Eight Years of Blogging and a Limoncello Tart

limoncello tart

It’s my blogiversary today, 8 years, I can hardly believe it! So I’m celebrating with a limoncello tart.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve made this tart, I think it’s been about three years. It’s crazy good and so easy to make, my kind of baking, nothing complicated about it.

limoncello

Recently I was lucky enough to receive two bottles of limoncello liqueur from Mama Agata’s Cooking School on the Amalfi Coast, ( it’s on my bucket list) to try out, of course I readily accepted!

We are huge fans of limoncello in my family, every holiday, special occasion and celebration includes some icy cold limoncello for toasting, my daughter likes to make a huge batch every year to give away for gifts, it’s a big undertaking, but so worth it.

limoncello tart ingredients

I knew as soon as it arrived I was going to make this tart to celebrate my eight year milestone, after all, it’s made from the beautiful lemons that grow on the Amalfi Coast, how special is that!

limoncello tart

Let’s talk a little bit about my eight years of blogging. Back in 2007 I asked my daughter to help me set up a blog, I was reading a bunch of blogs at the time and thought it would be fun to document my own recipes, it took her 15 minutes to get me up and running, the hardest part was me coming up with a name.

She set me up then walked out the door and said, ” you’ll be fine mom, just take a picture and talk about it” . Oh boy what a learning process it has been, especially with all the technical stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

My photos were hideous in the beginning, shooting with the flash on and under yellow lighting, what was I thinking? I often thought of changing them out now, but I never will, it is who I am, the good, the bad and the ugly, besides it’s nice to see a little progression over the years.

I thought by now I would get tired of blogging, but honestly I’m not, it still remains one of the best things I’ve ever done, I love the creative process and I’m always learning something new.

If you were to ask me what my favorite part of the process is I would have to say everything except writing out the actual recipe, I loathe that part! ( ha ha).  Sometimes I just stare at the computer and avoid writing out the recipe diverting my attention elsewhere.

I never was any good in math, my family and friends could attest to that, and don’t ask me to figure out a tip either!

Thanks for putting up with all my terms like, a pinch, a drizzle, a healthy dose, ovens vary so keep checking, taste it, add more or less, use whatever veggies you have on hand, I know it’s not very precise.

Today there are so many social media platforms, too many for this old girl, but I have to say, a new one that I do enjoy is Instagram, sharing some of your life with a series of pictures, it’s different than this blog, it’s more day to day. You can follow me there if you’re interested.

But over and above everything else, the fringe benefit of blogging all these years has been the friendships I’ve made, friendships with other bloggers and even readers of my blog, I appreciate all of you and in addition my family and close friends, and I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you!

So I’m still hanging around for a while.

blueberry sauce

Now lets get back to that dreamy limoncello tart… You have to make this blueberry sauce to serve along side it so you can swipe each bite into it, it takes it over the top!

limoncello tart

Salute!

4.6 from 5 reviews
Eight Years of Blogging and a Limoncello Tart
 
Grab a bottle of limoncello and make this while you're sipping a little on the side.
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 - 9" tart pan with removable bottom
  • 1-7 oz. bag of amaretto cookies, (for the crust)
  • 6 tablespoons of melted butter
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons of limoncello liqueur
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon of lemon zest
  • 1 pint of fresh blueberries
  • ¼ cup of sugar
  • a little limoncello to flavor berries when finish cooking down
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Melt butter
  3. In a food processor, whirl the package of amaretto cookies then pour in the melted butter and process until it all comes together.
  4. Pat crust into tart pan, place on a baking sheet and pre-cook crust for 5 minutes, then let it cool down.
  5. While crust is cooling, mix together the egg yolks, condensed milk, lemon juice, limoncello and the zest, blend with a hand mixer until creamy.
  6. Pour into prepared crust and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, it should be firmed up but not overcooked.
  7. While tart is baking pour berries into a small saucepan along with the sugar, keep stirring and cook down until it becomes a sauce, nice and thick.
  8. Add a little zest and limoncello to flavor it up a bit.
  9. Completely cool down the tart and the sauce and refrigerate both, both should be nice and chilled before eating, it needs to cool several hours so it cuts nice, or you can even make it the day before eating it.

 

 

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Mamma Agata’s Sausage and Red Pepper Pasta

Do you know who Mamma Agata is? Just in case you don’t, let me introduce her to you. Mamma Agata is a legend on the Amalfi Coast and Ravello. At a very young age her cooking talents were being noticed and shortly after, her name became famous among American movie stars and politicians.
Mamma Agata has cooked for Humphrey Bogart, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire, and Jacqueline Kennedy just to name a few.Today you’ll find her still in the kitchen along with her daughter Chiara and son-in- law Gennaro right beside her, conducting classes in their cooking and wine school that is actually their private home. Their beautiful home sits on a clifftop, 1000 feet above sea level with a spectacular view of the Amalfi coastline.
This has been on my “bucket list” for years!
You can imagine my excitement when I received an email from Chiara asking me if I’d like to review their cookbook, pasta and olive oil. I couldn’t wait to open up the package the day it arrived. The cookbook was hand signed by all in the family and there were two different pastas, pappardelle and spaghetti, a bottle of their newly launched olive oil and a beautiful handwritten note from Chiara.
I was dreaming about the Amalfi for days! This is the actual view from their terrace! Wouldn’t you love to gaze out at this every day?
I can see why her school is called, ” The Hidden Treasure”.
 Mamma Agata, “Simple and Genuine” was a labor of love written by Chiara Lima, Mamma Agata’s daughter. She wrote the book to “save” her mothers treasures for generations to come, her experiences, recipes, secrets and techniques.
Their first cookbook, which was self published, has been honored with the” Gourmand Best in the World 2010 Award” coming in second in the category ” Best Easy Recipes”. This book is filled with mouth watering recipes, there are so many I want to make like her Lemon Chicken that has a wine and herb infusion prepared four days before the dish and her Lemon Cake which she is so well known for.
You can only order the book on her website, they ship all over the world, and each and every copy will be personally signed!
I couldn’t wait to try the pappardelle, so I decided to make the Sausage and Red Pepper Pasta from the book, following the instructions to cut the peppers not to thin and not to thick.
After sauteing the peppers ahead of time I added sliced onion and cooked until golden brown.  Mamma Agata likes to cook the sausage whole in a ring, then pierce with a fork, it allows the juices to flow in the pan and will enhance the flavor of the sauce.
The pasta is hearty, toothy, made with the highest quality durum wheat produced exclusively in Italy. The surface is slightly rough, perfect for absorbing your sauce!
After your sausage is seared you add in cherry tomatoes, fresh torn basil and a cup of fresh tomato sauce, I had some homemade marinara that I added to mine.  Remove the sausage, cut into slices and toss it all with your slightly under cooked pappardelle and allow it to cook a couple of minutes more in the sauce. The end result is amazing!
Before we devoured the main course we sampled the olive oil, very fresh tasting with a nice peppery bite!
If you’d like to have a taste of Mamma Agata’s kitchen you can order the pasta and olive oil . Remember, they ship all over the world!
One day, I know I will be sitting here!

 

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