PINA’S SPONGE CAKE
Giuseppina (Pina) is my inspiration and source of secrets for baking.
She is my aunt and she lives, with her husband -my uncle- Aimone, half hour from Milan, in the town of Saronno, where the famous Amaretto is from.
She is a tireless baker and for her recipes she follows few famous Italian pasticcieri, but her absolute favourite is Luca Montersino, for which she has a culinary crush.
PEARA’
This marvelous sauce and its poor ingredients recall in my mind a rural image of a time in which you cooked with what you had in the house, trying to add proteins for the winter. This sauce is typical from Veneto (dating back to the VI century!) and my grandmother used to love it and always made it with the Bollito misto at Christmas!
HORSERADISH SAUCE
This sauce is really good if you like to add a punch to your dish, especially meat but also fish, vegetables, eggs or in the salad dressing. Horseradish is a root vegetable, spicy hot when fresh, its Japanese version, called wasabi, is famous as it is traditionally used with sushi.
SALSA VERDE
There are many versions for this tasty sauce that is perfect for complementing meat. As for many Italian dishes here there is the presence of anchovies: they are very good and commonly used for adding a round salty flavour, in fact you won’t really recognize the fish taste. You will need fresh parsley
BEEF BOUILLON (BROTH)
Bouillon is the base for everything with taste.
Add it to almost anything (soup, stew, risotto, sauces, reductions, saute or roast vegetables) and it will round flavours up, making everything taste like there was a grandmother in the kitchen.
MAYONNAISE
Making your own mayonnaise is something that gives you a great feedback, either if you are cooking just for yourself or if you are cooking for guests.
Fresh, homemade mayonnaise is very easy and fast (15 minutes) to make and the taste is very different and so much better than the industrial one.
After you will try your own mayo it will be difficult to go back.
PASSATA DI POMODORO
There is nothing that makes me feel more in contact with nature then making passata.
Maybe it is because of the earthy smell of the tomatoes or maybe it is because at the end of the summer I am filled with the colours and the heat and I feel like celebrating all this life. Maybe it is because I am putting away food for the cold winter, like in one of my favourite fables The Grasshopper and the Ants.
