Focaccia with olives and tomatoes

·      3 cups 0 Flour (in the USA this would be Bread flour), divided

·      1 cup Warm water

·      ¼ cup Olive oil

·      1 tablespoon Sugar

·      1 tablespoon Fine salt

·      ½ tablespoon Rock salt

·      1 cube Fresh yeast (or 1 Satchel of dry yeast)

·      Two roma tomatoes, sliced

·      Olives

·      Pepper and oregano, to taste

1.     Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F.

2.     In a big bowl, dissolve the fresh yeast with the sugar.  Simply by moving it around with a fork and mixing a bit, the fresh yeast will turn to liquid.  If you're using dry yeast, it will dissolve in the water... Add the warm water.

3.     Sift 1½ cups of flour into the bowl. Mix the water into the flour with a strong wooden spoon. Add the salt and mix with the spoon for about 1-2 minutes.

4.     Add the other 1½ cups of flour and kneed the focaccia dough for about 3 minutes, mixing very well.  Add the dough into the bowl and add olive oil.  Using your hands, squeeze the olive oil into the dough for about a minute.  Simply mixing with your hands, do this for about one minute...there will be extra oil a the bottom of the bowl (this will be poured on top of the dough later).

5.     Make a ball with the dough, and put the dough in a pan with a sheet of baking paper.  Press the dough into the pan with your hands.  Then make dimples in the dough with your fingers.  Add the sliced tomatoes, the olives and oregano. Drizzle some olive oil.

6.     Let the focaccia rise for approximately two hours.

7.     Bake at 350F/180C for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Focaccia with potatoes and rosemary

Focaccia with Rosemary

·      3 cups 0 Flour (in the USA this would be Bread flour), divided

·      1 cup Warm water

·      ¼ cup Olive oil

·      1 tablespoon Sugar

·      1 tablespoon Fine salt

·      ½ tablespoon Rock salt

·      1 cube Fresh yeast (or 1 Satchel of dry yeast)

·      Rosemary, to taste

·      1 Potato sliced

·      Pepper, to taste

1.     Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F.

2.     In a big bowl, dissolve the fresh yeast with the sugar.  Simply by moving it around with a fork and mixing a bit, the fresh yeast will turn to liquid.  If you're using dry yeast, it will dissolve in the water... Add the warm water.

3.     Sift 1½ cups of flour into the bowl. Mix the water into the flour with a strong wooden spoon. Add the salt and mix with the spoon for about 1-2 minutes.

4.     Add the other 1½ cups of flour and kneed the focaccia dough for about 3 minutes, mixing very well.  Add the dough into the bowl and add olive oil.  Using your hands, squeeze the olive oil into the dough for about a minute.  Simply mixing with your hands, do this for about one minute...there will be extra oil a the bottom of the bowl (this will be poured on top of the dough later).

5.     Make a ball with the dough, and put the dough in a pan with a sheet of baking paper.  Press the dough into the pan with your hands.  Then make dimples in the dough with your fingers.  In a separate bowl, mix the potatoes with olive oil, salt and rosemary. Place the potatoes on the top of the dough.

6.     Let the focaccia rise for approximately two hours.

7.     Bake at 350F/180C for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Squash, sausage and mushroom sauce

200g squash, in cubes 200g your favorite mushrooms, fresh (if dry use 50g)
200g mascarpone
300g Italian Sausage
200ml white wine
2 shallots, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
A handful of walnuts
4 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of nutmeg
1 tea spoon of black pepper
Salt to taste
Truffle oil (optional)

In a big pan, fry the garlic and the shallots in olive oil. When is brown add the squash, nutmeg, black pepper and the wine. Cook medium heat for about ten minutes with the lid or until the squash is soft, then you add the mascarpone. Squish everything using a fork or you can even use an immersion blender if you prefer smoother.
In another pan, sauté the sausages without casing with the mushrooms. When is all cooked mix with the squash sauce and serve with pasta.

You can also serve with rigatoni, then after you mix with the pasta add a lot of cheese on top and bake it.

For making it vegetarian, substitute the sausages for broccoli and spinach!

Pizzoccheri

Pizzoccheri

Pizzoccheri are a short tagliatelle made with buckwheat flour. Pizzoccheri is a pasta typical from the Alps bordering Switzerland and Italy.

1/2 pound of pizzoccheri 

3 big potatoes

5 leafs of Swiss chard

1/2 pound of fontina cheese

5 oz of Grana Padano cheese

4oz of butter

A clove of garlic

4/5 sage leafs

Salt and pepper to taste

Clean the the chard and cut a V-shaped cut along the veins of the leaves, then remove the stem.  Cut into sticks of a width of 1 cm so that are cooked faster.  

Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks.  Cook the potatoes and the Swiss chard for 10 minutes in a vegetable stock; in the same pan (with the chard and potatoes still inside) cook the Pizzoccheri pasta for another 10 minutes. 

 After 10 minutes of cooking, drain the pizzoccheri with a slotted spoon and pour some in a hot oven safe pan, sprinkle with grated Grana Padano and Valtellina Casera (you can use Fontina, Puzzone di Moena or Emmental), and continue alternating pizzoccheri and cheese.  In a separate pan, melt the butter with the garlic cloves uncut and sage until the garlic gets brown, remove the garlic and pour the melted butter on pizzoccheri (do not forget to take out the garlic cloves or they will overpower the dish).  Serve the pizzoccheri hot and with a dusting of freshly ground pepper.