Crostata con crema al limone (Italian lemon tart)

For ➑
crust:
180 g flour*
90 g butter
80 g sugar
2 egg yolks
salt
(50 g almonds, shaved)*
filling:
grated rind of 3 untreated lemons
8 tbs (12 cl) (2-3 lemons) lemon juice
3 egg yolks
2 eggs
200 g sugar
250 g yogurt or cream

Mix all ingredients for the crust. Cover in plastic foil and refrigerate for 30 m.
Roll out till 0,5 cm thick. Grease 24 cm tin with butter, put baking paper in, put dough in, cover with baking paper and blind-baking peas. Blind bake for 20 m at 180°C.
Beat the eggs with the sugar, the rind and the lemon juice. Carefully add cream or yogurt.
Remove top baking paper and peas. Pour in the mixture. Bake 30 m at 170°C.
Serve cold with a sweet wine or iced limoncello.

*Replace ⅓ with ground almonds or sprinkle half-baked crust with 50 g shaved almonds before pouring in the mixture.

Spaghetti aglio e olio (spaghetti with oil & garlic)

For ➍
250 g spaghetti
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 onions, chopped*
parsley
peperoncino (dried Italian pepper)**
sea salt

Cook spaghetti, until undercooked.

Meanwhile, heat the oil, (sauté the onions)*, sauté the garlic in a skillet with oil and peperoncino until golden brown.

Mix cooked spaghetti briskly in the same skillet, sprinkle over some (sea)salt, add a generous tablespoon of finely chopped parsley, toss and serve.

*Optional.
**Use fresh pepper instead, thinly sliced & seeded.

One of the oldest ways to dress pasta was with raw oil and garlic. Later ingredients like peperoncino were added. Spaghetti aglio e olio (in fact it is spaghetti all´aglio, olio e peperoncino) is a traditional Italian pasta dish from the Abruzzo region.
The sauce consists mainly of garlic fried in oil, plus peperoncino (dried red chili peppers). Parsley is also added.
See the variations in the oil & garlic sauce post. Also see the related sugo alla puttanesca. Read more spaghetti & linguine recipes: a quick spaghetti, spaghetti with scallops & tomatoes, scallops & rucola spaghetti, spaghetti alla carbonara, spaghetti with vegetables, shrimps fra diavolo, raw tomato spaghetti, spaghetti with clams, spaghetti with small clams, Palermo spaghetti with tomatoes & mint, American-Italian spaghetti with meatballs, vermicelli with parsley sauce, shrimps & Brie linguine, butter & tomato pasta sauce, lemon pasta with sea spinach.

Aglio e olio (oil & garlic sauce variations)

The basic sauce for spaghetti aglio e olio can be made in several ways.

A few of them:

Variation 1: add some anchovies (6 salted fillets, washed and cut into pieces) to the garlic and oil, add a handful of black or green olives cut into pieces, and sauté together until golden brown.

Variation 2 (Southern Italy): brown 3-4 tbs of bread crumbs in oil and garlic, add some more peperoncino to taste just before sautéing with the pasta.

Variation 3: add a couple of fresh tomatoes to the boiling oil after frying the garlic.

Clafoutis aux cerises (French cherry custard)

For ➏
500 g fresh cherries, pitted*
1 tbs + 50 g sugar**
1 ts cornstarch
50 g flour
50 g almonds, toasted***
4 large eggs
pinch of salt
20 cl milk
50 g unsalted butter, melted
1 ts grated lemon peel
1 ts vanilla extract
½ ts almond extract
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 160°C.
Butter shallow glass baking dish. Combine cherries, 1 tbs sugar and cornstarch in bowl. Toss to coat.
Arrange cherries in bottom of prepared dish.
Blend flour and almonds in processor until nuts are finely chopped. Whisk eggs, salt and remaining sugar in large bow. Whisk in flour mixture. Add milk, butter, lemon peel, and vanilla and almond extracts. Whisk until smooth. Pour custard over cherries.
Bake clafoutis until golden on top, about 55 m. Cool slightly.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

*Use bottled or frozen unsweetened pitted dark sweet cherries, thawed, drained. Always use dark, rather sour cherries, never the sweet variety. When using cherries on syrup, use less sugar.
**Use 100 g to make it sweeter.
***Use hazelnuts for an even nuttier taste.

Originally from the French Limousin region, this custard-like dessert spread all over France in the 19th century. The name comes from the Occitan verb for 'filling up', and that is exactly what happened with the recipe, which gradually was made with other fruits than cherries, called flognarde then, and even with cherry tomatoes. The original recipe is made with unpitted cherries, making it a little bit less sweet and adding a nutty flavour, but rather uncomfortable to eat. In this recipe, almonds are added to have this effect.

Asperges à la flamande (Flemish asparagus)

For ➊
6 white asparagus stalks* (500 g)
1 egg***
25 g butter
2 ts parsley, chopped

Cook the eggs for 10 m. Let them cool. Peel.
Peel the stalks**. Cut the hard end. Steam the asparagus for about 10-15 m.****
Meanwhile crumble the eggs with a fork. Mix with the parsley.
Melt the butter. Gently discard the solids and save the clarified butter.******
Put the asparagus on a plate and nap with the melted butter and eggs.
Serve with bread and a dry mineral white wine, like Riesling.

*Or 3 as an entrée (300 g).
**Use the cleaned and chopped peels in an asparagus broth or soup.

****Alternatively, put the asparagus in cold, salted water. Bring to the boil. Cook for 1 m. Put the heat off and let cook until done (10-15 m).
*****To clarify butter, put butter on low heat for 10 m until solids separate from the fat. Let stand for a few m. Skim off the foam. In a microwave, cook covered for 30 s (for 40 g). Let stand until solids sink. Save the fat.

This is a Flemish traditional dish, made with local white asparagus. White asparagus are covered with soil, sand in this case, to preserve their pristine colour.
Try a more contemporary fusion version.
Read tip on cooking asparagus.

Fresh mint syrup

For 25 cl syrup
200 g sugar*
25 cl hot water*
bunch of mint leaves, freshly chopped*

Put chopped mint leaves in hot water. Add sugar.

Let stand for 30 m.

Squeeze and remove the leaves.

Cool for 1 h.

*Use same proportions for more or less syrup. The syrup will be good for several days when put in a closed container in the refrigerator.
It can be used in drinks or on ice-cream.

Schiacciata con l'uva (Etruscan grape-filled bread)

For ➏
1 kg blue grapes (or blueberries)
500 g flour
1 package dry yeast
100 g sugar
4 tbs olive oil
1 branch rosemary
25 cl warm water
honey
grape juice

Heat the rosemary branch in olive oil. Let it cool.
Dissolve the yeast in 25 cl of warm water.
Place the flour in a large bowl. Pour yeast mixture into the center and stir.
Remove the rosemary from the oil. Add the cooled oil to the dough.
Add 4 tbs of sugar and knead until smooth, for 10 m.
Put in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size. Punch down the dough and divide in half.
Roll out half of the dough to fit in a round or rectangular pan.
Cover with half the grapes, removed from their stems.
Sprinkle with half the remaining sugar and drizzle with olive oil.
Roll out the other half of the dough to fit. Cover the grapes, sealing the edges with the bottom layer of dough. Push down to crush the grapes. Cover top layer of dough with remaining grapes and repeat the process. Sprinkle with sugar, drizzle with olive oil, and crush the grapes.
Sprinkle with sugar and drizzle with olive oil. For an Etruscan touch, drizzle with honey.
Bake at 180°C until golden. Baste with some grape juice while it's baking. Bake for 45 m.

Nowadays, this is traditionally served as a dessert bread, or a nice comfort bread, and some special treat during the Tuscany wine harvest season. As is often the case in Tuscany, it is said to have already been popular with the Etruscans, well known for their lust of life. Schiacciata comes from the Italian verb 'schiacciare' meaning 'flattened' or 'crushed'. The recipe is related to the American pizza bianco and to the schiacciata alla Fiorentina.
Image shows dancing Etruscans with a wine flask on a tomb wall in Tarquinia.
Read more on 'Etruscan' food: Etruscan tuna fish.

Pizza e fichi (pizza with figs)

For ➋
It's also a Roman style, to top the pizza bianco with figs, served on a bed of some gorgonzola dolce cheese and decorated with some thinly sliced prosciutto.

Schiacciata alla Fiorentina (Florentine orange cake)

For ➏
250 g flour
200 g sugar
4 tbs sunflower seed or corn oil
7 tbs warm milk
2 eggs
juice & zest of 1 orange
1 tbs baking powder
confectioner's sugar

Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Beat the eggs, and mix all the ingredients together except the confectioner's sugar. Sift in the baking powder and pour the batter into a baking pan (something like 20x24 cm).

Bake the schiacciata for 20 to 30 m, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out dry.

Let cool it, then remove it from the pan. Dust with the confectioner's sugar.

Serve or stuff it with a generous layer of lightly sweetened whipped cream, or with crema pasticcera. In either case, slice the cake open as if it were a book, spread a layer of filling over the bottom half, and replace the upper half.

This traditional Easter cake is an (even) sweeter variation on Tuscan flatbread which goes by the same name: schiacciata con l'uva. Adding to the confusion, a schiacciata can also be salted: see the recipe of pizza bianco.
Image shows the ancient Via degli Strozzi in Firenze.

Ballekes met krieken (Flemish meat patties with sour cherries)

For ➍
800 g minced meat*
1 slice white bread, crumbled
1 egg yolk
500 g sour cherries** with 30 cl juice, bottled or canned
40 cl meat stock
100 g butter
a small glass of jenever/gin***
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 200°C. Moisten the bread crumbs with a tbs of cherry juice. Drain and mix with meat and egg yolk. Avoid that the mix becomes too wet. Roll into 8 balls and flatten to patties.

Butter an oven dish, large enough to fit the patties. Put in oven and bake for 5 m. Pour in the stock and the cherry juice. Cook for about 45 m. Remove patties and keep warm. Pour cooking liquids in a pan and reduce until halved. Put in the cherries and heat for 5 m. Add the patties and reheat. (Add salt & pepper, if necessary).

Serve with mashed potatoes.

* A mix of pork and veal. (Add an exotic flavour by using spicy lamb's meat from merguez.)
**Tart cherries, canned or bottled
***Obviously, this should be good Belgian jenever, but a drop of good gin will do. Or you could omit it ;-).

Read tip on minced meat & salt Or a tip on replacing a part of the meat with mushrooms.

Lettuce soup

For ➍
1 onion, minced
1 tbs olive oil
1 l water
2 chicken stock cubes
1 bag of mixed lettuce, shredded
4 small tomatoes, peeled, seeded & cut
8 sprigs chives

Heat oil in soup pot. Add onion and fry for 4 m.

Add water. Bring to boil. Dissolve cubes. Cook for 4 m.

Add lettuce (spare a few leaves for decoration) and tomatoes.

Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 m.

Mix the soup. Reheat if necessary to reduce volume.

Decorate with sprigs of chives.

Serve with freshly toasted bread with creamy cheese.

*Can be served cold.

Black sorbet

For ➍
55 cl water
80 g unsweetened cocoa powder
200 g sugar
170 g bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped finely
pinch of salt

Freeze the bowl of an ice cream maker.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the water, cocoa powder, and sugar. Set the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil, whisking continually. Remove from heat, and add the chopped chocolate.
Let rest for 30 s as the chocolate begins to melt, add the vanilla and salt, then stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Let cool on the counter, then refrigerate until chilled.
Whisk the mixture again just before using, and freeze in the ice cream maker.

Fettuccine al burro e panna (fettuccine Alfredo)

For ➍
40 cl heavy cream*
80 g (6 tbs) unsalted butter
240 g Parmesan or Asagio cheese, grated
1 ts salt
fresh-ground black pepper
pinch of fresh-ground nutmeg
400 g very thin fettuccine pasta**

Combine the butter and 30 cl of the cream in a large pan. (It must fit the sauce and the pasta.) Heat over a low flame, stirring frequently, until the butter is melted and the cream comes to a bare simmer. Remove the pan from the heat once the butter is evenly incorporated into the cream. Avoid cooking.***

Cook the pasta, draining it before it reaches the al dente stage (3 m). (The pasta should be slightly undercooked because it will continue to cook while the sauce is being finished.)

Drain the pasta and add it to the pan, along with the remaining cream, the cheese, the salt, the nutmeg, and several grinds of the pepper mill.

Heat the pasta and sauce over a low flame, tossing continuously, until the cheese melts into the sauce and the sauce thickens slightly, about 1 to 2 m.

*There are several versions of this recipe, some with cream deleted, and with equal portions of butter and cheese (150 g). The cheese is melted in the soft butter until smooth.
**Fresh if possible. All thin pasta, like tagliatelle, will do.
***Try a quick & innovative way of cooking.

This recipe was created in Rome in 1914 by Alfredo Di Lelio for his pregnant wife. It refers to a traditional way of making butter sauces for pasta, but the cook doubled the quantity of butter. It become popular in the US after some Hollywood stars ate the dish in Rome and brought it back home, where it became known as Fettuccine Alfredo. The original restaurant is still a tourist restaurant in Rome. The family opened a new Alfredo's and franchised restaurants in the US, proudly bearing the image of the master, as seen in the picture.
Americans tend to add chicken or shrimps. This is really a primo piatto, a first course, to be followed by something substantially meaty or fishy.

An almost Sicilian salad

For ➋
2 large naval or blood oranges
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
10-12 black & green cured olives, halved
fresh mint leaves
sea salt
1 tbs olive oil

Peel oranges, and cut into pinwheels, or slice into blocks. Discard the white skin. Save the juice.
Arrange orange and fennel slices.
Drizzle with olive oil and juice. Add mint leaves and salt*.
Serve with a handful of cold or lukewarm pasta, like spirelli.

*If the orange peel is edible, discard white skin, clean and cut into small strips. Add to the salad, along with some nuts, like walnuts or almonds.

Read more Sicilian dishes: Sicilian swordfish, Sicilian olive sauce, tartar of shrimps & artichokes, Sicilian broccoli, spaghetti with tomatoes, capers & mint.

Kottbullar (Swedish meatballs)

For ➍ 250 g minced beef 250 g minced pork 1 egg 250 cl cream & water 2.5 tbs finely chopped onion 1 tbs unsweetened rusk crumbs (or crumbled dry bread/biscuits) 2 cold boiled potatoes 4 tbs butter, margarine or oil salt & pepper

Heat the onion till golden in a couple of tablespoons of lightly browned butter.

Mash the potatoes and moisten the flour in a little water. Mix all the ingredients until there is consistency and flavour generously with salt, white pepper and a little finely crushed allspice. Use a pair of spoons to shape the mixture into relatively large, round balls and transfer to a floured chopping board. Fry them slowly in plenty of butter.

Serve with the Swedish cream sauce, freshly boiled potatoes, lingonberry (or red berry) jam and salad.

The traditional recipe of köttbullar, Swedish meatballs, was made popular all over the world in the Ikea restaurants. And much easier to assemble.