Italian Food Recipes

Fennels are vegetable typical of the winter period in Italy. You can cook them in various way, but the recipe that I prefer is the fennels au gratin with béchamel and Parmesan. This dish results light and appetizing.








INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
3 Fennels
40 g of Parmesan
2 – 3 Tablespoons of breadcrumbs
1 / 2 L of Milk
40 g of Butter
2 Tablespoons of flour
Nutmeg

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKIN TIME: 40 minutes

WINE: Alto Adige Chardonnay Doc

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Let salted water boil. Wash and clean the fennels, remove the upper fronds

and divide the leaves of them. When water boils place in it the leaves of fennels and let them cook for about 10 minutes.

Drain the fennels and let them cool. In the meantime prepare the béchamel in this way: melt the butter in a pan, stirring sprinkle the flour in it in order to obtain a cream without lumps.


Then continuing to stir, add slowly the milk and some nutmeg and let it cook for about 10 minutes until the béchamel becomes firm.


Now place on the bottom of a baking pan some béchamel, some breadcrumbs, some Parmesan and the fennel.

Over the fennel make another layer as before until the pan becomes full.


Bake for about 15 minutes until the surface become golden.


Serve the fennels au gratin hot as a side dish with meat, salumi or Italian cheese.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

The chestnuts are typical fruit of the autumnal and winter period in Italy. You can eat them boiled or roasted but you can also use them to prepare delicious appetizer, first course, second course or dessert. In particular the chestnuts flour is ideal for dessert and first course. In the following recipe chestnut flour is used to prepare tagliatelle (noodles). In this recipe chestnuts tagliatelle are seasoned with a sauce of walnuts, chestnuts, pine kernels and cream. It’s very good!








INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
150 g or Flour
200 g of Chestnuts flour
2 Eggs
10 Walnuts
8-10 Chestnuts
20 g of Pine kernels
200 ml of Cream
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Marjoram


PREPARATION TIME: 45 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Brachetto d'Acqui Docg

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for tagliatelle (noodles). Place the flour and the chestnuts flour on a floured worktop, mix them and arrange them as a fountain, add in the middle the eggs

and the salt and mix in order to obtain a solid and elastic dough.Let the dough stand for about 20 minutes.

After this time with the help of the pasta machine cut the dough into noodles. Pay attention that the dough must be always floured in order to not sticks it to the pasta machine.

Then start to prepare the sauce. Crack the walnuts and peel the chestnuts. Preheat in a pan 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, add the walnuts, the chestnuts, the pine kernels, salt, pepper and some marjoram and let them brown.

Then add the cream and let it reduce for about 5 – 8 minutes.

When water boil, add the tagliatelle, cook for about 4 – 5. Drain them and pour over them the sauce. Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO

This is a typical Italian dish in particular of the central part of Italy. The recipe presented below is made of ham or salami, egg, Parmesan, loaf and milk in order to prepare the filling. There are many differents Italian ingredients that you can use to prepare the filling like Pecorino Romano (Italian Cheese) or anchovies used in the Neapolitan cooking. If you want cook a vegetarian dish dont'use the salmi or ham but only the cheese.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
8 Artichokes
150 g of Ham or salami cutted into cubes
1 Egg
1 Loaf
100 ml of Milk
50 g of Parmesan
1 Lemon
30 g of Parsley
1 Clove of Garlic
Salt
Pepper


PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Bardolino Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION


Prepare a bowl with water and the juice of the lemon. Wash the artichokes, cut the stem (that you can use in the filling), the tips of the remaining leaves that are prickly and remove the tough outer leaves at the base. Then force the center leaves slightly open in the middle and place them in the bowl with water and lemon as shown in the picture below.


Place the loaf in a bowl with the milk in order to soften it.

Cut in small pieces the stems of artichokes. Prepare a chopped garlic and parsley, put it in a bowl, and add in it the loaf crumbled, the egg, the pieces of stems, the ham or salami, the parmesan, salt and pepper.

Mix all together and with this mixture fill the artichokes.

Place the stuffed artichokes in a pan with a drizzle of oil and some water and cook on a low flame for about 30 minutes.

This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

When I prepare a based polenta dish like polenta with mushrooms or polenta with bruscitti for a good lunch, usually I cook a quantity of polenta in excess in order to prepare for the dinner a delicious Italian recipe that is like a lasagna made of slice of polenta alternated with slices of ham and fontina (Italian Cheese). I love so much this delicious recipe!



INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
250 g of Maize flour
1 liter of Water
1 / 2 Tablespoon of salt
50 g of Parmesan
150 g of Fontina (Italian Cheese)
200 g of Ham
30 g of butter
200 g of Rocket

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour and 20 minutes

WINE: Valle d'Aosta Chambave rosso Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
In a pot of copper put the water and let it warm. Before water boils, sprinkle the maize flour into the water and begin to stir with a wood-spoon.


Continue to stir for about 40 minutes until polenta become thick.


Place a towel in a pan and sprinkle it with some maize flour then put over it the polenta and let it cool. Preheat the oven to 180-200 °C.
When the polenta is cool, cut it in slice 1 – 1,5 cm thick.

Then prepare the slices of fontina (Italian Cheese) and the slices of ham.

Cover the surface of a baking tin with a sheet of baking paper, make a layer with the slices of polenta

and over a layer with the slice of fontina, ham and some parmesan.

Then make another layer with polenta and another with fontina, ham and parmesan. When the baking tin is full cover with the last layer of polenta and sprinkle with parmesan and some pieces of butter.

Bake for about 30 – 40 minutes or until the surface of polenta becomes golden.

Serve it hot with some rocket.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Another good Italian recipe with pumpkin as main ingredient is the gnocchi of pumpkin with sauce of ricotta cheese and cream. As the ravioli of pumpkin also this recipe is typical of Mantua in the northern part of Italy. This is a simple and fast recipe to prepare.








INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
700 g of Pumpkin
200 g of Ricotta Cheese
100 ml of Cream
150 g of Flour
1 Egg
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Lambrusco Mantovano DOC (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for gnocchi. Peel the pumpkin, cut it in pieces, place them in a pan with some water and let them cook for about 15 minutes or until they become soft.

Drain the pumpkin, place it in a bowl and reduce it in pulp. Place in a pan the butter and let it melt, then add the pulp of pumpkin, some salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes.

After this time put the mixture in a bowl and let it cool. When the mixture is cool, add in it the flour, the egg

and mix all together in order to obtain a soft dough as shown in the picture below. Now prepare the sauce.

In a pan place the cream, the ricotta cheese and some thyme.

Cook for about 5 – 8 minutes and at the end add some pepper and nutmeg.

Now cook the gnocchi in this way: put spoonfuls of the mixture of pumpkin in the water when it boils and when they raise over the surface they are ready.

This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Polenta is a typical dish of the Northern part of Italy. It has itself a bland taste but if you match it with something with a tasty flavour, you can obtain a delicious Italian recipe. In the recipe below polenta is matched with Porcini, mushrooms with a very good taste. So you can prepare a delicious dish!








INGREDIENTS FOR POLENTA (for 4 people)
500 g of Maize flour
2 liter of Water
1 Tablespoon of salt

INGREDIENTS FOR MUSHROOMS
1 Kg of Porcini
1 / 4 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil
1 Clove of garlic
50 g of Parsley
30 g of Butter
1 Glass of white wine
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 – 40 minutes

WINE: Muller Thurgau (White Wine)

PREPARATION
In a pan place the extra virgin olive oil and the garlic and let it brown. Then if you use fresh mushrooms clean them with a knife and a towel, cut into pieces and put in the pan,

instead if you use frozen mushrooms, place them directly frozen in the pan.
Let them cook for about 5-10 minutes then add the parsley, the butter

and stir until the butter is melted. Now add the wine and let it evaporated. Cook for about 30 - 40 minutes. If the sauce of mushrooms is too reduced add some water during the cooking.
In the meantime you can prepare polenta. In a pot of copper put the water with salt and let it warm. Before water boils, sprinkle the maize flour into the water and begin to stir with a wood-spoon.

Continue to stir for about 40 minutes until polenta become thick.


When mushrooms and polenta are ready place them in a platter and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is a typical Italian recipe that comes from Mantua in the Northern part of Italy. This Italian dish is particular: indeed it is made of pumpkin that it has a sweet taste and with mostarda (pickled candied fruit in a spicy syrup) that it has a hot taste. For this reason this recipe has a bittersweet taste. This dish is also a typical Italian recipe of the Christmas period in particular it is prepared in the occasion of the Christmas Eve.








INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people)
FOR THE DOUGH
500 g of Flour
4 Eggs
Some warm water

FOR THE FILLING
500 g of Pumpkin
150 g of Mostarda of pears from Mantua (pickled candied fruit in a spicy syrup)
100 g of Macaroons
Some nutmeg
1 / 2 Lemon peel grated
Some breadcrumbs

FOR THE DRESSING
30 – 40 g of Butter
10-12 Sage leafs

PREPARATION TIME: 2 hours

COOKING TIME: 10 – 12 minutes

WINE: Lambrusco Mantovano (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with the preparation of the filling. Peel the pumpkin, cut it in pieces, place them in a pan with some water and let them cook for about 15 minutes or until they become soft.

Drain the pumpkin, place it in a bowl and reduce it in pulp.

Then chop the mostarda and the macaroons, add them to the pumpkin
together with the lemon peel grated, a pinch of nutmeg, salt pepper and some breadcrumbs.

The filling is ready non let it stand for about 1 hour and 30 minutes
In the meantime prepare the dough. Place on a floured worktop the flour as a fountain, add in the middle of it a pinch of salt, the eggs, and some warm water and begin to knead.


Knead until you obtain homogeneous and elastic dough. Cover it with a towel and let it stand for about 30 minutes.

Let salted water boil for tortelli. After 30 minutes roll up the dough with a rolling pin to a sheet of thin thick.

Cut the pastry in rectangles of 10 cm, put in the middle of them a teaspoon of the filling


and close them folding in half and sealing the edges with a fork.


When all the tortelli are ready cook them for about 10 – 12 minutes in the salted water. In the meantime place in a pan the butter, sage leafs and let the butter melt.

Drain them with the help of a skimmer in order to not break the tortelli. Place 5 – 6 tortelli in a dish and pour on them some butter and sage. Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is an Italian breakfast cake made of orange juice. It takes only 10 minutes of preparation to cook this easy, simple and fast recipe and it is delightful. You can eat it with a cup of milk or with a cup of coffe!

INGREDIENTS (for 8- 10 people)
300 g of Flour
150 g of Sugar
2 Eggs
25 ml of Extra virgin olive oil
2 Oranges
10 g of Butter
Icing sugar

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40- 45 minutes

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place in a bowl the flour, the sugar the eggs and the extra virgin olive oil.

Squeeze the oranges and add their juice in the bowl.

Mix all together until you obtain a homogeneous cream.
Grease with butter a baking pan of 24 cm of diameter, sprinkle with 1 tablespoons of flour and remove the flour in excess. Pour in it the mixture and bake for about 30 – 40 minutes.

When it is ready dust it with icing sugar.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is an Italian second course made of sausages of pork and turnip tops. This is a dish typical of Campania but also of other regions in the south part of Italy such as Puglia and Basilicata. It is a deliciuos second course!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
1 Kg of Turnip top
4-6 Sausages of pork
2 Cloves of garlic
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Water

PREPARATIONE TIME: 15 minutes

COOKINGIN TIME: 30 - 40 minutes

WINE: Rosso di Canosa (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean, wash and cut in pieces the turnip tops.

Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the cloves of garlic and let them brown. Then add the sausages and let them brown for about 5 minutes.

When the sausages are browned add the turnip tops with 1 glass of water

and cook for about 30 minutes adding water if necessary.

This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!