Video Recipe: Pizza Bianco in the Wood Oven

A local favorite here in Le Marche and especially at our farmhouse is pizza bianco or white pizza, because there is no sauce. There are many variations of this depending on where you live - but in our neck of the woods, it's made with thinly sliced potatoes, rosemary, dollops of ricotta, sea salt (& peperoncini) and a good drizzle of extra virigin olive oil. We serve this classic up every Thursday during our Summer Pizza Nights!!

Try a Pizza Bianco on your next trip to Le Marche!

Video Recipe: Crostata - Rustic Tart

Rustic Tart or Crostata: Traditionally made with marmalade, this rustic tart is found kept under a kitchen towel in most homes in our area. With strawberries in abundance this time of year, we use fresh fruit instead of jam.
This recipe is enough to make two 9-in/22cm tarts with lattice. Use what you have for the tart pans, we use round pizza pans.

Full Recipe can be found here: http://latavolamarcherecipebox.blogsp...

"Taste of Italy" is our webseries of shorts (under 2 min.) of life on our farm in Italy, the food, cooking classes, garden and more! 

Video Recipe: Cooking Class, Beer Batter for Elderflowers & Squash Blossoms

 On a warm Spring afternoon we added Fried Elderflowers or fiori di sambuco fritti  to the menu - these edible flowers when fried in a beer batter create a light, crunchy, aromatic antipasti/appetizer!

Serve with the same beer you used in the batter, in our case, local craft beer from Apecchio's Collessi Brewery. The flowers have a floral-lemony flavor that pair perfect with Prosecco as well.

The key to this recipe is keeping all the ingredients - including the bowl & whisk in the fridge!! It is a very light/loose batter that becomes nice & crispy!

 

 

Here is a short 2 minute video taken during a May Cooking Class just the other day - on the menu: Fried Elderflowers, Homemade Ravioli stuffed with Greens & Ricotta in a 'Sugo al Momento' or Sauce of the Moment and 2 Crostata's: Fresh Strawberries and Fig Jam with Pine Nuts. It was a lovely lunch but the elderflowers stole the show!

Beer Batter for Elderflowers and Squash/Zucchini Blossoms

*It is very important to have all the ingredients as cold as possible, including: flour, bowl, whisk/whip, etc.

Serves 4
12-15 flowers (sambuco/elderflower or squash blossoms), it is important to keep the stem long to use it as a 'stir-stick' when frying.
bottle of beer (or seltzer water - but it won't be as crispy)
flour
sea salt (for sprinkling on top before you serve)

Add a couple of handfuls of cold flour to a cold bowl, with a cold whisk add cold beer steadily mixing until you develop a light thin batter without lumps that will coat a spoon. (Think of a thin crepe batter.) - Watch the video for an example.

Once at desired consistency, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about an hour.

Heat oil to 350 F / 175 C - be sure to use a thermometer.

Clean your flowers. Elderflowers: give a little shake and check for bugs. Squash Blossoms: remove the pistil & stamen.

Dip the flower in the batter holding on to the stem. Allow access batter to drip off. While holding the stem of the flower, place in the hot oil in a slow swirling motion thru the oil. (This avoids clumping).
Fry for 20-30 seconds, until golden brown. Be sure to maintain the temperature of your oil.
Place on the fried flowers on brown paper and sprinkle with sea salt and serve immediately!

Serve with beer or prosecco - something bubbly!!

Video Recipe: How to Make a Proper Italian Coffee

What's the best part of waking up in Italy? A proper Italian caffè! This short film shows you how to use and clean for a Moka to make Italian coffee (caffè, macchiato & cappuccino) at home. The Moka is the most widely used home coffee maker in Italy & makes a great caffè, we use it everyday!! 

Click on the photos below to buy the essentials for un caffè Italiano vero!

Video Recipe: Savory Rustic Tart with Wild Greens, Ricotta & Prosciutto

Recipe for the Savory Tart with Wild Greens, Prosciutto & Ricotta

During a hands-on cooking class at La Tavola Marche (farm, inn & cooking school) in Le Marche, Italy guests forage for wild greens in the field in front of our 300 year old farmhouse. Jason helps guests identify the different edibles and with bags full of dandelion greens, poppy greens, grispigno & more they head into the kitchen to create a rustic tart with the fresh picked wild greens, ricotta & prosciutto.  

  During the dog days of winter, enjoy this slice of life/glimpse at one of our Spring cooking classes!

Visit us during April/May 2014 for one of our Spring Cooking & Foraging Holidays in Italy:

Cooking with Wild Edibles & Bottling Wine:   24 - 28 April 2014 (4 Nights) = 500 Euro/person 

 “Made in Le Marche”  D.O.C. Wine & Cheese Tour, Artisan Meat Market Trip with Chef & Craft Beer Tasting with 3 Cooking Classes 13-18 May 2014 (5 Nights) = 928 Euro/person

  

Recipe for the Savory Tart with Wild Greens, Prosciutto & Ricotta

Torta di Erbe Selvatiche

Pastry Dough
Ingredients:
2 3/4 Cups (250 gr) all purpose flour
3/4 Cup (150 gr.) butter, cut into pieces
1 egg
2-3 Tablespoons ice water
pinch of salt

Method:
Sift flour into a mound, add the butter & pinch of salt. Rub together with your fingers or food processor. When mixture resembles crumbly coarse sand incorporate the egg & water. Knead 2-3 times.
Form into a disk, wrap in plastic and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Filling
Ingredients:
2 Cups (400 gr) of cooked, drained and squeezed dry greens (mix of wild greens or chard, spinach, escarole, etc.)
1 Cup (250 gr.) sheep’s milk ricotta cheese
zest of half a lemon
generous handful of Parmesan
2-3 slices of prosciutto, chopped
salt & pepper
1 egg, separated

Method:
Cook your greens in boiling, salted water depending on the toughness (spinach may only need 20-30 seconds, chard needs 3-4 minutes).  Drain and squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the greens. Combine the greens in a bowl with the ricotta, parmesan, lemon, prosciutto, salt & pepper. Taste & check your seasonings.

To Assemble the Tart:
Preheat oven to 350 F/ 185 C

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and split in half. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch or 1/2 cm thickness and line the bottom of a tart or pie pan. (We use 9-inch or 25 cm but you can make individual tarts as well.) Make sure to have enough dough to fold the edges back over the the top.

Once pastry is lined in pan, brush with egg white then fill with a generous amount of the chard mixture (filling in evenly).

Brush folded over part on the top with egg yolk as well.

Place in oven, bake 45 minutes - 1 hour until pastry is golden brown & filling is bubbly. Serve warm or room temperature.

Video Recipe: How to Make Rolled Pancetta

A short film on butchery & charcuterie in Italy. A visit to Carlo & Gigia's cinta senese (antique breed) pig farm outside Urbino (Le Marche) we butcher a pig and make cured pancetta.

Music by Fats Waller "All that Meat and No Potatoes"

For information on our Annual Forage Slaughter & Butchery Program every October or taking a butchery course with Carlo & Jason email us at info@latavolamarche.com 


Thanks for watching!

rolled pancetta with salt & laurel (bay leaves)

Video Recipe: A Simple Farmer's Lunch {Pranzo}

In our first attempt at 'film making' with our Nikon we thought we'd start simple: lunch.

Here's our 90 second recipe of a simple farmer's lunch of fresh picked tomatoes, aged sheep's milk cheese & olive oil on good crusty bread filmed in the kitchen of our farmhouse in Le Marche, Italy. As Jason prepared our pranzo, I shot this rough video & we edited as we ate.  

Pardon the wobble & focus - I'm learning and the camera gets heavy without a tripod.

Lunch {Pranzo} at La Tavola Marche from Ashley Bartner on Vimeo.

So - what do you think? We'd love to hear your comments!!