My special JAM CROSTATA

After my previous post, I realized that I have never published
my special crostata recipe.
This is my signature recipe that has been in my kitchen since
I started baking.

CROSTATA DI MARMELLATA


Ingredients:

300g flour
100g white sugar
150g butter
1 pinch of salt (if butter is unsalted)
1 egg
2TBS of Martini liquor (it can be replaced with another egg)

1 pot of strawberry jam (or any other flavor jam)

Switch on oven and warm it up at 180 C or 350 F.

On a wooden board, make a fountain with the flour then add, in the middle,
sugar, egg and liquor and mix them with your hand ( I love using
my hands!)or a fork. Add softened butter
(you can either leave it out of fridge for few hours or soften it in
the microwave for 20 seconds straight from the fridge) and mix all the
ingredients together to obtain a nice soft dough.
Make dough in a ball shape , cover it with film/foil and refrigerate
for ten minutes.
Sprinkle wooden board with flour.
Return the dough on it and cut it in half.
Make a thin round disc with one part of the dough using a rolling pin.
Transfer the dough disc in a 18 cm tart baking tray previously buttered.
With a spoon, spread a layer of jam on the disc (you will use 3/4 of the jam).
Flatten the left over dough with the rolling pin and cut thin stripes
out of it to decorate the top of the tart. Use the stripes to make a grid like
pattern on top of the tart.
Bake it in the oven for 30 minutes or till the top is golden.

You can slice the crostata in squares and keep it for a week in a tin.

Korean savory pancakes

The other day me and my Korean friend decided to meet for a cooking class.
I would teach her how to make an Italian tart and she would prepare lunch.
It was a fun day!
She taught me how to make Korean Seafood and chives pancakes.
I went to the nearby fish shop and found fresh seafood skewers
with squids, calamari and shrimps. Then, at the supermarket, as I couldn't
find chives I bought fresh Danish onions/scallions, instead. And as I can't
eat spicy chili peppers, at the moment, I bought a long thin red pepper to
replace the chilies.
The pancakes were delicious so I am going to share the recipe with
the rest of the world....
(I hope Isabelle doesn't mind!!!).


KOREAN SEAFOOD PANCAKES


Ingredients for 4 pancakes:

80-100g chives or green onion
200g sea food (small shrimps squid, calamari)
Half green chili and half red chili
(they can be replaced by a sweet
red pepper)
250g all purpose flour
1 cup water or enough to make mixture thin
2 eggs
Salt & pepper

vegetable oil (sunflower/canola)for cooking

Soy sauce for serving
(Mix together:
2 TBS soy sauce
half tsp sesame oil
1 tsp lemon juice)

Slice green onions and red pepper very thin lengthwise.
Bring to boil 2 cups of water with a splash of white wine and
cook seafood for 2 minutes, then drain them.
In a ceramic bowl mix water with the eggs, then add flour
little by little and stir well.
Add salt and pepper.
Then add the vegetables and seafood.

Cover the bottom of a medium size frying pan with vegetable oil
and warm it up. To check that the oil has reached the right
temperature, sprinkle a bit of flour into it. If the oil spurts
then it is ready.
Pour one full serving spoon of mixture in the pan and spread mixture
around. Let it cook till the down side of the pancake is golden then
turn it upside down with the help of a spatula. Cook for few more
minutes then dish it in a plate.
Repeat operation with the rest of pancakes mixture.

The pancake must be served warm and should be eaten with chopsticks,
dipping small pieces in the prepared soy sauce.