Try “Ravioli di arrosto” with TANTO Sangiovese
A delicious dish that can serve as pasta and main course! This recipe serves 8 persons.
Ingredients for the filling and the sauce:

• 1.1 lb. of rump of beef
• 1 small onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• half a carrot
• celery (a small stalk)
• thyme (to your taste)
• a sprig of rosemary
• half a glass of good dry white wine
• 0.45 lb of mascarpone
• 0.22 lb of grated Parmesan cheese
• extra virgin olive oil adjust to your taste

Ingredients for the dough:

• 1 lb. of all purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• a pinch of salt

Tie the meat with a kitchen string and brown it in a pan for a few minutes with a little EVOO and a sprig of rosemary (the meat must turn brownish). Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan sauté the celery, carrot and onion (all cut into little cubes) in EVOO and adding also a clove of garlic. After a few minutes add a little water to the vegetables pan and the wine to the meat pan. Let the alcohol evaporate and transfer the meat, with its juice, in the pan with vegetables. Season with salt, pepper, cover it and cook for at least two hours, adding water if necessary. Once cooked remove the meat from its pan, cut and take away the string, cut the meat into small pieces and put in a blender with the Parmesan cheese, mascarpone and the meat cooking sauce filtered through a sieve. A homogeneous mixture should be obtained. Put it in a pastry bag and now proceed by making the dough.

Place the flour on a pastry board, make a well and and put the 4 eggs in it as shown above, add a pinch of salt and, using a fork, mix it. Once the mixture is thick enough you can use your hands to work on the dough.

Work the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic then wrap it in a film and let it rest for half an hour in the fridge. Then, using a pasta machine, as shown in the picture below, make thin layers of dough (set machine at n. 5 or 6 thickness).

To make the ravioli put the filling on each strip of dough in equal doses and equally spaced. Cover them with another layer of thin dough, delicately make sure to let the air off before you close them then cut them as regularly as possible, the easiest way is to shape them as little squares (you may also use what we call “raviolatore” a special tray with little holes to help shaping and cutting ravioli).

You are now ready to cook them! Bring salted water to boiling and boil the ravioli. It takes about 5 minutes to cook them. In the meanwhile you will have saved the juice from the stewed meat. Once you have drained the ravioli put them in the pan and quickly sautè them. Add a little EVOO and Parmesan cheese. Enjoy this yummy dish with a glass of TANTO Sangiovese!

Picture from FB TrabocchInFood (Credit to www.pasticceriamoysanna.it/)

St.Joseph “Zeppole” are an Italian and Abruzzo typical sweet of very old traditions apparently dating back to Roman times. The legend tells that, after the flight into Egypt with Mary and Jesus, St. Joseph had to sell fritters to support his family in a foreign land. For this reason, throughout Italy, “Zeppole” are the sweets of Father’s Day. Every city, province or region obviously has its own variant of donuts but the key element is that they are fried in hot oil, just as tradition requires.

Picture from FB TrabocchInFood (Credit to www.pasticceriamoysanna.it/)

Following ingredients and quantities will make for about 15 “Zeppole”:

For the dough:

• Water  250 ml
• Butter  2.50 oz
• Flour 5.30 oz
• The zest of 1 lemon;
• 1 pinch of salt
• Eggs 3
• Sugar 1.50 oz

For the custard:

• Flour 1.00 oz
• Fresh milk 250 ml
• The zest of ½ lemon
• Egg yolks 3
• Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder
• Sugar 2.15 oz

For garnish:

• Candied cherries or sour cherries in syrup, 1 for each donut
• Icing sugar to taste

Pic and recipe credit to http://www.risorse.immobiliarecaserio.com/zeppole-di-san-giuseppe/

First prepare the custard and let it cool. Meanwhile, prepare the dough for the “zeppole” by pouring water in a thick-bottomed saucepan, add the salt and the butter (Pic.#1) and slowly bringing it to boil. As soon as the butter has melted and the water starts boiling, remove the pan from the heat and pour inside the flour (Pic.#2), mix well with a wooden spoon and obtain a compact ball (Pic.#3).

Pic and recipe credit to http://www.risorse.immobiliarecaserio.com/zeppole-di-san-giuseppe/

Put the pan back on low heat and turn the mixture until you see a white layer starts forming on the bottom of the pan. Turn off the heat, add the sugar (Pic.# 4), stir and mix well, then pour the mixture into a bowl and let it cool. Then add to the mix the lemon zest (Pic.# 5) and the eggs (Pic.# 6), one at a time, by adding the following only when the previous one has been completely absorbed (you can do this with a wooden spoon or you can use a hand mixer or a food processor).

Pic and recipe credit to http://www.risorse.immobiliarecaserio.com/zeppole-di-san-giuseppe/

Cut out little squares of wax paper (Pic.# 7); place the mixture in a pastry bag fitted with a star nozzle and squeeze above each square a disk of dough of a diameter of abt. 2 inches with a movement that will form in spiral (Pic.# 8). On the outer edge of each disk overlay a ring of dough (Pic.# 9) as to form a little bowl.

Pic and recipe credit to http://www.risorse.immobiliarecaserio.com/zeppole-di-san-giuseppe/

Use a saucepan with high edge, place the frying oil (preferably peanut) and bring it to a temperature of about 320 ° F, the oil should not be too hot, it must gently fry the donuts allowing you to turn them over several times so that they can inflate evenly. When the oil has reached the ideal temperature, dip no more than 2-3 donuts per time still attached to the square of wax paper (Pic.# 10) on which are placed, the paper will come off by itself after a few seconds and you can remove it (Pic.# 11). Stir several times the donuts in the hot oil until they are evenly, lightly browned (Pic.# 12),

then drain the oil in excess by putting them on multiple sheets of paper towels (Pic.# 13). When you have fried all the donuts, place the custard in a pastry bag and squeeze it at the center of each donuts (Pic.# 14), add a cherry on top (Pic.# 15) and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

(The Pupa, the girl, and the Cavallo, the horse, traditional cookies from Abruzzo.Credit for the pic to www.meaculpa.it)

Here in Abruzzo we are getting ready for Easter! During the Holy Week, the week prior to Easter, it is easy to find pastry shops and bakeries selling the so called “Pupa” (the girl) or the “Cavallo”(horse), typical Easter cakes that are made in the shape of a woman or a horse.

(Didascalia: A great example of Pupa with a whole egg in her womb. Credit for the pic to wasabicucina.blogspot.com)

Most families still prepare Pupa and Cavallo cakes at home. Tradition tells that you should prepare them on the Holy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, and then the woman offers the horse to the man and vice versa. It more often happens that these cakes are given, with great fun, as Easter gift to kids! It ‘s an old tradition that in most cases, when it comes to the “pupa”, the girl shape, has a whole egg placed in her womb , in the dough, as a symbol of fertility. It cooks when the “pupa” is baked and is a good wish to eat it on Easter day.

Here is the recipe (I have personally experienced!):

• 1.5 lb all purpose flour
• 0.60 lb of sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 of a glass with EVOO (you can use seeds oil if you prefer)
• grated peel of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• teaspoon of vanilla powder

Put all ingredients in a mixer to obtain a dough as shown below

(Credit to www.cucinainsimpatia.net)

Take the dough from the mixer and, depending on size of the Pupa or Cavallo you want to make start working it on a piece of wax paper (it will have to be a type of paper that can go in the oven!)

(Credit to www.cucinainsimpatia.net)

With your hands give the shape you like

(Credit to www.cucinainsimpatia.net)

Do not forget that Pupa needs to have a nice…”breast”! I have seen some with three!!!

(Credit to http://it.paperblog.com)

And here if you are making Cavallo, the Horse.

(Credit to www.cucinainsimpatia.net)

Then you will bake them at about 350° F for 45 minutes. Once baked you can decorate them as you like. You can use chocolate spread or more often we use icing obtained obtained with egg white and powdered sugar (in the mixer until they get thick). Below is an example made with icing.

(Credit to www.cucinainsimpatia.net)

(Credit to www.cucinainsimpatia.net)

You can really decorate them as you like, it’s a lot of fun especially if you have kids! Below is how my Pupa, the one I made Easter last year, looked like (I just noticed that I forgot the breast and the egg in the womb! I will have to work better this year!). Enjoy and have fun!

Ingredients (Serves 6 people)

• 1 lb. all purpose flour (for the dough)
• 5 eggs (for the dough)
• 1 medium size onion
• 0.8 lb of gronde beef
• 1 small glass of EVOO
• 1.5 lb of tomato sauce
• 0.5 lb of Pecorino (Romano)
• Hot pepper to your taste
• Salt to your taste
• 4 Italian sausages
• 2 eggs for the filling

You will start by making the sauce. Finely chop the onion and put it to cook with extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan. Crumble in the sausage and add the
minced meat too. Stir everything very well, then let cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, the red pepper and cook for about 40 minutes adjusting with salt.
To make the “sfoglia” (pasta sheet) you use the flour and 5 eggs.

Beat the 5 eggs taking in more and more flour until it becomes thicker.

Then you can start working on it with your hands to reach the right consistency as you can see below.

Then to make the “sfoglia” (pasta thin sheet) you can either do manually (it depends on how clever you feel and how much muscle exercise you want to do!!) with a rolling pin or you can use a pasta machine of the type shown here.

The pasta sheet needs to be really thin and once you have obtained the right thickness you can cut it in squares of approximately 7 inches side.
In a large pan bring salted water to boil adding 2 tablespoons of EVOO. Once the water is boiling you can plunge in the little squares of pasta, do not put all pasta squares in the water together, just 3 or 4 pieces at a time. Make sure that by the side of your boiling pan you have prepared a large bowl with cold water in it and a clean kitchen cloth close by. As you drain the pasta put it in cold water to quickly cool down then put the boiled pasta squares, to further dry, on the kitchen cloth. Then, using another bowl, pour half of the sauce in it, make sure the sauce is cool and add 2 eggs, two thirds of the cheese and mix it well until you obtain a creamy mixture. Spread a good spoonful of this mixture on each square of dough and fold in four (as shown in the picture above). Grease a baking pan with oil and put the “fregnacce” (the little folded and filled pasta) in the baking dish slightly overlapping them. Then sprinkle with remaining sauce and cheese and bake it in preheated oven at 350°F for 10 minutes. Let it sit for about 5 minutes in (possibly) a covered container before serving as it is shown in the picture. Enjoy!