Homemade potato gnocchi with meat sauce

In Rome we say "Thursday gnocchi", but in reality in my family gnocchi were always prepared on Sundays, when we were all together. The skilled and wrinkled hands of my dear grandmother, often delighted us at family lunches, in which in the morning she kneaded the gnocchi and my mother prepared the meat sauce and it was immediately a great party! However, time passes inexorably for everyone... My dear grandmother is always with me in my heart, along with sweet scents and memories, and every time I happen to prepare gnocchi for my wife and our son, my heart tightens letting itself be carried away by memories. Among the many, a beautiful one was when at the age of 28 (39 years ago... as I am old) together with my best friend, we spent the whole morning at her house to be taught this succulent dish. Of course, we did very well having an exceptional teacher and our friends licked their lips! Over the years I have modified the recipe by adding an egg, while my grandmother didn't put it, try both versions and choose your favorite!

Ingredients

For the gnocchi dough

1 kg Potatoes 

300 g flour

1 Eggs

1 pinch Fine salt

For the meat sauce

Minced pork

Minced beef

500 g Peeled tomatoes

1 tablespoon Tomato paste 

1 Onions

Extra virgin olive oil

half glass Dry white wine

 Fine salt

Preparation

Finely slice an onion and fry it over low heat in a saucepan with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, then add the minced meat, mixing everything to flavor it and breaking it up with the tip of a wooden spoon. Season with salt and when it is well browned, deglaze with the white wine, raising the heat a little. When the wine has evaporated and the sauce has withdrawn a little, add the concentrate. Stir thoroughly, add half a glass of water, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Now add the peeled tomatoes, season with salt again (taste) and finish cooking for another 25 minutes or so, then turn off and let rest. Wash the potatoes carefully, put them in a pan of cold water on the stove and count about 30 minutes from when it boils. Once the time has elapsed (to be on the safe side, pinch the potatoes with a fork, to check that they are soft and therefore ready) drain them in a colander and as soon as they are lukewarm, peel them immediately by placing them in a bowl. Take a potato masher and start passing them through it by squeezing them well into another bowl. Repeat the operation a second time, so that you can crush even coarser pieces that may have escaped the first time. Stand on a pastry board or work table, sift the flour in the center of the board, put the potatoes on top, form a hole and pour the lightly beaten egg with a pinch of salt, knead quickly, just enough to collect everything, obtaining a soft dough. Dust a part of the table with flour, and put the dough there. Peel off one piece at a time with a knife and form long and thick cords 2 or 3 cm, then always with a knife or a tarot, cut the gnocchi by about one cm (it also depends on how you like them, whether small, medium or large). Once you have the gnocchi, roll them gently and quickly to give the classic elongated shape, or if you like them striped, use the special wooden board. As you make them, sprinkle them with flour to keep them from sticking, and continue. Once you have them all, let them rest for about twenty minutes. Boil the water in a tall saucepan, as soon as it boils, start dipping the gnocchi, I recommend A FEW at a time (about a dish), in this way they will not stick together. As you drain the gnocchi (use a slotted spoon) transfer them directly to a salad bowl and dress. The gnocchi come back to the surface quickly, that is the exact moment when you will have to drain them, STRICTLY with a slotted spoon, the round perforated scoop so as not to ruin them and be able to drain them as you dip them. Once they've all been drained and seasoned, sprinkle with plenty of grated hard cheese and bring your potato gnocchi with meat sauce to the table!

Note

Grandma's tip: for a perfect outcome of the gnocchi, it is essential to choose potatoes, the "old" yellow ones, or the red ones. The dough should not be kneaded too much, but just enough to collect it forming a soft ball, otherwise you risk making the gnocchi too hard.

 

Polenta with broccoli rabe

Polenta with turnip greens, a tasty and easy-to-make Calabrian recipe. A simple polenta enriched with turnip greens sautéed in oil, garlic and chili. Calabrian recipe is a poor dish that my grandmother used to enrich with beans, pieces of sausage and pork cracklings. The turnip greens can be mixed with polenta but I prefer to add them on the surface to better identify the ingredients. Let's see together how to proceed. A very simple single dish, or second course depending on the quantity, that combines the tradition of Northern and Southern Italy. Fast and nutritious, it is excellent on these winter days.

Ingredients

1 kg turnip greens

2 cloves Garlic

Chili pepper

300 g Instant polenta

1.2 l Water

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Preparation

Clean the turnip greens and remove the tougher leaves, keeping the florets and the most tender leaves. Wash well and place everything in a colander. In a saucepan, bring plenty of salted water to a boil and boil the turnip greens, letting it cook for about 10/15 minutes, stirring often. The cooking time depends on the length of the buds, but it is recommended to leave them al dente. Then drain the turnip greens, removing all excess water. Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a non-stick pan and sauté the garlic with the chili; Add the boiled turnips and season with salt. Sauté the turnips in a pan for about 10 minutes without a lid, so that everything dries well and, once ready, remove from the heat. In a tall, large saucepan, bring plenty of salted water to a boil and pour in the polenta, stirring vigorously with a whisk. Cook for about 8 minutes or until the polenta has acquired the desired consistency. When the polenta is ready, divide it into the various plates and place a generous forkful of sautéed turnip greens on each of them. Serve hot with slices of toasted bread. A dish that can also be enjoyed cold or, just add a little water, and heat on the stove mixing everything. A recipe that can also be made with whole meal polenta and turnip like can be replaced with chard with a much more delicate flavor.

  

Pork chop with beans

Brrr how cold! Then you need something warm! From the province of Cuneo, pork chop with beans. Always drawing recipes from the book of: Piedmontese cuisine!

Ingredients 

4 pork chops

50 g butter

250 g peeled tomatoes

1/2 cup stock cube stock

4-5 sage leaves

1/2 glass of red wine

1 can of beans

salt

black pepper

Steps

In a saucepan, brown the butter with the sage for a few minutes, add the chops, brown them on both sides, salt, pepper and pour the wine that will evaporate. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook slowly for about 15-20 minutes. If necessary, add a little broth and the beans about halfway through cooking. Serve the chops on a serving plate, with the beans around them and covered with the cooking juices.

 

Venison stew in red wine 

Venison is a wild meat and, like all wild meats, it needs a marinade in preparation for cooking, which must be long and over a low flame. The preparation is very similar to that of the wild boar stew that I published a few weeks ago, but in this case I used a greater amount of flour to create a thicker sauce in order to season a nice portion of polenta, which goes wonderfully with the venison. Let yourself be amazed by this venison stew, a dish that is simply amazing!

Ingredients

500 g venison

2 carrots

1 red onion

2 ribs celery

2 sprigs rosemary

3 bay leaves

salt

Pepper

flour

red wine

juniper

Preparation

Let's start immediately with the marinade of the meat, for which it will take at least 12 hours, but even better would be a whole day. In a bowl, place the venison stew together with a chopped carrot, a celery stick, a red onion cut in half, rosemary, bay leaf, salt, pepper and 2/3 juniper berries. Cover everything with red wine and let it rest in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap. We then drain our venison well and keep the marinade liquid aside, removing the vegetables instead. Take some new vegetables (half a red chip, half a carrot and a celery stick) and coarsely chop them in a pot with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and a knob of butter. Flour our venison chunks evenly and brown them over high heat for 4/5 minutes, stirring frequently. Then deglaze everything with a glass of new red wine, and when the alcoholic aroma of the latter has evaporated, add all the marinade liquid. Lower the heat to low and cook our venison stew for about 3 hours. Remember to turn the stew frequently and add broth or hot water if needed. After about 3 hours, make sure that our venison stew is balanced with salt and pepper, and add some if necessary. Finish cooking until the sauce has thickened enough to serve as a condiment for the polenta that we will prepare separately. Our venison stew is cooked to be brought to the table! In this case, in addition to the polenta already mentioned, I also served everything with excellent caramelized red onions! Enjoy your meal!

Wine experts think this Italian Barbaresco wine would be a match made in heaven with this  dish. 

1998 Gaja Sori San Lorenzo Langhe-Barbaresco, Piedmont, Italy

Wine Advocate Oct 30, 2001 by Robert parker Jr

The multi-faceted 1998 Sori San Lorenzo offers up notes of lead pencil, smoke, tobacco, tar, rose petals, black fruits, and espresso. Already incredibly expressive, soft, sexy, and voluptuous, jammy fruits infused with toasty oak cascade over the palate. This easily understood, seamless, pure, classic 1998 should drink well for 20-25 years.

Once it opened it held together for at least 2 hours, until the bottle was gone. Amazing.

Sausages and broccoli 

One of the cornerstones of Neapolitan cuisine and Campania in general. A poor, predictable, perhaps banal (or rather trivialized) partnership but if made using quality raw materials, it arouses great emotions. It's easy to say "sausages and broccoli"! But how many have had the pleasure of tasting a "sausages and friarielli" made "by trade"? How many have been lucky enough to try "home" friarielli, those grown in the garden behind the house, crunchy, bright intense green and with a distinctly, pleasantly bitter taste? How many people know the aroma and flavor of the meat contained in a pork sausage grown by eating only wild herbs, and soaked bread? Are we sure that everyone uses homegrown garlic, and not the musty Chinese one? And the chili pepper? It must be fresh, capable of giving the dish flavor and aroma as well as the necessary charge of strength. Finally, needless to say, olive oil is got to be one of the good ones.

Ingredients

2 pork sausage 400-500 grams each

3 bundles of broccoli

2 cloves of garlic

olive oil

fresh chili pepper

salt

Preparation

Clean the broccoli, removing the stems and the most damaged leaves. In the meantime, put the sausage in a pan and cover with water. After about 10 minutes, gently prick the sausage with the tines of a fork, so that some of the fat ends up in the water. Cook for another 5 minutes. Remove all the water and, in the same pan, add the oil, a crushed clove of garlic, letting everything brown slowly for about 10-15 minutes.

In a separate pan, brown the other clove of garlic crushed in the oil, add the broccoli, salt and cover. As soon as the broccoli are slightly softened, uncover, season with chili pepper and continue cooking over high heat for another 5 minutes or so. Add the sausages to the pan with the broccoli and leave to flavor for another 5 minutes. Serve hot. It is also good cold to stuff a nice sandwich of wood-fired bread.

Paired wine ***  Piedirosso Campi Flegrei Per'è

Grape variety: 100% Piedirosso Alcohol content: 12% Serve at the ideal temperature of 16-18 ° C.

Tasting note

Ruby red color with violet reflections, at the nose dominate initially toasted notes, typical and unmistakable smoked of this grape variety, but slowly emerge also those of small wild red fruits that complete the aromatic picture. In the mouth ample, pleasant, fresh and medium persistent, "young to drink young". Excellent with this dish!

Pizza with a Heineken beer

What beer pairs best with pizza?

When it comes to pairing beer with pizza, there are a few classic options that tend to work well. The carbonation and bitterness of a good IPA can complement the richness of cheese and meat on a pizza. A lager, with its crisp and clean taste, can also be a great choice to refresh the palate between bites. Additionally, a lighter beer like a pilsner can be a refreshing match for a variety of pizza toppings. Ultimately, the best beer to pair with pizza depends on personal taste, so feel free to experiment and find your perfect combination!

BEER & PIZZA DOUGH

Beer pizza dough basic recipe for homemade pizza light and digestible, pizza with beer dough is fabulous! The result is a pizza that is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, perfect to fill in any way you want, if you haven't tried the beer pizza dough recipe yet, do it now because you will be amazed, it's a very easy recipe, I kneaded everything by hand in a bowl, but of course you can also use the mixer. For the beer pizza base you obviously have to use a light beer and the beauty is that once cooked, the beer is not felt but gives the dough air, softness and crunchiness at the same time. Beer pizza contains very little yeast because beer also helps in leavening, I fell in love with this basic pizza recipe and I think I will never give it up! The ingredients are few and simple, and if you prepare the beer pizza dough in the morning, in the evening it is ready to make pizzas at will! Let's see how to make beer pizza dough! And if you try it... Let me know!

INGREDIENTS

500 g flour 

200 ml light beer

200 ml water

3 g fresh brewer's yeast

50 ml extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp salt

Preparation

Put the warm water in a bowl and add the brewer's yeast. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Stir until the yeast is completely dissolved. Add the beer, extra virgin olive oil and stir with a spoon. Add the flour. Always knead the mixture with a wooden spoon. Add the salt last and knead again. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 4-5 hours until it doubles in volume. Once the rising time has elapsed, take the pizza dough and knead it with your hands to deflate it. Divide it into 4 pieces and shape into balls. Knead them on a well-floured work surface and give them a round shape. Place the pizza base in a well-oiled baking dish. Season the pizza however you like. Bake the pizza with beer dough in a static oven at 200° for about 15-20 minutes. Your beer pizza is ready!

 

How is mozzarella made?

A freshly made mozzarella is eaten at room temperature and doesn’t require any seasoning. Do you want to know all the curiosities about how mozzarella is made? Follow me in this article and find out everything about this cheese!

Mozzarella, the most consumed fresh cheese in Italy, is a typical Italian product loved by young and old, known all over the world for its exquisiteness. It is a fresh stretched curd cheese. This means that it is prepared through a special process that makes its texture tender and stringy. Its characteristic is that it has a delicate flavor: a beloved food in Italian and international cuisine.

It has a fascinating history, its name refers to the verb "mozzare", which is the cut that the dairy artisan makes by cutting the spun curd pasta by hand to form mozzarella. It has ancient origins: some say that this cheese could date back to the time of the Roman Empire. It is thought that the Romans began making a primitive form of mozzarella cheese using cow's milk.

Others believe it was invented by monks of the monastery of San Lorenzo, in Capua, southern Italy during the 12th century. In 1570, this cheese was mentioned for the first time in the cooking manual of Bartolomeo Scappi, the cook of the papal court. This delicacy quickly spread to the surrounding region, thanks to its unique qualities. Today, mozzarella is produced throughout the country, but in southern regions such as Campania, Puglia and Calabria, you will find the excellence of "Made in Italy" cuisine.

 Interesting facts about mozzarella

This cheese is a key ingredient in many Italian recipes. Some examples include "mozzarella in carrozza," a fried dish with mozzarella between two slices of bread; the famous "caprese salad", consisting of mozzarella, tomatoes and basil; pizza, in which mozzarella is the undisputed star; and the "supplì", tasty breaded and fried rice balls stuffed with mozzarella typical of Rome. These are just a few examples of how mozzarella enriches Italian cuisine. The versatility of mozzarella has also created unusual combinations that have been very successful. Try it with fruit, especially with grapefruit and strawberries, or with anchovies and raw prawns.

Mozzarella is featured in several films, which have celebrated this Italian culinary excellence. In "Mozzarella Stories (2011)" the screenplay makes mozzarella the real protagonist of the comedy. In a scene from the film "Bicycle Thieves (1948)", the protagonist and his son eat a stringy mozzarella in a carriage. In the film "Benvenuti al Sud (2010)", the Zizzona of Battipaglia is exalted which, during its appearance on the big screen, increased its sales. These films helped spread the love for mozzarella around the world. In the field of fashion, mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO was chosen as a symbol of Italian excellence for the fashion show of an important brand and also appeared as a course in the menu proposed to the guests of the evening.

Internationally renowned chefs, such as Gordon Ramsay, have made mozzarella known around the world thanks to their passion for Italian cuisine. Their gourmet creations and appearances on television shows have made this cheese a globally famous ingredient. In fact, there is no shortage of foreign imitations. In China, you can find "Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella", in Japan "Mumu Mozzarella" with the DOC Tokyo brand, in Hungary "Mozzarella Italia" and in Thailand "Mozzarella di Murrah".

There are several types of mozzarella in Italy, each with its own distinctive characteristics. Here are some of the main ones:

Mozzarella di Gioia del Colle DOP: stretched curd mozzarella produced in the city of Gioia del Colle, in Puglia. It is recognized as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product and is produced using cow's milk. The transformation process follows the traditional whey-graft technique, with coagulation obtained by the addition of calf rennet. Its flavor is sweeter and more delicate.

Traditional Mozzarella TSG (Traditional Specialty Guaranteed): this is the traditional mozzarella, made from cow's milk, produced in different Italian regions. In its production, milk coagulation can be achieved through several methods, including the addition of animal rennet or vegetable rennet. It also follows strict quality standards and is highly regarded for its freshness and softness.

Ingredients

1 liter of milk (preferably not ultra-pasteurized)

2.5 ml rennet (vegetable or animal)

5 g salt

250 ml water

Procedure

Heat the milk to 32-35°C in a large saucepan. Add the rennet and let it sit for 30-40 minutes until you have a solid curd. Cut the curd into pieces like walnuts and let it sit for 2-3 hours. Heat the curd and whey to 54-57°C, stirring constantly until the curd becomes stringy. Shape the mozzarella into balls or other desired shapes. Add salt to the mozzarella and let it cool in cold water. Store the mozzarella in its liquid or in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.

As for storage, homemade mozzarella can be eaten fresh in the first few days. To regenerate it before consumption, soak it in warm water to soften it slightly. Keep in mind that mozzarella does not store well in the freezer.

Finally, for vegetarians, vegetable rennet or citric acid can be used for the preparation of mozzarella at home. For vegans, there are vegan variants of mozzarella that use plant-based ingredients and do not contain milk or animal rennet such as: cashew, almond, soy or coconut milk.

 

 

Swordfish

Swordfish with a delicious Calabrian recipe. A delicious tasty and full-bodied sauce to season swordfish in one of those traditional recipes that are always liked. As often happens, Calabrian and Sicilian cuisine are very close, so this same recipe can be found in the Messina version, equally irresistible. You can make it either as slices or with pieces of swordfish and with sauce, then season a plate of spaghetti that will make you go to heaven. Let's go together to the kitchen to see how to cook swordfish with the delicious Calabrian recipe and then... Everyone at the table!

Ingredients

2 slices swordfish

160 g tomatoes

120 g onions

10 g capers

20 g olives

1 pinch oregano

3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil

Let's prepare together the swordfish 

Cut 120 g of onions into thin slices and set aside, pit 20 g of olives and desalt 10 g of capers in water. Pour 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into a pan then add the onions that you had cut into slices and let them brown. Add the diced tomatoes, pitted olives, capers and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Place the slices of swordfish, half a glass of water, a pinch of oregano on top of the sauce and let them cook with the lid on for another 10 minutes until you see that the water has evaporated. Halfway through cooking, sprinkle the slices of fish with the sauce you are cooking to make them well flavored. Season with salt if necessary and bring the swordfish to the table covered with its sauce... Enjoy your meal!

Tip

Swordfish does not require much cooking, so about ten minutes is more than enough if you use slices, otherwise if you use small pieces then continue for 5 minutes more.

 

Steak with a splash of lemon 

Today I'm going to show you a sprint recipe: lemon and rosemary steaks, a second course ready in five minutes! The preparation at the end is longer than cooking, because these tasty slices of meat stay in the pan for only two minutes! Among the ingredients you won't find salt, because they are already very tasty thanks to the lemon juice and chopped rosemary.

Ingredients

steaks weighing 300 gr. approximately

1 lemon

1 sprig of 10 cm. rosemary

extra virgin olive oil to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Steps

Cut each steak into 3-4 smaller pieces and pat dry thoroughly with kitchen paper. Wash the sprig of rosemary, dry it and remove the needles. Chop the needles quite finely. Squeeze the lemon juice. Pour a drizzle of oil into a large non-stick pan and brown the rosemary for a minute over high heat, then add the slices of meat and cook them for only 30 seconds on both sides. Pour the lemon juice into the pan and let it evaporate for only 1 minute. Add a good sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper and serve the lemon steaks immediately. Enjoy your meal! 

Amberjack fillet with peppers, with chopped pistachios

The recipe for amberjack fillet with peppers, a recipe cooked and eaten for a second course that is not only delicious but also good for you. Amberjack fillet, delicious fish, peppers that can become a tasty side dish in many other dishes or we can enjoy them on their own. Don't miss this delicious recipe, a perfect second course for everyone but it will be especially the adults who will enjoy it to the fullest. For the little ones, only the fillet is more suitable, perhaps even without pistachio. In a very short time we can prepare a tasty amberjack but the advice is to have the fish filleted by those who are experts.

Ingredients

1 pepper

1 handful of olives

1 clove of garlic

olive oil

salt

1 handful of chopped pistachios

2 amberjack fillets

Preparation

We clean a pepper, even if it is not red it is fine too. Remove seeds and filaments, cut into strips and put on the baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, salt and toast at 200° C. Remove from the oven and put them in the plastic bag for 10 minutes while still hot, so we can remove the skin easily. Cut the peppers into strips. In a frying pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil with the garlic clove and place the amberjack fillets on the skin side. We also add the pitted and crushed olives. Crush the fish a little to keep it from curling, add salt, add the peppers and then deglaze with the white wine. Serve by adding the chopped pistachios on the amberjack fillets.

 

Roman carbonara 

The real Roman carbonara, as it is done in Rome: finally the recipe that we all have to keep at hand. , as it is done in Rome: finally the recipe that we all have to keep at hand. Although we are projected towards the future, the heart is always there and people want to see this: the product, the tradition, the stories, carbonara, like many other Roman dishes. 

Ingredients

4 egg yolks

black pepper

to taste 200 g of guanciale cut into strips

400 g of pasta

150 g of pecorino cheese 

25 ml of white wine

Procedure

In a non-stick pan, cook the guanciale over low heat until golden and crispy, then set aside half of the crispy strips and deglaze the rest with the white wine. In a bowl, add the pecorino cheese, eggs, guanciale soaked with its own fat and coarsely ground black pepper; Mix everything together until you get a homogeneous mixture. Drain the spaghetti al dente and add them to the mixture, starting to stir in a bain-marie. The sauce will begin to melt and then set. When it has reached the right density, serve garnished with crispy bacon, a sprinkling of pepper and pecorino cheese.

Rigatoni alla pecoraia

Rigatoni alla pecoraia is a traditional Calabrian peasant dish. It is prepared with simple but tasty ingredients. It is a decidedly rustic first course that pays little attention to form and a lot to substance. Strong flavors, ricotta and sausage are the masters. The main ingredients of this dish are sheep's milk ricotta, red onions and sausage. The important thing is to balance the flavors perfectly. It is a very simple recipe to make, suitable for a Sunday lunch. 

Ingredients

Rigatoni 400 g

Sheep's milk ricotta 250 g

Pork sausage 300 g

Peeled tomatoes 300 g

Red onions 150 g

Basil 1 sprig

Extra virgin olive oil 4 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Steps

When you want to prepare pasta alla pecoraia, you have to start by chopping the onion. The ideal is a nice onion, crunchy, juicy and rich in essences. Brown the onion in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil. Remove the casing from the sausage and break it up by hand, then add it to the pan with the onion. Stir and let brown well, when the sausage is well browned, add the peeled tomatoes blended and flavored with a few fresh basil leaves, cook over medium heat. At this point, start cooking the pasta. After bringing to a boil, boil the pasta in plenty of salted water. As a pasta shape, we suggest rigatoni, but you can give space to your own pleasure. When there are a few minutes left before the pasta is cooked, dilute the ricotta with a little cooking water and add it to the pan with the sauce. Mix well and once cooked al dente, drain the pasta directly into the pan, let it flavor for a few moments then serve with grated smoked ricotta and ground black pepper.

 

Stuffed Portobello mushrooms

Stuffed Portobello mushrooms are yummy! This type is very similar to Champignon only a little grown, ideal for making them stuffed. The filling I propose is quite classic: breadcrumbs, parmesan, garlic and parsley. The right filling so as not to turn what can be served as a side dish into a thoughtful second course. Very easy to make, you can prepare them as many times as you want, they are excellent especially in combination with a second course of meat. Making this recipe with mushrooms is absolutely not difficult, following my advice it will be excellent and success on your tables is assured.

Ingredients

PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS 8

BREADCRUMBS 4 tablespoons

PARMIGIANO REGGIANO 4 tablespoons

1 EGGS

1 CLOVE OF GARLIC

PARSLEY 1 tuft

EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL to taste

SALT to taste

BLACK PEPPER to taste

Preparation

First prepare the filling: combine the Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, egg, minced garlic and chopped parsley in a bowl; Mix everything well. Clean the mushrooms well and keep the caps that will have to be stuffed. Grease a baking tray with extra virgin olive oil. Grease the caps by brushing them with a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Place the caps in the pan with the inside facing up. Brush the inside with oil, season with salt and pepper. Distribute the filling in the caps and season with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Bake at 200°C for about 20 minutes. At the end of cooking, serve them hot with a drizzle of olive oil.

 

Sandwich prosciutto, mozzarella and eggplant

It smells of the Mediterranean and recalls the dishes of the peasant tradition, the 'poor' ones, but rich in taste and with an intense flavor. The Tuscan snack that we offer comes from the Pisan hills of the Fauglia area, where the Dairy has been carrying on a long gastronomic and dairy tradition for three generations. Today's sandwich will be filled with Prosciutto crudo. 

Ingredients

2 puff buns

1 eggplant

80 g of prosciutto

4 thin slices of smoked provolone cheese

a few lettuce leaves

half a lemon

extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut the eggplant in half and cut one part into half-centimeter slices and the other bake it in the oven at 180° with the cut part covered with aluminum foil for about 30 minutes or until the flesh is soft if you point with a fork. If you want to save time, you can also cook it in the microwave (without covering it with aluminum foil) for 8/10 minutes at maximum power. While you cook the eggplant and let it cool, heat a grill pan well, grill the eggplant slices on both sides and season with a few drops of olive oil, salt and pepper. Remove the skin from the cooked eggplant and blend the pulp, seasoning it with salt, pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice. Cut the buns in half (preferably hot). Spread the eggplant cream on the bread and fill them with: grilled eggplants, 2 slices of smoked provolone, Prosciutto and a few salad leaves. Close the buns and serve immediately.

 

Sandwich with mushrooms, sausage and provolone 

 Another wonderful sandwich, I decided that I will delight you almost every week with a different sandwich and this guys is too good, my friends loved it and then guys is it super easy to make.

Ingredients

pork sausage 4

Lettuce 4 leaf

Mayonnaise 4 tbsp

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Lemon juice a few drops

Provolone cheese to taste

mushrooms 150 g

Loaf of bread 4

Salt to taste

How to prepare it

Heat oil and garlic well in a pan, and then cook the sliced mushrooms over high heat. Sauté for 5 minutes and set aside. Season with salt. Heat a griddle and cook the sausages for 5 minutes, turning them often. Mix the mayonnaise by adding a few drops of lemon to taste. Cut the loaves in half and toast them on a griddle. Spread the mayonnaise on the warm bread, place the provolone cheese, lettuce, and the mushrooms. To cover everything, the sausage cut in half lengthwise.

Gnocchi with zucchini flowers pesto, mussels and pecorino cheese 🤩

Potato gnocchi are a typical Italian cuisine. Round-shaped morsels, small smooth dumplings or larger striped ones. Composed of a mixture of boiled potatoes and flour. They go well with any condiment, whether it is fish, meat or vegetables. Soft and tasty, in this recipe we prepare gnocchi with mussels and zucchini flowers, a simple, tasty and inexpensive recipe. We need a few simple ingredients, potatoes, flour, mussels and zucchini flowers.

After a very intense and tiring week here I am back to take care of my little virtual refuge, today the sun is shining and it seems that the next days are beautiful, that spring is finally arriving? I have to say that I'm not ready, in the sense that I haven't even thought about it, to date the days of full sun, heat, possibility to be outdoors have been very few, socks, jacket, blanket have always been present, as well as hot dishes, clouds, sudden storms. As always I will be surprised, overwhelmed by the change, the first days I will feel then I will adapt to the heat which for me is not always synonymous with well-being, serenity and beauty! Having said that, let's still enjoy a hot dish, the potato gnocchi, perfect because they are made easily with a knife, the pesto that I love and that you have already seen many times and the zucchini flowers, versatile vegetables, baked, stuffed, steamed, just sautéed in a sauce and obviously fried! Have a great week!

Ingredients

1 kg potatoes or dumplings

300 g flour

1 kg of mussels

250 g zucchini flowers

10 basil leaves

extra virgin olive oil

Salt to taste

pecorino cheese to taste

Preparation

Preparation of the gnocchi

In a saucepan, boil the potatoes with their skin on and covered with cold water for about 30 minutes, depending on their size. Check for doneness with a fork. Once cooked, peel them and crush them while still hot on the flour that you have poured on the pastry board. Add a pinch of salt and knead with your hands until you get a soft but compact dough.

Dumplings

Take a part of the dough and roll it out with your fingertips to obtain  loaves, 1cm thick and cut them to 1 cm; To do this, help yourself by flouring the pastry board, from time to time, with flour. In the meantime, cover the remaining dough with a tea towel to prevent it from drying out. Place them on a floured tray.

Preparation of the mussels

In a bowl, wash the mussels in cold water, grate them with an iron scourer to remove impurities. Remove the wire by pulling it down.

Open the mussels in a frying pan and sauté a clove of garlic with oil (cover with a lid). As soon as the mussels are open, shell them, keeping 8 aside, we will make them in half shell. Filter the liquid and add it to the shelled mussels.

Preparation of basil oil

Leaf the basil and blanch it for 6 seconds in boiling water. Let's cool it in cold water and ice. Squeeze the basil and put it covered with oil in a narrow and tall container and blend it with an immersion blender.

Cooking and composition of the dish

Bring salted water to a boil in a pot to cook the gnocchi. In the meantime, clean and wash the zucchini flowers. In a frying pan, put the mussels with some of their liquid. Once the water comes to a boil, cook the gnocchi. When they rise to the surface with the help of a slotted spoon, put the gnocchi in the pan with the mussels and turn on the heat over high heat, add the zucchini flowers broken by hand and sauté the gnocchi to mix them with the mussels (if necessary add the rest of the mussel liquid). Stir in some raw oil.

Plating

Plate the gnocchi, add 2 mussels to half shells per plate and with the help of the tip of the spoon put a drizzle of basil oil and pecorino cheese.

 

Rigatoni rabbit & lemon 🤩

A very tasty first course, with a tasty white meat sauce scented with grated lemon zest. A simple white ragout without tomato, prepared with minced chicken and rabbit instead of the classic minced beef and pork. The process is really very easy, you will only need a little time for cooking... The lemon added at the end will give a delicious note of fragrance and freshness! Try this recipe for yourself!

Ingredients

350 g pasta

400 g minced meat (chicken, rabbit and duck)

60 g rolled bacon

Half an onion

Half rib celery

1 carrot

1 bay leaf

1 sage leaf

1 spring rosemary

1 cup white wine

meat broth

lemon zest

extra virgin olive oil

Pepper

salt

Preparation

Peel the carrot and celery, and peel the onion. Chop the vegetables together with the bacon and put them in a pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Sauté them over low heat, then add the minced meat and sauté for a minute or two. Deglaze with the white wine, let it evaporate, then add the bay leaf, sage and rosemary. Season with salt, lower the heat and sprinkle with a ladle of hot broth. Cook the white meat sauce over low heat for 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you see that the bottom is drying out too much, add a little more broth. When the sauce is ready, boil the pasta in boiling salted water. Drain it slightly al dente and pour it into the pan with the meat. Stir for a couple of minutes to flavor it, then turn off the heat and sprinkle with the grated zest of half a lemon and ground pepper. The pasta with white meat sauce is ready, serve it while it is hot, adding a little more lemon zest directly to the plates.

 

Fontanafredda Barolo Lazzarito with Spaghetti with classic meat sauce

And here we are with another recipe to make in these days of winter: spaghetti with classic meat sauce. Put plenty of boiling water in a pot, add salt and drop the spaghetti. In the meantime, let's prepare the classic ragù with minced meat, sausage, carrot, celery and onion; Simmer slowly for 2/3 hours. The final ingredient that makes the difference is a glass of whole milk that makes the sauce sweeter and more corpulent. When the pasta is al dente, transfer to the bowl away from the heat and stir in the sauce we have prepared, adding if necessary always cooking water that we have set aside. Roll the spaghetti on themselves with the help of a fork and a ladle, place on the plate and add the remaining sauce in the bowl. The final touch on the plate is a sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Wine experts think this Italian Barolo wine would be a match made in heaven with this dish. 

I am very proud to share this rare and prestigious wine with you. The Vigna Lazzarito cuvée hails from a magnificent vineyard plot in the Serralunga d’Alba.

Tasting note 

Intense ruby color, with garnet nuances. The nose offers a generous bouquet of prune, tobacco, licorice, dried mushroom, nutmeg, and white pepper. On the palate, the dense, firm tannins provide balance and structure to this powerful red wine. After 22 years, this outstanding Barolo is just reaching its highly complex peak. Decant one hour before serving for an even more impressive and memorable experience.