Risotto Radicchio and Pear

In this delicious Italian dish I combine the bitter taste of Radicchio of Chioggia with the sweet taste of pear. This Italian recipe is ideal if you want to prepare a tasty and light first course in few times and in a simple way. If you want to obtain a good result you should prepare broth with fresh vegetables in particular carrot, celery, onion and potato. Then use fresh Radicchio of Chioggia and pear type Abate that is particularly juicy and sweet, and it produces a sort of caramel when you sauté it with some butter. In the end to finish the preparation of the dish sprinkle with some good Parmesan that join the taste of pear and Radicchio.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320 g of Rice
250 g of Radicchio
1 Pear
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
40 g of Butter
20 g of Parmesan
1 / 4 of Onion chopped
1 / 2 Glass of White wine
500 ml of water
1 / 2 of Onion cut in big pieces for broth
1 Carrot cut in big pieces for broth
1 Celery cut in big pieces for broth
1 Potato cut in big pieces for broth
Salt

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Nebbiolo d’Alba (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with preparing the broth: place in a pan the water, big pieces of onion, celery, carrot, potato and salt and let the water boil until the vegetable are cooked.

Then begin to prepare the risotto. Clean radicchio

and cut it in thin stripes. Place in a pan the extra virgin olive oil, the butter and the chopped onion and let it golden

then add radicchio and let it cook for about 5 minutes until it wilts.

Now add the rice and make it roast for some minute, add the wine and let it evaporate.

Start to add 1 ladle of hot broth stirring until it is absorbed; continue in this way, adding ladles of hot broth, for about 15 - 18 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the pear, peel and cut it in cubes, place the cubes of pear in a pan with 20 g of butter and let it golden for about 3 – 5 minutes.

When the rice is ready add the pear and the Parmesan and mix all together.

At the end of the cooking the rice must be slightly firm to the teeth. Serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Fritters of Potatoes with Gorgonzola and Pears

In this Italian recipe the spicy taste of the Italian cheese Gorgonzola and the sweet taste of the pears and potatoes are joined in order to obtain a delicious second course. In addition what I like of this recipe is the match of the crunch consistency of the potatoes fritters with that soft of the Gorgonzola and the pears. To prepare this dish use yellow potatoes, Gorgonzola of medium ages, that is a blue veined Italian cheese, and the type of pears called Abate, that are sweet and.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
4 Potatoes
120 g of Gorgonzola (Italian cheese)
2 Pears
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
20 g of Butter

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Colli Morenici Mantovani del Garda bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the extra virgin olive oil and the butter in a small pan. Clean and peel the potatoes, cut them as thin matches.

Fry a small quantity of them as shown in the picture and try to form a sort of fritter of potatoes.

Proceed in this way until you obtain other 7 fritters of potatoes. Then clean, peel the pears divide them in half and place them in a pan with some rosemary, cook them for about 5 minutes in order to let them golden.

When the fritters are ready prepare the dish.
Place 1 fritters on the dish, put over it 30 g of the Italian cheese Gorgonzola,

cover with another fritters.

Place over the pears and the rosemary and serve.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Pears and Chocolate Tart

This tart made of pears and chocolate is ideal for people who have a sweet tooth!



INGREDIENTS:

120 g of Sugar
1 Egg
1 Yolk
70 g of Butter at room temperature
250 of Flour
8 g of Yeast for sweet
2 Pears
200 g of Chocolate (dark or milk chocolate)
50 ml of Milk
25 ml of Passito wine

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 35 minutes

DIFFICULTY: medium

WINE: Passito

PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 220°C. Put the flour, the sugar, the egg, the butter pieces, the yeast and the wine in a bowl. Then mix all together until you obtain a solid dough.

Divide the dough in two parts: one large part is for the tart base and the other (50 g) for decoration. Dampen a sheet of baking paper and put it on the bottom of a 24 cm diameter deep cake-tin. Then roll out the first part of the dough 1 cm thick and cover the bottom and the sides of the tin.
Wash, dry and peel 2 pears. Then cut the pears into small slices and put them on the dought as shown in the picture below.
In a pan put the dark chocolate (or milk chocolate as you prefer) with the milk and the yolk, and cook until the chocolate is melted and you obtain a cream (for about 4-5 minutes).

When the cream of chocolate is ready pour it on the pear.
Now roll out the second part of the dough on a table and cut it into thin strips. Then put them on the surface of the chocolate to decorate the tart.

Bake for 30 minutes
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!

Pear and Gorgonzola

This is a recipe for a dessert made of pear, walnuts, honey and gorgonzola (Italian cheese)

INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)

2 Pears
6-8 Walnuts
2-3 Tablespoons of honey
125 g of Gorgonzola (Italian cheese)

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

DIFFICULTY: easy

PREPARATION
Crack and chop the walnuts.
Wash, dry and peel the pears. Then cut them in quarters.
Place in a platter the quarters of the pear as you can see on the picture.
Position the walnuts and some gorgonzola between the cloves.
At the end spread with honey.
This is the result:


BUON APPETITO!