Monica Bellucci by Francesco Escalar for Tatler Russia December 2011

Ah! Well, she's one Spicy Italian! ;) Check out this very "Cruella DeVille" editorial by stylist Anya Ziourova. 

Focaccia!

Today I made a wonderful Focaccia. It's a typical Italian pizza bread practically, it's simply pizza dough with oil, salt and rosemary. Very yummy! And it's a great appetizer together with some ham, mozzarella and tomatoes etc. I've never met anyone who's not a fan of focaccia! ;) So here's the quick and simple recipe!

INGREDIENTS: 

• 170ml of hand-warm water
• 330gr of flour
• 20gr of oil (or 1 and 1/2 spoonfuls)
• 1tsp of salt
• 1/2 a bag of yeast
• To make the emulsion: 30ml of water and 30ml of oil + 1/2 tsp of salt (this can vary to personal taste, if you like it mushy add more than 30, the important thing is to have an equal ratio of water to oil

Mix the flour, the yeast, the warm water, the oil and the salt. Work until you have a soft not too sticky dough. If it's very sticky add some flour. Leave to rise.

Butter a baking tray and add a little bit of flour in order to avoid the focaccia to stick onto it. Lay out the dough on the tray and press your fingers into the mix to make tiny holes. 

Mix the water, oil and salt to make the emulsion and then pour it onto the dough. Pressing your fingers into it once more. Add the rosemary if you like.

Bake at 250°C for 10/15mins or at 200°C for 18/20mins. 

Enjoy! 

Italian Frittelle!

So here's a nice easy recipe for you, the typical Italian frittelle! You wont be able to stop eating them... trust me ;)
So here's how you make them -

What you need: 300gr of ricotta cheese, 200gr of flour, 3 eggs, 4 spoons of sugar, a grated lemon peel, a sprinkle of baking powder, raisins or sultanas

...How do you make them? - first mix together all the ingredients until you get a sticky dough, it doesn't have to be too liquid, if it is add a little little bit of flour until you get it right. Then add the raisins or sultanas, you can add pine kernels as well if you fancy. Mix it all together. With a spoon take a small amount of dough as big as the ikea meat balls to be clear, and fry it in a little bit of oil. Make sure the oil is not too hot otherwise the dough will burn on the outside but remain uncooked on the outside, when they turn a brownish colour they should be done. Just keep a moderate flame. At the end when you've cooked them all serve them with some icing sugar sprinkled on top! Enjoy! :)