Pizza with 4 cheeses

Here another delicious recipes for pizza. This Italian pizza is usually called “white pizza” because it is prepared without the tomato sauce. On the bottom of the dough instead of the tomatoes sauce I usually spread a teaspoon of stracchino cheese. The main ingredients of this Italian pizza are cheeses indeed it is called pizza with 4 cheeses. The cheeses that I use for this pizza are: the Asiago cheese, the Gorgonzola cheese, the Pecorino cheese and the Mozzarella cheese. The Asiago cheese and the Pecorino cheese that I used here they have a medium maturing and the taste that much more you can feel when you taste this eliciuos pizza is that one of the Gorgonzola cheese.

INGREDIENTS (for 2 pizza)
For the dought follow the recipe that you find here.
1 Teaspoon of Stracchino cheese
150 g or 5,3 oz of Mozzarella cheese
60 g or 2,1 oz of Asiago cheese
60 g or 2,1 oz of Pecorino cheese
60 g or 2,1 oz of Gorgonzola cheese

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes + the time you need for the rising of the dough

COOKING TIME: 15 – 20 minutes

PREPARATION
Prepare the dough for pizza as described here. Half an hour before to roll out the pizza start the preparation of the ingredients you need to flavour the pizza and preheat the oven at the maximum degree, in my oven is 482°F but also 572°F is ok. Cut in small cubes the mozzarella cheese, the pecorino cheese, the asiago cheese and the gorgonzola cheese. All the ingredients are ready. You can roll out the dough and flavour pizza.



Start spreading with a teaspoon of stracchino cheese the bottom of the pizza.



Put the pieces of mozzarella cheese homogeneously and then the other pieces of cheese.







Pizza is ready to be' cooked. Bake pizza for 15 - 20 minutes. Put the pizza first in the lower part of the oven so it will cook on the bottom and then after more or less 10 minutes transfer it in the upper part so it will become crumchy on the surface. Pay attention and check the cooking time by time because according to the power of your oven the cooking can change. The ideal number of pizza to cook in a normal size oven is 2, if you put more you will need more time and you have to move the pizza continuosly from one to another lager of the oven. Serve hot pizza. BUON APPETITO!

Spatzle with Spinach Speck and Cream

Sometimes ago I show you the Italian recipes for the preparation of traditional Italian spatzle, a delicious first course diffuses in the northern part of Italy in particular in Val D’Aosta and Trentino Alto Adige. Here I’m going to show you another delicious Italian recipes for Spatzle and in particular green spaetzle made with spinach. This spaetzle are similar to gnocchi with small dimension and irregular shape, easy to prepare and the recipe presented below is simple made with flour, milk and the addition of spinach. Also in this case you will need to use the grater for spaetzle and the seasoning that I used is also made with speck and cream.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
380 g or 4 cups of Flour
2 Glasses or 1 cup of milk
200g or 7 oz of Spinach
200 ml or 1 cup of Cream
2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
50 g of Speck cut in small cubes
Raw salt

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 10 minutes

WINE: Alto Adige Pinot Bianco (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean, wash the spinach and let them boil for 5-8 minutes.



When they are cooked drain them, let them cool down and squeeze them in order to remove the excess of water. Blend the spinach. Let salted water boil for spaetzle. Place the flour and the milk in a bowl and mix all together in order to obtain a soften dough without lumps, like this shown in the picture below.





When the mixture is well creamy, add the spinach and mix all together.





Then prepare the seasoning: preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the cubes of speck and let them brown;





add the cream and let the sauce cook for about 5 – 10 minutes in order to reduce it.




Remember not to reduce the cream too much, in case this happens you can add a little bit of milk. When the water boils place the grater on the surface of the pan, pour slowly in its container the dough of spatzle and move the container back and forth in order to cut the dough in small irregular gnocchi with drops shape.





The spatzle are ready when they rise to the surface and this takes about 3 – 4 minutes.



Drain them and pour on them the sauce of speck and cream



Serve hot!



BUON APPETITO

Altamura Bread

Altamura Bread is a traditional type of bread that comes from the city that has the same name. Altamura is located in the south part of Italy in Puglia. This type of bread has an unmistakable taste: it has a yellow colour, a crunchy crust and a soft breadcrumb. Altamura Bread is the first bread that in Europe is defined as DOP product that means denomination origin protected. One of the best properties of Altamura Bread is its durability; indeed traditionally it was prepared for the peasant that had to work for weeks in the fields. If you want to prepare it at home you should remember that the dough should be knead very well until it results completely homogeneous.

INGREDIENTS (for 600 g of bread):
500 g or 1 pound of durum flour
300 ml or 1 and ¼ cup of water
16 g or 0,56 ounces Powder yeast for bread
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes and 4 - 5 hours of rising

COOKING TIME: 20 - 30 minutes

PREPARATION
Put in a bowl the flour, the yeast, the salt and the sugar, mix them together.



Then little by little add the water and start to mix.



Don't add all the water immediately but time by time so in this way white your are working the dough and you feel it's consistency you can understand if the water is enough, too much or too less. You have to consider that the dough shouldn't be too dry but it should be a little bit humid and attach to your hands. Work the dough for at least 10 minutes to obtain a homogeneous and soft mixture. When you think that the dough is ready let stand it for rising in a bowl, make a cross in its surface



and cover with a wet towel. After more or less 3 - 4 hours the dough should be doubled. At this point work again the dough and prepare it to bake it. Put a sheet of baking paper on the baking pan, divide the dough in 2 round pieces, and make some incision with a knife on the surface and sprinkle abundantly with flour.



Let them rise again for 30 minutes 1 hour and then bake for 25 - 30 minutes at 250 C or 482 F. To check if the bread is ready you can use spaghetti, insert it at the centre of the bread, when you remove it if it is dry that mean that the bread is well cooked otherwise it needs some more minutes.





BUON APPETITO!

Pasta Paccheri with Eggplants

This Italian first course is prepared with a tomatoes sauce that is traditional of Sicily indeed it is prepared with black olive and eggplant, and a type of pasta called Paccheri that is typical from Campania. Other than eggplant and black olive for the tomatoes sauce you need to add also mozzarella cheese, a lot of parmesan and basil to obtain a more delicious italian first course. This Italian recipe could be also prepared for Christmas lunch and you can easy found it on the table of Italian family from the South of Italy.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 people):
400 g or 3 cups of Pasta type paccheri
1 Eggplant
50 ml or 1/4 cup of extravirgin olive oil
50 g or 2 oz of black olive
700 ml or 3 cups of tomatoes sauce
400 g or 14 oz of Mozzarella cheese
5-6 leaves of basil
150 g 1 cup +2/3 cup of Parmesan

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Vesuvio rosato DOC ( Red Wime)

PREPARATION
Let the salted water boil for pasta, type paccheri. Clean the eggplant and cut it in small cubes. Preheat the extravirgin olive oil and when it's hot fry the cubes of eggplant.



When the eggplant got a golden color remove them from the extravirgin olive oil and put them on a blotting paper to remove the excess of oil. In the meantime prepare the tomatoes sauce, preheat 2-3 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil, cut the black olive in slices and add them to the oil. Let them saute a little bit




and then add the tomatoes sauce.



Stir and let them cook for about 15 minutes, stir the tomatoes sauce time by time. If the water for pasta, type paccheri, boils, cook the paccheri for the time indicated on the packaging.



Cut mozzarella cheese in cubes.



When all the ingredients are ready you can start to put them together. First mix the paccheri pasta with a little bit of tomatoes sauce



then take a large baking pan, place a little bit of tomatoes sauce on them bottom. Add a layer of paccheri pasta,



the fried eggplant, the tomatoes sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan and some leaves of basil.



Then start again with paccheri pasta, tomatoes sauce, eggplant, mozzarella cheese, parmesan and basil.



Bake at 180 C or 356 F for 20 minutes.



Serve warm. BUON APPETITO!