Salmon with artichokes

Try this recipe, is very simple, healthy and quick to prepare!

Ingredients for 4 persons

4 slices of fresh salmon
8 fresh artichokes
1 clove of garlic
a bunch of parsley
8 tablespoons of olive oil
salt / pepper


Clean and finely slice ​​artichokes, wash them and put in a pan with olive oil, parsley and garlic. Add with salt and pepper. Cook until they are tender and cooked, then add the salmon slices, season with salt. Serve with a good white wine of Tuscany.

Vegetable Dumplings

Vegetable Dumplings

this is a Tuscan typical dish: tortelli without the pasta, in other words balls stuffed with vegetables and ricotta cheese, topped with tomato or meat sauce.

Quick, tasty recipe, ideal for children!

Ingredients for 4 people

400 gr. fresh ricotta cheese

400gr. fresh spinach

2 eggs

50gr. grated parmesan cheese

nutmeg, salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

100gr.flour

Wash and cook the spinach in a pan with two tablespoons of olive oil and a salt. In a bowl, pour ricotta, eggs, Parmesan cheese and spinach finely chopped. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir the mixture  until smooth not liquid, if it seems a little thick, add in two / three tablespoons of flour.

Boil 1,5 lt of salted water and start to prepare dumplings using your hands, roll them in the flour and put in boiled water. Dumplings will be cooked as soon as they come to the surface, serve with hot tomato sauce or meat sauce.

Traditional Tuscan Pici

Pici is another shape of pasta and is typical of our region: Tuscany!

Usually we serve with garlic sauce " all'aglione" or with duck sauce "con la nana", anyway you can use also meat sauce or boar meat sauce.

 

Ingredients

 

500 g flour 0

10g olive oil

salt

200g water ( or enough water to knead gently with your hands until the dough is smooth and elastic)

 

On the pastry board put the flour, pour a little warm water, salt and knead until the mixture is elastic. Wrap the dough in a cloth, let it rest for 40 minutes. Roll out the dough and cut into wide ribbons giving the shape of thick spaghetti.

The original recipe do not allow eggs, anyway I found few recipe with 1 egg, I think that is not necessary.

 

 

 

Lasagna chic... with pesto

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A different lasagna, tasty but with a delicate flavour. Try this recipe is very easy and you will offer a different and elegant dish to your guests!

Ingredients for 4 people

 

300g. fresh Italian pesto

2 doses of béchamel (white cream, see my basic recipe)

fresh egg pasta sheets

100g butter

 

 

Start to mix béchamel and pesto,in a baking tray put some pieces of butter, spread a layer of pasta (which I recommend to cook before) pour over the mixture of pesto and béchamel, continue to spread pasta sheets until you will finish all ingredients.

Bake in preheated oven to 250° for 12 minutes, let it rest and cool. Serve warm, ideal with a white wine of Liguria region.

Christmas Time! Italian Pandoro Cake

Ingredients

1 Pandoro

250ml fresh cream
50g icing sugar
1 vanilla bean
40g chocolate chips

 

To garnish:

icing sugar

powdered chocolate

coloured grains of sugar

Start to cut horizontally pandoro so it has a star-shape, slices will be 4/5 cm high.

Pour the cream into a bowl, then cut the vanilla bean along its length and remove from inside the small seeds blacks and add bean and seeds to the cream, close the bowl with a lid and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, strain the cream with a piece of linen or cotton, then pour into bowl whit high rims.

Whip the fresh cream until stiff peaks are just about to form gradually add the icing sugar, then add chocolate chips.

Use this cream to fill pandoro cake, garnish with chocolate and coloured grains of sugar.

Francesca's Braised Beef

 

This recipe comes directly from my mother Francesca, which prepare this beef for holidays or for special events!

 

Ingredients for 6 people

 

1kg. beef

3 ribs of celery

2 onions

1 carrot

2 bay leaves

5 cloves

750 ml red wine ( as Morellino di Scansano or another full body red wine)

6 tbsps olive oil

 

In a large bowl place the beef, celery, onions, carrot, bay leaves and cloves. Cover with red wine and place in refrigerator for 1 night or 8/10 hours, is very important to pickle the meat in order to give tasty flavour.

Lard inserting the butter in the meat, season with salt and pepper, flour and fry lightly in a saucepan with olive oil until brown. Add vegetables that you used to pickle the beef, fry lightly and cover with red wine. Cook for 3/4 hours, remove the meat, bay leaves and cloves and process the sauce until smooth. Serve hot, ideal with a full body Tuscan red wine.

 

Typical Italian Lasagna with meat sauce ( or Bolognese Lasagna)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a typical and traditional Italian Lasagna, other versions are very good but the historic recipe is the following:

Ingredients for 6 people

Egg pasta sheets ( use one dose of my Italian Fresh Egg Pasta Basic recipe or one pack of ready-egg pasta sheets)
Meat Sauce ragout (use a dose of my own recipe "Tuscan meat sauce")
Béchamel (1 dose of my own recipe "Béchamel")
Butter for greasing the baking tray
50/70g parmesan cheese.

Boil salted water with a tablespoon of olive oil to cook the pasta for few minutes, ( the olive will avoid the pasta from sticking). Put in  the pan a few flakes of butter, start to spread the first layer of pasta, then pour few tablespoons of meat sauce and béchamel. Continue to spread egg pasta, sauce and  béchamel  until you terminate all the ingredients. Garnish the top with meat sauce, béchamel and parmesan. Bake in preheated oven at 220 degrees for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let it cool few minutes, cut the lasagna and serve hot. A Tuscan red wine Sangiovese is perfect to go with this dish.