The Italian Country Table

The Italian Country Table: Home Cooking from Italy's Farmhouse Kitchens by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, copyright 1999
Torta della Befana, page 356
Prepared on January 6, 2008

The Italian Country Table provides a great overview of Italian country cooking. As opposed to The Splendid Table, Kasper's encyclopedic Emilia-Romagnian cookbook , The Italian Country Table is full of simply-prepared, interesting and toothsome dishes.

January 6 is the day of Epiphany and is also the Day of the Befana. The Befana is a witch who brings little Italian children presents (left in their stockings) if they have been good. If they've been bad they get coal.

I made one modification to the recipe: I made two smaller turnovers instead of the one large turnover Kasper specifies in the recipe.

First, I made the pastry dough and put it in the refrigerator to chill. Then I prepared the filling, but chopping up apples and combining them with raisins, candied citron, sugar and spices (including ground black pepper!).

I rolled the dough out into two 8" circles and put the filling into one half of each circle. I baked the turnovers at 400 until golden brown.

These were a little like a traditional apple turnover, but the addition of citron and raisins made it something a little outside the ordinary. This was a great recipe and one I'll go back to again. I think the filling would be great in a traditional apple pie format too.

The Italian Baker

The Italian Baker by Carol Field, copyright 1985
Pane Integrale alle Erbe (Whole-Wheat Bread with Herbs), page 175
Prepared on January 5, 2008

If you are a fan of Italian baking, this is a book for you. The Italian Baker has everything from Ciabatta to Panetonne to Pizza to Biscotti. There's a lot here and Field has a good writing style. She's very educational and interesting.


This is a very wholesome, hearty bread. Field suggests that the dough be baked into rolls. They are chock-full of whole grain goodness and the herbs and olive oil make them taste good, not just good for you. That said, it's still whole wheat bread. If you want a light airy, make-me-garlic-bread bread, make me something else.


The recipe contains: yeast, water, white and whole-wheat flour (1 cup to 3 cup ratio), olive oil, rosemary, parsley and salt.


I put my yeast into warm water to proof. While the yeast was proofing, I chopped up parsley and rosemary. I used my Kitchen Aid to pull the dough together (Field gives you instructions for mixer, food processor or by hand). I did the final kneading by hand.



Since Dave and I needed to run errands, I let the dough rise in the fridge. After three hours, the dough was perfectly risen. I formed the dough into about two dozen rolls and left them on the counter to rise again. After 90 minutes, I baked the rolls in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.


These turned out really well. I think they'd be a great base for sandwiches as well as served alongside a roast leg of lamb. They are few nice when they are served warm; the rosemary's fragrance is best then. Stale rolls, because of the parsley and rosemary, would make good stuffing (or dressing, if you prefer).