Liquorice and Beetroot Babka / Babka alla barbabietola e liquirizia

For those who know me well this recipe does not come as a surprise… you know ho much I love beetroot and licorice don’t you? I tried this babka for breakfast and it is simply delicious, pillowy soft and just slightly sweet, want a slice? Well, roll up your sleeves and get started baking!

MTChallenge: Terrine!

Another month, another challenge. Welcome back to the monthly appointment with the MTChallenge. The last challenge was won by Giuliana, our vintage hen which is quite passionate with terrines.I must confess. Terrines scare me, they always did. I don’t like them. Blame it on the gelatin, which remind me of culinary horrors of the 70s which can be found on many pages of my mum’s culinary scrap books. I always considered terrines a too playful and poor of substance dish (forgive me Giuliana!). But MTC is MTC, one simply can’t escape from it. As a matter of fact, the more a subject is far from what I like the most, the more stress it generates and the more excited I feel. More or less. The roughest British sides of me started saying “No cold jellies… can’t you see you finally have the chance to try and bake your own pork pie? You don’t want to lose this opportunity do you?”. HI must come out of the pie closet and my beloved Van Pelt will be shocked, she will… I’ve never ever baked a pork pie in my whole life. I needed MTC to finally bake one! I have to be honest. I had many ideas mainly involving apples, oranges, beetroot and liquorice. Then I had a fennel, lying on its own in my fridge, and decided to flavour the broth with spices and the pig with herbs. No overthinking and simply following my gut.

Furesta Nera Cake (or my version of Black Forest Cake) / Furesta nera (o anche la Foresta nera a modo mio)

 

Antinea is a special person. We’ve known each other for little over a year but it is as if it were a life time that we have been friends. It was a mutual friend who introduced her to me. With the impending 35th birthday I thought it would be good for me to start some kind of physical activity to keep fit. Amongst the various options the most popular for women in their thirties seemed to be pilates and talking to Marko it came out that her friend Antinea is pilates instructor. There was a nice vibe from the start and despite my stiffness and the struggle to assimilate her teachings I decided to trust her, committing to exercising and trying to overcome my limits. And so it was. I’m sure that without her there would have been no “Cuochi d’artificio” and I am convinced that pilates has greatly contributed to my physical and psychological well-being, giving me not only a new body but also a new mindset. Perhaps at my age I have finally reached a state of equilibrium and for that I must thank Antinea too.

A new adventure: “Cuochi d’artificio”…my recipes on tv, starting with seduction! / Una nuova avventura: “Cuochi d’artificio”…le mie ricette in tv, partendo dalla seduzione!

I have been keeping a secret from you. Since August I’ve been biting my tongue out of superstition. Ok some of my closest friends knew and eventually, when drawing nearer to the first recording, I disclosed the news to some acquaintances. A new adventure has started for me since I’ve been called to collaborate with “Cuochi d’artificio” the newest cooking show on La1, the first channel of the Swiss Italian Broadcasting Corporation. On the 13th of October my first recording was aired, and to much of my surprise it went down very well even though all my friends underlined the fact I came across as quite bossy towards the tv presenter, who I say in truth I simply adore and must thank once more since without her by my side I would never have been so “relaxed”. And lets face it I was funny bossy not bossy bossy…I just hope people at home got the playful mood! Here is the link of the episode which of course is in Italian. I baked a saffron and cardamom flavoured bread to accompany a beetroot and mango gazpacho. Unfortunately due to copyrights reasons I am not able to post the recipe directly on the blog, so if you’re interested you will have to click directly on the link and use a translating tool. I’m pretty sure you won’t have any problems, the recipe is easy peasy! The bread pictured is different from the one I baked for the tv. Since the whole process was too long I had to skip the first proofing. To achieve a more brioche-like texture like the bread picture i suggest you proof the dough untile doubled in size, shape it and then go to the final proofing. To help fermentation I use a little trick putting a pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven. Moisture and heat help a lot proofing of the dough, speeding up the overall time of fermentation.

Living on my own: Swiss Chard, Beetroot and Feta Salad / Living on my own: Insalata di coste, barbabietola e feta

I’m back with a fast, healthy and tasty recipe for you single friends! Swiss Chard is a vegetable rich in vitamins, fiber, folic acid and minerals. The higher concentration of vitamins and carotene is in the green outer leaves, but that does not mean that this vegetable can not be consumed entirely. In fact the stem is my favorite part, it’s so crisp and fresh! Beetroot is one of the vegetables I love the most because of its versatility.

Twelve Loaves June: Cherry and Beetroot Buns wrapped in Bacon / Twelve Loaves: Panini al latte con ciliegie e barbabietola avvolti in pancetta

With the start of a new month one of my favorite baking appointments, Twelve Loaves, comes too. What I like the most is when we choose an ingredient rather than a generic theme, such restrictions are always a good starting point to feed the imagination! Besides it’s too interesting to see how everyone interprets differently the monthly ingredient. For June, choice fell on cherries, a fruit that I love – a picture of me as a child testifies it, my face is completely plastered with juice and bears an unmistakable expression of satisfaction…”cherry thief”! – and for which it’s easy to fall into the temptation of baking a sweet bread.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Beetroot, Orange and White Chocolate Muffins / Il ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Muffin alla barbabietola, arancia e cioccolato bianco

Two weeks have passed since the first recipe especially conceived for Maroggia’s Mill flours. Weeks during which flour was consumed a lot, in my search for new recipes. Some have already appeared on the blog and others that are waiting in the “limbo” folder on my desktop.

MTC Challenge: Italian Stew, how I Iove you! / MTC Challenge: Spezzatino o anche di un amore nato a fuoco lento

To every recipe an introduction. A story, a few anecdotes. When I first read this month’s MTC Challenge recipe I got shivers in my spine. No, not those sweet old memories shivers. Cold and scary ones. My mother being British we grew up eating sheperd’s pies, Lancashire hot pots, pork and I remember few occasional stews. But not spezzatino, the italian version of stew. No nonna recipes, no Sunday lunch tradition, nothing.

MTC American Breakfast Challenge: An Autumn Delight / MTC Challenge e la colazione all’americana: Una delizia autunnale

Few weeks ago, in one of my usual daily stroll into the blog universe I stumbled into Cranberry’s blog, drawn in by a very nice biscuit recipe. And as it happens more and more often I got lost into this “dark forest” of recipes (did I ever mention my love for Dante?). What a delight! I discovered raviole del plin and ended my journey onto MTC challenge’s. Nothing like a nice good old challenge to push me into a new recipe! I immediately wrote a mail to Alessandra who kindly accepted my enrollment into the MTC crew.

Beetroot, tangerine, tonka beans and vanilla Sourdough Bread / Pane al lievito madre con barbabietola, mandarino, fava tonka e vaniglia

This bread was inspired to me by this month’s Twelve Loaves theme: roots. I had been looking for many weeks at the great achievements obtained by fellow bakers with this kind of bread (both professionals and home bakers) during my web surfing. Every single one had a different shade of pink, a different crumb, crust and rise. A whole world of beetroot breads.