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!

Gâteau pommes noix myrtille

Et voilà une belle combinaison.. la myrtille donne la couleur, la pomme le gout et la noix la texture croquante qui contraste si bien avec le moelleux du gâteau.

Comme tous les gâteux de voyage (j’adore cette expression française!) on peut s’amuser avec une belle décoration  sur la partie supérieure et bien sur on peut partir avec lui au bureau, à la plage, chez des amis…

Sa  texture et sa forme nous aide à en faire un joli paquet à emporter.. c’est à nous de sortir maintenant, bonne soirée !

Soufflé al cioccolato

Un grande classico della pasticceria parigina, morbido, goloso e sempre di grande effetto. L’ideale sarebbe servirlo appena sfornato ma non é la soluzione piu pratica se chi prepara il soufflé vuole cenare con calma a tavola. Il consiglio é di preparare i soufflé monoporzione il pomeriggio per la sera e prima di servirli passarli 30 secondi al microonde. Vi assicuro che il risultato é comunque ottimo.

Come funziona : preriscaldare il forno a 180°C. Imburrare e zuccherare 8 stampi da forno e metterli in frigo. Sciogliere al microonde 180g cioccolato 70% mescolando ogni 30 secondi. Dopo aggiungere 40g zucchero di canna, 40ml latte tiepido, 20ml panna tiepida, 40g cacao. Infine aggiungere 5 tuorli d’uovo e mescolare molto bene. Non ci devono essere grumi. Se invece i grumi ci sono e non riuscite a eliminarli perché la crema si sta solidificando passatela 30 secondi al microonde. Montare a neve i 5 bianchi d’uovo con 40g zucchero di canna. Unire le due preparazioni per qualche secondo con la frusta e poi con la spatola. Il tutto non deve durare piu di un minuto altrimenti il soufflé sarà una frittella. Mettere negli stampi e infornare per 15 minuti, non un minuto di piu.

Nota: potete servirlo con una salsa di mango o di frutti di bosco. Per dare un tocco messicano aggiungete un cucchiaino di cannella al cacao.

Salon international de l’agriculture

eh..eh Je suis le plus beau!

Salon de l’agriculture is a big event here in Paris. Every year you can meet a large variety of farm animals from all regions of France, taste regional French products (yesterday I dedicated myself to discover goat cheese, walnuts bread, Bretagne crêpes and cidre), watch cooking demonstrations and more. It's very interesting to see how many kind of cows exist and how big they are! I love animals, that’s why post of today is dedicated to them, authentic and unopposed stars of the event. Let’s start with a presentation of main activities that take place here at Salon de l’agriculture:

Now take a look to some examples of French regional food…

Ok, now that you are into the agricultural mood I want you to meet some lovely families..

Last part of this post is addressed to fashion girls.. we are always looking for the ultimate tendency, the glamorous haircut or the last lip-gloss.. and sometimes we get lost! In which direction should I go now? What kind of look for next summer? Don’t worry, yesterday I got “farm tendencies” for spring-summer season 2012.. here some ideas to be always a la mode!

Hang out definitely naked.. with long plait like “Roberta”

Refresh yourself in crystalline water..and

…sorry a fatal error occurred!:)

The best rice cake

I love this cake, the first time I eat it in Sologno, a small village in Emilia, a beautiful region of Italy close to Tuscany. Emilia is famous for good food.. some examples… Parma Ham, Parmigiano Reggiano, pumpkin ravioli..not many cakes but good and most of all made with local liqueur sassolino that gives a nice flavor, of course if you live out of Italy you can use rum, it works always well in pastry.

I'm having fun with pictures now!

How to do your rice cake: put in saucepan 1l milk, 200g rice, 100g sugar, zest of 1 lemon, 200g raisin, a pinch of salt and bring to boil. Boil for 10 minutes while stir. Out of fire put in 100g sassolino. In a separate bowl mix 6 eggs and 200g sugar, mix it with hot milk and pour in a 22cm diameter pan, bake it in the preheated oven 170°C for 45 minutes.

the color of cake after 45 baking