Friends, food and wine

I finally pulled this recipe back from my collection of unfinished posts. It was almost completly written waiting among drafts since JUNE!

Better late than never.

I guess it was one of those posts you simply get stuck with. And the new ones keep coming, and so on.

I guess I wanted to write a nice post about a beautiful evening back in June when our friend Josè and his girlfriend came to visit (they live in Pisa and unfortunately we don't see each other so often any more). But Josè is a wonderful host and every time we go back to Pisa, we stay at his house (we used to live there until 4 years ago) - he lives only 100 m from the Miracle Square and the Leaning Tower. Isn't that just cool?
My daughter Francesca loves him, too. We have to take an "update" picture of the two of them every time we get together.

This dinner started with these delicious Pesto Pinwheels, that we actually kept eating instead of bread later, continued with Turkey breast roast al Marsala with Stuffed zucchini as a side (another recipe waiting to be posted), and ended up with Chock-apple pies. Good Italian wine flowing all the time, of course.

To make these Pinwheels, I used the emmer flour for the first time, because I've seen many bloggers talking about it and using it a lot. I was curious to see what it tasted like and, of course, wanted to add a little touch of healty food to my meal.
I didn't know much about this type of grain (and I'm still learning) so I actually did a little research. This is just a very short extract, you can read the whole article HERE.
"Farro is a strictly ethnobotanical concept deeply rooted in Italian tradition. The term is reserved for three cultivated hulled wheat species. This means that the berry or kernel retains its hull or husk during harvest and are also called wheats with non-threshable grain. The term farro includes three species: Triticum monococcum (einkorn), T. dicoccon (emmer) and T. spelta (spelt).
In Italy they are also differentiated by calling them “farro piccolo”, “farro medio” and “farro grande” respectively.
Emmer contains high levels of fibre and it is cultivated traditionally, without
the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers."

It's a pleasure to have friends like this and even a greater pleasure to cook for them. I think this was Josè's 6th or 7th piece :)))

Cheers to good friends, good food and good old times!




PINWHEELS WITH RICOTTA, PESTO AND SPECK

Dough:
250 g flour ( I used 125 g white bread flour and 125 g emmer flour)
15 g fresh yeast
2 tablespoons EVOO
1 teaspoon salt
200 ml water

Filling:
300 g ricotta cheese
1 egg
2,5 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano
4 teaspoons Pesto alla Genovese
50 g Speck

Sift the flours into a bowl, make a well in the middle. Put the yeast, and start adding water little by little, mixing with a fork or wooden spoon, till yeast melts, taking in little flour as well. Add oil and salt. Add all the water and mix in all the flour. Turn onto a floured kneading board, and knead firmly until you have the dough that looks like bread or pizza dough. Cover and let it rest in a warm place for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I usually put the dough into a cold oven.

For the filling, mix ricotta with the egg, add Pesto alla Genovese (I added 1 teaspoon at a time, until I reached the taste I liked)

and speck cut into stripes. Speck is like prosciutto, but smoked and saltier. I didn't add any salt to the filling, because pesto, parmigiano and speck are already salty enough.

Roll out the dough, trim to get a rectangle, brush with little oil and spread the ricotta mixture.

Roll it up and then cut into 1,5 cm (1/2" approx.) thick slices. Place them on a baking tin lined with baking paper, cover and let rise for 1/2 hour again.

Drizzle with little oil and sprinkle with grated Parmigiano.

Bake in an oven preheated to 220°C for about 20 minutes or until golden.

Serve warm as an appetizer or instead of bread.
You can also freeze any leftovers.
If you prefer, you can substitute the pesto with 200 g of spinac or Swiss chard (boiled and finely choped).


(Cro)
RUŽICE SA SVJEŽIM SIROM I PESTOM OD BOSILJKA

Poslužite tople, mlake ili hladne. Kao predjelo ili umjesto kruha.
Umjesto pesta od bosiljka možete koristiti kuhani špinat ili blitvu (200 g).
Ostane li vam koja nepojedena (teško :)), možete ih i zamrznuti.

Za tijesto:
250 g krušnog brašna
15 g svježeg kvasca
2 žlice maslinovog ulja
1 žličica soli
oko 200 ml mlake vode

Za punjenje
300 g svježeg sira
1 jaje
2 žlice ribanog parmezana (Parmigiano Reggiano)
4 žličice pesta od bosiljka (Pesto alla Genovese)
50 g specka ili pršuta

Prosijte brašno u zdjelu, napravite udubinu u sredini, namrvite svježi kvasac, pa polako dodajite mlaku vodu miješajući vilicom da se kvasac otopi. I dalje miješajući dodajte postepeno ostatak vode i ulje dodajući malo pomalo i okolno brašno. Dodajte sol otprilike kad ste umiješali polovicu brašna. Kad ste umiješali svo brašno, istresite na pobrašnjenu radnu površinu i čvrsto mijesite, po potrebi dodajući još brašna, dok ne dobijete čvrsto i elastično tijesto kao za kruh. Pokrijte i ostavite da se diže na toplom oko 1,5 - 2 sata.
Za nadjev pomiješajte dobro ocijeđen svježi sir s jajetom i parmezanom. Dodajte jednu po jednu žličicu pesta od bosiljka dok ne dobijete okus koji vam se sviđa (ja sam se zaustavila na 4, možete staviti manje ili više prema osobnom ukusu), i na kraju speck ili pršut narezan prvo na tanke ploške, a potom na trakice.
Razvaljajte tijesto na debljinu od oko 0,5-1 cm, premažite uljem ili rastopljenim maslacem, pa namažite nadjevom od sira. Ostavite prazne rubove, oko 2 cm. Savijte tijesto u rolnu, pa narežite na kriške debljine oko 1,5 cm. Slažite ih u tepsiju obloženu papirom za pečenje s prerezanim dijelom prema dolje (odnosno gore). Ostavite da se dižu još oko pola sata. Premažite površinu kotačića uljem, pospite naribanim parmezanom i pecite oko 20 minuta na 220°C dok ne porumene.



(Ita)
GIRELLE CON RICOTTA, PESTO E SPECK

Potete servirle come antipasto, o al posto del pane.
Se preferite, sostituite il pesto con spinaci o bietole (200 g)
Sono ottime calde o tiepide. Se avanzano potete anche surgelarle.

Per la pasta lievitata:
250 g di farina (ho usato 125 g di farina bianca "0" e 125 g di farina di farro)
15 g di lievito fresco
2 cucchiai di olio extravergine d'oliva
1 cucchiaino di sale
200 ml di acqua tiepida (circa)

Per il ripieno:
300 g di ricotta
1 uovo
2 cucchiai di parmigiano grattugiato
4 cucchiaini di Pesto alla Genovese
50 g di speck

Setacciate la farina e formate la fontana al centro. Sbriciolate il lievito nella fontana, aggiungete un po' di acqua mescolando con una forcetta per scioglierlo. Aggiungete l'olio e continuate ad aggiungere l'acqua mescolando e cominciate a incorporare la farina, aggiungete anche il sale. Versate l'impasto su una spianatoia infarinata e impastate, aggiungendo altra farina se necessario fino a ottenere la pasta non troppo morbida (come per il pane o pizza). Coprite con un canovaccio e lasciate riposare per un ora e mezzo o due.
Per il ripieno, mescolate la ricotta con l'uovo intero leggermente sbattuto, pesto (ho aggiunto un cucchiaino alla volta finché non ho raggiunto il sapore che mi piaceva) e lo speck tagliato a striscioline. Io non ho aggiunto altro sale perché il pesto e lo speck sono già abbastanza salati.
Stendete la pasta con un mattarello (0,5-1 cm di spessore). Spennellate con un po' di olio e poi spalmate il ripieno su tutta la superficie lasciando vuoti solo i bordi (circa 2 cm). Arrotolate e poi tagliate le girelle larghe circa 1,5 cm.
Adagiate su una teglia foderata con la carta da forno e leggermente unta di olio.
Lasciate lievitare di nuovo per 1/2 ora.
Spennellate con l'olio, cospargete con un po' di Parmigiano grattugiato e infornate per circa 20 minuti nel forno preriscaldato a 220°C.