Piadina Romagnola

In the south-eastern portion of Emilia-Romagna, there is no restaurant that doesn't serve the famous and simple bread/sandwich called Piadina. People from this particular region of Italy are very proud of this recipe and they compete against each other to come up with the best combination of bread and filling. In fact, it has become one of the main dishes that you must try if you visit this area. All you need to make 4 Piadine is five ingredients: 160 mL of water, 2 gr of baking soda, 500 gr of flour, 10 gr of salt and 75 gr of lard. Dissolve the salt in the water and mix the baking soda with the amount of flour. Once you have done that, put everything in a large bowl and start mixing the ingredients for at least ten minutes. When the dough is done, let it rest for thirty minutes covered by a hand towel. Divide the dough into four parts and spread out each one with a rolling pin. After that, you finally get to cook your piadina. Use a non-stick skillet and cook both sides for about 3-4 minutes. You can stuff your piadina with anything. There is nothing that cannot be eaten with this Italian bread. I highly suggest that you try my favorite piadina with prosciutto (cooked ham), stracchino and rocket. I'm sure you won't regret it!

La Torta della Nonna

As an exchange student, one thing that I am supposed to do is share my traditions and culture with my host family and friends. Since I particularly enjoy cooking Italian recipes, which reminds me of the old days spent baking with my Grandma, I often try to impress my family with a dish of home-made pasta or a popular Italian dessert.
As I was going through my Grandma's recipe book the other day, I found something that I personally haven't tried to make yet. It's an easy dessert called "Torta della nonna", which means "Grandma's Cake", and I suggest that everyone tries it as it doesn't require particular cooking skills.
Here is the list of ingredients you need:
For the dough: 200 gr of butter, 4 yolks, a drop of vanilla extract, 400 gr of flour, 150 gr of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt.
For the filling: 80 gr of flour, 1 liter of fresh milk, 6 yolks, 250 gr of sugar, a drop of vanilla extract, half a lemon skin.
Pine nuts and powdered sugar to cover the top at the end.

To make the dough, the directions are very simple. Put the flour, the salt and the butter in a mixer and whip until you get a sandy mixture. Pour it on a cutting board and add the sugar, the yolks and the vanilla extract. Knead the dough until it gets dense. Wrap it in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Now, we are ready to make the delicious cream filling. Put the milk and the drop of vanilla extract in a pan and bring to a boil. When it starts boiling, turn down the heat and let it cool. Whip the yolks and the sugar with an electric mixer until you get a thick and foamy mixture. Add one third of the milk and the flour. Keep stirring with the electric mixer. Transfer the cream to the pan that you used to heat up the milk. Bring to a boil again and remember to stir in order not to burn anything. The cream has to be thick and dense.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and spread it out with a rolling pin. As you can see in these pictures, you have to mold the dough to the pan and pour the batter in it. Once you are done with that, you'll use the rest of the dough to cover your cake. Make sure the dough you use is very thin and make holes in it by using a fork, so the surface doesn't break while cooking.
Spread the pine nuts on top of the cake and bake it for 45-50 minutes at 350 °F.

When it's cooked, let the cake cool completely and before you serve it, put the powdered sugar on top!
It might seem a long process, but I'm sure you all will enjoy eating this "Grandma's cake"! The taste of the cream filling is unsatisfiable.