Cantucci with pistachio and mandarin olive oil

This biscuit is a tasting tour of Italy minus the carbon emissions.  The pistacchio is a superb Sicilian sensation, the mandarin olive oil a creation unique to the Apennines in Le Marche, the almonds evoke the intoxicating amaretti of the north , and the citrus peel is pure Amalfi coast. But these erstwhile warring factions unite and sing in sweet harmony in this delicious biscuit, which should really be eaten dipped in a glass of Vin Santo. And fine health to you too.

Ingredients for about 30 biscotti

Almonds – 60g/2.2oz whole blanched

Pistachios – 80g/2.8oz shelled.

Eggs – 2 large

Flour – 250g/8.8oz

Caster sugar – 150g/5.3oz

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Mixed peel – 4 tsp

Vanilla bean paste – 1 tsp (an alternative is 1 tsp vanilla extract)

Extra virgin olive oil crushed with mandarins – 6 tsp

Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180^oC/GM4/350^oF. Spread the almonds on a baking tray and roast them for 5 minutes. Make sure that you don’t burn them though, they turn in an instant. I like to then skin the pistachio – it’s time consuming but makes the biscuits so much prettier. Toss them into a bowl of just boiled water, leave for 10 minutes, then start slipping the loose skins off.

Lightly beat the eggs, and then grab a big mixing bowl and chuck in the flour, sugar and baking powder. Give a quick mix and then add the nuts, eggs, peel, vanilla and mandarin olive oil. Mix it all well together with a spoon. Then with your hands scoop out a quarter of the mix and mould it into a thick sausage shape. Roll this in icing sugar and place it on a baking tray lined with bake-o-glide or parchment paper. Press down on the top of the sausage to flatten it a bit. Repeat this process with the rest of the mixture, and make sure you leave a decent space between the 4 sausages. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Once they are ready take them out of the oven and using a decent serrated knife carefully cut the sausages into 1cm thick slices. It’s tricky cutting through the nuts, and if it starts to fall part squash it back together into the right shape. Lay these out on the baking tray and pop them back in the oven for a few minutes. Leave to cool and store in a sealed container or eat once they’ve cooled down. I like to bake extra and give them as gifts in one of our Nudo tins.

Get your Homemade Cantucci Box now for the special price of $11.50 from Nudo-Italia.com

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Traditional Italian tiramisú dessert

After a Christmas lunch that could immobilise an elephant, this is the dessert that attempts to put a skip back in your stride. Literally translated as ‘pick me up’, the heady mix of caffeine, sugar and even  a cheeky glug of amaretto will, in contravention of the Newtonian laws of gravity, do just that.

Ingredients for 6

Mascarpone – 200g/7oz

Sugar – 150g/5.3oz

Eggs – 2 (separate yolks from whites

Savoiardi biscuits – 25-30

Cocoa powder – 2 tbsp

Instant coffee – 2 tbsp (even decaffeinated).

Dissolve the coffee in 200ml of lukewarm water. In a separate bowl mix mascarpone and sugar until smooth, then add one yolk at a time while working out with some forceful mixing.

In another bowl whip the egg whites until stiff (make sure that the bowl and whisk are completely clean and dry). Carefully fold the whites into the cream.

Crumble the biscuits into the coffee.

In a fairly deep dish, 20cm in diameter, make a layer of the coffee saturated biscuits, than add a layer of the cream. Sprinkle a dusting of cocoa powder over the top and then pop it in the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving.

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Seafood Fritto Misto

We always seemed to arrive at the beach at lunchtime. We headed to the nearest fish restaurant and Cathy and Rosie ordered big steaming heaps of spaghetti alle vongole followed by crispy fritto misto – a mountain of battered scampi, baby squid, anchovies, small crabs, fresh sardines and tiny juvenile flatfish like sole.

Trouble is I don’t eat fish and I usually settle for a pretty bland pasta pomodoro. More recently, though, things have turned around with a new restaurant which opened in Porto San Giorgio. They made me a gem of a pasta pomodoro. The secret according to the friendly waiter is the ricotta cheese in the sauce.

Ingredients for 4 people
Mixed seafood – 1kg of sardines, anchovies,
whiting, baby sole, small crabs, scampi, baby
octopus, cuttlefish
(or what your fishmonger recommends)
Plain flour – 2 cups
Vegetable oil – 500ml
Sage leaves – several
Lemon – 1 large
Salt and white pepper

The seafood should be quite small, so it’s probably not worth gutting. Anyway they say that the intestines give a slightly sharp taste, and the fried heads are pleasantly crunchy. Sometimes Cathy takes out small bones as Rosie tucks in.

Wash, clean and pat dry the seafood. If you do have big squid and cuttlefish cut away the mouth parts and the bone of the cuttlefish. Cut into rings if necessary.

Spread the flour out on a shallow dish. Dip the fish in the flour and shake off any excess. Heat the oil in a large pan with the sage. Once hot enough (test with a piece of old bread, which should brown in about 30 seconds) remove the sage leaves and fry the seafood, starting with the larger pieces. Once golden brown remove and drain on kitchen paper. Serve on a warm plate with lemon wedges and season with salt and pepper.

Recipe Extract from: The Dolce Vita Diaries – Stories and recipes from the olive grove.

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