Sfrappole

This recipe is traditionally prepared in Bologna during the Carnival. With little variations and many different names (bugie, frappe, chiacchere, cròstoli,...) is diffused in all Italy, from Sicily to Friuli. It seems that its origin comes from a cake of ancient Rome (frictilia) that was prepared in the same days of the actual Carnival.


Ingredients for approximately 4 persons: 11 ozs. flour, 5 ozs. sugar, 2 ozs. butter, 3 eggs, baking powder, lard, icing sugar.

Preparation: knead together the flour, the butter, the sugar, the eggs and the baking powder and let the resulting dough settle for an hour. Then using a rolling pin roll the dough until you produce a very thin sheet and then cut it in strips about 4 inches large. Put the lard in a pan and make it fry, put then the strips one by one into the pan letting them cook until they will be well browned. Wipe them fron the excessive grease using some paper towels. Let them dried up completely then sprinkle them with some icing sugar.

Chicken Breasts with Parmesan Cheese

When the Christmas Holidays are over it's common to think at some proposals for the newcoming year. In the 2008 this blog has been centered around food recipes and photos but, as I always said, I'm more a photographer than a chef, I'm not a chef at all actually, and I'm busy shooting more and more subjects nowhere related to food.
My initial idea for this blog was a space where we could talk about cuisine but also photography, not only food related, with also some "behind the scene " of some shot.
My proposal for the 2009 is to move the blog to the initial idea. This won't mean less recipes, but surely a lot more posts. That I hope will be interesting anyway.
In the meanwhile, considering I'm not posting anything since december, I'm asking your forgiveness with a recipe from Bologna that, despite being pretty simple, is really delicious and tasty. A pleasant surprise.



Ingredients for approximately 6 persons: 6 chicken breasts, 0.5 lb. of grated parmesan cheese, 7 ozs. of butter, 1 glass of stock, 2 eggs, nutmeg, salt, pepper.

Preparation: hammer the chicken breasts then soak them in the whipped eggs with some salt and pepper. Brown them in the butter until they'll be superficially cooked, then put them in a pan together with a glass of stock and cook on a low heat. When the stock will be partially dried up, sprinkle the breasts with grated parmesan cheese and nutmeg and continue to cook them until the cheese will be melted and the stock almost completely dried up.