Spinach cake or Torta di spinaci

I’m not the author of this cake, but I’m a big eater of it! For a long time I thought it was eaten only in Genoa, but recently I realized that is made in many places of Italy, the funniest name that I found for it is “erbazzone” that could mean “big grass” isn’t it cute?

my mother making "erbazzone"

Gnocco fritto

Lately I am very attracted by Emilia food.. this beautiful region has a large choice of homemade gourmand food. I use to eat gnocco fritto in Sologno, a small village in appennino reggiano. It’s a kind of bread dough, fried, that you usually eat hot with Parma ham, salame or local cheese.

with Parma ham

with salame Milano

I don’t have a precise recipe to give you, because final consistency depends on flour, humidity, kind of cheese used…

Let’s say that you use 1kg of flour. Take the right amount of yeast (levure de Boulanger) to raise 1 kg of flour. Mix yeast, flour, 1 glass of warm water, 3tbsp olive oil, 1tsp salt and 250g stracchino. If you can’t find stracchino cheese (it’s hard also for me in Paris) you can use 250g thick cream. Mix with your hands for 10 minutes and see what happens.. it’s too dry? Add warm water. It’s too soft? Add one or two spoons of flour. The final result should be soft but not too sticky; you should be able to shape a ball. Put dough in a big bowl, film and let it raise in warm place for 2 hours. Roll it thin (1/2cm or less) and cut it with your cutter. Cover with film and let it raise a second time in a warm and humid place. (I put trays in off oven with some pans of boiling water inside! Yes it’s true! In this way you can create a amazzonia clime) let it raise for 1 hour and then put your gnocco in boiling oil.

EAT ME!

Mint and chocolate Tiramisu

Finally today sun is shining on Paris! Everybody wants to be outside.. that’s why customers loved my mint and chocolate tiramisu under the sun.. fresh, crunchy and creamy is the perfect idea for sunny days!

Marie Claire Enfants hors série N°4 avril – mai 2012

Its unbelievable how fun can be to make cakes sometimes.. I had the chance to make some creative sweets for the famous magazine Marie Claire Enfants.. what a great experience!

Theme is party time “savants fous”.. how to organize a scientific birthday for your children.. we have radioactive cupcakes, microscope lollipops and a gingerbread laboratory cage with rats who are running away!

Thanks to Stephanie and Jean-Baptiste to let me post these beautiful pictures!

Buckwheat and blueberry cake

I discovered this amazing cake in mountain refuges of Alto Adige. Is sooo good and healthy too. Buckwheat is rich in Proteins, amino acids, minerals, iron, zinc and selenium. Good to know that this pseudo cereal it’s good also for your body and not only for your pleasure!

How to do it: preheat oven to 170°C. Cream 200g soft butter and 100g caster sugar. Add 6 egg yolks and mix. Add 200g buckwheat flour, 11g baking powder, 200g grounded walnuts, ¼ tsp vanilla and mix. Add 2 apples in small chunks and mix.

Wisk 6 egg whites with 100g caster sugar until you get soft peaks, then add them to batter with a spatula. Put it in a greased pan and bake for 45 minutes. Let it cool then cut it in half and fill it with blueberry jam.

Dinner in Courmayeur

Last week end I went with my friends to ski in Courmayeur, a beautiful village in Valle d’Aosta. Saturday night we had a great dinner in Brasserie d’Entreves, my favorite restaurant there.. we chose Raclette and Fondue Bourguignonne..

Raclette cheese with boiled potatoes and mocetta.. (one of Valle D'Aosta's traditional cured meats; in the past the animal used was mountain goat, now is often beef)

Fondue bourguignonne.. with raw meat, sauces and boiling oil!

My favorite wine..

My friends.. Maria Giulia, Michela and Federica.. see u soon Girls!

Strudel

My domestic Rat went to sky in Alto Adige mountains, a paradise for winter sports but also for rich and gourmand food. One of my favorite treats from there is Strudel: outside there is dough similar to short pastry, inside there is a filling made with apples, raisin and cinnamon.

After his vacation he came back totally transformed.. mountains look, singing local songs from Val Gardena..

Of course he brought a traditional wonderful strudel.. unfortunately I haven’t been quick enough to have a taste of it.. Rat is faster than me and always so hungry!