Crispy& Crunchy Chicken

Although it contains parmesan cheese,  it  might seem like a Cajum dish.

Ingredients: A whole chicken but deprived of the chest (that you will cook later for another dinner ), 60g of breadcrumbs, 40g of grated cheese (Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano), little olive oil, salt and pepper. 

Here I added quantities, but I just did by eye.

Preheat oven to 150°C (short less if the oven is vented).
Mix breadcrumbs with grated cheese and pepper.

Preheat oven to 150°C (short less if the oven is vented).
Mix breadcrumbs with grated cheese and pepper.

Cut chicken into small pieces.
Broke wings into 2 pieces each as well as the above-thighs, but let whole thighs. If you have time and it is possible, remove skin.
Then, with hands or a brush, grease with olive oil every chicken piece. Bread them in the breadcrumbs mixture.

Everything is ready, it's grape-harvest time!

We are just in grape harvest time, a period that, this year, will be long if the weather holds.

In fact this year in Tuscany  Sangiovese grapes are not yet  arrived all at full maturity.

Not so for the Chianti Vepri.
So they will probably harvest by the end of this week: everything is ready.

Last Saturday I was right there with my sister,  to visit Siro Cicogni, owner of the Vepri Vineyards.

Mint Schnapps.

If you have a lot of mint in your garden or on your balcony, this is a recipe that I recommend.
Besides to be drank pure, this liquor should give a refined flavor to ice cream, in particular to chocolate ice cream and also to other delicious desserts.

You should use a mix of different mint. The choice is yours.

Ingredients: about 100 beautiful fresh mint leaves, 1 lemon, 1 liter of alcohol from liquor at 95 °, 1 liter of water, 800g of sugar.

Tarragon Chicken scallops

Chicken and turkey breast, can be cooked in many different ways.
If we are careful and skilled in cutting, we can make from a single chicken breast cutlets lot more slices than we might believe at first glance, as  tells us also Pellegrino Artusi:
"[..] a capon breast may be sufficient for four or five people. Slice breasts into thin slices almost like paper, give them the best shape that you can [..] he says in the recipe" Chicken Breasts to sauté "

Ingredients for 4 people: 2 chicken breasts or a similar amount of turkey breast, butter and a little olive oil, ½ cup of dry white wine, a sprig of fresh tarragon, 2 tablespoons of fresh cream (optional), Flour, Salt and pepper. 

Automn Quiche

Ingredients for 4 people: 1/2 medium sized onion, 300g Chards (only the white part of the stalk), 2 medium Carrots, 80g Bacon, 2 slices Emmenthal or Fontina cheese, 3 eggs, 1 cup of milk or cream, pastry crust Brisée (made from 250g of flour, 100g of butter and 1 egg), a little parsley, salt and pepper

A good Chianti!

Chianti Vepri

Siro e Clio Cicogni

The winery is located at Ambra, in the Chianti area of Valdichiana.
Its name come from the quaint village of Vepri that borders one side of the property. This country has ancient pre-Roman roots and a special vocation for wine.
C conducted by Clio Cicogni who in 2010 bought an old vineyard of 15 hectares, abandoned from several years and immediately decided its conversion to organic farming.
The family Cicogni has a tradition in the field of milling wheat for bread (5 generations). Since 1976 developed the sector of cereals and in the past 14 years begun the production of organic feeds, and more recently converted the mill to exclusive organic production. (see website).

Clafoutis

The Clafoutis is a typical dessert of the Limousin, a region of south-central France whose territory is situated around the Massif Central and that includes 3 departments: Corrèze, Creuse and Haute-Vienne

 The original Clafoutis is only made with cherries, although today quite often the same name is used also for other desserts which in fact should be called Flaugnarde and that are prepared with the same method but  with different fruits such as apricots or plums, apples, pears, blackberries, peaches, plums, etc..

The term Clafoutis derives from the occitan dialect verb claufir, that means to fill and come from Latin clavum ficere = to fill of points similar to nails ( that are in this case the sweet cherries).

image from Wikipedia

The Clafoutis or Clafouti is a cake made with cherries and pancakes batter.
It is a very popular dessert in France but it's not rare to find others similar to it, as the cake called millard in Auvergne.