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Basil Oil
Basil Oil
-Evo oil
-Fresh basil
Wash fresh basil and mix it well in a food processor with extra virgin olive oil. Pour it in a jar and keep it refrigerated.
Use it a teaspoon at the time on bruschetta, pasta, caprese or everywhere you like.
Enjoy It!!!
Tomato and Bread soup
This is the exellent classic Touscan soup-simple, tasty and always enjoyed, whether in winter or served tepid, with a beautifully perfumed basil leaf to enhance the flavour, in summer. I make it with:
300 gr day old, unsalted touscan bread cut into thin slices 2 medium onions cut in thick slices or 2 good leeks if in season 1 kilo peeled tomatoes, squashed with fork 2 tps garlic paste 6 tbs extra virgin oil bunch of fresh basil 1 chili pepper (fresh if possible) salt and pepper
Gently fry the onion in the olive oil with a good pinch of salt and the chili pepper until pale golden. Add the tomatoes, 1 large glass of water and the garlic and continue cooking over a medium flame until ready (when the oil and tomato start to separate). Taste and add additional salt if necessary. At this point, begin adding the finely slices bread, a layer at a time, mixing bread and tomatoes together very well as you go along. The Pappa is ready when the tomatoes have absorbed all the bread while the mixture is still soft but thick. Serve a drizzle of oil in an “O” and a beautiful basil leaf…and enjoy.
Persimmons Cheesecake
September is th month of persimmons, here, almost every garde has a beautiful plant full of delicious fruits, you can eat as much as you can but they will never end untill comes the terrible moment they decide to fall all at the same time!!! This easy easy recipe is a very good way to use them and you”ll see haw good it is!!!
For the crust:
-150 gr bisquits (or the same amount of leftover piecrust, crackers etc..)
-50 gr melted butter
For the filling:
-4 peeled persimmons
-500 gr mascarpone cheese
-100 gr sugar
-1 egg
Put the bisquits andthe melted butter in a blender and mix well. Pour the crumbles in a baking tin and press to form a base. Let it refrigerate for 10 minutes.
In a bowl, mix all the other ingredients than pour the mixture onto the base. Cook it in the oven for 1 hour at 160°-170° Celsius.
It doesn’t need to be refrigerate, just let it rest for 1 or 2 hours than…
ENJOY IT!
Castagnaccio
Castagnaccio (luxury version!)
This is a very old cake, very simple, very good, very versatile….we’ll see later why! In the past times, November was the period when people had chestnuts available, they were also used to make flour out of chestnuts as wheat flour wasn’t for all! So, from such a poor ingredient, people created a lot of very interesting recipes like this one, let’s see it:
Ingredientes for 8-10 portions:
- 500 grams of chestnuts flour (compulsory!)
- Water (enough to make a fluid batter – this is also a compulsory ingredient! Some people prefer to use milk, do as you prefer, this is a recipe you can play with)
The above are the only two ingredientes you’ll really must have to make this cake, all the others that I’m listing below are the reason why I’m calling my castagnaccio the “luxury version”…use all, use some, change the quantities, change the kind of oil or dry fruit to change the final taste, the castagnaccio will always be good!
- sugar ( to taste, but as chestnut flour is sweet itself, it would be better not to put more than 2-3 tablespoon )
- cocoa powder (1-2 tablespoon)
- raisins ( 1-2 tablespoon)
- walnuts ( 1-2 tablespoon)
- pine seeds ( 1-2 tablespoon)
- rosemary leaves ( some to taste)
- oil ( 3-4 tablespoon, use extra virgin olive oil for stronger taste or any oil you prefer)
In a bowl mix chestnut flour with sugar and cocoa powder than add as much water as needed to make a smooth fluid batter, add about 1/3 of the oil and mix.
Add raisins, walnuts and pine seeds leeving some for topping.
Pour the batter in a greased pan, sprinkle the top with leftover raising, walnuts and pine seeds than with rosemary leeves.
Pour the remaining oil on top and cook in the oven at 165- 170 degrees (celsius) for 30 to 40 minutes.
Remove it from the oven let it cool a little than cut it in slices or in squares, if you like you can sprinkle the top with some cocoa powder and than….enjoy it!!!!
Anacini
A Taste of Tuscany – Fettine fritte con pomodori (Fried meat slices with tomatoes salad)
Easy, quick, cheap, actual and timeless recipe, everybody loves to eat it for lunch, or dinner, or merenda!!!!
Wonderful to be eaten even the day after put between two bread slices….wow, I can’t wait to eat a full dish of these “fettine” (fettine means small, thin slices of meat)
Every bite is a traditional taste of Tuscany, when we eat this dish at home, we absolutely don’t feel ashamed of eating even 5-6-7……pieces per person!!!!!
Ingredientes for 1 person:
a couple of meat slices
(I prefer to use pork loin but you can use any meat you like or have in the fridge)
1 beaten egg
(this quantity,is really too much but you can re-use the leftover egg for other things)
5-6 tbsp of corn flour (if you use this flour you will not have problems for celiacs too)
1 tomato (diced and seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano)
oil for frying (I usually use extra virgin olive oil or peanut oil to fry)
Using a meat tenderizer beat the meat slices, they must be as thin as possible so that they will become very tender and, most important, they will cook very fast.
Pass them in the beaten egg, than press them very well into the flour.
As soon as the pan with the oil reaches the right temperature, put the ” fettine”.
Fry them for a couple of minutes per side to get a nice golden colour.
Once ready put them on a paper towel to dry the excess of oil than put them in a dish and cover with the tomatoes.
Squeeze the lemon wedge on top of this amazing meal and…Enjoy it!
Spaghetti with chickpeas, anchovies and rosmary
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This is a very tasty recipe from south of Italy, it is quick, easy and it take less than 10 minutes to prepare.
I suggest to use spaghetti because, to me, it’s the best way to appreciate this dish but obviously, it is extra good with any other kind of pasta.
Ingredientes for 1 person ( in the video you’ll see I was making this recipe for 3 persons but, below, I’m giving the quantity for only one so that it’s easy to multiply by the portions you want to prepare):
1 to 2 tbsp of chickpeas (already cooked)
1 anchovie
1 pinch of chilli pepper
Some rosemary
2 to 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 garlic clove
While you are cooking the spaghetti, let fry the garlic, the chilli pepper and the anchovie stirring with a fork untill the anchovie is dissolved, add the rosemary.
Put the chickpears in the pan together with a couple of tbsps of boiling water and let cook for 3 to 4 minutes than crash the chickpeas with the fork to create a more “smooth” sauce.
Let cook for some more minutes untill the sauce become more thick.
Drain the spaghetti and put them with the sauce, let amalgamate together for a couple of minutes than put some oil on top and….. Enjoy it!
Spaghetti Pomodoro e ricotta ( tomato and ricotta cheese sauce)
Superb recipe, soooo italian, very easy to prepare and soooo delicious…..but the result may vary in accordance to the ricotta cheese used!
There are many kind of ricotta ( sheep, cow, buffalo, goat) but usually we buy the cow’s one because it is more silky, delicate but to me, the best ricotta to use to prepare this dish is the sheep’s one as it is more salty, it has a much more decise flavour and taste….a very simple dish that may change a lot just changing an ingredient.
Ingredientes for 1 portion of pasta:
100 grms of spaghetti
3 to 4 tblspn of extra virgin olive oil
3 tblspn tomato
1 tblspn ricotta cheese
Less than 1/2 tsp of garlic
1 tsp of oregano
1 pinch of salt
Pepper to taste
First of all start cooking the spaghetti as this is a recipe that takes the same time than pasta to cook…and maybe less!
Let fry gently the garlic and 1/2 quantity of oregano in oil for 1 or 2 minutes than add tomato, salt, pepper and let cook for 3 to 4 minutes but, if you see that the sauce is too thick, than add a couple of tablespoons of the water where you are cooking the spaghetti.
Add the ricotta cheese and smash it in the pan using a fork, you’ ll mix all well.
After 1 minute more or less, you’ll see that the oil starts to separate from the sauce, that’s your signal, the sauce is ready.
Drain the spaghetti and put them in the saucepan, stirring a little put some oil and the rest of the oregano on top of the pasta than….enjoy it!
Taste Tuscany …antipasto Toscano
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Antipasto toscano
This is the traditional starter for all tuscan people, ham, salami and a couple of crostini …. What’s more typical than this!!!!!!!!
This time I’ve chosen 3 cold cuts (prosciutto, finocchiona and salame) and 2 crostini, one Bruschetta ( tomato, oregano and basil) and one Fettunta ( garlic, oregano, extra virgin olive oil). You can find separate video-recipes of the above crostini.
Have a glass of good red wine with this antipasto and… Enjoy it!!!!!