Food for thoughts #4

Stuffed Turkey with stewed cabbage in orange juice. 

Serotonin controls our emotions and motor skills. It’s the mood-stabilizing chemical that helps with sleep, eating, digesting. Serotonin is made from the essential amino acid tryptophan. An essential compound (amino acids, fatty acids, etc…) is something that must enter your body through the diet.
Being the precursor of serotonin and melatonin makes tryptophan extremely important to our mood and sleep cycle.

Eating a healthy diet which contains this amino acid may help support our mental health, so it is something we should all consider during these delicate times.

Tryptophan is found in red meat, dairy, nuts, seeds, bananas and turkey — and turkey is our special ingredient for this week’s recipe! We picked this type of meat instead of other animal proteins as we though not many people know the health-promoting benefits of turkey. This poultry has a higher protein content than beef, for example (34g instead of 26g per 100g) and half its saturated fat, plus it is packed with B vitamins and minerals.

In these roasted turkey rolls we also added spinach, pistachios and cabbage as we wanted to use more of those ingredients that can optimise the gut-brain health. Folate, B6 and magnesium found in the foods above are fundamental for both the digestive and nervous system.

To cook this recipe you will need a oven tray, baking paper, cling film, a rolling pin and some cook’s string.

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003198/full
https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/68692

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Prep Time: 15 minutes 

Cook Time: about 2 hours

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

1 turkey breast (about 250g)

FILLING

100g spinach 

a bunch of thyme

30g onions (finely chopped)

2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)

5ml oil 

15g crushed pistachios

salt

COATING

20g ground pistachios

20g chopped pistachios

1 egg

3g salt

CABBAGE

olive oil 

170g cabbage 

50ml orange juice

a pinch of salt

INSTRUCTIONS

For the filling. In a small pan heat up 5ml of oil and cook the onions and garlic with the thyme for about 5 minutes or until translucent. When it is ready, set aside to cool down and discard the thyme sticks. 

Cut the Turkey breast cutting with a sharp knife in the middle to open it into two layers. Then place it in between two cling film sheets. Flatten it out with a rolling pin. 

Now place the spinach leaves in a double layer on top of the turkey. Spoon the filling on the top. Roll it into itself to form a cylinder shape. With the help of the cling film. Discard the cling film and hold the roll in place by using the cook's string.

Place it in the fridge to rest for about 1 hour. 

Brush some egg yolk on the top. Coat with the pistachio mix. 

Preheat the oven to 150 ºC 

Place a bit of parchment paper on a baking tray and cook the turkey roll for about 2hours. I advise using a thermometer to check the internal temperature, you are looking for 70 ºC.

While it is cooking you can prepare the cabbage. Cut it into thin stripes and discard the hardest parts. 

Cook in a pan with a tiny bit of boiling water for about 10-15minutes. Drain the water, season to taste and squeeze half an orange on the top before serving.

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About us

Giulia Rocca, is a registered Nutritional Therapist, the founder of Cromo Nutrition.
She has always been very passionate about food and plants; this is probably inherited from her grandfather, who used to teach her how to cook Italian recipes, plant tiny seeds and grow lemon trees in their garden. Her biggest interests are digestive problems, skin conditions, immunity and cognitive health, but she is very happy to listen and help people with any sort of health concerns.

Jennifer Cauli is a professional photographer and writer based in London. She is specialising in food and travel topics. She has worked with restaurants and food businesses around the world. Several of her images and stories have been successfully published with Culture Trip, Suitcase Magazine, Great British Chefs and many others. A few of her images made it into the shortlisted for The Pink Lady Food Photographer of The Year, International Siena Photo Festival and Women Behind The Lens.

Food for thoughts #3

Spinach cakes

This is a super easy recipe for a quick lunch or even for breakfast. You must know how to make a good spinach omelette or frittata by now. This is a healthier version as we cooked them in the oven instead of frying them and we added a bit of salted ricotta for a richer taste. 

You will need a few cupcake tins to bake the small cakes . We used silicone baking cups cause it is the easiest solution to take the small cakes out once they are cooked. If you use some metal ones I advise you coat them with butter and dust the inside with flour to avoid them sticking to the surface. 

For the props styling I decided to play with lines and patterns. It reminded me of the intricacy of the human brain or how I like to imagine it, as a thick weave of connections.

After a short journey to my local props house, Backgrounds prop hire I found what I was looking for!

We all started this new series with the idea of creating some recipes to boost your mental health. If you have been following us you must know that my blog partner Giulia is an professional nutritionist and she will tell us a bit more about why we choose to cook this recipe. Check below:

“On our last post we talked about the important connection between gut health and mental health. The intestine and the brain communicate with impulses via nerves and chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) such as serotonin and GABA. This last neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid has the function to inhibit/block certain signals in our brain and reduce activity in our nervous system. Therefore, GABA and GABA deficiency are linked to symptoms like stress, anxiety, insomnia, ADHD… but also Parkinson’s disease and seizures.
There are not many foods that contain GABA —the only ones are fermented foods, in fact we added apple cider vinegar to our side salad— however, some vitamins such as vitamin B6 are required co-factors for GABA synthesis. Foods rich in B6 are first of all spinach (together with cabbage, broccoli, garlic, peppers, bananas…), so we decided to cook one of the most famous Italian recipes with spinach — frittata (di spinaci).
Spinach is also high in folate and mineral magnesium which both have been seen to be essential for optimal mental health. “

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Spinach cakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time:  40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

4 medium eggs (about 60g each)

100g spinach

70g leeks

60g salted sheep's ricotta

5ml olive oil

black pepper

SALAD

5 radish

300g Mixed salad leaves

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

a pinch of salt

a twist of black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1 Preheat oven to 170 ºC

2 In a small bowl beat the eggs

3 Grate the ricotta into the egg mixture

4 Sauté the leeks and spinach in a small pan with olive oil until tender (2-3 min)

5 Pour the content into the cupcake tins

6 Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes

7 For the salad: wash the radish, discard the leaves and slice thinly.

8 Mix all the ingredients together into a salad bowl

9 Once the cakes are ready you can plate them with a bit of salad on the side.

Food for thoughts #2

Conta-bollita soup (a combination between Ribollita and Contadina soup )

Giulia and I started with the idea of a Ribollita, a thick vegetarian soup from Tuscany dated as far back as medieval times. Ribollita literally means re-boiled — noble family's servants used to reheat the left-over food with the addition of bread. The bread would soak in all the delicious flavours.

But since we thought some of you might not want to eat bread, the recipe would no longer be a genuine ribollita but more of a contadina soup. They are both very similar as they both contain lots of beans but the contadina doesn't have any bread.
So this recipe is sort of like a hybrid between two regional Italian recipes that we renamed Conta-bollita. It is a very comforting dish, perfect for cold wintery days. It would make a great addition to your diet as it is a very healthy one.

It needs a bit of advance preparation as the beans need to soak overnight or for at least 24 hours.

It takes a fair amount of time to make this soup so I recommend doing a large amount and freeze the rest if you wish.

Foods that are full of fibre and contain a wide variety of vegetables can have a fantastic impact on our gut health, and therefore on our mental health. Recent studies have brought to light the synergistic and important connection that exist between gut and brain. Our digestive system and our brain interact both physically and biochemically in a number of different ways.

The vagus nerve, for example, a long nerve which connects the intestine (and other organs) to the brain, sends signals in both directions. Therefore if you are stressed you may not digest very well, and if your stomach did not agree with certain foods, your concentration may not be as good as normal.

Gut and brain also communicate with neurotransmitter, chemical messengers produced mainly in the brain which control feelings and emotions. Our gut, though, also produces certain neurotransmitters like serotonin (which works by making us feel happy), and our gut microflora can produce a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which helps control feelings of fear and anxiety.
This show us how connected the health of our digestive and nervous system is —no wonder that “adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with better mental and physical health”

In order to promote our mind well-being even further, for this recipe we added black beans to the mix of pulse are traditionally use in the recipe since black beans are one of the top foods for folate, and “Folate deficiency and low folate status have been linked in clinic studies to depression, persistent depressive symptoms, and poor antidepressant response.”

When changing the recipe we also made sure the soup was going to have a good amount of leaf vegetables which are packed with calcium, vitamin K and magnesium, essential for energy production, heart and brain health.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4367209/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4393509/
https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/68692
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2382.short
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-019-01943-4
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/adherence-to-the-mediterranean-diet-is-associated-with-better-mental-and-physical-health/0C91627A98D6ABB078EFBA47B0573EC8
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/mediterranean-diet-and-depression/67F265CA11470ADC1C9AD2838B7340B7

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Prep Time: 25 minutes + 

10 hrs to soak the beans overnight 

Cook Time: 1h 45 minutes

Serves 6 people

INGREDIENTS

80g dried green lentils

150g dried cannellini beans

150g dried black beans

2 garlic cloves

20ml olive oil 

1 rosemary stick

1.5l water

salt

pepper

olive oil 5 ml

70g onion

2 chillies 

70g carrots 

1 celery stick

120g potatoes

250g savoy cabbage

250g kale

250g swiss cabbage

200g tinned plum tomatoes

black pepper

1-2 tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1 Start by soaking the beans overnight. If you don't have time or you want to speed up the procedure you can just buy precooked canned beans.

2 To prepare our conta-bollita you must cook the beans first as they take a fair amount of time. In a large deep pan heat up the olive oil with the rosemary and garlic for about 2 minutes. Drain the beans and pour them in. Cover with 1.5l of boiling water and cook for about 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper.

3 Take out the rosemary stick. Then blend in half of the beans in a mixer and pour it back into the pot. 

4 Now prep your veggies. 

5 Peel the onion and chop it finely. 

6 Remove the strings from the celery sticks and chop them finely. 

7 Peel the carrots and cut them into small cubes of about 1/3 inch. 

8 Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes of about 1 inch.

9 Chop the chillies finely, taking care to remove the seeds if you don't want the soup to be too spicy. 

10 In a small pot heat up the olive oil and cook the onion, celery, carrots and chilli for about 5 minutes. 

11 Wash the savoy cabbage, kale and Swiss cabbage. Then remove the middle stems from the hardest leaves, and roughly chop them into large pieces of about 2”

12 Now add in the potatoes followed by the tomato sauce and cook for about 10 minutes. 

13 Pour in all the content into the larger pot with the bean soup previously made . 

14 Add the lentils, cabbage, Swiss chard and kale leaves. Bring the soup to the boil and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes. 

15 Season with salt and pepper.

16 Taste and serve with bread if you wish. 

I like to eat mine like the original ribollita with a lot of bread soaking all the delicious soup.  

Enjoy!"

The Sardinian Kitchen

Orange zest candies - Aranzada

Today I want to share with you the recipe for Aranzada, a typical dessert from Sardinia, my region in Italy.

I come from a tiny village in the East coast of Sardinia that is famous for its oranges, generally the second week of April there is the famous “Oranges festival”. I took some images a long time ago during the event, if you love citrus fruits and you want to know more click Here.

Oranges are in season right now, so I thought to take this opportunity to make these zingy sweet bites made from orange peel, honey and almonds. For the orange zest to lose its bitterness, you need a bit of advance preparation. You must soak the skins one day before or to achieve best results, a few days in advance. 

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Makes 8 aranzadas

Preparation time: 10minutes + a few days soaking

Cooking time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

50g unwaxed orange peel
(around 6 oranges)

40g peeled almonds

15g caster sugar

60g honey

INSTRUCTIONS

First thing with a potato peeler peel the oranges making sure you will remove the white pith.

Thinly cut the peel into strips, mine were about 3mm wide and 5mm long.  Allow them to soak in warm water overnight or for a few days for best result.

Change the water at least twice a day. 

Drain the orange peel and pat dry them. 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Roughly chops the almonds into even-sized pieces. Spread them on a baking tray and toast them in the oven for  5 minutes.

In a large pot heat up the sugar and honey. Keep stirring until it is brown and it coats the back of a spoon. When it reaches a slightly stringy and sticky consistency it is ready. Pour in the orange zest and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in the almonds as well and quickly spoon it into small cake cases. You’ve got to be as fast as you can to avoid the mixture from cooling down completely and becoming rock hard.

Healthy January 0.3

Sourdough wholemeal focaccia with onions and radicchio

Like many, I have been playing with sourdough since the beginning of the first lockdown in England. It kept me busy as it is like a pet to care for. Anthony Bourdain in his book Kitchen Confidential mentioned several chefs giving names to their starter. One of his colleagues used to call it the B****

Have you given a name to yours yet?  

This recipe is sort of an adaptation of a regional recipe from my area in Sardinia, Pratzira with onions (Onions focaccia). Pratzira comes in different flavours and shapes, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms and so on. 

I absolutely love the onions version with its sweet taste and slippery texture. Add some tasty radicchio leaves and you are in for a treat!  

If you do not know how to make natural yeast, there are many resources online bit I will share the recipe with you in the near future.  Check this space.

A bit about nutrition…

When I consulted my blog partner Giulia about this recipe for our healthy January. She said “Ok, we are halfway through our detox month and, therefore, we can allow ourselves to cook something scrumptious and slightly higher in carbs than our previous recipes. “

The star of these focaccine, though, are the veggies — radicchio and onions. The purple-and-white type of leaf vegetable can be eaten raw, mixed in into salads and contorno, but it is AMAZING also if cooked. Radicchio, also known as Italian Chicory is packed with plant compounds —especially in its red part— which act as antioxidants on free-radicals and can improve circulation.
Onions have been seen in research to have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties, to act as a prebiotic on our gut flora, and to be able to balance the immune system and improve heart health.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924224407002282
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2011.646364

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Prep Time: 45 minutes + 

leavening time about 14 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 15 hours 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

DOUGH

210g strong wholemeal flour 

150ml water

10ml olive oil

5g salt

70g sourdough starter 

360g white onion

170g radicchio

60ml olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

First thing you will need to activate your sourdough starter by feeding it on the night before using it. 

The second step is often called by the experts as “autolyse”. 

In a small bowl, mix the water, wholemeal flour, and oil. Cover the bowl with a cloth and set aside for 1 hour. This is to allow the enzymes in the flour to activate.

Then add in the natural yeast and knead for 5 minutes to form a smooth dough. Now add in the salt and knead for another 2 minutes. 

Let it rest for 8-12 hours or until it is doubled in size. This time can vary significantly depending on the temperature in your kitchen and of your ingredients, and how active is your starter. 

A generall tip is to check the consistency of the dough, it should be bouncy and light.

Slice your onions into thin rings. Then cook them in a pan with 30ml of olive oil for about 10 minutes or until translucent. 

Stir constantly to avoid burning them. 

Let the onions cool down. Keep some aside, you will need these to decorate your focaccine. Then gently incorporate the rest into your dough, folding the edges of the dough on top of it a couple of times.

Put the dough onto a floured surface and portion it into 8. Then shape each one into a small ball, tucking the sides in with your hands. Dust some flour all around and on the top of each ball rubbing it genlty with your hands. Cover them with a cloth and let them raise again for about one and a half hours.

Preheat the oven to 220 ºC

Now place each ball into a greased baking tray and flatten each one using your finger tips. Pressing genlty and avoiding knocking out all the air. 

Cut the radicchio into small wedges to fit into your focaccine. Place some of the radicchio leaves on the top of each focaccina. 

Bake for 10 minutes. Then drizzle the remaining olive oil on the top and cook for further 10 minutes or until is gold. 



Healthy January 0.2

Artichokes in olive oil and parsley dressing

My obsession with artichokes goes as far as trying to smuggle two small plants with pot and soil in my suitcase from Sardinia to grow them in London. They arrived safely but suffered a few injuries on the way. 

Sadly I also failed in my attempt to grow them in London, all of them died after one month of incessant rain.

The Sardinian variety is with spikes, which I found difficult to find in the UK. I have just recently seen that the brand Natoora sells them online. (This post is not sponsorised)

Some time ago I visited the Blue zone of Sardinia, an area with a high longevity rate among the inhabitants, and speaking with some of the oldest inhabitants it seems that many like to eat artichokes. So I consulted my blog partner Giulia, to know more about these delicious vegetables from the nutritional point of view. 

“Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus is without any doubt one of our favourite flowers from the Mediterranean region, the area where Italy is located and where Jennifer and I come from.
Artichoke is an edible thistle (a flowering plant) and it is absolutely delicious —you can’t blame us for loving it so much!

When cooked artichoke has a succulent meaty pulp and a sweet and nutty taste. You can also eat it raw —mainly the inner part known as the heart— but the consistency is definitely more fibrous and the taste is bitter.
This chubby green thistle is also packed with nutrients and health-promoting benefits. Artichokes are low in fat and rich in fibre which make them a great food for our digestive system and our heart health. They also contain a good amount of antioxidants, vitamin C, K and folate, and important minerals, such as magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and iron.

Medical research has found that this plant, which has been used for centuries for its benefits, may help balance cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Another great reason to consume artichoke as both a vegetable or an extract is the protective and stimulating effects it may have on our liver and gut health. The fact that this plant is also so high in fibre —especially a soluble fibre called inulin— makes it a prebiotic food, which can help improving the intestinal flora.

As we don’t waste anything in Jenny’s kitchen while we prepare our recipes, we used those inedible leaves we removed from the artichokes before cooking to make a tea. This tea has a bittersweet taste and it is a great drink to stimulate digestion and liver health. “

This recipe is great served as a starter to complement a cheese or cured meats board or even as a side dish.

This is the best season for Artichokes so make sure you don’t miss them!

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30308247/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22435514/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26310198/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29520889/

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Recipe

Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes 

Cooking time: 35 minutes 

INGREDIENTS

8 artichokes

1 lemon

1 tsp salt 

50ml white wine vinegar

1l water

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

a handful of fresh parsley

INSTRUCTIONS

Artichokes oxidise when cut, therefore rub some lemon juice into your hands before touching them. 

To prepare the artichokes remove about some of the harder outer leaves until you are left with the softer ones. Cut most of the stalk, leaving about 1 cm. Trim the stalk into a point and chop about 2-3 cm off the tips of the leaves.

Slice them in a half and then cut the so called “beard“ just below the leaves. 

Place the artichokes in a large bowl with water and the juice of two lemons (this will prevent them from turning black).

In a large pan bring the vinegar and water and 1 tsp of salt to the boil. Add the artichokes and let them simmer for about 30 minutes. 

Leave to cool down into their own liquid.

Now we will prepare our dressing. Finely chop the parsley. In a small bowl pour in the olive oil and spoon in your parsley.

Pat-dry your artichokes with a table cloth and pour some of the parsley oil previously made on the top. 

You can add a squeeze of lemon juice for extra sharpness if you prefer.

Healthy January 0.1

Italian-style Zucchetti with lentil 'meatballs'

After a well deserved break I am back with a new series of images and recipes Giulia and I created for January.

I am aiming to post one recipe a week every Friday.

This months theme is Detox. As we know January is for many “Veganuary”, for others “Dry January”. I have never been a great fan of these trends, because it is like saying that you can feel at peace with yourself by being a good person only for 30 days, when you have been bad all year round.

I think we should try to do be moderate most of the times, but I understand many of us have been naughty throughout Christmas and NYE and we are desperately trying to recover the damage done both to ourselves and the environment.

So for these reasons we created some fun recipes to give a break to your body, eat something nice and tackle climate change at the same time.

For this recipe we played on the concept of spaghetti meatballs but using lentils ‘meatballs’ and spiralised courgettes instead of spaghetti.

You will need a spiraliser for this recipe to make your courgettes look like spaghetti.

Giulia is an expert nutritionist and she gave me some insight about the ingredients used here.

“Some great plant-based foods that are rich in proteins are nuts & seeds (pumpkin seeds, hemp, linen seeds, etc… almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios…) and legumes such as beans and lentils, but also eating whole grains can help you reaching your daily protein intake which is 0.8g per kilogram of body weight.

We prepared these lentil polpette (balls) with tomato sauce and zucchetti (zucchini spaghetti) as we wanted to show how easy it is to cook vegan and still use some of those comforting flavours which remind us of home.
Lentils can be a great alternative to meat. They are definitely high in protein, containing about 9g of protein per 100g, and they are also rich in fibre which make them a good food for our digestion and blood-sugar balance.

Courgette spaghetti instead of regular wheat spaghetti for reducing refined carb consumption as well, on top of increase fibre intake.”

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Prep Time: 40 minutes 

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes 

Serves 2 people

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INGREDIENTS

FOR THE LENTIL BALLS (32-35 balls)

1 garlic clove

1/2 tsp paprika

1 shallot

1 tsp oregano

80g potato

100g dry lentils

2g salt

one twist of black pepper

a handful of parsley

50g oat flour

TOMATO SAUCE

1 tbs olive oil

1/2 onion (45g)

1 garlic clove

1 red chilli

3g salt

400g tinned chopped tomatoes 

2 small courgettes spiralised

INSTRUCTIONS

Soak the lentils in water for about 1-2 hours.

Fill a pan with water and bring to a boil. Cook lentils for about 30minutes or until they are soft. 

For better results taste your lentils to check when they are ready.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into  small cubes. In a separate pan cook the potatoes previously cut in boiling water for about 25 minutes. 

Now in a food processor blend in the lentils to form a smooth cream, then mash your potatoes and incorporate them into the mix together with the rest of the ingredients. 

Using your hands shape the mix into balls of about 3cm diameter. Then roll the balls into the oat flour to form a coating.   

Arrange the lentil balls in a large tray previously covered with baking paper.  

Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes or until they fully cooked and crunchy on the outside.

To make the tomato sauce, finely chop the onion and the chili and slice the garlic in a half. 

Take a small pan to cook these ingredients together in olive oil for about 3-4 minutes. 

Then pour in the tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Season to taste. 

Then lightly blanch your spiralised zucchini in boiling water for 30-60 seconds.

Now you can assemble the plate with all your ingredients.

We hope you will enjoy it!

Gubana

Who doesn’t like cakes? Well, Giulia and I like them a lot! Cakes are obviously not the healthiest foods of all, but, “as a nutritionist, I believe a balanced diet should also include some cheat foods every now and then… and —let’s be honest— Christmas is all about cheat foods!” said Giulia

Our choice for this Christmas was Gubana cake from Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in the North-East of Italy. Bordering with Slovenia and Croatia, it is not that surprising that this cake has a lot in common with cakes from these countries.

In order to make a dessert less “bad for you” from a nutritional perspective you can easily cut down on the amount of sugar you put into it — usually, if I’m baking for a party, I use 1/3 less sugar compare to original recipes; and 1/2 less sugar (I also use honey) if the cake/biscuits I’m making are for my household. This is a quick effective suggestion that can make a massive impact on your health if you eat sweet foods regularly.

Also, to slow down the absorption of sugars from your digestive tract, adding fibre to your cake is a very smart move!
Fresh or dried fruit and nuts such as almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts and pine nuts are a great source of fibre! And this is what we did, we researched and picked a traditional Italian dessert that would have a good amount of nuts and raisins in the recipe.

Nuts also contain a number of vitamin and minerals such as phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, vitamin E and K, so don’t be afraid of adding them to your Christmassy cake!



Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30-40 minutes

Total Time: 1.30 minutes 

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE DOUGH

350 g strong bread flour

150 ml  milk

80 g sugar

10g instant yeast

1 medium egg

70g butter, melted

Finely grated zest of one lemon

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped of seeds

FOR THE FILLING

150 grams raisins

70 ml marsala wine

20 ml honey

40 g peeled almonds

40 g walnuts

30 g hazelnuts

20 g pinenuts

10 g butter

1 lemon zest

2g ground cinnamon

1 egg yolk for brushing 

INSTRUCTIONS

To start soak the raisins in the marsala wine and set aside. 

For the dough bring the butter outside the fridge to soften. Then in a large bowl or a mixer, if you have one, combine all the dry ingredients together except the salt. Add the egg and the butter, and keep mixing with your hands until everything is well incorporated. Pour in the milk a little at the time and keep kneading until you reach the right consistency. The dough should be smooth, firm but soft and elastic. 

Cover the bowl with a cloth and set aside to rise in a warm place. 

For the filling preheat the oven to 150 ºC and roast the almonds for 10minutes or until they become lightly coloured.

Blend the raisins in a food processor with the marsala wine, lemon zest, honey, sugar and ground cinnamon. 

On a chopping board, crush the nuts lightly and add them to the filling mix.

Take a circular baking tray of about 18cm in diameter. Spread a little bit of butter all around the inside with your hands and lightly dust some flour with a fine sieve. This is to avoid the dough from sticking into the tin while cooking. A good trick I discovered some time ago is to use rice flour instead of wheat flour.

Now scatter some flour on a large flat surface where you will roll the dough with a rolling pin. The aim is to create a rectangular shape. Our rectangle was about a 48x25cm and about 4mm thick. With a knife or spatula spread the filling over the dough, leaving a small border all around. 

Roll the dough up along the longest edge, you will obtain a long cylinder. 

Then roll the cylinder around itself into a spiral shape and place in the baking tray. 

Let rise in a warm place for about 2-3 hours or until it is doubled in size.

Brush with an egg yolk over the top and bake at 180 ºC for 30-40 min.

To check if the cake is ready, I suggest using a long skewer to poke the cake. If it comes out clean then it means your cake is ready. 

The Sardinian Kitchen

Fregola with clams

I am really excited to post my second recipe from “The Sardinian Kitchen” series that I have recently created and tested for you.

When I think about food for celebration from home, I think about seafood. Now more than ever as it is not that easy to find good fresh seafood and also so expensive in London. So eating clams is really a treat reserved to special occasions.

Make sure you place the clams in a bowl with water as soon as you can. This will allow the clams to open and clean from any sand they might have.

Fregola is a special type of Sardinian pasta made with semolina flour and water. You can buy it online or if you have a deli near you then they might have it. If you want to prepare everything from scratch then follow my previous recipe for Fregola.

Feel free to write if you have any questions or to let me know how you get on!

INGREDIENTS

500g fresh clams

20ml olive oil

1 garlic clove

10g parsley

1 chilli

100ml white wine

400g plum peeled tomatoes

1 tsp salt

150g fregola

A bunch of fresh parsley to serve.

INSTRUCTIONS

The first thing to do as soon as you buy the clams, is to place them in water for a couple of hours. This is done to help the clams release all the sand. Also if there are any open clams, lightly tap them to the side of the sink. If they do not close, discard them.

Now peel the garlic clove and chop it really finely. Slice the parsley in a half along the long side. If you are not a big fan of spicy food, remove it from the recipe.

In a large pan heat up the oil with the garlic, parsley and chilli for 2 minutes. In the meantime, drain the clams and rinse them under the tap.

Add them into the pan. Bring the flames to a medium heat and place the lid on.

Shake the pan a few times to help the clams to open. Mine started to open after just 4 minutes and were all open within 6 minutes.

If you find any stubborn clams that do not want to open, then wait an extra minute for them to open. Avoid opening them with a knife but just discard them instead if they stay closed.

Now add in the white wine and wait for it to be completely evaporated.

Add in the fregola and 200ml of boiling water.

Cook for 5 minutes then add in the tomato sauce and season to taste.

My advice is to follow the instructions on the package to have a rough idea of the cooking times of your fregola. Although as timings on packages are not always accurate, by tasting it you will make sure that it is perfectly cooked. Mine was ready in about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle some fresh parsley on the top before serving.

Buon appetito!

Tortellini in brodo

On Christmas Day many Italian families will start their lunch with a “light” primo piatto. Tortellini (cappelletti, agnolotti…) are a common example of festive primo. They essentially are fresh pasta ravioli stuffed with a meat-base filling and served in a beef or chicken broth. But tortellini aren’t ‘tortellini’ in all areas of the Boot, they rather have different names and slightly different ripieno (filling) according to the city where they are made.
For our “healthier” Christmas menu, Giulia and I used the traditional recipe from Bologna which has a filling of meat, Parma ham, Parmesan cheese, etc… We only made two small changes to this filling while keeping its traditional flavour pretty much intact — we basically reduced the amount of cured meat used, and added a hint of fibre by adding sautéed Belgian endive.
As you may know, cured meat such as ham and sausage contains a number of preservatives which are not beneficial to our body. On the other hand, the fibre found in fruit and vegetable improves our digestion and helps us feeling fuller.

The main variation to this recipe, was to use beef bone broth instead of regular broth. This slow cooked food has an ancient tradition in our cuisine. Bone broth has also gained more and more visibility in the health industry over the past years due to its numerous properties, so Jennifer and I agreed to serve our tortellini with bone broth.
Drinking bone broth regularly can have a positive impact on our digestive system, skin appearance and joints health — the long cooking process of the bones releases collagen and amino acids such as glycine or arginine into the liquid, making bone broth a cheap and nutritious anti-inflammatory food.

The procedure is quite long although it is not too difficult. It is one of those recipes that brings families together to share the arduous task of preparing a large quantity of small tortellini. 

The recipe can be easily converted into a vegetarian one, just by changing the filling to a ricotta and spinach and using a vegetable broth instead of a bone broth. 

They can  be stored for months in the freezer easily. 

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Prep Time: 3 hours

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 3h 20 minutes 

Serves 4 (about 120 tortellini)

INGREDIENTS

2L BONE BROTH

750g Beef bones

1 Onion

1tbs apple cider vinegar

2 celery sticks

2 Carrots 

a bunch of rosemary

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

3 liters water

FOR THE PASTA DOUGH

110g 00 flour

1 egg (50g)

2g salt

TORTELLINI FILLING

20g butter 

1/2 onion, finely chopped (70g)

50g minced beef

50g minced pork

40g Parma ham

40g Belgian endive, finely chopped

20g grated parmesan

a sprinkle of nutmeg

1tsp salt

2 twists ground pepper

1litre bone broth

INSTRUCTIONS

For the broth. Start by washing all the vegetables, then cut the onions in a half and peel the carrots.

Place all the ingredients in a large pot covered with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 hours. The broth can be stored in the fridge for 5 days or in the freezer for 3-4 months.For the pasta dough place the flour in a large bowl put the flour into a  mound. Make a hole in the middle and  into it put in the saffron, water and salt. Mix it all together vigorously with your hands for about 7-8 minutes and knead until it forms a dough. 

Put it into a container, cover with cling film and let it rest for about 30 minutes. 

For the filling, start by melting the butter in a pan, add in the finely chopped onion, then add in your minced beef and minced pork. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until it is fully cooked or lightly coloured. Spoon in the finely chopped chicory and cooked for 1 minute further. Sprinkle some nutmeg, black pepper and salt.

Now add in the grated parmesan and grind everything in a food processor until you obtain a smooth cream. Cut the Parma ham into really small pieces  and add in to the mix. Blend everything together one more time. 

Now start the preparation for the tortellini. 

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pasta dough with a pasta machine.

Split the dough into four equal parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll each one through a pasta machine, beginning on the thickest setting and working your way down to the thinnest.

If you don’t have a pasta machine, you can use a rolling pin to roll the dough as thin
as possible. 

With a pasta cutter, cut squares of approximately 5cm side. 

Place about half a tsp of filling in the centre of each square. 

Fold each square in a half to form a triangle. Press the edges firmly.

Mix the remaining egg yolk with some water. Brush each dough circle with this egg wash.

Fill each circle with a teaspoon of the ricotta filling.

Fold each circle into a semicircle, press the edges of the semicircle firmly. Refine the edges with a pasta cutter again to make the tortellini triangles all of the same size. 

Now, bring the pointed ends together and press firmly to close them into a ring.

Set aside on a plate previously dusted with flour. Avoid stacking them all one above the other cause they might stick together. 

In a pan bring the broth to a boil again and cook the tortellini in the broth. They are ready when they start to float.