Valle D'Aosta Day Trip and Fontina Cheese

My boyfriend's family produces Toma cheese which is the most commonly known cheese of the Piemonte region.

Toma Cheese, typical cheese of the Peimonte Region, Italy

But every once in awhile we get a hankerin for some Fontina cheese and what better reason than cheese to make a day trip to the neighboring region of Valle D'Aosta.

 Main Shopping Street in the Center of the Capitol City Aosta

 It's very fancy

 Main Piazza and old municipal building

 Arc of the Duke of Aosta

 Grand Paradise National Park near Cogne

 Home of the Jeanet Brothers Farm inside the Nat'l Park!

 They produce all of this wonderful fontina cheese made from the milk of their cows.

The old fashioned way!

Plum and Almond Crostata

October is a quiet and beautiful time of the year here in Sauze di Cesana. Not many tourists make it a great time to get things done around the farm in preparation for winter. While Luca and his brother chop firewood, I make plum jam and plum cake from the plum trees growing in the area.

Plum and Almond Crostata Recipe 
(adapted from La Cucina Italiana June 2011 Issue)

The original recipe is made with apricots, but it's great with plums as well.

Ingredients:

300g all purpose flour
100g butter room temp
100g ground almonds
 50 g water
100g powdered sugar
80g sugar
1 large egg white
20-30 little wild plums or 12 regular plums halved and pitted
1 egg
pinch of salt

Preheat oven 200 degrees C.

Mix together flour and butter until it forms soft crumbs, then add 80g sugar, egg, pinch of salt and water. Form dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and leave in fridge for 30 min.

Combine the ground almonds and powdered sugar and the egg white.

Roll out the dough and press into a 20cm pie or spring form cake pan. Spread almond mixture into the circumference of the pie crust. Place plum halves face down in a circular pattern in the pie.

Bake for 40-45 min with heat only from the bottom of the oven. Decorate with powdered sugar.