copyright 2011 art of living,PrimaMedia,Inc/Maria Liberati

Scarpediem…has become one of my favorite new stores in the center of town here..okay,it has nothing to do with food or the kitchen but is a play on words for the Italian word for shoes-scarpe and the Latin Phrase Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)..all of the Italian designer shoes in one place makes you want to ‘seize the day’ and purchase all the shoes or better yet ‘seize the shoes’….

Italian have an artistic penchant for creating new words to express clearly an idea like

*Capri Diem-(instead of Carpe Diem) expressing love of enjoying the island of Capri

*Cinepanettone ( Combining cine for cinema or movie and panettone-the traditional Holiday bread at Christmas time) to describe films that are released for Christmas.

*Decembrini-to discuss things that are’ December-ish’..for instance a fruit that is not totally mature yet in December can be described as Decembrini or the weather that is typical for December,

*Settembrini-something that may come out in September or is ‘September-ish’. For instance fig trees bear fruit in August  and September..those figs of September  can be described as Settembrini or even the change of the weather or coolness that usually begins in the air to describe the weather as Settembrini.

and there are many others…

 Today I am preparing a chocolate-orange cake..my own version of a Sacher Torte for a dinner on Sunday. The Austrians combine apricot with chocolate in their traditional cake. But Italians love the combination of chocolate and orange..and if you taste them together you will quickly understand why..

Here’s the recipe

Torte di Cioccalata all’Arancia (Chocolate and Orange Cake)

from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition 

*8 ounces baking chocolate with at least 60% cocoa content

*3 tblsps milk

*3/4 cup butter

*3/4 cup sugar

*5 eggs

*1 tsp baking powder

*grated zest of 1 orange

*1 cup flour

Filling:
*1 ½ cups orange marmelade

*1 tsp brandy

Topping:

*8 ounces baking chocolate (at least 60% cocoa)
* 1 cup powdered sugar

*1 cup whipping cream

In a double boiler, melt chocolate with milk, stirring with a wooden spoon. When melted remove from heat and cool. Place softened butter in a bowl and whip with electric beater till creamy mousse consistency. Add in sugar and beat it until you get a creamy blend. Add in cooled, melted chocolate, and flour and baking powder a spoonful at a time. Mix till well blended. Add in eggs, one at a time. Blend well after adding each one. Then add in orange peel. Butter and flour an 8 inch pan. Bake for 25 minutes in an oven preheated to350 degrees. Place toothpick in center to be sure cake is done. Remove from oven. Remove cake from pan and let cool. When cool, slice cake in center in half so as to get tow layers.

Warm orange marmelade with brandy. Remove from heat. Spread mixture on one half of cake. Top with other half., Spread orange mixture on top of cake. Let sit.

In double boiler melt chocolate for topping, add in powdered sugar and a few spoons of water. Mix with wooden spoon. Remove from heat. Let cool to warm. Spread on top of marmelade on top of cake and cover sides and entire cake with chocolate mixture. Let cool and chocolate harden. Whip whipping cream and serve each slice with a spoonful of whipped cream

 For more great recipes get your copy of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition

The book was selected as Best Italian Cuisine Book in the USA by Gourmand World Cookbook Awards

Sorry it took a few days to get back about the tasting of the Sacher Tortes we made here in The Basic Art of Italian Cooking kitchen. They were as beautiful as they tasted.  Even though this is The Basic Art of Italian Cooking..one can’t help but think about the elegant places in Austria when partaking of Sacher Torte (but Vienna was built by the Romans). Places like Vienna and Saltzburg..and the elegance of eating a piece of Sacher Torte.

With hardly a piece left of the Tortes as they were brought back to the kitchen it was evident that I was not the only one impressed by the lightly sweet taste of this torte. The torte contains basic ingredients like eggs, butter ,flour, sugar, dark chocolate, apricot marmelade, nothing difficult to find, actually quite simple ingredients for such an elegant dessert… but it is bit laborious to make.

Will be posting the recipe here this week.

This weekend was filled with  tastes  of local foods and visits to small villages throughout the region of Abruzzo, spots that are not in any tourist guides but are just as important to see.. The town of Aielli and Rosciolo in the mountains of Abruzzo are filled with history and artifacts, churches from the year ’700.. More on those trips this week.

The rest of this week we are  testing recipes in The Basic Art of Italian Cooking kitchen here in Italu  that are   in the upcoming book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking-Holidays & Special Occasions.. (although you can purchase a prepublication copy only online it will officially be released in September 2009). Here is one to enjoy, this recipe is also used for the Feast Your Eyes Campaign by the American Academy of Ophthalmology because apricots help keep your eyes healthy:

Apricot Clafoutis

(from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking, Holidays and Special Occasions, copyright, 2009, Maria Liberati)

*1 lb of fresh ripe apricots

*1/2 cup unbleached flour

*2 whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk

*5 tblsps sugar

*1 tsp vanilla

*1 ½ cups low fat milk

1 tblsp plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 365 degree

Place 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk in bowl with sugar, vanilla. Beat with wire whisk or electric mixer for 5-6 minutes.

Sift flour and add into egg mixture. Blend well. Then add in milk and yogurt. Blend well and let sit for 30 minutes.

Wash, dry apricots, divide in half, and remove stone inside. Place apricots and Grand Marnier into liquid mixture and stir in.

Butter and flour a pie pan and pour in mixture. Cook for 30 minutes. When cool, remove from pan onto serving dish. Sprinkle 1 tsp sugar on top. .

For more great recipes get your copy of  the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

Mangia Bene Vivi Bene,

Maria

I can hear the fireworks outside my office window as I am writing . Alfonso would like to think they are shooting fireworks for his birthday but I know it is for a feast they celebrate in this part of Italy (abruzzo) Saint Antonio. Bonfires are lit in the street and a small  town in the mountains has a week long fest of eating ,processions and more.

This morning into this afternoon we proceeded with assembling the Sacher Tortes into this beautiful creation. Thank goodness we did this in two days. Yeserday we baked the cake layers. Today was filling and frosting..

Luckily I had some apricot marmelade left over from this summer’s preserves that I maade from the farm here. Apricot marmelade is used to fill the cake that has been cut in two. Then the laborious process of making the chocolate glaze begins. First a syrup of water and sugar has to be boiled slowly, then the dark chocolate added and then the mixture has to thicken and cool.

While that is being done 2 tblsps of apricot marmelade and 1 tablespoon of water have to be heated to a boil on the stove. This mixture has to be put through a sieve and then spread on top of the cake before it is iced.

Now it was item for the icing. The chocolate mixture was ooh so creamy and thick. Spreading it took the longest, to get it smooth on top..you know just like in the photos..

More tomorrow, gotta go ..tonight we are tasting the Sacher tortes….

For more great recipes get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

copyright, 2009, Maria Liberati, The Basic Art of Italian Cooking  

Today, (here in the mountains of Abruzzo, Italy) while I was enjoying my colazione (breakfast )with radio station centocinque (105) and listening to Betty give her gossip and advice I began to plan out the recipe for today..sacher torte…

While  the conversation on today’s radio program was about the new website in Japan that talks about places around the world that have memorable aromas (good and bad)  I began thinking of the great perfume of chocolate that will soon be filling The Basic Art of Italian Cooking Kitchen here (in Italy).

Yes that’s right..the famous Austrian  Sacher Torte.. I learned this scrumptious dessert while studying a bit of Austrian delights in Austria a few years back and have been promising to make this for Alfonso’s birthday for a few too many years.

 Now that The Basic Art of Italian Cooking kitchen is here in Italy also and I have some extra hands to assemble everything ..well I decided to begin this experience.. This morning we made and baked the cake, and tomorrow we willassembled the cake.. The smell from the ovens were heavenly…. if you love the odor of melted butter and rich dark chocolate. I am guessing that many people do since we had some locals come by and ask what was ‘in the oven’ today?

Sacher Torte was ‘born’ in Vienna, Austria but is loved all throughout Europe and why not.. it is just as beautiful as it is delicious a dessert and made primarily with dark European chocolate ,butter ,eggs and apricot marmelade and of  course some sugar and flour. No preservatives, chemicals just real ingredients..

It has been awhile since I had my culinary classes in Austria and have not made a Sacher Torte for awhile and almost forgot how laborious a dessert this is..but well worth it.

First to locate ‘farina di frumento’ the flour that will give the cake some substance. Not an easy flour to find, but after a trip to the local shop for professional baker’s in town…I found it..

 Next the measuring out of all ingredients with our scale, then the melting of the dark chocolate on the ‘bain-marie’ (double boiler). Then the creaming of the butter and melted chocolate, then half the sugar. Then beating the egg whites till peaks form.. gently folding in the egg whites and flour and …almost there…..butter and flour the spring form pans, place in batter and cook for about 1 hour at 180 degrees centigrade or 360 degrees fahrenheit.. Well in our oven here they took less than an hour to bake. But the whole process took up all morning into afternoon..

This more than filled our day and by 2 PM we were ready to sit down and eat ‘pranzo’ (lunch). Stay tuned for tomorrow and the assembling of the Sacher Tortes. … and my recipe for the Sacher Torte

For more great recipes get your copy of my best sellling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria