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Venetian Galani biscuits

02/24/2012 16:35:00

Venetian Galani biscuits

These are traditionally used at Carneval and have different names depending on which region you are in. for example in Tuscany they are cenci and in the south chiacchere.

500g plain flour,

5 egg yolks

100 g caster sugar and 50g icing sugar

a glass of prosecco

vanilla flavoured baking powder

lemon rind

25g butter

On the pastry board combine flour, caster sugar and vanilla baking powder; blend together and add a pinch of salt. Rub the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs and add the egg yolks, and lemon rind. Mix all ingredients until thoroughly combined, and then drizzle in the Prosecco to obtain a smooth and elastic dough .

wrap and set aside to rest in fridge for two hours.

Divide dough into balls each the size of a mandarin. Roll each ball out thinly into strips through the dough rollers of a pasta maker. Cut the strips into 10cm squares and deep-fry in hot oil at 160°C until golden brown. Drain well on paper towels and sprinkle with icing sugar. serve immediately

Half term recipes with the kids to sneak in some veg

02/16/2012 13:06:00

I just thought I would post some quick recipes for half term to try and sneak in some veg. I have got good at that since my daughter won't eat anything green, or orange for that matter. In fact she only eats white food, bread, pasta, cheese with the occasional red, ie pizza. The next person who asks me if me and my husband eat veg and fruit (I love my fruit and veg) I will reply 'veg? What's that?"

Pasta all norma Sicilian aubergine pasta for 4

400 g pasta

2 aubergines

1 kilo of tomatoes

1 garlic clove

basil

ricotta

olive oil

Blanche the aubergines to get rid of salt. Roast them in the oven for 20 mins

heat the oil and fry the garlic, add the tomatoes and basil

Cook the pasta until al dente

Put the aubergines in with the tomatoes for just a few minutes , mix together with the pasta and add a sprinkle of ricotta and olive oil.

Buon appetito

Risotto con la zucca Pumpkin risotto nice and colourful and gets the kids stirring

400 risotto rice 400g pumpkin

1 garlic clove 1and half litres vegetable broth

cinnamon

oil

parmesan

rosemary

Fry the garlic, rosemary and after 5 minutes add the pumpkin, salt pepper and a pinch of sugar

Bring the vegetable broth to boil and put the rice in another pan.add a ladle at a time of the liquid to the rice and keep stirring. Wait until liquid absorbed before adding more.

After 15 minutes add pumpkin , cinnamon and parmesan. Switch off for last 5 minutes of cooking and cover. Serve immediately.

More Mums and babies and lots of olives!

11/07/2011 18:52:00

So the September mum and baby breaks went well. We had sunshine all month and the mums on the fitness breaks all lost between 1 and 2 kilos. I managed to loose a kilo without doing any exercise! Just eating all those healthy meals. Have sort of kept up the healthy eating give or take a chocolate or two!

The yoga and cooking breaks were great fun and busy.On one break we had ten adults (Dads came too)and seven little ones. Busy , lively and great fun,although hard work for our team. Fernanda said she was glad when the month was over, but the next day said she felt lost without all the children and couldn't wait for the next breaks to begin. Everyone agreed that her tiramisu and home made pasta were the best.A couple of mums have e-mailed me to say they have been practicing their newly learnt pizza and pasta making skills at home. Isobel said the pizza on our pizza evening was the best she had ever tasted.

We have just come back from Italy after picking our olives(we do olive picking and cooking weekends) and having had 34 guests to visit in the last 2 weeks , some for the night, some just for the food. So am about to prepare our olives to put in jars now . In case you want to know how this is done , you prick the olives, cover them in salt, stir every morning until lots of black liquid comes out and after about 2 weeks they are ready (taste to see if still bitter, if they are keep them under salt a few more days).

Then you can put them in jars with some olive oil, fennel seed, celery , garlic and pepper. Add chilly if you want spicy olives. Easy! Great gifts for Christmas. By the way if you want an unusual gift why not get your loved one an olive tree club membership see www.holiday-villa-in-tuscany.com

Mum and baby/toddler holidays May 2011

06/05/2011 11:38:00

Paradise for Mum and babies in Tuscany.

This is what one of our mums wrote on her blog see Flora's comments on arealholiday.wordpress.com/

I have just got back from 2 very different mum and baby breaks in Italy, the first was a fitness break where all 5 mums lost between 1 and half and 2 and half kilos. Alessia de Magistris is our personal trainer and gives a 1 to 1 session on arrival, taking weight and measurements and does 4 fun fitness classes outdoors in a stunning setting with Lake and hill views. Makes Exercise so much easier!

We started the mornings with fresh juice followed by circuit training by the pool. There is something beautiful about exercising outdoors with beautiful views and fresh air.

At 10 am I prepare a healthy breakfast of muesli and yogurt and herbal tea. Some mornings we have freshly laid eggs from our neighbour's farm or porridge with nuts and seeds to see us through our mid-morning exercise class. Lunch, served on the terrace,is a healthy salad or something like spinach, lentils and buckwheat and all mums said they did not feel hungry in between meals , but gladly welcomed a mid afternoon snack of fruit before the 2 late afternoon classes of fighting fit and fusion (a mixture of pilates, tai chi and yoga)Babies and toddlers are looked after while Mums exercise in the well equipped garden. Afternoons are spent at leisure , chatting to other mums , or swimming and sunbathing or even having a well deserved siesta. Dinners are healthy soups such as minestrone or spelt soup, a local speciality and salads such as fennel and orange, all organic and local produce. Mums commented on how tasty all the meals, and although the portion sizes were controlled how much more healthy and energetic they were.

The yoga and cooking breaks are a more relaxed pace with lots of eating and drinking (wine is included), We have 2 yoga classes by the pool,conducted by Jessica st clair, one in the morning and one in the evening. An afternoon cooking lesson is given by Fernanda or Giovanna and dinner is what has been cooked. On the last evening we learn to make pizza in our outdoor oven and all the mums said it was the best pizza they had eaten (the ones Giovanna made, not their efforts!). The mums and toddlers also had a go at making pasta and one of the mums has e-mailed me to say she has tried at home since getting back.We also made tiramisu, panna cotta, risotto with funghi porcini and spelt soup.

On the Wednesday we visited the local market at the medieval town of Anghiari and then had a local lunch at the olive mill. The mums said this was a definite highlight.We arrived at 1pm and left at 5! We tried all the local oils, including truffle oil and orange oil and Francesco's home made wine. Mums also had a chance to buy the local olive oil, wine and olive oil cosmetics. The walk back to the cars through the olive and cherry trees was our exercise for the day as after ll the wine the mums decided to give yoga a miss for that evening (Jessica made up for it the next day with a double session)

By the Friday morning, when the mini bus came to take the Mums and little ones back to Perugia airport all the Mums and babies and toddlers looked relaxed, tanned and happy and swapped e-mails and hopefully made some lasting friendships as well as having a relaxed and happy holiday with the added bonus of loosing weight on the fitness breaks.

The next breaks are in September, but the family friendly villa can be hired out on a self catering basis throughout the summer with cook, babysitter and cooking lessons on request.