Brutti ma Buoni
A typical cookie from Rome - not so much a christmas sweet, but with the abundance of hazelnuts, we feel it deserves it place among our favorites for the season to come. As the name suggests - Ugly but good - this little cookie/meringue really shows what roman cooking is all about - few ingredients, great taste - and maybe not so much consideration for the appearence. Bake them at home or try them next time you're in Rome - our favorites are from Roscioli, Antico Forno in Campo di Fiori or from Biscottificio Artigiano Innocenti in Trastevere.
We always make these little beauties when making pasta or ice cream - a great use for left over egg whites.


About 20 cookies:


250 g hazelnuts
250 g sugar
100 g egg whites, from about 3-4 eggs
pinch of fine sea salt


Preheat your oven to 200c degrees.
Place hazelnuts on an oven tray and roast them in the hot oven for about 10 minutes. Give them a toss after 5 minutes.
Remove from the oven and place them in a kitchen towel. Rub the hazelnuts against each other to remove some of the skins. Leave to cool. Place hazelnuts in a food processor and process until fairly fine - you still want some chunks. Add ground hazelnuts to a bowl together with the sugar and mix.
Lower your oven to 150c degrees.
Whisk egg whites together with salt until soft peaks. Add hazelnuts to the egg whites and mix with a spoon. Pour mixture into a thick bottom pan and place over low heat. Cook for 10 minutes stirring with a spatula. The mixture is ready when it starts to go stringy and doesn't really feel sticky.
Use 2 table spoons to place dollops of the mixture on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until lightly golden. They should rise a little and they shouldn't be really firm, as they firm up during cooling. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Store in an airtight container.

Yes - we did it again.......planted way to many zucchini plants - and now we are once again harvesting way to many for us and our guests to eat. When will we ever learn....
So you can be use to have a few zucchini for breakfast, lunch and dinner at the moment....maybe spiced up with the occasional tomato - they have also started to produce like crazy....

So this is a really easy antipasto or contorno to be cooked over the next couple of months....The name of the dish is Zucchini Trifolati - some says it comes from the idea, that they zucchini are sliced thin like truffles - but we always cut them on the thick side, so they get really creamy during cooking. As always rule number one, when it comes to zucchini - get them while they are still on the small side....

Again we have skipped the measurements, as this is really just about getting your surplus of zucchini used - so make a big portion.

 For "Zucchini trifolati" - you need:

Extra virgin olive oil
Zucchini, sliced in thick slices, about 1 cm
Garlic, finely sliced
Fresh chili, chopped
We used thyme, because the mint was suffering in the heat.
Sea salt and black pepper
Lemon juice
Toasted hazelnut, roughly chopped

Take a large frying pan or pan with low sides. Pour in a thin layer of olive oil and heat. Add the zucchini and fry on medium heat for about 15-20 minutes, until they start to brown a little and soften a bit. Add garlic, chili and thyme if using and continue to cook for 5 minutes. If using mint - the original version - add this at the end. Now pour in a little water, so you just cover the base of the pan. Continue to cook, scraping any brown bits of the base. Once the water has evaporated and your zucchini has gone really soft and creamy, remove from the heat and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

When serving - these are really tasty at room temperature, sprinkle over the hazelnuts.
We like these on a bruschetta, with mozzarella or burrata or as a side for fish or chicken....

Yes - we are still here...so much for all the promises about posting more often in the new year - but the season started really early this year - no excuse - but the guests kept on arriving and we got all caught up in playing the good host and spreading a little good old fashioned "hygge".....so we never really got to the computer.....but let's change all that now....

For the next couple of months we are going to celebrate all the glorious seasonal veggies out there and write down all the super easy recipes, that we cook here at the house - for our guests or just for ourselves. These dishes are very often a full meal - maybe throw in some good bread, a little salad and a chunk of cheese.

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Today it will be a little easy recipe, using an all time favorite in the house - the fennel - even though fennel is really at the hight of its season in the winter - these days it's an all year veggie - that can really boost the flavours in your kitchen. We eat them raw as prinziminio with strong olive oil and sea salt, in salads - the classic being with orange and green olives. But one of our favorites is to braised them till sweet surrender - and the fennel is one of these veggies that really benefit from a long and slow cooking. Being crisp, aniseed and fresh tasting as raw, the fennel turns super sweet, creamy and subtle when cooked until completely tender. Here there isn't any half measure - once you start to cook the dear thing - you have to cook it until well done....

In todays recipe, we slow cook the fennel with garlic, tomatoes and a few black olives and just a touch of water - they kind of cook in there own juices. We had this as a light lunch - but you could serve it on top of a bruschetta with some fresh ricotta as an antipasto or as a contorno for fish or chicken.

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We don't really give measurements for these recipes - play around in the kitchen - use what you have in the fridge and the cupboards - but for this dish you would need something like:

extra virgin olive oil
fennel
garlic, in thin slices
sea salt and black pepper
cherry tomatoes, cut in half
black olives

Start by cutting your fennel into smaller pieces. If you cut it in half first and then cut each into 4 wedges, making sure, that you cut through the root. This way the wedges will stay together during cooking. Keep the fennel tops for later use.

Heat some olive oil in a large pan, and place the fennel in the pan in one layer. Have the heat on medium to high and lightly brown the fennel on both sides. Once the fennel has taken on some colour, add the garlic and season with salt and pepper. Let it cook for a few minutes. Now pour in some water - about 100 ml - depending on the size of your pan. Place a lid on the pan and let the fennel simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid, if you still have a lot of water in the pan , let it cook without the lid for a few minutes,  so most of the water evaporates. Now add the tomatoes and olives, shake the pan, so they nestle in between the fennel. Cover with a lid and cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes until the tomatoes start to break down. It's ready when the fennel is super tender and the tomatoes have created a little sauce in the base of the pan. Adjust the seasoning and remove from the heat. Drizzle generously with fresh olive oil and scatter of the chopped fennel tops.

The  season has more or less come to an end....guests celebrating the new year have all checked out....and a beautiful zen kind of feeling descend upon Todi.....the weather can still have lots of sunny spells, the streets are more or less empty, misty mornings where you feel the sun just hiding above, long lunches with friends, long walks in the nature, short days with candles and the fire place at full blaze in the evening.....well doesn't that sound just perfect..??????

Well just to make it clear - it isn't always like this.....this is also the time of the year where we get down to serious business and manage to do all the heavy lifting.....this year so far the kitchen got a fresh coat of paint, the Small Room is right now getting a total makeover, more painting in the other guest rooms and next week we are starting to make a small berry garden at the back of the house with plenty of space to lounge around on comfy chairs while enjoying a chilled Umbrian vino and a sunny spell.....

This is also the months where we clean out the cupboards after a long season....you all probably know the feeling of all those half used bags of pasta, rice, beans and grains you have lying around....well January and February are the months where we cook and eat all those goodies hiding in the back......and must say - soup is a great way to cook with those leftovers and what is better on a cold winter day......

So the other day it was time to tackle that small bag of Risotto rice in the cupboard.....but to be honest the fridge was empty except for half a raddichio....so what to do.....well we went to the larder and grabbed a jar of preserved tomatoes, had an onion lying around together with a few cloves of garlic...and then on to the stove....

In summer time we really like to cook the traditional Pomodoro e Riso - a real classic, that a true italian will eat all summer...it can be eaten warm or cold...basically a tomato stuffed with rice, parmesan and herbs and then baked in the oven until really well done and the rice is beautifully cooked......
But the other day it was cold, and the season of tomatoes is still a few months out - hence the preserved tomatoes and the soupy idea.....

Serves 3-4

extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, fine sliced
3 sprigs of rosemary, leaves only
pinch of dried chili
400 g of tinned tomatoes, drained
150 g risotto rice, we used Carnaroli
700 ml water
sea salt and black pepper
splash of red wine vinegar
1/2 raddichio, shredded (optional) or other herbs

In a medium pan, heat the olive oil and saute the onion, garlic, rosemary and chili for 15 minutes on medium to low heat without taking any colour. Add the drained tomatoes and break them up with the back of a wooden spoon. Let the tomatoes cook down a little - adding salt at this stage helps to break them down as well. Add the rice and turn to coat them in the tomato. Pour in the water and let the soup simmer for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked - you still want a little bite to the rice....Stir every once in a while.....The soup is ready once the rice is cooked and has thickened the soup - if too thick loosen with a bit more water and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and a little vinegar.....stir in the raddichio if using and let it cook down a minute or so. Drizzle with olive oil when serving..

This is great served with some good toasted bruschetta with lots of olive oil - or do as we did.....had a piadina lying around and a little gorgonzola......so a tasty side for the soup...piadina with gorgonzola and some wild yellow mustard from the garden....a weed - and it grows like crazy...but luckily its really tasty as well......

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Traditions will have it - that we each year look through the recipe collection and try out a few new ideas for some christmas goodies - well this year is no exception.
Let's fill your kitchen with the wonderful scent of the holidays - heavy with spices and sugary perfumes - play some christmas jazz and turn on the oven.
We like to wish you all a very happy christmas - to all of you who stopped by Todi on your Umbrian holiday - once again thank you - we hope you had as good a time with us as we enjoyed looking after you. May all your wishes for your next Italian vacation come true and hopefully we will see you back here in Todi.
If you still haven't been with us in Todi - well then have a look at - www.ilghiottoneumbro.com - for a little holiday inspiration - the cooking calendar for 2018 is packed with great cooking stays from a long weekend in the Umbrian country side - to a full week of cooking fun.....
Once again -  all the best for the season to come - may your stocking be full of good food, vino, family, friends, loved ones, laughter and fun.....Now let's start baking...... 

​Ciambellini di vino

Every wine region in Italy always has one or even several traditional sweets, that include the local wine...here in Umbria we often serve these small ring shaped cookies after the dinner: They are ideal if you don't really have room for dessert - but just want a little something sweet before coffee. You traditionally dip the cookies into the same wine, that you made them with. Here in our region they are often made with passito from the Sagrantino grape. We also like to use Vin Santo or Marsala - and then you can play around with herbs and seasonings as well. This year we added fresh rosemary and some aniseed for a little extra kick.

About 20-25 cookies:

200 g all purpose flour
65 g caster sugar + extra to roll them in
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp ground aniseed
50 ml sunflower oil
75 ml vin santo

In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients, then pour in the oil and wine and mix well. Once the dough has come together, turn it out onto your work surface and give it a light knead. Cover with cling film and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 180c degrees.
Pour some sugar onto a small plate.
Take walnut size pieces of the dough and roll them into small robes. Gather the ends to form a ring. Turn the ring in the sugar and place on a baking sheet with baking paper.
Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes - rotating the sheet halfway to ensure even baking. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Holiday is over - or is it actually just starting.......well depends on how you look at it......the season in our little guest house is more or less over...just a few more guests checking in before we close after New Years....then a 2 month break - where we get to do all the stuff we don't get around to do during the season.....Less guests and cooking lessons gives us some free evenings in front of the computer, which hopefully should pay of in more posts on everyday life in Umbria and Italia - and a big news feed packed with delicious foods and recipes.....so let's start by saying......

HELLO - we are back from a BIG summer season - this year we added a 4th room and we have been blessed with guests from all over the world stopping in Todi for a few relaxing days in the Umbrian country side and our medieval town....

So let's start the season of blogging with the celebration of the New Olive Oil.....

Actually - this is  - as last year - there isn't really anything to celebrate. In a lot of areas - including Todi - the harvest is less the 50% of normal, due to bad weather when the trees were blooming and then a very dry and warm summer. This year we didn't harvest anything from our trees - but luckily we have friends around, who had a lot of olives - so we could get some good strong Umbrian new olive oil. It's a strange world - they live 25 km from us, and their trees were full of perfect and healthy olives, where ours were more or less empty.
But the quality this year is amazing - deep green colour and a strong grassy perfume with hint of tomato leaves and artichokes - the colour is just amazing - right now it looks like something you would pump into a car.
So what better way to taste and celebrate the new oil - then with some simple and tasty food - the oil have to take center place these first couple of weeks...so try and keep seasonings simple and not too strong - but let the oil give the spice and heat to the dish.....
Every year, when we get the new oil - we always look for new dishes from the rustic and simple Cucina Povera - where few ingredients will make the dish shine.....This year's new discovery is from Tuscany - but is could actually be from all over the middle part of bella Italia.....The classical Pasta e Patate....a dish everybody should learn how to cook - it's simple, easy, cheep and so tasty......and very often you have all the ingredients in your cupboard.....so no need for shopping...this is also the perfect dish to use up all your small leftover bags of dried pasta, you probably have hanging around in your cupboard - we have for sure.....the parmesan crust in the recipe will add lots of flavour to the soup - again an old trick - kind of a natural stock cube - so never waste your rind or crust from the parmesan.

Serves 2

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves only
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tbsp passata or tomato sauce
600 ml water
100 g short pasta
1 piece of parmesan crust
Sea salt and black pepper
garted parmesan to serve
a squeeze if lemon juice
lots of new olive oil or a strong flavoured oil e.g from Umbria or Tuscany

Pour oil into a medium pan and add onion, garlic and rosemary. Cook on low to medium heat from 15 minutes without taking colour - you just want to soften and sweeten the onions. Add potatoes and passata.  Stir to mix all the flavours, then pour in the water - you want it just to cover the potatoes.
Cook over medium heat from 10 minutes, then add the pasta and the parmesan crust. Season with a little salt and pepper. Cook the soup for about 10-15 minutes until the pasta is cooked and the potatoes are tender and starting to break down and thicken the soup. Stir once in a while.
Remove from the heat, fish out the parmesan crust, season with more salt and pepper and a little lemon juice. Ladle into soup bowls and generously drizzle the new olive oil over the soup......

It's no secret - these days it's hot here in bella Italia - a certain Lucifer - has been making sure average temperatures are 40+ these last 2 weeks - one of the worst heat waves in the last 60 years.
All over the internet - every blogger offers his or her solution to beat the heat - eating granita all day, iced coffee, cold brew, fruity iced teas and ice cream several times a day.......
Well our solution has been to hit the kitchen - we are blessed with an all year round cool kitchen - always 22c degrees - well we even sleep in the kitchen these days...... So with all this time in the kitchen, we have really gotten into a bunch a new dishes, redone some old ones and trying out old techniques in a new way. Like last weeks Strattu - the sun dried tomato paste - originally from Sicily - we had calculated for a drying period for 3-4 days - but with full sun and 43c degrees - all was done in 2 days........

5 kilos of sun ripened tomatoes, cooked and pureed - then laid out to dry in the Umbrian heat wave.....

and this was left after 2 days in the sun - 2 small jars - but are they packed with sun kissed flavour or what......we have been eating the Strattu - almost as a Marmite on grilled bruschetta, in summery pasta dishes, in stews and the good old classic CusCus from Sicily.

As the tomatoes are a sure hit - so are the aubergines - a true summer classic in the italian kitchen and in our little green kitchen in Todi. Right now they are just perfect - firm and full of flavour. Just begging to be baked, stewed or fried to soft surrender - yes - the key word to any preparation with aubergines is to cook them enough...a quick turn on the grill won't do them any good.....plenty of olive oil and a good 30-40 minutes in a hot oven - will give you tender and sweet aubergines, that you can season and marinate right away and eat or make into other tasty dishes.....
When buying aubergines look for firm and shiny ones with fresh looking tops. And they should feel heavy compared to their size. And another good tip is to look for male aubergines - they tend to have less seeds - look for the ones with a slightly pointed tip.
Well on the with cooking - this week's heat wave brought a new dish to the house - perfect crisp and spicy croquettes of baked aubergines - perfect as part of an antipasto or as a party snack......serve hem with a spicy chili mayo or a refreshing salsa verde with plenty of mint.

This recipe will give you about 20 croquettes - Bake your aubergines ahead of time so excess moisture can drip of. We even sometimes bake them the day before. You can even make these the night before and leave them in the refrigerator to firm up.

2 aubergines, you want about 400 g pure at the end
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
200 g potatoes
1 egg
50 g parmesan, finely grated
50 g bread crumbs + extra for coating
pinch of chili
green herbs - feel free to go overboard in the herb garden
sea salt and black pepper
sunflower oil for frying

Preheat your oven to 200c degrees.

Cut aubergines in half on the long side. Make small cuts into the aubergines, but don't cut through. Place slices of garlic in the slits, drizzle with olive oil and bake in preheated oven until tender, about 30-45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
Once cool enough to handle, scrape out the flesh and place in a sieve set over a bowl. leave to drain for a few hours and overnight.
Cook potatoes with the peel in unsalted water until tender. Drain and peel, then crush with a fork - not too fine -  you still want lumps of soft potato. In a bowl add drained aubergines, potato, egg, parmesan, bread crumbs, chili and lots of chopped herbs and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. If the mixture seems very wet, add more bread crumbs.
Shape into croquette, about 4-5 cm long and coat in lots of bread crumbs. Place on a tray sprinkled with more bread crumbs and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to firm up.
When you are ready to serve, heat about 4 cm of sun flower oil in a pan an shallow fry croquette until golden brown and crispy - you might want to do this in batches. Lift out of the oil and place on kitchen paper to remove excess oil. Keep fried ones warm and crisp in a 100c degrees hot oven.
Serve right away with lemon and a good spicy salsa.

Some people never learn from their mistakes - guess you can count on us, when it come to planting too many zucchini plants in the late spring.
You stand there at the nursery, looking at those tiny plants - thinking - let's get 3 or 4 types of zucchini - how much will they produce anyway? - Well - once in full production you need to be quite inventive or have a large recipe collection - because these plants will produce an abundance of veggies for you to pick more or less every day.
This year we settled for 3 types, the classical dark one, Il Fiorentino - pale green with sweet dense meat and then a yellow type for a bit of colour.

So as you might have guessed by now - our guests here at the guesthouse are more or less every day blessed with zucchini in some kind of form. After 8 years in Italy we can surprise you more or less everyday for a month or 2 with a new dish. Right now we baked them into cakes with lots of walnuts for breakfast, make fritters with local ricotta and mint, cook them into a sauce for pasta, soups, stuff them with meat or fish, deep fried, alla Scapece, sweet and sour, raw in salads, as a pickle, as involtini and in many many more ways.
One way to get ahead in the zucchini  game is to pick them while they are small - which is generally the rule - the smaller the better. We normally pick them, when they are about 10-15 cm, so you get a zucchine with firm, dense and sweet meat. This size makes them ideal raw in salads, so pick them small or ask your store to order small zucchini. Here are 2 very simple summer salads to get you started.

This is the classic - some call it zucchini carpaccio - we just call it zucchini salad.
Take your small zucchini and slice them really thin lengthwise with a vegetable peeler or on a mandolin. Place them in iced water for a few minutes to crisp them up. The drain and dry on a kitchen towel. Add to a large bowl together with shaved parmesan, lots of mint and lemon zest. Dress with your best olive oil and season with black pepper, sea salt and lemon juice. 
​Serve right away - so the zucchini stays crisp.

Next up is a salad where the old roman fish condiment "Colatura di Alici" adds an extra dimension to the salad. Colatura is kind of an Italian fish sauce. It's kind of a by product when making salted anchovies. All the juices, that are drawn out of the anchovies by the salt is collected and then aged for years in barrels. It has a very strong and particular flavour, maybe not for everyone - but we love it. Traditionally it's used in pasta dishes. Use it very sparingly, so a little goes a long way. It's also quite expensive - but it's true umami.
So for the salad. Again slice the zucchini lengthwise on the mandolin or with the peeler. Crisp up in iced water and drain thoroughly.
Add to a bowl together with thinly sliced green apples, chopped parsley and thinly sliced fresh red chili. Dress with olive oil and season with black pepper, sea salt and lemon juice.

This is summer cooking - BUON APPETITO

Finally we made it - last sunday we got our act together and drove out the San Terenziano - a small village 11 km from Todi. Yes - normally this place is VERY quite, but for 3 days in the 3rd weekend of May - this small town is turned into one of the busiest places in Umbria - and the reason.....

Yes - this is the beast - the one and only PORCHETTA - a true specialty here in Umbria - but you will find these whole roasted pigs all over central and southern Italy. Here in Todi saturday is the big porchetta day - several food trucks line the streets and from early morning people are stocking up on this specialty. Lately you see all these recipes called "porchetta" using different kind of cuts from the pig - which is useful, if you want to try this at home. Most people will have trouble fitting a whole pig into their domestic oven.
But the real thing is the Whole pig, deboned and then depending where you are, stuffed and seasoned with everything from wild fennel, garlic, rosemary, lemon and lots of salt and black pepper. Here in Todi we traditionally add the liver inside the "roast" to add even more flavour and massive amounts of black pepper.
Well lets get back to the "grande festa".....
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The Porchettiamo is probably one of the most well organized sagra's in the area - even the parking is all dress up and ready to play.
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The festa is divided into 2 areas - the main piazza - Piazza della Porchetta - is where you will find all the different types of porchetta and the enoteca with Sagrantino wines - yes you need some strong wines to wash down all that pork. Most of the vendors or from Umbria - but there was also tasty pork from Abruzzo, le marche, Calabria and Lazio. Behind the castello od San Terenziano is a small walled garden with a more lounge feeling with more food trucks selling other types of street food from Italy.

When you enter the Piazza you change money is these great pink tokens - we called the piggy money - and use them to pay at the trucks - a panino was usually 2 piggy money.

First stop was at our local Todi butcher and his famous roasted pig - heavily seasoned with black pepper, rosemary and liver. Served in a rosetta bun with slices of both the lean and fatty meats, crispy pork skin and some of the roasted liver.....always a winner.... Bravo 4M

Next stop was from 2 restaurants - one from Perugia - our new favorite - Societa Anonima - they had made a kind of pulled pork and served it with a smokey sauce, crisp agretti and crumble from the crispy pig skin. The other was from Sardegna - with a cream of ricotta and lots of fried wild fennel tops.

Then back to Umbria and more precisely to Grutti, another town just outside Todi - here they are also very famous for their porchetta - but even more for the tradition of making the Cicotto.
Cicotto are all the bits and pieces that are left over, when making the porchetta, like the trotters, ears and tails, chopped up and cooked underneath the whole porchetta in all the fat. Served in small buns - well - you wont find a more porky flavour in the world - and if you love pork - well then you're in heaven.

Then we travel a bit further south to Calabria - here there is the tradition of shredding the roasted pig and serve it in rolls where the crumbs are removed. Then the crust is smeared with Ndjua - the strong chili sausage from Calabria, the porchetta is added and then topped with roasted sweet and sour veggies - this was maybe our favorite....

BASTA - no more pork - but still with some piggy money in the pocket - we headed to the Sicilian truck and had a panino stuffed with panelle - deep fried chickpea polenta - again with lots of rosemary and salt - all was down with a big glass of fresh and fruity red wine from our friend here in Todi - Filipo Pepucci and his Petroro red.......

Not a bad sunday morning.....the wether was great so we headed back to Todi for an ice cream, a coffee and a nap on the terrace.......see you next year San Terenziano.