Cacio e Pepe
Fave & Pecorino Romano
Fave & Pancetta
Vegetable Gratin
Wholewheat Bread
Mixed Fruit Galette
Before we got started we had a coffee, a chat and this delicious cake...
BETTY’S FAMOUS CRUMB CAKE
Oven temp: 180 C °
Thelma didn’t know the origin of this recipe; it was served to her by her sister who had gotten the recipe from their friend Betty, which gave the cake its name.
The original recipe calls for shortening in the batter and margarine in the crumbs, but we used butter.
Crumb Topping:
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
8 oz butter
1 ½ cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp. cinnamon
Combine all dry ingredients, work in butter with hands to make coarse crumbs. Crumble over batter and bake.
Cake:
½ cup butter
1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs
2 ½ cups flour
¼ tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk + 1 tsp. vanilla
Mix dry ingredients.
Cream butter, slowly add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beat well after each addition.
Alternately add flour & milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
Pour batter into lightly greased and floured 9 inch pans.
Laura and Cheryl get in the mood for cooking by checking out recipes in La Cucina Italiana, and Laura gathers some herbs for her vegetable gratin...
As May is the season for fava beans two of today's dishes used these beans: Fave e Pecorino and Fave & Pancetta.
Fave e Pecorino are traditionally served May 1st in the Roman countryside. Friends and family sit around the table with a big basket of fresh fava beans and a chunk of Pecorino Romano and enjoy the magical combination of the two flavors together...
Fave & Pancetta
Once peeled fava beans are almost like butter. This is a simple, but delicious dish to be enjoyed when fava beans are in season.
1 kg Fava Beans, removed from pods and peeled
100 grams cubed pancetta
30 ml olive oil
Salt to taste
Saute' the pancetta in the olive oil until just crisp, add the fava beans and cook until tender.
Salt to taste and serve.
Spaghetti Cacio E Pepe
1 kilogram spaghetti
200 grams grated pecorino cheese
1 tsp. (or to taste) freshly grated pepper
Reserved cooking water from pasta
Boil spaghetti in salted water until "al dente". Drain and place in a warm serving dish. Add the cheese, pepper and then just enough of the reserved pasta water to yield a creamy sauce.
Serve immediately.
WHOLEWHEAT BREAD RECIPE
250 g of white bread flour (00)
250 g of any wholewheat flour (rice, kamut, spelt, rye, rice, oat, buckwheat) or a mix thereof
A handful of seeds (sunflower, sesame, linseed, poppy)
2 tbsp of oil or butter
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 cube of fresh yeast, or 1 sachet of instant yeast (lievito di birra)
250 ml total of tepid liquid (made up with water and milk/souring milk, or water and runny yoghurt)
Optional: a handful of oat flakes or barley, coarse salt
1 beaten egg or milk for glazing
Preheat oven to 180C.
If you use fresh yeast, follow the packet instructions first, allowing the yeast to develop in tepid water before adding it to the other ingredients. Otherwise, mix up all the ingredients in the food processor. Make sure the water is tepid, as this will promote the yeast developing.
You may need to add a little flour or water to get the right dough consistency.
Leave the ball of dough about 30 min to rise in an oiled bowl, covered with cling film or a damp cloth. It should rise to about double the size.
Knead dough for about 10 minutes more and create the form of bread you wish to bake (round/breadsticks/braided)
Leave to rise again covered with a damp cloth for another 25 min until 1.5 times its size.
Before putting the bread into the oven, you can glaze the top with beaten egg or with milk. You can also sprinkle coarse salt or seeds on the top.
Bake bread for about 20 min.
When you take it out, check that a skewer inserted comes out clean. If you tap the bread on the side/bottom, it should make a hollow noise.
Leave to cool.
Or consume a slice while it’s still warm. With melted butter on it?...
MIXED BERRY GALETTE
This recipe is adapted from Fine Cooking magazine, Aug. 2005 issue.
Galettes, especially with summer fruits, are beautiful and rustic. Their free form shape makes them charming to look at. Serve them directly from a wooden cutting board, adding to the rusticity. A great combination is nectarines or peaches with blueberries; beautiful to look at and a great flavor combination. Sliced almonds might also be nice. Best of all, you don’t even have to wash a pie pan!
For the dough:
1 ½ c. all purpose flour (180 grams)
2 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
11 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter (150 grams)
1 large egg yolk
45 ml whole milk
For the filling:
4 c. blueberries (A mixture of strawberries, pears, and kiwi….or other fruit)
25 grams sugar
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp. all purpose flour (or cornstarch)
Pinch of salt
1 large egg, beaten
2 Tbsp. coarse sugar
Preheat oven to 350.
Dough:
Combine flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter which has been cut into cubes. Mix until like pebbles. Can use the food processor for the dough.
In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk and milk together. Pour into the flour mixture.
Mix just until the dough comes together.
Dump dough out onto clean counter. Work with heel of hand, pushing away a few times, and gathering it up with a bench scraper until pliable.
Shape into disk. Wrap in clingfilm, and refrigerate for 20 min.(or up to 4 days) before rolling.
Line a heavy duty rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove dough from fridge, roll out on floured surface to about 13-14 inch ragged circle.
Transfer dough circle to parchment baking sheet and refrigerate while making filling.
Filling:
Prep whatever fruit you are using by peeling and slicing into a bowl.
Toss fruit with sugar.
Add lemon zest, honey, flour (or cornstarch) and salt.
Use spatula to mix carefully, to not break up fruit.
Remove dough from fridge. If it’s too stiff to fold edges without cracking, let it come to room temp for about 5 min.
Heap fruit in the center of the dough circle, leaving about 2 inches of edge free.
Fold the edges of the dough over the fruit to create a rim about 2 inches wide, pleating as you go.
Use a pastry brush to brush the pleated edges with the beaten egg.
Sprinkle coarse sugar over the whole thing; dough, and fruity center.
Bake tart until pleats of dough are completely golden brown, about 55 minutes. It’s okay if some juices escape, hence the importance of the rimmed baking sheet. Transfer to a rack to cool. Can be baked up to 6 hours ahead of serving. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.
A little wine with lunch...
