Category: Italia

GNOCCHI AL SALMONE

In the Italian language, we have some weird sounds like GL and GN that are particularly hard to pronounce for not native speakers. Think how difficult it can be to say GLI GNOCCHI (🤯), when referring to those super yummy, belly-filling potato dumplings 🥔
It took me quite some time to have my Dutch bf saying it right but with practice it’s very much possible 💪

Little #italianlesson 🇮🇹

To pronounce

•GLI

  1. put the tongue against your palate while slightly touching the sides of your 🦷
  2. put on your best smile
  3. make a snake-y 🐍 sounds by letting the air come out from the sides of your tongue 👅
  4. At the end, don’t forget to add “i” like you say in the word Italy

•GNOCCHI

  1. GNO is like “nyo” but with a N sound like when you are 🤧 so a nasal N (like in the word THING: Think about that ING sound, with silent G).
  2. CHI is no like 🇨🇳🧘🏻‍♀️ but hard KI
  3. Remember we have plural (hard) C
  4. Put all together ➡️ NYOK-KI

So what are we having tonight?

GLI GNOCCHI AL SALMONE 🙃🐟

Recipe (for 2 people)

You need:
400-440 gr gnocchi
200 gr salmon (chopped into cubes)
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
fresh parsley

Procedure

In a big pot, heat the water for the gnocchi (and please, add the salt only after the water starts boiling🙏😉). Cook the spaghetti as indicated in the package.
In the meantime, in a pan cook the salmon with some olive oil and then add salt & pepper to taste.
When it’s ready, you can cook the gnocchi as it usually takes 2/4 minutes (check the package). Drain the gnocchi and pour them in the pan with the salmon, add some fresh parsley and stir for a couple of minutes on medium heat.

Buon appetito! 😋

BIGOLI AGLIO, OLIO e PEPERONCINO

Today marks an important day in my life as an expat: 7 years since I left il Bel Paese and moved to Tulipland! 🌷🌷🌷
To not forget my roots, let’s celebrate with an Italian classic: BIGOLI AGLIO, OLIO E PEPERONCINO 🫒🧄🌶

InstaRecipe

You need (for 2 people)
160 gr bigoli (thicker spaghetti)
olive oil
1/2 garlic clove (finely chopped)
chili pepper flakes
Parmesan cheese

Procedure

In a big pot, heat the water for the pasta (and please, add the salt only after the water starts boiling🙏😉). Cook the spaghetti as indicated in the package.
In the meantime, in a pan pour some olive oil and fry the garlic and chili flakes.
When it’s ready, drain the spaghetti and pour them in the pan and stir for a couple of minutes on medium heat. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese..it’s already done!

Buon appetito! 😋

SPAGHETTI ALLE COZZE

Today is the first day of spring ☀️🌷 and Tulipland has been blessed by sunny days for 3 weeks now and it seems we’ll be in luck for the coming weeks too ☀️🥳

This #lekkerweertje makes me think of the holiday season and the nice days spent at the sea 🐚 SPAGHETTI ALLE COZZE anyone? 😋

#recipe (for 2 people)

You need:

160 gr spaghetti

500 gr mussels , washed and debearded

1 garlic glove

1 onion

olive oil

salt & parsley to taste

Procedure

In a big pot, heat the water for the spaghetti (and please, add the salt only after the water starts boiling🙏😉). Cook the spaghetti for about 10/11 minutes (or as long as indicated in the package), and keep them al dente.

In the meantime, in a large pan roast the chopped garlic glove and onion with some olive oil, while paying attention to not burn the garlic. Then, increase the heat, add the mussels, cover the pan with the lid and for about 5/7 minutes until the mussels open. Next, remove the mussels from the pan and throw away the mussels that did not open. Keep the best looking mussels on the side, while remove the others from the shells and set aside. Keep the liquid of the mussels, filter it and put it back in the pan.

When the spaghetti are al dente, put them in the pan and let them cook slowly for a few extra minutes until ready and the liquid is absorbed. Last, add the mussels without shells and parsley to taste, and stir for a minute.

Serve spaghetti with the mussels in shells on top.

Buon appetito!

8 YEARS AND COUNTING

And it’s 8 years of foodstories, recipes and culinary adventures for Aroma di Cannella.
I’ve recently talked about important days related to my foodblog in my last post, with Fat Tuesday being an iconic moment of food(blog) celebrations and a good excuse to bake Carnival sweets to respect the family tradition, even when I am far from the Bel Paese. But today is the actual birthday of Aroma di Cannella, as March 7th 2014 was the day of my first post, in which I was narrating my Fat Tuesday in Sweden and the beginning of this unexpected lifelong culinary diary of my expat adventures.
For Aroma di Cannella newbies or if you have just landed here for the first time more or less by chance, I can recommend this other foodstory from last year to understand why every year it’s sort of a double celebration around this time. Or alternatively, if you are keen on more reading, have a look at the feature section ‘Down the memory lane’ below.

Down the memory lane:
Aroma di Cannella through the years

Anyway, as I am for respecting traditions and I love baking for birthday occasions of all kinds, for this 8th blog-versary I am proposing another sweet bake amongst my favorites, that is, a nice dessert or merenda idea based on pan brioche or brioche bread. Since that day I discovered this super versatile dough, I am always finding new ways to use it for both sweet and savory preparations. In addition, brioche bread is the same kind of dough you can use for the famous Swedish kanelbullar (for Italian friends, click here), which have a special place in Aroma di Cannella’s (and my) heart as those sweet bakes gave inspiration for the very name of the blog.
This time, I am proposing a recipe that many Italian friends might easily recognized as a very typical and popular Italian merenda when you were a kid (or if you have kids right now): the Pangoccioli, delicious, soft buns with chocolate chips.

PANGOCCIOLI or CHOCOLATE CHIPS BUNS

Ingredients (for 16 buns of about 50 gr each)

For the buns:
25 g dry or fresh yeast
40 g sugar
250 ml milk
75 g butter
450 g baking flour

For the filling:
100 gr Lindt raspberry-flavored dark chocolate (or any kind of chocolate of your liking)

For the glaze:
1/2 egg
2 tbs water

Prepare the dough and first raise

In a pot, melt the butter and add the milk. Heat up to 37°C. Then, add the crumbled yeast and stir until the it is completely melted. Pour the the liquids in a mixer bowl, add the rest of the ingredients, and knead the dough in a dough mixer for 10–15 minutes. Then, add the chopped chocolate chips and knead again for a couple of minutes. Cover the mixer bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise for 30-45 minutes until it doubles the size.

Prepare the buns and second raise

Divide the dough into pieces of 50 gr each and roll them into even small balls. Place the buns at a 1 cm distance on a rectangular or round baking tin covered by a baking sheet (alternatively you can place them on a baking tray at 2-3 cm distance so they won’t stick together as in the pictures). Let the buns rise under a kitchen towel for about 45-60 minutes until they are double-sized.

Bake the buns and enjoy!

Beat together the egg with 2 tbs of water and brush the mix on the buns.
Bake in the oven (225°C) for 15/20 minutes until golden brown.
Let cool down a bit on a rack before enjoying these delicious pangoccioli!
TIp: You can preserve the buns inside a sealed box for a 2-3 days and you might want to re-heat them before eating

A Fat Tuesday with the Fam

Another year has passed, and this time I feel so lucky to have my lovely family to make me a company during one of the most iconic days of Aroma di Cannella, that is, Fat Tuesday (for short explanation of why Fat Tuesday is so iconic, you can read the post from last year).. This is great because Fat Tuesday has always been a quite traditional moment spent together with my family. Yet, last time we got to be together on this day was back in 2015, when we baked Italian crostoli. This year we ate crostoli as well, arriving directly from the Bel Paese. It was my first time eating crostoli since that day in 2015! Crostoli are hard to find in Tulipland so you can imagine my joy when the fam brought me some. But much more was the join to have them over. Always a blessing for us expats.

Besides the crostoli, well, you know me, I couldn’t resist from doing still at least a little something extra, so I baked a bunch of frittelle alle mele e cannella. Always better to enjoy in good company!

Down the memory lane:
Looking back at the past 8 years of Fat Tuesday FoodStories

SPAGHETTI WITH SALMON & BROCCOLI

Let’s go Italian for today dinner? 🇮🇹 what about a delicious plate of SPAGHETTI WITH SALMON AND BROCCOLI? 🐟🥦 😉

#recipe (for 2 people)

You need:

160 gr spaghetti

200 gr salmon (chopped into cubes)

200 gr “rice” broccoli (alternatively, you can grate some steam-cooked broccoli into small pieces)

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

fresh parsley

Procedure

In a big pot, heat the water for the pasta (and please, add the salt only after the water starts boiling🙏😉). Cook the spaghetti as indicated in the package.

In the meantime, in a pan cook the salmon with some olive oil and then add the broccoli rice when the salmon is almost ready as the broccoli need little time to cook. Add salt to taste.

When it’s ready, drain the spaghetti and pour them in the pan with the salmon and broccoli, add some fresh parsley and stir for a couple of minutes on medium heat.

Buon appetito!