Umbria Wine Festival is one of the most important wine festivals here in Italy which will take place in Perugia from 4 to 25 April. Born from a collaboration with the University of Perugia (Faculty of Agriculture), this event will take place in the beautiful cloister of Saint Peter which houses the Faculty of Agriculture. Visitors will not only have the opportunity to taste the best wines from the region but also judge their quality. Local winemakers will share their expertise and lore with the public, taking them on a fascinating journey through the history of winemaking in the Umbria region. This year the spotlight will be cast on Passito (a variety of wine produced from raisins and semi-dried grapes) and other meditation wines which, among other things, are also the interesting subject of a course you can take at the faculty of agriculture!

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This recipe comes from Italy’s great Salvatore de Riso pastry chef from the Amalfi Coast. While I have to find myself a recipe for Italy’s pear and chocolate cake, which is just to die for, in the meantime here is de Riso’s pear and ricotta cake recipe. This is a more involved recipe than what we generally present, but if you want to play chef for a day and turn out something truly remarkable, here is where it’s at.

Ingredients for the hazelnut sponge: 350g eggs (weight with shell), 200g caster sugar, 275g ground hazelnuts, 100g sifted plain flour, finely grated zest of 1 lemon, 75g melted butter.

Ingredients for the syrup: 300ml water, 200g caster sugar, 3 tbsp rum, 3 tbsp pear brandy (eau de vie de poire).

Ingredients for the ricotta cream: 500g ricotta, 125 ml cream, lightly whipped, 225g caster sugar. And for the pear filling: 350g ripe Williams pears, 100g caster sugar, 1 1/2 tbsp pear brandy (eau de vie de poire), 10g sheet gelatine.

Continue reading: Italian recipes: ricotta and pear cake from Salvatore De Riso

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There are many Italian cheeses that you can treat yourself to, and often the enjoyment is increased by choosing the right side serve for your cheese. With soft cheeses, aged cheese and everything right down to the simple ricotta or mozzarella, Italy has much to offer. But if you experiment with other traditional Italian products like marmalade, jams and other sweet or savoury accompaniments, you will find yourself in a real cheese paradise.

For example, with the asiago cheese from Trentino, you could try a “radicchio” or chicory condiment, where the bitter taste of the vegetable works well with the slightly mature cheese. A soft cheese, but with a strong taste, like “caciotta” blends nicely with a forest fruit or strawberry and raspberry jam, with its slightly sour taste.

A classic marriage of Italian cheese and condiment is a vintage pecorino with fig jam. Its perfume and sweetness blends nicely, and the fig accompaniment can be used for harder cheeses like parmigiano reggiano (parmesan) or grana padano.

Photo | Flickr

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Panettone is Italy’s traditional Christmas dessert, but some people will indulge in Pandoro as well, which is often identified with Easter in Italy as the cake of choice for that season. If you’re like me, you’ll find Italian Christmas desserts a little boring compared to the richer, Anglo Saxon pudding or Christmas cake. In which case, you can jazz up your Pandoro to make it more exciting.

You can use grapes and other fruit with your Pandoro, inserting them on skewers and then, in turn, inserting them into the gaps in the Pandoro cake. To decorate, you can use some vine leaves, even spraying them with anti-toxic gold paint to give them a little more sparkle. Another option (my personal favourite) is to cover your pandoro with chocolate sauce and candied fruit.

If you want some ideas as to what to do with the leftover panettone, we’re doing something a little more English, and making a trifle with what’s left of ours. Another option is to make a red currant sauce, melting some red currant gelatine in a saucepan and adding some orange juice. Pour it over the cake and decorate with some currants and mint leaves.

Photo | Flickr

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The crazy Italians have invented a new way to enjoy the indulgence of Italian gelato. Instead of going to one gelato shop and choosing from the various flavours on display, you can buy a “multi-gelataio” cup. This means you get one gelato flavour from one shop, and then run to another shop and get a different flavour in the same cup.

If you see Italians madly dashing around with gelato cups in their hands, this is why. I personally recommend foregoing those juvenile (and dangerous) pub crawls, and try this more delicious and frivolous activity. You could even map out a few to do in Rome, which has good gelato everywhere, though during summer this is probably a ridiculous thing to attempt.

According to the guys at 06blog.it, who have been doing their research (and their leg-work) some of the best are in via Cicerone and via dei Gracchi, in Prati. Try the chocolate chip flavour from Gelati Gelati in via Cicerona, and then run to the Gelateria dei Gracchi for some pistacchio. Don’t knock it till you try it! See our post for more information on the best gelato in Rome.

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From 4 to 8th Dicember, the city of Naples hosted a chocolate fair called Showcolate; the fair which took place at the Mostra d‘Oltremare featured chocolate artisan makers nationwide, entertainment for the family and every chocolate treat imaginable for children and adults alike. The organisers (i.e. Unione Industriali di Napoli; Sezione alimentare) were happy with the turnout( and their expectations were quite high!)

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This is one Italian dessert recipe which, when made at home, will certainly impress your guests, and can be considered the icing on the cake of your Italian Christmas dinner. Like any pastry, getting this part right is the trick, after which you if get over that hurdle, you can fill it with what you damn well like…! Well, not exactly. Cannoli are a traditional Sicilian pastry filled with ricotta, which is also the base of Sicily’s famous cassata dessert.

Ingredients for the shell: 300 grams of sieved flour, 10 grams of caster sugar, half a glass of Marsala fortified wine, a pinch of salt, icing sugar and olive oil. Ingredients for the filling: 500 grams of fresh ricotta, 200 grams of icing sugar, 100 grams of cubed candied fruit, 100 grams of dark chocolate flakes, one tiny packet of vanilla powder (less than a teaspoon), a pinch of powdered cinnamon, milk as needed.

To prepare the shells, you need to place the sifted flour in a little mountain, make a crater and pour in the Marsala. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt, and knead until you get a consistent, almost solid mixture. Form a large ball, wrap in a cloth and leave to rest for two hours. After resting, roll out the pastry to a maximum of four millimetres thick and cut into rectangles of 10 cm down one side. Using a metal cylinder to form the shape, roll each rectangle from one opposite corner to the other to create a hollow shell. Heat the oil in a pan and place each shell in the pan, tossing them until well cooked, and allowing the oil to drain off a little at the end of the cooking.

You’re now ready to fill the cannoli. Create the filling by mixing the ricotta, icing sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, candied fruit, chocolate and a couple of drops of milk together. Fill the canoli and dust with a little icing sugar as a finishing touch. A sweet Marsala is probably the best food-wine match with your canoli.

Photo | Flickr

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The classic zabaione dessert is made with marsala, but today we give you a lighter Christmas recipe that can go with traditional Italian desserts like panettone. Ingredients required are: 300 grams of Moscato d’Asti sweet dessert wine, 150 grams of sugar, 50 grams of white rum and six egg yolks.

Beat the egg yolks together with the sugar until you get a light, bubbly texture. Add the moscato and the rum and cook in a bain marie or under steam for 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve it warm, either with savoiardi biscuits, or as a topping for your dessert. Obviously the perfect food-wine match is a lovely glass of Moscati d’Asti sweet Italian wine.

Photo | Flickr

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The Italian food festival you’ve all been waiting is nearly here, with Eurochocolate starting on October 16 in the home town of Baci Perugina. Every year, Perugia in Umbria hosts the chocolate festival, and this year opening the festival are food artists Matteo Ragni and Paolo Ulian.

The event lasts until October 25th and will include the usual tastings, events, exhibitions and general indulgence. This is one where the chocoholics will have to detox afterwards. October 12th is Chocoday and functions as the chocolate industry trade fair.

Producers, traders, patisseries, chocolatiers and chocolate lovers will be able to meet and share their cocoa secrets, and the public also gets the chance to visit the workshops and laboratories of chocolate makers during the first edition of the Cioccolaterie Aperte event. For details of Eurochocolate, where to stay, and what’s on in Europe’s most famous chocolate festival, see the Eurochocolate site.

Source | Gustoblog.it

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We’ve already written about the late night pastry excursions of Italians, when groups of people tread the early morning, silent streets of the city in search of their perfect Italian pastry. This video is of Laboratorio Lambiase bakery in Rome. Descending into a kind of basement, you can guzzle the house speciality of Danish pastry filled with custard and topped with fresh whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

You can also get regular Italian brioche, puff pastry biscuits and savoury Italian snacks. Whether you’re doing breakfast, dessert or both, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to try everything in one go; but this sacred location of Italian pastry is well worth a visit. You can find the Pasticceria Laboratorio Lambiase on Via Cernaia, 47a.

Source | Aglio, olio e peperoncino

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