Proud Italian Cook

Warm Robiola Cheese with Cranberry, Hazelnuts and Pistachio Dust

December 5, 2019 by Marie 1 Comment

This luscious appetizer is perfect for the holidays, it uses Robiola cheese and if you haven’t had it you’re missing out. It has a festive look topped with homemade cranberry sauce, toasted hazelnuts and pistachio dust which is then warmed ever so slightly until the cheese starts to ooze out. Crusty bread served alongside it is a must so you can smear all that warm and gooey cheese all over it, it’s divine!

Robiola Bosina cheese from Italy is made with both sheep and cows milk. Robiola is rich and creamy with a slight nuttiness, perfectly balanced with an edible rind that melts right into the cheese, you don’t even know you’re eating it!

In my humble opinion it gives Brie a run for the money, and I like Brie, but this, this is out of this world, and worth every penny!

It’s not easy to find, you have to seek it out, ask your favorite cheesemonger it’s so worth the effort. I got mine at my favorite Italian market but it’s not something that I see often, but of course if you can’t find it you can always substitute Brie.

I slathered the top with homemade cranberry sauce which I highly recommend doing then added some toasted hazelnuts and sprinkled the top with pistachio dust which is made by taking whole pistachios and grounding them up in a mini food processor.

Then place the adorned cheese in an oven proof vessel in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for five to seven minutes, it doesn’t take long before it becomes warm and gooey and ready for dipping.

Just remember to toast up plenty of bread ahead of time, I drizzle mine with olive oil then stick them under the broiler for a few minutes on each side, don’t walk away it goes fast!

Its hard to describe this delicious bite, it’s like the best fondue you ever had on a plate, it’s amazing cheese, seek out some Robiola and make this appetizer during the holidays!

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1 Comment Filed Under: Appetizers, Party Foods Tagged: baked cheese, cranberry sauce, melted cheese, pistachio dust, robiola cheese, warm cheese

Italian Christmas Torta Made With Pandoro

December 2, 2019 by Marie 7 Comments

I came across this Italian Christmas Torta at the end of the Christmas holiday last year and although I did make it I never posted it on my blog, well now is the time!

As we get closer to Christmas I’ll be posting some of my favorite cookies, cakes and desserts. This torta or cake is a fun dessert to make that requires no baking at all, it can be a nice little project that you can do with the kids and you can get as creative as you want.

The star of the show is a Pandoro cake, you can find them in most supermarkets and Italian markets almost everywhere this time during the holidays. Pandoro is basically Panettone but without the raisins and candied fruits inside, but that rich, eggy, sweet dough remains the same.

I love using Pandoro to create the look of a Christmas tree as I did here and here. It’s fun and easy to do and very impressive as a centerpiece on your holiday table.

That’s why I was drawn to this recipe when I saw it in a one minute video on Chef Club Italia. I kept watching it over and over until I finally got it!

You need a filling for the cake, in the past for my Pandoro Christmas cakes I used a mix of heavy whipped cream with mascarpone and lemon curd folded in. I’ve also used the same mix with Amaretto liquor as the flavor mixed in. If you want to make it easy, you can use vanilla or chocolate instant pudding with whipped cream and mascarpone folded in as well, or even a traditional tiramisu filling.

For this recipe and because it was my first try I used a box of instant vanilla mousse and folded it in the mixture of whipping cream and mascarpone. I like using the combination of the two because the mascarpone helps to stiffen and stabilize the whipped cream so it doesn’t get runny.

The next thing you’ll need is an image for the top of the Italian Christmas Torta, you can either draw it freehand on paper or find an image on the Internet and print it out as I did. I picked a star but you can do a Christmas tree, a bell, snowman whatever you like, that’s the creative part.

You’ll be slicing the Pandoro horizontally and placing it on the bottom of an eight or nine inch spring form pan, which ever it fits in best. Make sure to use the biggest slice of the whole cake on the bottom of the pan.

Each slice you use, ( a total of three for the whole cake) should be brushed with either a liquor of some sort, like limoncello if using a lemon filling, Amaretto, espresso, or just a simple syrup to make it kid friendly, but it’s important that each layer be brushed to moisten and flavor it.

The other two slices will be cut on a diagonal and that will be for the sides of the cake, again brushing them before fitting them into the pan.

So again in total you’ll need three slices cut about one inch thick, the biggest for the bottom and the next two biggest for the sides.

I used some of the leftover Pandoro and stuffed it into the spaces that are between the side and bottom, as shown in the previous photo.

Next you take the cream filling that has been whipped up and mixed together and spoon it in until you reach the top of the cake.

Now place the cut out image of your choice and place it on top of the cream then sprinkle cocoa powder liberally all over it.

Then find an edge of your design and lift it off gently starting it with the tip of a knife to help lift it up, you should see the image perfectly!

When you lift it off and the design shows you can now decorate it even more with sprinkles or whatever else you choose or leave it as is.

This cake is best made the day before, which is nice prep for a party and because it has to be refrigerated well overnight. So cover the top with tented foil and stick it in the fridge to chill and meld together. You can also wait till the morning of to place your image and cocoa powder on, that works also.

The next day you can pop the spring on the pan and remove the band and cut the cake into wedges to serve, by then it will be all melded together.

Another fun, no bake Italian Christmas Torta to make this holiday season, I’ll be making it again this year, I hope you give it a try!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Italian Christmas Torta Made With Pandoro

Refer to the blog post for a step by step with some added suggestions. This is a NO BAKE dessert that must be made the day before for best results.

Author: Marie

Ingredients

8 or 9 inch spring form pan
1 cut out design for top of cake ( refer to blog post )
1 large box of Pandoro, Italian cake
3 large 1 inch slices of Pandoro sliced horizontally, one will be kept whole and the other two will be cut on the diagonal for the sides.
1 envelope of vanilla instant mousse, made according to directions. ( there are other variations you can use, refer to blog post)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup mascarpone, room temperature
2 Tablespoons, powdered sugar to sweeten the cream
simple syrup, Amaretto, Limoncello, espresso to moisten the cut slices of pandoro, ( refer to blog post for ideas)
cocoa powder for dusting and garnish
additional sprinkles if needed

Instructions

Make three 1 inch Horizontal slices on the Pandoro
Take the largest slice and lay it in the pan.
Brush and moisten the slice with liquor or simple syrup.
Slice the other two pieces diagonally as shown in blog post, make sure to moisten them as well.
With point facing down place them around the sides of the cake, they will fit between the points of the bottom layer.
Fill in the open spaces with remaining Pandoro.
Make mousse or pudding according to package and set aside.
Whip the cream with the mascarpone until stiff, then fold in some of the mousse, you might not use it all, make sure the mixture still keeps shape and not be runny.
You can also add flavoring at this point if you like, any liquor or espresso, taste to your liking.
Fill the prepared cake to the top with the cream mixture.
Add your cut out image by placing it on top of the cream and sprinkle liberally with cocoa powder.
( you can do the image placing the next day after you've refrigerated it if you prefer, it doesn't matter)
Please make this a day ahead of time so you can refrigerate it overnight.
Gently remove the image after dusting of cocoa powder and if need be add a few sprinkles of your choice.
Slice in wedges and serve.

7 Comments Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts Tagged: christmas cake, Pandoro, torta, torta di natale

Four Cheese Ravioli with Herb Embedded Pasta

November 14, 2019 by Marie 13 Comments

I don’t know what it is but as soon as the weather turns cold I get the urge to make homemade pasta of some sort. Once a year I usually make my traditional ravioli, two different kinds, a meat and cheese version which is a family recipe that has been handed down to me.

This time I wanted to change it up by making a four cheese ravioli with a twist on the dough.I’ve always loved the look of herbs embedded in pasta dough. In fact I’ve done two different posts regarding that technique way back in my early days on this blog. One was a guest post I did for a blogger friend, it was known as silhouette pasta, stained glass pasta and windowpane pasta but now you see it described as laminated or embedded dough.

When I did the guest post and created the recipe I just cut the dough it self into ravioli sized noodles, I never actually made filled ravioli with the dough as I did here on this post.

If you follow me you know that I have several posts on making ravioli on this blog, when I first started out making ravioli they were all made by hand, I even used only a rolling pin to roll the dough. Then as time went on I used a crank style pasta machine which is a staple in many homes along with ravioli forms.

We would get together as a family and make hundreds for holiday parties and by using the forms it helps you get a more uniformed shaped ravioli which has it’s place when you’re cranking out so many and there’s different people with their own techniques.

Fast forward to today, I have graduated to using my Kitchen Aid attachment for rolling the dough and I’m never going back, I love it! No fatigue in cranking, it’s hands free and it puts the perfect amount of pressure on the dough and it comes out perfectly smooth every time. I can easily make a couple of hundred myself and never get tired!

For this herb embedded batch I tried using my ravioli forms but didn’t like the way they looked, the dough didn’t lay right when placed over the holes because of the shape of the herbs I guess, so freeform was the way to go, besides I think the imperfectness of doing them freeform makes them look just perfect!

You can read and see the ravioli forms and the machines I use, how I prep the dough and the fillings in this post, it will help you get a visual when doing this version here on this post.

To embed your pasta dough with herbs you’ll want to roll out two pieces the same size, keeping it thin but not completely see-through. Pick herbs of your choice, make sure they’re clean and dry and pull the stems off. I used parsley and sage here. You would never want to use a woody herb like rosemary or thyme they will break through the dough, stick with the more leafy herbs like cilantro, basil and the ones I used.

Lay your clean herbs just on one sheet of the two sheets you rolled out, covering the area of the pasta sheet up nicely filled with the herbs.

Then you’re going to take the other piece with no herbs on it and gently place it on top, pressing down gently all over with your hands to help the herbs stick to the dough underneath.

Now take that whole sheet and roll it through your pasta machine, maybe on number three of the roller. You don’t want it to be too see -through so much so that the herbs rips through, but you don’t want it too thick either, you can be the judge on that as you’re doing it in your own machine.

One thing to keep in mind is that the herbs will stretch as you put the sheet through the rollers and that’s fine, you just don’t want it to rip.

Now you’re dough is ready to fill. I always use a disposable pastry bag when piping out my fillings, the post that I linked above will show you a visual.

I used a mix of four cheeses for my filling this time, ricotta along with fontina, parmesan and romano. Then place your dollops along one side of your sheet of herb embedded dough that you ran through the rollers.

Take a mini brush and lightly brush the edges with a touch of water to ensure sticking and that no cheese mixture will leak out when boiling.

Next fold the other half over the dollops of cheese pressing the edges down and pressing in between the cheese mounds with your fingers. Then take a ravioli cutter and slice between the mounds to create the individual ravioli.

Once that’s finished you’ll want to crimp all four sides with a fork that you keep dipping in flour so your crimping it won’t stick.

And that’s it! You’ve now created you own special ravioli, each one different in it’s own special way.

You can cook them as is immediately or you can place them single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze until hard then transfer to a freezer proof container.

I normally freeze mine, after we sample some of course! They cook up beautiful from either the fresh or frozen state, just add a couple more minutes when frozen.

I do around eight minutes in the frozen state but honestly it depends on how thick yours turns out, my best tip is to take one out of the water, snip a bit of the edge off and taste if you think it’s finished or if it needs another minute or two.

With the herby pasta dough the best sauce to serve them with is a simple browned butter sauce, then shower the ravioli with some good Parmigiano Regggiano cheese! That’s honestly all you’ll need because you’ll taste the subtle flavor of the herbs coming through along with the cheese in every delicious bite!

Spend some time in the kitchen, have your favorite music playing in the background and I promise you once you get going you’ll get into a Zen- like mood and before you know it you’ll have a bunch of ravioli formed in front of you!

Making homemade pasta of any sort is truly a labor of love but worth every bit of the time and effort it takes, no store-bought pasta can ever compare, and besides you can taste the love!

Follow me on Instagram to see what else I’m cooking up during the week.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Four Cheese Ravioli with Herb Embedded Pasta

The pasta dough is a family recipe that never fails me and it's easily made in a food processor.

Author: Marie

Ingredients

PASTA DOUGH
2 cups of unbleached flour, my favorite brand is Ceresota
2 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon, olive oil
enough water just to get the dough together to form a ball
4 CHEESE FILLING
1 cup good quality ricotta, drained of all liquid ( I usually drain mine overnight) or buy it on the drier side
½ cup grated fontina cheese
½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano
⅓ cup grated romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg beaten

Instructions

FOR THE DOUGH, in a food processor add the flour and salt, pulse, then add the 2 eggs and and olive oil and process for a minute or two.
As the machine is running slowly dribble water down the tube, keep processing until the dough forms a ball.
It could be ¼ cup or water, maybe less, maybe more. Give it time to process, you will know when it's coming together.
Open top of processor, dough should be moist and a little sticky, not dry with bits of flour, if so add a tiny bit more water and process again.
If it's too watery just add a bit more flour and reprocess.
Pull the dough out and onto a floured board, knead it a few times then form it into a ball and wrap it with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter for ½ hour before starting to roll it.
The dough can be made 1 day ahead and at this point you can place it into the fridge, but you need to take it out and get it to room temp before using it the next day.
Divide dough into 4 pieces and work with 1 piece at a time rolling it through the pasta machine.
Then refer to tutorial above in the post on how to add the herbs and cheese.
CHEESE MIXTURE
Add the ricotta and all of the cheese into a bowl, mix well by hand, then add salt and pepper and taste it, you might want more grated cheese, do it to your liking.
Then mix in the beaten egg and make sure everything is combined well.
I like placing my ricotta mixture into disposable pastry bags for a clean and easy way of piping out the cheese, but you can use a tablespoon as well. ( I usually do a heaping tablespoon)
Just like the dough this cheese mixture can be made a day ahead of time, this way you can be all prepped and ready to actually start forming the ravioli the day of.
PLEASE REFER TO THE TUTORIAL IN THE POST TO SEE THE PROCEDURE IN FILLING AND FORMING THE RAVIOLI AS WELL AS BOILING AND FREEZING THEM.
BROWN BUTTER SAUCE
Melt 1 stick of unsalted butter over medium heat, gently swirl as butter melts, turn down if butter sputters too much, let it foam up and then the color will deepen with brown bits on the bottom and have a beautiful nutty taste.
Spoon warm butter over cooked ravioli and shower with more Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, enjoy!