Springtime Foraging

Foraging is a tradition in the Venetian countryside, and as such, it’s deeply rooted in my culture. I can get lost for hours wandering around my secret places and gathering all kind of different vegetables that Mother Nature so kindly offers to us in generous amounts. The best season is springtime; after the dark and cold winter days everything comes back to life with an explosion of colours and flavours. I remember when I went with my mother in the deserted fields, before farmers started ploughing the soil to pick up dandelions and poppies’ greens that she cooked together; being the poppies rather sweet they were used to balance the bitterness of the others, though as an adult today I really appreciate bitter taste. I am living in Provence now and from March till the end of May we can gather quite a variety of wild food as leeks, asparagus, silene, hops, dandelions, chicory, wild rocket, wild broccoli and many others. I come home and use them to cook different recipes from traditional ones to others I developed myself, but the challenge for me was to find something to make a dessert with. One day I tried making a very simple Panna Cotta flavoured with wild fennel, that I discovered being so delicious cooked in syrup. I chose raspberries but you can serve it also with strawberries: the acidity and freshness of fruits balances the velvety sweetness of panna cotta and matches wonderfully with the aniseed flavour of fennel. It is a light dessert to serve after an elegant dinner.

Rice with foraged greens

Wild Fennel Panna Cotta with Raspberries

Ingredients for 4 servings

400 ml of fresh liquid cream (30% of fat)

10 gr of jelly in sheets

200 gr of sugar

400 ml of water

A pinch of salt

250 gr of raspberries

Two branches of wild fennel washed and finely chopped

First of all prepare the syrup: put the water and sugar to boil, let cook slowly for about 15 minutes or till the syrup begins to thicken and makes bubbles, add the fennel and turn off the fire. Let cool, in the meantime prepare the panna cotta: pour the cream in a saucepan, add the pinch of salt and warm it gently, doesn’t need to boil but it should be warm enough to dissolve the jelly. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water till they get soft, then drain and add to the warm cream, mix very well and add 200 ml of the syrup you’ve prepared before. Stir to combine and pour in silicone moulds, refrigerate for at least 4 hours but you can keep it 1 or two days well covered with a film. Wash quickly the raspberries, put them in a bowl, add the remaining syrup and  mix very gently. To serve: unmould the panna cotta, place in the middle of a dessert dish, garnish with the raspberries and syrup and serve.

The ultimate Guinness chocolate cake

The night she met him he was standing under the halo of a street lamp, on a lonely road, smoking a cigarette, his dark hair was thick and mildly curled, his eyes had the colour of unripe hazelnuts, his lips seemed to call for long kissing. She knew all of a sudden that she would never forget him. She started baking because he loved everything sweet with a cup of tea, so she was baking every day, even on Sundays. Today, decades have gone by far. She became a good cook, a very appreciated one. If she could, she would bake this for him, a delightful, luscious, bittersweet chocolate cake, dark like a night without moon, topped with the most luxurious cream.

You’ll need a baking tin of 18 cm wide and 10cm high or use a 20 cm one. I like when the cake comes out rather high, though for these photos, I used the 20 cm, why? Just got it wrong!

Preheat the oven at 170° without a fan (convection oven)

Ingredients for the cake

300 ml of Guinness beer, the best kind is the Original, anyway what you can find, best in a bottle than a tin 170 gr of all-purpose flour

170 gr of butter, diced

170 of caster sugar

170gr all-purpose flour; for a gluten-free version, use 25 gr of coconut flour and 70 gr of corn starch.

75 gr of unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon of grounded ginger

One teaspoon of baking powder

A pinch of salt

Three medium eggs

For the icing:

300 ml of whipping cream,

100 gr of mascarpone,

One tablespoon of Whisky or coffee

30 gr of confectioner sugar

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170° / 340 F/ 4 gas mark convection mode

2. Prepare and weigh all ingredients, and sift the flour and baking powder together.

3. Butter the cake tin. I also cover the bottom and the sides with parchment paper for better results.

4. Sift the cocoa powder into a saucepan, add 1/3 of the beer and start mixing, then add the rest until the cocoa has dissolved. After that, add the diced butter and warm gently till it is melted. Set aside to cool.

5. Whisk the eggs in a big bowl with the sugar till they start to make bubbles, add the pinch of salt and the ginger, then start folding in half of the dried ingredients, followed by half of the liquid mixture, and repeat with the remaining. The batter will be running, don’t worry, it’s normal.

6. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and cook for about 45/60 minutes. After 45 minutes, you can test it with a skewer or a toothpick; it should come out clean. Take the cake out of the oven, cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. This cake is good eaten cold so…..wait! Before serving, whisk the cream, mascarpone, Whisky or coffee, vanilla and sugar together till it forms steady picks, decorate the top of the cake and serve.

The easiest and most delicious semifreddo

When I made this new website, I wanted a page that I can write on. Still, last year as gone so fast and I had to face up to many changes in my life, the most important of which is that I relocated from the Luberon Valley to a no touristic village near Saint Remy de Provence. I found a beautiful, old farmhouse, nestled in orchards of pears, almonds and apples that are just starting to blossom now. All winter, I have been working hard to prepare everything to welcome people from all over the world at my cooking classes. But then the virus came, and all reservations stopped. So, here I am, sitting at my table in front of the window and time to write.

Before the quarantine started, I had a last meal with some dear friends, and the dessert was a semifreddo. Or to better say, my semifreddo, as technically it’s not. The classic recipe contains eggs that bring up the level of difficulty. In the years I’ve been working as a private chef, I was creating so many desserts, trying to make them lighter and more accessible as sometimes I didn’t have much time. I always like to use just a few ingredients in my recipes, because this leaves space for more creativity. You have the basics, like the cream and coconut cream, and from that, you can completely change the taste. On Springtime, one of my favourite addiction is strawberries. I chop some and some I mix with a little sugar and also put some crushed meringues for crunchiness if I have. In this time cooking at home is coming back, so I hope you’ll enjoy!

Semifreddo with dark chocolate and orange

Ingredients for 8/10 servings

500 ml of whipping cream 30%of fat

400 ml of coconut cream, I prefer the one in Tetra Pack rather than tins as it has a better flavour.

One tablespoon of marmalade

100 gr of chocolate chips, or grated dark chocolate.

One teaspoon of grounded ginger, a pinch of grounded allspice

50 gr of chopped candied orange peels

The chocolate sauce

100 gr of dark chocolate 70% of cocoa finely chopped

100 ml of water, one tablespoon of sugar

Pinch of salt, Fleur de sel or Maldon salt are delicious, and I always have at home as they enhance the flavour of any food. Grounded ginger as much as you like.

For decorations: candied orange peels, pistachio powder or anything that inspire you.

Directions

As the quantity of cream is high, I use an electric mixer, but you can also make half of the amount if you don’t have one or prefer a hand-whisk. I start putting the bowl and the whisk attachment in the fridge, as they have to be very cold, then I prepare all the ingredients so that I won’t need to stop during the preparation. This step is crucial because once I have started, I can finish it without interruptions.

Now that I have everything ready, I pour the coconut cream, the marmalade and the spices in the bowl. I mix to combine and smooth the coconut cream if needed, then I add the whipping cream and start whisking till soft peaks forms. Now I fold in the chocolate and the candied peels with a spatula, making a bottom-up movement.

At this point, all I need to do is filling the mould. I can use a rectangular cake mould, in which case I line it with a piece of parchment paper, so it’s easy to take it off, or I use individual silicone moulds when I want my dessert to be outstanding. I also pay attention that there are no air bubbles by making a light pressure onto the cream, then I put my semifreddo in the freezer for at least 5 hours. It’s a great dessert to make when you have a party or guests, as you can prepare it even days before, make sure though to protect it with a film before freezing.

When it’s time to serve I prepare the chocolate sauce: I bring the water to a boil in a saucepan, I switch off the heat and pour in the chocolate, the ginger, the sugar and the pinch of salt. I wait that it melts before stirring. In the meanwhile, I sort out the semifreddo and take it off the moulds, then onto a dish. I mix the sauce till it’s velvety, then I pour on the dessert when it’s lukewarm if you’d like it perfect as in a restaurant do the pouring on a grid instead of the plate. I decorate with orange peels and pistachio powder, or pistachio chunks, what I have in the pantry, you can take your time as the semifreddo needs to defrost a bit. For the photo, I had some kumquats marmalade which makes a beautiful decoration as well.

Utterly delicious snow balls