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"Cari lettori, Buon Giorno!" Welcome to another recipe edition from Adriana's Italian Bakery!

This week's Italian recipes:
  -Meatball Escarole Soup
  -Coniglio in Umido con Peperoni
  -Torta al Cioccolata e Rhum

Enjoy the recipes and the complimentary news article report from "Only In Italy.com".

Enjoy the issue!

Yours Truly,              
Adriana Ciccarello       

Impt: Italian cookies for the Easter Holidays

Make this Easter Holiday a memorable one by adding an assortment tray of our scrumptious Italian "dolce" at the table. Enjoy them with a bottle of Prosecco. It will give a wonderful touch to your holiday feast, a proper ending with a touch of Sicilian sunshine.

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All orders must be placed by Monday, March 26, at midnight EST.

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Recipe: Meatball Escarole Soup

Meatball Escarole Soup

Ingredients:

1 large head escarole
1/2 lb ground beef
1 garlic clove finely minced
1/2 cup grated parmigiano cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 small egg
6 cups chicken stock

Directions:

Clean escarole. Shred into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

Prepare meatballs: Mix together ground beef, garlic, parmigiano, bread crumbs, parsley, and salt. Break in egg. Mix well. Shape into meatballs the size of marbles. Use a delicate touch when rolling. Too much pressure packs the meat. Set aside.

Combine chicken broth and escarole and bring to a boil. The escarole will cook down. When soup is boiling and escarole has wilted, drop in meatballs one at a time. When all meatballs have been added, stir gently to combine ingredients.

Reduce heat, cover and cook until meatballs are done, about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on size.

Serve with exuberant spoonfuls of grated parmigiano cheese. Serves 4 to 6.

That's it!

Recipe: Coniglio in Umido con Peperoni

Coniglio in Umido con Peperoni
Stewed Rabbit with Peppers

Ingredients:

1 rabbit
3 red sweet peppers, cut into strips
3 yellow sweet peppers, cut into strips
2 little young onions, finely chopped
4 tablespoons dried chives
2 teaspoons dried tarragon
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
2 teaspoons dried bay leaves
4 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
500 grams (1.1 lb) pureed tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 glass of white wine
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Directions:

Cut rabbit into little pieces and put in a saucepan together with olive oil, wine, tomato, aromatic herbs, onions and peppers. Season to taste with salt and cook over a gentle flame, half-covered, after adding 2 glasses of water, until meat and peppers are tender. Add other warm water only if necessary.

That's it!

Recipe: Torta al Cioccolata e Rhum

Torta al Cioccolata e Rhum
Chocolate and Rum Cake

Ingredients:

6 ounces (175 grams) dark chocolate
3 tbs (45 ml) rum
6 ounces (175 grams) unsalted butter
6 ounces (175 grams) superfine sugar
6 eggs separated
3 ounces (75 grams) self raising flour
3 ounces (75 grams) ground almonds

For the Filling:
1/2 pint (300 ml) double cream
2 tbs (30 ml) icing sugar

For the Coating:
3 tbs (45 ml) apricot preserves
1 lb (450 grams) dark chocolate
Icing sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C). Grease and line the base and sides of a 23 cm (9 inch) deep, round cake tin.

Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and add the rum. Stand the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and heat until melted. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the egg yolks. Beat in the chocolate. Whisk the eggs until stiff, then fold into the mixture. Using a metal spoon, fold the flour and almonds into the egg mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out and carefully slice in half horizontally.

To make the filling, whip the cream with the icing sugar until it just holds its shape. Use the cream to sandwich the cake halves together.

Melt the apricot preserves then push through a sieve. Brush the preserves all over the cake, then place on a large serving plate.

To make the chocolate coating, cut a piece of parchment paper (30 x 2 and 1/2 inch) 75 x 6 cm. Fold under 1 inch (2.5 cm) of the paper at each end of the strip to form handles. Break the chocolate into a bowl standing over a pan of simmering water and heat until melted. Using a brush, cover one side of the parchment paper completely with a fairly thick layer of chocolate. Spread the remaining chocolate onto a cold marble slab. Leave the chocolate strip until set but still flexible.

Before the chocolate on the marble slab sets, using a large knife push the blade across the surface of the chocolate to roll pieces off in long curls to form a caraque. Cover the top of the cake with overlapping curls of chocolate caraque. Dust with icing sugar before serving. Lift the chocolate strip by the handles and place around the side of the cake, pressing so that it sticks to the apricot preserves. Carefully peel away the paper. Serves 8 to 10.

That's it!

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Only In Italy!

"Only In Italy" is a daily news column that translates and reports on funny but true news items from legitimate Italian news resources in Italy. Each story is slapped with our wild, often ironic, and sometimes rather opinionated comments. And now, for your reading pleasure:

Italy To Send Elderly To Movies During Heat Wave

(AFP) - Rome - June 18 - Italian officials have suggested that the elderly should be herded into air-conditioned cinemas or supermarkets to avoid a repeat of last summer's tragedy, in which a record heat wave claimed some 8,000 lives.

"It is a system that has proved successful in the United States: make use of cool places to shelter vulnerable people at the hottest hours," Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia said in an interview published on Friday in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

"We will not be in a position to keep specially air-conditioned buildings running for three months," he explained.

The proposal -- which has raised a few eyebrows in Italy -- is one of a series of measures designed to limit the health hazards of a possible heat wave, which the health ministry is due to submit shortly to parliament.

Along with much of Europe, Italy experienced a record heat wave in the summer of 2003, with 7,660 more recorded deaths than usual for the period, most of them among the elderly. France was the worst hit, with an estimated 15,000 elderly lives lost to the scorching temperatures.

Drafted in consultation with medical experts, the plan aims to "avoid the 8,000 deaths of last summer," said the minister, himself a doctor by training.

According to Sirchia, one third of Italians aged 75 and over -- nine percent of Italy's population of 57 million -- fall within the high-risk category.

"We are talking here about people who may not understand whether it is hot or cold, who may stop eating or drinking or poison themselves with food that has gone bad," he said.

Each Italian town will be asked to draw up a list of inhabitants aged 65 and over and identify those most at risk.

The health ministry document will emphasize the role of friends and family in watching over the frailest elderly people if temperatures start to soar.

"I am myself 71 years old, and am therefore classified as elderly, but I have no physical nor psychological problems that could make me vulnerable to extreme weather conditions," the minister added.

The plan is likely to meet with resistance from local authorities, who have rejected charges that their slim, summertime staffs had neglected old people in need during last year's blistering heat.

Last week saw temperatures in the northern cities of Turin and Milan briefly rise to a sizzling 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

"Grazie Grazie!"

Why do they have to treat these poor old folks like cattle?

Most of them have had poor childhoods, experienced WWII and fascism, receive pathetic pensions and are ignored by their conceited and angry children. Now, they are forced to pull up their pants, made sure they're wearing matching socks and then rounded up to be put away in cinemas and supermarkets.

Florida doesn't have these problems but Italy does!

"Only In Italy" Subscribe today and you'll discover why the last improvements to Italy were made by Julius Caesar and why it's been downhill ever since!  Click Here to Subscribe!

 
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