recipe – Mamma wears Prada

Mamma Wears Prada January 28, 2015

Taste maker challenge – Scrambled eggs with Truffle oil

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For the Happy Egg January challenge we were asked to give a different twist to scrambled eggs.

Scrambled eggs are perfect for breakfast but they can become part of a great brunch or dinner only by adding a few exciting ingredients!

The last time we went to Italy we bought a tiny bottle of incredibly tasty Truffle olive oil so I thought I’d use it, along with mixed wild mushrooms, to make a tasty Happy Egg meal.

Scrambled Eggs with Truffle Olive Oil and Chestnut Mushrooms (if you can find mixed wild mushrooms even better!)

Serves 2 :

4 eggs

150g chestnut mushrooms

30g diced bacon

2 slices of rustic bread

truffle oil

parsley

chive to sprinkle on top

salt and pepper

In a large frying pan fry the bacon without adding any seasoning ( the fat will be released from the bacon and it will give flavor to the mushrooms). Add mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs and season with a pinch of salt . Pour over the mushrooms and start stirring slowly ( I found using a spatula gives me a fluffier consistency) .

Just remember eggs continue to cook after you have taken off the pan so you need to remove them when they are slightly under cooked.

Serve on rustic toasted bread toasted and drizzle with a little truffle oil .

You see… Scrambled egg can be posh too 🙂

Mamma Wears Prada December 30, 2014

Mulled wine season

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It’s not Holiday time without a good hot mug of spiced, sweet mulled wine, or Glühwein! Yum! So hearty and comforting! Definitely the best drink to sip as soon as you come home from a long walk in this chilly weather.

Ready in literally 10 minutes and super yummy, mulled wine will warm you up very quickly.

I was looking for a recipe online but I didn’t like any so I just put together the ingredients I thought would create a tasty mulled wine:

1 orange halved

6 cloves

1 star anise

2 cinnamon sticks

1 bottle of Merlot

150 gr of sugar (add more if you prefer it a little sweeter)

a handful of fresh cranberries

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan, bring to a simmer and leave over low heat for 10 minutes without boiling. Once ready serve it hot.

Delicious!

Mamma Wears Prada November 24, 2014

Enjoying a good Espresso coffee

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Coffee is so much part of our Italian culture and in our family drinking a good short Espresso is a daily tradition. My husband is proud of his ability to make a lovely cremina (which is a foam made by vigorously whisking a tiny bit of coffee and sugar), he really believes it’s a form of art!

For him a daily espresso coffee is a must, especially in the morning! So when we heard the news about Dolce Gusto launching a new espresso flavour we could not wait to try it!

The new Dolce Gusto Ristretto Ardenza is definitely a typical Italian coffee. It’s a so called “ristretto” coffee which is shorter than a normal espresso yet full-bodied with a velvety crema layer. In Italy we call it ‘corto’ (short), because it is a very short espresso shot made with less water passing through the coffee. It’s the Italian people choice when it comes to order a coffee as most Italians drink their coffee quickly at the bar before heading to their offices.

Receiving a Dolce Gusto hamper is always a pleasant surprise. In the beautiful wrapped box, these lovely glass espresso cups and saucers were an extra treat! The glass cups are the perfect size for an espresso or a macchiato (an espresso with a bit of foam yum!) and I love these ones in particular as you can see the different layers that Dolce Gusto machine naturally creates.

Being coffee lovers, I cannot help but think that coffee has other uses a part from giving you a big boost in the morning so I browsed a bit online and found many recipes you can make that have a good short espresso, like Ristretto Ardenza, as ingredient.

My mother in law arrived on Saturday and I thought I’d treat her with a lovely three layers Coffee panna cotta (I’m such a wonderful daughter in law! Haha).

This is the very easy recipe, it just takes a little of time as you have to wait for every layer of panna cotta to settle before moving to the next one.

2 cups of espresso Dolce Gusto Ardenza

10 gelatine leaves

600ml of double cream

1 vanilla bean (I used a tbsp of vanilla extract)

9 tbsp of sugar

shaved dark chocolate for garnishing

Soak 4 gelatine leaves in cold water. Put in a saucepan 300 ml of double cream with 3 tablespoons sugar and one shot of espresso. As soon as it begins to boil remove the pan from the heat, add the squeezed gelatine and stir until dissolved. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes , then divide it into 4 glasses and fill them up to about half of their height. Cover the glasses with plastic wrap and place them in refrigerator for about hour.

Put another 2 sheets of gelatine to soften in a cold espresso coffee for 5 minutes, then add a small espresso cup of water, 3 tablespoons sugar and heat it on low heat until the gelatine is dissolved. Remove from heat, let the mixture cool and then pour 2 tablespoons in each glass on top of the previous panna cotta layer .

Soften other 4 sheets of gelatin in cold water . Heat other 300 ml of double cream with 3 tablespoons sugar and a vanilla bean ( I didn’t have it so I used a tbsp of vanilla extract). Bring to a boil , add the squeezed gelatin and let it dissolve . Remove from heat, allow the mixture to cool , divide it into glasses , cover again with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Using a vegetable peeler, create some dark chocolate shavings and sprinkle some over the panna cotta glasses.

Buono!

Mamma Wears Prada June 30, 2014

Nutella mini dessert table

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This year Nutella is 50 years old and knowing my husband’s love for this chocolate spread, I decided to make a mini dessert table and bake a delicious three layer chocolate cake filled with Nutella frosting!

To accompaign this gorgeous cake, I made a few changes to my mum’s traditional Tiramisù recipe and created my very own Nutella Tiramisù recipe! It’s easy and quick to make it, try it too!

Nutella Tiramisù recipe for 4 people

2 tbsp of Nutella (100 g)
100 ml of cold coffee
8 Ladyfinger biscuits (I used square ones but any shape will do)
3 eggs
250 g of mascarpone
100 gr caster sugar + 1tbsp
Cocoa powder

Prepare some coffee (it’s up to you if you want to use instant coffee or espresso), add 1 tbsp of sugar, stir it and leave it aside.

In a bow whip the egg yolks with the sugar till they reach a pale colour. Add the mascarpone and mix for a minute or so (make sure you don’t overmix).

Put the Nutella in a ceramic bowl and heat it in the microwave for 10 sec at the time until you see it starts melting. Let it cool for a couple of minutes. In the meantime beat the eggwhites to stiff peaks and when the Nutella has cooled down fold (don’t beat) the eggwhites in to keep the mixture light and airy.

Pour some coffee in a shallow dish.

Dip the sponge fingers biscuits one at a time, turning for a few secs until they are soaked, but not soggy. Place them at the bottom of a glass and starting with the mascarpone cream, pour layers of cream in each glass, alternate between mascarpone cream, nutella cream and soaked sponge finger biscuits.

When you have filled all 4 glasses, dust some cocoa powder on the top.

Ideally you’d need to refrigerate the Tiramisù for at least 3 hours before serving. If you really want to make it super rich, then you could top each glass with some whipped cream! YUM!

If you love Nutella and you cannot have enough even during the summer, Nutella Tiramisù is the perfect Summer Sweet Treat to end your meal: it’s light and fluffy and DELICIOUS!

TIP: I knew my daughter would have wanted to eat a portion of Tiramisù, so I prepared one just for her replacing the coffee with a mixture of chocolate powder and warm water (or milk if you prefer) .

For the chocolate Nutella cake I followed the recipe from Sweetapolita but made a few changes.

Instead of vegetable oil I used melted butter and I didn’t add any coffee to the cake mixture.

I lowered the amount of sugar used for the cake mix: instead of using 450gr of sugar I used 350gr purely because I didn’t want my cake to be too sweet (so that I can enjoy more slices! LOL!).

The last thing I changed is the amount of sugar used to make the frosting to cover the cake. Instead of 565gr of powder sugar I used 400gr. I know more sugar is better when it comes to cover the cake and have a smooth result but I just cannot stand too much sweet when I bite a slice (or two) of cake.

If you want to impress your friend chocolate lovers THIS is the cake to bake! Enjoy!

“This post is an entry for the #MorrisonsMum Summer Recipe eBook Challenge sponsored by Morrisons, which has recently cut prices on over a thousand every day products. Find out more here price checker tool”.