Never Stop!

As I said before, I have just concluded a over twenty year long experience in commerce. Owned the most beautiful shop in town with the best staff that one could ever imagine.

But that is gone now. One chapter of my life is gone and another opens up. We'll have time to talk about the past, but I want to talk about the future.

Cooking is my future, a long term project is shaping and I will disclose later what I am talking about. so far I am researching and... studying. Yes. Studying.

With the help and complicity of a friend of mine who shall remain unnamed (no, NOT Voldemort), I have gained access to a great professional catering kitchen of the area. I volunteer there a few days a week, working like everybody else on things that could seem too easy and dull, but that is, when you are the last one arriving, you get the hard work, so the great professionals can express theirseves in their creation.

A few days ago, I was directed to make the simplest, yet greatest mini tarte tatin for nonetheless than 120 people. All with my industrious hands and under the control and direction of Fathos and Katja.








I have met the corer/peeler/slicer, a new friend that I would love to have but then I do not eat enough apples to really use it in my life, but as anybody decently in love with cooking, I would just love to have it, because it is cool and makes for a great piece of conversation. WHAT THE CABBAGE! I want it!






Then I had to use it. 

Here is how it works, you stick the apple (trying to centre the core) in this ugly prop thingy, a peeler on the side a slicer on the bottom and a crank on the other side, you manually activate the crank, and voilà! Perfect slices of green apples and a lot of peel on the other side

Fun! FUN! fun....

2 Crates of apples later, it was still fun, but I decided that I can wait buying one. I still love it and will come here and slice/core/peel an apple anytime I want one.

Dear corer/slicer/peeler, it has been brief but very intense.. I will not forget you...

The slices of apples, in this case Granny Smith, were placed on a bath of water, lemon juice and sugar. 

We left them in a fridge for a couple of hours as this way we kept the texure of the apples but lost part of its tartness.

The peels come out very very cute, a long thread of applepeel, in this case we discarded them, but I have tried frying them in simple olive oil and use them as a garnish and guess what, it is DELISH.

In this case we made many many mini cakes, but if you use the same system, you can do a big one.

Now the recipe. 

Disclaimer, Get used to it, I rarely give measures, as I said so many times before it is NOT the matter of measuring but tasting!

A shallow cake plate, some parchment paper and here we go.

Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of dark sugar on the bottom of the cake plate / of course just a generous pinch on the singular tartes, optional is a tiny sprinkle of cinnamon, adjust all the slices of apples on it, you can wedge them or half them, entirely at your choice.

Add some butter on top and cover with puff pastry - that I BUY. I did it once and it was great,but also a great effort, not easy at all.

Heat the oven at 180°C/ 350* F and, once the temperature is reached, put in the cake.

In case of the mini tarts, it will take 12 - 15 min, if you do one bigger cake it will take about 35 min. The cust will turn a nice dark golden colour. 

I would have loved showing you the final result, but we ate the two of them that were cooked before I could take a picture.

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For the presentation I would use a simple custard cream, of which I will give you a recipe later.
A nice dollop of it on the serving plate and we placed the cake, reversed on it, so we got this beautiful caramelized apples, with a fragrant puff pastry under it.

Trust me, it was Yum!

Homemade Tagliolini in spicy veggie broth

Comfort food is comfort food, and in winter, a soup or a broth is THE comfort food. Vegetal broth aside of being easy, is the basis of poor people's table. Water, some veggies, and time. That's it.

In this case, here is the list of ingredients: 2 stalks of celery, 2 carrots, 2 small onions, 1 medium sized potato, half a cup tomato puree.

On a pan - you can reduce the cooking time to 45 min if using a pressure cooker- place all the ingredients, not chopped, not minced, just plainly peeled and washed, fill the pan with 3 lt cold water, cover with a lid and let it boil off, once reached the boiling point, reduce to a simmer and let go for 2 hrs. If you use a pressure cooker, let simmer for 45 min from the witshling moment, lowerig the flame to a medium low.

In the mean time let's make some pasta!

For 4 people: 300gr of semolina flour, 3 medium eggs, one tbsp extra virgin olive oil, one pich of salt.

Mix all togheter with your finger tips first then knead for about 10 min until smooth and compact. This WILL NOT BE as soft as bread dough or as pie crust. It will be like, a piece of playdough left open for a day.

Let sit, covered for at least half hour. Cut the pasta dough in half inches pieces. Start with one, the others will rest wrapped in a plastic wrap.

Flatten the pasta piece with the palm of your hand into a rectangle. Slightly dust it on both sides with flour.

Roll the dough into the larger setting of the pasta roller, when the pasta come out fold it in 3 pieces, and roll it again, do this 4 – 5 times, each time turning the piece of pasta into the machine of a quarter of a turn.

Start to increase the setting of the roller one step at a time and pass the pasta through it once, then go to the next setting and roll the pasta again, so on until the setting 6. If you are using a Kitchen Aid roller, setting 5 is enough.

Use the KA or the pasta machine cutters OR a knife for cutting it in the size desired. Dust with some flour and set aside to rest.                                                                                               

If you use a knife to cut the pasta: dust some  flour on both sides of the noodle to be cut, then start folding the pasta until more or less half of its length. Fold also on the other side, so you’ll have   two rolls connected that “meet” each other in the middle. Use a sharp knife and cut into noodle of the size you want, saw,as you are cutting soft bread, do not cut brutally through- dusting the pasta with flour before folding it is essential at this point so the pasta will not attach on itself. Slide the back of the knife under the pasta and lift through the connection, this will unroll the tagliolini. Leave on a clean floured cloth to dry.

As you can see, my beautiful son Matteo, 14, likes to use the KA cutters.

Once the broth is ready, adjust with salt, remove all the veggie inside and leave them on a plate, they can be eaten seasoned only with extra virgin olive oil and salt, and pour the pasta in the broth. It will take only 2 -3 min to cook. 

Serve piping hot with dried (or fresh) crushed chilli pepper and plenty of parmigiano or Grana. Matti, advices also a generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. 

Hope you loved it. More to come!

ECCHECAVOLO!! whatthe cabbage!: It was about time to have a blog.Once finished ...

ECCHECAVOLO!! whatthe cabbage!:

It was about time to have a blog.
Once finished ...: It was about time to have a blog. Once finished with a over twenty year long commercial experience - for now- I really want to write...

It was about time to have a blog.
Once finished with a over twenty year long commercial experience - for now- I really want to write. About everything.
Cooking, recipes, photographs, but not only: Life, children, thoughts, joys and difficulties of a - not so- average woman in Italy, no, in Tuscany, -  and there is a difference.

What the cabbage is a way we have to swear without swearing, It says all, and nothing  It is a way to enfatize a concept, a moment, a feeling.
So... whatthecabbage! Let's get it started!


Era l'ora di avere un blog. 
Una volta conclusa - per ora - la mia esperienza commerciale ultraventennale, ho veramente voglia di scrivere. Di tutto. Cucina, ricette, fotografie, ma non solo: Vita, figli, pensieri, gioie e difficoltà di una donna - non proprio - nella media in Italia, anzi no, in Toscana - e c'è una differenza.

Quindi! Ecchecavolo! Cominciamo!