Spring Soup with Corn Stars and Rice and Crispy Savoy Cabbage and Fruit Chips

Is a fresh and light first course proposal; A dish rich in flavor and a treasure trove of flavor, vitamins and minerals essential elements for the change of season. Spring is undoubtedly the most romantic and beloved season, muse of poets and writers, because it gives us a warm sun, blue skies and nature that awakens with trees festively decorated with flowers of a thousand scents. However, it also has "contraindications": sunny days that alternate with days of rain, wind, alternating between days of "almost summer" heat and days of "typical autumn" cold. And let's not forget what our grandparents called "spring fatigue" or "spring sickness", which nowadays is instead called "hibernation syndrome". Tiredness, difficulty falling asleep, weakness or exhaustion are some of the symptoms that affect about two million people who are unable to adapt to the new rhythms that the season offers us. Our energy depends on what we eat, so to help our biological balance, "good nutrition" comes to our aid to regain that healthy energy and vigor. Let's abandon the dishes rich in calories, sugars and fats necessary for the winter period and abound in fruit, vegetables, light foods that do not weigh down the liver. Thanks to the Mediterranean diet in spring we can bring various menus to the table that guarantee us the right balance between taste and satiety. A good pasta dish rich in vegetables, a good light meat or vegetable or vegan sauce, cereals preferably wholemeal, broad beans and peas, fish and eggs. Now let's see what we need to make our Spring Soup with Corn Stars and Rice and Crispy Savoy Cabbage and Fruit Chips. Ingredients 180 grams Rice Stars 3 potatoes 2 spring onion 4 carrots 300 grams of fresh peas 300 grams of broad beans 2 stalks of celery 1 bunch of asparagus extra virgin olive oil salt parsley vegetable broth Ingredients for the broth 1 onion cloves a few celery sticks 2 carrots peppercorns Savoy cabbage and sesame chips 4 large or 8 small cabbage leaves extra virgin olive oil Sesame seeds Pear and Apple Chips 1 pear 1 apple Preparation Prepare the cabbage chips and after washing and removing the central part, hard and fibrous, dry them gently with a sheet of kitchen paper. Put them on a baking sheet and season them with a drizzle of oil and sesame seeds; Bake at 180 C degrees for about ten minutes. Wash the pear and apple and cut them into thin slices, keep the peel, sprinkle them with sesame and put them in a baking pan covered with parchment paper; Bake at 170 degrees for about 20 minutes. Let's prepare the broth: peel an onion and add a few cloves, cut 2 carrots and 2 celery stalks into pieces. Put the vegetables in a pot with about 3 liters of cold water, bring to a boil and cook for an hour. Let's start by peeling the vegetables and remove the peel from the peas and broad beans; Clean the asparagus by removing the hard end, peel the potatoes, carrots and spring onions. In a saucepan, put a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and gently flavor the two thinly sliced spring onions; add the peas, broad beans, potatoes, carrots cut into sticks and asparagus in small pieces (keep the tips aside and add them three-quarters of the way through cooking). Cover with the vegetable broth and cook for about forty minutes; add the Rice Stars, the asparagus tips and continue cooking for 10 minutes.

Strozzapreti with Pecorino Broad Beans and Prosciutto

Are a great spring classic, a first course with enchanting flavors that conquers the palate. The broad beans, with a delicate but intense flavor, are combined with pecorino, one of the Italian cheeses par excellence, with a savory and strong taste. To top it all off, the delicate Norcia ham, a superior quality product, with a full and unmistakable flavor, which is not too salty but has a delicious spicy aroma. The chosen pasta shape, the strozzapreti, goes perfectly with the aromas and aromas of the sauce, creating an unforgettable taste experience. Strozzapreti are one of the best known and most loved types of homemade pasta in Italy. Widespread in many regions, they can take different shapes, from the twisted cord as in the Romagna tradition, to the long spaghetti with a square section such as the strangozzi of Umbria, up to the large cords of at least 20 centimeters long such as those of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, or to the gnocchi shapes of stale bread as in Trento and Milan. Strozzapreti are a pasta shape with a very particular name that has given rise to several legends and stories. According to a Romagna tradition, women prepared this pasta on feast days to offer it to the village priest, while their husbands were given a sad soup. The latter, consumed with envy, wished the poor priests to "choke", thus giving rise to the name of the pasta. Now let's see what we need to make our Strozzapreti with Pecorino Broad Beans and Prosciutto. Ingredients 200 grams of Strozzapreti 350 grams of fresh broad beans without the pod 1 spring onion 150 grams of Pecorino 100 grams of Prosciutto 50 grams of Parmigiano Reggiano 1 lemon grated zest salt extra virgin olive oil Preparation Let's start by removing the pods from the beans and peeling them. After blanching them for a few minutes in boiling water, we pass them in cold water and remove the outer skin. In a pan, brown a thinly sliced spring onion, then add the broad beans and sauté them for a few minutes. In another non-stick pan, put a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and crisp of Prosciutto, cut into strips or petals. Cook the strozzapreti in plenty of salted water, following the instructions on the package, and drain them. Put the strozzapreti in a large bowl and add the grated Pecorino, together with the Grana Padano cheese, freshly ground pepper and two tablespoons of pasta cooking water. Mix until you get a homogeneous cream. Add the broad beans and crispy ham to the cream cheese and mix everything. Serve on plates, decorating with a few pecorino petals.

Ravioli Stuffed with Sea Bream

Are an elegant and refined first course. The thin sheet of egg pasta envelops a rich and sumptuous heart of fish in a delicious embrace, which is expertly flavored in a pan with a fresh and colorful sauce, enriched by the flavors and aromas of summer. Sea bream ravioli is a dish that combines the scents of the sea and the land. The lean meat with a delicate flavor of sea bream harmonizes perfectly with a sauce of small tomatoes, with an intense red color and sweet flavor. Everything is embellished with basil leaves, a typically Mediterranean herb that conquers everyone with its fresh, spicy and slightly pungent scent and taste. Each region of Italy has its own traditional recipes of stuffed pasta, which take different names such as cappelletti, ravioli, tortelli, agnolotti and so on. This pasta shape has won the hearts of Italians and is a pride of our traditional cuisine. Today's dish features sea bream, known by the scientific name of Sparus Aurata and nicknamed "the queen of the sea" for its goodness. It is a bone fish of the sea and brackish waters, of medium-small size, among the most widespread and valuable of the sea. The meat of sea bream is very tasty and low in fat, but rich in proteins, B vitamins and mineral salts. Now let's see what we need to make our Ravioli Stuffed with Sea Bream. Ingredients for the pasta 400 grams of white flour 4 eggs salt Ingredients for the filling 1 Sea Bream salt extra virgin olive oil parsley oregano Ingredients for the dressing 800 grams of cherry tomatoes 1 white onion, finely chopped extra virgin olive oil salt a pinch of sugar a few basil leaves Preparation Let's start by preparing the pasta: put 400 grams of white flour, 4 eggs and a pinch of salt in the planetary mixer. Work for a long time to obtain a smooth and well-blended dough, then cover it with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. In the meantime, we wash and gut the Sea Bream. Put the fish in a baking tray lined with parchment paper, salt and season with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and dried oregano. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes. Once cooked, remove the bones and put the pulp in a bowl. With the help of a kitchen mixer, reduce the meat to a cream by adding extra virgin olive oil until you get a consistent and smooth cream. Add a grind of pepper and finely chopped fresh parsley. Take the dough, divide it into 4-5 parts and with the help of a pasta machine, roll out fairly thin sheets. On half of the sheets, put a knob of dough, close carefully and with a pastry cutter create our ravioli. Place the ravioli on a tray with semolina flour. Wash and cut the plum tomatoes in half and put them in a pan with oil, finely chopped onion, a pinch of salt, a pinch of sugar and basil leaves. Cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes. Boil our ravioli in plenty of boiling salted water for a couple of minutes, drain them and season them with our sauce, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a few basil leaves.

Pappardelle with White Truffle Cream

Are a simple but sophisticated first course, which will make all lovers of this precious mushroom happy and beyond. It is a refined and elegant proposal, characterized by an intense flavor and a fine taste, enriched by white truffle-based products. These ingredients give the dish a bold and unforgettable flavor, with a sweet aftertaste typical of this beloved and appreciated variety of truffle. It is difficult to describe the goodness of this dish, which remains on the taste buds for a long time, conquering the palate of those who taste it. A harmonious fusion of flavors that will delight your palate and conquer the hearts of your guests: the encounter between two elements from the land and the sea, which embrace each other in a combination of taste. The sweetness of the prawns is combined in perfect balance with the intense flavor of the white truffle cream, enhanced to perfection by a white truffle butter-based dressing, which envelops and binds together all the flavors present in the dish. This recipe is simple to make, but it's the quality of the ingredients that makes the difference! The undisputed protagonist of our recipe is the white truffle, known by the scientific name of "Tuber Magnatum". It is a fungus that grows spontaneously underground, living in symbiosis with the roots of plants. It is present in several regions of Italy and requires soil with good humidity during all 12 months of the year, preferably sheltered from heat and bright light. The white truffle is considered one of the Italian excellences and is the most prized truffle in the world. It is distinguished by its globular and irregular surface, which is velvety to the touch, unlike other varieties of truffles that have warts. Usually, the dimensions vary from 10 to 200 grams, but in exceptional cases it can reach very large dimensions, even exceeding one kilogram in weight. Now let's see what we need to make our Pappardelle with White Truffle Cream. Ingredients 400 grams of fresh pappardelle 1/2 jar of White Truffle Cream Butter Olive Oil flavored with Black Truffle 200 ml of cooking cream 300 grams of shrimp 1 clove of garlic parsley to taste salt to taste Preparation Wash the prawns under running water and then put them in a pan with a drizzle of seasoning based on Black Truffle flavored Olive Oil, a clove of finely chopped garlic and chopped parsley. We blanch them for a minute on each side and deglaze with vegetable broth, cooking for 5-6 minutes. Once the indicated time has elapsed, let the prawns cool and then peel them and cut them into pieces. We put them back in the pan. Add the cooking cream and the White Truffle Butter Dressing together with half a jar of White Truffle Cream. In the meantime, cook the pasta in plenty of salted water, drain it al dente and pour it into the pan together with the prawns. Mix thoroughly, adding, if necessary, a little of the pasta cooking water to obtain the right consistency. Finally, add chopped parsley, stir again and serve our pappardelle while still hot.

Farfalle with Vegetable Sauce

A tasty and rich first course, prepared with fresh and genuine seasonal ingredients, which evoke the scents of summer. The arrival of the summer season offers us new opportunities for taste, immersing us in a world of aromatic herbs and floral and vegetal nuances that enchant both the eyes and the palate. By abandoning the rich and full-bodied dishes of winter, our diet is transformed, giving life to a feast of vegetables and colors. Our tables are tinged with bright, bright and cheerful colors, and we are constantly looking for simple and creative recipes that enhance the flavors of summer, the season par excellence for vegetables and fruit. Nutritionists recommend a varied diet rich in fruit and vegetables, a step towards a healthy lifestyle. In addition, the colors of the foods we consume daily also play a role of fundamental importance. In fact, each color of fruit and vegetables corresponds to specific nutrients and, while it is important to vary foods every day, it is equally important to consume them in different shades. In our dish today we find the red color represented by the tomato, which is a precious source of antioxidants and cancer prevention, as well as offering protection to epithelial tissue and providing vitamin C. This color seems to be recommended by experts in the field to be consumed in moderation, without exaggerating. The green color is given by zucchini, vegetables rich in chlorophyll, folic acid and a good source of carotenoids, magnesium and vitamin C, which help the body defend itself against viruses and toxins. According to experts, the color green gives serenity and reduces stress. The yellow-orange color is represented by zucchini flowers, which prove to be valuable allies in the prevention of cancer. These foods have an antioxidant function, strengthen the body's defenses and have purifying and anti-inflammatory properties. When this color is present on our tables, it stimulates the appetite and gives positive sensations. Now let's see what we need to make our Farfalle with Vegetable Sauce. Ingredients 350 grams of Farfalle pasta 1 pack of Vegetable Sauce 1 shallot 15 zucchini flowers 15 cherry tomatoes 2 zucchini a few basil leaves salt freshly ground black pepper to taste For the Zucchini chips 2 zucchini salt white flour seed oil for frying Preparation Peel the shallot and cut it thinly. Put it in a large pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and let it flavor for a few minutes. Add the plum tomatoes and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Wash and peel the zucchini flowers, removing the pistil, and add about half of them to the sauce. We also add the Vegetable Sauce. Wash and peel the zucchini, then cut them into thin slices using a vegetable slicer. Place the zucchini slices on a sheet of baking paper, dry them gently with paper towels and flour them, removing excess flour. At this point, we can opt for two ways of cooking zucchini chips: fry them in plenty of seed oil, then dab them with paper towels to remove excess fat; or, for a lighter version, wash and cut the zucchini into slices, let them dry between two sheets of kitchen paper for at least half an hour, then place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, salt them, add a drizzle of oil and bake them in the oven at 200 degrees until golden brown. In the meantime, cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water, drain it al dente and add it to the pan with the sauce. Stir the pasta with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a few tablespoons of grated Grana Padano, the remaining zucchini flowers and fresh basil. Serve the pasta with the zucchini chips. Our Farfalle with Vegetable Sauce, accompanied by zucchini chips and zucchini flowers, are ready to be enjoyed.