San Marino

STAPLE FOOD

• Wheat
• Vegetables

San Marino is influenced by Italy.
Flat Bread (Piadina) with Fontina and Prosciutto



Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus extra, to taste

• 1 stick butter, (1/2 cup) cut into 1/2-inch pieces, at room temperature

• 10 to 12 tablespoons water

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 pound whole milk ricotta cheese

• 2 teaspoons lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 6 ounces fontina cheese, shredded

• 4 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced

• 1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions

Combine the flour, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of salt in the bowl of an upright mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until incorporated, about 2 minutes. With the machine running, slowly add the water until the mixture forms a dough around the hook. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Form into disk shapes and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each piece of dough into an 8 to 10-inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Brush each circle with the extra-virgin olive oil and grill for 4 minutes each side. Remove the piadina from the grill to cool slightly. Combine the ricotta cheese and lemon zest in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Spread each piadina with 1/2 cup of the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle the fontina cheese evenly over the ricotta cheese. Arrange the prosciutto slices on top of the cheeses. Cut each piadina into 8 wedges and transfer to a serving platter. Garnish with the chopped basil.

Bustrengo is the national dessert of San Marino

a knob of butter

100g polenta

200g plain flour, sifted

100g stale breadcrumbs

100g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting

500m full fat milk

3 large eggs, beaten

100g runny honey

55ml olive oil

100g dried figs, chopped or torn up

100g raisins or sultanas

500g firm eating apples, peeled, cored and roughly diced

½ a teaspoon of ground cinnamon

zest of 2 oranges

zest of 2 lemons

1 teaspoon salt

preheat the oven to 180ºc and butter a shallow 28cm loose-bottomed cake tin.

mix the polenta, flour, breadcrumbs and sugar in a large bowl. in a separate bowl, mix together the milk, eggs, honey and olive oil. add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, making sure you stir it all together well. add the figs, raisins, apples, cinnamon, orange and lemon zest and salt, and stir again.

pour the mixture into your cake tin and bake for about 50 minutes. keep an eye on it – you may need to cover it with some foil if you find that it starts to brown too much at the edges. before serving, sprinkle over some caster sugar. then make sure you eat it warm – lovely with a dollop of crème fraîche and a glass of vin santo!