A traditional dessert of the town of Mantua, Torta delle Rose (Rose Cake) was allegedly created for the wedding of Isabella d'Este, daughter to the Duke of Ferrara, and Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, on February 12th, 1490. The rosebuds, made of puff pastry, were meant to be a tribute to the blossoming beauty of Isabella, who was sixteen at the time. Thanks to her intellectual and political skills, Isabella was soon going to become an enlightened patroness of the arts and a protagonist of the Italian Renaissance.
Take time to try the ancient recipe of this delicious Rose Cake: you will see that this cake hasn’t lost a bit of its unique flavour since it was first created, over 500 years ago!

Ingredients:

Puff pastry
17.5 oz of flour
3.5 oz of sugar
3 oz of butter
0.9 oz of fresh yeast
2 whole eggs
1/2 cup of warm milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon of salt

Filling
3.5 oz of butter
3.5 oz of sugar
5 oz of raisins

Method:
Pour the flour onto a wooden board, leaving a well in the center. Add the eggs and the salt. Melt the butter, making sure that it doesn’t boil. Grate the zest of a lemon. Dissolve the yeast in half a cup of warm milk and stir in the sugar and the vanilla extract. Pour all the ingredients into the flour and knead the dough for about 15 minutes. Let it stand in a bowl until it has doubled in volume. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: work the butter with the sugar until the mixture is smooth, then sprinkle it with raisins. Once the initial leavening has been completed, flour the board again and roll the dough out with a rolling-pin until you form a smooth rectangle, about 0.16-inch thick. Spread the filling over the dough, then roll it up, starting from the longer side and divide it into ten 2-inch thick slices. Lay them upright in a cake pan, lined with baking paper. Seal the slices on the bottom with dough, so that the filling does not ooze out. Wait for the "rosebuds"to stick together: this means that they have completed their leavening. Brush them with milk and bake them in a Bertazzoni oven for about 30 minutes at a 392 °F temperature. Sprinkle with icing sugar, before serving.

I tasted the delicious fregole with clams for the first time in Bosa, a seaside town on the west coast of Sardinia, south of Alghero, on the estuary of the river Terno, that make up its harbour.

A less internationally popular tourist destination than the Costa Smeralda (Emerald Coast), this stretch of shoreline is wild, rocky and very loved by snorkeling fans for the richness of its depths and the beautiful colours of its waters.
My wife and I particularly liked this area, so that we went back for the second time.
The seaboard here is steep, and, as is often the case, the old town is not on the seafront, but further inland. Along the river banks, in front of the old town, there is a series of unique buildings, old tanneries that are being restored. We ate fregole with clams under these palm trees, outdoors, facing a beautiful view.

Ingredients (serves 4 people)


9 oz of durum wheat flour
2.2 lbs of clams
2-3 cloves of garlic
olive oil
chopped up parsley
3 tablespoons of tomato sauce
½ cup of dry white wine
1 chilli
4.5 cups of vegetable broth

The singularity of this dish lies in the type of pasta. Fregole, in fact, are made from fresh pasta, obtained from durum wheat flour. They are handmade: you have to rub your hands to make them, hence the name (from the verb to rub: sfregare). Obviously, it is possible to buy dry ready-made fregole, even if it is not easy to find them outside of Sardinia.
To begin with, spread out the durum wheat flour in a large bowl and slowly pour a glass of lukewarm salted water over it. Knead the dough with your fingers, until you have obtained balls about 0.20 inches in diameter. Lay them out to dry on a towel for about 12 hours. Once dry, they must be further dried in the oven for a short time, so arrange them on baking paper, turn the oven on, heat it to 300 °F and bake your fregole for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, soak the clams in cold salted water and leave them to clean for about 3 hours, changing the water frequently. Take a frying pan and brown 2-3 cloves of garlic and chilli in olive oil, then add in the clams and sprinkle them with wine. Stir and cover the pan with a lid. Cook over fairly high flame for a few minutes until the clams open. Put your fregole in a separate pan and brown them in a little oil and garlic. Then add the tomato sauce and a pinch of salt. When the sauce has congealed a little, pour hot vegetable broth into the pan, little by litte, one spoonful at a time and keep cooking for about 15 minutes, until the fregole have slightly swollen. Now pour them into the pan containing the clams and pan-fry them for a few minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

At Christmas time in our part of the world there is a Sbrisolona on every table, bringing good luck to the entire family.
The odd name comes from the dialect of Mantova and means ‘sbriciolare’ ‘to crumble’, because of the very crumbly consistency of the cake.
This recipe originated around 1600 in the grand Gonzaga court of the Duchy of Mantova, and soon became popular throughout the more modest houses of the Po Valley.
It is said that walnuts, which are more typical of our area, were originally used instead of almonds. But walnuts were meant to be the ‘fruits of the witches’, while almonds have luckier significance, meaning ‘light’ and ‘rebirth’. Hence the change of ingredient!

Ingredients:
250 gm (9 oz) white flour
150 gm (5,3 oz) cornflour
200 gm (7 oz) sugar
200 gm (7 oz) unsalted butter
200 gm (7oz) almonds
2 eggs
1 lemon
Vanilla extract

Method
Keep aside a spoons or two of the sugar, to be sprinkled on the cake when it is cooked.
Keep aside a handful of whole almonds - 7 or 8 whole for the decoration and the others for the mixture.
Coarsely grind the rest of the almonds.
Put them a in bowl together with the white flour and cornflour, the sugar, the soft butter in pieces (take it out of the fridge 30 mins before), 2 egg yolks, the vanilla and grated lemon peel.
Mix it all quickly using your hands until the yolks and butter are well integrated. The mixture should be very airy and ‘sandy’. Taking care not to compress it, put the mixture by hand into a buttered spring form cake pan (25 cm diameter).
Decorate with whole almonds.

Bake in a Bertazzoni oven at 170°C for 35-40 minutes.

Summer, the season I love the most for fresh fruits: the variety, the abundance, the colors, the intense fragrances. If you ever get bored of fresh fruit try this recipe, one of my favourite summer desserts!

Ingredients
4 big yellow peaches
7 oz (200g) Amaretti crunchy cookies
3.5 oz (100g) sugar
1 egg yolk
butter
½ glass of white wine

Turn on the oven to 340F (170C).
Wash the peaches, cut in half and stone them. Use a spoon to remove from each peach some pulp from the centre and cook it with the sugar for about 15 mins. Then mix it in a bowl together with the crunched Amaretti and the egg yolk (if you like you can add a drop of sweet liquor, such as the Sassolino).
Fill the peaches with the mixture and add on top of each one a knob of butter and some sugar.
Pour the wine in the tray, organize the peaches and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes.
You can serve them warm or even cold, they are also delicious the next day!

Asparagus is one of the most loved vegetables the world over and in many countries it’s considered an aphrodisiac! With its “root” going back over 4000 years to the ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Apparently the ancient Roman Emperors were so fond of asparagus that they sent merchants all the way to Egypt just to bring in the precious vegetable. I completely understand why.

The asparagus season starts in April, from then you have around 30 to 40 days to find the freshest asparagus and to prepare it in your favourite way. This is one of my favourite ways…Ingredients for four servings1lb (500g) fresh asparagus
11oz (320g) Arborio o Carnaroli rice
½ a leek
5 cups (1l) of vegetable broth
2 oz (50) of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
3 Table spoons of extra virgin olive oil
white pepper
2 knobs of butter
white wine
chives

Prepare the broth in a pot and keep it warm on a low flame.
Wash the asparagus and cut them into thin slices, except the white parts and the heads (add these to the broth last).
Use a large pan to brown the thinly sliced leek in the extra virgin olive oil and add the knob of butter.
Add the rest of the asparagus and half a glass of white wine. Then add the rice, wait for a few seconds until it’s golden brown and cook with the broth, adding it one ladle at a time.
Keep stiring until the rice is almost done, stop adding the broth and turn off the flame. Add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano, another knob of butter and a little pepper to taste.
Serve and decorate with the head of asparagus boiled in the broth and some fresh chives. Enjoy!TipWarm the plates in the oven before serving if you want the risotto to remain hot and smooth whilst eating.

(by Giuseppe Furno, Italian writer and a dear Uncle) This dish has the colours, the scents and the complex layers of Sicily and the surrounding Mediterranean; intense red Pachino cherry tomatoes, golden onions, dried oregano and sea salt that smells like waves. What else? A ¼ inch beef steak the size of your hand; bread crumbs, home made if possible and extra virgin olive oil.

For the meat, 2 pieces for each person, maybe more if you like.
Turn on the oven to 340F, it should not be soaring heat.
Grease a tray with extra virgin olive oil and start:
a) Drag the steaks through the oil on both sides and bread them, then organise neatly in the tray.
b) Cut the cherry tomatoes into slices and cover the meat with them.
c) Sprinkle sea salt over the tomatoes (but not on the meat becuase it will dry it). The salt will help the tomatoes release the juices the meat will need to cook.
d) Chop up the onions and put a layer of them on top of the tomatoes.
e) Dust with oregano to taste.
f) Cook in the oven for about 40 to 50 minutes.Then if you like, once it’s out of the oven you can add a small quantity of capers, I would suggest the ones from Salina, Sicilian capers.Did I forget anything… oh, the name! I like to call it “Carne alla Siciliana”, but it’s simply the way my mother used to cook it. She was Sicilian from Palermo.
To me this dish has her voice, her smile… in summary a memory of her.

Pumpkin risotto is all about colour. Cutting open a pumpkin is a voluptuous experience in itself, the rich, earthy orange tones of pumpkin always bring me back into a glorious summer sunset.

Ingredients for four servings
2 pounds (1kg ) pumpkin, or more (the more the better)
1 pound (450g) rice
Onion or scallion to taste
1 glass white wine
1 quart (1 litre) broth
5oz (150g) grated Parmesan
4 sage leaves in the Risotto, and some leaves for decoration

The very first step is baking 1 kg or more pumpkin cut in big sectors; leave everything, as it is, the skin and seeds. Set the oven without preheating at 220°C for 40 minutes. The orange colour will get even deeper or rather brown at the tips and the taste added by the oven bake is great. Prepare the risotto the usual way, first a light butter soffritto with half an onion or one scallion, finely chopped and simmered at moderate heat until golden. Toast the rice in the soffritto and add one glass of white wine. When the wine has evaporated add the flesh of he pumpkin that you had cut in little cubes of about one inch. Follow the preparation of risotto by adding hot broth little by little with a ladle and keep stirring with a wooden spoon until the grains are softer but still hard at the centre. It is time to put the gas off, add a little bit of broth to keep the risotto compound very, very soft, add one knob of butter and the grated parmesan. Taste and add a little salt if needed, and a pinch of sugar. Start stirring quickly so that the risotto incorporates some air: the result will be soft and creamy. Here in Italy we call it “all’onda” because if you move the pan quickly, the risotto will form a kind of a “wave”. Final touch: a few leaves of sage into the compound will add zest to the sweet flavour of the pumpkin. Serve and sprinkle with some more grated Parmesan. Pumpkin risotto tastes good and looks good, deep orange colours are incorporated in the pale white of rice grains, an amazing contrast with the light green of sage leaves.

The Italian tradition believes that on the sunrise of St. Johns (24th June is San Giovanni) is the right time to harvest the drupes (nuts) used to prepare “il nocino”. It seemed like the dew from the night before, between June 23rd and June 24th, was a relief for all our pains and if we want to go deeper into our memories and traditions, the 30 nuts had to be collected under the moonlight and cut with a crystal knife.The time of harvesting is very important because the nuts are neither soft nor hard and can be cut in half or in quarters.

Place the nuts in a glass container covered with one kilo of pure alcohol at 90°, some cinnamon, some cloves and some lemon rind. The mixture must be kept in a dark room until autumn.When this period has passed add 21oz of sugar boiled in 13oz of water and leave at rest for 10 days. Then filter with a hempen-cloth, pour into very nice glass bottles and forget them in the cellar for some months, one year …or even more …the older it gets the better it is.TipUse protective gloves when you cut the nuts.

In countries of Catholic traditions, Carnival comes before a period of compulsory fasting called Lent.Maybe, well actually I am quite sure, fasting is not compulsory anymore, but I think we still deserve to taste this “tempting” and somewhat surprising, baked sweet. Don’t feel guilty, it is Carnival time.

Tortellini Dolci are made with a short pastry wrapping, the filling usually made of plum jam. They can be deep-fried or, the way I prefer, baked in the oven. During Carnival time, and not only, Tortellini Dolci can be found nearly at every bakery in Emilia Romagna, but, you bet, I prefer by far the version we prepare at home. It is really different and has a few more ingredients that give an incomparable zest.How to prepare the right type of short pastry is probably not a secret to you, but still, follow my suggestions as the balance in cooking is everything, and yet we should add something unexpected in the filling. Ok, let’s not digress too much.IngredientsShort pastry1.1 pounds/500g flour
3 eggs
4.2 oz/120g butter
5.3 oz/150g sugar
Ice sugar
Baking powder
SaltTake the butter out the fridge and while still hard, ground 4.2 oz (120g) in tiny pieces with a large knife, work it with fingers so to obtain a clotted “pulverized” compound, then create a fountain onto a wooden board, spray with icing sugar, top with a bigger fountain of 1.1 pounds (500g) of white flour, and in the center, break 2 eggs, add 1 yolk, 5.3 oz (150g) of sugar, a dot of baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Mix with a fork and knead quickly with your hands until you get relatively firm dough. You must be quick and if the dough is too hard and crumbles, you can add a little orange juice. Let it rest for half an hour.The fill1.1 pounds/500g dried chestnuts
½ orange peel
Sour black cherry jam (alternatively, sour plum jam)
Quince jam
Tangerine jam (alternatively, orange marmalade)
SugarDuring the night you had soaked 1.1 pounds (500g) of dried chestnuts, cover with new water and boil until soft with two tablespoons of sugar and the peel of half orange. Squash the chestnuts with a fork to make an uneven grainy compound. Add 2 tablespoon of sour black cherry jam, 2 table spoons of quince jam, 2 tablespoons of tangerine jam.Finally the tortelliniRoll out the dough with the rolling pin until 2 millimeters high, stencil with the tortellini little mould, the shape of a fan 2" long (5 cm), fill, sear and put in pre-heated oven at 350° F or 175° C for about 30 minutes. Let cool off and happily spray ice sugar.TipsA pinch of salt in the short pastry adds to the sweetness!
Using the hard cold butter makes a better short pastry, but you have to be quick.
The short pastry dough must rest ½ hour.
The flavors of short pastry, mashed chestnuts contain elements of basicity that are greatly balanced by the acidity of the two sour jams, while quince jam fills the gaps: a pleasant surprise.Over the generations of the Bertazzoni Family, the original recipe has never been modified in its fundamental ingredients, or, I suppose, just slightly improved to what today is one of my favorite carnival treats. The mix of grainy mashed chestnuts with the three types of jam fills the mouth with a cascade of flavors, after the first bite of golden, crunchy short pastry. The sour jams are a great contrast to the chestnuts, taste is freshened and no “greasy” feeling is left on the tongue. Hunting for, or producing the rather “eccentric” jams is really worth the effort, in my opinion.I said before, Tortellini al Forno are “one” of my favorite treats, I have in mind another sweetie that is at least on par, maybe just less complicated, but this will come to you later.