As you all know I am a huge fan of the Cirio products. I use them all the time. When it comes to anything to do with tomatoes or tinned beans, I always buy Cirio. That's because I know that they are always going to be really good. A lot of people don't realise that the flavour of the tomatoes they choose to use in a dish can mean the difference between a dish being so/so and a dish being wow!
Which is strange really because if you choose to use so/so products when you are cooking, why wouldn't you expect the end result to be so/so as well! A good quality tinned tomato can make a huge difference to the taste, consistency and quality of any dish. in my opinion Cirio is one of the highest quality brands of tinned tomatoes on the market, produced lovingly in Italy for an authentic Italian flavour.
The rich and flavoursome taste of Cirio means that it should always be the tomato brand of choice when it comes to cooking. Additionally, the health benefits of tomatoes cannot be disputed . . . tinned tomatoes in particular contain more Lycopene than fresh tomatoes, which is good for the heart and has been proven to reduce the risk of cancer.
That is why when I was recently asked by Cirio, would I like to try out a new recipe from their new cookbook, I put my hands in the air and said, yes, yes, yes!
It is also considerably lower in calories than the original version in that there is NO frying involved. You simply slice the aubergine (eggplant to you North Americans) and grill them on both sides briefly.
The grilled vegetable is then layered in a baking dish with some of that delicious Cirio Pasatta (which has been mixed with a bit of olive oil and seasoned with a bit of salt), some sliced good mozzarella cheese and some fresh basil leaves. I used their Passata Rustico. It is a wonderfully thick and textured Passata that you can actually pick up with a fork! I could eat it with a spoon myself. Its that good.
Popped into the oven and baked for a brief time, the end result is a delicious dish that is not only delicious but actually quite good for you. All you would need on the side is some lovely fresh crusty bread (Italian of course!) to mop up all of those lovely tomatoes and perhaps a salad!
*Cirio's Aubergine Parmigiana*
serves 4
Preheat the grill. Wash the aubergines and cut them into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Grill them for one to two minutes per side. Cut the Mozzarella cheese into slices.
This really was quite tasty. I am not quite sure it will replace my love of the "fried" version of Aubergine Parmigiana, but then again with the New Year in the offing, after all of the indulgence of the holidays, perhaps eating a bit healthier is something I should embrace!
Cirio tomatoes are available at all the grocery shops in the UK. For more recipes and cooking inspiration and ideas do be sure to check out their recipe pages.
Note - I was sent a range of Pasattas to use in the recipe free of charge, but not required to write a positive review of anything. I quite simply like Cirio products and as you know, I have never made that a secret! I do love them!
I am not really sure why this is called Swiss Style Chicken . . .
Maybe its because of that creamy sauce which gilds those tender golden pieces of chicken . . . flavoured with tarragon . . . and brandy . . . *hiccup*
And rich sauteed mushrooms, and garlic . . . .
Maybe its the gruyere cheese that melts down over those tender chicken breasts and that rich mushroom sauce . . . like an oozing beautiful blanket . . .
Maybe its neither of those things . . . but merely a flight of fancy in the food interpreter's mind . . .
I only know that this dish is amazingly delicious . . . A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-L-Y . . . I would not lie about that.
Its also very simple to execute . . . just dust some chicken, which has been pounded to an even thickeness, with some salt and pepper and flour and brown it in a dish . . . pop it in the oven to finish cooking while you make the sauce . . .
Which is equally as simple to execute . . . browned mushrooms, garlic tarragon, cream and a touch of brandy. This gets poured over the chicken, a slice of cheese is slapped on top and then it is returned to the oven to melt the cheese.
*Swiss Style Chicken*
Serves 4
Serves 4
Filled with lovely flavours. This is a very simple dish. Tender moist chicken topped with a creamy mushroom sauce and gruyere cheese.
4 (200g/7oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt, pepper and plain flour to dust
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil1 TBS butter
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
200g mushrooms, sliced (1/2 pound)
1 TBS chopped Tarragon
125ml whipping cream (1/2 cup)
1 TBS brandy
4 large slices Gruyere or Swiss Cheese
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Have ready a baking tray.
Place your chicken between two pieces of cling film and pound lightly until they are each about 1/2 inch thick. Season with salt and black pepper and dust lightly with flour.
Heat half of the olive oil and butter in a large skillet. Add the chicken breasts presentation sides down, and brown on one side for approximately 3 minutes until golden. Flip over and brown on the other side for a further 3 minutes. Place onto the baking tray and pop into the oven while you make the sauce.
Add the remaining butter and oil to the pan drippings. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook over medium heat until the mushrooms have softened. Add the tarragon, cream and brandy. Stir over high heat for about 2 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced and thickened.
Remove the chicken from the oven and spoon the hot sauce over top, dividing it equally amongst the four pieces. Top each with a slice of cheese and pop back into the oven for about 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Serve immediately.
Place your chicken between two pieces of cling film and pound lightly until they are each about 1/2 inch thick. Season with salt and black pepper and dust lightly with flour.
Heat half of the olive oil and butter in a large skillet. Add the chicken breasts presentation sides down, and brown on one side for approximately 3 minutes until golden. Flip over and brown on the other side for a further 3 minutes. Place onto the baking tray and pop into the oven while you make the sauce.
Add the remaining butter and oil to the pan drippings. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook over medium heat until the mushrooms have softened. Add the tarragon, cream and brandy. Stir over high heat for about 2 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced and thickened.
Remove the chicken from the oven and spoon the hot sauce over top, dividing it equally amongst the four pieces. Top each with a slice of cheese and pop back into the oven for about 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Serve immediately.
Easy peasy this is. Perfect for these busy last few days before the holidays . . . well, for anytime really. I would serve this to company and I am sure they would love it. Actually it is beautiful dinner party fare because it is quick and easy and yet tastes like you have been slaving all day over it. I served with English petit pois and roasted potatoes. Yum. Bon Appetit!
I confess. I am having a love affair with Panettone. Todd thinks we have a magic Panettone that I got for Christmas that keeps regenerating itself. 😁 Truth be told I am a naughty magician that is very good at making it disappear and then reappear in the house,as if by magic (by use of my magic grocery cart). Shhh . . . don't tell.
I really love anything fruity. And I especially love all of the Christmas fruity goodies like Panettone and fruit cake, mince pies, stollen, etc. I am good at making all of it disappear too. They are a weakness I need to work on.
These lovely muffins embody all of the flavours of a delicious Panettone, but without all of the hard work and waiting.
A lovely moist cake type of batter. I use oil, but you could use melted butter if you wanted to. They would certainly be a lot richer with butter . . .
Sweet sticky raisins . . . chopped candied cherries. You could use chopped maraschino cherries if you can't get candied cherries. Just rinse and dry them off really well.
Candied citron, almond essence . . . finely grated orange zest . . .
I used three colours of cherries, well four actually light red and dark red . . . green and yellow . . . flaked almonds burnish the top . . .
A quick mix together and then a quick bake and presto chango . . . you magically have some really delicious moreish muffins that taste very Panettone-like.
*Panettone Muffins*
Makes 10
1/2 tsp almond extract
100g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
icing sugar to dust
Whisk together the egg, oil, milk and almond extract. Stir together the flour, sugar, cherries, raisins, mixed peel, orange zest and mixed spice. Make a well in the centre and add the wet ingredients. Stir together to combine. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the top of each with some flaked almonds.
Bake for 20 minutes until risen and golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
These would be perfect served with hot drinks on Christmas morning while you are opening the gifts. These muffins and I are very good friends. Happy Holidays and Bon Appetit!
You could be looking at your Christmas Dessert this year. I kid you not. I know . . . not a trifle, nor a pudding, not even a fruit cake. Instead it is a delicious cross between an apple cake and an apple pie and a cheesecake.
But it is none of those things . . . it's a Torte. A delicious Apple Torte!
With a shortbread-like buttery sweet pastry crust . . . you simply press into the pan. Easy peasy, no rolling out . . .
The crust is spread with raspberry jam and then you pour on that rich velvety cheesecake filling . . . which is as simple as beating together cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla . . .
This is probably the faffiest bit . . . four apples, peeled, cored, sliced and tossed together with cinnamon sugar . . . the faffy bit is laying them on top of the cheesecake filling in an attractive manner.
But that's not really much of a hardship, when you think of the end result. Try not to eat too many cinnamon sugar apple slices while you are doing it, lol. Me, I have a hard time resisting them. Sweet and crunchy and so cinnamony!
A sprinkle of slivered blanched almonds and its oven ready. I slivered my own this time instead of using flaked. It's Christmas after all and a little extra effort is worth the time it takes.
It bakes really quickly, 10 minutes at a high oven temp and then half an hour at a moderate oven temp. At the end you are rewarded with a delicious Christmas Dessert that will have everyone scrambling for seconds. All you need on top is a dollop of softly whipped cream. You can sweeten it if you want, but I am so anglicised now I prefer it plain.
*Apple Torte*
Serves 10 to 12
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Have ready a 9-inch round spring form pan. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, vanilla and sugar for the base. Add the flour and mix until you have coarse crumbs. Press into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of your pan. Spread the raspberry jam over the bottom. Whisk together the filling ingredients until smooth and pour over top of the jam. Toss the apple slices with the sugar and cinnamon. Arrange gently over top of the filling. Sprinkle with the slivered almonds.
Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Bake for a further half an hour until the apples are tender. Cool in the pan before removing sides.
Serve cut into wedges with or without a dollop of whipped cream if desired! Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
Try to let it cool completely before slicing it. I think its even better left in the refrigerator overnight before slicing which also makes it a great dessert for Christmas dinner because you can do it the day ahead. It will slice perfectly on the day! Happy Holidays and Bon Appetit!
I wanted to show you all a simple and easy way to decorate your Christmas Cake this year. You can seriously have it done in about half an hour. It truly is easy peasy, and I think it is really, really cute, don't you?
First you will want to assemble all of your ingredients. You will need one baked fruit cake. Mine is 8 inches in diameter. You will also need some ready rolled marzipan and ready rolled fondant icing. Don't worry if you cannot find it ready rolled, you can either buy the stuff un-rolled and roll your own, or make your own from scratch. I am going to give you the recipes below to make both the marzipan layer and the fondant. You will also need 3 TBS of apricot jam, warmed with 1 TBS of water or Brandy and pushed through a sieve to make it smooth and take out any bits. I have used three gingerbread cutters. One largish man and two smaller ones, a boy and a girl. But you can use any combination that you have in your house. You will also need some ribbons to decorate the edges around the cake or a paper frill, and some candies, etc. to decorate your gingerbread men.
Once you have everything assembled it will go like wild-fire!
It is really very, very easy!
Fasten your cake to the centre of a round cake plate/board. I used a dab of marzipan to hold it in place. If you don't want any lumpy bumpy surfaces, you can go to the trouble of filling in any holes with some extra marzipan, but I am not really bothered myself. Brush your cake all over with the seived apricot jam mixure. Take your marzipan and roll it over a rolling pin to move it without tearing it. Place it gently on top of your cake, smoothing it over the top and down the sides. Smooth the paste over the cake using the palms of
your hands, then trim with a sharp knife around the bottom edge of the cake all around. It is recommended that you wait 24 hours to let it dry, but because you are going to be cutting shapes out of the top you won't want to do that. You don't really want it too stuck to the cake when you lift the shapes off.
Now you want to brush the marzipan all over the top and sides of the cake with more of the apricot jam mixture. Roll the fondant icing over the top of a rolling pin to transfer it and then layer it on top of the marzipan, covering the cake completely and smoothing it out with your hands pressing it down gently around the sides also. Trim off any excess from the bottom and discard. Now place your cutters to where you want them on top of the cake. Press your cutter/s through the fondant and marzipan layers and remove the icing with the cutter still inserted to help give a cleaner outline. Add the gingerbread man features to the cut out shape using either cut out and shaped pieces of white fondant or fondant water icing placed in a piping bag. Marzipan shapes and sweets can be added on to and around your gingerbread man shapes for extra decoration.
I used some white piping icing to make lines and then little red balls for the eyes and buttons, which I also used some of the white piping icing to help stick them on. I cut a bow tie out of a red glace cherry for the larger gingerbread man!
He looks rather dapper don't you think! Then I used halved glace cherries and some slivers of green cherry to add some other decorative touches It doesn't quite look like holly, but I think it looks nice anyways.
I cut some ribbons and placed them around the sides of the cake. I used ball headed pins to hold them in place. Just remember when you go to serve your cake that they are there!
*Vanilla Marzipan*
Makes enough Mix the sugars and almonds in a large bowl, then rub in the vanilla seeds until even. Make a well in the middle, then tip in the eggs and citrus juice. Cut the wet ingredients into the dry with a round bladed knife. Dust the surface with icing sugar, then knead the marzipan briefly with your hands to a smooth dough. Don’t overdo it as it can get greasy. Add a bit more icing sugar if it seems too wet. Shape into a ball, then wrap and keep in a cool place until ready to cover the cake. Can be made up to 2 days in advance.
Flip the top of the circle back over your rolling pin so you can see the underside of the marzipan, then lift the pin up and lift the marzipan over the cake. Stop once you can see that the edge of the marzipan nearest you is about level with the bottom of the cake. Flop the front of the marzipan down. Smooth the paste over the cake using the palms of your hands, then trim with a sharp knife. If any cracks appear, simply pinch the paste back together and smooth. Leave to dry for at least 24 hrs, or up to 3 days, before covering with icing.
*Rolled Fondant Icing*
Makes enough to cover a large cake
1 TBS glycerine
2 TBS butter
I think it turned out really cute! I wanted to show you the neat cake carrier I have to store it as well.
Its one of those Lock Top ones. I got it quite some time ago. You put the cake on the insert part, which has handles for lifting. Then you lift your cake and put it into the cake holder and the lid clips on air tight. There is even a handle for carrying it around, out to the car, into the kitchen, etc. If you don't have one of these you might want to put it on your christmas list! I got mine at a local cook shop, but I think you can get them online at various places.
In any case I hope you enjoyed seeing our Christmas cake for this year! Bon Appetit and Happy Holidays!
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