Tag: Italian food

The various worlds of alternative Pesto’s recipes

The Italian people as every foreigner know well, are really traditional when it comes to food. Pizza and lasagne have to be made so and so, the same for other delicious dishes coming from our great background. But the truth is that recipes are various and also the most sacred ones can be changed and still be tasty! In this kind of open-mind attitude, let’s talk about Pesto then!

A fresh pesto is not only the world-famous Pesto alla genovese! You can make it with a different choice of ingredients, starting for example with the herbs right from your garden! To make a delicious pesto and tossing with pasta or spreading it on bread, here is some of “alternative” recipes to the Genova’s “big brother” Pesto.

Let’s start with an herbs’ pesto! You will need:

  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • 1 cup fresh spinach leaves
  • 12 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh oregano

The directions is similar to the ones you follow for the “normal” pesto recipe: you need to blend the garlic, the basil, the parsley, the spinach and the oregano with the pine nuts, the Parmesan cheese, then season with salt, pepper and olive oil in a blender until the mixture will be smooth and similar to a pastry, a really thick one or a really waterly one.

It depends on the amount of olive oil you drop in the mixture and of course on your taste!

Try also to substitute the pine nuts with almond or with pecans! It will be worthy to try all the choices!

And also try to add lemon juice to make it smoother! Alternative pesto are all over the world: just go beyond the tradition and start to challenge yourself with these original and fantastic alternative ingredients.

Italian Risotto with mushroom: unforgetable!

The authentic Italian-style risotto is a very slow way of cooking rice!  It should be slightly al dente, and it takes a lot to melt all the ingredients together but it is really worthy for your mouth to wait for such a masterpiece.

Let’s start to gather the ingredients on your kitchen table. You will need:

  • 1 – 1/2 cups Arborio rice
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • Chicken broth (a pan)
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 pound mushrooms
  • 1 pound white mushrooms
  • 2 shallots
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Is it everything on the table? Well we can now start! Here is your detailed directions:

  1. In a saucepan, warm the broth you have already made over low heat.
  2. You shoud warm up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the chopped mushrooms, and cook until soft (ca. 3 minutes). Remove the mushrooms and their liquid, and put aside.
  3. Add one tablespoon olive oil and stir in the shallots and after one minute add the rice, stirring with oil, ca. 2 minutes. When the rice has turned to a golden color, quickly pour in the wine.
  4. Remeber to  stirring constantly until the wine is fully absorbed by the rice!
  5.  Add slowly half a cup of broth to the rice; then stir until the broth is absorbed. You wll repeat this operation until the rice is al dente, ca. 15 -20 minutes max.
  6. Now you can removeyour risotto from the heat, andyou will stir in the mushrooms together with their liquid. Add the butter, the chives, and to top it all a lovely spread of Parmesan cheese. Season abit with salt and pepper, and taste it!

Your tips to enjoy a real Lasagne

“W le lasagne!” Do you know how to make a real fantastic plate full of gourmet lasagne! Here is the recipe we collected from many sites and directly form the voice of lovely Italian grannies. What do you need to create this masterpiece and make everybody happy in your family? Here we go with the ingredients:

  • 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
  • 3/4 pound lean ground beef
  • 1/2 cup minced onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
  • 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 12 lasagna noodles
  • 16 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
  • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

I know, it is a lot but still you need all of this to make a great lasagna! How do we work all together? No panic, it is easy!

  1. In a  pan, let’s cook the sausage, the ground beef, the onion, and the garlic over medium heat until well browned.
  2. Stir in the right amount of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Do not forget to season the sauce with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons parsley. Cover for about 1 hour.
  3. Boil the water and cook the dried lasagna slices in the boiling water for 8- 10 minutes. Drain it, and rinse it with cold water. In a mixing bowl, put togheter ricotta cheese with egg, the remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
  4. Take a baking dish or pan and put first a cup of sacue, then put  4-6 lasagna slices lengthwise over the meat sauce. Spread on it one half of the ricotta cheese mixture and top with a third of mozzarella cheese. Again you will need to put a cup of meat sauce over the mozzarella with ca. 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Put on the lasagna layers (again 4 to 6, depending on the lenght of your baking dish), and top it all with the remaining mozzarella and some Parmesan cheese. Do another layer if possible; otherwise cover with some foil.
  5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (ca. 190 degrees C).
  6. Bake your fantastic lasagna for 25 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake it for 25 minutes more.
  7. Cool about 20 minutes before serving and then…enjoy with a fantastic red wine from Umbria, Tuscany or Abruzzo (we love Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and we feel we can advice you this wine!).

Rabbit Ligurian style: the taste of wilderness

If it is true that Liguria is famous for its pesto sauce, caciucco style fish stew (ciuppin) and its Focaccia, for its superb olive oil and olives like the “taggiasca” type.  Alongside these recipes, we have also the territory as Cinque Terre, the elegant seaside towns of Portofino, Rapallo and Santa Margherita Ligure. But also it deserve a visit the  inland areas, with its medieval villages from the top of the hills full of tradition and of course of delicious food!
The Ligurian cuisine has also a fab star called coniglio alla ligure (rabbit ligurian style).
Ingredients are genuine and with a tiny spike of wilderness:
1 rabbit, weighing approx. 1.5 kg;
2 tbsp each, of finely chopped carrot, onion and celery;
1 tbsp each crushed walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, and hazelnuts;
1 clove garlic, minced;
1 bay leaf;
1 salted anchovy, rinsed and chopped;
1 tbsprinsed capers;
100 g black olives;
1 glass dry white wine;
50 ml extra virgin olive oil;
Meat or vegetable stock;
Handful fresh thyme, chopped.

How to make it?

First you should chop the rabbit into pieces. In the while heat the olive oil in a large pan and throw in it some chopped carrot, onion and celery. Cook all gently until the onion looks soft and transparent.
Add the rabbit and cook over a medium heat. The rabbit will become browned on all sides.

Put inside the pan the crushed nuts, the garlic, 1 bay leaf, the anchovy, the capers and the olives, while season with salt and pepper.
Pour in the white wine and stir until most of wine has gone.

Add enough stock sufficient  to cover the rabbit, then cover up and cook over a lower heat for ca.  40-50 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the rabbit is completely cooked.
Add the chopped thyme and serve with a bit of polenta.

Frico: a gorgeous recipe from Udine

Frico is a fantastic recipe made from cheese and potatoes. In the North West corner of Italy, Frico is a typical dish originated from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy.  In some parts of the region people like to add onions, some others like to put an egg  into the mix. In the end adjusts the frico recipe, often to follow their family tradition.

The two fundamental ingredients for the frico recipe? Potatoes and cheese.The egg is required to increase the volume of the dish!  Sometimes instead of boiling the potatoes, some people just grate the uncooked potatoes and carry on making the frico, like the Swiss potato rösti.  For the frico recipe the cheese is really important; just use the type of cheese they made in Friuli region: Montasio cheese.

So Boil the potatoes, smashed with a fork and add half of the amount of  fresh Montasio (about 2 months old) and half of a semi-aged Montasio (about 5 months old), otherwise use what you can get. A fresh cow’s milk cheese will be also good. You may find this type of cheese in an Italian deli shop or from a continental cheese importer.

Try not to go cheap on the cheese! And please, if it is impossible for you to get a lovely Montasio, whatever age you can find it, then look for Asiago cheese. It is really good indeed and  it will work as good as the Montasio’s one!

If you are not kissed by the luck’s fairy, no panic at all! Just look for some good mild cow’s milk cheese. You can eat with rye bread (or German type bread) and a glass of red wine (Montepulciano).

 

Home made bread: yummy recipe

Make bread at home this winter! the “Pane fatto in casa”‘s recipe will explain how to make your own Italian country bread at home! In Italy there are lots of varieties of bread: the art of making this delicious food also gives a lot of different names to the results.

It depends on the region of Italy the recipe comes from. let`s try to make Altamura type of bread. it comes from Puglia, a region located in the South of Italy

Ingredients are: 500 g (1.1 lb) Durum wheat semolina, 10 g (a bit less than ½ oz) Fresh yeast, 10 g (1 tbs) Salt, 300 ml (½ pint) Warm water (1 part hot and 2 parts cold), 7.5 ml (½ tbs), ½ tsp of sugar

Ready for the directions?

Put 150 ml of warm water into a jug. Break the fresh yeast (you can buy from Jewish shops a really good one) into pieces and put it into a jug as well. Add the sugar and stir until the yeast is completely dissolved. Cover the jug with a towel and leave to rest (ca. 10 minutes). Put the semolina flour into the big bowl, add the salt and stir. After 10 minutes, whisk  a bit. Work the dough and Put the remaining 150 ml of warm water into the jug. Add the semolina flour into the bucket. On the top of the flour add the remaining 150 ml of warm water.

Knead the dough and when it is ready, sprinkle some plain flour in the bottom of the bowl. Put  the dough into the bowl and cover. Rise the dough inside the oven (you preheat it and leave it on off mode, then put the dough) to rise for 2 hours.

Now put the dough on a working surface, work it with your hands and make a rectangular layer (20×30 cm and 2-3 cm thick). Put on the tray, sprinkle some flour or olive oil and it is done!

 

Seafood pizza: when the Earth meets the water

The  seafood pizza: when Earth meets water! A fab opportunity to put together ingredients coming from different “worlds”: the flour coming from mother Earth and from its tasty fruits, and the fish, coming from the sea and the ocean , so healthy for the persons and so tasty for you! It is difficult to resit to the enchanting call of this syren! So come on board to read one of the good and different golden crispy pizza full of love and fish!

If you have already made the pizza dough, for the topping you need to use 1 Monkfish tail, Tiger prawns
Green olives (stoned), Caper berries, Tomato passata di pomodoro. You can add also some fresh basil leaves and coarse semolina flour  for the pizza peel.

When making pizza,always avoid topping the pizza with fresh tomatoes! The  waterly juice content inside them will make the pizza base soggy. Dry the tomato first and put it on in the oven. Set the oven at its lowest (around 100C) and in a couple of hours it is going to be done. The tomatoes should  retain a slight juiciness. Pre-heat the oven, cut the monkfish tail into pretty small pieces, put some coarse semolina flour onto the pizza peel.

Move the pizza base on the peel, quickly sprinkle the tomato sauce and top the pizza base with the ingredients you have chosen.

A final splash with olive oil all over the pizza will help to cook a bit everything in a soft way.

Nowall in the oven and bake it for 5-7 minutes until the base looks crispy and golden!!!