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Italian crostoli pastry

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Every part of Europe seems to have a version of the Crostoli pastry each with their own name, also called called “Angel wings”. I guess because of a strong influence from Italian immigrants in Australia we simply go by the Italian Crostoli.

Sometimes only Crostoli hits the spot. Light, sugary crunchy add a Cafe Late – perfection.

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Biscotti – Italian cookies

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“Biscotti” simply means cooked twice, which, no surprises, is exactly how biscotti are cooked. These are a traditional Italian cookie that, according to wikipedia, goes back to roman times as the second baking would allow them to have a much longer shelf life. These days biscotti  just make a great cookie to dunk in your coffee.


Biscotti

David Rout
Biscotti are twice cooked biscuits / cookies, a tradition Italian cookie great with coffee.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Desert
Cuisine Italian
Servings 8 people
Calories 571 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 4 eggs 700gram
  • 120 grams castor sugar
  • 100 grams of chocolate bits I used dark
  • 60 grams almonds (choped up to a “rustic” size)
  • 190 grams dry fruit
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup olive oil light (not extra virgin as it has to strong a flavour)
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract I actually used extract concentrate so 1/2 a tablespoon
  • 1 tablespoon orange essence
  • 1 tablespoon aniseed essence
  • Rind of 1 lemon
  • Rind of 1 orange
  • 250 grams self-raising flour
  • 150 grams plain flour

Instructions
 

  • Beat eggs and sugar together until thick.
  • Add nuts, chocolate and fruit and mix in.
  • Add oil, milk, orange and aniseed essence, vanilla extract, lemon and orange rind and gently mix in. (At this point the mixture looks like an absolute mess)
  • Sift the flours together and add, folding it into the mixture.
  • Pour onto baking paper on a large baking tray, 6 – 8cm wide, 2-3 cm high (This bit will depend on the size of the oven 2 trays may be needed). There is an ancient Italian trick of folding up the baking paper to stop the dough spreading.
  • Bake for 25-30 min until golden brown, the oven should be 200 C. Then remove it from the oven and let them cool right down.
  • Using a very sharp knife cut up the log into 1-2cm wide slices.
  • Spread pieces slice side down on a tray and grill each side until toasty golden brown. Should take a few minutes (Lets face it this will depend on how good your grill is, mine took 30 min a side)
  • Cool down on a wire rack, good for 2 weeks (if they last that long)

Notes

Just keep the general proportions the same and vary the fruit nuts and other items to suit your personal taste.

Nutrition

Serving: 8gCalories: 571kcalCarbohydrates: 78gProtein: 11gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 84mgSodium: 41mgPotassium: 370mgFiber: 5gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 149IUVitamin C: 0.4mgCalcium: 111mgIron: 3mg
Keyword biscote
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Chicken Parmigiana Recipe

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I hope that the Chicken Parmigiana video is fairly self explanatory. Chicken Parmigiana or “Parma” is is a bit of a traditional pub meal in Australia. The idea for using avocado on the chicken parmigiana came from taste.com.au.

Chicken Parmigiana (parma)

David Rout
Chicken breast covered in a crispy coating of breadcrumbs, topped by a tomato sauce, avocado and cheese.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Servings 2 people
Calories 1091 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 2 Chicken Breasts
  • 6 tablespoons Napoli Tomato Sauce
  • 2 cups shredded Tasty Cheddar Cheese
  • 3 slices of Ham
  • 1/2 Avocado
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • Olive Oil
  • 2 Egg
  • 1/2 cup Plain Flour
  • 1/2 Bread Crumbs
  • 1/2 Panko Bread Crumbs

Instructions
 

  • Flatten the chicken breasts
  • Crumb each chicken breast
  • Pan fry on a moderate heat until just cooked through
  • Place on a baking tray
  • Cover each piece of chicken with about 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce.
  • Tear up pieces of shaved or sliced ham and put on top.
  • Slice up half an avocado, and place slices on top of chicken.
  • Put a generous handful of shredded cheese on each piece.
  • Grate some parmesan cheese over each piece.
  • Put the chicken into a pre heated oven on about 200 C for about 4 minutes.
  • Serve.

Notes

The Avocado is optional.
Ham can be substituted with prosciutto or fried bacon.

Nutrition

Calories: 1091kcalCarbohydrates: 34gProtein: 94gFat: 63gSaturated Fat: 28gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 0.04gCholesterol: 447mgSodium: 1783mgPotassium: 1516mgFiber: 5gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 1706IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 856mgIron: 4mg
Keyword Chicken Parmesan recipe, Homemade Italian dishes,, Italian Chicken Parmigiana
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Making Fresh Pasta

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Making fresh pasta from scratch is great fun and comes with the added gadget appeal of requiring a pasta machine. Here I am making Fettuccine as an example. The basic rule of thumb is one egg (70g) to 1cup (100grams) of flour. In this example I have used 400 grams of flour so 4 eggs needed. As eggs vary in size the dough may need a little more flour or a little water. When I am making fresh pasta I prefer the dough to be a little on the dry side.

Making Fresh Pasta

David Rout
Making fresh pasta from scratch is great fun and comes with the added gadget appeal of requiring a pasta machine. Here I am making Fettuccine as an example. The basic rule of thumb is one egg (70g) to 1cup (100grams) of flour. In this example I have used 400 grams of flour so 4 eggs needed. As eggs vary in size the dough may need a little more flour or a little water. When I am making fresh pasta I prefer the dough to be a little on the dry side.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 38 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4 people
Calories 116 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 70 gram egg per 100 grams of flour
  • 100 g plain flour per egg

Instructions
 

  • Pasta machine needed, (get a decent Italian one it will last for years)
  • Put flour in a bowl
  • Stir in one egg at a time
  • Mix until uniform large loose crumbs form
  • Knead into a firm lump
  • Divide into pieces ( for 4 eggs pasta split into 4)
  • Set pasta machine to largest setting. Pass through the rollers 12-15 times folding sheet in half each time and turning 90 degrees.
  • If the pasta sheet becomes tacky dust with flour before continuing.
  • Once the pasta has reached a smooth (babies bottom) texture continue to the next step.
  • Without folding this time turn the pasta machine down a notch
  • Continue reducing by one notch until you reach the 2nd or 3rd last setting on the machine (6 on my machine). Passing the increasingly long sheet through the rollers between settings. Again if the pasta becomes tacky give a light dusting of flour.

Notes

Fettuccine
Cut the sheets to the length desired for the noodles, I go for about 20cm.
Dust with flour
Put the sheet through the fettuccine cutter
Dust with flour and lay on tray (I will normally freeze the whole tray, then put the frozen pasta into portion sizes)

Nutrition

Calories: 116kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 5gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 25mgPotassium: 51mgFiber: 1gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 95IUCalcium: 14mgIron: 1mg
Keyword fresh pasta, pasta from scratch
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Pizzelle Italian waffles

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Pizzelle are a thin Italian waffle. When just cooked the waffles may be bent into various shapes such as cones or tubes. Lets face it, actually finding some where to buy the iron to cook the waffle is half the fun of cooking these. Any importer of Italian kitchen equipment should have these with a range of patterns and sizes. I prefer the low tech approach with a gas stove top and iron but you can also get an electric version.


Heating up the iron

Pizzelle Italian waffles

David
Pizzelle are a thin Italian waffle. When just cooked the waffles may be bent into various shapes such as cones or tubes.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Desert
Cuisine Waffle
Servings 4 people
Calories 205 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 egg
  • 32 g sugar
  • 22 g light oil i.e. without a strong flavour
  • rind of 1/2 orange
  • tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoon ginger
  • tablespoon brandy
  • teaspoon anise essence
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 76 g plain flour
  • 44 g self raising flour

Instructions
 

  • Add all ingredients except flour into a bowl and mix well.
  • Sift flour into bowl and mix into a thick paste.
  • Oil the iron (a light oil spray works well)
  • Heat up the iron on the stove top, turn occasionally to heat both sides.
  • Open the iron and add a tablespoon of waffle paste and return to stove top.
  • Squeeze the iron shut and turn every 30-45 seconds to keep heat even.
  • After a minute open to check colour
  • Tip out onto a cooling rack. (While hot they may be moulded into shapes)

Nutrition

Calories: 205kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 5gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 17mgPotassium: 52mgFiber: 1gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 60IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 13mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Italian dessert, Pizzelle Italian waffles, Traditional waffle cookies
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

For a slightly different Pizzelle erecipe see Laura Vital on YouTube