LEMON CHICKEN BREAST

INGREDIENTS

• Chicken breasts
• Flour
• Lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

PROCEDURE

With a knife open the chicken breasts to make medium thin slices. Season them with salt.

In a pan heat up some olive oil. Pass the chicken slices in flour, then lay them on the pan. After a couple of minutes turn them over and add the juice of half a lemon. Add pepper according to taste (this is optional). Keep cooking, regularly turning the chicken until cooked and golden outside. Use your judgement for the quantity of oil and lemon: don't put too much oil to start with (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan), then if during cooking time the pan is too dry, you can add some more oil or more lemon juice.

Variation: instead of cooking whole chichen breast slices, you can dice it into cubes, and then cook them as above. This way they can be added to a mixed leaves and vegetable salad, for example, or any other salad you like.

TIRAMISU

INGREDIENTS

• 3 eggs
• 6 spoons of sugar
• 300g of Mascarpone
• 3 spoons of Brandy (or Rum) - optional
• Savoiardi buiscuits
• Espresso coffe
• Cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• Chocolate chips (optional)

PROCEDURE

Separate the yolk from the albumen of the eggs. Mix the yolks and the sugar, add the mascarpone and the liqueur and mix well until you have a smooth and soft cream. Whip the albumen of the eggs with an electric whisk until it becomes very dense (snow effect). Add it a little bit at a time to the cream and stir slowly, until it is all well incorporated.

Put coffee in a bowl, you will need at least 6 or 8 espressos, so use a big coffe maker (Italian style).

Pass the Savoiardi buiscuits in the coffe and lay them on the bottom of a tray, then put a thick layer of the mascarpone mix on top of the buiscuits. Make another layer of buiscuits and mascarpone mix, then add chocolate chips and top everything with cocoa powder.

You can also make just one layer of buiscuits if you like to have a very very thick layer of mascarpone cream on top.

I have recently started working again, even if only part-time, so I didn't have much time to dedicate to the blog. I will try my best to add more staff. The next recipes I want to add are Pasta with courgettes, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms, Pasta bake, Tiramisu, Aubergines with garlic and rosemary.

BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 egg


• 1 glass of milk


• 150g of sugar


• 200g of flour


• 50g of butter


• 50g of cocoa powder (unsweetened)


• 1 sachet of raising powder (it can be found in any Italian deli shop)

For the filling:

• 250g of Mascarpone


• Nutella

PROCEDURE

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, possibly using an electric whisk. It is a good idea to melt the butter a little bit at beign marie, so it is easier to incorporate to the rest of the ingredients. The result should be a very soft smooth dough.

Put the dough in a round baking tray (20 cm), prevously greased with butter.

Cook in the oven at 180° for 30/40 min.

While the cake is cooking, prepare the filling by mixing the Mascarpone cheese with 4 spoons of Nutella.

When the cake is ready and cold, cut it in half horizontally. Spread the filling on the bottom half and cover with the top half. Spread icing sugar on top.

HINTS AND TIPS:

• A good way to check that the cake is cooked properly is to put a toothstick throgh it. If the toothstick comes back out clean and dry it means the cake is ready.

• Because the filling has Mascarpone cheese in it, it is recommended to keep the cake in the fridge, if you have some left over.

My signature pasta: PENNE AROMATICHE

This is a very tasty and fresh pasta sauce. Very easy to make, but of great impact. Your guests will love it!


INGREDIENTS (for 4 to 6 people)

• 400g of PENNE RIGATE pasta


• 1 small onion


• 1 small clove of garlic


• 4 tablespoons of olive oil (or 50g of butter)


• 1 can of peeled tomatoes


• crashed chilli


• salt


• white sauce


• fresh herbs: rosemary or thyme, parsley, sage, basil

For the white sauce you will need:

• 1 tablespoon of flour


• a chunk of butter


• 1 glass of milk


• 1 pinch of salt
  

PROCEDURE


In a pan heat the olive oil (or melt the butter) and add the finely chopped onion and garlic. Fry at medium/low heat until soft. Chop the tomatoes from the can and add them and their sauce to the pan. Add some water as well, for example half of the tomato can, otherwise the sauce will become too thick too soon.
Add salt to season according to taste. Add a pinch of crushed chilly.
Put a lid on the pan and leave to cook for about 15 minutes at low heat, stirring occasionally. If the sauce becomes thick very quickly you might want to add a bit more water.
Put water in a big pot and bring to the boil. When the water is boiling add salt (a couple of fists)and then the pasta. Let it boil according to the cooking time written on the packaging.
While the tomato sauce and the pasta are cooking, prepare the white sauce.
Put a chunk of butter in a small pot and melt. Immediately add a table spoon of flour and stir quickly until the flour and the butter become like a paste, add the milk and a pinch of salt. Stir continuously and bring it to the boil. The result should be a velvety thick sauce.
When the tomato sauce is ready, add the white sauce and sprinkle with the mix of fresh herbs, finely chopped.
Drain the water from the pasta. Add the pasta to the tomato sauce, stir for a couple of minutes with the pan still on the hob, then serve.
If you like, sprinkle with parmigiano cheese.



HINTS AND TIPS:

• It is very important that the pasta boils freely and lively, so use lots of water and high heat.


• It is also very important to add salt to the water for pasta. Pasta without salt is horrible and not Italian! But don't exaggerate...


• Stir the tomato sauce frequently, to check that it doesn't stick to the pan and doesn't become too thick. Also taste it to check that the salt is all right. Sometimes tomatoes can be a bit acid, so add a little pinch of sugar to the sauce.


• Use a whisk (not electric) to mix the white sauce, this helps to undo any clot.
  

My first blog

Hi there!
And welcome to my kitchen!
The idea of keeping a blog came to me, because I wanted to do something to keep me busy and distract me from the worry of being unemployed. It was taking me ages to try and reshape my career, and not much luck...
So, with lots of time in my hands, why not start a culinary diary?
My friends and flatmates over the years have always told me that I am a very good cook.
However, I have never been very good at keeping a tidy recipes book. Everything is in my head or scribbled on flying pieces of paper. So why not create this online recipe book, that I can share with other people? This blog is dedicated to all my friend who every now and then ask me for recipes of something that I have cooked for them, and to all those who might want to get inspired into cooking something they have never tried before.
I am Italian, so most of what I cook is Italian style, but I also like to experiment with other cuisines.
I will write about homemade everyday food, simple things, or some fancier dishes for special occasions. It's my mum's cooking, that I have learned by observing her or calling her during these years of living abroad and asking her: How do I do this? I also learned by just trying, improvising, tring to guess how something is made just using common sense...and love.
This is the secret ingredient to any recipe. Make it with love!