Maroggia’s Mill Cookboo: Sumac Ladyfingers / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Savoiardi al sumac

And we are baking sweets treats all over again at Maroggia’s Mill. For today’s Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook recipe I propose a classic of Italian pastry…slightly modified. Ladyfingers. Who hasn’t got memories of ladyfingers being stocked, packet loads of them, in the pantry? They were always there, ready for mummy to whip up a good old trifle or a tiramisu. I loved to steal a couple while she was busy preparing the chosen dessert. I loved their soft and yielding consistency and slightly spongy inside. Dipped in tea, but very quickly in order not to run the risk of turning the liquid into a cloudy porridge, they reached the peak of gustative enjoyment. Here is a whole new version flavoured with sumac, a spice commonly used in the Middle East which tastes a bit like lemon. I really like it and I find that it lends itself well to both sweet and savoury dishes. These biscuits are ideal for an alternative and light tiramisu, with yogurt and red fruits or for a fresh and summery trifle.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookboo: Sumac Ladyfingers / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Savoiardi al sumac

 

And we are baking sweets treats all over again at Maroggia’s Mill. For today’s Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook recipe I propose a classic of Italian pastry…slightly modified. Ladyfingers. Who hasn’t got memories of ladyfingers being stocked, packet loads of them, in the pantry? They were always there, ready for mummy to whip up a good old trifle or a tiramisu. I loved to steal a couple while she was busy preparing the chosen dessert. I loved their soft and yielding consistency and slightly spongy inside. Dipped in tea, but very quickly in order not to run the risk of turning the liquid into a cloudy porridge, they reached the peak of gustative enjoyment. Here is a whole new version flavoured with sumac, a spice commonly used in the Middle East which tastes a bit like lemon. I really like it and I find that it lends itself well to both sweet and savoury dishes. These biscuits are ideal for an alternative and light tiramisu, with yogurt and red fruits or for a fresh and summery trifle.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Gin Bisbino Babà / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Babà al Gin Bisbino

1212

Today for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook I propose you my own interpretation of a great classic of Neapolitan pastry. The babà! Three years ago I baked babà for the first time thanks to the MTChallenge and I then promised to myself to try out other combinations sooner or later. I just had to wait until Alessandro wrote to me one day asking me if I had some original ideas to promote a new brand of gin, 100% local, produced by friends of his. I had already heard about Gin Bisbino and already had the opportunity to taste it but in fact I had never thought of using it in a recipe. Gin Bisbino really impressed me for its delicate flavour. A real pleasure to taste Gin Bisbino goes perfectly well with the fresh flavours of rosemary and grapefruit I chose to flavour the pastries with. To balance the bitter note of the grapefruit I added a little rose water that comes very delicately as an aftertaste, especially when the cream is eaten on its own. I decided to brush the babàs with rhubarb jelly which is slightly sweeter albeit maintaining the sourness of the other ingredients. And if you do not want to get your hands dirty, you can always try the recipe of Gin Bisbino to make an excellent Gin Tonic!

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Bread Bunnies / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Marogggia: Coniglietti di pane

Here comes another appointment with Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook which is also a good opportunity to celebrate. Easter is approaching and what more appropriate than a recipe for festive bread bunnies? The dough is super soft and can be also used to make simple rolls or to be shaped into any kind of animals to make tour children’s snacks more fun!

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Vegetarian Seitan Empanadas / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Empanadas vegetariane al seitan

Another day at the Mill, a new recipe for the Cookbook…or rather two new recipes! Today I will be teaching you how to make seitan, a product that has gained more and more visibility in the past years. It takes very little time to make it and the result is excellent. Seitan is a high-protein food of oriental origins that is often used in vegetarian and vegan diets. Being very rich in gluten it is not suitable for celiacs. If cooked with seaweed or flavoured with soy sauce seitan is a complete food, containing 8 amino acids essential to our diet. A very versatile product and a good alternative to meat (it can be flavoured in many different ways), it is worth to include this ingredient in our diets. One kilo flour is enough to obtain 500 g of seitan in just a few minutes of kneading and washing the dough. The rest of the job is done by soaking and boiling the mixture of flour and water.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Yogurt and Toasted Wheat Germ Bread / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Pane allo yogurt e germe di grano tostato

A few days ago I went to the Mill to collect some flour to develop new recipes and asked Alessandro if he had any new interesting products. Happens that I just arrived on a lucky day while freshly ground wheat germ was available. Wheat germ is no more than 3% of the entire grain kernel, and is generally discarded because of its more intense flavour and the presence of moisture which can reduce shelf life of the flour. A product rich in vitamins, starches, proteins and lipids, wheat germ is really good for our health. Presence of Omega 3, Omega 6, vitamins A and D, make it a very valid aid for skin, hair and helps fighting free radicals too. To best preserve all its nutritional qualities the advice is to eat it raw (in this way all its properties, especially vitamin E and B and fatty acids are kept intact) in addition to milk, yogurt or soups but without exceeding a daily dose of 50 g. Being a highly perishable product in order to keep more than a few days you can toast it lightly to remove the moisture which encourages rancidity and mould formation.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Feta, Tropea Red Onion and Sumac Panzerotti / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Panzerotti alla feta, cipolle di Tropea e Sumac

When I was a little girl right before Christmas it was tradition that I, my older sister and my father would go shopping in Milan on a Saturday. A special event, an opportunity for us to spend some time alone with our Daddy, who was often away from home for business matters. On this same Friday, but twenty-eight years ago, I would be counting the money safely stored in my piggy bank, waiting impatiently for the next morning to come. To my eyes Milan was magical place. I recall the bitter cold which would redden our cheeks and noses. The snow would fall slowly, in fine grains that almost did not leave a trace on the sidewalks. And all those lights, bright lights everywhere.

After long walks in the centre of the city and a due visit to Rinascente and Fiorucci where we would usually find little presents for our mom and friends we would happily end our Christmas pilgrimage at a mythical place: Luini. Luini and its warm to piping hot panzerotti, for which we would patiently wait in line, that same line that in the past years split into three to four separate ones in order to greet as much costumers as possible. Panzerotti must be eaten standing up, preferably leaning against a free portion of one of the walls of the buildings along Via Santa Radegonda 16, not to lose crispness of the dough and lava texture of the filling, which for me will always and only ever be tomato and mozzarella.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Cocoa and Orange Marmalade Tarts / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Crostatine al cacao e marmellata di arance amare

 

Desserts at my house are quite forbidden. Or I’d rather say that you will hardly find in my pantry packets of biscuits, chocolate bars, candy and all food alike. The main issue is self-control, the other “no sweet stuff factor” is because I’d rather choose ingredients myself since too often store bought sweets contain too much sugar for my palate. This recipe for Maroggia’ Mill Cookbook was born from the desire for something sweet…but not too much. Flavours to pamper your tastebuds with and sweeten a gloomy day and why not, to scent your house with. I simply love it when the perfume of a sweet dessert spreads from the kitchen and permeates all the flat, it always puts me in a good mood. I decided to make small tart, a simple trick not to have too many sweets at home and because I find the little tart or cake format nicer to be photographed. For a 24-25 cm cake of about it is sufficient to multiply the quantities of the two ingredients and to bake the tart for 45′-50′.