Salted mullet roe spaghetti ( Spaghetti alla bottarga)

Salted mullet roe ( called "bottarga" in Italian) is a food speciality that comes from Sardinia island.

It's also called Mediterranean caviar because it's just fish eggs ( mullet ones are very esteemed because of their gentle taste but you can find bottarga made with tuna eggs and others) salted, pressed and matured.

Once bottarga was the lunch of fishermen when they were all day long on their boats: eggs and fish entrails were a property of "tonnarotti" ( fishermen who fish tuna), nowadays it' s a common pasta season: it must be grated the same way you do with Parmesan and it's the best way to serve and taste it.

For 4 serves you need:

1 garlic clove

extra-virgin olive oil in plenty

a piece of bottarga (about 2 1/2 oz.)

1 pound spaghetti

fresh parsley if you like, washed and chopped

Cook spaghetti in boiling water with salt (less than usual because bottarga is already salad).

Meanwhile grate bottarga, take a large bowl (large enough to serve pasta), pell the garlic clove and rub it on the whole inside of the bowl, then leave it on the bottom.

Add oil in the bowl, a lot of oil, grease the sides of the bowl too then sprinkle sides and bottom with a part of grated bottarga.

Drain spaghetti "al dente" with a big fork and put them in the bowl (don't use the classic colander because it could dry pasta too much).

Add the rest of bottarga, some more oil if needed, parsley.

Mix well and serve.

P.S. : you can find bottarga already grated or fresh, vacuum packed: prefer the second one, the aroma is better preserved than the first one!

Veal rolls with Parma ham and dates (Involtini di vitello con prosciutto e datteri)

Im back with an unusual recipe, it's so tasty and could be served as warm starter or a second dish (well, I prefer it as starter).

For 4 serves you need:

4 thin veal slices

4 whole slices of Parma ham

8 dates (more or less, it depends on how big they are)

salt

black pepper

sage

mustard sauce

Beat the meat if necessary to make it regoular and thin.
Spread on each slice some mustar sauce, cover with a slice of parma ham, add a date (without stone) and roll the meat.
Close with a toothpick or even better with those silicone laces that close so well and can be removed without break the roll.
Add salt and pepper, heat a pan with some extra-virgin olive oil and sage, cook rolls and serve warm.
If rolls are too big for an appetizer cut them in half with a well sharped knife.

Icing cookies ( Biscotti glassati) second try.

This is not a recipe post but a "show off" about what I made this week end, taking inspiration from Pam ( http://cookiecrazie.blogspot.com/ ).
I've piped them, unluckly I have only one sac a poche so I can manage just one color at time...It's not so comfortable, next time I'll try to have more material to work with.
It's quite easy once you take confidence with icing but it's a long work!

Spelt salad with tomatoes, arugula, grated Parmesan and balsamic vinegar (Insalata di farro con pomodori, rucola, Grana e balsamico)

 Today an easy and tasty recipe that fits the need of something fresh and light we have with the first really hot days of the year.

Spelt is a cereal, quite common in Italy, very used in some regions like Tuscany and Umbria.

It grows even in poor grounds, it's the less calorific cereal and contains about the 15 % in proteins.

For 2-3 persons you need:

7 oz. spelt

salt

extra-virgin olive oil

some red and ripe tomatoes (great the cherry ones)

a bunch of fresh arugula

3 spoons of freshly grated parmesan

3 spoons of good balsamic vinegar

Let the spelt soaking all night long, then cook it in salty water the time written on the packaging.

Drain it and let it get cold, meanwhile cut tomatoes in little cubes, if you have cherry tomatoes split them in 4 parts.

Put them in a bowl and add cold spelt, olive oil as much as needed, Parmesan and balsamic vinegar.

Mix very well then put on the serving dish.

You can spread it or put it into a big round-shaped cookie cutter to give it a most elegant presentation.

Put on top of spelt fresh arugula well washed then add another drizzle of oil and vinegar.

Isn't it tasty and nice?

Enjoy it!

Mother's day (Festa della mamma).

I hadn't so much time to go in search of presents and to tell you the truth we're not so involved in this kind of celebrations (quite more an occasion to spend than to celebrate...).
But today we had to go to my grandma's house for lunch so I decided (yesterday at 11 p.m., I should have decided some hours earlier...But I'm a sort of night bird) to make a cake.

Something easy & peasy, just a shell of pastry with egg custard inside but because some pastry remained and I was so excited about my new purchases of food colours and sac a poche pipes I decided to make some heart cookies and two big flower cookies.

I decorated them with pink icing and these on the photos are the results.

Do you like them?

Fillo pastry rolls with cheese and honey (Caramelle di pasta fillo con formaggio e miele)

I'm back with a really easy recipe great as appetizer or part of a buffet table.

For about 10-12 serves you need:

1 roll of fillo pastry

1 pack stringy cheese

honey

extravirgin olive oil

Cut the fillo pastry in little squares, sized them to fit the mouth in one bite.

Brush the fillo's sheets with olive oil, then put a cube of cheese and close the roll (the shape you prefer).

Bake in oven 120 F° for about 10 minutes then brush them with some honey while they're still hot then serve.

Nice blogger

This is my first blog prize: given by Mariagrazia ( http://sempreincucinaconallegria.blogspot.com/ ) make me so proud!
The prize rules are easy: just write a joke or a funny anectode on your blog then spread the prize to other 5 bloggers.
I prefer personal stories to jokes and this is mine:

I was at the very first of the relationship with the man who's now my dear husband.
We were far from each other fot the first time and we were on the phone chatting like only two newly lovers can do.
He said: "oh I miss your eyes, coloured like sea".
I (quite angry because my eyes are of a greenish brown) : "what are you saying? My eyes aren't bloe!! Who are you speaking about??"
My love, quite astonished: "but my dear...I live in Rimini, here the sea has got exactly that greenish-brown colour..."
I laughed for a week...
He was totally right!

Now the five blogs that, according to me, deserve this prize:

http://cookiecrazie.blogspot.com/ Pam from Cookie Crazie who helps me so much with my experiments in icing cookies

http://newlywedcooking.blogspot.com/ Sharon from Culinary adventures of a new wife

http://bellociccolato.blogspot.com/ Cynthia from Bello ciccolato

http://hanaaskitchen.blogspot.com/ Hanaa from Hanaa's kitchen

I hope the nice blogger I nominated will enjoy this prize!

P.S. : in Italian simpatico = nice ^^

http://tonispastries.blogspot.com/ Antonella from Toni's pastries