Proud Italian Cook

Tuscan Apple Cake

October 5, 2018 by Marie 20 Comments

Tuscan apple cake, also known as torte di mele, is a rustic and simple Italian dessert filled with fresh sliced apples. The cake has a nice dense texture with a buttery crumb that picks up the added flavors of your choice.

Right now it’s apple season where I live and they are in abundance, so pick whatever apples suit your fancy for this recipe, it’s all good.

To me the most important thing to remember when making a tuscan apple cake is to flavor the cake itself. Because the crumb has such a hearty texture it can take on nice bold flavors such as lemon zest, vanilla, a touch of cinnamon and my favorite addition along with the others is Amaretto liquer.

I made my cake in a spring form pan but you can also use a square or round baking dish, just keep it to an eight or nine inch size.

This is the perfect “coffee cake” for me and for anyone else that enters my home, no fancy ingredients just pure deliciousness!

THE RECIPE WHEN FIRST POSTED HAD TWO MISTAKES, IT HAS BEEN CORRECTED

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5.0 from 3 reviews

Tuscan Apple Cake

Author: Marie

Ingredients

6 apples of your choice, 2 will be diced and the rest will be thinly sliced, peeled and cored for all and lightly tossed with a touch of lemon juice to prevent discoloration
2 cups all purpose un-bleached flour
4 eggs
8 Tablespoons of butter, 7 will be melted while reserving 1 tablespoon for dotting the top ot the cake
1 cup, sugar
⅓ cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons amaretto liquer (optional) sub almond extract if you prefer but just ½ teaspoon
a pinch of salt
a pinch of cinnamon
lemon juice to prevent apples from discoloration
extra butter to prepare the pan

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees
Butter and dust with flour a 9 inch spring form pan.
Place the prepared pan onto a rimmed baking sheet.
Melt the 7 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan, let it cool then add the milk, zest, vanilla and optional amaretto or almond extract.
Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
In a large mixing bowl mix eggs and sugar together until light and creamy, a few minutes.
Add the flour mixture and beat until it's incorporated, then add the cooled milk with all the flavorings.
When everything is well mixed fold in the diced apples.
Pour apple batter into prepared pan.
Arrange remaining thinly sliced apples all around covering the top (you probably will have some apple slices left over depending on their size) then give it a light sprinkle of sugar all over as well as a tiny bit of cinnamon.
Dot the cake top with the tablespoon of reserved butter.
Bake for somewhere between 60- 70 minutes, keep in mind if you by chance use an 8 inch springform pan it will take longer to bake because it will be deeper.
Mine took 70 minutes in a nine inch but keep in mind ovens do vary, so my advice keep watching!
Apples should be golden brown and cake should be barely moist when tested with a toothpick.
Let it rest and cool down for at least 15 minutes before you pop the spring.
ENJOY!
UPDATE: If you want to reverse the apple arrangement, I've done it by folding 4 diced apples into the batter, with 2 thinly sliced to cover the top, it all works.

20 Comments Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts Tagged: apple cake, torta di mele, tuscan apple cake

Steak Pizzaiola That’s Worth Repeating

September 26, 2018 by Marie 3 Comments

Steak pizzaiola, a quick and easy stove to table recipe, top quality in taste, a truly uncomplicated comfort food. It basically means meat in “pizza style”. The pizza style is referring to the sauce that the steak mingles in, which is not to be confused with a marinara.

This pizzaiola sauce uses fresh tomatoes, garlic and good oregano, I like to use the imported one from Sicily that’s still on the branches where you just shake off what you want, it has such a distinct earthy flavor and so delicious in this dish.

Even though it’s autumn here in my area I can always find fresh tasting cherry tomatoes even throughout the winter, so that’s what I use in this dish, I prefer not using any canned tomatoes, it’s so much better with fresh.

There are hundreds of ways to make steak pizzaiola, some add peppers, some top it with melted cheese. Also, the meat you use can vary, you could use a less tender cut of meat but then it would have to braise in the sauce longer. I much prefer using a tender thin cut, boneless steak like a rib eye or a strip steak, then just like I said in the beginning this will be a quick and easy stove to table recipe.

This dish can be perfect for mid week when you’re rushing around or fancy enough for a dinner party. Back in the day I experimented making pizzaiola quite a few different ways, but this is my favorite and so worth repeating!

This is an adaption from an old Gennaro Contaldo recipe, he added anchovies which I don’t think is necessary at all, ( but then I’m not fond of them either.)

I promise you will love this as is, how can you not? Tender steak smothered with plumped tomatoes in a rich, zesty sauce spiced up with a few simple ingredients, it’s comfort food at it’s best.

You can serve it with pasta or polenta on the side or the way I did with a green vegetable and a few roasted potatoes, either way it’s amazing!

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

Steak Pizzaiola

Adapted from Gennaro Contaldo

Author: Marie

Ingredients

2 thin cut boneless steaks, preferably a strip or ribeye, sometimes I buy one thick steak and have the butcher slice it in half horizontally, or you can buy 4 super thin steaks ( note: if it's thicker you just have to simmer it longer)
2 pints, cherry tomatoes sliced in half
3 large cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped
a good handful of capers, rinsed of brine
red pepper flakes, according to taste
½ to 1 cup of white wine, depending on how much steak you're cooking
kalamata and cerignola olives, a good handful of each
1 tablespoon or so, good quality oregano, dried
½ cup water, Optional if sauce is too thick or if you think it's too thin add a few tablespoons of marinara
olive oil
parsley for garnish

Instructions

Season both sides of steak with salt and pepper.
Add a drizzle of olive oil to your pan, place steaks in and brown each side but don't cook through.
Remove steaks and set aside.
Add another little drizzle of olive oil then add in the garlic, red pepper flakes and oregano along with the capers and olives.
Deglaze with the wine and let it reduce a little.
Add the sliced tomatoes.
Add the steaks back in and let it simmer until the tomatoes burst and all the juices flow and thicken up a bit. Remember if too thick add a little water and if too thin add some marinara to make. sure you have enough sauce, it will all depend on how much steak you're using.
Finished when steaks are fork tender.
Place on a platter and garnish with chopped parsley, enjoy!

3 Comments Filed Under: Meats, Sauces Tagged: steak pizzaiola, strip steaks

How To Make A Savory Veggie Strudel

September 19, 2018 by Marie 4 Comments

Crispy layers of phyllo pastry is the perfect wrapper to hold in tender roasted veggies and creamy, melted cheese to create this savory veggie strudel. This dish could be a served as a veggie main course, a starter or even a side.

It’s easier to make than you think and I’m going to show you how!

First of all you can use any combination of vegetables that you like, all is good. Maybe you have some odds and ends leftover in your fridge, or some that need to be cooked before they go bad, or like me maybe you just went a little over board when shopping for produce.

It doesn’t matter what combination of vegetables you have, the only thing you need to do is to precook them so they can be ready to assemble, they can be either grilled or roasted, I roasted the majority of mine except for the beans which I steamed.

The next thing is get yourself a box of phyllo pastry, you’ll find it in the frozen section, it’s very accessible these days. Don’t be intimidated by it, it’s so easy to work with and so forgiving, trust me. I always defrost mine overnight in the fridge and then take it out of the box to warm up to room temp before rolling it out, leave it in the plastic wrap though.

Phyllo needs to be covered while you’re working with it, it tends to dry up fast so it’s important that you cover it with a damp kitchen towel when you unfold it from the roll.

To further prep for this veggie strudel you have to make sure all the vegetables are cut into bite size pieces, so cut them up and set them aside.

There are six layers of phyllo here, the first five are sprayed one sheet at a time with olive oil spray then sprinkled with grated cheese like pecorino or parmesan and a few grinds of black pepper all over. Then you’ll want to continue layering the same way with each five sheets until you reach the sixth one, the top.

Next you’re going to spread your chopped veggies all around the pastry sheet, whatever combination you have, fill up the space like I did above leaving a border of a little over an inch on all four sides.

Dice up fresh mozzarella into cubes and add that on top of the mixed vegetables, equally distributing it all around, then grate more pecorino or parmesan on top of it. I also had a very small chunk of fontina cheese and I grated that onto the mixture as well, you get the picture, you don’t have to be so precise.

Any cheese combo will do, but it helps if you have at least one good melting cheese in there because it will help bind the veggies together.

Then your filled veggie strudel gets rolled up and baked seam side down until it gets nice and golden.

Let it rest before cutting!

Layers of crispy phyllo, tender roasted, savory mixed vegetables with warm melty cheese inside, oh yes, you’re going to love this!

Add a little dipping sauce and you’re good to go, enjoy!

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How To Make A Savory Veggie Strudel

I always roast my veggies in a 400F oven, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, making sure the moisture is roasted out.

Author: Marie

Ingredients

6 sheets of frozen phyllo pastry, defrosted according to the box and set out to get to room temp before using.
roasted veggies, cooked and cut into bite size pieces, enough to spread out onto a 14x18 sheet of phyllo, choose your favorites with a variety of color.
fresh mozzarella cut into small cubes enough to spread all over the top of the veggies
pecorino or parmesan for spreading on each layer
an additional small amount of cheese to crumble on for added flavor like blue, fontina, goat, or feta
olive oil spray
granulated garlic
italian seasoning
FOR DIPPING SAUCE;
Roasted red peppers and a little marinara

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400F.
Place parchment paper onto a half sheet pan with rimmed sides.
Carefully place one sheet of phyllo onto the parchment, while making sure the others are covered with a damp kitchen towel.
Spray phyllo sheet all over with olive oil spray then sprinkle with grated cheese and black pepper.
Repeat above on each remaining phyllo sheets including the last one, the top.
On the top layer spread out your veggies leaving an 1-1/2 inch border all around.
Sprinkle lightly with granulated garlic on the veggies for added flavor.
Spread the diced mozzarella all around, evenly distributing it.
Add the small amount of the additional cheese of your choice.
Looking at the sheet pan horizontally, fold the left and right sides of the phyllo where you made a border onto the veggie mixture.
Then gently start at the bottom and slowly start to roll it up making sure the sides are still tucked in and covered.
Place the rolled strudel seam side down.
Spray the top with olive oil, black pepper, some Italian seasoning and some shredded cheese.
Bake for 20-30 minutes or under golden and crispy.
Let it rest before cutting then gently cut with a serrated knife.
RED PEPPER DIPPING SAUCE;
I whirled roasted red peppers and a little marinara in a food processor to make my sauce.