food&drinks

Walnut sauce – Italian Pasta Recipe – Part 3

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This walnut sauce is the perfect topping for Italian pasta Pansotti.

How to make walnut sauce 

Walnut Sauce - Italian Recipe

Ingredients:

10-15 shelled walnuts

1-2 clove garlic

2-3 slices of stale bread without crusts

1/2 lt. whole milk

1 coffee cup of cream

1 tea cup of grated Parmigiano or Grana Padano cheese

extra virgin Italian olive oil

freshly cut marjoram

salt

white pepper

Put the stale bread in a bowl together with the milk and the cream.

Put the walnuts into a blender with the garlic, bread soaked in milk and cream, salt, white pepper, oil and marjoram. Blend everything until smooth, then add grated Parmigiano or Grana. Before using for the pasta, add a little water from the pansotti pot.

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Pansotti Pasta Filling – Italian Pasta Recipe – Part 2

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How to make pansotti filling

Pansotti Filling Ingredients

Ingredients:

500 g ricotta cheese

1 kg boiled green vegetables: spinach, chard, borage (= 5 kg raw vegetables)

1-2 clove Italian garlic

freshly cut marjoram

extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs (optional)

salt

white pepper

grated Parmigiano or Grana Padano cheese

Finely chop the garlic together with the marjoram and put them in a bowl with the boiled vegetables. Add the ricotta cheese, salt and white pepper and eggs (optional). Stir them with a ladle, then put everything in a food processor. Add grated Parmigiano or Grana at the end and stir again. Refrigerate until ready to use.

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Italian Pasta Recipe: Ligurian Pansotti

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As promised in this blog post, here you can find a recipe we learned during our team building week-end in Liguria!

How to make Ligurian Pansotti

Pansotti is a triangular shaped ravioli from Liguria filled with spinach, chard, borage (if you’re lucky enough to find it at your grocery shop!), garlic and fresh ricotta cheese.

Italian Pasta Recipe - Ligurian Pansotti

Pansotti were born in a small village near Rapallo called “San Martino di Noceto”. The word “Noceto” means walnut grove and this village had a very large production of walnuts. The word “Pansotto” comes from “pansa”, which means “belly” in the local dialect.

Ingredients:

500 g semolina flour

500 g wheat flour (type 00)

28 g salt

8 eggs (yellow flesh type)

extra virgin olive oil

1/2 water glass of dry white wine

Mix together the two flours and the salt on a worktable and be sure to leave a hole in the middle, which is called “fontana” in italian.

Italian Recipe - Pansotti - how to mix the flour

There you will add the eggs, extra virgin olive oil and the white wine. Knead the dough for several minutes until you have a rough ball (not too smooth, if it makes “crumbs” it’s even better). Put the dough together with its crumbs in food film and let it rest in the fridge for at least three hours.

When you take it off it should be damp, even wet. Roll it first with the rolling pin, then divide it into pieces and run each piece through a pasta machine to make long sheets out of it. Divide each sheet into squares with a cutter.

Italian Recipe - How to make pansotti

Put the filling into a sac-à-poche (or simply a teaspoon, if you don’t have the sac-à-poche) and then put a tiny ball of it in the middle of each square, then close it to shape the “pansotto” . Seal the edges with still water.

Italian Recipe - How to make pansotti

Read how to make the walnut sauce and the filling!

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A true gourmand’s pleasure

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Great news for food and wine Lovers: you’ll be happy to discover the new Food&Drinks items created by Svinando. CircleMe has partnered with Svinando Wine Club, the italian online community about quality food and wine, that has provided content on 150 new items about wines and recipes.

Svinando Wine Clube Profile on CircleMe

All the items feature products from Italy carefully selected by the Svinando experts, so if you have a passion for food and wine you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to ‘Like’ on CircleMe the product you love in order to be updated on any news that will be posted about the item: recipes, articles, videos…

The CircleMe Team is enthusiastic about this collaboration that has brought new quality content to the platform and visibility to Svinando. If you may be interested in having your content published on CircleMe to reach and engage our users with your products or activities, don’t hesitate to get in touch at partnerships@circleme.com! We’ll be happy to hear your proposal and to discuss it.

For all the people who have mastered an interest or are very passionate about a topic there is also the opportunity to become the curator of an item: if you are interested you’ll find more information here.

So stay tuned as there will be more exciting news soon!

Prosit!

CircleMe Team

Fish and Broccoli Pasta, tasty health

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fish_broccoli_pasta
There aren’t many dishes that are as healthy as those that involve fish. Fish is light and low in calories and mixed with pasta can be also easy to prepare.

To make the Fish Broccoli pasta you will need 700g haddock, skinned and boned, 375g linguine, 250g broccoli, broken up into small floret, salt and black pepper, 125g cream, 125g stock, 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, 2 chillies, deseeded and finely chopped, juice and grated rind of 1 lemon, 1 handful parsley, chopped, and 2 handfuls watercress or spinach leaves, roughly torn.

To prepare, cook the pasta in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water as per the instructions on the packet.  Add the broccoli.  Drain and return to the saucepan, along with a couple of tablespoons of the cooking liquid.  Keep warm the fish cooks and you make the sauce. Heat the grill.  Lightly oil a baking tray and place the fish on it and season with salt and pepper.

Cook under the hot grill for 5 to 6 minutes or until the fish flakes easily. Put the cream and stock in a saucepan along with the garlic, chillies, lemon juice and rind and season with salt and pepper.  Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes.  Stir the mixture and the watercress and parsley through the pasta.  Then flake the fish and gently stir it in.

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Rum-spiked Horchata, grainy refreshment

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rum_spiked_horchata
The Horchata is a traditional beverage made from ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barley, or tigernuts. The name is traditionally from the Spanish region of Catalonia and the drink is served cold in the summer as a natural form of refreshment.

To make the Rum-spiked Horchata, you will need 1 cup uncooked long grain rice, 2 quarts warm water, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 1/4 cups milk, 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract , 1/4 cup rum, or to taste, and 16 cubes ice.

To prepare, mix the the rice and warm water together in a bowl and let it stand for 1/2 hour. Save the water and drain and put the rice in the bowl of a food processor. Next add the cinnamon and process until it forms a paste. Return the rice to the water and let stand it stand for at least 2 hours. Stir the mixture occasionally as the water turns milky white. Strain the rice through a fine sieve into a bowl or pitcher and stir in the milk, condensed milk, vanilla, and rum until it is evenly blended. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

When ready to serve divide the ice cubes between four glasses, and pour the chilled horchata.

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Hot Apple Cider, autumn bliss

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hot_apple_cider
Nothing warms you up in the dead of winter or a frosty fall night like a drink of Hot Apple Cider and the best thing about this winter treat is that it is so easy to prepare you can leave it in the pot go out and come back and it will be just right!

Hot Apple Cider which can be prepared in a slow cooker needs only four ingredients or sometimes five if you add a little rum. This recipe makes eight drinks and all it needs are 2 quarts or 8 cups of apple cider, six 3-inch cinnamon sticks, plus more for serving if you so desire, 1 medium-sized orange, ⅛ cup whole cloves, Rum ( try Appleton or Jamaican white rum), and additional cinnamon sticks for serving.

To make all you will need to do is pour the apple cider into a 2.5-quart or large slow cooker. Add the cinnamon sticks to cider. Then, with a toothpick, poke holes all around the orange, about ½ inch to 1 inch apart. Carefully poke the cloves into the toothpick holes in the orange and place the orange into the cider in the slow cooker. Cook on low for about 4 hours. Once done, ladle into mugs along with an ounce or more of rum if you choose to use. Place a cinnamon stick in each glass and serve.

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Drink Sangria

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sangria
Sangria is a refreshing drink that as the name suggests is really, really red. The name is from the Spanish word for blood. It can be made from wine, chopped fruit, sweetener, and a touch of brandy.

While traditionally it has been made with brandy, there are also variations which include Seltzer, Sprite or 7 up. The fruit used does not have to be orange it can also be lemon, lime, apple, peach, melon, berries, pineapple juice, grape, kiwi, or mango.

This drink is popular in Spain and Portugal but is also served in the Americas in Cuba, Peru, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Argentina.

To make Sangria you will need 1 bottle red wine, 1/4 cup brandy, 1/4 cup orange flavored liqueur, 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 orange, thinly sliced, 1/2 lemon, thinly sliced, 1 unwaxed apple, cored, and cut into thin wedges, and 1 bottle sparkling water, chilled.

To prepare combine everything except the sparkling water and in a large plastic container or glass pitchers. Cover and chill completely for about 1 to 2 hours. When ready to serve, add the sparkling water.

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Creamy Hot Cocoa, Yummy Warm

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creamy_hot_cocoa
This is the season when it gets very cold and at this time of the year there is nothing better to warm up your insides like a hot drink.

Try the Creamy Hot Cocoa on a chilly night to heat things up!

To make the creamy hot cocoa you will need 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, ¾ cup white sugar, 1 pinch salt, 1/3 cup boiling hot water, 3 ½ cups milk, ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract, and ½ cup half-and-half cream.

To prepare, first combine the cocoa, sugar, and a pinch of salt, in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water and bring this mixture to a boil continuing to stir as it boils. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes and make sure that it doesn’t scorch.

Add the 3 ½ cups of milk and heat until it is very hot but do not boil.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Divide into several mugs and add the cream to each mug of cocoa to allow to cool to drinking temperature.

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Hot Buttered Rum drink

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hot_buttered
Hot buttered rum drink is a beverage that is usually drunk around the holidays. The mixed drink often contains rum, butter, hot water or cider, a sweetener, and some spices which may include cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves.

These kinds of drinks are popular during cold months especially during winter. The drink is made by blending the rum batter with dark rum.

To make the hot buttered rum you will need 1 cup dark brown sugar, 4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature, 1 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg or mace, 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

To prepare, blend all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Then refrigerate in a sealed air-tight container for up to two months. To make the cocktail you will need 2 tablespoons refrigerated Hot Buttered Rum batter, 6 oz boiling water, 1 1⁄2 oz dark rum, 1 tablespoons light cream, and nutmeg, to garnish.

When ready, spoon the batter into a hot beverage mug, add boiling water and stir well until dissolved. Add rum and cream (if using) and stir and garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

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