The recipe : “The flowers of elderberry jelly”

Fausto Delegà

Collect the flowers of Elderberry is a gesture that has great joy and fills the nose with an intense aroma and unique. The magic is done then the possible transfer of aroma and flavor in all preparations in which the flowers of elderberry can be used. A kind of eternalising spring that you can do to break out again every morning at breakfast, in any meal marrying this jelly with cheese.

Caution: the plan of the Elder, excluding flowers and fruits, is a toxic plant.

Even the fruits are to be avoided raw, for their high laxative property that retain in part also from cooked, in the form of jam, for another exquisite. Scurissima, con colore intensissimo e che marca in modo quasi indelebile ogni cosa che tocca. Attenzione anche a Do not confuse the normal Elder with the ebulus, by herbaceous larger fruits, inedible and toxic, true purgatory deadly.

 I close with some curiosity ...

• The generic name Sambucus could arise from a woodwind musical instrument, known in Latin as “sambuca”.
• From the fruit you get a blue dye and an ink.
• The juice of the root is used to dye hair blacks.

La gelatina di Sambuco

A complete maturation collect 20 Elderberry flowers possibly sunny days, warm and dry.

Soak them in a liter of water with the juice of one organic lemon for three days, then strain through a special paper and add to the liquid, filtered and perfumed, a gelled kg of sugar per liter. Boil over medium heat for 8 minutes.

Remove the white foam which generally form a bit’ in surface,  and then invasettare hot.

Immediately close,  Leave to cool and store at room temperature. You will get a perfect jelly that capped, and vacuum, will keep up to a year. Once opened, keep refrigerated.

The recipe : “Lo Zighinì”

Today I wanted a good friend telling a typical dish of Eritrea to restore the situation to the attention of a people who for years lived in a dramatic situation. Cornelia Isabelle Toelgyes consistently,  commitment and dedication through a group called "For the liberation of the prisoners in the Sinai" seeks to draw public attention to this human tragedy. There are many, near and far ... each in its own way can lend a hand.

People and their stories ... popular kitchen

Lo Zighinì… Cornelia Isabelle Toelgyes

It zighinì traditional Eritrean dish, is a spicy meat stew cooked with onion and a blend of spices called Berbere. A friend gave me the recipe for her mother until the end of the seventies was the one that was used at the market in Asmara. The father used to berberè breakfast, the pranzo and dinner, and asked that this be prepared no more than once every fortnight. At home, the smell of berberè was so strong that permeated everything with relative desperation of the guys who could not take it off off. The zighinì is traditionally eaten on injera, focaccia typical Eritrean, in order for this to soak in sauce.

• Zighinì  (spicy stew)

To wither in a pan covered 1 large onion and 2 spicchi d’aglio tritati. After 5 minutes, add 1 spoon of ghee (made by melting fresh butter in a saucepan over medium heat in a water bath and constant), 3 tablespoons of Berbere (blend of spicy),  1 glass of water and salt.

Making restrict slowly, then add 500 g in the training of e, if you need, another glass of water. Continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Add 500 g of beef and finish cooking for 1 hour until the meat is cooked and the bottom restricted.

• Berbere (spicy mixture)

20 chillies Abyssinians (there are at least 5 Type, but without significant differences, provided that they are beautiful red)
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
10 cloves
60 seeds of cardamom (those blacks to speak)
½ teaspoon celery seed Mountain (ajowan, intense flavor of thyme and spicy)
15 allspice berries

• Injera  (focaccia eritrea)

Prepared by mixing in a bowl:

500 g of wheat flour
500 g di farina di mais
250 g of durum wheat
25 g of yeast (the 100 g of yeast)
500 g d’acqua

Cover and let stand at room temperature 2 the 3 days, then work the dough fermented with water as needed. until it becomes smooth and homogeneous. Heat a non-stick pan and pour the mixture in order to have a layer of 3-4 mm, as for cracks. When it begins to thicken must appear in the bubbles that give the characteristic spongy bread. Cover and let cook for about 3 minutes avoiding taking color. Allow to cool on a towel to avoid overlap of the flat loaves of bread until they are cold. Serve covered with a few tablespoons of zighinì.

"The prisoners in the Sinai ... the situation today"

Nel November 2010 Don M. Zerai became aware that they were in the wilderness of Sinai over 250 people (Eritreans, Ethiopian, somali, Sudanese, Nigerians) total slavery, in the hands of human traffickers.

Then the ransom that was asked families wandered around the 8000 dollars. To extort money, were tortured with electricity and other. While they were under torture were called relatives using a mobile phone to hear the screams of their loved ones.

If you were not able to pay, were killed directly, or, in the worst case, the were harvested organs which were then placed in the international black market. Women were often raped and became pregnant of their captors.

Today, the situation has not changed. Rather, worsened. We know that now in the hands of the traffickers are still ca. 2000 people. The turnover does not cease because of the serious political situation of the countries of the Horn of Africa. Today, the redemption of up to 60.000 dollars per person and we know that there are some kids in their hands, not free from torture…rather.

The tragedy does not end here. Once freed, often they are arrested again by the Egyptian police for illegal immigration and deported to their countries of origin, where it awaits the harsh prison. Generally can not survive more than a year.

If by chance you can reach Israel, thinking about finding salvation, their fate will change little. Generally, asylum seekers are arrested. If this is not, however, are left to their fate and the racist air that pulls in this period in Israel, I leave you to imagine the conditions in which they must live. I remind you that we are in the 2012. International Institutions, European governments and the U.S. are aware of this tragedy, but you pretend nothing. Maybe that's how you live better. But not us ...

The recipe : “I Marubini and Brodo”

di Paola Frigeri

People and their stories ... popular kitchen

I remember the Sunday when I woke up slowly ... I heard the bells ringing the last touch to remind everyone that it was time to go to Mass.

I prepared myself for dragging me into the kitchen with her hair still matted, ready for breakfast. A bit 'of milk with coffee,  and the toasted bread wet in my white bowl that I brought back to the main streets of Cremona with its patisseries… Only sold them the kind of "pan biscuttat". Under my nostrils passed the smell family that took me back to the origins of my parents Cremonese. The city of Cremona ... a fresco of many memories. I Marubini, memory of flavors that reigned on my table on Sunday.

I remember my mother to Saturday browned the topside flavored with sage and with that slice of butter bought in the countryside of Cremona.  Prosciutto, salami without garlic (I did not like), bologna, and a piece of boiled. So the whole, combined and ground, was ready for the filling.

Every Sunday the plank was placed on the table ... the pasta pulled artfully and cut into squares,  the filling perfectly in the middle, and the view of the most beautiful thing ... the Marubino. A perfectly equal to each other, Mom wanted them so,  all perfect ... as ready for a party. The broth was alone in the meantime, can not wait to guests fall into one at a time.

And finally, a reminder of her, I can almost see it ... Two curlers on her head as if to put duty,  and gaze with admiring eyes tended toward that table full of Marubini all in a row, as small but great soldiers ... as big as my mom.

The recipe : “The Wild Asparagus Frittata”

Romano Pomponi

People and their stories ... popular kitchen

Simple and genuine, with eggs of hens in the farmyards, white onion country, wild asparagus and bacon at home. Of course, extra virgin olive oil hills ciociare

Good, cominciamo dagli asparagi selvatici… Essendo la Ciociaria una terra collinare e montuosa, it is not difficult to find; both grow in clearings, that in the woods sunny up to about 1000 m. The oil is produced almost exclusively on rocky hills, alkaline, with low acidity, and the slight tickle that disappears with time.

Quasi una frittata di moda… Io sono nato nel 1958, and while living in a tourist town like Fiuggi, almost all had the pork raised in the countryside, le galline,  e piccoli orticelli in cui si piantavano ortaggi di vario genere, Now it seems organic, but we were all so even then, were biological, and we did not know!

The omelet was a dish that is often prepared, tasty but poor, appeared on the table of all, I do not say every day, but almost. I forgot, asparagus should be broken with your hands until you can hear the soft part, la parte legnosa non va utilizzata. Io faccio soffriggere gli asparagi con la cipolla e il guanciale.  Appena il tutto comincia a rosolare aggiungo le uova, and put a pinch of salt for each.  Andrebbe servita con del pane casareccio cotto nel forno a legna. Un piatto umile ma sostanzioso… come la mia amata Ciociaria

The recipe : “The Amaretti Abruzzo”

di Claudia Marcucci

People and their stories ... popular kitchen

It was Christmas Eve 1998, and like every year my parents that evening with my grandparents went to Mass in the church of San Rocco Atessa. I, as usual, I remained with my great-grandparents Mary and Nicholas.

Like all children waited impatiently midnight for the arrival of Santa Claus. In the meantime I was helping my great-grandmother Mary in the preparation of a trick that tradition in our family was prepared the night before.  We would have then eaten during the opening of presents for us children accompanying him to a glass of milk, and for the older ones with a good glass of wine.

The grandmother began to pull out of the fridge the preparation made with almonds, sugar well mixed with the clear egg,  then held at rest for three hours. With the dough grandmother told me to make balls of average size, after that she rested on a greased baking sheet at 150 degrees for infornandole 30 minutes.

While the macaroons cuocendosi in oven gave off an intense perfume that intoxicated,  Grandma told me that it was essential to prepare this recipe for her, because her back to his youth. When I asked in amazement why this tradition, her with tears in my eyes watching my grandfather told me :

“It 'has become a tradition for the Christmas Eve 1944 while making this cake for your grandmother Etta, I heard a knock at the front door and went to open…  At that moment, after a year and a half I was able to embrace the man in my life that was left for the war and returned home safe and sound to his family. It 'was the most beautiful emotion of my life ... And' there in my mind, as a souvenir photo. Every time I smell this sweet,  memory takes me back to that emotion…”

This is the last memory I have of my great-grandmother who left us for good a few months later ...

The Amaretti my great-grandmother Mary

Ingredients:

● 1 kg of sweet almonds, peeled and finely chopped

● 1 kg di zucchero,

● 10 clear egg whisk

Preparation:

Combine almonds and sugar mix well with the clear.

Allow to stand for three hours

Sprinkle the work surface with flour and sugar in equal amounts by placing the dough

Forming the macaroons placing them on a greased baking sheet and bake at 150 degrees for thirty minutes

Combine dessert wines of great scents as Erbaluce Caluso Passito, Loazzolo Wine from Piedmont, Vino Santo Trentino, Tuscan Vin Santo, Passito di Pantelleria or Lipari.