Stuffed Eggplants

Eggplant is a very typical Italian product, expecially in the Southern part: of course it’s very used in cuisine; now we’ll see another way to cook it, stuffing it with tuna-based filling

Ingredients (Metric & imperial) Party of 4

• 4 medium eggplants
• 15 green or black pitted olives
• 300g (10oz) of Tuna in oil
• 4 slices of sandwich bread
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 4 basil leaves (finely chopped)
• 120 ml (1/2 cup) of white wine
• 1 egg
• 30g (2 Tablespoons) of Parmigiano cheese

Method:

• Cut the eggplants into half
• Boil them for 4-5 minutes: drain them and with a teaspoon, scrape part the internal pulp (so you will get the “hole” in which to fit the filling.
• Put in a bowl tuna (drained), sandwich bread, garlic, wine,Parmigiano, basil and the egg and mix them with your hands until you get a homogeneous mixture.
• Stuff the eggplant halves with this filling
• Put them on a baking tin (covered with baking paper).
• Put the baking tin into pre-heated oven at 356°F (180°C) for at least 30 minutes.

Serve them decorating with basil leaves and balsamic vinegar.

Peppers and Kiwi Salad

This is a very very simple Salad you can prepare in 5 minutes during the summer (The best season for peppers). It's very fresh and tasty, and the colours will let you fall in love!

Ingredients - Party of 4

• 4 Peppers (choose yellow and red) 
• 4-6 kiwi
• 2 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 pinches of salt

Method:

• Clean the peppers (inside and outside) and slice them in sticks
• Cut in wheels the kiwi
• Mix everything adding the salt, the vinegar and the oil

To serve them ,in this picture, I've used TARALLI from Bari (A very tasty product from Apulia, a Southern region of Italy)

Pasta al Ragù

Ragù is a typical Italian sauce, probably one of the most famous: there are several differents recipes about it, some of them longer and a bit more complicated, some other a bit simpler. Let's see the one I always use at home: I don't know if it's the original one, but you can trust me about its taste!

Ingredients (metric and imperial) - Party of 4

• 400g (14oz) of Pasta: choose your favourite one
• 300g (10-11 oz) of lean beef, finely chopped
• 100g (3-4 oz) of Pancetta, sliced in sticks
• 240ml (1 cup) of red wine: Italian Sangiovese is the best to be used, but don't worry too much about it.
• 750ml (3 cups) of tomato sauce/pulp
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 stick of celery, finely copped
• 50g (3 tablespoons) of extravirgin olive oil
• 2 leaves of laurel (or 1 teaspoon of dry laurel)
• 2-3 pinches of salt
• 1 pinch of pepper
• Some pinches of Parmigiano

Mehod

• Put in a big pot the olive oil, the onion, the carrot, the celery and turn on a low flame
• When onion becomes a bit transparent, add the lean beaf and the pancetta, increase the flame and add the wine
• You will see your meat becoming a bit darker, at this time add the tomato sauce/pulp and the laurel
• Reduce the heat, add salt and pepper and cook your sauce until it becomes dense as you prefer.
• Boil pasta  in salted water. You've to stop cooking it 2 minutes before the instruction of the packet says. At this time strain it out of the water (saving a glass of it) and pour it in the pan with high flame, mixing it  with the sauce and ending the cooking time in there. The right way to cook it is firm to the bite ( “al dente", in Italian). If it becomes a bit dry, then add a little quantity of cooking water while mixing.
• Serve your dish adding some Parmigiano on the top.

Smoked salmon with beans, orangeskin and SPECIAL ITALIAN BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Today we’ll make a very simple dish, using a special product of MODENA, a very nice city situated near the more famous Bologna. This product is Balsamic Vinegar and it’s very tasty and useful to flavor salads, meat, fish and also Fruit ( strawberries with balsamic vinegar are simply fantastic!) .

So we’ll use it to flavor a very simple dish: smoked salmon with beans and orange skin

Ingredients (Metric and Imperial) – Party of 4

• 400g (14oz) of boiled white beans
• 8 pieces of smoked salmon
• 2 oranges (grate their skin)
• Italian Balsamic Vinegar (I recommend the one from Modena, it’s very special)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 40g (3 tablespoons) of extra virgin olive oil

Method

• Put in a bowl the beans with the grated orange skin, the pinch of salt and the oil: mix everything
• Boil for 2 minutes the salmon in water (you can add some juice of the oranges you have grated)
• Serve the beans on the plates, adding on the top the pieces of salmon and our special Balsamic Vinegar. If you want, decorate with some orange skin more.

   

Drunk Octopus - with red wine

Let’s talk about another very tasty way of coking our belve Octopus: this is a typical recipe from Tuscany, exactly from the city of LIVORNO (a very nice city by the sea).

Ingredients (Imperial & Metric) – Party of 4

• 1 Octopus of about 1,2 kg ( about 2lb): cut its tentacles and head
• Half glass of White vinegar
• 30g (2 tablespoons)Extravirgin Olive Oil
• 2 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
• Half onion (or one little), finely chopped
• 1 stick of celery, finely chopped
• 80 g ( 3 oz) of black pitted olives
• 4 leaves  of laurel (if you don't have fresh one, use 2 teaspoons of dry laurel)
• 1 bottle of red wine (don’t need an expensive one)
• 1 little chili
• 2 pinches of pepper

Method

• Put in a big pot the oil, the chili the onion and the clove and turn on a low flame: cook everything them for 2 minutes
• Add the cut octopus and the vinegar and cook for 2 minutes, mixing
• Add the wine, the olives, the pepper and the laurel and cook it slowly:you have to cover the pot with its top but leave a narrow opening to let the steam come out.
• When will our octopus be cooked? Test it with a fork: if octopus is tender, switch off the heat and leave it in his cooking sauce until it will be warm but not hot.
• Dish out putting 4-5 tablespoons of sauce on the plate, adding the octopus pieces and then some celery on the top. Serve it with some BRUSCHETTE (toasted bread).

Pasta Cacio e Pepe

Let's talk about a traditional dish of ROME: It's called Cacio e Pepe (cheese and pepper) because it's made with just these 2 ingredients (and pasta of course). The secret is making a nice Pecorino cream , mixing it quickly with warm water (not HOT water, too hot will let Pecorino cheese become hard, Let's see how to do

Ingredients (Metric and Imperial) Party of 4

• 400g (14oz) of fresh Pasta (The ideal one is Fettuccine or Tonnarelli)
• 150gr (5oz) of Pecorino cheese, freshly grated
• Pepper (how much you like)

Method

• Boil the pasta in NON SALTED WATER (Pecorino cheese is very tasty and salted): If it's fresh pasta it will cook in 4 minutes.
• Put 4 tablespoons of cooking water in a bowl.
• When the pasta is cooked,  strain it out of the water and put it in the bowl. Add Pecorino cheese little by little and don't stop mixing  it quickly with the pasta and the warm water. This mixing will make a wonderful Pecorino cream: THIS is what you want to obtain!
• While mixing add 3-4 pinches of pepper (more or less if you like)
• Serve it quickly on your plates, adding some other pecorino and pepper on the top

Stuffed Squids

Now we’ll learn how to prepare this typical dish: Squids are very common in Italy and we love  stuffing them.

Ingredients (Metric and Imperial): Party of 4

• 4 middle squids
• 6-7 green or black pitted olives
• 100g (3-4oz) of Tuna in oil
• 2 slices of sandwich bread
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 4 basil leaves (finely chopped)
• 240 ml (1 cup) of white wine
• 1 egg
• 30g (2 Tablespoons) of Parmigiano cheese

Method:

• Boil squids  for 1  minute: this will restrict them at their final size (so they will not explode in your pan while cooking)
• Put in a bowl tuna (drained),the squids’ tentacles, sandwich bread, garlic, wine (half cup),Parmigiano, basil and the egg and mix them with your hands until you get a homogeneous mixture.
• Stuff you squids with this mixture
• Close the squids with  toothpicks
• In a nonstick pan put olive oil, a clove of  garlic and turn on the low flame
• After one minute add the stuffed squids and the other ½ cup of wine
• Cover your pan with his top and after 3 minutes turn over the squids and cover it again
• In other 3 minutes they will be ready: serve them with the sauce on the top