World Pasta Day

I haven't updated my blog in English in a long, long time, but since Verena invited me to join the celebration for the World Pasta Day, here I am. I wasn't aware there was such a thing as a WPD. Oh, well, since any excuse to eat pasta is more than welcome, there you have it.

Pappardelle with prosciutto and brocolli rabe

Pappardelle pasta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, flattened
1 medium onion, chopped
100 g thinly sliced prociutto, chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 large bunch broccoli rabe
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 cup freshly grated Parmegiano-Reggiano

Pre-cook broccoli rabe in the water that will be used for the pasta. Reserve. Start cooking pasta. In the meantime, heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add fennel seeds and then garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until lightly golden. Mix in onion and sauté until translucent. Toss prosciutto and stir until it starts to shrink and/or brown. Add dried crushed red pepper, then pre-cooked broccoli rabe. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drain pasta, reserving some of the cooking liquid. Combine pasta and broccoli rabe over low heat. If necessary, add reserved cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls to moisten. Sprinkle with cheese and pine nuts and serve.
Adapted from Bon Apettit

Angel Food Cupcakes

I was craving something sweet but didn't want to sabotage my diet. Then, I suddenly ran across angel food cake in the grocery store so it occurred to me to bake my own. I think this fatfree cake owes its popularity to its lightness. It is reminds me of cotton candy.

Once at home, with everything laid out and ready to start, I realized I didn't have an angel food cake pan with a removable bottom. Well, that would make it difficult to unmold the cake without any damage. I, immediately, remembered I had some laminated muffin liners and I could make Angel Food Cupcakes. Why not? The problem was solved and my craving too.

Vanilla Angel Food Cake

1/2 plus 1/4 cups sugar, separated
1 piece vanilla bean, split
1/2 cup cake flour, sifted
6 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325°.
Place 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean, and add seeds to sugar; discard bean. Work the vanilla seeds into sugar with fingers until well combined.

Combine flour and sugar mixture, whisk to combine.

Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt. Beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Beat in juice. Sift flour mixture over egg white mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Fold in after each addition.

Spoon the batter into an ungreased tube pan, spreading evenly. Bake at 325° for 50 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan. Cool completely. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Invert cake onto plate.
Fonte: Cooking Light