Italian Food Recipes

The combination of saffron and mushrooms is very delicious! Try it with this first course!









INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)

160 g of Rice
1/2 Vegetable stock-cube
1/4 of Onion
3-4 Tablesppons of Extra virgin olive oil
25 g of Dried mushrooms
15 g of Saffron
5 g of Butter
3-4 Leafs of sage
Parmesan

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

DIFFICULTY: medium

WINE: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Cerasuolo (Red wine)

PREPARATION
Prepare broth with water and 1/2 stock-cube vegetable in a pot.
Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl with some water for 10 minutes.

Take the skin of 1/4 onion off and chop it. Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, put in it onion and the butter and wait until they get brown. Add rice and make it roast.

Then chop the mushrooms and add them to the rice and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Start to add 1 ladle of hot broth stirring until it is absorbed, continue in this way, adding ladles of hot broth, for about 15-18 minutes.

5 minutes before the cooking end add saffron and mix
At the end of the cooking the rice must be slightly firm to the teeth.
Serve hot together with some Parmesan and some leafs of sage, if desired.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This tart made of pears and chocolate is ideal for people who have a sweet tooth!



INGREDIENTS:

120 g of Sugar
1 Egg
1 Yolk
70 g of Butter at room temperature
250 of Flour
8 g of Yeast for sweet
2 Pears
200 g of Chocolate (dark or milk chocolate)
50 ml of Milk
25 ml of Passito wine

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 35 minutes

DIFFICULTY: medium

WINE: Passito

PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 220°C. Put the flour, the sugar, the egg, the butter pieces, the yeast and the wine in a bowl. Then mix all together until you obtain a solid dough.

Divide the dough in two parts: one large part is for the tart base and the other (50 g) for decoration. Dampen a sheet of baking paper and put it on the bottom of a 24 cm diameter deep cake-tin. Then roll out the first part of the dough 1 cm thick and cover the bottom and the sides of the tin.
Wash, dry and peel 2 pears. Then cut the pears into small slices and put them on the dought as shown in the picture below.
In a pan put the dark chocolate (or milk chocolate as you prefer) with the milk and the yolk, and cook until the chocolate is melted and you obtain a cream (for about 4-5 minutes).

When the cream of chocolate is ready pour it on the pear.
Now roll out the second part of the dough on a table and cut it into thin strips. Then put them on the surface of the chocolate to decorate the tart.

Bake for 30 minutes
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!

A delicious dessert with strawberry jam! Simple and fast!






INGREDIENTS (for 8 people)

120 g of Sugar
1 Egg
70 g of Butter at room temperature
250 of Flour
8 g of Yeast for sweet
300 g of Strawberry jam
25 ml of Passito wine

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

DIFFICULTY: medium

WINE: Passito

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180° C. Put the flour, the sugar, the egg, the pieces of butter, the yeast and the wine in a bowl.

Mix all together until you obtain a solid dough.

Divide the dough in two parts: one large part is for the tart base and the other (50 g) for decoration. Dampen a sheet of baking paper and put it on the bottom of a cake tin of 24-cm diameter and 4-cm thick . Then roll out the first part of the dough 1 cm thick and cover the bottom and the sides of the tin. Spread on the surface of the dought the strawberry jam as shown in the picture below.
Now roll out the second part of the dough on a table and cut it into thin strips. Then put them on the surface of the jam to decorate the tart.

Bake for 30 minutes until the surface of the strips become golden.
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!

Tiramisù, absolutely the king of desserts! Prepare it with this easy recipe!



INGREDIENTS (for 4-6 people)

2 Eggs
4 Tablespoons of sugar
250 g Mascarpone
150 ml of Coffee
200 g of Savoiardi (about 24 savoiardi) (Sponge finger)
10-15 of Cacao

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Sweet spumante

PREPARATION
Make the coffee without sugar, when it is ready, put it in a bowl and wait until it is cool.
In another bowl put 2 yolks and the sugar and mix them until you obtain a homogeneous cream.

Beat the 2 eggs whites until stiff.

Add them to the cream togheter with the the mascarpone and mix all.

Dip one-by-one savoiardi in the coffee, just to give the taste of coffee. You must be careful because biscuits don't have to be too wet, otherwise they will be bitter.
In the bottom of a retangular bowl put some cream of mascarpone then make a layer with the dipped savoiardi. Cover with the cream of mascarpone.


Make another layer with savoiardi and cover them with the cream of mascarpone.
At the end cover all with some cacao.
This is the result:


BUON APPETITO!

This dish join the sweet taste of honey with the spicy of lard!

INGREDIENTS (for 2 peole)

6 Slices of lard
1 Tablespoon of honey
5-6 walnuts

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

WINE: Petite Arvine (White wine)

PREPARATION
Cut 6 thin slices of lard. Crack and chop the walnuts.


In the middle of a platter put the honey , then all around put the slices of lard and the chopped walnuts.
You can eat this dish with dark bread: this is a traditional match of Val d'Aosta.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This recipe is for an appetizer made of salmon and almonds.


INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)

100 g of Smoked salmon
8-9 aAmonds
5 g ofButter
A slice of bread
Some Marjoram

PREPARATION TIME: 5 minutes

COOKING TIME: 5 minutes

DIFFICULTY: easy

WINE: Pinot Grigio of Friuli (White wine)

PREPARATION
Cut a piece of bread and toast it in the oven for 5 minutes.

Cut smoked salmon into strips.

When the piece of bread is ready, butter it and sprinkle it with marjoram.
Now roll strips of salmon up a piece of butter, put them on bread in vertical position (as a candle) and put on the top of each candle an almond.
Serve on oval dish sprinkled with marjoram.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is a really common recipe to cook a traditional antipasto.


INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)

1 Octopus of 400 g
2 Potatoes
Some chopped parsley
Terre di Franciacorta (White wine)
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

DIFFICULTY: easy

WINE: Terre di Franciacorta (White wine)

PREPARATION
Clean the octopus, cut its eyes and wash it under fresh flowing water.
Then boil it in a pot with water and a teaspoon of salt for almost 30 minutes. When it's tender, leave it to dry, skin it and cut it in small pieces.


Clean the potatoes, peel and boil them, leave them to dry, and cut them into small pieces. Put potatoes in a pot and add a bit of white wine.

Add the octopus, sprinkle it with parsely, a pinch of salt and some pepper. Add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and serve the dish.
This is the result:


BUON APPETTITO!