Biscotti - Learned from a class in Tuscany

 A highlight of our recent trip to Italy was a cooking class here. One of the highlights was the making of biscotti. This recipe is derived from the class recipe, but adapted to ingredients that are easier to source in the USA.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Granulated sugar

5 eggs (3 yolks - reserve the whites, and 2 whole eggs)

3 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

1 cup whole raw almonds (unpeeled)

pinch of salt

Method

I tried this with "00" flour in one of the experiments. It didn't work well. I actually did a whole lot better with King Arthur All purpose flour. Also the texture was better when I mixed them by hand vs the stand mixture.

Turn oven on to 375F (Fan assist, 400F conventional)

Zest the orange into the sugar. 

Add the egg yolks and whole  into the sugar, and stir with a wooden spoon. 

Combine the flour and baking powder

Add the flour in 6 additions, stirring thoroughly after each addition. It starts off easy, but as you get closer to the end, it becomes quite stiff.

When all the flour has been incorporated, add the whole almonds and mix them in with your fingers.

Tuen out the flour onto a floured bench and form into 3 logs. Each log is about 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch high.

Place the logs onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush carefully with the resereved egg white.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, rotating at 10 minutes . The logs should look like this.

Once they are baked, take them out of the pan and slice on the biias into strips about a finger witdth (1/2 an inch or so). Use a serrated knife for this as you will be cutting through the almonds. A plain knife will tend to squish them.

Place them back on the sheet pan, with a cut side up. Return them to the oven (at the same temperature) for 5 - 8 minutes to dry out and firm up.

Serve with vin santo, red wine, or coffee for dunking.

The piece of cod

We recently had a spectacular vacation in Italy. From time in Tuscany (cooking class being the highlight) to an amazing time in Naples. I must say that Naples is the most invigorating, exciting, exhausting, wild place I have ever been. And we only just scratched the surface.

Given where Naples sits, a great deal of the food comes from the Mediterranean. So we ate a lot of fish and other seafood. Of course the Neapolitan street food featured too, but this posting is about flavor intensity.

Cod is (of course) not a fish one would expect to see in Naples, but for this recipe, it works well. Other firm, white fsh would work even better, but I didn't really have time to get to the fish monger - so frozen cod it was. The fish isn't the star, however. The bold combination of flavors - capers, tomatoes, olives, oregano, olive oil all baked with the fish made for a delicious, quick, easy dinner.

Ingredients

8 oz Firm white fish in 2 fillets

6 oz cherry tomatoes - cherry tomatoes have the most flavor and the right skin to flesh ratio . And they are about the same size as the olives.

1/2 red onion, diced (soaked in water for 30 minutes, then drained)

4 Tbsp capers, draind but not rinsed. I wanted to keep the briny intensity and not need to add more salt

4 oz black olives, halved

A sprinkling of dried oregano

8 oz Small Yukon Gold potatoes

Mint to cook the potatoes

Salt, to taste in the potato water.

Lots of high quality olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 375F (Fan assist or 400F conventional).

Place the fish on a parchment lined sheet pan. Mix the tomatoes, capers, red onion, olives, oregano, and olive oil together in a bowl.

Salt cold water in a saucepan, and add the mint and potatoes. 

Cover the fish well with the tomato mixture. 

Start to cook the potatoes over a medium setting. At the same time put the sheet pan into the oven. When the potatoes are cooked (8-10 minutes after being brought to a simmer), the fish is cooked.

Serve with a nice, crisp white wine.