Banana Jam

Lol! I just found this post draft from December! With my DH ill at the time I obviously totally forgot to publish it! Anyway a belated recipe and crochet cover!

Ripe bananas.
Half weight of bananas in cane sugar.
Cinamon.

Mash bananas in a pan. Add the cane sugar. Slowly cook stiring frequently for about 10 mins.
Add the cinamon stick.
Spoon into jars and close lids. Cover with clean dry cloths. Leave to cool.
It should seal lid. I do not bother reheating the jars as I use it quickly!

Mini Jam jar covers.

A small amount of sport weight cotton yarn.
Size 3mm crochet hook.

Start using magic loop:
1: 12 sc in loop.
2: 12x 1 dc, 1 ch.
3: 24 sc.
4: 24x 1 dc, 1 ch.
5: 48 sc.
6: 48 dc.
7: 1sc, 1ch, skip one dc, repeat around.
8: 48 sc.
9: 4sc, picot of 3ch; repeat around.
Bind off. Weave in yarn end.

Savoury Cold Rice Salad

Well it is hot hot hot now. Summer has really arrived quickly this year. DD asked me to make a rice salad as she says it is just too hot to eat. 

So, a lifetime ago when I was studying in Rome I worked as an au-pair for a year. This is a recipe I learnt then. I have no idea how traditional it is, the bought stuff is totally different, but this I learnt and this my kids (and DH) love! My inlaws now also make this. In the years before there were fridges it would not have been possible.

So ingredients:
500g rice. Salt to taste.

Canned Tuna.
Canned beef.
Wurstel sausage.
Boiled eggs.
Maionese.
Sweet corn.
Grated parmesan cheese.
Tomatoes.
Mozzarella.
Butter or oil.

I throw everything I can in the fridge before starting to reduce cooling time.

Cook the rice in salted water till "al dente" (just cooked). Cool.
Cook the wurstel sausages ( I slice and cook in a little butter. Cool.
Cook the sweet corn. Cool.

Add mayo.
Add boiled eggs cut up.
Add all other ingredients. 
I add the mozzarella last and if leaving for later just add to what I know we will use within two days. 
Stir it all together well and cool. At least a couple of hours.

Keeps well in fridge. I add tomatoes and mozzarella after if I want to keep it more days. You can add cucumbers, lettuce, ham, pickles,  olives etc etc as you like.

Quick and easy. Great to eat when it is really hot!.

Nearly 40°C here today. This is something they will eat without moaning that it is "too hot" !

Let me know what you think of this!

Chiacchiere or Cenci

It is carneval time here in Italy and one of the traditional things to make are chiacchiere. There are other names for these, cenci is one that springs to mind but here in the village we call them chiacchiere.

There are many different ways of making these but I have an old recipe I have used for many years which has now become the family recipe. It is from a recipe book I bought which no longer has the cover but has some super winter pasta recipes. 
My sister-in-laws both use this now, in fact my younger sister-in-law told me that this is the only recipe she has as "it is the best". She is 15 years younger than me so I was already using this when she got married.

I use a pasta machine to roll out the pastry but it can be done with a rolling pin and some patience! 

Ingredients.

500 g white flour (about 4 cups for my overseas friends!)
Extra flour for rolling out and dusting the pasta sheets. I used nearly 50 g when I weighed what was left in the pack.
5 eggs (2 whole and 3 egg yokes)
3 tablespoons sugar.
4 half egg shells of liquor. (Limoncello, marsala or similar)
a pinch of salt.

Oil to fry. (I use olive oil as that is what I have here!)
Icing sugar.


Put the flour in a bowl and add the  sugar, eggs, salt and liquor. Mix well.

Use the empty egg shell to measure the liquor.

Roll it out thinly with the pasta machine or a rolling pin.

I usually use the largest setting on my machine and put the mixture through several times so it is mixed well. My machine has 6 settings. I start with the biggest and then gradually work to the 5th one. When making the pasta for lasagne I used the 6th setting, for this I keep it very slightly thicker at the 5th! 
I dust the pasta stripes with flour as I work.

I fold the pieces of pasta and repass them various times.

Use a pastry cutter to cut out stripes of pasta. I deliberately make them irregular so they don't seem bought!

Put olive oil in a frying pan and heat. Add the chiacchiere gradually being careful to not overcook. A friend used to make such soggy almost burnt ones! Not nice at all. They should be dry and crisp.

See how the bubbles form even though there is no baking powder in this recipe.

Take them out as soon as they are a golden colour and place on absorbent paper to cool.
These below were a bit too brown so were discarded!

Dust with icing sugar or some people even like to dip them in chocolate!

It is very easy to make these. The only thing is to be sure to mix the ingredients well, to be careful to remove quickly and drain oil and not overcook.

If you have someone to help you it simplifies things, DD was busy with homework but she did arrive in time to test they tasted good! Lol!

I didn't take a photo of them with the icing sugar as I will add that tomorrow when she takes them into school.

Do let me know if you make any and how they turn out!

Funghi Porcini con Scialatelli

September is mushroom time so my husband went to search for some of the local Porcini mushrooms.

                                           He was so happy the time he found the one above!

This time he found a couple of kilos of good ones.

There were too many to use at once so some I froze but obviously I had to cook some of them!

 Here is a recipe we like. Very simple so you can really taste the porcini!

This uses local Porcini mushrooms and a typical sort of "Pasta fresca" called "scialatelli"

Ingredients:

Fresh mushrooms.
Onion.
Parsley.
Salt.
Olive oil.

Fresh pasta or other sort desired.  Amount depends on how many people. I calculate about 150g each.

If you like black pepper can be added to taste. Some people also like to add a splash of dry white wine.

Choose and prepare the mushrooms. I don't use any that aren't perfect!

Finely chop some onion and some fresh parsley.

Lightly fry the onion in a few tablespoons of olive oil.

Add the sliced mushrooms and parsley.

Cover and simmer over a low flame. Add salt to taste when they are almost cooked.

This is the pasta. It isn't egg pasta but just durum flour and water. This is bought but another time I will show you how to easily make it. It is a sort of tagliatelle. Here in the village they also use the same name for a twisted sort.

 I usually cook the pasta in the usual way once the mushrooms are almost cooked. Be careful not to burn them. Some people add a little water from the pasta if they dry too much but I don't find it necessary.

Strain the pasta and add to the pan with the mushrooms. Stir to mix them well.My husband doesn't like to add parmesan cheese as he likes the taste of the mushrooms. However if they are frozen I will add a little.

                                                                     Serve and enjoy!

                                                               

 This is one of the simple thrifty meals we eat. You can also try substituting other sorts of mushrooms available to you, or use frozen ones!

and ....Buon Appetito!

Recipe: Zucchine Flower Frittelle. Courgette flower fritters.

Today's recipe is: Zucchine flower fritters.

  Some nice fresh flowers picked this morning. They go limp very quickly.

I prepare the flowers like this and then rinse them.

When I have a lot I freeze them like this and keep for use through the year. 

You need:
Fresh (or frozen) zucchine (courgettes) flowers.
Optional small zucchina.(courgette)
1 egg per person.
Flour: About 2 tablespoons per egg.
Freshly ground parmesan cheese: 2  tablespoons per egg.
Parsley: A small amount.
Salt to taste.
Olive oil for frying. (Or other preferred cooking oil )

Cut the flowers into small pieces.

Add the cheese, parsley and salt to taste.

If you have some small courgettes you can add a finely sliced one if you like.

                                                                    Mix together.

Add the flour and eggs.

                         The mixture should look like this. A semi-liquid consistency like batter.

Heat some oil in a frying pan. I use our own home produced olive oil.

Spoon in the zucchine batter. I add about 2-3 tablespoons mixture for each one, but you can make them smaller.

Fry until a golden colour turning when cooked on the bottom.

I usually turn a couple of times until cooked.

Take out and drain on some kitchen paper.

Ready to eat! I found it difficult to prevent my husband from eating them all before I took a photo!

This is wild origano (oregano in English)  which my DH gathered. Isn't it pretty?

We dry it to use for pizza and many other recipes!

By the way I would love to hear from you if you try this recipe!