Light Apple Pie

Here we are: Let’s see how to prepare a LIGHT apple pie, to have our pie at breakfast or tea-time without eating too fat dishes. In other words, we can eat it without becoming fat, that’s AMAZING!!

Ingredients (Metric and Imperial) for a 26cm/10.2 inch round cake pan

0,5l (17 oz) of milk  (also vegan milk if you want)
150 gr (5oz) of sugar: brown is better and  you can use more or less, it depends on your taste

400 gr (3 1/3 cup) of pastry flour
16g (1 tablespoon) of baking powder
3 tablespoons of cinnamon powder

3 apples: 2 of them cut in lithe cubes, the other one in thin slices (to cover our pie, see the picture)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
• Grease and flour the cake pan
• Put in a big bowl the sugar (save a tablespoon for the final cover), the flour, the baking powder and start mixing them, slowly adding the milk.
• Mix all for 2 minutes and then add apple-cubes and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon.
• Continue mixing for another minute
• Put it in your cake pan
• Cover with apple slices and dust with the remaining sugar and cinnamon
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 35 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool cake for 20 minutes in the pan, then put onto serving plate.

Enjoy it !!

Risotto with Prosecco and Raspberries

Let's talk about another RISOTTO: here in Italy we eat RISOTTO very often and we prepare it in lots of different versions. The one I'm explaining you is not so usual or common, but you'll surprise your guests with a nice bitter taste, given by PROSECCO and Raspberries.

Ingredients (metric and imperial) party of 4

·        

• 350g (12oz) of Rice for RISOTTO
• 50g  (2oz circa) of cream cheese (we call it PHILADELPHIA)
• 50g (2oz circa) of butter
• 2 carrots, divided into 2 parts
• 1 onion divided into quarters
• 2 sticks of celery, divided into two parts
• Some pinches of salt
• 1 pinch of pepper (optional)
• 250ml (1 cup) of PROSECCO
• 1 litre(4cup) of  water
• 30-40 raspberries (you can do it also with strawberries)

Method:

• First of all we have to make our  broth: have to put in a big pot the water, the carrots, the onion and the stick of celery. Turn on a high flame and boil for about 15 minutes. 
• Now we are ready to start with our risotto: in a large pan, put the butter and turn on a very low flame
• When butter becomes liquid and starts to fry, add the rice and start mixing with a  big wooden spoon (in Italian CUCCHIARELLA). The most important thing is NEVER STOP MIXING, slowly but steadily. This will toast the rice, and it’s very important for a perfect result
• After 2 minutes add the prosecco and after another minute start adding some tablespoons of your broth : remember DON’T STOP MIXING. You mustn’t drown your rice, but it must always be half-covered by the broth. When it starts to become dry, add the broth spoon by spoon until the end of cooking time
• 3 minutes before the end of cooking time, add the raspberries, saving 7-8 of them for the final decoration.
• When cooking time is over, turn off the flame, add the creamy cheese, the optional pepper, mix and  cover the pan with the top.Leave it covered for 5 minutes.

Serve it on the plates, adding on the top some raspberries if you want

Variaton of PARMIGIANA

Today we will see how to prepare a very light but tasty dish, eggplant based. It's a variation of the more traditional PARMIGIANA, that's with fried eggplants, mozzarella and so on. Let's see how to prepare it:

Ingredients (Metric and Imperial) - Party of 4

• 2 big eggplants, sliced horizontally
• 2 big tomatoes, sliced
• Some pitted black olives
• 240 ml (1 cup) of warm milk
• 200g (7 oz) of Ricotta cheese (or a spread one if you don't find ricotta)
• salt
• pepper
• Some leaves of  Basil

Method:

• Grill your slices of eggplants
• mix the milk, the Ricotta (or the other cheese you've found), a pinch of salt: you have a milky cream now
• Build your dish: put some teaspoons of milky cream, then a slice of eggplant, a basil leave, a slice of tomato and so on, until you reach your desired height