Maria loves to make this dish for her mother and herself, and says it can be cooked several hours before serving as it absorbs the flavour of the sauce if you leave it in the pan. What dish is this?……….Read on………..

Prune Stuffed Pork Filets:

Serves 2 people

Ingredients:
2 small pork filets – approx 750g
8 prunes, halved and stoned
2 tbsp seedless raisins
3 tbsp clear honey
15g butter
1 tsp plain flour or cornflour
150ml Sweet Cider
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Trim pork filets and cut away the ‘silver thread’.
Slice filets lengthways without cutting right through
Arrange the prune halves along one side of each filet.
Cover the prunes with one tablespoon of raisins and the honey
Close the filets over the fruit carefully and secure with cooking string or cocktail sticks
Melt butter in a large frying pan and brown the pork filets over a medium heat
Stir in the flour and Cider into the butter and bring to the boil.
Add the salt and pepper and the remaining raising and simmer, with a lid on the pan, turning the pork occasionally being careful not to disturb the filling!

Chef’s Tip: Maria says, “I add some onion and a little garlic which I brown in the pan before adding the flour and cider. I find it gives more flavour to the sauce.”

This recipe is for a coffee-flavoured biscuit style dessert using mascarpone cheese! It can be served as a mid-morning snack with a cappuccino or as a dessert – your choice! Either way, its simple and FAVOLOSO!

Mascarpone

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients:
500g mascarpone cheese, or cream cheese
3 eggs
6 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp Rum
1 packet Savoy biscuits (or any absorbent plain biscuit)
1 cup strong instant black coffee

Method:
Beat egg yolks and sugar together in a medium bowl.
Add the rum
Whisk egg whites separately and fold into the egg/sugar mix
Dip biscuits in coffee (lightly so as they don’t become too soggy)
Layer biscuits and egg mix alternately into a cake-style dish and refrigerate.
Eat when cooled.

Here is a popular snack for Italians and Spanish people alike – CROSTINI – making use of deliciously ripe, local produce like tomatoes, mushrooms and garlic, and of course the splendid olive oils rich in nutrients and vitamins for that glowing Mediterranean complexion. There are several options to making Crostini – you can use fresh tomatoes, or sauce chicken livers and mix with capers and anchovies, or you can mince mushrooms to make a ‘salsa al funghetto’ – here are instructions for all three versions

Ingredients:
Tomato Crostini –
Freshly baked uncut loaf of bread – brown or white
2-3 large cloves Garlic – whole
400g juicy red tomatoes
4 tbsp olive oil
S/P

Toast thick slices of fresh bread and rub both sides with cloves of peeled garlic. Then pour on the olive oil generously.
Roughly chop fresh tomatoes into chunks and pile on top of oiled bread.
Garnish with sea salt and fresh ground back pepper

Chicken Liver Crostini –
Freshly baked uncut loaf of bread – brown or white
250g Chicken livers
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup Capers
1/2 cup anchovies
S/P

Saute chicken livers in a saucepan over medium heat and butter and olive oil.
Remove when cooked and chop chicken livers well.
Mix livers with anchovies and capers and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Return mix to the saucepan and stir in the broth (as required to keep mix pasty consistency)
Remove from pan and puree the mix into a thick paste
Serve warm on fresh bread

Salsa al Funghetto –
Freshly baked uncut loaf of bread – brown or white
250g mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
S/P

Mince mushrooms until almost a paste.
Heat olive oil in saucepan over medium heat and saute garlic until full of colour.
Remove garlic from saucepan.
Add mushrooms to same pan and cook slowly until dark brown or almost black and they have lost most of their liquid – about 15 minutes
Remove mushrooms from pan and press out remaining liquid with back of large spoon.
Discard the liquid
Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
Serve immediately to store in fridge for a few days only.

Buon appetito!

Here is another quick and easy dessert form Maria Bergamasco in Tuscany for all you chocolate lovers out there!

Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients:
170g sweet cooking chocolate
5 eggs
1tbsp instant coffee
1-1/2 cups cream
1-1/2 tsp vanilla

Method:
Melt chocolate in a medium saucepan
Allow to cool
Separate egg yolks and save egg whites
In a bowl, beat egg yolks lightly, add instant coffee and stir until dissolved
Add chocolate to coffee mixture and stir well
Add vanilla essence
Beat mixture until smooth
In a separate bowl, beat the cream until thick and shiny and fold into the chocolate mixture
Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff but not dry.
Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture a little at a time.

Pour mixture into small ramekins and refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Ciao! My friend Maria Bergamasco lives in the heart of Tuscany with her elderly mother, between the old town of Certaldo and the tourist-loved San Gimignano. Of English descent, Maria has lived and worked in Tuscany for a great many years, running self catering apartments at her exclusive Villa la Fonte set amidst cypress trees in the lush, sunlit countryside.

Maria has shared many of her favourite recipes with me, all typically Italian, and all wonderful additions to my thick file of recipes garnered over time from various sources. Of course, the best way to learn Italian cooking is to take a local cooking class, which I actually did in Certaldo with one of Maria’s friends. But in this time of restricted travel, we must make do with virtual recipe sharing and practice in our own kitchen. Good luck and let me know your favourite!

Yoghurt Mousse and Orange Sauce

Ingredients:
300ml natural yoghurt
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
15g gelatin (3 sheets)
200ml whipped cream

Method:
Whip egg yolk and sugar together in a bowl or mixer
Add yoghurt slowly
Soak gelatin in cold water in a bowl until soft, then beat in a pan over heat until it liquifies
Remove gelatin from heat and slowly add to the yoghurt mixture, stirring constantly
Whip cream separately until stiff and then fold into yoghurt mixture
Refrigerate

Orange sauce:
Juice of 3 oranges
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp Cointreau
Cornflour to thicken

Method:
Heat all the sauce ingredients together in a pan
Add a little cornflour to thicken slightly.
Allow to cool

Serve mousse with orange sauce poured over top for a delicious, light dessert