Prep Time: 10 minutes | Sitting Time: 2 hours | Yields: it serves 4.

Ingredients:for vegan cherry jelly 

• 6 G agar-agar powder
• 320 G cherry pulp, about 400 G cherries washed and deprived of stones and stems, diced
• 350 G water
• 32 G white sugar

Method:How to make vegan cherry jelly

1. Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and boil for 4 mins. Blend with an immersion blender.
2. Meanwhile, lightly grease 4 small tins with vegetable oil. Pour cooled jelly into tins through a sieve. Refrigerate for 2 hours to set completely.
3. Remove from fridge and use the point of a sharp small knife to carefully release the dessert from the tin along the edges. Lightly grease your serving platter with oil. Place the platter upside down on top of the tins, then swiftly flip them over so that the tins is now upside down, and (hopefully) allow the dessert to fall out onto the platter.
4. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to eat.

NOTES

+ 2 hrs refrigeration.

http://Agar-agar WikipediaBrief history of agar-agar

DARK CHOCOLATE CAPRESE CAKE

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Prep Time: 30 minutes | Sitting Time: 30 mins | Yields: it serves 8.

Ingredients

• 200 G (1 cup) coffee
• 10 G (1 tbsp) instant coffee
• 200 G (1 cup) water, cold
• 360 G (3 cups) icing sugar, sifted
• Cocoa powder to sprinkle
• Ice

Tools

• 2 bowls, one bigger than the other, kept in the freezer
• Electric whisk (hand mixer)

Method

After making the coffee, pour it in the small bowl, add sugar and instant coffee when it is still hot, so they melt perfectly, then add the water and put it in the freezer.

Chill for 20 minutes, put ice in the bigger bowl, put the smaller on it and begin to mix using the electric whisk.

Begin to use the electric whisk at minimum speed and gradually increase it until maximum speed is reached. It must be whipped for a total time of 15-20 mins.

Serve in individual glasses or cups and sprinkle with cocoa powder through a sift.

If you do not serve it all immediately, the leftover needs to be whipped again.

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There are variations of this tasty eggplant dish. Most of caponatas are spiked with vinegar or raisins.

This version was given to me by a dear friend who lives in Prato, but she owns her Apulian origins a fantastic touch with veggies. This ratatouille is baked, and much lighter then the original version with fried veggies.

The addition of Juniper berries and bay leaves to caponata confers it a very unusual taste which, surprisingly enough (usually these herbs are used in game or meat cooking), melts perfectly with this tasty deli.

It is best the next day, so try to make it ahead and store it in the fridge in a tight-lid mason jar. Bring it to room temperature before serving.

Prep Time: 20 mins | Cooking Time: 60 mins | Total Time: 1 hour + 20 mins minutes | Yield: Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients 

• 4 medium yellow onions
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 red bell peppers
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 large eggplant
• 125 ml (½ cup) EVO oil
• 10 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon Juniper berries
• Sea salt

Instructions

Cut the eggplant in chunks, sprinkle with salt and let drain in a colander.

Halve and de–seed the peppers, then roughly cut into large chunks. Do the same with potatoes and zucchini.

Heat oven to 180C/170C (350 F) fan.

Cover two shallow roasting pans with parchment paper, pour in the vegetables except the eggplant, and season with salt.

With a clean tea towel, squeeze the eggplant chunks and add them to the other vegetables.

Spoon two-thirds juniper berries, peppercorns and olive oil and bay leaves (roughly broken into two halves) into the vegetable mixture, toss together, then roast for 40 minutes.

While vegetables are baking, cut the onions in two halves and then into strips.

Put them in a bowl, season with salt and the remaining herbs and olive oil.

After the vegetables have cooked for 40’, add the onion, mix and let it cook for 20’, or until all the vegetables are soft.

The post APULIAN CAPONATA appeared first on Cooking with Carlotta.

Anyway, if you prefer to make simple but genuine appetizers, you can bake these little amuse bouche, and spread them, still warm, with vodka butter and smoked salmon.

NB: this is a small quantity, just enough to make these bite-sized snacks for a party. If you double the ingredients you can make a very tasty bread, which can last even a week, even longer if you keep it in a plastic bag in the fridge and heat it up in the oven for a few minutes.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cooking Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes (+ 2 hours for leavening) | Yield: Makes 6  servings.

Ingredients

•  1 cup (250 g) bread flour
•  1 tsp (6 g) active brewer’s yeast
• 1 tsp (6 g) sea salt
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp (35 ml) olive oil
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp (20 g) sugar
• ½ cup + 2 tbsp (150 ml) cold water

Preparation

Add both flours, yeasts, and water to the bowl of a stand mixer. Knead it with the dough hook in place. You can also do it by hand in a bowl, but the process takes around 14 minutes of work.

Add the sugar a bit at a time, and when it is well kneaded, add the salt, again in several batches, slowly. Finally, add the oil, slowly. When the dough sticks to the dough hook in a ball, remove it and knead it on a surface sprinkled with flour.

Place the dough in a floured bowl, cover with cling film, and let it rise for 45 minutes. Times vary depending on the time of the year and how warm the kitchen is. At my house, the winter temperature is around 19 C (66 F), so I prefer to move the bowl to a warm oven with the light on.

After the dough has doubled in volume, roll it with the rolling pin, and cut out small circles.  I use a sherry glass, 4 cm in diameter. Roll all the pieces in the palm of your hands, until you create little balls. Make sure to use the remnants of the cuts, or you’ll have to knead them again and make them rise.

As you make the balls, put the on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover with cling film and leave them to rise for 40/60 minutes.

Discard the cling film and cook in a pre-heated convection oven for 8 to 10 minutes at 375 F (190 C).

The post OIL BREAD, GENUINE AMUSE-BOUCHE appeared first on Cooking with Carlotta.

It’s an excellent dessert when fresh, like all leavened cake, based on bread dough, the day after tends to get rubbery, so my advice is warming it up for few minutes in an electric oven.

Prep Time: 35 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Yield: Makes 8  servings.

TIP – rising time: 4 hours for rising

Ingredients for the dough

• 4⅓  cups pastry flour
• ½ cup white sugar
• 5 tbsp delicate olive oil or seed oil
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 0.35 oz fresh active yeast or ½ packet instant yeast (1 tsp)
• 1¼ cups warm water
• A pinch of sea salt

Ingredients for the filling

• 2 lbs red concord grapes
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp cane sugar

Instructions 

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and add the sugar, then mix in the oil and the sifted flour. Add the salt last.

The dough must be very soft and sticky. In order to work it, you should spread some drops of oil on your hands.

Spread a tablespoon of oil on the dough and fold the outer edges into the centre as you turn the bowl. Let it rest for 15 minutes, covering with cling wrap.

Again, spread a tablespoon of oil onto the dough and repeat folding. Let it rest for 45 minutes, covering with cling wrap.

Repeat, and let the dough rest for 2 – 3 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.

Heat the oil with a sprig of rosemary and prepare a baking tray with parchment paper. Brush it with the flavoured oil using the rosemary sprig, and sprinkle a tablespoon of cane sugar on it.

Pre-heat the oven to 480 F (250 C).

Divide the dough into two parts. Place a piece of it on the prepared parchment, using your fingers and not a rolling pin to flatten it out, but not too thin. Brush with a tablespoon of oil, sprinkle with sugar, and spread with half of the grapes.

Repeat and lay the other half of the flattened dough on top, using your fingers to seal the edges. Again, brush with a tablespoon of oil, sprinkle with sugar, and add the remaining grapes.

Lower the oven temperatures to 430 F (220 C) and bake the flat bread for 20-25 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick. Let cool, and serve.

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There are many versions of this dish: mine is the simplest, but an excellent one is using minced onion instead of garlic and adding chili pepper. Another version that is very popular in Tuscany, the land of meat-eaters where it is difficult to make vegetables appetizing for children, some grandmothers prefer preparing a soffritto with finely minced onion, celery, and carrot, and diced pancetta.

While up to few decades ago vegetables were boiled for an unnecessarily long time, or as my vegetarian brother complained, they were “tortured to death”, now we prefer crispy vegetables.

They are easy, quick to prepare, and impossible to get wrong, unless you abandon them in boiling water for hours. The result is a half-destroyed yellowish hay that not even a horse would eat.

Break off the top and wash them, leaving them whole. Today’s green beans have no strings, since only the fresh and best ones are harvested.

An excellent way to cook green beans and vegetables in general is to cook them in simmering water for 6 to 7 minutes (test them, they must be cooked but still al dente), and then immediately drained in a colander and plunged into ice cold water to bring the temperature down.  A rule of thumb is that the beans should spend as much time in the cold water as in the hot water.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely minced
• 500 g fresh green beans, washed
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tin crushed tomato or peeled plum tomatoes

Instructions

Preparation 1

Cook the green beans in simmering water for 6 to 7 minutes, immediately drain in a colander and plunge them into ice cold water to bring the temperature down.

In a deep pan (the one you use for sautéing pasta is ideal) sauté the garlic in the olive oil. Add the tomato sauce and cook for 10 minutes. When the tomato sauce has lost its acidity, season with salt and pepper and add the green beans and parsley.

Stir for 2 to 3 minutes and serve.

Preparation 2, the original

In a deep pan sauté the garlic in the olive oil. Add the tomato sauce, season with salt and pepper and add the green beans and parsley. Add water to cover the beans. Simmer for 10 minutes covered with a lid. Remove the lid and simmer for another 35 to 40 minutes, checking the green beans by tasting them, and if necessary, adding a bit more water.

This way of cooking them has the advantage of using less saucepans and bowls, and of course the green beans have more taste because they absorb the tomato sauce while cooking.

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The xanthan gum is not essential, it is just a stabilizer and makes the colours more vivid, but it can also be a strong laxative if you overdo it, so be careful or avoid using it.

The addition of fennel and Sambuca liqueur is a touch of Rome, suggested by visiting Chef Fabio Campoli at the Florence Metro Academy.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

For the yellow jelly

• 14 oz (400 g) yellow cherry tomatoes
• 1 oz (20 g) onion, finely minced
• Some wild fennel leaves
• 1 tbsp Sambuca (star anise liqueur)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pinch xanthan gum
• 1 tsp agar-agar

For the red jelly

• 14 oz (400 g) red cherry tomatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 pinch chili pepper
• 1 tsp agar-agar
• 1 pinch xanthan gum

Instructions

In a saucepan, sauté  the onion in the olive oil and add the yellow tomatoes when the onion is golden. Add salt, cook for 10 minutes and add the Sambuca and fennel. Add the agar-agar and the xanthan gum and mix carefully.

Wet 6 small moulds and pour the liquid into each of them through a sieve. Place the moulds in the fridge and let cool for an hour.

In another saucepan, sauté the garlic cloves in the olive oil. When they are golden, discard them and add the red tomatoes. Add the chili pepper, season with salt, and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the agar-agar and the xanthan gum and mix carefully. Remove the moulds from the fridge, Pour the liquid into each mould through a sieve and put back in the fridge.

The post TWO TOMATO JELLY appeared first on Cooking with Carlotta.

It is a unique side dish, rich in fibre without the boring stigma associated with “healthy” foods.

In order to peel the onions, I found an American recipe that blanches them in a pot of boiling water followed by immersing them in a bowl of cold water to stop them from cooking. The temperature shift makes them easier to peel. In Italy, I usually find them peeled.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 kg – 2.2 lbs Borettane onions, peeled
• 60 g – 1/3 cup sugar
• 300 g – 1½ cups water
• 150 g – ¾ cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

In a non-stick pan, heat the olive oil and add the onions. Brown the onions and add the sugar. Stir to melt the sugar, and when onions are caramelized add the vinegar and cook for a few minutes, until most of it evaporates. Add the water, stir gently and cook for 10 minutes, then cover with a lid and cook for 10 more minutes.

Test with a fork; the onions are ready when they are soft.

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Pears, red wine, sugar and spices join in a magic blending which evokes winter and evenings spent in front of a fireplace. Traditionally they were cooked in the oven, in an Aga. The smell invaded all the house, but even now, even if we cook them in a pot, the scent which pervades all the house is heavenly. It recalls the atmosphere of Christmas Markets and the mulled wine you are served there

If you want to add a more personal touch to this dish, you could serve the pears on a bed of custard or Mascarpone sauce, and pour the wine reduction on it. If you also add some wild berries you could give a kick to a dessert that tends to be very sweet.

In restaurants in Emilia-Romagna, they are frequently served with a zabaione mousse.

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