Pizzoccheri - Buckwheat pasta with vegetables

Our South-Italian/German family often eats traditionalNorth-Italian dishes like pizzoccheri. Well, it is not the original receipt which requires cheese and cabbage instead of Swiss chard. But I think the poors of the Valtellina valley surely used any vegetable available ignoring the traditions like me.

During the last holidays I've begun to prepare home-made pizzoccheri, and I am very satisfied with the result. It is easy to make and tastes as good as the ones that are bought at the supermarket.

The colour of the pizzoccheri depends on how much hull remains after the milling, so the taste of the pasta may change by using different brands of buckwheat flour.

I always cook for 4 servings adding a large quantity of vegetables. The remains will be used the next lunchtime, heating it in the oven.

 

First, I prepare the  pizzoccheri pasta:

300 gr. buckwheat flour
50 gr. whole wheat flour
water, the quantity depends of the flour but it will be more than 200 ml.
olive-oil, Durum Wheat Semolina

Mix the flours together on a cutting board or a flat work surface, then knead with the water.

Work the dough with your hands for at least 5 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and velvety to the touch.
Place the dough in a olive-oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a plate and place it in the fridge for 1 hour.


Divide the dough in 3 parts and roll each part on a Durum Wheat Semolina dusted surface into thin sheets. Then, cut the sheet in stripes, large 7 - 8 centimetres and cut each stripe in  0,5 cm large pasta stripes.
Place the ready pasta stripes on a semolina-dusted napkin end cover them with another napkin.

Bring a large pot of water to boil, then and add salt as you do for other pasta.

Add the pizzoccheri e cook them for 5 - 10 minutes. Check sometimes to make sure it is "al dente".
Drain the pasta. 

The quantity of vegetables depends on what offers the fridge:

4 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 kilo of Swiss chard, cut in pieces large 1 - 2  centimetres
1 onion, finely chopped    
300 gr of carrots, peeled and chopped
olive-oil
salt, pepper, dried garlic
 

Heat an abundant quantity of oil in a large pan, add the carrots, the onion and the potatoes. Cook them for some minutes. Add then the Swiss chard and the garlic.

Continue to cook the vegetables on a low temperature.
After 20 minutes the vegetables will be "al dente".
Season  with salt and pepper.
Mix the  vegetables with the pizzoccheri and if you are not vegan, add a some pieces of feta-cheese.
Let them brown for some minutes under the grill before serving.

 

Chai Tea chocolate cake

Do you miss it?

I have always missed eggs in my cakes, so I have stopped baking them after some bitter frustration. Some weeks ago, my colleague Isabella brought me a slice of home-made chocolate cake and I remained delighted. The cake was soft and fluffy like a cake has to be.
I have adapted her receipt to make my Chai Tea chocolate cake

Solid ingredients

180 gr.      wholemeal wheat flour

20 gr.        potato starch

30 gr.        cocoa powder, unsweetened

20 gr         grated coconut

1               sachet backing powder

1/2  teaspoon cannel powder

1/2  teaspoon star anise powder

 Liquid ingredients

80 gr.        cane sugar

20 gr.        unrefined coconut blossom nectar which contributes with a fine caramel flavour

100 gr.      margarine

50 gr.        almond cream

250 gr.      strong brewed chai tea

other ingredients

50 gr.        dark chocolate (70%) to finish the cake

 

    ·      Preheat the oven to 180° C.

·    Grease a 20 cm springform cake tin with neutral oil.

·    Put all liquid ingredients except the chai tea in a bowl.

·    Add 1 teaspoon of the potato starch (solid ingredients) and  1/4 teaspoon of the backing powder (solid ingredients)

·   Mix the ingredients with the electric mixer adding some tablespoons of Chai tea little by little until all the tea is mixed with the other liquid ingredients and you have obtained a creamy liquid.

·    Mix all the solid ingredients in another bowl.

·    Add the liquid ingredients to the solid ones and mix everything to obtain a dark brown cream.

·    Spoon the mixture into the prepared springform and bake for 45 minutes until well risen. Use a toothpick to control if it is cooked.

·    Cool the cake on a cooling rack.

·    Cover the cake with the chocolate liquidised in the bain-marie.

 

For the cake in the photo, I have filled the cake with red jam like a Sachercake, before completing it with the chocolate.

 

 

 

 

Crispy bread slices

I admit it - I wasn't honest with you yesterday!

We have been eating crispy rye-bread slices every day since December 23th, the day I found the original receipt in "My blue& white kitchen" searching for a new idea to present the traditional smoked salmon starters on Christmas Eve.

We have eaten the smoked salmon without the crisp bread, because all the slices have disappeared during the day. The slices look like a Nordic version of Sardinian Carasau bread but I missed the spices (I love spices, spices are good!) used for the Tyrolean Schűttelbrot, a dry rye-bread. So, the receipt revised contains the yesterday bread spices. I have modified the flour quantities because it is not easy to handle rye dough which remains moist. Don't worry if the shaped dough is not perfect, you can remake a ball with it and re-initiate to roll it out.

 

 

So, here is the adapted receipt of  crispy rye-bread slices:

For the dough you need 

100 gr. of wholemeal rye flour

50 gr. of wholemeal wheat flour

10 gr. of fresh yeast

a tablespoon of olive oil

half a teaspoon of the bread spices

100 gr. lukewarm water.

To complete you need sesame seeds and some water bur NO salt.

Sieve the flours on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle.

In a jug, mix the yeast and the olive oil with the water and leave it for a few minutes, then pour it into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually, from the sides, and swirl it into the liquid.

Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

Place the ball of dough in a olive-oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour. The dough will not double in size.

Remove the dough to a Durum Wheat Semolino dusted surface.

Take half of the dough and shape it into a round about 1 or 2 millimetres thick.

Use a knife to cut the dough into squares or triangles and let them rise for the time the oven needs to heat at 250° C.

Brush the bread surface with water and sprinkle it with the seeds.

Bake the crispy bread for 5 minutes.

bread spices mixture

The typical mitteleuropean bread is made with rye flour and it always seems moist.

These German bread spices gentle the strong rye flavour and maybe they prevent the indigestion of the moist bread.

 

 

We usually don't eat rye-flour bread, but I like making my own spice mixtures, that I toast and ground by myself by using a mortar and a pestle at the last minute, so that their delicate aroma can be enjoyed.

Here is the receipt of my bread spices mixture: 

 

Preheat a pan and add the tablespoons of cumin seeds, anise seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds, stirring constantly for one or two minutes at medium heat.

Remove the spices from the pan to avoid burning them and let them cool down for ten minutes before grounding.

I need about 30 minutes th ground this mixture and you must be attended th ground the fenugreek seeds very well, they are like stones.