Hello, I'm an Italian person.

In this column I will be writing easy, quick recipes, using what you can find in every supermarket.

I won't bother you with strange and "exotic" food like "mortadella", "zucchini's flowers" or "soppressata".

I'll leave to talk about them to all those people who want to sell you a "lifestyle"!


And by the way, I apologise for my "chewed English"!

Antonella Caputo

Never surrender!

Our lives depend on plugs and switches. We are completely lost when our plugs and switches don't work properly: we miss the comfort of a cup of tea if the kettle is out of order, the fridge becomes an useless piece of furniture. When the washing machine stops our lives stop with it.

What should it be more horrible of a Saturday evening, when it rains outside, we are feverish and the screen of our TV doesn't show any sign of life? And the only book we have not read yet is Ulysses by James Joyce ?

We fall into a depression raven when serpent-like panic spreads itself around us, while we are queuing in a bank and a gentle lady announces there is fault in power lines.

In front of the mystery of socket and switch we all are like a Neanderthal man in front of the mystery of thunder. All those lessons of science, listened during school time, are completely useless. No one can reassure us that the electric power isn't a magic stuff, there is any microscopic man into the wall, there is any little pooka into the washing machine. If you are not an engineer of NASA you will be always afraid of lackness of electric power -- the engineer will be afraid as well -- but for other reasons, less comprehensible then Theory of Relativity.

So, someone can answer me why there are people who give, as gift, electric tools? Are they no afraid of lackness of power? Or are they so inhuman that they are not any fear? I cannot believe they are all engineers of NASA.

I have inherited a mixer. After months of training I became a master using it, even if every time I plugged it, my heart had had a jump. Someone thought was a good idea to give to me a new one.

The challenge started again. Now I use it without fear, even if every time I push the button I shouldn't be surprise if a little fairy comes out from the plug.

If you are one of those owners of mixers and you have had a hidden fear to cope with it, now it's the time to face the challenge and use it for making your bread. If you are the owner of a bread machine you can read this easy recipe and think that there is always another way. An easier one.

I have to explain that this recipe is worked out from the Irish soda bread. I have used part of the ingredients and I have created my own version of it. This bread is suitable for all those people intolerant to dairy products and yeast.

Don't give up if for the first time the bread will not be perfect. All depend by the heat of the oven, so after few attempts you will find the right way with your own oven.

May the electric power be with you!

Soda Bread
For roughly 800 gm of bread.

450 gm / 12 ounces of flour (plain)
6 tea spoons of baking powder
1 tea spoon of salt
1 pint of tepid water.

Put in the mixer the flour, the baking powder and the salt. Mix all for a 20 sec. Add the water/Mix the dough until you will have a ball.

Take off the dough and knead it. If you have not kneaded dough before, this is how -- place the palms of both hand on the dough ball and press forward and down at the same time. Take the resulting "wedge" and fold it into another ball, adding a little flour as you go. Repeat, using the flour how much you need for making the dough no-sticky (this is one of those situations in which the men are very handy, if you are a gentle little hand lady, I advise you to get a boyfriend to do this).

Knead with energy for a couple minutes. Give the shape you want to the dough. Put it on an oven tray dusted with flour. With a knife cut the surface of the dough (a cross or a line). Cover with a towel and leave it for one hour.

Warm the oven up to the maximum for a couple of minutes, then put the bread into the oven and turn down the heat to mark 6 for 40/45 minutes. After this time check the bread: if you knock on it and you have a deep hollow sound, the bread it's ready.

Take it off from the oven tray and wrap it into a towel, leave it to cool down.

It could happen you will be not able to finish the loaf of bread and it will become tough. You will be tempted to throw it out. Never! You can use the bread for this snack. You will cut a good figure with your friends and above all use "tough" bread!

Note: Don’t use the English loaf for this recipe! You can use the French baguette instead.

Panzanella
(it’s impossible to translate it in English. This is the recipe used in Rome)

To serve 4
8 slice of tough bread

4 fresh plum tomatoes
basil
olive oil
vinegar
salt
pepper
cold water

Wet slices of bread with water, the bread must not be too wet. Cut in half lengthwise the fresh plum tomatoes, rub the juice and flesh of the tomatoes onto the slices of bread. Pour on a little oil and a couple of drops of vinegar. Add salt, pepper and basil.