ChiaraCecchinato.com

Tag: cooking

  • Baccalà Mantecato

    Baccalà Mantecato

    TIME: 30 minutes

    INGREDIENTS:

    • 300 gr freezed codfish
    • seed oil
    • salt
    • garlic powder
    • black pepper
    • parsley
    • water

    WHAT YOU NEED:

    • pot
    • bowl
    • spoon
    • whisk

    PREPARATION:

    Put some water in the pot, add some salt and the freezed codfish. Let it cook for about 10 minutes, until it becomes soft inside. When it’s ready, put the codfish without the water inside the bowl. Remember to keep the water you’ve cooked the fish in: it has the natural fish gelatin inside and it will help the fish to remain creamy but  firm.

    Now in the bowl add 4 spoons seed oil, a little black pepper, powder garlic (I love it, so I add half a spoon) and a spoon water from the pot. Use the whisk now and be patient: it will take up to 20 minutes to make the fish become very creamy. Using the whisk in fact, you are going to break the binding of the fish itself, so that it will become like a cream.

    If you feel the baccalà is too dry, add a little oil and a little water from the pot, but it’s very important it won’t become too wet!

    Let it cool in the fridge and then add parsley, cut very little.

    The Baccalà Mantecato is a typical Venetian dish. It is made with stockfish and it takes up to 2 days to prepare it. I have chosen the codfish, because this fish belongs to the same species, but it’s cheaper and quicker to cook. The taste is the same though!

    And now…BUON APPETITO!

  • Chicken Salad with Yoghurt Sauce

    Chicken Salad with Yoghurt Sauce

    TIME: 15-20 minutes

    INGREDIENTS:

    • 150 gr chicken breast
    • 125 gr yoghurt
    • powder spices (garlic, paprika, thyme, black pepper, ginger)
    • salad
    • 4-5 cherry tomatoes
    • olive oil, salt, rosemary
    • some bread

    WHAT YOU NEED:

    • bowl
    • frypan
    • knife

    PREPARATION:

    Take the chicken, cut it in small pieces (you can use scissors if you want) and put it in the frypan with a little oil.

    Prepare the sauce: mix the yoghurt with all of the spices you prefer!

    Cut the cherry tomatoes in two, put them in the bowl and add also some salad.

    In 10 minutes the chicken should be ready. Add it to your salad.

    Now you can use the same frypan to roast some bread! Dice the bread and put it in the frypan with a little bit of oil, salt, rosemary and black pepper (but you can choose any other flavour, if you like). Don’t burn them but make them crispy and golden!

    Add them to your salad and pour the sauce on it.

    And now…BUON APPETITO!

  • Chiffon Cake

    Chiffon Cake

    TIME: 1 hour

    INGREDIENTS:

    • 170 gr corn flour
    • 100 ml water
    • 150 gr brown sugar
    • 60 ml sunflower oil
    • 3 eggs
    • 1 little bag vanillin
    • almond flavor
    • salt
    • 1 bag yeast
    • 8 gr cream of tartar (but you can use the same amount of active dry yeast, I did!)

    WHAT YOU NEED:

    • 3 bowls
    • sieve
    • whisk
    • chiffon cake mold
    • spoon

    PREPARATION:

    Start passing the flour and yeast through the sieve. Put the brown sugar in the mixer to make it very thin, then add it to the flour. Add also very little salt, less than half of a little spoon.

    Take the other two bowls, divide the egg white from the red. Add water and oil to the red, then whip it. Add also vanillin and almond flavor, then whip it until it becomes smooth.
    Add it to the flour.

    Now take the egg white, whip it a little bit until it becomes smooth, then add the cream of tartar (or active dry yeast) and whip it again until the egg white is compact.

     Mix the egg white together with the dough you have already prepared. Pay attention, always mix it with the spoon from the bottom to the top. It has to remain compact!

    Take the chiffon cake mold (or another cake mold 18-20 cm), add the dough and put in the oven, 160° for about 45-50 minutes.


    And now…BUON APPETITO!

  • Pizza

    Pizza

    TIME: 2 and a half hours

      INGREDIENTS:

    • 500 gr flour (plus some more)
    • 1 little spoon active dry yeast
    • 4 spoons olive oil
    • 1 little spoon salt
    • sugar
    • 300 ml warm water
    • tomato puree
    • mozzarella (better the one without its water inside)
    • any other ingredient! (I chose speck, rosemary and a bit of brie)
      WHAT YOU NEED:

    • bowl
    • knife
    • spoons
    • 2 glasses
    • a humid towel
    • baking paper
    • baking pan

    PREPARATION:
    Start dividing the warm water into the two glasses: in one put a little spoon of active dry yeast and very little sugar (less than half little spoon) and mix it together. Sugar will activate the yeast! You will see that the surface will become “creamy”.
    In the other glass put the rest of the water and the little spoon of salt. Mix it.

    Take your bowl, better a big one. Put the flour, add the glass with the yeast and sugar and start mixing the dough. Add then the other glass and 4 spoons olive oil. Now you have to mix it all together! It will take 8-10 minutes to do it properly, the dough have to be flawless on the surface, soft but it doesn’t have to stick on your fingers. Add a little flour if it does! 😉

    Now your dough is ready! Leave it in the bowl, put a humid towel on the bowl and leave it in the closed oven for about 2 hours. The dough have to double and it’s very important that the temperature inside the oven won’t change: so don’t open it!

    Now it’s time to prepare it! Take the dough off the oven. Switch on the oven, 230°C. Divide the dough in two, take the baking paper and roll the dough until it’s thin and has a nice rounded shape.
    Now start adding tomato puree, just a little bit on the whole surface to add flavour and color (leave the external part – about 1 cm – without tomato, so that you can take the slices without getting dirty!). Dice the mozzarella in very little pieces and add it on the pizza. Then enjoy all of the other ingredients you chose!

    Put it in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, until it will be crispy…and delicious!

    And now… BUON APPETITO!

  • Baked Crepes

    Baked Crepes

    TIME: 45-50 minutes

    INGREDIENTS:

    • 2 eggs
    • 125 gr flour
    • 1 little spoon salt
    • 300 ml milk
    • 250 ml besciamella
    • 100 gr cheese
    • oil, butter, parmesan cheese
    • 3 zucchini (or other vegetables of your choice)

    WHAT YOU NEED:

    • bowl
    • knife
    • fork
    • spoon
    • little frypan
    • oven
    • baking pan

    PREPARATION:
    Start preparing the crepes, mixing the 2 eggs together and adding flour, salt and milk. Blend everything together and let it rest in the fridge.

    Meanwhile, take a frypan, add little oil and cook the vegetables that you have previously diced. Put it aside.

    Use the frypan, put a little butter to grease it and take the dough from the fridge. Add 1 spoon dough and let it cook 1 minute, then turn it and cook it for 10-20 seconds more. It has to remain smooth and soft, so that you can bind your crepes. Cook all of the dough that you have.

    Now dice the cheese, add it to the vegetables and ¾ of the besciamella. Mix everything together and put a spoon of it inside each crepes. Then bind each crepe and put it in the baking pan.

    Once you’ve finished, add the remains of the besciamella on the top of the crepes. it won’t be much, but it’s ok! 😉

    Put a bit of parmesan on the top, then in the oven, 200°C for about 15 minutes.

    And now… BUON APPETITO!