I am just loving the summery combinations of mango and coconut at the moment and we just grabbed a whole lot of lemons from a close by tree so I’m putting them to good use in a lot of my cooking. Enjoy these gorgeous Panna Cotta pots- perfect for your Christmas table this year. Use any jar you recycle, even if they are odd sizes ….all the cuter I say!

PANNA COTTA

PANNA COTTA

600 ml fresh cream

12gr gelatin powder (if you like it more soft just use 8 gr powder)

120g sugar

1 sachet vanillina

Rind of a lemon

Mango topping-

2 ripe mangoes

Juice of a lemon 

2 tablespoons sugar

Melt the sugar and vanilla in the cream over a low heat. Turn off heat and add the gelatine powder. Whisk through. Add the lemon rind. Pour into glasses and allow to cool before putting in fridge to set. 

For the mango topping put everything into the pan and bring to the boil gently until the liquid has evaporated and the mango is cooked. Allow to cool. Top the panna cotta and sprinkle with coconut (or not).

WATCH my instagram reel here to follow the method https://www.instagram.com/the_little_italian_school/

PETRALI - DOLCI NATALIZI - Italian Christmas Sweets

Ingredients

PASTRY

250gr 00 Flour

75gr Sugar

75gr Lard

3 egg yolks

1 x satchel vanilla

pinch of salt

zest of a lemon

(a little bit of water if too crumbly)

FILLING

175gr dried figs (ground)

75gr toasted almonds (ground)

150gr walnuts (ground)

1/4 cup vin cotto

Squeeze of honey

Teaspoon of cocoa powder

Teaspoon cinamon

Rind of an orange (or a lemon if you don’t have an orange)

NB mixture should be firm and easy to roll into balls to use for filling. Pastry should rest for half hour in fridge.

WATCH THE METHOD HERE. Cook on around 180c until golden

Here is a ‘make do recipe’ because I had some bacon left over in the fridge. The original recipe calls for Bucatini pasta and guanciale but I only had spaghetti in the store room and the bacon in the fridge. This recipe is straight from the mamma of my very close friend in Rome.

Ingredients -

1 packet of Spaghetti (or Bucatini)

1 small salad onion (or any mild onion)

Half cup white wine

250gr packet of bacon (or guanciale)

2 cans of peeled tomatoes (or Mutti polpa)

1 of the cans of tomato filled with water (rinse your cans and add to sauce)

Pecorino Romano grated (to have on top after served - if you like it)

Watch the video for the method below. Once the sauce has simmered and reduced back to a nice thickness it’s ready.

Ingredients -

8 large lemons (washed and dried)

1 litre pure alcohol (if you can’t find pure alcohol you can use vodka but use half the amount of water)

800 gr sugar

1 litre water

Method -

Peel the skins of the lemons and soak in the alcohol for about a week or a little longer if you like. Once soaked, make the sugar syrup (water and sugar) and when it cools, add the lemon infused alcohol, bottle and store in freezer.

Here’s a video with the method

Ingredients -

• 350 gr arborio rice (put in a bowl topped with water and soak for 5 minutes before use)

• 300 ml bolognese sauce pre made

• 200 ml milk

• 250 gr mozzarella

• 50 gr grated parmesan

• butter to grease pan and blotch the first layer

• salt

• pepper
  

  Watch instagram reel here for method https://www.instagram.com/p/Chlg-T3laoJ/

I just adore a sweet (but never too sweet) Italian ‘colazione’ (breakfast) of a jumbo cup of ‘latte e caffe`’ (milk and coffee) and a huge dunkable ‘biscotto da inzuppo’ (dunking biscuit).

These biscotti are also great for afternoon tea if you prefer. I made these a little thinner than usual but you can cut them thicker no problem!

Ingredients -

• 3 Eggs

• 200 g Sugar

• 1/2 Grated lemon zest, or vanilla essence

• 80 g Milk

• 150 ml Sunflower oil

• 600 g 00 flour

• 1 bag instant yeast for sweets

  (alternatively you can use self raising flour)

Watch the reel via instagram for the method. https://www.instagram.com/the_little_italian_school/

Cook on about 180c for 15-20 min

Plain. Simple. Delicious. Easy to make. Never gets old.

3 eggs

12 tablespoons sugar

12 tablespoons self raising flour

12 tablespoons sunflower oil

6 tablespoons milk

rind of two lemons grated

Mix the wet ingredients first. Add sugar. Mix. Add flour. Mix.

LEMON GLAZE

A few tablespoons of icing sugar. Squeeze the juice from the lemons into it and stir. If too runny just slowly add more icing sugar. If not runny enough add tiny amounts of more lemon juice at a time until you get ‘your’ perfect consistency

Name trends in Italy have been pretty stable for a few years according to the National Institute of Statistics. Here’s a list of the most popular baby names for 2021-22. You’ll also find a list of other popular Italian baby names and their meanings in no particular order.

Top 10 boys names -

1. Leonardo

2. Francesco

3. Lorenzo

4. Alessandro

5. Andrea

6. Mattia

7. Gabriele

8. Tommaso

9. Riccardo

10. Edoardo

Popular boys names and their meaning-

1. Francesco - French man

2. Leonardo: as strong as a lion

3. Alessandro: protector of men

4. Lorenzo: fun loving, sensitive, romantic

5. Mattia e Matteo: gift from God

6. Andrea: strong and courageous

7. Gabriele: strong man of God

8. Riccardo: galant leader

9. Tommaso: twin

10. Alessio: protector of men

11. Giulio: youthful

12. Valerio: strong and robust

13. Maurizio: generous and giving

14. Emanuele: meaning God is with us

15. Edoardo: defender of his own wealth

16. Samuele: God heard

17. Cesare: long haired

18. Flavio: blonde haired

19. Giacomo: God is gracious

20. Raffaello: healing God

Girls- Top 10 girls names

1. Sofia

2. Aurora

3. Giulia

4. Ginevra

5. Alice

6. Emma

7. Giorgia

8. Beatrice

9. Greta

10. Vittoria

Popular girl names and their meaning:

1. Sofia: wisdom and philosophy

2. Ginevra: white phantom

3. Margherita: precious one

4. Valentina: strong and healthy

5. Matilde : strong in battle

6. Noemi: my joy

7. Sara: princess

8. Flavia: blinde haired

9. Giulia: youthful

10. Aurora: bright and splendid

11. Giorgia: farmer

12. Martina: God of war

13. Azzurra: serene

14. Vittoria: Goddess of victory

15. Alessia: defender

16. Chiara: bright

17. Alice: creature of the ocean

18. Emma: whole

19. Marcella: dedicated to the Gods

20. Carlotta: free man

Ingredients -

500gr 00 flour

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

250 gr butter (cubed and room temp)

Lemon rind from 1 lemon

Method - mix the butter and flour together so it forms a crumble. Add the rest and knead away. Watch reel over at instagram for the rest https://www.instagram.com/the_little_italian_school/

Buona Pasqua a tutti!

Doing Pasqua like my maternal side this year with these Cuzzupe Calabresi - delicious Easter brioche. My 97 year old Calabrese Nonna gave them the thumbs up.

2 eggs

650gr flour (I used half 00 and half Manitoba)

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup milk

75ml sunflower oil

1 teaspoon dry yeast

Rind of a lemon

Method - head to instagram to watch also https://www.instagram.com/the_little_italian_school/

The dough should be kind of sticky so if yours looks dry add a touch of extra milk. Use flour to work the ball before you let rise the first time (overnight if you like or do it early in the morning and let rise for about 6 hours. Once shaped let them rise for another couple of hours).

Shape them and decorate them with the hard boiled egg and the cross like the traditional ones in the above pic , otherwise shape them into a twist and pop some choc drops in them like the last one like the pic below (just don’t dare call them Cuzzupe afterwards or the internet police will attack)

Oven on 180c until they are dark brown.

Enjoy dunked in some ‘latte e caffe`’ !

Sweet Brioche (Cuzzupe recipe) with Choc Chips