copyright 2011 Art of Living, PrimaMedia,Inc
(photo credit : www.olomedeia.it)
Post offices are becoming unbearable here,,today there were 100 people ahead of me in line at , my only salvation was that( since it is the Holiday season and everyone plays Tombola or bingo at get togethers) I could imagine myself playing the game as the numbers appeared on a big screen in the middle of the post office..so my half day wait became a game of Tombola..I was number 262 and they were only up to 120….when we finally got to 257 I could yell out “cinquina” only 5 left to go…..and then finally 262,”Tombola” I yelled out ( to myself only)…
Finally out of the post office and it was 12:45..only 15 minutes (stores close at 1 PM) to get to the fresh pasta store in town…not enough time to make the fresh pasta..but their fresh pasta is the next best thing to home made..( it is called La Fraiola)… for a bean soup I planned for pranzo (lunch)..a bean soup with freshly made egg noodles..couldn’t help but but have a hankering for soup since the temps are in the low 30’s and we are surrounded by snow capped mountains.. Here is today’s lunch..
Pasta e Fagioli Borlotti (Borlotti Bean Soup)
excerpted from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: DaVinci Style available in print here or in digital version exclusively on Kindle
8 ozs. freshly made egg noodles
1 cup borlotti beans (dry and soaked overnight, cooked in water for 1hr)
2 carrots
2 tomatoes
1 leek
1 stalk celery chopped
2 whole cloves garlic
3 tblsps extra virgin olive oil
Place oil in a large pot and place in garlic and chopped leeks Then saute for 3 minutes.
Place in 5 cups (2 ½ liters) hot vegetable broth, carrots, tomatoes, bring to a boil and simmer place in beans, cook till tender, at least 20 minutes. Boil again and then place in fresh pasta and cook for 5-8 minutes ,and cook for 20 more minutes. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve and top with a drizzle of olive oil. and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
Torta Paradiso (Heavenly Cake)
1 cup (200 gr) butter
¾ cup (120 gr)confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup(60 gr) flour
1/3 cup (70 gr) potato starch
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
grated zest of one lemon
extra confectioner’s sugar for topping
Place softened butter in a bowl and whip till a creamy consistency, add in confectioner’s sugar a little at a time. Beat 1 egg + 1 yolk in another bowl till creamy. Add in butter mixture. When well blended add in grated lemon zest, then sift into mixture the flour and potato starch. Mix till well blended.
Butter a 9” cake pan. Pour in batter. Bake in oven preheated to 350 F (180C) for approx. 1 hour or until cake is firm in center. remove from oven, let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
**Get more recipes from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: DaVinci Style here or available in digital form exclusively on Kindle
**See you on March 24-25 in Charlottesville, Virginia at the Virginia Festival of the Book. The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: DaVinci Style is one of the books selected to be featured in this year’s festival
*May 3, 2012 join me on a luxury cruise to Italy and the Mediterranean
An Italian Afternoon | Tombola at the Post Office, Hot Borlotti Bean Soup, and Torta Paradiso
