Potato and red onion frittelle

This recipe is a delicious starter, easy to make and full of flavours!

Ingredients:

  • Potatoes, 4
  • Red onion, 1
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Flour, 100g
  • Water 50ml
  • Rapeseed oil

Recipe:

  1. Wash and boil the potatoes
  2. Peel and cut the onion
  3. Warm some oil in a pan and add the onion
  4. Add some water and let them cook for 15-20 minutes until soft
  5. Peel and cut the potatoes in slices
  6. Make your pastella: mix the flour, water, salt and pepper until you have a thick not watery mixture
  7. Add flour or water if necessary
  8. Add the onions in the patella
  9. Add the potato slices in the pastella
  10. Warm the rapeseed oil in a pan
  11. With a spoon, take 1 potato slice and the onions covered in the pastella and put it in the pan (1 potato slice covered in pastella with some onions=1frittella)
  12. Add several tablespoons of the mixture in the pan to get several separate frittelle
  13. When they are golden, take them out and put them in a dish that has been covered with kitchen towel

Enjoy!

Neapolitan ragù

Ragù Is not just a sauce, it is the perfect representation of the love and care that Italians have for food: it takes several hours to make it and it needs stirring regularly, but the result will pay everything off, I promise!

Ingredients:

  • Beef ribs, 700g
  • Pork ribs, 350g
  • Pork sausage, 350g
  • White onion, 1
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Red wine half a glass
  • Tomato sauce 700g

Recipe:

  1. Peel and cut the onion
  2. Warm some oil in a pan and add the onion
  3. When the onion is clear turn the heat off
  4. Cut the beef and remove the fatty bits
  5. Cut the beef, the pork and the sausage in pieces and add them to the pan
  6. Turn the heat on and let the meat cook for 10 minutes at low temperature
  7. Add the wine and let it evaporate
  8. Add the tomato sauce
  9. Add 2 glasses of water
  10. Add salt and pepper
  11. Let everything cook for 5 hours at very low temperature
  12. If you want (this is not part of the traditional recipe but I love it) after 4 hours add some frozen peas, they give some colour and their sweetness matches well with these flavours

Enjoy!

Pasta alla norma

Pasta alla Norma is a traditional recipe from Sicily, it takes its name from the Bellini masterpiece Norma 🙂 I am not surprised that such a lovely recipe has been compared to the perfection of this opera!

Ingredients:

  • Pasta (rigatoni, sedani, mezze maniche, penne) 300g
  • Aubergine, 500g
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Garlic, 1 clove
  • Salted ricotta to grate
  • Basil leaves
  • Vine tomatoes 800g

Recipe:

  1. Wash and chop the tomatoes
  2. Peel and cut the garlic
  3. Warm some oil in a pan and add the garlic
  4. When the garlic starts to bubble, add the tomatoes and let everything cook at very very low temperature for 30 minutes
  5. In the meantime, cut the aubergines in slices, put them in a colander and layer them covered in sea salt
  6. Put a pan with water on top of the aubergines so they release their bitter juice and leave them in the colander for at least half an hour
  7. When the tomatoes are cooked, blend everything together
  8. Put the sauce again in a pan and let it cook for 15 minutes until the sauce is more thick
  9. Add salt and pepper as you like
  10. Rinse the aubergines and dry them well with a towel
  11. Put some oil in a pan and fry the aubergines until golden
  12. Once they are fried, put them in a dish covered with kitchen towel to absorb the oil
  13. Cook the pasta
  14. When the pasta is done, mix it with the tomato sauce and add the aubergines slices on top of it
  15. Grate some salted ricotta and put it on top of the pasta
  16. Add the basil leaves

Enjoy!

Risotto with courgettes and pancetta

This is a lovely combination of flavours that makes everybody happy: it is delicate, crunchy, colorful, delicious!

Ingredients:

  • Courgette, 1
  • White onion, 1
  • Smoked pancetta slices, 6
  • Rice arborio, 160g
  • Grated parmesan cheese, 4 tablespoons
  • Butter
  • Vegetable stock, 1litre
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Recipe:

  1. Cut the onion finely
  2. Warm some oil in a pan and add the onion
  3. Add some tablespoons of stock
  4. Using a grater, cut the courgette “julienne”
  5. Add the courgette to the pan and add some stock
  6. Let it cook for 10-13 minutes
  7. In the meantime cook the pancetta: no oil, let it cook in its own fat
  8. Add the rice in the pan with the onion and the courgette
  9. When the pancetta is crunchy add it to the pan- save some to put it on top of the risotto
  10. Add the stock to the risotto from time to time until cooked
  11. When it is almost done, add a tablespoon of butter, the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper
  12. Serve it and put some of the crunchy pancetta on top
  13. Enjoy!!

Ciambellone Nutella e mascarpone

Do you love Nutella? Do you love mascarpone? Great! Because they are meant to be together and this recipe will be your favourite thing ever! 🙂

Ingredients:

  • Eggs, 3
  • Flour, 250g
  • Milk, half a glass
  • Mascarpone, 250g
  • Sugar, 200g
  • Vanilla paste, 1 tablespoon
  • Nutella, one glass
  • Yeast, one bag
  • Butter for the tray

Recipe:

  1. Preheat the oven, 160° fan assisted – please do this at the beginning of your steps!
  2. Mix the flour, sugar and eggs
  3. Add the warm milk and the yeast
  4. Add the mascarpone
  5. Add the vanilla paste
  6. When the mixture is very creamy put the butter in the tray, spread it even so that the cake won’t stick
  7. Add 2/3 of the mixture in the tray
  8. Add tablespoons of nutella on the tray, it should “drown” when it cooks but I always give it a little push
  9. Try to just add tablespoons, do not spread it as a layer
  10. Add the remaining mixture to cover
  11. Cook for 30 minutes

Enjoy!

Pasta alla norma

This is one of my favourite recipes, I love aubergines and they are meant to be with salted ricotta, they are the perfect combination!

Ingredients:

  • Chopped tomatoes, one tin
  • Garlic, one clove
  • Olive oil
  • Rapeseed oil
  • Aubergine, 250 g
  • Salt crystals
  • Pasta rigatoni, 320g

Recipe:

  1. Peel and cut the garlic finely
  2. Warm some oil in a pan and add the garlic
  3. Add the tomatoes and let everything cook for 20 minutes
  4. In the meantime, cut the aubergines in slices of about 3 mm
  5. Leave the slices in a colander, add some salt crystals on every layer and on the last layer add also a pan with water, so that the aubergines lose their bitter water
  6. Leave the aubergines for 40-60 minutes
  7. After this time, add some rapeseed oil in a pan and warm it
  8. Fry the aubergines until they have a lovely golden colour
  9. Cook the pasta
  10. When the pasta is cooked, add the tomatoes and the aubergines
  11. Grate some salted ricotta on top of the pasta

Enjoy!!

Asparagus and potatoes vellutata

This is a very delicate recipe, it combines the bitter taste of the asparagus with the creamy and sweet taste of the potatoes, and the result is great!

Ingredients:

  • Asparagus to clean, 500g
  • Potatoes, 300g
  • Vegetable stock, 1 litre
  • White onion, 1
  • Double cream, 150g
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Recipe:

  1. Cut the onion roughly
  2. Add some oil in a pan and warm it up
  3. Add the onion
  4. In the meantime boil the stock
  5. Add some hot stock to the onion
  6. Peel and cut the potatoes
  7. Add the potatoes in the pan with the onion
  8. Take the white ends off from the asparagus and peel the body until you see the white
  9. Cut the asparagus and add it to the potatoes and onions
  10. Add the rest of the stock
  11. Let everything to cook for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft
  12. Add salt and pepper as you like
  13. Blend everything together until you get a nice cream
  14. Add the cream and stir

Enjoy!