Jam croissants - recipe (with step-by-step photos)

Ingredients for 15 croissants:

• 250 grams of wheat flour
• 120-140 milliliters of warm milk
• 100 grams of butter
• 30 grams of sugar
• 10 grams of fresh yeast
• salt
• jam

Mix the fresh yeast with the milk and 1 spoon with sugar. Let it rest in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Over the flour add the salt, the remaining sugar, the milk/yeast mixture and mix. Let it rest in the fridge over night.

The next day, divide the butter at room temperature in 3 parts.

Spread the dough on the table and add one part of the butter. Fold the dough and put it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Repeat the operations 2 more times.

Spread the dough on the table and cut it in equal parts.

Add the jam and roll it.

Let the croissants rest for another 20 minutes then brush on top some milk and spread some granulated sugar.

Put it in the oven at 180 Celsius degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Very good as a desert or a breakfast next to a glass of milk!

The original recipe can be found here

Hotel review - Il Castagneto****, Melfi, Italy

The room was nice.

Free wi-fi and free parking places. The breakfast had a good coffee and good croissants. Also you can have some ham and cheese. Unfortunately they don´t have any warm food.

The staff was very kind and helpful. The area is really quiet and in the morning if you open the window you can hear the birds sing. In front of our room was a forest and the soil was covered with crocuses.

They also have an outside pool.

Cheese donuts - recipe with step-by-step photos

Ingredients:

• 380 grams of flour
• 300 grams of fresh cheese
• 100 milliliters of warm milk
• 50 grams of butter
• 50 grams of brown sugar (more if you like sweeter)
• 10 grams of fresh yeast
• 1 spoon with honey
• sunflower oil for frying
• powdered sugar to spread above the donuts

Mix the fresh yeast with half of the warm milk and 1 spoon with flour and let it rest for 10 minutes in a warm place.

Mix the butter and the sugar with the other half of the milk and let them melt at slow fire. Let them cool a bit.

In a bowl, add the flour, then the cheese, the warm milk/butter composition, the risen fresh yeast, the honey and mix until you obtain a non sticky dough.

Let the dough rest in a warm place for 1 hour.

Spread the dough on the table and with a glass or a round form make the donuts. Let them rest , covered with a clean towel for 30-40 minutes.

 Heat the sunflower oil and when hot add the donuts. Let the fry at medium fire until brown.

When ready, sprinkle above some powdered sugar.
Enjoy!

Hotel review - Novotel**** Bologna, Italy

The room was OK regarding the space. The sleeping conditions were, however, awful: the mattress was hard as a rock and the pillows were too soft (those cheap polyester pillows with only a handful of stuff in them).

Free Wi-Fi and free parking places.

The breakfast was a real disaster. The croissants were at least 2 days old, the coffee was bad and the hot buffet was inedible: the omelette was not prepared from fresh eggs and the bacon was very fat.

We will skip this hotel from now on.

Modern ratatouille - recipe with step-by-step photos

A nice pot with vegetables is welcome all the time.

Ingredients for 2- 3 people:

• 2 bell peppers
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 spoons with bell pepper sauce 
• 2 branches of thyme
• 1 eggplant
• 1 zucchini
• 1 onion 
• 1 laurel leaf
• salt
• pepper
•  a few spoons with olive oil

The basics:
- clean the vegetables
- slice the eggplant, the zucchini, the tomatoes and the bell pepper.
- chop the onion and crush the garlic.

So, let´s begin: heat 1 spoon with olive oil and fry for a few minutes the chopped onion.

In an oven pan add 2 spoons with olive oil and add the fried onion at the bottom of the pan.

Now, in a separate pan fry for half of a minute, on each side, every slice of zucchini, eggplant, tomatoe and bell pepper.

When done, arrange them in the oven pan as you like. I put 1-2 slices of eggplant, 2 slices of zucchini, 1 slice of bell pepper and 1 slice of tomato. Continue until you finish the fried vegetables.

On top, add some salt, pepper, the crushed garlic, the laurel leaf and the thyme.

Put the pan in the oven at 180 Celsius degrees for 30 minutes covered with a baking paper.

After 30 minutes remove the pan from the oven and add the bell pepper sauce. It will be more tasty like this, because of the sauce.

Put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

 Te recipe of inspiration can be found here

Pancakes tower with ricotta - cake recipe with step-by-step photos

Ingredients:

• 10-12 pancakes
• 500 grams of ricotta cheese
• 100 grams of sugar
• 100 grams of fresh cream
• 3 eggs
• zest from half of the lemon
• salt
• salted butter
• 200 grams of raspberry jelly

First make the pancakes .

Then mix the eggs with the ricotta cheese, the sugar, the fresh cream, the salt and the zest from the lemon.

In a pan add some baking paper and the start assembling the cake:

Add one pancake, then spread some filling, then another pancake and so on until you finish the filling.

On the last pancake do not put ricotta filling, but a few cubes of salted butter.

Put the cake in the oven at 180 Celsius degrees for 40-50 minutes or until ready.

When cooled you can decorate it with raspberry jelly .

Enjoy!

The original recipe can be found here

Boeuf bourguignon - recipe (including photos)

Ingredients:

• 900 grams of beef meat
• 750 milliliters of red wine (Bourgogne)
• 4 spoons with sunflower oil
• 1 big onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 laurel leaf
• 1 spoon with flour
• thyme
• salt 
• pepper

For the decoration:

• 200 grams of young carrots
• 150 grams of baby onions
• 150 grams of bacon
• 50 grams of butter
• salt 
• sugar

Cut the meat in small cubes. Heat the sunflower oil and let the meat fry for a few minutes.

Add the flour, mix and let it cook for another 5 minutes.

Take out the meat but keep the juice from the meat in the pot and add the chopped onion and carrots .

Let them cook for 5 minutes, then add the wine and let it cook for another 5 minutes.

Let it cool.

Add back the meat, add the laurel leaf, the thyme, the salt and the pepper and put it in the fridge until the next day!

The next day put the pot at slow fire and let it cook for two hours and a half.

Preparing the decoration:

In a pan, melt the butter together with the salt and the sugar.

Add the cleaned young carrots and onions cover them with water and let it cook until the water evaporates.

In another pan fry the bacon then cut it in small pieces. When the meat is ready, add the bacon over it, together with the young carrots and onions (previously boiled in water/butter). Let it cook for another 5 minutes and your boeuf bourguignon is now ready.

Enjoy!

Kumquat marmalade - recipe

Ingredients:

• 200 grams of kumquats
• 200 grams of sugar
• juice from 1 orange
• juice from half of a lemon

Keep the kumquat fruits in cold water 10 minutes before starting the process.

Clean, remove all the seeds and cut the kumquats in thin slices.

Put the kumquats in a bowl and add the sugar, the orange juice and the lemon juice. Let it rest over nigh in the fridge.

The next day put the composition at medium fire for 30 minutes.

Put the jam in sterilized jars and keep the marmalade in a cold place.

Enjoy!