Happy breakfast!!!

Sometimes on sunday morning I prepare something special for breakfast.
This time I have chosen a recipe that my mother would prepare to make us all happy:
"Graffe" (or "Ciambelle allo zucchero")!
They are a sort of donoughts, but much softer and delicate.
In their simplicity, they have a powerful taste that makes children and adult love them!
I really hope you will try them once!

GRAFFE (dedicated to my mother)

Ingredients (for 24 pieces):

500 g flour
100 g white sugar
3 egg yolks
100 g butter (melted)
1 potato (boiled, peeled and mashed)
1 cup milk
1 tsp dry yeast
1 grated lemon peel

Melt yeast in lukewarm milk.
In a big bowl mix flour, sugar, egg yolks, butter lemon peel, potato and
milk with yeast. Make a ball, cover with a cloth and let it raise for 1 hour.
Transfer dough on a wooden table, knead it, then cut small pieces and give
them a round donought shape. Let them raise again for 30 minutes, covered
with a cloth.
In a frying pan put aboundant vegetable oil, warm it up and fry the graffe till
they are golden on both sides (just couple of minutes).

Dry eccess oil on a paper towel then, still warm, dive them in
a bowl of sugar.
Once they are sugar coated transfer graffe in a serving plate.

"Buona domenica!"
"Have a nice Sunday!"

Juicy APPLES

The apple season has started!
Around New York there are lots of orchards producing juicy and crunchy
apples, so we are lucky to have (finally!!!!) a locally produced fruit.
The little bags filled to the rim with the colorful apples are so inviting!!!
This is the time of the year I make apple cider, a delicious probiotic drink that
helps our tummies to be in good shape.
I use the Academy of Healing and Nutrition recipe:

APPLE CIDER

Ingredients:
12 apples of any kind (it makes almost 1 lt juice)
1 small organic lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp whey
(I strain 1 full TBS of plain yogurt in a colander on top of a cup. Whey will
come from it)

Wash apples, cut in quarters and pass through a juicer.
Scoop away foam from top of juice then strain it in a glass jar.
Mix juice with lemon juice, salt, whey and let it rest at room temperature,
covered with a cloth for 3 days.
Remove any foam and transfer juice in a glass bottle.
Refrigerate tightly covered.

Drink a glass a day for a week to build up good bacteria in your digestive tract!

Melanzane alla parmiggiana

As you could notice from my blog, I love eggplants!!!
I use them a lot in my kitchen and I have different ways to cook them!
The most special of all, in my opinion, is the traditional "Melanzane alla parmiggiana".
I have changed the recipe a little bit to make it lighter, so instead of frying the eggplants I grill them.

Here is my recipe:

MELANZANE ALLA PARMIGGIANA

Ingredients:

2 big black, long eggplants
1 can tomatoe puree or peeled diced tomatoes
1 onion
2 carrots
1 cup grated parmesan
1 cup grated mozzarella
salt, pepper, origanum, basil

Vertically slice eggplants (half cm) then grill them till brown on both sides.
Sprinkle them with salt and origanum and let them rest.

Prepare the tomatoe sauce.
In a frying pan put some olive oil and sautee onion and carrots, thinly sliced, till soft. Add tomatoe puree, salt, origanum and let it cook, covered, for about 10 minutes.
Add few basil leaves and cook for other 5 minutes.



Spread a spoon of tomatoe sauce in a baking dish, then make a layer with eggplant slices. Cover with sauce, some parmesan and mozzarella. Then form another layer
with same ingredients. Use all ingredients ending with mozzarella.

Cover tray with aluminium foil and bake at 350 F (180 C) for 30 minutes.
Uncover baking dish and bake for other 5 min at 400 F (200 C).
The eggplant should be very soft.
Remove from oven and let it rest for 15 minutes before serving.

The "BABA' AL RHUM"

The Baba' is a soft, spongy round cake with a hole in the middle, served with cream or custard and berries. It can also be smaller and have the shape of a mushroom.
Although its orgin is Polish, it has become a symbol of the Napoletan baking tradition.
This is my husband favorite dessert and I have been practicing making it for many years.
I'm going to share with you my recipe that I borrowed from my family.
The shape of my Baba' is simply round and small and I serve it purely with Rhum.

BABA' AL RHUM

Ingredients for dough:
4 eggs + 2 yolks
50 g white sugar
75 g butter (5 TBS)
1 tsp yeast melted in halg glass of warm water
300 g flour

Ingredients for syrup:
200 ml water
200 g sugar
3/4 cup Rhum

Prepare dough beating eggs with sugar and melted butter.
Add yeast and mix it in well.
Add flour little by little and keep beating, beating, beating to get a smooth dough.
Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Then beat dough again for few minutes and transfer it in a tall round baking
dish. Cover and let it rise for couple of hours.

Meanwhile prepare syrup melting sugar in water.
Let water boil for 5 minutes, then put aside to cool it down. Add Ruhm.

When the dough has completely risen, bake it at 350 F (180 C) for 20 minutes.
Cool it down, then pour syrup on top of sponge cake and let it soak in for few hours.
Remove Baba' from baking dish and put it upside down on a serving plate.

Slice it and, before serving, wet each piece with more syrup.

APPLE PIE....a must have in a recipe book!!!!

I believe that the tastiest healthy pie is the apple one!
Apple pie makes me think of orchards and country style kitchens,
brings back the smell of childhood,
feelings of joy and happyness and
makes me smile!!!

Yesterday, at my son's request, I prepared this special, simple
but powerfull sweet delight!

Here comes the recipe!!!

CARME'S APPLE PIE

Ingredients for crust:

150 g whole wheat flour
150 g white unbleached flour
100 g granulated sugar
1 pinch salt
1 egg
2 TBS Martini liquor (instead you can edd another egg)
150 g butter (1 stick abd 2 spoons)

Ingredients for filling:

4/5 golden apples
half tsp cinnamon
1 TBS sugar (optional)
half lemon lemon juice
2/3 amaretti (almond Italian cookies)crushed

To prepare dough, put flours and salt on a wooden board and form a well.
Inside put sugar, egg and liquor and start mixing them with your hands.
Add room temperature butter and mix all the ingredients well to obtain a
soft ball.
Transfer in a bowl, cover with cling paper and refrigerate.

Meanwhile peel and slice the apples, mix them with lemon juice,sugar and cinnamon.

Take out the fridge the pastry dough and cut three quarter of it leaving the other part to rest.
Flour wooden board and with a rolling pin make it flat and round to fit a round baking tray.
Butter and flour baking tray base and transfer dough in it.
Cover bottom with amaretti, then add the apples.
Flatten the other part of dough to make it round and big enough to cover pie.
Close border well folding pastry, make small cuts on top of pie and bake at
375 F or 180 C for 40 minutes or till golden.

Cool down and serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Enjoy it!!!!

BACK HOME!

This summer I spent a long time away from home!
I was very lucky to be able to go on a cruice in Greece and explore some of
the Egean islands; to travel through Italy where I visited amazing places in
Puglia, Lazio and Umbria and, once back in the US, to drive all the way down
from Ney York to South Carolina crossing many American States for the first time.
I feel so gratefull!!!

I'm back home now and I must say that I'm really happy
to be back in my kitchen!

The most enjoyable activities I have done since coming home are:
grocery shopping and cooking!

Yesterday I had my dear girl friends over for lunch and, among other dishes, I prepared for them a Lasagna with Pesto filled with lots of love.

I'm sharing this light, easy recipe with you all!

Ingredients for 12 people:

1 packet of lasagna (I prefer Barilla)
2 cups of basil leaves
2 cups of arrugola
half cup pine nuts
3/4 spoons extravirgin olive oil
2 cups of cherry tomatos
2 cups of feta cheese (2 pieces)
salt and pepper

Prepare pesto chopping in a blender the leaves and the pine nuts,
then add a pinch of salt and enough oil to blend all the ingredients
in a smooth paste.
Put pesto in a bowl and cover with oil so the top doesn't become brown.
Prepare tomatoes washing them and cutting them in halves.
Put 2/3 spoons of olive oil in a pan and sautee tomatoes for 5 minutes
or till they soften. Add salt, pepper and put them aside.
Boil water, add salt and a bit of oil then cook 5/6 lasagna sheets at
the time for 2 minutes.
Remove the lasagna sheets from water, transfer them in a container with
cold water, then drain them and let them dry on a cloth.

Switch on oven to 375 F or 180 C degrees.

Now you are ready to assemble the lasagna!

Put one full spoon of pesto in a cup and add enough water (half cup) to make
it liquid and runny. Spoon some pesto at the bottom of a rectangular baking
dish, then lay the lasagna sheet in order to cover all the bottom of the dish.
Spread the liquid pesto(when this ends prepare another batch)on top of
lasagna, then top it with some tomatoes and feta cheese.
Form another layer of lasagna sheets and repeat the sequence till you finish
all the ingredients.
Possibly end with a layer of lasagna sheets topped with pesto and some cheese.

Cover the baking dish with aluminium foil and bake for 30 minutes.
After then uncover the dish and bake for other 5 minutes.

Remove dish from oven and let it cool down for 15 minutes.

Serve this tasty lasagna with a spring mix salad.