Swedish magazine Lantliv and a pie from the lemon tree

January 26, 2014

Friends, I have news! I will be contributing the food portion for a blog in the Swedish Magazine Lantliv http://www.lantliv.com/category/bloggar/anna-huerta/. The recipes will be in Swedish and there are three posts already! And make sure to check out my fellow bloggers Leija Kortesaari, Victoria Skoglund and Bella Linde all very interesting in their different fields http://www.lantliv.com/bloggar/
Under the Almond Tree will continue to be published in English. My hope is that you will continue to follow our posts whether you choose the Swedish version at Lantliv or Under the Almond Tree.

This week’s post is from our garden, home to an amazing lemon tree. The name for this tree is Limone Lunare. Upon the full moon, it makes new lemons. Picking the fruits releases their perfume, a magical scent, fresh and sweet at the same time. The tree provides us with fruit year round, but during the hottest summer months when rain is in short supply it adjusts its production accordingly. Late January through April the tree is full of yellow lemons. I have a weakness for all sweets and desserts made with lemon. The first time I ever tasted this lemon pie was after a dinner served by my friend Sara, a master of desserts and baked goods. She generously gave me her recipe. Over the years and many pies, I have changed it a little bit by adding more lemon cream and including some vanilla to the crust.
10 years later, this pie remains a favorite to all. Enjoy!

Lemon pie
9 Inch ( 24 cm) cake tin
Serves 8 portions

Ingredients
Pie crust
7 Oz (200 grams) butter
1 1/4 Cup ( 3 dl) All-purpose flour
5 Tablespoon caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon bourbon vanilla powder or other vanilla extract
Lemon cream
6 Eggs (room temperature)
1 1/2 Cup (3.75 dl) caster sugar
1/2 Cup (1.2 dl) sifted flour
1 Cup ( 2.4 dl) fresh lemon juice

Method
Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C) degrees.
Melt the butter over low to medium heat on the stove.
In a bowl mix the flour, sugar and vanilla sugar.
Pour the butter over the flour mixture and stir to a smooth dough .
Place the dough into the cake tin. Using your fingers, make a thin crust by pushing the dough evenly across the cake tin as well as up a bit on sides of the tin.
When finished, place the tin to rest for 10-15 minutes in the fridge. (this will allow the butter to harden when baking the crust the butter melts creating steam and making the crust flaky.)
Place the pie crust on the lower rack in the oven bake pie crust at 400 degrees F (200 C) for about 7-8 minutes remove and allow to cool.

In a bowl, whisk sugar and eggs to soft peaks, sift the flour into the bowl slowly alternating with whisking to make smooth batter, last add in the lemon juice.
Fill the crust with the lemon cream and bake for 10 minutes on the lowest rack in the oven.
Let pie cool before serving, this allows the cream to sit and gel a little bit.
Serve with whipped cream .

Plate from Anthropologie http://www.anthropologie.eu/anthro/index.jsp

Pasta with cauliflower and capers

January 16, 2014

2 Replies

I have a new favorite thing , it’s roasted vegetables. The other day I tried to roast cauliflower in the oven, the result came out delicious. This green cauliflower has the same taste as the white one, and I got this particular one from my friend and neighbor Giovanni. I divided the cauliflower in little bouquets, tossed with garlic, olive oil, salt packed capers placed into a pan and roasted them in the oven. It’ was simple and the taste divine! To add with a pasta, may I suggest to follow the recipe below. If you don’t find the uva passa, use another raisin but don’t skip it, the fruity sweetness twist adds an extra dimension.

Buon appetito! Pasta with roasted cauliflower and capers

Serves 4

Ingredients
3/4 Cup (1.8 dl) olive oil
4 Garlic cloves pressed or finely chopped
1 Medium sized cauliflower, remove the florets from the core cutting them into fork sized portions.
4 Tablespoons Capperi di Pantelleria or other salt packed capers, rinsed
Fresh ground black pepper to taste and a little sea salt
3 Tablespoon uva passa or raisin, remove seeds and blanch in warm water to plump the raisin.
1 Lb ( 450 gram) dried pasta
4 Tablespoon pine nuts
1 Cup ( 2.4 dl) grated Parmesan cheese
1 Lemon, zest only
10 Sprigs of fresh parsley

Method
Heat the oven to 400F ( 200 C) degrees.
Combine olive oil, garlic , capers and black pepper in a bowl.
Season with sea salt but be careful not to add to much considering the capers will add some extra salt, even after rinsing.
Add the cauliflower bouquets and toss.
On a baking sheet spread the cauliflower evenly and bake in the oven until golden for about 10-15 min.
Dry toast the pinenuts slightly in a saucepan. They toast quickly so use low heat settings and don’t leave the saute pan on the stove unattended and move the saute pan during toasting, when golden brown remove from the saute pan and set aside for later, otherwise they will continue to toast from the carry over heat absorbed by the oils inside the nut and will easily burn.
Chop the parsley.
Wash and zest the lemon.
Plump deseed and chop the uva passa roughly.
Cook Pasta al dente (30 sec to 1 min less) than suggested on the package, drain in a colander, save a cup of pasta water on the side.
Mix pasta with parmesan cheese, the baked cauliflower and caper mix, make sure add any remaining oil left in the bowl.
Adjust the consistency by adding a little of the remaining pasta water if needed.
Add the pine nuts, uova passa (raisins) stir and sprinkle parsley and lemon zest over and serve immediately.

Dinnerplates from NEW KAM MAN http://www.newkamman.com/
Capperi di Pantelleria, buy them here http://shop.underthealmondtree.com/product/capers

An ancient Christmas sweet

December 17, 2013

Christmas time is just around the corner, my favorite Italian christmas sweet is a spicy , chewy fruit bread that ‘s called Paneforte. Its tradition are rooted deep in Siena and has been made by nuns since the twelveth century. The recipe has been pretty much remained unchanged, just a little change was made in the eighteenth century when chocolate became popular in Europe, and off course was added to this recipe, put all goodies you can get in the cake!

In this recipe Im using Pantellerias uva passa and Passito wine, if you don’t have this on hand you can use other raisins and exchange the Passito to Marsala or Port wine. You can make this Paneforte in good time before serving, well wrapped and contained it holds at least for 3 months.

Wish all of You a Merry Christmas
/ Anna

Ingredients
1/2 Cup (1.2 dl) uva passa or raisins
1/3 Cup (0.8 dl) Passito di Pantelleria
1 Cup (2.4 dl) almonds
1 Cup (2.4 dl) walnuts
1/2 Cup (1.2dl) pistachios

2 Cups (4.8 dl) of mixed dried fruits
1 Orange (use only the orange peel)

1/3 Cup (0.8 dl) flour
1 teaspoon grounded cinnamon
A pinch of clove powder
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
1/2 Cup (1.2 dl) honey
1 Cup (2.4 dl) caster sugar
5 Oz (150 grams) dark chocolate ( 70%)

Method
Remove the core in the uva passa and pour over the Passito wine.
Let stay for 1 hour.
Line a baking dish with nonstick paper and set the oven temperature at 350 F
(175 C) degrees

Dry toast the nuts lightly in a skillet on the stove over low heat, then chop the nuts roughly.
Remove the stones if using dried fruits with core, (for example dates) and chop the fruit roughly as well.
Grate the orange skin and mix together with fruits, nuts and the uva passa.
Don´t throw out the reamaining Passito wine!

Mix the flour and the spices well and after mix together with the fruit and nuts.
Crumble the sea salt between your finger and stir it all together.

Break the chocolate into pieces.
Melt the honey and sugar in a heavy saucepan on medium to low heat.
Once the sugar has dissolved add the chocolate and the leftover Passito wine.
Stir the bottom of the pan ( to make sure the sugar don’t burn) and simmer for a few more minutes.

Pour into the bowl with the other ingredients and mixed thoroughly. Pour the paneforte batter into the cake tin and bake at the bottom of the oven at 350 F degrees ( 175 C) for 15 -20 minutes.

Once the cake has completely cooled, wrap tightly in plastic wrap or waxed paper and store in a dry place.

Cut in pieces before serving.

Uva Passa and Passito Cake

December 4, 2013

This is the Pantescan variation of dried fruit cake, I can’t resist using our delicious uva passa , sun dried Zibibbo grapes (raisins) from this summer. Marinated in Passito di Pantelleria it brings out the essence of the island into this cake. Serve the cake as an Italian breakfast with coffee or as a winter dessert with a spoon of whipped cream or marscapone. The cake can keep at least a month if you can resist not eating it all up.

This is Zibibbo grapes drying in the sun, those became sweet delicious raisin now in my cake!

Uva Passa and Passito cake
Ingredients
9 Oz (250 grams) of seedless uva passa or other raisins
1/2 Cup (1.2 dl) Passito di Pantelleria or other sweet wine like Marsala or Port
1/4 Cup (0.6 dl) almond flakes
1.2 Lb (545 gram) of soft butter
5 Eggs
3 Cups (7.3 dl) all purpose flour sifted
2 Cups (4.8 dl) sugar

Method
Marinate the uva passa with the Passito allow them to marinate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).
Toast the almonds in a tablespoon of butter in a skillet over low heat.
The almonds should be toasted to a golden, be careful not to burn them.
Whisk the eggs and sugar until white and fluffy.
Whipped butter to a fluffy and soft.

Combine in batches, the egg mixture with the sifted flour into the whipped butter. Add the uva passa (also add the left over Passito in to the batter) and almonds.
Pour the batter into parchment paper lined loaf baking pan .
Bake at 350 F degrees (175 C) for at least 90 minutes.
Check with a toothpick so that the cake is dry in the middle, if not continue baking and check every 10 minutes.

Let the cake cool down, wrap in foil and let rest until time to serve.

For starving porcini hunters

November 29, 2013

Autumn in Pantelleria provides mushroom foraging, picking wild arugula and the shooting of small birds and rabbits in the woods. My focus is on the arugula and the mushrooms, and after 6 hours of walking the wild terrain with my ” testa dura” stubborn mushroom hunter partner who refused to give up (who knows maybe there is a field full of porcini just around the next tree). Finally we ended up with a mixture of edible and inedible mushrooms in our basket, for me as a Swede a lot of this fungi were unfamiliar, one type of for certain in the basket is the porcini! The mushroom foragers were starving, in need of some hand to mouth action!

Thoughts of a rich, warming and filling pasta containing the just picked porcini, salsiccia and some wild rosemary gathered along the trail on the way back from the mountain. I can not think of a better way to celebrate our bounty. Enjoy this pasta with a glass of red wine, whether after a long day walking in the woods, a long day after work, just because you’re worth it.

Casarecci with Porcini and Salsiccia
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 Pound (450 grams) casarecci pasta
1 Yellow onion
2 Cloves of garlic
2 Sprigs of Rosemary
1/2 teaspoon peperoncino flakes
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 Pound (225 grams) salsiccia (sausage)
1 Pound (450 grams) of porcini mushrooms (or any other mushroom you desire)
1 Tablespoon of liquid beef stock
1/2 Cup white wine
1/2 Cup heavy cream

Garnish
4 Sprigs of rosemary
1 Cup grated Parmesan cheese

Method
Bring a large pot with lid fill with salted water and set to boil over high heat.
Chop onion, garlic and rosemary finely. Cut the porcini mushrooms in pieces, devide the salsiccia in single smaller pieces (bite sized).
When the water is boiling add the casarecchi and cook 30 seconds less then the recommended in the cooking direction on the package.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil when warm add the onion, garlic and peperoncino flakes to the pan. Cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Add the Porcini mushrooms, the crushed rosemary and pieces of salsiccia to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 7 minutes. Turn the heat to high. Add the wine, stock, and heavy cream allow to simmer a couple of minutes until liquid is slightly reduced. Remove the pan from the heat. Drain the pasta (reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water on the side) , transfer the pasta to the skillet and toss well to coat pasta, adding reserved pasta water, if needed. Portion into four bowls and garnish with the rosemary and serve right away. Place the grated Parmesan on the side for those who wish to sprinkle some on top of their pasta.