Zucchini Blossoms with Potato and Cheese

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

What do you say to some yummy oven baked zucchini blossoms?

I know, they are not in the season at the moment but I couldn't share the recipe before. 
I've just finished to write and edit this post and I don't feel like keeping it from you until when they'll be in the season again so... You'd better note this down in your to-do list for the next year. I'll try to remind you via our Facebook page when they are back in the season again.

Lucia prepares her zucchini blossoms mainly in two ways. She either fries them or bakes them in the oven. I will share the recipe of oven baked ones today.

We are incredibly lucky to have some friends who grow zucchini in their garden around where we live. We have the chance to pick up zucchini flowers right from the garden and bring home fresh. They look so very beautiful it almost feels like a shame to pick them up.

Here are our freshly picked gorgeous zucchini flowers.

Zucchini blossoms are quite fragile and they are not quite suitable to store in the fridge for long. Using your freshly-picked or store-bought zucchini flowers right away would be the best choice.

I wrote below the amount of the ingredients for potato filling but I didn't say how many blossoms you may need. Well ... this depends on how much stuffing you ...stuff. :)
In case you have some potato filling left you can make some walnut sized balls and bake them in the oven as well.

Ingredients:
Zucchini blossoms
500 g cooked potatoes
1 egg
Salt
50 g grated parmesan
100 g mozzarella
50 - 100 g Galbanino cheese (*)
Extra virgin olive oil

(*)  Galbanino is a solf, mild Italian cheese. It melts well in the oven. If you wish you can use another brand of good melting cheese such as provolone, cacciocavallo, fontina, gruyere...etc.


Preparation:

Pizzoccheri with Spinach, Potatoes and Gorgonzola

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Hello everyone,

Lucia made us some yummy Pizzoccheri with Spinach, Potatoes and Gorgonzola today. But before the recipe I have some news. 

I've created another blog : Bitkisel Cafe. If you are interested in plant-based nutrient dense meals you can check it out. 
I've published my first recipe, Mixed Berry Overnight Oats, at the end of October.  I've created also a Facebook page for those who would like to be updated instantly what's going on in the blog.

And now let's come back to our pizzoccheri recipe. 

What are pizzoccheri? They are short and flat type of pasta which look like short tagliatelle.
They are one of the traditional dishes of Valtellina cuisine, northern Italy. 

Pasta dough for pizzoccheri is made with 4/5 buckwheat flour, 1/5 white flour and water. In my opinion, buckwheat flour add some rustic taste to this special pasta dish. 

They are traditionally prepared with savoy cabbage (or chard), potatoes and Valtellina casera cheese although we didn't stick to the traditional recipe to the letter. 

Lucia prepared a slightly different yet very delicious sauce for our Pizzoccheri.

Ingredients:

Pasta dough:
400 g buckwheat flour
100 g all purpose flour
250 g water (more or less, add more if needed)
Tuz

Sauce:
50 g butter
250 g Gorgonzola dolce cheese (soft Gorgonzola)
6 sage leaves

400 g spinach
300 g potatoes

100 g grated Parmesan

Preparation:

Lucia's Eggplant Parmesan

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Eggplant Parmesan aka "Parmigiana" is an Italian dish traditionally made with fried eggplants.
Instead, Lucia prepares it with grilled eggplant for a lighter version.
She often prepares it with her ragù sauce.

The recipe below is for 2 people as main dish. It can serve for more if used as side dish.

Ingredients:
500 g eggplant (large)
150 g mozzarella, diced
50 g grated parmesan
Lucia's ragù sauce , as much as is needed(*)
Extra virgin olive oil

(*) We haven't used the entire amount of the ragù sauce in the link given.


Preparation:

Red Pepper with Quail Eggs

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Today we are going to prepare a delicious dish with quail eggs.

Ingredients:
400 g red pepper
2 cloves of garlic
15 - 20 quail eggs
Salt
4 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil
200 g canned diced tomatoes

Our pepper was partially green. Nevertheless our dish was yummy. Certainly it would come even better with a red pepper in season. 

Before you prepare this dish, make sure that you have some delicious bread at home to serve it with.

Preparation:

Maltagliati with Chickpea Sauce

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

My husband and I have started to run since last year. I mentioned how we adopted a lifestyle change and lost weight, what we eat and how we started to do sports regularly in my other blog. If you are interested in the topic you can see those posts here and here.

In the recent weeks it has been quite an experience to run around here. The wheat fields by the roads we'd been running were embellished with poppies turning them to breathtaking poppy fields. I wanted to share a couple of pictures with you too.

I love spending time in the balcony in the nice weather. We have a very small balcony yet it is sufficient to enjoy outdoors and relax.
We often have our lunches and suppers there.

This year also I chose ivy geraniums for facade. I was very satisfied with last year's geraniums.

And here are some of the flowers in our balcony...

In today's recipe we prepare a chickpea sauce which I adore.
You can cook your freshly homemade maltagliati pasta with this sauce, they make a great couple.


Ingredients:
400 g cooked chickpeas
50 g extravirgin olive oil
40 g parsley
1 clove of garlic
20 g celery stick
400 g canned diced tomatoes
100 g full fat cream
Salt

For Maltagliati:
Fresh egg pasta (prepared with 500 g flour and 5 eggs)


Preparation:

Fried Veal Slices

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

A few days ago we fried some mushrooms. Today instead we are frying some veal slices.

Ingredients:
Veal slices (very thinly sliced)
Salt
Egg
Breadcrumbs
Sunflower oil


Preparation:

Fried Mushrooms

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Today we share a very simple recipe: fried mushrooms.

But before that, I'd like to make wishes to my parents-in-law for their 50th wedding anniversary.
They have always been huge help to us personally and also contributed a lot while creating this blog's contents.

In Italy it is a custom to celebrate the 25th and 50th wedding anniversaries altogether with family and close friends. 

The 50th year anniversary is the Golden Anniversary whereas the 25th is Silver Anniversary.

The couples first go to church to remarry. 
After the ceremony everybody goes to the restaurant for the wedding lunch.

Here are the wedding favors which are presented to the guests at the end of the lunch.

Dear Lucia & Ezio, congratulations again on reaching a very special milestone. You are both an inspiration to us, as individuals and as a couple. 

Happy Golden Anniversary...

Let's now come back to our recipe. 

When you plan to have some fried food for lunch or dinner, you can add also some fried mushrooms into your menu. I believe your guests will enjoy it.

Ingredients:
Oyster Mushrooms
Salt
Water
Flour
Egg
Breadcrumbs
Sunflower oil


Preparation:

Red Lasagna

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Right after beschamel recipe that I've just posted today, I would like to share also Lucia's yummy lasagna recipe. 

Lasagna is a dish where your imagination can go wild. You can fill it as you wish... different cheeses, vegetables, fish, pesto... or simlpy whatever you have in the fridge.

I had mentioned before that Stefano's brother has a pasta fresca (fresh pasta) shop and also his parents worked there. 
In the shop they have two main types of lasagna. Red and White lasagna.

We name this one as Red Lasagna because of the red ragu sauce which is basically made of tomatoes and mince whereas white lasagna is made with mozzarella, beschamel, mushrooms, prosciutto cotto and parmesan. 
Of course pasta dough in the shop is a little different as they use semolina and machines are calibrated to that kind of flour.

Here is how it is made at home..


Ingredients:

Lucia's Ragu Sauce (previously prepared)
Bechamel (previously prepared)
Fresh egg pasta (prepared with 2 eggs and 200 g flour)
200 g mozzarella (diced)
100 g grated parmesan


Preparation:

Bechamel

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Today we are preparing bechamel which will serve us later for lasagna and many other recipes in future.


Ingredients:
30 g butter
30 g flour
500 g full fat milk
Salt

Preparation:

Lucia's Gnocco

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

2 weeks ago I published the first recipe of Lucia that broght her the first prize in a local competition: Abruzzo Style Spaghetti with Meatballs.

Today I would like to share the second recipe that made her win the first prize for the second time in the same competition: Gnocco.

It is one of our absolute favourites.

Stefano says since his childhood he liked Gnocco so much that he used to complain to his mommy "Why do you prepare it for only when there are guests? Make it also when we are alone so I could eat more!" :)

We found some similar "Gnoccone" recipes on the web. Even if the ingredients and the preparation were similar, they weren't quite the same with the Gnocco that Lucia does. 
The main difference is that she doesn't cook au gratin at the end. She just cooks in boiling water, slice and then everyone dress it choosing among varying sauces.

Ingredients (for 1 Gnocco):
Gnocco:
1 kg potatoes
300 g flour
1 egg
10 g grated parmesan
Salt

Filling:
250 g mozzarella, chopped
500 g spinach
1 clove of garlic
1 - 2 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil
Some slices of mortadella or prosciutto cotto or turkey ham etc.

Sauces we used for the day:
Ragù Sauce
Mushroom Sauce
Melted Gorgonzola cheese
and Grated Parmesan


Preparation:

Lucia's Ragu Sauce

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Today I would like to share with you Lucia's Ragu Sauce.
We use this sauce very often not only as a pasta sauce but also when we prepare lasagna, eggplant parmigina and gnocco. I will soon be sharing all of these recipes.

Lucia prepares this sauce a little differently from classic ragù alla bolognese recipes. The main difference is that she cooks tomato sauce and minced meat separately, then she puts altogether.


Ingredients:

400 g canned diced tomatoes
40 g celery stick
40 g onion
60 g carrot
3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
Salt
1/2 tsp sugar
Water

250 g minced beef*
1 tbsp extravirgin olive oil
Salt

* If you wish you can replace a part of the beef mince with salsiccia (fresh sausage).

Preparation:

Mushroom Sauce

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Two weeks ago I published Lucia's first award winning recipe "Abruzzo Style Spaghetti with Meatballs" which brought her the first price in a local competition. 
I will soon be publishing the second award winning recipe of Lucia which brought her the first prize  for the second time in the same competition: Gnocco

We made this sauce to serve with Gnocco.
You can use the sauce with another pasta as you wish
I sometimes use it as side dish with grilled meat or even on our bruschette when I have leftovers.

Ingredients:
500 g mixed mushrooms*
3 - 4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
30 g carrot
30 g celery stick
30 g onion
Salt
Handful of parsley leaves


*We used cremini mushrooms and oyster mushrooms.

Preparation:

Smoked Tuna Rolls with Cheese and Wild Rocket

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

To be exact we should call them Smoked Tuna Rolls with Wild Rocket, Cream Cheese, Pineapple, Pear and Balsamic Dressing.
It is a very long name but actually it doesn't take that long to prepare.

We are using wild rocket in this recipe. I don't know how common wild rocket is in your country but it is very popular and widely used in Italy. 

If you ever visit Italy, I'd recommend you to try at least one kind of pizza with fresh wild rocket. It is added at the end, right after the pizza is taken out of the oven. 
The most common ones are Pizza with Buffalo Mozzarella, Cherry Tomatoes and Wild Rocket, Pizza with Bresaola, Wild Rocket and Parmesan and, for seafood lovers, Pizza with Shrimps and Wild Rocket.

Here are the ingredients...

Ingredients:
100 g smoked tuna slices
100 g Philadelphia
Wild rocket
Pineapple
Pear
Extravirgin olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt

Preparation:

Farfalle with Smoked Salmon and Cream

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

It is one of our favourite pasta sauces. It takes almost no time at all to prepare.

The dark color of pasta in the photos is because of the type of pasta I used, which is whole grain.
As an absolute pasta lover and also a wife to an Italian husband let me say that we have pasta almost every lunch. 

In recent years I started using whole grain pasta because of its better health benefits. We also enjoy the taste. I used to find very few products in the past but I see that their number has been increasing recently as I notice there is now more space dedicated in supermarket shelves. 

It is obviously not a must to use whole grain pasta for this recipe, it is up to your personal preference.

Ingredients (4 people):
320 g farfalle or fusilli pasta
200 g cream
100 g smoked salmon, cut into small pieces
20 g butter
Grated parmesan


Preparation:

Beef Rags with Mushrooms and Spinach

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

It is one of our favorites amongst the recipes of Lucia. 

"Straccetti" in Italian means little rags. Very thinly sliced meat is cut into small strips that resembles rags.

In this recipe we cook our three main ingredients separately and at the end we put everything together.

Ask your butcher to slice your meat very thinly. You will soon see in the pictures how thinly our meat was sliced.

The ingredients here would be enough for 2 - 3 people.
If you need to double the ingredients for your needs, remember to cook 250 g of meat at a time. We wouldn't recommend you to fit all 500 grams into one pan and cook at once.

Ingredients:

Spinach: 

400 g spinach
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Mushroom:
200 g mushrooms
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 glass of water
Salt

Meat:
250 g very thinly sliced beef
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt


Preparation:

Abruzzo Style Spaghetti with Meatballs

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Today I am finally publishing first recipe of Lucia's which brought her the first prize in a local competition: Abruzzo Style Spaghetti with Meatballs.

I told you already how to prepare fresh spaghetti and Lucia's tomato sauce with mixed meat in my previous posts from the series "Recipes of Italian Cuisine with Lucia". Today at last we are going to prepare the meatballs, cook pasta and serve. 

But before to proceed with the recipe let me share a few tips:

• To save time, you can prepare fresh egg pasta dough as first thing and let it rest.
• Secondly, you can start preparing Lucia's Tomato Sauce with Mixed Meat which requires some long cooking time.
• While having your tomato sauce cooked, you can prepare fresh pasta spaghetti and meatballs.

We prepared our spaghetti, sauce and meatballs the day before. 


Ingredients for Abruzzo Style Spaghetti with Meatballs:

Spaghetti alla chitarra or tagliatelle (cut as thin strips)
Lucia's Tomato Sauce with Mixed Meat
Meatballs in Sauce
Grated parmesan


Ingredients for Meatballs:

1 egg
200 g minced meat
Salt
10 g grated parmesan
Zest of 1/5 peel of a lemon
Black pepper (optional)
5 g bread crumbs (if needed)

Olive oil

Preparing Meatballs:

Lucia's Tomato Sauce with Mixed Meat

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

The third recipe from the series of "Recipes of Italian Cuisine with Lucia" is this yummy tomato sauce with mixed meat. 

We prepared it together last week so that I could share it in the blog. We will be making use of this sauce many ways in future.

The pieces of meat are used to add flavour to the sauce. They are removed from the sauce at the end. So when you prepare this sauce you will also have a good amount of meat ready for your supper.

Ingredients:

60 g extra virgin olive oil

300 g beef
150 g lamb
300 g hen (we used skin-on hen thighs )

1/2 glass white wine

20 g celery stick, diced
60 g carrot, diced
40 g onion, diced

A tip of tsp nutmeg
2 cloves
800 g canned diced tomatoes
1/2 glass of water

Preparation:

Preparing Spaghetti alla Chitarra and Tagliatelle

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Yesterday I published fresh egg pasta dough recipe. Today we will be preparing some "pasta fresca" with that recipe.

Lucia, my mother in law, is not a chef but a marveolus cook. In past she participated into a local competition two years in a row and won three awards with her fabulous recipes. One of them that brought her first prize was "Spaghetti alla Chitarra Abruzzesi con Polpettine" (Abruzzo Style Spaghetti with Small Meatballs) recipe. I will be sharing the entire recipe next days.

We would like to show you today how to make spaghetti alla chitarra. If you don't live in Italy it may be difficult for you to find chitarra pasta cutter (although I saw on internet that they sell it on Amazon) This is why we will also show how to make tagliatelle which is very very easy.

Let me first explain what "chitarra" means.
Chitarra literally means guitar in English.
In Italian the word guitar does not only represents the well known musical instrument but also a kind of pasta cutter. 
This guitar-like device is basically a wooden frame strung with metal wires. Pasta sheets are pressed down onto chitarra with a rolling pin and this way they are cut into spaghetti. I will share videos and also photos to explain better.

Let's come to the ingredients now... 


Ingredients:

Fresh egg pasta dough
Flour

SPAGHETTI ALLA CHITARRA PREPARATION: