Saturday, June 8, 2024

San Marino

Welcome to San Marino!  To be honest, I'm a little behind on the blog...You may or may not see another post VERY soon!  San Marino is a land-locked country, completely surrounded by Italy.  The pictures look beautiful!  Honestly, this looks like a bucket list country.  It boasts to be the oldest republic in Europe, and has the oldest constitution still in effect anywhere in the world.  It is a mountainous country, with a really cool castle on top of some rocks.  According to Google, the population is 33,660 people, and the capital is San Marino (that makes it easy!).  Their national dish is...



Torta Tre Monti!

It's actually a dessert!  The dessert was named after the Three Towers of San Marino, and has five layers of wafer with a cream/hazelnut spread and then dipped in chocolate.  Sounds great, right?  To go with our Totra Tre Monti, we made Nidi di Rondine, or Swallows-Nest pasta.  The original website where I got the recipe is no longer available, so I'm going to do my best to remember the recipe!

NIDI DI RONDINE
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 C whole milk
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
12 gluten free lasagna noodles 
12 slices prosciutto 
Spinach leaves
Basil leaves
Italian seasoning
Mozzarella cheese
Marinara sauce
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Make the Béchamel sauce.  Melt the butter in a medium pan and add the flour.
  3. Stir to mix well and brown just slightly.
  4. Slowly add the milk to the butter/flour mixture and whisk continuously so it doesn't clump.
  5. When it is thick, turn off the heat and add the garlic, nutmeg, and Parmesan cheese, and mix until the cheese is melted.  Set aside.
  6. In an 8x8 pan, spread a thin layer of marinara sauce at the bottom of the pan.
  7. Cook the lasagna noodles in boiling water until al dente.  
  8. Once the noodles are al dente, remove them from the water and place on a kitchen towel to get off excess water (careful - they are HOT!).
  9. Spread enough Béchamel sauce on the noodles to cover the whole noodle. 
  10. Sprinkle Italian seasoning on the sauce, to taste.
  11. Add one slice of prosciutto to each of the noodles.
  12. Add spinach and basil leaves to each noodle, to taste.
  13. Put Mozzarella cheese on top of the noodles, to taste (I used shredded mozzarella, and it worked great).
  14. Now the fun part: roll each of the noodles into a short tube, trying to keep all the goodies inside the noodle, and place them, sticking up, into the 8x8 pan with sauce.  Repeat with all the noodles.
  15. Spread leftover marinara sauce on top of the noodles.
  16. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until everything is cooked through, cheese is melted, and the tops are slightly crispy.
  17. Enjoy!
TORTA TRE MONTI
30 tort wafers (these were hard to find...I got them from Amazon
1 C and 2 tbsp whipping cream
1 C Nutella
Whipped cream, for garnish
Raspberries, for garnish
16 tbsp heavy cream
12 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate 
  1. Mix whipped cream until stiff peaks form.
  2. Pour Nutella into the cream, and mix until well combined.
  3. Spread enough of the cream mixture over the first wafer to cover and place the second wafer on top of the first one.  Repeat four times, and leave the top one without the cream.
  4. Repeat with the other sandwiches.  You should have 6 stacks total.
  5. In a small pot, combine the 16 tbsp heavy cream and chocolate. Stir and melt until smooth.
  6. Prepare a rack to place the cakes once rounded with chocolate.
  7. Take one small cake at a time and  roll through ganache, covering the sides.
  8. Place every cake on the rack so any extra chocolate slides down before serving.
  9. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream and raspberries.
  10. Enjoy!
(Source: Torta Tre Monti)

The verdict?  This was a favorite.  The pasta was really good!  We've actually had it twice in the last week!  I think if I were to make it again, I would make it more like a lasagna rather than the rolls.  The rolls are tricky to do!  The combination of flavors was really good and surprisingly light!  The Torta was OK.  It was much better immediately after making them.  When they sat, they became more like wet cardboard, and weren't too good. But I was sneaking some before dinner, as I was making them, and it was delicious.  I'm not sure I would make the Torta again, but I would make the cream/Nutella cream again!

  


ME
Taste of the Nidi di Rondine (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7
Spicy (hot) (1 is not spicy at all, 10 is uneatable): 0
Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

HANDSOME HUSBAND
Taste of the Nidi di Rondine (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 8
Spicy (hot) (1 is not spicy at all, 10 is uneatable): 0
Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

ME
Taste of the Torta Tre Monti (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 4
Spicy (hot) (1 is not spicy at all, 10 is uneatable): 0
Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

HANDSOME HUSBAND
Taste of the Torta Tre Monti (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5
Spicy (hot) (1 is not spicy at all, 10 is uneatable): 0
Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

Join us next time in the UAE!



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