Hazelnut & Caprino Cheese & Mascarpone Cheese Antipasto

Hazelnut & Caprino cheese & Mascarpone cheese disks 

  Antipasto
INGREDIENTS serving 6 people
400 g of Caprino cheese
200 g of Mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons of Marjoram, Thyme, Basil Leaves, Italian Parsley chopped
100 g of ground Hazelnuts
30 g of Hazelnut
salt to taste
black pepper, freshly grounded

DIRECTIONS
In a bowl mix the caprino cheese with the mascarpone cheese. Add the fresh erbs, salt and black pepper to taste.

Put the mixture in a plastic wrap and use it to roll the cheese into a cylinder. Refrigerate for about 1-2 hours.

The remove the plastic wrap, put the cheese cylinder in the chopped hazelnut cigar, and roll it. Slice the log into small disks.
For the presentation: top each with a small fresh celery leaf and a few hazelnut.

Serve immediately.


BUON APPETITO! 


Time: PREP TIME 2 hours.


Marinated Anchovies - Alici Marinate: recipe

Marinated Anchovies with Lemon Juice

Alici Marinate 

Recipe of the day (recipe courtesy of Mama Isa

Italian Engraulis encrasicolus or Anchovies or Alici (in Italian)

Anchovies - prized for their unique flavor - are beautifully grey and blue-green. They average long 5 to 9 inches long. 85 g of alici serving: 63 g of water, 2 g of omega-3, 18 g of proteins, 4 g of fat, only 111 calories.

Anchovies

The meat is very rich in omega-3 fatty acids and they can be eaten or fresh (marinated with lemon juice) or cooked in many ways: bake, deep fry, marinated, pan fry, grill..... Most of the "fishy" flavor of the anchovy comes from the curing process, because when they are fresh, the "alici" are rich and the flavor is good.

In Venice they were and are an important ingredient for the Venetian Cuisine.

One of our favorite ways to prepare alici is marinating white anchovies (alici fresche marinate) in lemon juice and salt.

INGREDIENTS serving 6 people
Alici (fresh anchovies for about 1 kilo)
3-4 lemon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
salt to taste
fresh Italian Parsley, chopped
2 tbs of pink peppercorn


DIRECTIONS
Wash and clean the anchovies (cut the head, the intestines, and the backbone: you must have a whole, clean fillet, a sort of butterfly). Wash them with water for 10 minutes. Place the anchovies in a casserole, sprinkling them with salt (but not too much). Then pour the lemon juice, cover the casserole and refrigerate for about 4 hours.

Now you will have white anchovies! Then drain and discard the lemon juice. Dress them with extra virgin olive oil, Italian parsley, and pink peppercorn.

BUON APPETITO! 







Time: PREP TIME 4 hours.



Ciabatta Bread - Recipe of the Day

Ciabatta Bread 

Recipe of the day

One of the most famous Italian Bread!

INGREDIENTS 
Ciabatta (for about 1 kilo)

BIGA: 
180 g of Wheat Flour 0
90 g of warm water
a pinch of compressed fresh yeast

DOUGH
400 g Wheat Flour 0
337 g of warm water
15 g of salt
2 g of compressed fresh yeast


DIRECTIONS
To form the biga, add the wheat flour and yeast to warm water. Mix until thoroughly combined. Then place in a container, cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to ferment for 24 hours at room temperature in a dark room.

After your biga is ready, mix the ingredients for the dough, including the biga.

Because the biga is so stiff, allow it to sit in the water for several minutes so it can soften up before adding the wheat flour and compressed yeast.

Knead until the bread dough is elastic and the ingredients are well incorporated. Because this dough has a high level of water, I recommend using the French kneading technique.

Place in another container, cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to ferment for about 45 minutes, or until the bread dough has just about doubled.

Fold the bread dough using this technique:
a- Scrape the bread dough out of the container and place it directly on a wooden board gently floured in front of you.
b- Place both hands under the right side of the dough.
c- Lift the bread dough upward and stretch it.
d- Fold the bread dough to the center of the rest of the dough.
e- Place your hands under the bread dough about 1/6 of the way around the rest of the dough.
f- Lift the bread dough upward and stretch it.
g- Fold the bread dough to the center of the rest of the dough.
h- Move your hands another 1/6 of the way around the dough, and repeat steps c and d. Make your way around the entire piece of dough. When done, flip the dough over so that what was once the bottom is now the top.

Now, return the ball of dough to its container, cover it with plastic wrap, and continue the fermentation process for an additional 45 minutes.
Fold again and ferment for another 45 minutes.

Lightly stretch the bread dough into the shape of a rectangle, a sort of rustic rectangle.
The ciabatta should be a rectangle with slightly rounded corners, just like a slipper (in Italian "ciabatta").

Softly move the bread dough onto a couche, cover it, and allow it to proof.

Transfer this bread dough to a peel, but please be gentle.

Gently flip the ciabatta onto a peel and place your dough in the oven.
Preheat the oven at 250 °C.
Creating steam in the oven is simple, but it’s not just about adding water to the oven (I add a little steel pot, a sort of oven pot, full of water)
Bake the dough for approximately 25–30 minutes. Remember to vent the oven during the final 10 minutes of baking.
The crust should be golden brown.

Cool the bread according in a cooling rack.
Ciabatta - recipe of the day
Ciabatta

Ciabatta - the original recipe by Mama Isa
Ciabatta


Recipe of the day at Mama Isa's Cooking Classes in Italy Venice - Ciabatta
Ciabatta




Time: PREP TIME 24 hours for BIGA, about 2 hours and 15 min for DOUGH. - COOK TIME 25-30 min.


Search in the Recipe Archive