by Danica | Jun 1, 2021 | Featured, GloKitchen
A day out in the countryside or in an inner-city park is best spent with plenty of yummy provisions, I find, such as muffins. To me, of course, they are usually of the sugary kind and coupled with a cup of milky coffee as a firm part of my afternoon routine, but muffins can be a real savoury treat, too!
These chewy, aromatic little cakes receive their wonderful aroma from nutmeg, the buttery crunch from roasted pine nuts and the strong, uncanny umami taste and saltiness from the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese – a true feast for the senses! As an extra treat for the eyes, garnish the Parmigiano-Reggiano and spinach muffins with a dollop of nutmeg-spiced cream cheese and a crispy Parmigiano-Reggiano round made from grated cheese. These muffins are the perfect finger food for filling up your picnic basket as well as making wonderful party nibbles and stunning brunch displays.
Ingredients:
For 10 muffins
For the batter:
280g mixed, plain flours (white and wholemeal)
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 large eggs
225ml milk
75ml vegetable oil (extra oil for greasing the muffin moulds)
60g Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
100g baby leaf spinach
50g pine nuts
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 pinch sugar
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp. butter
For the decoration (optional):
280g cream cheese
10 tbsps. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
What you’ll need:
Mixing bowl
Whisk
Kitchen scales
Grater
Tablespoon
Teaspoon
Small bowl
Strainer or colander
Measuring jug
Frying pan
Chopping board
Kitchen knife
Wooden spoon or spatula for stirring
Muffin baking tray (with 12 moulds)
Flat baking tray with non-stick baking paper
A glass with a small diameter, e.g. a Champagne glass
Pastry brush
Method:
- Thoroughly wash the spinach leaves. Melt butter in a pan and add the spinach. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula. Cook the spinach for approx. 5 minutes. Let it cool off.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flours with baking powder. Add eggs, milk, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and vegetable oil. Season the batter with sea salt, black pepper, ground nutmeg and sugar. Stir well until the batter is smooth and free of lumps.
- In a dry frying pan, roast the pine nuts until they brown. Let them cool of briefly before adding them to the batter as well. Add the cooked spinach to the batter along with the chopped garlic. Use a tablespoon to fold in the spinach, garlic and pine nuts and stir until the mixture is uniform.
- Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (fan).
- Take a large muffin tray (12 moulds) or two small trays and use a pastry brush to grease the moulds with vegetable oil.
- Use a tablespoon to evenly divide the batter among the moulds. It should suffice for at least 10 muffins. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, middle rack, at 170°C.
- For the Parmigiano-Reggiano rounds (decoration) take a Champagne glass or similar (ø3cm), fill it with a tablespoonful of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and turn it over on a flat baking tray covered with non-stick baking paper. Repeat the process until you have produced then evenly round mounds of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Make sure that there is enough space between the cheese mounds so they won’t fuse together. Bake them in the oven for approx. 10 minutes, and then leave them to cool off.
- In the meantime, use a small bowl to mix the cream cheese with the ground nutmeg. Stir well. Once the muffins are done and have cooled off, decorate them with a heaped teaspoonful of nutmeg cream cheese whip each and top off with a Parmigiano-Reggiano round.
(Credit to: Castelli/Parmigiano for these beautiful recipes)
http://www.castelli-uk.com
by Danica | May 7, 2021 | Featured, GloKitchen
Now we can get out more and enjoy the fine weather, how about a picnic? These Scotch Eggs make a great addition to a picnic with friends and family, Think how impressed they will be with your home made Picnic food.
Scotch eggs are the ideal snack food and much easier to make than one would assume! Using sausages instead of regular minced meat gives the advantage of already having perfectly seasoned meat. But this British classic comes with a twist: sharp, nutty Parmigiano-Reggiano added to the meat and the breadcrumb coating! Enjoy these flavour-filled goodies at parties or picnics or serve as a main meal with some green salad.
Scotch Eggs with Parmigiano-Reggiano
Ingredients
- 1.5 tbsp plain flour
- 375g ground beef mince (500g if large eggs are used) from Cumberland sausages
- 4 medium-sized eggs
- 1 extra egg for crumbing
- 4 tbsp Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated
- 75g breadcrumbs
- 350-500ml vegetable oil for frying (depending on height of pot)
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 dollop mustard
- Generous amount of cracked black pepper
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Place the four eggs in a pot and bring the water to a boil. Take the pot off the heat, place a lid on top and leave the eggs to sit for 9 minutes.
- In the meantime, take the sausages and one by one squeeze the minced meat out of the skin over a mixing bowl.
- Add flour, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, cracked black pepper and one tablespoon of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Mix well and form a ball. Then divide the mixture in four equal parts.
- After the eggs have been left in the heat for 9 minutes, drain the hot water and douse them with cold water. Remove the shells and leave them to cool.
- Lay out two bowls and a plate. Crack an egg in one of the bowls and whisk it up with a fork. In the second bowl, add the breadcrumbs and the remaining three tablespoons of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
- Take one piece of meat, flatten it in your palm and place a hard-boiled egg in the middle. Wrap the meat around the entire egg. Make sure there are no holes. Do the same with the other eggs.
- One by one place the meat-covered eggs in the whisked egg and then in the Parmigiano-Reggiano-breadcrumb-mixture and put them on a plate.
- Take a high-rimmed pot and fill it with vegetable oil. Heat up the oil. To find out if the oil is ready for frying, take a few breadcrumbs and sprinkle them in the oil. If they start to sizzle, the Scotch eggs are ready to be fried. Use kitchen tongues to place the eggs carefully in the hot oil. If there is not enough space to fry all eggs at once, fry them two at a time. It can get very smoky from the frying oil, so open a window or switch on the exhaust hood.
- Fry the eggs for about 5 minutes in the oil until golden brown, then remove them from the pot with the kitchen tongues and place them on a plate laid out with kitchen towels. Dab off any excess oil, then put the Scotch eggs on a baking tray and cook them in the pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes, middle rack, at 180°C (fan) or Gas Mark 5.
- Serve warm or cold with a side salad or as a snack. They are ideal to take to a picknick. Kept in the fridge, they will keep for up to 2 days.
With thanks to http://www.castelli-uk.com/
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by Danica | Mar 10, 2021 | Featured, GloKitchen
This recipe for savoury Parmigiano-Reggiano and pancetta pastry scrolls combines the rich umami flavour of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese with the smoky taste of cured pancetta and sweetness of sweated onions rounded off with aromatic fresh thyme.
What an utterly delectable pastry that you can grab for breakfast, lunch or snack.
Ingredients:
For 10-11 pieces (approx. ø7cm)
1 sheet ready-made flaky pastry dough (ca. 25x35cm)
6 heaped tbsp. finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 egg yolk
8 slices pancetta
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp. butter
Several twigs of fresh thyme
Salt, pepper to taste
What you’ll need:
Chopping board
Large kitchen knife
Tablespoon
Frying pan
Spatula
Grater
Clean and dry work surface for preparing the dough
Large, flat baking tray, lined with non-stick baking paper
Two small bowls or other containers, one to store the egg white, the other for keeping the egg yolk
Pastry brush
Method:
- Finely slice the onion and the pancetta. Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan and, on low heat, lightly sweat the onion and pancetta pieces until the onion turns opaque in colour. Add a sprinkle of salt and a generous dash of black pepper. Take the pan off the heat and add fresh thyme to it (remove the greens from 3-4 twigs).
- Roll out the flaky pastry on a clean, dry work surface. The prepared dough won’t need any further flattening. Evenly distribute the onion and pancetta mixture on the dough and make sure to reach to the edges. Sprinkle 5 tbsp. of Parmigiano-Reggiano on the dough.
- Roll up the dough from the shorter side, which will produce approx. 10-11 pieces with a diameter of 7cm when baked. Carefully cut the dough with a large kitchen knife into pieces of 3cm thickness.
- Lay out the dough scrolls on a flat baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Leave a few centimetres space between each scroll to avoid them sticking together once they expand in the oven. Sprinkle the remaining grated parmesan on the scrolls.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven, middle rack at 160°C (fan) or top rack on Gas mark 5 for 20-25 minutes altogether.
- Ten minutes into the baking process, glaze the half-baked pastries with egg yolk using a pastry brush.
- Remove pastries from the oven once they are golden brown. Serve immediately.
(Credit to: Castelli/Parmigiano for these beautiful recipes)
http://www.castelli-uk.com
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