How to Make Sfogliatelle

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ANDREA PANSA
 
and a classic VESPA
 
AMALFI, ITALY 
 
on The AMALFI COAST
 
This is one of the most Beautiful Italian Bakery / Caffes
 
you’ll ever see in your life. They make all sorts of wonderful 
 
Italian Pastries, Cookies, Cakes, and of course SFOGIATELLE …
 
If you’re ever on the AMALFI COAST, check them out. They right by the
 
CATHEDRAL in the main square of AMLAFI … Mangia Bene !
 
 
 
 
Classic Sfogiatelle
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
LEARN HOW to MAKE SFOGIATELLE at HOME
 
 
This is a GREAT VIDEO  …. WATCH IT !
 
 
It is a typical cake of the Neapolitan pastry tradition, a sin of gluttony that everyone should enjoy once arrived in Campania. It has a classic shell shape, fragrant in the mouth with a soft and delicious filling, garnished with pastry cream and raspberries…have you understood what we are talking about? The Sfogliatelle Santa Rosa, of course. An inviting-looking sweet rich in tradition, that contains within it the secrets of a distant history.
The history began in 1600, in the Monastery of St. Rose from Lima in Conca dei Marini, on the  Amalfi Coast . The cook-nun (probably inspired by God or by the need to not waste anything) decided to prepare a mixture using a bit of semolina cooked in the milk, lemon liqueur, dried fruit and sugar; then she enriched the bread mixture with white wine and lard and created a pocket like a nun’s hood in which she put the first mixture. Once out of the oven, the nun garnished the new cake with pastry cream and raspberries. This delicious sweet was renamed “Santa Rosa”, to glorify the Saint to which the monastery was dedicated.
The recipe of the sfogliatella Santa Rosa was jealously guarded within the walls of the Monastery of St. Rose for about 150 years. In the early XIX century Pasquale Pintauro, a Neapolitan pastry chef, obtained the original recipe (probably from a nun aunt): he promptly changed it by removing the pastry cream and the raspberries. So he created the “riccia” (curly) variant of the sfogliatella: triangular-shaped, crunchy, composed by composed of layers of thin puff pastry overlapping each other, filled with flour, eggs, ricotta, candied fruit, milk and sugar. Finally, there is also a third variant of the sfogliatella, the “frolla” one, of round form, prepared with soft short pastry and filled with the same puff of the sfogliatella riccia.
 
 
 
 
SFOGLIATELLE SANTA ROSA
 
 
 
 
My Two SFOGIATELLE SANTA ROSA I had in NAPOLI
 
 
 
 
 
 
The WORLDS BEST BREAKFAST !!!
 
 
VILLA MARIA AGROTURISMO
 
MINORI , ITALY
 
 
This is the amazing Breakfast I had everyday for the 3 wonderful days I spent with Maria and Vincenzo Manzo at there delightful Agroturismo VILLA MARIA in MINORI on The AMALFI COAST of Italy. Coffee, fresh Cherries, an Apricot, Maria’s awesome Lemon Cake, Coffee, toast and Vincenzo’s homemade Jams. “It was absolute Heaven.”
 
 
 
 
Inside the Fabulous ANDREA PANSA CAFFE / PASTICCERIA
 
Amalfi Italy
 
 
 
 
 
Some Recipes from The AMALFI COAST
 
 
COOKING ITALIAN
 
 
GREATEST HITS COOKBOOK
 
 
 
 
 
 
PASTICCERIA CAFFE GAMBARDELLA
 
Minori, Italy
 
 
One the great Bakery / Caffes in all of ITALY !
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SUNDAY SAUCE
 
 
by Daniel Bellino “Z”
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DiFara Pizza – A Religious Experience

 

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PIZZA MAESTRO

Mr. Dominic DeMarco

“Yes,” Eating Pizza Made

by The Maestro DOM DeMARCO Is a Religious Experience”

 

Much has been said of the now famed Pizzeria (DiFarra Pizza) on Avenue J in Brooklyn, New York the Capital of Thee Best Pizza in the whole United States of America, bar-none, even Manhattan. Brooklyn lays claim to the Top two Pizzerias in the country, the top of the list 1 and 2, number 1, The Best and number 2, the second best. Well no, I don’t know if I should put it that way, as it sound s as one is better than the other, which is not ht e case, as they are both equally good, equally Great and equally the Best Pizza and the Best Pizzerias in the United States, though they are are little different than one another. The Pizza at both Totonno’s on Neptune Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York and Di Farra Pizza on Avenue J in Brooklyn are both otherworldly specimens of some the Finest Pizza on other and the Undisputed Best Pizza in America.

Wow, got off on a tangent about both Di Farra and Totonno’s when I just intended to talk about Di Farra Pizza, Dom DeMarco the Maestro of Di Farra’s and the Religious experience that it is to go there, watch Dominic masterfully make Pizza after glorious Pizza (without the help of anyone else), to watch in awe and anticipation and Salivation til you finally get yours (after about a hour or hour and a half wait), you hold it in your hand like a precious baby, and then to sink your teeth into it, savoring each wondrous bite after the other. “Yes,” it is truly a religious experience, that is, if you are a great lover of this wonderful invention, created in Napoli, spread throughout the the Italian Peninsular and then across the Atlantic to America from Italian Immigrants where Gennaro Lombardi opened the First Pizzeria in America on Prince Street in New York City some 100 years ago or so.

Back to Di Farra and Pizzaiolo Extraordinaire, Mr. Dominic DeMarco. It is Dominic that makes Di Farra what it is, it certainly isn’t the Pizzeria itself which is ultra plain and even appalling to some. Mr. DeMarco’s pizzas are just about as close to absolute perfection in the Pizza Making World, a world in which New York City excels and has only one rival in Naples, Italy and the whole of Italy itself. Mr. De Marco has the magic touch, with perfect dough, the perfect balance of ingredients, tomato and other ingredient ratio to cheese, and this include Mr. Demarcos judicious use of Olive Oil which is right-on and a little magic touch that whoever complains about it, just does not know there Pizza and Italian Food on a whole. We Italians love our olive oil. And those who complain are unaware that it is a condiment that adds the final last touch to many dishes before they are eaten. Dominic knows this and should not be discourage against his generous use of it by those who do not understand the proper essence of the Italian Table. So please, keep your traps shut, if you don’t like it don’t eat it, this countries finest examples of the Pizza Art.

And on to the religious experience of Di Farra, Dom DeMarco and the mans artistry with Pizza. There is nothing quite like it in the entire Pizza World. There does not exist, to my knowledge any place in the world that has an elderly man making a hundred plus Pizzas a day in a place that has endless lines, day and night. Pizza that are so perfect, words can not describe People line up for greatness and artistry, and for a couple of slices of the most marvelous pizza this side of Naples, and to watch this passionate little old man work his heart out, not getting, not allowing anyone else to make a pie at his beloved Pizzeria. The man is elderly. He’s worked his whole life. He makes such a magical thing that people line up each and every day to see him and eat one of his many masterpieces. With business like this, he could hire to other Pizzaiolos to help him, doubling or tripling his business and and financial intake. He could hire two guys and make pizza aloing with them, or sit back and get three guys to do it. At his age, he’s entitled to. But know, Dom DeMarco loves what he does, he loves his Pizza, each and every one that passes that counter and into thousands of appreciative hands. The man feels that no one else can make a Pizza the way he does; and wants; he grinds

chunks of Peceriono Romano in an old hand cranked meat grinder and sprinkles on each pie just before serving, along with cutting fresh Basil onto the Pizza at the last moment after Dom’s prerequisite drizzling of the Olive Oil giving two different taste and contrast on the same pie, one baked on (Cheese) and one applied at the last moment, devoid of the hot oven heat. Dom guilds the Lilly, so to speak. This is truth, not just a figure of speech.

Yes Dom makes each and every Pizza that goes out or is consume on the spot, at DiFarra’s. No one else has his skills, his passion and love for the Pizza, thus he does it all himself. And this my friends is the reason that going to Di Farra’s to watch Dominic the maestro in action, all by himself while hundreds of people line up every day, waiting an hour and a half to two hours just to get a Pizza (not just any old Pizza mind you). “It’s a Religious Experience.” Truly! A show and there is nothing like it in the World, Dom DeMarco, a man and his Pizza, America’s Best, and something to rival that other World Pizza Capital, Napoli.

by Daniel Bellino Zwicke

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PIZZA BENE !!!

DOM DeMARCO

DiFARA PIZZA

Brooklyn, NEW YORK

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PASTA and PEAS Recipe

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AUNT FRAN’S PASTA & PEAS

This is a nice simple little pasta dish that can be whipped up in no time flat, which my Aunt Fran often did if we stopped by for a visit at her and Uncle Tony’s house. The dish is sort of half a pasta dish and half soup, or it can be either a soup or pasta dish depending on how much liquid you use. More liquid and it’s a soup, less liquid and it’s a Pasta Dish with the peas and other vegetables and pancetta acting as a sauce. This is classic Cucina Povera, the kind of dish that Aunt Fran, my mom, aunts, and uncles grew up with. It’s a dish that is not well known outside of Italian-American households, so if you want in on a great little secret, here you go. Make it, Pasta or Soup, or both, “Mangia Bene.”

INGREDIENTS :
¼ cup Olive Oil

8 ounces Pancetta diced

2 medium Onions, peeled and diced fine

Carrot, Peeled and diced fine

Peel and minced

4 cloves Garlic

1 large Potato cut to ¼” dice

3 cups water

1 Bay Leaf

½ teaspoon each of Kosher Salt & Black Pepper

2 – 10 ounce boxes of frozen Peas

12 ounce Ditalini

1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano

Place Pancetta and half the olive oil in a 6-quart pan and cook Pancetta on low heat for 6 minutes. Add onions and cook on low heat for 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook on low heat for 2 minutes.

Add Potato, Carrot, water, half the remaining olive oil, Salt, Black Pepper, and Bay Leaf to the pot and raise heat to high. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes on high heat.

Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to directions on package.

Put Peas in pot and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Take 1 cup of pasta cooking water and add to the pot peas.

Drain pasta in a colander, then add to pot with peas. Add half the remaining cheese and cook the past and peas on medium heat for 6 minutes.

Serve each person a bowl of Pasta & Peas and pass grated pecorino and Olive Oil to drizzle over pasta.

 

Excerpted from Daniel Bellino-Zwicke ‘s forthcoming book Mangia Italiano

 

See Daniel’s other Best Selling Cookbooks …










 
 
MANGIA ITALIANO
 
 





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SUNDAY SAUCE
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GRANDMA BELLINO’S ITALIAN COOKBOOK

RECIPES FROM MY SICILAIN NONNA
by DANIEL BELLINO “Z”

 
 
 
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How to Make SICILIAN MEATBALLS

 

da MEATBALLS



WATCH THE VIDEO
MAKING SICILIAN MEATBALLS
WHAT MAKES IT SICILIAN ?
WATCH The VIDEO and SEE !




SHAPE THE MEATBALLS




To FRY or NOT To FRY ???
There are TWO SCHOOLS on THIS
Either Way is Fine
You Can FRY The MEATBALLS or NOT
Most Important is the seasoning.
LEARN HOW to MAKE SICILIAN MEATBALLS
This and Other RECIPES
in
GRANMA BELLINO’S ITALIAN COOKBOOK
RECIPES FROM MY SICILIAN NONNA
by DANIEL BELLINO “Z”
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