Cassata siciliana riproviamoci tentativo 1

La cassata  siciliana é il mio dolce preferito ed é l’unico che non riesco a fare.. ho tentato diverse volte ma il risultato non é mai stato soddifacente. Troppo complesso il procedimento ? troppo poco attendibili le ricette? troppo diversi gli ingredienti che si trovano fuori dalla Sicilia?  forse un po’ di tutto questo.

Questa volta pero’, dopo 2 giorni di profonde riflessioni e duro lavoro mi sono avvicinata molto all’originale. Il pan di spagna era perfetto. Lo sciroppo di limoni, rum e zucchero nel quale bagnarlo anche. La crema di ricotta deliziosa anche se non di pecora (impossibile trovarla qui). L’unico scoglio rimane la pasta reale di mandorle.. dopo due tentativi fallimentari, una serie di conference call con Palermo.. sono andata a comprare il marzapane e ho messo un punto alla storia. Complessivamente é venuta bene.. MA la strada é ancora lunga e anche se ho perso questa battaglia con la pasta reale… la guerra non é ancora finita!

Come potrete notare dalle foto non ho decorato la cassata.. un po’ perché non ho trovato canditi di livello, ma soprattutto perché prima pensare alla decorazione vorrei che quello che c’é sotto fosse perfetto.

I suggerimenti sono benvenuti…

francescafiore78@hotmail.com

Eclaire à la vanille

Today I received a sweet present.. a customer thought that today was my birthday (I don’t know why) and brought me 3 eclaires.. vanilla, chocolate and coffee. Eclaire is made with pate a choux and inside there is a pastry cream filling flavored with chocolate, coffee or vanilla (my favorite).

Thank you so much! By the way my birthday is October 6.. any nice pastry is welcome!

Coconut water

I always blame myself that I don’t drink enough water during the day but lately I discovered coconut water, is so good, healthy and his cute bottle comes with me almost everywhere.. also when I go jogging! Its a good alternative the day that I don’t feel like to drink just water..

But what is it exactly? is the clear liquid inside young coconuts, is a popular drink in the tropics, where it is available fresh, canned, or bottled. Coconut water has a high potassium content and contains antioxidants linked to a variety of health advantages.. good idea!

Pineapple and yuzu sorbet

Directions for a sunny day : take a plane, go to Costa Rica, buy 3 pineapples, despues go to Japan and buy a bottle of fresh yuzu juice (the Japanese lemon) that’s what I call a fusion dessert… the best from far away countries in a fresh and juicy sorbet! Fortunately (or unfortunately) we don’t need to move so much to get these ingredients..

cut and boil with sugar

frozen 24h

after pacossage

What’s inside this sorbet? Pineapple, yuzu juice and sugar. Is very light but the texture is creamy and the smell is sweet scented.. una delicia:)

l'Ispettore Gatt sulle tracce di una farfalla

French dinner

I have the feeling that I don’t talk enough about French food, the point is that I’m too curious about “all the world” to concentrate myself on just one country, even if is the one where I live! But yesterday night I had dinner in a very special place, French of course.. so let me tell you a little bit more about l’art de diner à la française..

First of all in these beautiful and warm evenings is imperative to eat outside, one look at your meal the other at the moon.. moreover eat in a French restaurant is an invitation to try a French wine, they are so famous in all the world and too often I realize that I don’t know them at all! The one of yesterday night is an organic red wine (cépage Syrah) from vallée du Rhone, cool, tender and round, a perfect combination with the filet de boeuf, pommes grenailles au four, artichauts et champignons à la poele. I know.. so many things in the same dish! But this is nothing trust me.. meals in France are often complicated and rich of many ingredients in the same plate. Not easy to detect all of them and very difficult for the Chef to create a harmony between many different flavors.  

Not only my filet de boeuf was very good but also the mousse au chocolat.. a great classic of French sweets.. soon I will make it and find the best recipe for your summer diners à la française:)

Earliest strawberries

Summer is coming, today is so hot here in Paris.. everybody is outside! No way to eat a chocolate cake with this temperature.. moreover everybody is worried about bikini test, but me. Yes I have a secret.. I don’t feel like to avoid sweets so I chose to transform all nice seasonal fruits in tasty, colored and healthy desserts.. let’s say that in the kitchen we don’t have problems.. but only solutions!

still pale but good!

Today’s treat is a strawberry ice-cream made with Greek yogurt, fresh strawberries and a little bit of sugar.. is just delicious

in the mixer with icing sugar

ready to be frozen

Let’s take advantage of this beautiful coming season to be curious about fruits (I’m sure that there are so many that I don’t even know yet) to taste, smell and cook all this plenty of colored natural sweets.. bon appétit!

Olive oil ice cream

Maybe it’s because I love Greece so much that I made this ice cream.. imagine yourself in the beautiful island of Skopelos on a terrace looking at the sunset savoring your olive oil ice cream.. not too bad idea eh? It could sound a weird mixture but trust me it’s wonderful!

The crème anglaise base has to be not too sweet and creamy enough to absorb the sourness of olive oil.. enjoy this Mediterranean treat!

La Pièce Montée

Ma cos’é questa piece montée ? Qui in Francia é praticamente l’unico dolce che viene preso in considerazione per le grandi occasioni. Comunioni, matrimoni, cresime… non si vuole altro che una bella piece montée !

E allora approfondiamo il soggetto  in modo schematico : un cono fatto di choux ripieni di crema pasticcera alla vaniglia, passati velocemente nel caramello e cementati  con lo stesso. Il tutto viene incollato su una base di croccante alle mandorle e poi si decora a piacere. In questa occasione abbiamo decorato con macarons al cacao, confetti e rose fresche di giardino..

..non ne é rimasta neanche una briciola ! Ringrazio ancora per la preziosa collaborazione le mie amiche pasticcere di fiducia Kana e Jacklyn!

Coccole di couscous

Feed someone is a love act. I feed you, I care about you.. I want you to eat! Of course because for me is a job to feed people every day here at the restaurant it can’t be a love act.. but anyway you put a little bit of yourself when you prepare a meal for someone and you’re glad when people are happy about what they are eating! Today I let someone take care of me.. my dear Tunisian friend Tijania came here to feed me with her sweet couscous.. thank you dear I really looked-for a little bit of yours couscous cuddles!

The homemade semoule comes directly from her country, it has to be steamed for 10/15 minutes and after you add almonds, rose water, caster sugar, pine nuts, raisins..

Chocolate – cheesecake muffins

These muffins are delicious, a perfect combination between the creamy sweetie cheesecake and the chocolate sponge not too sweet and really dark!

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!