine is the one we love to pair with this recipe. It recalls wild berries, currants and violets with a pleasant acidity. The sweet tannins make it perfect for every occasion.
The jams we paired come from Calabria, a sunny and beautiful South Italian region.
Many thanks to DeliziedelGusto for sending over its gorgeous products, and to vinimondodk to let us taste this organic Sangiovese Red Wine.
Crispy on the outside, soft in the inside and full of ripe tomatoes focaccia from Bari is one of my most wanted delicacy from Puglia. Living in Copenhagen makes it hard to find a slice of this baked bread around the city. So I challenged my self to prepare an excellent version of it, and finally I’ve reached it :-).
Like the Baresi, (people from Bari) do, eat a slide of this focaccia any time of the day and on any occasion. To fully enjoy its goodness, cut a slice of focaccia in half and stuff it with some mortadella.
I have to say thanks to the funny, brilliant and nice Maria to telling me the essential tips for making these delicious focaccia.
Anyone who tasted Apulian tarallini has liked them.They are both something to nibble on before lunch, as bread during dinner, or as snacks during an aperitif.
These small fragrant finger – food bites are one of the most widely consumed and known foods from the Puglia Region (Southern of Italy). The plain Tarallini are made with simple ingredients present in all the larders in Apulian houses: flour, white wine, Evo oil, and salt. If you like different tastes, flavor them with fennel seeds or chili pepper flakes, turmeric or other spices.
This time let us give thanks to Mamma Vita for her Tarallini recipe. This Mamma has always delighted her beloveds and friends with delicious dishes, and so she does now with us thanks to this yummy recipe.
🍷Francesca & Marinella🍴
Our favourite Apero: a Spritz (grab the recipe here), tarallini and fleshy olives.
These cheesy Cornetti are just the perfect little nibble to serve at your morning brunch or to share with your friends during a Spring pic-nic. If you don’t have at hand the ham, not to worry, they are just delicious even only with extra cheese.
The wine we paired for our weekly Apèro was an “INT3GRAL3 Organic Wine Rose’ Frizzante”, which is completely natural and unfiltered. This wine is only made with organic grapes and born with the mission of inspiring people to get back to their original, natural essence. Its color is slightly pink and the alcohol percentage is moderate (10.5%). The taste is fresh and slightly dry. Fine bubbles with red berries at the end will enjoy your mouth.
These small irregular fried balls of yeast dough make me feel the Christmas atmosphere. In my hometown Ostuni, and all-around Apulia, people enjoy eating Pettole during the whole Christmas period, until the 6th of January.
Even now that I’m living in Denmark I want my family to feel the same joyful atmosphere, by preparing the Pettole. We love to eat them simply with a dash of salt but you could make them more tasty stuffing them with anchovies. They can easily be made sweet by dipping them in honey orVincotto, or just with a sprinkle of sugar.
Finally the summer has invaded Europe, even though in some countries, summer hit with tropical temperatures, including Italy. During one of our alfresco dinner in the garden we prepared this delightful bruschetta, mixing cherry tomatoes with strawberries, giving the bruschetta a quirky twist. We used Ficotto cream, a niche product rediscovered in the enogastronomic history of the Basilicata region. It is made from the must of the figs and it can be used as a fruity-sweet alternative to the cream of balsamic vinegar.
The bread has to be a hight quality bread, like the one we used for this bruschetta. It’s been prepared by“Il Pane di una Volta“, a Swiss company that supplies home-made sourdough bread focusing on high quality ingredients, selected grains, no chemical or artificial additives, no commercial yeast (only natural wild yeast) reproducing the artisanal process of bread, before industrial production.
If you want to know more about “Il Pane di una Volta”, please scroll all the way down *.
We have also to thank Da Vinzi, an Italian wholesaler who imports many niche products from the Basilicata region to Switzerland, for making us taste his Ficotto cream.
Sometimes we like to experiment new dishes and new pairings. This is exactly like the following recipe. In Denmark, the season of fresh lumpfish roe has arrived, and you can find it in every fish department. If you are thinking about bringing a taste of Italy on your table, while still emphasising the Danish lumpfish season, we suggest you to pair lumpfish roe with an Italian burrata. We believe this match is a winning choice, isn’t it?
