Italian Food Recipes

Chicken Breast with Carrots, Celery and Onion

2009-01-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

This is the Italian recipe of a delicious hot salad. To prepare it you need only carrots, celery and onion and the main ingredient that is the chicken breast. The preparation is so easy that you’ll need only few minutes: first you prepare all the ingredients, you clean them and cut them, then you put all the ingredient in a pan with some extra virgin olive oil and let them cook. When they are ready you add some almond to let the recipe crunchier and you serve hot.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
2 Carrots
2 Celeries
1 Small Onion
40 g of Almond without peel
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
300 g of Chicken breast

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKIN TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Colline Novaresi Nebbiolo Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with the preparation of the all ingredients: clean and peel the carrots, the celery and the onion and cut them in long slices.

Cut the chicken breast in square pieces of medium dimension as shown in the picture below.

Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, when the oil is hot, add the vegetables and let them cook for about 5 minutes.

Then add the chicken breast and let them golden.

Add the almond

and continue the cooking with a cover for about 10 – 15 minutes until the meat is good cooked.
Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Small Pies with Ricotta and Spinach - Appetizer

2009-01-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

This is an easy and good Italian recipe suitable as a delicious appetizer. You can prepare small pies filled with ricotta cheese and spinach personalized for each of your hosts. It is very simple to prepare them if you use a flaky pastry ready otherwise you will need much more time if you want to prepare a homemade flaky pastry. Also the personalization of the small pies is easy you only need a little bit of creative skill to make the decoration. At the end for the preparation of the filling you have only to boil the spinach, put the others ingredients all together, mix and fill the pastry with this mixture, only 15 minutes in the oven and the appetizer is ready to eat.

INGREDIENTS (for 7 - 9 people):
Flaky pastry
200g Ricotta cheese
200g of Spinach
1 Mozzarella cheese
1 Egg
Parmesan
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Valpolcèvera Rosato Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Roll out the flaky pastry with the help of rolling pin. Cut it with a cutter-shape or with a glass in order to obtain small piece of flaky pastry with a particular shape.

Clean the spinach and let them cook in a pan with salted water for about 10 – 15 minutes. Then drain them and let them cool. Put in a bowl the ricotta cheese, add the spinach, the egg, the Parmesan and the mozzarella cut before in small cubes.

Put the pieces of flaky pastry in a pan like this shown in the picture below,

,

make some small holes with a fork on the surface of the pastry and fill them with the mixture of spinach and ricotta cheese.
If you have some flaky pastry left over use it to make some decoration.

Preheat the oven at 180°C, bake the small pie in the oven for 15 minutes until the surface becomes slightly golden.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Fusilli with Sauce of Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant and Swordfish

2008-12-14T16:03:00.000-08:00

This is the recipe of an Italian first course prepared with cherry tomatoes, eggplant and swordfish. The preparation is easy and quite fast: first you have to prepare a simple chopped of garlic and parsley, then you can prepare the cherry tomatoes, the eggplant and the swordfish cutting them in small square pieces. When the chopped is ready, put it in a pan with extra virgin olive oil, add to it the cherry tomatoes then the swordfish and separately fry the pieces of eggplant. When fusilli are ready pour on them all the ingredients and the dish is ready. BUON APPETITO!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
1 Clove of garlic
30 g of Parsley
20 Cherry tomatoes
1 Eggplant
150 g of swordfish in 1 slice
320 g of pasta type fusilli
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Golfo del Tigullio Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for fusilli. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, prepare a chopped of garlic and parsley, add it to the pan and let it cook for 3 – 5 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the cherry tomatoes, the eggplant and the swordfish.
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half or in quarter, add them to the pan with the chopped and let them cook for about 10 minutes.

Peel the eggplant and cut it in small square pieces, let them fry in a pan with hot oil and when they are cooked place them in a dish covered with a kitchen paper in order to remove the excess of oil.

Cut also the swordfish in square pieces and when the cherry tomatoes are ready add them to the pan and let them cook for other 5 – 10 minutes.

In the meantime if the salted water boil add the pasta and cook it for the time indicated on the packaging. When pasta is cooked, before drain it, take some spoons of cooking water and add them to the sauce of cherry tomatoes and swordfish.

Now drain the fusilli, add them to the mixture together with the fried pieces of eggplant,

mix all together and serve hot.

This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Lasagna alla Siciliana - Primo

2008-11-30T02:52:00.000-08:00

This summer my parents spent their holidays in Sicily, in particular in Trapani and during these days they tasted the delicious Italian recipe of “Lasagne alla Siciliana”. This recipe is prepared with traditional vegetables of Sicily, the eggplants, and with a tomato sauce of minced meat of veal and peas and the addition of ham and sweet Sicilian pecorino cheese. You can prepare it with lasagna bought or you can decide to make home-made lasgana, here I show the easy recipe to prepare the home-made lasagna with the help of a pasta machine but in the case you don’t have it you can also use a simply rolling pin, the result will be the same.

INGREDIENTS (for 8 people):
1 / 2 Onion
200 g of Minced meat of veal
200 g of Peas
1,5 L of Tomato sauce
4 Round Eggplants
200 g of Sweet Pecorino cheese
200 g of ham
150 g of Parmesan
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil for fry the eggplants

INGREDIENTS FOR LASAGNA PASTA
400 g of Flour
4 Eggs
Salt

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Santa Margherita di Belice bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with the preparation of the lasagna pasta: put in a bowl the flour, a pinch of salt and the eggs.

Mix all the ingredients and knead the dough until it becomes homogeneous. Let the dough stand for about 20 – 30 minutes so it becomes more soft. After this time start to roll out the dough, you can do this with the help of a rolling pin or more easily with the help of a pasta machine. Here I use the pasta machine.

Start roll out the dough from the biggest thickness of the machine then little by little reduce it until you obtain a pastry of about 2 – 3 mm of thickness.

Cut the pastry in rectangular pieces with about dimension of 15 cm x 10 cm.

Now start with the preparation of the sauce for lasagna: preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, cut the onion in slices and let them cook for 3 – 5 minutes in the hot oil to make it tasteful.

When the onion becomes golden remove it from the oil and add the minced meat of veal. Let it cook for 5 - 8 minutes until it becomes slightly golden,

then add fresh peas and continue the cooking for other 5 – 8 minutes.

Now add the tomato sauce and let the all sauce cook for about 30 – 40 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the other ingredients: eggplants, ham and cheese.
Cut the eggplants in slices

and fry them in hot extra virgin olive oil until they become slightly golden.

When they are cooked put them in a dish covered with kitchen paper in order to remove the excess of oil.
Cut the ham in slices and the cheese in small cubes.
Now you can prepare the lasagna: cover the bottom of a rectangular baking pan with the sauce of meat and peas, put over it lasagna,

pour on it the sauce, make a layer with the fried eggplants, another with the slices of ham and the cubes of cheese

and sprinkle with some parmesan, re-put another layer of lasagna pasta and continue in this way until the pan in full.

Bake at 180°C and cook for about 30 minutes until the surface becomes golden.
Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETTITO!

Double Color Cake - Dessert

2008-11-29T08:03:00.000-08:00

This is the Italian recipe for a delicious double color cake. It is easy and fast to prepare, it’s enough to create two parts: the milk part and the chocolate part and the cake is ready. You need only few Italian ingredients, 15 minutes plus the time of cooking and you can obtain a delicious cake suitable for breakfast but not only, also for snack and as a dessert after dinner.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
250 g of Flour with yeast
150 g of Sugar
2 Eggs
A pinch of salt
200 ml of Milk
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Yeast
3 teaspoons of Cacao
Butter for the pan

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

PREPARATION
Beat the eggs and the sugar in a bowl until obtain a homogeneous cream.

Add the flour and a pinch of salt,

and stir until the mixture become a soft dough, add the milk and the extra virgin olive oil to let the mixture more soft.

Divide the mixture in two parts: one part is ready and we’ll call it the milk part, instead to the other part, called the chocolate part, add some cacao and stir.

Butter and flour a pan removing the excess of flour, pour on it some of the milk part and then some of the chocolate part, do this for 3 times and in this way you can obtain a double color cake.

Bake the cake at 180°C for 40 minutes and check the cooking with a spaghetto. Put it in the center of the cake, then remove it carefully without break the cake and if it is dried means that the cake is good cooked.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Apple Cake - Dessert

2008-11-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

Apple cake is one of the easiest cakes to prepare that allows you to obtain a delicious dessert good for any type of occasions. Christmas is coming and apples can be used to prepare traditional Christmas desserts as strudel that is a one of the traditional desserts of Trentino Alto Adige. But if you have apples, not much time and you still want to obtain an excellent result you can follow the steps of this delicious Italian recipe to make your family very happy. You can also use this delicious recipe as a gift, it’s enough a good Christmas envelope and your friends will be really happy! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
150 g of Flour with yeast
200 g of Sugar
2 Eggs
100 ml of Milk
1 Kg of Apples
A pinch o salt
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
A piece of butter for the pan

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

WINE: Passito di prosseco (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Beat the eggs and 150 g of sugar in a bowl with a wood-spoon.

Add the flour with salt and extra virgin olive oil to the eggs mixture, mix all together until you obtain homogeneous soft dough.

Add some milk little by little, stir and now prepare the apples.

Clean and peel the apples, cut them in square pieces and add them to the soft dough already prepared.

Now the mixture is ready to be cooked for this reason butter a pan of 24 cm of diameter and flour it removing the excess of flour, pour on it the mixture and sprinkle it with some sugar as shown in the picture below.

Bake at 180°C for 40 minutes until the surface is slightly golden,

check the apple cake is good cooked using a spaghetto. Put the spaghetto in the middle of the cake remove it and if it is dry means that the cake is good cooked.
This is the delicious result:

BUON APPETITO!

Farinata of Chickpea - Secondo

2008-07-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

Farinata of chickpea is a thin pie simply prepared with flour of chickpea, water, extra virgin olive oil, rosemary, salt and black pepper, its preparation and cooking is simple and fast. This is an Italian recipe traditional of Liguria, in particular of Genova, Savona and La Spezia. It can be used instead of bread but also as a second course indeed there are different types of Farinata: farinata with Stracchino that is a soft fresh cheese produced in Lombardy, farinata with sausage or farinata with artichokes. I eat farinata for the first time in La Spezia during my summer holyday last year and now that is summer I decide to try to prepare it at home. The preparation is simple and fast and the result is delicious.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
500 g of chickpea flour
1,5 L of water
5 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 branch of rosemary
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour and 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Golfo del Tigullio Bianco DOC (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the chickpea in a bowl, add little by little the water and stir in order to not make lumps.

Add the rosemary, some salt and the extra virgin olive oil,

mix all together and let the mixture stand for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Then cover the bottom of a large baking pan with a sheet of baking paper. Pour on it the mixture of chickpea making a thin layer of 1 cm of thickness

and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the surface of Farinata becomes slightly golden.

Serve it hot accompanied with some slices of ham and some salad.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Fusilli with Asparagus and Squaquerone - Primo

2008-06-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

This Italian first course is prepared with asparagus and squaquerone, two traditional Italian ingredients that I use here in order to prepare delicious pasta based first course. The preparation of this Italian recipe is easy: the asparagus are simply cooked with some onion, water and sprinkle with salt and black pepper, I divide them in two parts and I reduce one of them in cream, I put the two parts together and I add to them the squaquerone, that is a traditional Italian cheese that comes from Emilia Romagna where it is usually use as the main Italian ingredient of Piadina.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320 g of Fusilli
200 g of Asparagus
100 g of Ham steak cut in squared pieces
300 g Squaquerone (an Italian fresh cheese)
1 / 2 Onion
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Torgiano Chardonnay Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for fusilli. Clean the asparagus removing the woody part of the stem and cut them in pieces. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, chop the onion and place it in the pan, let it brown

and then add the pieces of asparagus. Let the asparagus sauté for some minutes,

sprinkle with salt and black pepper then add some water and cook the asparagus for about 10 -15 minutes.

When the asparagus are cooked remove from the pan a half of them and mix them with the help of a mixer in order to obtain a sort of cream. Add to the asparagus in the pan the ham steak,

then add the cream of the asparagus and mix all together.

Add the squaquerone cheese and mix.

When the pasta is cooked pour on it the sauce of asparagus and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Osso Buco alla Milanese - Secondo

2008-06-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Osso Buco alla Milanese is an unusual Italian recipes of this period, unusual because they are a typical dish of the winter period indeed often ossi buchi are served accompanied with polenta. But this week the weather in Milan is cold and so I want to prepare the delicious ossi buchi alla Milanese. Their preparation is simple: it is important to flour the ossi buchi in order to obtain a sort of soup and then you can cook them together with peas, as in the recipe presented below, or with potatoes or as I said before served them with polenta. You can also add some tablespoons of tomato puree in order to obtain a more delicious soup. Buon Appetito!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
1 Chopped carrot
1 / 2 Chopped Onion
1 Chopped Celery
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
80 g of Flour
4 Ossibuchi
2 Tablespoons of Tomato puree
1 Glass of White wine
150 g of Peas
Salt
Black Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Make a chopped of carrot, onion and celery, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a large pan (which is able to contain the 4 ossibuchi) and then add the chopped of vegetables and let it brown for about 5 – 8 minutes paying attention to not burned it.

In the meantime cover completely the surface of the ossibuchi with flour, and boil in salted water the peas for about 5 minutes.

Add the ossibuchi in the pan and let them brown on the both surface, add the wine and let it evaporate.

When the wine is evaporated add the tomato puree, sprinkle with some salt and black pepper and add some water.

Let the meat cook for about 20 minutes, then add the peas and continue the cooking paying attention that there is always in the pain enough water to not attach the meat to the pan.

Continue the cooking for another 30 minutes and when ossibuchi result tender (if the fork easily enter in the meat it is ok) serve them hot with some peas as side dish.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Broad Beans with Eggs and Cream - Second Course

2008-06-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

This is an Italian recipes prepare with another typical vegetables of the summer period: the broad beans. Broad beans are an Italian ingredient ideal to prepare many different type of Italian recipes, they can be served simply raw with a drizzle of oil, some black pepper, and the Italian cheese called Caciocavallo that has a spicy taste ideal with the sweet taste of broad beans, or they can be used for delicious side dish or first course. Here I prepare a delicious side dish simply with broad beans, eggs and cream. The preparation time of this recipe is a bit long because, if you use fresh broad beans, you have to clean them one by one, but the cooking time is very short. To reduce the time you can use broad beans already clean, the most important thing in order to obtain an excellent result is to use fresh broad beans.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 – 6 people):
500 g of Broad beans
60 g of Butter
2 Eggs
125 ml of Cream
PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Castel del Monte bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Prepare the broad beans in this way: remove them from the pod and then remove also the thin skin that covers each broad bean.

Preheat a pan with 30 g of butter, add in it the broad beans and let them cook for about 10 – 15 minutes.

The broad beans are tender legumes that for this reason they don’t need to be cooked for long time, indeed you can eat them also raw. In the meantime mix in a dish the eggs with the cream,

in another pan melt the rest off the butter,

add the mixture of eggs and cream, sprinkle with salt and pepper and let it cook for some minutes.

When the broad beans are ready place them in a platter, pour on them the mixture of eggs and cream and mix all together. You can serve this Italian recipe hot or slightly cold.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Lasagna with Asparagus - Primo

2008-06-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

This Italian recipe is prepared with typical vegetables of the summer period: the asparagus. With them and crescenza, that is a kind of soft cheese typical of Lombardo, you can prepare delicious summer lasagna. The preparation of this Italian recipe is quite simple: you should to prepare a mixture of crumbled bread and walnuts, a mixture of milk, crescenza, Parmesan and béchamel, lasagna and the asparagus cut in thin slices lengthwise. When all these things are ready you should to make layers of them in a baking pan, bake for about 30 minutes and the lasagna is ready. In this recipe the soft consistency of the mixture of crescenza and béchamel is well accompanied with the crunchy consistency of the mixture of bread and walnuts. BUON APPETITO!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 - 6 people):
400 g of Asparagus
1 Roll
30 g of Walnuts
50 ml of Milk
400 g of Crescenza (kind of soft cheese typical of Lombardo)
40 g of Parmesan
350 g of Lasagne
500 ml of Béchamel

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Friuli Annia Pinot bianco (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water, with a drizzle of oil, boil for lasagne; the presence of oil in the water is necessary so the lasagne don’t stick between them.

When water boils add in it 10 lasagne at a time and cook them for 3 – 4 minutes, drain them with the help of a skimmer paying attention to not break them, and place them on a table in order to let them cool.

Then clean the asparagus and remove the hardest part of the stem, place them in high pan with water and after water boils cooked them for about 10 minutes. It is important that the asparagus remain in vertical position in the pan so that their head is out of water and cook with vapour.

When the asparagus are cooked drain them paying attention to not break their head, let them cool and cut them in thin slice lengthwise. In the meantime prepare the bread and the walnuts, crumble them and put them together in a bowl.

In another bowl mix together the milk, the crescenza and the Parmesan.

Now prepare the béchamel looking the instructions presented here, when the béchamel is ready, mix them with mixture of crescenza, and now begin to prepare the lasagna.

Pre heat the oven to 200°C. Cover with a sheet of baking paper a squared baking pan, place on it some mixture of béchamel and crescenza, a first layer of pasta, a layer of asparagus

and a little of the mixture of bread and walnuts, continue in this way until the pan is full.

Bake the pan for about 30 minutes and cook lasagna until the surface become golden. Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Penne with Eggplants, Mozzarella and Tomato Sauce - Primo

2008-05-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

Eggplants, tomato puree, mozzarella, basil, minced meat and Parmesan: these are the main Italian ingredients that I use to prepare this delicious Italian pasta-based first course. Its preparation is easy: first you should prepare the ingredients separately in this way, you should cut the mozzarella, cook the tomato puree with minced meat and basil, cook the pasta type penne and fry the eggplants then you should simply mix all the ingredients together. This Italian recipe seems to suggest another traditional Italian recipe typical of Sicily that is the famous “Pasta alla Norma” but these two recipes are different. In the next recipes I show you the typical preparation also of this.
INGREDIETNS (for 4 people):
350 g of Pasta type penne
800 ml of Tomato puree
2 Eggplants
Oil to fry the eggplants
50 g of Minced meat of veal
1 / 2 of Onion
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
3 – 4 leafs of basil
150 g of Mozzarella
Salt
Parmesan

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Sambuca di Sicilia bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let the salted water boil for pasta. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, cut the onion in slices add them to the oil and let it brown on a low flame in order to not burn them.

Then remove it, add the minced meat and let it brown,

add the tomato puree and the basil, mix all together and let it cook for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the eggplants, clean them, cut them as matches and fry them in a pan with hot oil.

When eggplants are cooked, place them over a sheet of kitchen paper in order to remove the oil in excess

and prepare the mozzarella cutting it in cubes.

When water boils, place in it the pasta and cook it for the time indicating on the packaging, then drain them. Re-place in the same pan a part of pasta, pour on it some sauce, a part of eggplant and a part of mozzarella, sprinkle with some Parmesan and mix all together;

continue in this way until pasta finish and at the end mix all together.
Serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Orecchiette with Asparagus - Primo

2008-05-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

Asparagus are vegetable typical of the spring and summer period in particular from April to June, they are vegetables ideal for the preparation of any kind of Italian recipes. Typically they are used to prepare risotto but very good are also first courses with pasta like the Italian recipes presented below or also second courses and appetizers. Here I prepare a first course made with fresh orecchiette, that is a typical type of pasta from Puglia, seasoned with a sauce of asparagus, cream and walnuts. The preparation of this recipe is simple and fast because the asparagus are an Italian food that need a short time of cooking, indeed only 10 minutes are sufficient in order to make a puree of asparagus, then to obtain the delicious sauce of this recipe it’s sufficient to add some cream and walnuts and so the seasoning is ready. The presence of walnuts give to the sauce a crunch consistency that is well matches with the soft consistency of the puree of asparagus.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
400 of Orecchiette
400 g of Asparagus
30 g of Walnuts crumbled
250 ml of Cream
1 Clove of garlic
Salt
Black Pepper
Marjoram
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Friuli Annia Pinot bianco (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for orecchiette. Wash the asparagus and remove the hardest and woody part of the asparagus’s stem. Now preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan with the clove of garlic and let it brown, in the meantime cut the stems of the asparagus in small discs maintaining the tender head entire

and add them to the pan, add 1 glass of water and let them cook for about 10 minutes.

When the asparagus are cooked, remove from them the best head, that you'll use for the decoration of the dish and place the others in a mixer in order to obtain a sort of puree of asparagus. Re-place the mousse of asparagus in the same pan, add the walnuts, the cream

and sprinkle with salt, black pepper and marjoram,

mix all together and the sauce is ready. When water boils add the orecchiette and cooked them for the time indicated on the packaging, when they are cooked, drain them and add them to the sauce, mix, garnish each dish with the the entire head of the asparagus and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Tortiglioni with 4 Cheeses - Primo

2008-05-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

This is a simple and fast Italian first course to prepare: you should have in your fridge only some delicious Italian cheese and some milk. To make the cheese sauce you can use any kind of Italian cheese except mozzarella because it is a thready cheese and for this reason it is not ideal to make a sauce, in order to obtain the best result you should melt the pieces of the 4 cheeses that you have choose in some milk and simply sprinkle with some black pepper! The Italian cheeses that I choose for this recipe are: Gorgonzola, a typical Italian blue cheese from Piedmont and Lombardy, Toma, an Italian semi-hard cheese typical of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta, Casera, a typical cheese of Valtellina and Parmesan.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320 g of Pasta type “Tortiglioni”
1 Glass of milk
30 g of Gorgonzola cut in pieces
30 g of Toma cut in pieces
30 g Casera cut in pieces
30 g of grated Parmesan
Black pepper
Salt

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Dolcetto d'Ovada Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for pasta. In the meantime prepare the sauce of cheese: place in a pan the milk and the cheeses, let them melt

and then sprinkle with some black pepper.

When the water boils add the pasta and let it cook as indicated on the packaging, then drain them and pour on it the cheeses sauce.

Serve hot and if you want sprinkled on some other Parmesan.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Small Balls of Aubergines - Appetizer

2008-04-13T03:17:00.000-07:00

Small balls of aubergines can be served as an Italian appetizer, they are simple and fast to prepare and do you need only few Italian ingredients to prepare it: the main ingredient of this delicious Italian recipe is round aubergines that they are more sweet than the long ones, parsley and Parmesan. The preparation is simple because you should only make a puree of aubergines and mix it with the other ingredients, make small ball and fry them and so the appetizer is ready!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 – 6 people):
3 Round Aubergines
1 Egg
40 g of Parmesan
30 g of Parsley
1 Clove of garlic
Breadcrumbs
Oil for fry
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Sambuca di Sicilia bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Clean and peel the aubergines, cut them in squared pieces, place them in a pan with water and let them boil for about 15 minutes.

When they are ready drain them, place them in a bowl and with a fork squash them in order to obtain a puree of aubergines.

Let them cool and in them mean time prepare a chopped of parsley and garlic, add it to the puree of aubergines together with the Parmesan and the egg.

Mix all together and add if the mixture is to soft add some breadcrumbs, sprinkle with salt and black pepper

and with the hand make small balls with the mixture like these in the picture below.

Preheat enough oil in a pan, when it is hot fry in it the small balls of aubergines, cook them until the surface become slightly golden.

When they are ready leave them dry from the oil and serve. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Artichokes and Parmesan - Secondo

2008-04-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here another delicious Italian recipes with artichokes, vegetables typical of this period and traditional of Liguria. I like much artichokes and some I try to prepare them in many different way: in this second course recipes artichokes are simply prepared with the addition of some breadcrumbs and Parmesan in flakes in order to give them a crunch consistency. Artichokes cooked in this way can be served as a delicious side dish but also as a complete second course.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
4 Artichokes
40 g of Parsley chopped
40 g of Parmesan in flakes
20 g of Breadcrumbs
1 Clove of garlic
1 Lemon
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 – 30 minutes

WINE: Garda Chardonnay (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Start cleaning the artichokes, remove the spines and the hard external leafs, remove from the stalks the hard part and cut the stalks and the artichokes in slices and place them in a bowl with water and lemon in order to not blacken them. When all the artichokes are ready, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the garlic and let it brown then remove it and add the artichokes.

Sprinkle with salt and black pepper, let them cook for about 5 minutes and add the chopped parsley.

Continue to cook for about 15 – 20 minutes and some minutes before the end of the cooking sprinkle over them some breadcrumbs and the Parmesan in flakes,

let them melt and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Ravioli with Artichokes - Primo

2008-03-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

Artichokes are vegetables typical of the spring period and it seems that they traditionally comes from Liguria as this delicious Italian first course. Artichokes can be used for any type of Italian recipes like “Torta Pasqualina” that is a sort of pie or as a side dish here I use them to prepare the stuffing of these delicious ravioli. In this recipe artichokes are mix with ricotta cheese, Parmesan, parsley and marjoram. The seasoning of this first course is simply made with butter and sage, but if you prefer you can also prepare a sort of cream with walnuts.

INGREDIENTS (for 8 people):
FOR THE DOUGH:
600 g of Flour
2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 Eggs
Salt
8 Tablespoons of warm water
FOR THE STUFFING:
9 Artichokes
250 g of Ricotta Cheese
1 / 2 Onion
1 Lemon
1 Egg
40 g of Parmesan
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
40 g of butter
Some leaf of sage
Parsley
Marjoram
Salt
Black Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Vermentino dei Colli di Luni Lambruschi (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with the preparation of the dough: place in a bowl the flour, the eggs, the water, the extra virgin olive oil and some salt,

mix all the ingredients until you obtain an homogeneous dough. Cover the dough with a sheet of film

an let it stand for about 20 minutes. In the meantime prepare the stuffing: clean the artichokes, remove the hard external leafs and peel the stems in order to use the tender internal part; cut in thin slice the artichokes and the stems and place them in a bowl with water and the lemon to not blacken them.

When the artichokes are ready, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan with thin slices of the onion, then add the artichokes and cook them for about 10 – 15 minutes.

When the artichokes are ready, cut them in small pieces and place them in a bowl, add the ricotta cheese, the egg, the Parmesan, come parsley, some marjoram, salt and black pepper and mix all together.

Let salted water boil for pasta. With the help of a rolling pin roll out the dough to obtain a thin long pastry like this shown in the picture below. Place with a teaspoon some stuffing on the centre of the pastry,

then close the pastry over the stuffing and with a wheel for cutting the pasta cut the ravioli.

When water boils place in it the ravioli and cook them for about 7 – 8 minutes in the meantime melt the butter in a pan with the sage,

drain ravioli with a skimmer, place them in a dish and pour on them the butter, sprinkle with some parmesan and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Lamb with Potatoes - Secondo

2008-03-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

Lamb is the main ingredient of the Easter lunch, as I said in a previous recipe, so here I describe the typical recipe that is prepared in occasion of Easter in Tuscany. This recipe is simple and fast to prepare: you need the leg of lamb, better if it is boned, some rosemary and garlic that give a spicy taste to this delicious Italian second course and potatoes. It is sufficient that you place the entire ingredient in a baking pan then bake it for about 50 minutes and the lamb is ready. In this way you can also prepare another main ingredient of the Easter lunch that is kid.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
2 Leg of Lamb (boned)
2 Cloves of Garlic
Rosemary
30 g of Pork underbelly cut in pieces
6 – 7 Potatoes
Salt
Black Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Colli Berici Tocai Rosso Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Clean and peel the potatoes, cut them in squared pieces, then prepare the legs of lamb: cut in slices and in pieces the pork underbelly, the garlic and the rosemary, place the leg of lamb on a cutting board, make some incisions on its surface and put in them the pieces of porn underbelly, garlic and rosemary.

Sprinkle the lamb with salt and black pepper, then place it in a baking pan and place around it the potatoes, sprinkle also them with salt and pepper and bake for about 50 minutes.

Serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Gnocchi with Ricotta and Spinach - Primo

2008-03-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

Gnocchi with spinach and ricotta cheese is an ideal and delicious Italian first course suitable for vegetarian and not. This type of gnocchi differently from gnocchi of potatoes has a soft consistency, for these reason when you prepare them you should not use an excessive quantity of flour. Important is the use of ricotta cheese and Parmesan that give them a mellow taste, these gnocchi are cooked in water and then baked in oven in order to obtain on their surface a sort of crunchy consistency due to the Parmesan that you should sprinkle over them.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 people):
1 Kg of Spinach
500 g of Ricotta Cheese
1 Egg
80 g of Parmesan
100 g of Flour
50 g of Butter
Nutmeg
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Trentino Nosiola Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Boil salted water for gnocchi. Clean the spinach, place them in a pan with salted water and cook them for about 10 minutes since water boils.

When spinach are ready drain them and place them in a pan with 30 g of butter and sauté them for about 5 minutes.

Let the spinach cold, chop them and place them in a bowl, add the ricotta, the egg, 40 g of Parmesan and sprinkle with salt, black pepper and some nutmeg.

If the mixture is too soft add some flour

but not much because gnocchi should be not too hard and make a sort of balls like these shown in the picture below.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
When the gnocchi are ready and water boils place them in it and when they rise in surface drain them with the help of a skimmer, place them in a baking pan put over them some pieces of butter and sprinkle with the remain of Parmesan.

Bake for about 10 minutes until the surface becomes slightly golden.
Serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Lamb in Fricassee - Secondo

2008-03-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

The lamb is the main ingredient of the Italian recipes of the Easter lunch indeed each region in Italy has its own traditional recipe: here I show you the traditional Italian recipe with which lamb is prepared in Liguria, in this delicious recipe the lamb is accompanied with the artichokes and the eggs. It is an easy recipe to prepare: the lamb is firstly brown in a pan with extra virgin olive oil then you add the artichokes and cook for about 30 minutes, when the cooking is end pour on the lamb and the artichokes a mixture of eggs and juice lemon with some parsley and marjoram, the result is excellent and in this way the meat lamb remains tender!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 – 6 people):
1 Kg of Lamb cut in pieces
6 Artichokes
3 Lemons
2 Eggs
1 / 2 Glass of White Wine
1 Clove of garlic
5 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper
Parsley
Marjoram

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 – 40 minutes

WINE: Rossese di Dolceacqua (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean the artichokes, remove the hardest external leafs, the stalk and the head. Cut them in half remove the internal spiny part and cut each half in three parts and place them in a bowl with water and some lemon juice in order to not blacken the artichokes. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, place in it the garlic,

let them brown and then remove them. Place in the oil the pieces of lamb and let them brown,

sprinkle with salt and black pepper, add the white wine and let it evaporated. Now drain the artichokes, add them to the lamb and cook for about 30 minutes

adding some water if necessary during the cooking. At the end of the cooking place in a bowl the juice of 2 lemons with their grated peel; add the eggs, some parsley and salt

and mix all together. When the lamb is cooked remove the pan from the flame and add the mixture of egg and lemon, mix and serve hot.

This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Torta Pasqualina - Appetizer

2008-03-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

Torta Pasqualina is a typical Italian Easter recipe that comes from Liguria. It is a traditional tart made with a thin pastry stuffed with vegetables, ricotta cheese, Parmesan and eggs and it is traditionally prepared the Easter day as an appetizer. In this recipe I use the chard that is the vegetable traditionally used for its preparation in Liguria but as an alternative you can use the artichokes, then I add the ricotta and 5 entire eggs. A particular characteristic of this tart is that the eggs inside should be entire, for this reason you should make on the surface of the stuffing a sort of holes and place inside them the eggs without brake them. The stuffing is contained in a pastry simply made with flour, extra virgin olive oil, salt and water, as I describe below, or you can use also the flaky pastry. The first pastry result more crunchy than the second and it is ideal for the tender stuffing inside. Its preparation is a bit long but easy and the result at the end is wonderful.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
400 g of Flour
Water
1 Kg of Chard
5 Eggs
100 g of Parmesan
1 / 2 Onion
500 g of Ricotta
7 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper
Marjoram
Parsley

PREPARATION TIME: 45 minutes

COOKING TIME: 50 minutes

WINE: Golfo del Tigullio Vermentino (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the flour on a table as a fountain, add salt, 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, water

and mix all together until you obtain an homogeneous dough, continue to knead the dough for about 10 minutes then divide it in 6 parts and let them stand for 30 minutes covered with a towel.

In the meantime prepare the stuffing: clean the chard and cut them in stripes, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the chard together with the onion cut in slices, sprinkle with salt and the chopped parsley

and cook for about 10 – 15 minutes or until the chard wilt. When the chard are ready let them cold then place them in a bowl together with the ricotta, the Parmesan, salt, black pepper and marjoram and mix.

Preheat the oven to 180°CX. Now with the help of a rolling pin roll the 6 parts of the dough in order to obtain a very thin pastry.

Place a sheet of baking paper on the bottom of a baking-pan, place over it the first pastry and brush its surface with few extra virgin olive oil, place over it the second pastry brush also it with the oil and then place the third but not brush its surface with the oil.

Now pour on it the mixture of chard and ricotta,

makes 5 holes in it and in each holes place the 5 eggs.

Cover the stuffing with the other three pastries in the same way described before.

Close the pastry as shown in the picture below

and bake for 50 minutes until the surface becomes golden.

You can serve it hot but it is delicious also cold.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Patty-cake of Zucchini - Secondo

2008-03-01T07:23:00.000-08:00

This patty-cake of zucchini is prepared according to the Tuscan cooking: the main ingredients used are eggs, zucchini, Parmesan and the Tuscan Pecorino that is a delicious cheese of medium seasoning with a spicy taste, for these characteristics the Tuscan Pecorino is ideal together with the sweet taste of zucchini. For a good preparation of this Italian recipes it is important the cooking of zucchini: the zucchini should be result a bit dry in order to obtain a more homogenous mixture when you add the eggs, the Italian cheese and the breadcrumbs. This Italian recipe can be served as a vegetarian second course or also in small pieces as a spicy appetizer.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
1 Kg of Zucchini
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Some basil
Some parsley
1 Clove of garlic
4 Eggs
40 g of Tuscan Pecorino
40 g of Parmesan
4 Tablespoons of breadcrumbs
20 g of Butter
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 – 40 minutes

WINE: Colli di Conegliano Bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, clean the zucchini, cut them in slices and add them to the pan together with the chopped parsley, the clove of garlic and the chopped basil;

cook for about 5 minutes then sprinkle with salt and black pepper and continue to cook on a low flame covered for other 5 – 10 minutes.

When the zucchini are ready place them in a bowl and let them cold in the mean time place a sheet of baking paper on the bottom of a baking pan of 20 – 24 cm of diameter. When the zucchini are cold add the Parmesan, the Tuscan Pecorino,

the eggs and the breadcrumbs,

mix all together and pour the mixture in the pan.

Sprinkle with some other breadcrumbs and small pieces of butter.

Bake until the surface becomes golden.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Tomato Risotto - Primo

2008-02-15T03:29:00.000-08:00

I like to call this Italian recipe Red Risotto: it is a simple risotto prepared with fresh tomatoes cut in cubes and seasoned with some dry or fresh basil. When you want to cook something with rice easy but delicious this is the ideal Italian recipe. The best result is obtain if you prepare this risotto using: a vegetables broth obtained boiling the vegetables in salted water, sweet cherry tomatoes or san marzano tomatoes typically used to prepare tomato sauce and the type of rice called Arborio that is ideal for excellent risotto.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320 g of Rice Arborio
1 Onion
1 Carrot
1 Celery
1 Potato
150 g of Tomatoes in cubes
Some basil
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Some Parmesan

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Barbera Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with preparing the broth: place in a pan the water, the big pieces of half onion, the celery, the carrot, the potato, salt and let the water boils for about 10 minutes.

Now prepare the risotto: cut in slices the other half of onion, place them in a pan with the extra virgin olive oil and let them golden for 5 minutes

then add the tomato and cook for other 5 minutes.

Place in the pan the rice and let it roast for 3 – 4 minutes,

add the white wine and when it is evaporated begin to add one ladle of hot broth stirring until it is absorbed;

continue in this way, adding ladles of hot broth, for about 15 - 18 minutes. During the preparation of risotto continue to let boil the broth. When the rice result slightly firm to the teeth means that it is ready, serve hot sprinkled with some Parmesan.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Carrots with Cream - Antipasto

2008-02-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

The main ingredients used to prepare this delicious Italian appetizer are carrots, cream and speck that are ingredients with opposite taste: the sweet taste of carrots and the spicy taste of speck join by the cream. The best way to cook carrots with cream is on a low flame so the different flavours mix each other, this Italian appetizer can be accompanied with a dry white wine like Grechetto dell’Umbria that is ideal with the sweet taste of this appetizer.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
500 g of Carrots
125 ml of Cream
40 g of Speck in cubes
40 g of Butter
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 25 – 30 minutes

WINE: Grechetto dell’ Umbria (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean, peel and cut the carrots in slices. Let the butter melt in a pan, add the carrots and let them brown on a low flame for about 10 minutes

then add the speck, sprinkle with salt and black pepper,

add the cream

and continue to cook for other 10 – 15 minutes until the carrots become tender.

Serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Tart with Ricotta and Custard - Dessert

2008-02-09T05:13:00.000-08:00

Today I open my fridge and I see ricotta cheese so thinking about what to do with it I decide to prepare a delicious Italian tart with a mixture of ricotta cheese and custard. The preparation of this Italian recipe is simple you should pay attention only when you cook custard in order to not make lumps and the ingredients that you need are only flour, eggs, butter, sugar and lemon.

INGREDIENTS (for 8 – 10 people):
250 g of Flour
8 g of Yeast for sweet
120 g of Sugar
80 g of Butter
2 eggs
250 g of Ricotta (Italian cheese)
INGREDIENT FOR CUSTARD:
500 ml of Milk
1 Lemon peel
40 g of Flour
120 g of Sugar
5 Yolks
9 g of Vanillina

PREPARATION TIME: 45 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Moscato di Siracusa Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place in a bowl the flour, the sugar, the butter in pieces, the eggs, the yeast

and mix all together in order to obtain homogeneous dough that should stand for about 30 minutes in fridge covered with film.

Preheat the oven to 150 – 180°C, in the meantime prepare the custard: place in a pan the yellow part of the lemon peel, the milk and let it boil,

mix in another pan the sugar with the yolks,

add little by little the flour mixed with the vanillina in order to obtain a homogeneous batter

then place the pan on a low flame and add little by little to it the boiled milk without the lemon peel stirring to not make lumps.

Let the mixture boiled and continue to cook for about 5 minutes stirring from time to time until you obtain a sort of cream.

Now let the cream cold and then add the ricotta cheese mix all together.

When the dough is ready dampen a sheet of baking paper and place it on the bottom of a baking pan of 24 cm diameter, roll out the dough 1 cm thick on it

and pour the mixture of custard and ricotta cheese on it.

Now bake for about 1 hour or until the surface of the ricotta mixture become golden.

Let it cool, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!