Minestrone - Italian Vegetable Soup

This is a really traditional dish of the Italian tradition. Perfect hot on a wintry day or cold on a summer day.
I need to thank my lovely Nanny Tata for giving me her delicious recipe that brings me back to my childhood.

Ingredients

-1 Zucchini or Courgette
-2 Tomatoes
-1 onion
-2 carrots
-2 potatoes
-2 cans of borlotti beans (or fresh)
-1 handful of runner beans.

 In a big size sauce pan mix all the vegetable cut into small pieces.
Add 1-1/2 litre of water, a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Cook on medium heat for around 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Add the canned beans 10 minutes before the end.

Enjoy! Buon appetito!

Pasta with Cream, Peas and Ham

This is one of my absolute favorite Italian pasta dishes!
The combination of flavors and consistency of the cream in this pasta dish makes it so heavenly delicious! A must try trust me!

 Ingredients:
-1 bag of frozen peas
-1 onion
-Ham already cut into cubes
-Extra virgin olive oil
-Penne pasta
-Heavy cream or double cream
-Brown sugar

In a nice big pan (Wok style is good too) start by 

browning the chopped onion with olive oil 1 teaspoon of sugar (so that the onions will be deliciously caramelized) and salt. 

When golden throw in the peas (even from frozen). Let it cook until the peas will be tender.

Now add the ham and cook until brown.

In the meantime bring water to a boil in another pan and cook the pasta. 

Add the cream to the ham and peas, as well as some salt and pepper. 

Mix pasta into the cream mixture and serve!

Enjoy! Buon Appetito!!

Strawberry Tiramisu

This is a delicious spin to your classic Tiramisu recipe.
In Italy we have several variations of Tiramisu and the strawberry one is definitely one of my favorites!

Here is how you make it:

500 grams of lady fingers

500 grams of strawberries

3 eggs

125 grams of sugar

250 grams of mascarpone

200 ml whipping cream

Ingredients for the strawberry syrup:

200 grams of strawberries

100 grams of sugar

300 ml of water

2 tablespoons limoncello (optional)

Begin to prepare the syrup by blending the strawberries with sugar.

Add water and lemon and put it in a saucepan and boil until it thickens, turn off and let cool.

Start now to prepare the mascarpone cream ... separate the yolks from the whites and whipping cream in a bowl .

Whip the egg yolks with the sugar, add the mascarpone.

Add the egg whites and cream previously whipped.

Gently mix the mascarpone cream and put it in the fridge.

Dip the ladyfingers in the cooled strawberry syrup and arrange them at the base of your pan. 

Pour a layer of mascarpone cream over the ladyfingers .

Cover the cream with strawberries cut into slices leaving aside 1/3 for the top decoration .

Cover with another layer of ladyfingers soaked in strawberry syrup .

Finish with a layer of mascarpone cream .

Decorate with strawberries that have kept aside and refrigerate everything for at least 3 hours.

And there you have it! Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Ham & Veggies Pasta Bake

Hello everyone!
I must apologize to all my readers since I have been gone for so long... many changes happened to my life and I even moved continent, infact I am now writing to you from the UK.
During these past few months I have been gathering lots of pictures of new recipes to share with you all!
Enough chatting now... let's get started with this delicious heartwarming dish!

-Ingredients
500 gr Pasta (whichever shape you like)
2 big Broccoli florets
1 red bell pepper
Extravergin olive oil
Breadcrumbs
1 onion
1 heavy cream carton (or Double cream)
Grated parmesan
Ham cutted into cubes
Grated mozzarella cheese
Salt & Pepper


In a pan, sautee the onions with olive oil, broccoli and bell pepper. All the veggies need to be cut in small pieces. When all vegetables are super tender add the ham and brown it for a couple of minutes. Now add the heavy cream, salt and pepper. In the meantime boil the pasta according to the time indicated on the package. When the pasta is al dente (which means ready but not too soft) pour it in the pan with the condiment and mix it all together. Prepare a good size oven pan and oil the base. Pour the mix with the pasta, sprinkling to each layer some mozzarella and parmesan cheese. When it is full, top it off with a final layer of cheese and breadcrumbs. Leave in the oven at 160 degree Celsius for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Happy Hour Snack Idea

In Italy is very common to go out for a happy hour drink before dinner time, we call it "Aperitivo". Depending on which bar you go to, they might serve you different kinds of snack to go with your drink, these snacks can be: mini sandwiches, hot or cold mini appetizers finger food and so on. I decided to show you one of the most common snack that you might find during your aperitivo.

In this picture I was having some green olives, salted peanuts, and some potato chips. Everything paired with a delicious glass of your favorite happy hour drink, and after this... ready for some delicious dinner! Enjoy! Buon Appetito

Ciambelline

This is a traditional cookie recipe from my awesome island of Sardinia. We usually make this cookies during the Christmas time of the year.

Ingredients:

4 cups flour
2 tbsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups Lard
6 eggs
Lemon zest of 2 lemons

Start by mixing in a large bowl everything, adding the flour for last. Roll your dough and make double cookies for each shape you pick.... one has to have a hole in the middle, while the other does not (as you can see in the picture).
Bake in the oven at 350 F for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Let your cookies cool completely and then start assembling them. Place the cookie without the hole at the bottom, spread it with your favorite jam, nutella, or whatever you like, and then place the cookie of the same shape with the hole on top (As you can see in the picture).
Sprinkle some sugar powder on top and enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Italian Style Pizza

This picture was taken during my visit to my Lovely Island Sardinia, in Italy, last year. I want to share with you one of my favorite toppings on pizza!

This pizza was so yummy! From the restaurant pizzeria "Terra Sarda" in Olbia. On top of my pizza there are some of the best prosciutto slices, arugula leaves ( previously tossed w/ some olive oil, salt and pepper) and shaved Parmesan cheese. Soooo good! You should give it a try! Just go to your bakery or local grocery store, get a ball of pizza dough. Then roll the dough, top it with some tomato sauce, salt, pepper, shredded mozzarella cheese, and the toppings that I described to you in this picture! (These toppings will go on your pizza after the cooking time) Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Crispy Eggplants - Melanzane Impanate

I wanted to show you an easy but yet delicious way to cook your eggplants! My Lovely nanny Tata makes the best! In fact, this picture was taken at my nanny's in Sardinia (Italy).

You will need:

a couple of eggplants (Depending on how many people you are having over)

bread crumbs

a couple of eggs

some flour

Vegetable oil (Or any kind of oil you use to fry)

Cut the eggplant in thin slices. To have a nice breading coat, you will need to dip each slice first in the beaten eggs, secondly in the flour, after again in the eggs, and finally in the bread crumbs. Fry them and place them on some paper towel sheets, so that they will eliminate the excess oil.

Sprinkle some salt on top and enjoy! They are so yummy! Buon Appetito!

PS: you can do the same with zucchini!

Sbrisolona Ricotta & Nutella

This delicious recipe is called Sbrisolona, which means crumbly cake in Italian. It's a typical dessert from the north of Italy and this time I wanted to make it with ricotta, nutella, and chocolate chips. Of course you can make variation of it: vanilla custard, fruit jam, berries, etc...

• For the crumbles you will need:

2 1/2 cups Flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp white sugar
7 Tbsp butter
1 egg
1 lemon zest
1 yeast

Mix the flour with the butter (room temperature), sugar, lemon zest, and yeast. Create a crumbly texture and pour half of the crumbles into a greased and floured pan. The rest of the crumbles will serve as the cover layer for our cake.

• For the filling you will need:

16 Oz Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup white sugar
Nutella
Chocolate chips
sugar powder to decorate

In one bowl mix the ricotta with the sugar. Now separate the ricotta in 2 bowl. In one bowl mix the ricotta with nutella (As much as you like). In the other bowl mix the ricotta with the chocolate chips. At the base put a layer of the ricotta and nutella mixture, and as a top layer, put the ricotta with the chocolate chips. So you will have two different color layers... I put too much of the ricotta and nutella and you can barely see the white ricotta with chocolate chips :) As a final top layer you will have the crumbles. Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 35-40 minutes. When cold sprinkle some powder sugar on top. Enjoy! Buon appetito!

Ciambella

Ciambella is a traditional Italian Ring cake that can be made in a variety of ways: yogurt, chocolate chips, ricotta, and so on. This is a picture of a simple and basic ciambella that was taken in Sardinia, Italy, and this wonderful masterpiece was made by Inna! Thank you Inna!

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup white sugar (150 gr.)

1 cup flour (300 gr.)

1 glass of milk

1 glass of vegetable oil

1 lemon zest

1 packet of yeast

Mix everything together working the batter until smooth. Pour the batter in a greased and floured pan, and bake for 30 minutes at 340 degrees.

Enjoy! Buon appetito!

Crostata di Frutta - Fruit Pie

Ciao Everybody!

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite Italian desserts... Crostata di frutta, or fruit pie in English. This is a perfect summer desserts since it's served cold right out of the fridge! Yummy!

Ingredients for Pie crust:

1-1/4 cup of flour

1/2 cup white sugar (150 gr.)

1/2 cup powder sugar

3 yolks

2 tbsp cold water

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Mix everything together and when you form a nice ball of dough place some plastic wrap around it and let it cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

When the dough has cooled down, roll it and cover the whole surface of a pie pan.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Ingredients for the custard (Crema pasticcera):

4 yolks

1/2 liter of milk

2/3 cup of white sugar

1/4 cup flour
Lemon zest

1 tsp Vanilla extract

Bring the milk and the vanilla to a boil. In a separate bowl beat the yolks with the flour and the sugar until smooth. Pour the yolks cream into the boiling milk and continue stirring until it reaches the desired consistency. Set the custard aside and let it cool down.

Once cool, pour the custard into the pie crust and start decorating with the fruits that you've picked for your pie.... you can chose whatever you like! As you can see this time I used: kiwi, Maraschino cherries, peaches, strawberries, bananas.

To get a shiny look for your pie, get a bag of gelatin for pies, follow the instructions on the bag and pour it right on top... it will prevent the fruit to get brown and it will give it a yummy and shiny look! Enjoy!! Buon Appetito! :D

Pasta alla Carbonara

This is one of my favorite pasta dishes! Pasta alla carbonara can be made with your favorite kind of pasta... in this case I picked Spaghetti! ( This recipe makes 4-5 portions)

Start to sautee the olive oil with onions and the pancetta (I used 4-5 thick slices cut in little cubes, until golden brown.

Cook the package of pasta. In a bowl beat 4 eggs, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and a tbsp of milk. When the pasta is ready, throw it in the pan where the pancetta is and mix everything over low heat. Pour the egg batter over pasta and remove from heat. Don't let it cook too long, otherwise instead of a creamy texture you will have scrambled eggs! :)

Sprinkle some more Parmesan on top and serve with love ;)

Torta di Mele - Apple Cake

Yesterday I made one of the most delicious apple cake ever! Thanks to my BFF Lilli and her mamy for this amazing recipe!


Ingredients:

2 large apples
120 gr. Flour (1 cup)
200 gr. white Sugar (1 cup)
100 gr. butter ( 7 Tbsp)
3 eggs
120 ml milk (1/2 cup)
1 pack yeast
1 lemon zest
1 dash of vanilla

In a large bowl whip the butter and the sugar, then add the rest of the ingredients, leaving the eggs for last and adding them one by one very slowly. Pour the batter in your cake pan and place the very thinly sliced apple on top and the push them inside the batter. Do this for like 3 layers. It's important that the apple are very thin, in this way they will melt with the batter and they will create like a cream inside! Bake in the oven @ 180 C (350 F) for about 40 minutes or until golden. Enjoy this yummy delicious recipe! Buon Appetito!

Risotto Bolognese - Rice with Meat Sauce

Here is a quick fix meal that will come handy when you are running out of time. For the risotto bolognese you will need: - Rice for risotto ( Arborio or other kinds) - Ground beef - onion - garlic - tomato sauce - a little bit of butter - a little bit of extra virgin olive oil In a pan, start to sautee the onions, oil, ground beef, garlic. When the beef is half way done, pour some red wine, so that the meat will get a nice flavor. When all the juices are evaporated, pour in your tomato sauce and let it cook for around 5-10 minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper. Boil the rice. When the rice is ready, throw it in the pan where your meat sauce is, along with a piece of butter and Parmesan cheese. The butter will help to get that creamy risotto texture. Enjoy! Buon Appetito!

Ruioli - Sweet Ricotta Balls

This is a traditional recipe from my Gorgeous island of Sardinia. It's a great dessert made by little fried ricotta balls drizzled with honey. Everybody loves them and they're super fast to make! (Thanks to my nanny Tata for the recipe!)

To make the Ruioli you will need:

500 gr. ricotta cheese (16 Oz.)

1 grated orange skin

3 Tbsp white sugar

3 eggs

2-3 Tbsp flour

Vegetable oil to fry

Drain your ricotta cheese very well. Then mix everything together. The mix will result very soft. Just form little balls and fry them. Place the fried balls on paper towel sheets to drain. Drizzle with honey and serve warm! Enjoy! Buon appetito!

Tiramisu' - A luxurious traditional Italian dessert

An easy and fast, but yet delicious dessert that your family and guests will for sure appreciate!

I am making a lighter version of it, substituting the mascarpone cheese with whipped cream,

but if you would like to switch it back go ahead! :) (Thanks to Luciano, who is like a brother to me, for this recipe! Grazie Luciano!)

What you will need:

-Ingredients:

4 packs of lady fingers

1 brick of heavy cream (400 gr. more or less)

2 Tbsp Kalua

5 eggs

4 Tbsp white sugar

coffee

cocoa powder

-Tools:

hand mixer

3 bowls

pan for Tiramisu'

coffee pot ( I use the Italian Caffettiera)

strainer

First thing to do is making coffee... it needs to cool down a little, otherwise you will burn your fingers later on...

At this point add some sugar and the Kalua to taste and mix it well.

Now you can start to create the super yummy fluffy cream.

Separate the Egg whites in one bowl, and whipped them until they hold stiff. In the second bowl mix the yolks with the sugar until you

will have nice cream. In the third bowl whipped the heavy cream with a little bit of sugar in it.

Now just add the yolks cream to the whipped cram and gently fold in the egg whites. You should get a fluffy mousse like this one :)

It's time to start crating the layers of our tiramisu'!

First of all, spread a base layer of this mousse at the bottom of the pan, then half-dip the lady fingers in the coffe and create the second layer. Yes I said half-dip them, since if you dipped the whole lady finger, your Tiramisu' is going to result soggy, and we don't really want a soggy Tiramisu'! But make sure that

each wet side touches the dry

side of the next lady finger...

Just like this...

Once you've created the lady finger layer, spread another layer of the fluffy mousse and sprinkle some cocoa powder on top of it. Repeat this process until you reach the top of your pan. :)

Your Tiramisu' will look like this

Now you can cover it with some aluminum foil and refrigerate it for 2-3 hours b

efore serving.

ENJOY!!!

Buon Appetito!