FACT: 99% of commercial oregano you've bought originates from Turkey, Greece, & Mexico. It's time to try Italian! It's grown on the only certified organic oregano farm in Italy. Angela's Oregano has a rich flavor that harmonizes even with hot and spicy food, as is popular in Southern Italy. It holds its flavor perfectly. One order contains 7 bags of beautifully bunched organic oregano, still on their small branches, for a total of over 195 grams (over 7 ounces). Just 10.99 Euros! Visit OreganoFromItaly.com and give it a try! You'll smell & taste the difference!

"Un caloroso benvenuto a tutti!" Welcome to another recipe edition from Adriana's Italian Bakery!

This week's Italian recipes:
  -Bruschetta con Pomodoro e Formaggio
  -Taralli Scaldati
  -Stomatico

Give these light recipes a try for your next Sunday brunch. Enjoy the complimentary news article report from "Only In Italy.com" .

Enjoy the issue!

Yours Truly,              
Adriana Ciccarello       

Cookie of the Week: Sicilian Orange Almond Cookies

"Sicilian Orange" Almond Cookies: A soft and chewy Italian almond cookie with a crisp outside and tender inside. Made exclusively from our own home grown natural almonds with bits of candied Sicilian oranges, the freshest farm eggs, flour, and sugar. No preservatives, additives, artificial colors, nor flavors.

900 grams (2 lbs.) is only 14.49 Euro ($17.75-$18.00) + Shipping.

Example Order: One order to anywhere in the USA costs 14.49 Euro plus 8.50 Euro for Global Priority Mail shipping (7-8 days) for a total of 22.99 Euro ($28.25-$28.50 U.S. Dollars).

Recipe: Bruschetta con Pomodoro e Formaggio

Bruschetta con Pomodoro e Formaggio
Tomato and Cheese Toasts

Grill the bread, slice the tomatoes, and add salt and pepper an hour in advance, then assemble these little sandwich bites in minutes after guests arrive.

Ingredients:

1 cup (about 8 ounces) very ripe cherry tomatoes (See Note)
Salt and pepper
4 (5 by 3 inch) slices of peasant bread, cut 1/2 inch thick
Olive oil
2/3 cup mixed grated cheese, such as Parmesan

Directions:

Cut each tomato in half or thirds and place in small bowl.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Brush bread slices lightly with olive oil and grill or broil until just starting to turn color, about 30 seconds.

Using a slotted spoon, top each slice with about 1/4 cup (or whatever fits) tomatoes and then sprinkle each slice with about 2 heaping tablespoons cheese.

Return to broiler or grill and cook until cheese melts. Cut each slice into eight pieces and serve. Serves 8 to 10.

Note: If ripe tomatoes are not available, use sun-dried tomatoes, patted dry and cut into bite-sized pieces. Or use commercially made tomato tapenade. Fresh tomatoes are best, though.

That's it!

Recipe: Taralli Scaldati

Taralli Scaldati
Puglia Dry Breads

Ingredients:

1 kilo flour
200 grams olive oil
50 grams fennel seed
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
Pepper

Directions:

On a marble or cold kitchen surface place the flour, and mix in the baking powder, fennel seeds, freshly ground pepper and salt.

Form a mound shape and make a well in the middle, in which you will break the eggs and pour in the oil. Moving your fingers from the outside inwards mix all the ingredients and knead the dough.

Soften the dough by adding a little warm water. Roll out into long thin rolls about 10" - 25 cm long. Loop the ends around to form pretzel shapes and space them out to rise for a quarter of an hour covered with a clean kitchen cloth.

Heat the oven to 400° C - 200 F.

Bring water to the boil in a large saucepan and dip the taralli inside, remove them and dry.

Place them on an oiled baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve cold.

That's it!

Recipe: Stomatico

Stomatico

Ingredients:

250 grams sugar
1 tbsp white wine
500 grams flour
250 grams sugar
1 glass olive oil
1 glass white wine or vin cotto
Cinnamon powder
2 tbsp baking powder
Peeled almonds
1 egg

Directions:

Make a caramel with the sugar and a tbsp of white wine and remove it from the heat source when it starts to brown.

Make a mound with the flour on a clean surface then make a well in the middle.

Place the remaining sugar, caramel, olive oil and wine inside and, working with your fingers from the outside inwards, mix in all the ingredients then work in the egg, baking powder and cinnamon.

Work the pastry into a soft smooth dough and roll it out into a baking sheet covered with oven paper.

With a sharp knife cut the pastry into squares and place an almond in each square.

Brush the surface with egg and bake for 40 minutes at 350 F.

Remove from the oven, cool and separate the biscuits, turn them over and bake for 10-15 minutes until they are brown.

That's it!

Submit Your Thoughts

Elegant handcrafted sterling silver tableware directly from our little factory in Italy. Save 50-60% At "Caterina Collezione", you'll find over 300 examples of artistically designed Italian tableware such as tea sets, platters, flatware, centerpieces and more. Fast & very low cost FedEx shipping. Take a look at our grand catalog and you'll find that perfect & unexpected anniversary or wedding gift! Visit the "Caterina Collezione" at SilverFromItaly.com!

 

Only In Italy!

"Only In Italy" is a daily news column that translates & 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:

Falling In Love - A Gender-Bending Experience.

Reuters UK - LONDON - May 5 - Falling in love -- that crazy, blissful feeling -- causes gender-bender changes in men and women's testosterone levels.

A study by an Italian researcher shows that when couples fall in love their testosterone levels alter. It falls in men and rises in women so they become more like each other.

"Men who were in love had lower levels of the male sex hormone testosterone -- linked to aggression and sex drive -- than other men," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.

"Love-struck women, in contrast, had higher levels of testosterone than their counterparts."

Donatella Marazziti, a scientist at the University of Pisa in Italy, made the discovery after studying 24 people in love.

"It's as if nature wants to eliminate what can be different in men and women, because it's important to survive at this stage," she said.

Not all scientists agree with Marazziti's interpretation of the results and some say changing testosterone levels could be a result of increased sexual activity.

But whatever the reason it doesn't last long.

Two years later, when the same people were tested again and were no longer madly in love, their testosterone levels were back to normal.

"L'amore fa schifo!" Not only do testosterone levels return back to normal after two years, Italian men are going to use this medical finding as an excuse to get out of those tough break-up situations.

"EXCUSE ME, GIUSEPPE!
YOU'RE BREAKING UP WITH ME?!?
YOU?!
VAFANCULO!"

And speaking of gender-bender changes, take our cousin, Goffredo, for example:

His unusual Sicilian testosterone levels would reward him with very rare sexual activity. Then after sex, not only would Italian women hate him, they would hate themselves, hate sex and everything about life.

"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!

 Read Past Issues
 What's New?
 Order Our Cookies!
 Tour Our Bakery
 About Adriana
 People are Talking!
 Customer Service
 Our Privacy Policy

 Submit Your Thoughts
 Email Adriana

RECIPES

 Biscotti di Anice
 Bucatini All'Amatriciana
 Calamari Fritti
 Carciofi Ripieni
 Dolce di Fichi
 Gnocchi con Gorgonzola
 Pasta Zafferano
 Pesto Salsa

 More Recipes!

More From Italy Newsletters!

Questions: Need more Italian recipes? How about Italian gift ideas? Or just plain Italian fun?

Subscribe to these interesting newsletters from our closest and trustworthy Italian affiliates located here in Italy? Just click the sites that may interest you and sign up:

 Silver From Italy.com
 Oregano From Italy.com
 Only In Italy.com