ZZAFF!: Cavollatt montato

 

For the last episode of this season of ZZAFF! I chose a simple but very scrumptious recipe. The base consists in cavollatt, an egg cream that was once consumed as an energy drink because of the amount of sugar and fat contained in it. The cream, alternated with ladyfinger biscuits, results in an excellent dessert that is perfect for the summer season. Cavollatt montato has to rest in the refrigerator and is to be eaten cold.

ZZAFF!: Amaretti ticinesi

For this month’s ZZAFF! Episode we offer you a recipe for a sweet ticinese treat which often accompanies coffee at the end of a meal. I’m talking about amaretti, slightly bitter biscuits, crumbly on the outside and soft on the inside, which were born from the need to use egg white left over from the preparation of recipes based on yolk, such as panettone or cream custard. Amaretti are very popular all over Italy, where different types of this biscuit can be found. In fact, those from Ticino are different from the best-known Italian amaretti biscuits, which are round and soft (amaretti di Sassello) or crispy (amaretti di Saronno). The term amaretti comes from the bitter taste given by armelline (bitter almonds) which are added in small quantities, but for convenience I used sweet almonds only adding a few drops of bitter almond flavour.

ZZAFF!: Amaretti ticinesi

 

For this month’s ZZAFF! Episode we offer you a recipe for a sweet ticinese treat which often accompanies coffee at the end of a meal. I’m talking about amaretti, slightly bitter biscuits, crumbly on the outside and soft on the inside, which were born from the need to use egg white left over from the preparation of recipes based on yolk, such as panettone or cream custard. Amaretti are very popular all over Italy, where different types of this biscuit can be found. In fact, those from Ticino are different from the best-known Italian amaretti biscuits, which are round and soft (amaretti di Sassello) or crispy (amaretti di Saronno). The term amaretti comes from the bitter taste given by armelline (bitter almonds) which are added in small quantities, but for convenience I used sweet almonds only adding a few drops of bitter almond flavour.

ZZAFF!: Pesce in carpione

Pesce in carpione is a typical dish from the lake regions of northern Italy such as Lake Como and Lake Garda. This recipe requires fatty fish, such as shad, whitefish, bleak or smelt. The recipe was born from the need to preserve the fish for a long time. The fishes are fried, then dipped in a marinade of white wine and vinegar which is flavored with herbs and vegetables. Fish thus prepared can be eaten warm but more often pesce in carpione is eaten cold, after a rest of 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Here you can listen the program, every first Sunday of the month:
At 20 pm Rendez-vous on http://www.radiogwen.ch to hear Vostok’s podcasts in French!
At 21 Rendez-vous on http://www.radiovostok.ch to hear Gwen’s podcasts in italian!

ZZAFF!: Risotto con la Luganega

This month recipe for ZZAFF! is a classic of Ticino cuisine. Luganega or luganighetta is a sausage made with pork, pepper and spices, which is usually grilled in summer and country festivals. I remember when I was a child at the Sassello Fair in Obino, the village where I grew up, they served luganighette rolled on wooden sticks which looked like a snail. This sausage is usually associated with carnival and is appreciated with the classic risotto, a dish formerly reserved for holidays.

Here you can listen the program, every first Sunday of the month:
At 20 pm Rendez-vous on http://www.radiogwen.ch to hear Vostok’s podcasts in Italian!
At 21 Rendez-vous on http://www.radiovostok.ch to hear Gwen’s podcasts in French!

ZZAFF!: Ciambella ticinese

The ciambella ticinese is a crunchy and crumbly biscuit, spiced with anise seeds or sometimes fennel or cumin seeds. The typical shape of the ciambella is a ring with a hole in the middles, and its diameter is of about 8 cm. Apparently the ciambella ticinese was born in Lugano, at the hands the baker Bianchi who baked these biscuits in the early 20th century, flavouring them with different spices. It was he who made famous the ciambella ticinese, which spread in Ticino thanks to pastry chefs in urban areas. Once upon a time ciambelle could be bought in a bakeries or grottoes, bars and restaurants, usually stored in a typical glass jar. It was a daily consumer product, like bread. They were often eaten as afternoon snacks, dipped in red wine or milk. Widely popular in taverns, the ciambelle were strung into wooden rods resting on the bar counter and the customers enjoyed them accompanied by a glass of wine. Unfortunately ciambelle have lost importance in Ticino due to the competition from industrially produced biscuits. Today, family recipes are handed over, like the one I am presenting to you today which my aunt Luciana passed on to me.

ZZAFF! Bülbora

The recipe I wrote for this episode of ZZAFF! is a classic of autumn and winter season. Pumpkin is a very popular vegetable in Ticino as in the whole of Switzerland. In Ticino pumpkin soup is traditionally cooked with rice and enriched with milk and butter. Not to make my own recipe too heavy without giving up tastiness I added bacon, which also adds crunchiness. Alternatively, you can always fry stale bread cubes, for about ten minutes in olive oil. The soup is delicious when flavored with dried herbs like thyme and rosemary. A classic to warm you up in these frosty winter evenings!

ZZAFF! Spampezie

For this month’s installment of ZZAFF! I chose a traditional Christmas recipe. Spampezie biscuits are a typical Christmas treat filled with a mixture of nuts, grated bread, spices, grappa, sugar and honey which are only produced in some Leventina villages. They keep for very long periods and it is said that the families used to send them overseas to their emigrated children. Spampezie are produced only in Faido, Prato, Dalpe, Osco, Chiggiogna or in other municipalities of the lower valley such as Bodio, Personico and Pollegio. Some say that Osco is the homeland of spampezie.
Typically the cookies are pressed into wood shapes that have different shapes. Carved figures recall festivities or represent the coat of arms of a family. The basic preparation method has remained virtually untouched until today: however, everyone has his personal recipe, which is unlikely to be revealed.

ZZAFF! Polenta Uncia

Polenta uncia, which means greasy, is called so because it is a mixture of polenta, cheese and melted butter. An original dish of the province of Como it is also popular, with small varieties, in the provinces of Lecco, Bergamo and the Ticino Region too. A filling dish, ideal for warm winter evenings.

ZZAFF! Castagnaccio

Our ZZAFF! season begins with an autumnal recipe which has chestnut as the main ingredient. Chestnut is an ancient plant whose presence in the Ticino Region extends from Mendrisiotto to Leventina. Chestnut has been one of the staple ingredients in ticinese cooking since the Middle Ages, due to its high nutritional value. It’s nutritional value can be preserved for a long time through drying or grounding into flour. Among the different recipe sin which chestnut is used I chose the castagnaccio, a sweet which is typical of Northern Italy but has always been very popular in Ticino too. The ingredients are simple as well as the recipe is.