recipe: roasted red pepper and almond dip (salsa cremosa di peperoni rossi arrosto e mandorle)

March 12, 2014 | Simona

Roasted red pepper and almond dip

by Simona Carini

Prep Time: 45 minutes total

Cook Time: 1 hour total

Keywords: blender bake roast appetizer sugar-free vegetarian vegan almond red pepper

Ingredients (1 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup whole almonds, blanched, peeled and toasted in the oven for 12 minutes at 350 F
[Note: I measure the almonds after I toast them; the weight is 75 g]
1 cup drained oven-roasted Round of Hungary peppers or red bell peppers (see Note below)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
A generous pinch of dried grated orange zest
3 garlic cloves, roasted with the skin on and then peeled (see Note below)
1 tablespoon fresh bread crumbs (made from my homemade bread)
1 teaspoon olive oil
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Note: Given their shape, I roast this kind of peppers whole, at 375 F. After 25 minutes or so, I turn them stem-side down and complete the roasting. When done, I put them in a paper bag to steam and then peel them and remove the seeds. I wrap the garlic cloves in a piece of foil and roast them with the peppers, taking them out when I turn the peppers. When cooled, I peel the cloves. If using red bell peppers, place them on their side and turn them 90 degrees every 15 minutes until done, then proceed as above.

Finely chop the almonds in a food processor. Add roasted peppers, bread crumbs, orange zest, vinegar, lemon juice and garlic and process to a coarse purée.

With the machine running, pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process a little longer.

Season the dip with sea salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a small bowl.

Cover and refrigerate. Bring the dip to room temperature before serving.

If you don’t need the whole batch, spoon half in a one-cup container. Cover the surface with a small piece of wax paper, put the lid and freeze. Thaw before serving.

Go to the full post on salsa cremosa di peperoni rossi arrosto e mandorle / roasted red pepper and almond dip

torta di segale e mela / rye apple cake

July 24, 2011 | Simona

As member of a grain CSA, I receive a monthly share that includes various stone-ground, whole-grain flours, like wheat, barley and rye flour.

Rye is a cereal grain that looks like wheat but is longer and more slender and varies in color from yellowish brown to grayish green. It is generally available in its whole or cracked grain form or as flour or flakes that look similar to old-fashioned oats. Because it is difficult to separate the germ and bran from the endosperm of rye, rye flour usually retains a large quantity of nutrients, in contrast to refined wheat flour. (source: the world's healthiest foods)

I have been admittedly slow at taking up rye flour (farina di segale), but recently I have found two recipes that are fantastic. This is the first one, and it comes from Dan Lepard, whose book The Handmade Loaf is one of my most used bread baking books. You can tell by the amount of flour that hits your face when you open it on certain pages.

When I read his recipe for rye apple cake, I knew immediately that it would be great. I have made it three times and three times I managed to take so-so photos of what is really a nice, moist, deep-flavored cake. On the other hand, I like the photo of the rye flour.

I made a few adjustments to the original list of ingredients, mostly to reduce the amount of sweetener, and the end result is as follows:

1 apple (about 175-180 g) [I have used Gala apples, since this is the best quality I am finding now: I will switch to using locally grown apples as soon as the new crop arrives]
ground cinnamon (cannella), for dusting the apple pieces
50 g / 1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon almond meal
25 g / 3 tablespoons sliced [flaked] almonds (mandorle)
150 g / 1 1/2 cup minus 2 tablespoons whole-grain rye flour [see note 1 below]
2 tsp baking powder
70 g / 2.5 oz. unsalted butter
25 g / 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon agave nectar
25 g / 1 tablespoon honey (miele) [see note 2 below]
25 g / 2 tablespoons sugar (zucchero)
75 ml / 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon milk (latte)
1 egg (uovo)

Note 1: the original recipe does not specify the type of rye flour. The flour I get is stone ground and some of the bran is in large flakes. I sift them out, toast them and add them to yogurt.

Note 2: I weighed the ingredients and made the conversion to volume for the post. One tablespoon of agave nectar or of honey is less than 25 g, so I added 1 teaspoon of agave nectar to balance out the weight.

I followed the instructions as stated in the original recipe except that I did not need to grind the almonds, since I had almond meal and did not dust the cake with sugar before putting it in the oven.

A great cake for a sweet breakfast or to go with a cup of tea (una tazza di tè).

This is my contribution to the July edition of Healing Foods, the event created and organized by Siri of Cooking with Siri and hosted this month by Simona of briciole (that would be me). I chose the theme of the month to be whole grains and whole-grain flours.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

torta di segale e mela

or launch the torta di segale e mela audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

rye flour, apple, cake

torta al cioccolato con mandorle e mela / chocolate apple nut torte

April 28, 2011 | Simona

If you are not familiar with the term, a torte is a cake made with eggs, ground nuts, sugar and little or no flour. The English word torte comes from the German Torte, which comes from the late Latin torta. The Italian torta means cake, so it is more generic than the English torte.

I have been meaning to write about this torte for a long time: what has prevented me was that I could never get a decent photo. I was not looking for a great shot, but simply one good enough to show what the dessert looks like. I have finally decided that the photo above will have to do: the beauty of this torta is in its flavor and texture, not its outward look.

The original recipe for Chocolate-Apple-Nut Torte is in Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, which, besides being a great cookbook, gets my vote for best cookbook title ever. I made the torte the first time for a party at our house and it has become a favorite. In fact, a slice of it, like the one in the photo, is my usual afternoon snack. From the beginning, I started making changes to the original recipe, both to the ingredients and the procedure. (This post shows a more faithful rendition.)

You can see the original list of ingredients on this page, while this is what I use:

8 egg whites and 4 egg yolks from pastured eggs (the remaining 4 yolks usually go into the making of Peter Reinhart's challah, from Artisan Breads Every Day)
3 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
1 cup almonds (mandorle), blanched, skin removed and lightly toasted in a 350 F oven (for 12 minutes or so)
4.5 oz. chocolate (70% cacao), coarsely chopped or broken up into smallish pieces
1 medium organic apple (mela)
1/16 teaspoon ground cinnamon (cannella)
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole-grain barley flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

As you can see, the torte has no added fat. I first cut down the amount of sugar to 1/4 cup then substituted it with agave nectar or honey (miele). Instead of chocolate chips, I use chocolate of good quality with a high cacao content. Then, instead of white flour, I use whole-grain barley flour that I get as part of my grain CSA share. Finally, I choose an apple with a soft skin, leave it unpeeled (this way, I avoid food waste) grate it and use it all.

You can prepare the almonds in advance. If you do not, make sure they cool down before proceeding with the recipe. Separate the eggs, place them in two bowls and let them come to room temperature. In choosing the bowls for the egg yolks, keep in mind that it will end up containing all the batter.

Put almonds and chocolate in the food processor and first pulse a few times, then let it run for a while until chopped rather finely. I don't pulverize the almonds, so the cake has some texture from small pieces of both almonds and chocolate. Quarter the apple and grate it using the extra-coarse side of a hand grater or the coarse shredding disc of a food processor (this is to minimize the release of juice).

Heat the oven to 350 F (select the convection baking option, if available; I do so, and since my oven does the temperature adjustment, I still set it to 350 F). Line the bottom of an 8.5-9" springform pan with parchment paper and spray some oil around the side. (If you use a pan that is slightly smaller or bigger, you may need to adjust the baking time.)

Beat the egg whites (albumi) until stiff peaks form and set aside. Beat the egg yolks (tuorli) with the agave nectar or honey until thick and bubbly. Add the following ingredients in sequence, each time folding them in with a spatula:

almonds and chocolate
grated apple, cinnamon, vanilla and salt
sifted flour and baking powder

Add 1/3 of the egg whites and fold in gently, then fold in the rest. It is fine if the batter is not homogeneous. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spread evenly and put the pan in the oven.

Check the torte after 40 minutes. The torte is ready when a toothpick inserted in the center of it comes out clean. If you use a convection oven, 40 minutes may be enough as baking time. If you use a regular oven, you will need a few more minutes. Let the torte cool completely, then run a knife all around before opening the pan. Slice the torte and enjoy it. A cup of chocolate cream tea goes very well with it.

This is my submission for the third edition of Creative Concoctions, an event created by Ivy of Kopiaste..to Greek Hospitality that has two editions per month. The theme of Creative Concoctions #3 is desserts.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

torta al cioccolato con mandorle e mela

or launch the torta al cioccolato con mandorle e mela audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

torciglione

January 22, 2009 | Simona

As I mentioned in my recent post on dolci delle feste, every region of Italy has specific traditions: torciglione is a tradition of my region, Umbria. As a child, I ate occasionally the one made by a family friend.

When Jeremy of DoBianchi wrote a comment on fagiolina del Trasimeno mentioning the anguilla (eel) traditionally fished in the lake, I was reminded of torciglione. I knew that its shape is supposed to represent the snakelike fish. I was also reminded of the fact that, unlike eel, I liked torciglione a lot, so I decided to try to make it for the upcoming holiday season. (As an aside, it is actually possible to buy torciglione during the year.)

The main ingredients of torciglione are almonds (mandorle), sugar (zucchero) and egg whites (albumi). I looked for some recipes, then made up my first version using 300 g of almonds and 200 g of sugar (in the recipes I read, the quantity of sugar was higher). I then made a second version with even less sugar, 170 g. I liked that better than its predecessor. At this point, I read a post on torciglione by Salsadisapa of qualcosa di rosso: her recipe had even less sugar, so I felt justified in further reducing the amount I would use for my third version. Another important characteristic of her recipe was the lack of flour, an ingredient that I had also reduced to a couple of tablespoonfuls. I am very thankful to Salsadisapa for this detail and for the exchange we had on the topic.

A handful of bitter almonds is added to the sweet ones, but I cannot find bitter almonds, so I skip that ingredient. I like to use vanilla sugar (i.e., sugar that is stored in a jar with vanilla beans) and just a hint of grated lemon zest to add nuanced flavor.

Ingredients:

300 g (10.5 oz.) almonds, blanched, peeled, dried in the oven at 300 F and cooled
125 g (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) [vanilla] sugar
a bit of grated lemon zest
2 large egg whites
pine nuts (pinoli), two coffee beans (chicchi di caffè) and an almond slice for the decoration

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Chop the almonds in the food processor, together with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and the lemon zest. Do not pulverize the almonds: the granules give a nice varied texture to the final product. (I hope that the close-up gives a sense of what I mean here.) Place almonds in a bowl, add the remaining sugar and mix. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold them in the almond mix (the latter will become wet and sticky). Pour on the baking sheet and shape into a snake. Decorate as you like. This is the fun part. In my version, coffee beans become the snake’s eyes and an almond slice its tongue, rigorously, and impertinently sticking out of its mouth. I use a spatula to make short slits on both sides and finally align pine nuts on the back of my torciglione. I guess that makes it vaguely reminiscent of an iguana.

Bake until golden. Check after 30 minutes and gauge the remaining baking time. I usually need about 35 minutes. Let the torciglione cool thoroughly before slicing it. The outer layer is crisp, the inner core softer, with texture provided by the crunchy almonds: each morsel is a delight.

I would like to thank Jeremy of DoBianchi for inspiring me to replicate this small piece of my childhood. As I was finishing the writing of this post, I received news regarding Jeremy and his group’s (Nous Non Plus) new record Ménagerie: congratulations!

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

torciglione

or launch the torciglione audio file [mp3].