Liguria in Cucina turns one! A gift, 2 menus and the sweet rice cake recipe.
A bundle of things, ideas, recipes I wish to share with you this April.
Ciao!
How are you?
Today I write you from my little corner of paradise, from the place I call home, where I breath my ancestors’spirit and my soul relaxes. This is my family home in Cervo Ligure, a small medieval village clinging to a rock overlooking the sea. Thought the weather is not fine in these days, here even cloudy days are gorgeous.
So, with a light heart, let’s start!
“Liguria in cucina-the flavours of Liguria” celebrates it first birthday! There is gift for you!
It seems incredible but it’s already been a year since my first (bilingual) cookbook "Liguria in cucina " is out, 3 since I started writing it!
This book gave me so much satisfaction, more than I would have expected actually. Many of you appreciated it, bought it and cooked it. Many of you found in my recipes those cooked at home when they were children and this is so important to me. The second reprint is in progress now too!
There were also two international acknowledgment I really didn’t expect.
The first is winning the prestigious "Gourmand World cookbook Award" as the best Italian cooking book in 2024.
The second is that my book was purchased from 600 American libraries to be included in their archives! Being selected as a point of reference for Ligurian cuisine in a country as big as the United States is not only a great honor and a privilege, but it is also the greatest result so far achieved in my personal mission to preserve and share the Ligurian gastronomic culture!
To celebrate this milestone (as I cannot grant you a discount on the book) I give you the possibility to virtually cook with me 12 of the recipes contained in my cookbook enrolling to my “Ligurian Cooking course on demand” with a 50% discount on its normal price of €87!
You just have to enter the coupon code “HAPPYBIRTHDAY” (it’s valid until May 11, 2024) when you complete the purchase, here.
You can get more information about my cooking course on demand and the 12 step-by-step video recipes here.
Two seasonal menus from my cooking classes
Putting together a menu, from appetizer to dessert, that is consistent, pleasant, light and seasonal is an operation that requires strategy, experience and some mental effort, at least to me, especially in spring, when I’m more absent minded than ever.
That’s why I’m happy to share with you two of the menus I’ve cooked during my last Market day cooking classes. So if you have to prepare a dinner for friends you can take inspiration!
A couple of my recipes are missing (I haven’t had time to publish them yet) but I’m sure that in your cookbooks or online you can find great tips for the missing one!
At the end of the post you will find the yet unpublished recipe of sweet rice cake. I cooked it at my last cooking class, it is so good and easy to do that I’m excited to share it!
April Menu #1 (vegetarian)
Fava bean pesto and pecorino spread on croutons, my recipe is here
Tortelli with ricotta and wild herbs seasoned with tomato sauce (my recipe to be published)
Stuffed baked zucchini flowers, my recipe is here
Baked artichokes “all’inferno” (to be published)
Tomato salad (condigiun), my recipe is here
Zabaione with aniseed cookies, my recipe for aniseed cookies is here
April menu #2 (with anchovies – that you can subsitute with sardines)
Fresh ricotta seasoned with oil, salt and lemon zest.
Ravioli with asparagus and potatoes (I took inspiration from
latest cook-along, have a look at her newsletter archives and, if you don’t do it yet, follow her! She is the most talented Italian food writer, recipe developer and cook in the international panorama! )Vernazza anchovy tart (you can use sardines), my recipe is here
Trombetta zucchini stewed with onions and basil
Sweet rice cake, the recipe is below!
Sweet rice cake, the recipe.
And here’s the recipe of this month: Sweet Rice Cake!
(I know, this is the second recipe with rice I share, it’s just by chance, my repertoir is not just rice cakes!)
This is a traditional dessert of Lunigiana, a border land between Liguria and Tuscany. Its common in the villages in Val di Magra and in the hinterland of La Spezia. In Vezzano Ligure (where it is called Torta d'riso doza) it is certified as the typical local sweet and is baked in large wood-burning ovens on the occasion of the patron saint’s feast.
The traditional recipe also includes aniseed liqueur, which I skip giving preference to lemon zest.
Ingredients
120 g of rice
20 g of butter
6 eggs
150 g of granulated sugar
700 ml of milk
the rind of an untreated lemon
a tablespoon of granulated sugar to decorate
Proceedings
Boil the rice in lightly salted water, drain and season with 20 grams of butter.
Preheat the oven to 170 ºC.
In a large bowl mix the whole eggs with the sugar. Then add the whole milk, boiled rice, lemon peel finely grated and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a buttered baking tray 26 cm in diameter and bake at 170 C for about an hour or until the cake is completely firm and golden patches begin to form on the surface.
Take the cake out of the oven, sprinkle with a tablespoon of granulated sugar and put it under the grill for a few minutes to brown the surface.
Allow to cool completely before serving.
Keep in the refrigerator.
You can download and print the recipe clicking the button below!
Ciao Frances, yes, it is! And it is still surprising :).
Ciao Martina! Usually I use a rice that here in Italy is called "originario", a rice with a round shape that absorbs liquids very well and remains a little bit more mushy. This rice is perfect for cakes, pies, stuffing. It's on the contrary not very good for risotto. But also arborio rice will be ok.