Italian Food Recipes

Artichokes are vegetables typical of the spring period and it seems that they traditionally comes from Liguria as this delicious Italian first course. Artichokes can be used for any type of Italian recipes like “Torta Pasqualina” that is a sort of pie or as a side dish here I use them to prepare the stuffing of these delicious ravioli. In this recipe artichokes are mix with ricotta cheese, Parmesan, parsley and marjoram. The seasoning of this first course is simply made with butter and sage, but if you prefer you can also prepare a sort of cream with walnuts.

INGREDIENTS (for 8 people):
FOR THE DOUGH:
600 g of Flour
2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 Eggs
Salt
8 Tablespoons of warm water
FOR THE STUFFING:
9 Artichokes
250 g of Ricotta Cheese
1 / 2 Onion
1 Lemon
1 Egg
40 g of Parmesan
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
40 g of butter
Some leaf of sage
Parsley
Marjoram
Salt
Black Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Vermentino dei Colli di Luni Lambruschi (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with the preparation of the dough: place in a bowl the flour, the eggs, the water, the extra virgin olive oil and some salt,

mix all the ingredients until you obtain an homogeneous dough. Cover the dough with a sheet of film


an let it stand for about 20 minutes. In the meantime prepare the stuffing: clean the artichokes, remove the hard external leafs and peel the stems in order to use the tender internal part; cut in thin slice the artichokes and the stems and place them in a bowl with water and the lemon to not blacken them.

When the artichokes are ready, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan with thin slices of the onion, then add the artichokes and cook them for about 10 – 15 minutes.


When the artichokes are ready, cut them in small pieces and place them in a bowl, add the ricotta cheese, the egg, the Parmesan, come parsley, some marjoram, salt and black pepper and mix all together.

Let salted water boil for pasta. With the help of a rolling pin roll out the dough to obtain a thin long pastry like this shown in the picture below. Place with a teaspoon some stuffing on the centre of the pastry,


then close the pastry over the stuffing and with a wheel for cutting the pasta cut the ravioli.




When water boils place in it the ravioli and cook them for about 7 – 8 minutes in the meantime melt the butter in a pan with the sage,


drain ravioli with a skimmer, place them in a dish and pour on them the butter, sprinkle with some parmesan and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Lamb is the main ingredient of the Easter lunch, as I said in a previous recipe, so here I describe the typical recipe that is prepared in occasion of Easter in Tuscany. This recipe is simple and fast to prepare: you need the leg of lamb, better if it is boned, some rosemary and garlic that give a spicy taste to this delicious Italian second course and potatoes. It is sufficient that you place the entire ingredient in a baking pan then bake it for about 50 minutes and the lamb is ready. In this way you can also prepare another main ingredient of the Easter lunch that is kid.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
2 Leg of Lamb (boned)
2 Cloves of Garlic
Rosemary
30 g of Pork underbelly cut in pieces
6 – 7 Potatoes
Salt
Black Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Colli Berici Tocai Rosso Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Clean and peel the potatoes, cut them in squared pieces, then prepare the legs of lamb: cut in slices and in pieces the pork underbelly, the garlic and the rosemary, place the leg of lamb on a cutting board, make some incisions on its surface and put in them the pieces of porn underbelly, garlic and rosemary.

Sprinkle the lamb with salt and black pepper, then place it in a baking pan and place around it the potatoes, sprinkle also them with salt and pepper and bake for about 50 minutes.

Serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

The lamb is the main ingredient of the Italian recipes of the Easter lunch indeed each region in Italy has its own traditional recipe: here I show you the traditional Italian recipe with which lamb is prepared in Liguria, in this delicious recipe the lamb is accompanied with the artichokes and the eggs. It is an easy recipe to prepare: the lamb is firstly brown in a pan with extra virgin olive oil then you add the artichokes and cook for about 30 minutes, when the cooking is end pour on the lamb and the artichokes a mixture of eggs and juice lemon with some parsley and marjoram, the result is excellent and in this way the meat lamb remains tender!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 – 6 people):
1 Kg of Lamb cut in pieces
6 Artichokes
3 Lemons
2 Eggs
1 / 2 Glass of White Wine
1 Clove of garlic
5 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper
Parsley
Marjoram

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 – 40 minutes

WINE: Rossese di Dolceacqua (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean the artichokes, remove the hardest external leafs, the stalk and the head. Cut them in half remove the internal spiny part and cut each half in three parts and place them in a bowl with water and some lemon juice in order to not blacken the artichokes. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, place in it the garlic,


let them brown and then remove them. Place in the oil the pieces of lamb and let them brown,

sprinkle with salt and black pepper, add the white wine and let it evaporated. Now drain the artichokes, add them to the lamb and cook for about 30 minutes

adding some water if necessary during the cooking. At the end of the cooking place in a bowl the juice of 2 lemons with their grated peel; add the eggs, some parsley and salt

and mix all together. When the lamb is cooked remove the pan from the flame and add the mixture of egg and lemon, mix and serve hot.

This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Torta Pasqualina is a typical Italian Easter recipe that comes from Liguria. It is a traditional tart made with a thin pastry stuffed with vegetables, ricotta cheese, Parmesan and eggs and it is traditionally prepared the Easter day as an appetizer. In this recipe I use the chard that is the vegetable traditionally used for its preparation in Liguria but as an alternative you can use the artichokes, then I add the ricotta and 5 entire eggs. A particular characteristic of this tart is that the eggs inside should be entire, for this reason you should make on the surface of the stuffing a sort of holes and place inside them the eggs without brake them. The stuffing is contained in a pastry simply made with flour, extra virgin olive oil, salt and water, as I describe below, or you can use also the flaky pastry. The first pastry result more crunchy than the second and it is ideal for the tender stuffing inside. Its preparation is a bit long but easy and the result at the end is wonderful.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
400 g of Flour
Water
1 Kg of Chard
5 Eggs
100 g of Parmesan
1 / 2 Onion
500 g of Ricotta
7 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper
Marjoram
Parsley

PREPARATION TIME: 45 minutes

COOKING TIME: 50 minutes

WINE: Golfo del Tigullio Vermentino (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the flour on a table as a fountain, add salt, 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, water


and mix all together until you obtain an homogeneous dough, continue to knead the dough for about 10 minutes then divide it in 6 parts and let them stand for 30 minutes covered with a towel.


In the meantime prepare the stuffing: clean the chard and cut them in stripes, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the chard together with the onion cut in slices, sprinkle with salt and the chopped parsley

and cook for about 10 – 15 minutes or until the chard wilt. When the chard are ready let them cold then place them in a bowl together with the ricotta, the Parmesan, salt, black pepper and marjoram and mix.


Preheat the oven to 180°CX. Now with the help of a rolling pin roll the 6 parts of the dough in order to obtain a very thin pastry.


Place a sheet of baking paper on the bottom of a baking-pan, place over it the first pastry and brush its surface with few extra virgin olive oil, place over it the second pastry brush also it with the oil and then place the third but not brush its surface with the oil.


Now pour on it the mixture of chard and ricotta,


makes 5 holes in it and in each holes place the 5 eggs.


Cover the stuffing with the other three pastries in the same way described before.


Close the pastry as shown in the picture below


and bake for 50 minutes until the surface becomes golden.

You can serve it hot but it is delicious also cold.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This patty-cake of zucchini is prepared according to the Tuscan cooking: the main ingredients used are eggs, zucchini, Parmesan and the Tuscan Pecorino that is a delicious cheese of medium seasoning with a spicy taste, for these characteristics the Tuscan Pecorino is ideal together with the sweet taste of zucchini. For a good preparation of this Italian recipes it is important the cooking of zucchini: the zucchini should be result a bit dry in order to obtain a more homogenous mixture when you add the eggs, the Italian cheese and the breadcrumbs. This Italian recipe can be served as a vegetarian second course or also in small pieces as a spicy appetizer.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
1 Kg of Zucchini
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Some basil
Some parsley
1 Clove of garlic
4 Eggs
40 g of Tuscan Pecorino
40 g of Parmesan
4 Tablespoons of breadcrumbs
20 g of Butter
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 – 40 minutes

WINE: Colli di Conegliano Bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, clean the zucchini, cut them in slices and add them to the pan together with the chopped parsley, the clove of garlic and the chopped basil;

cook for about 5 minutes then sprinkle with salt and black pepper and continue to cook on a low flame covered for other 5 – 10 minutes.

When the zucchini are ready place them in a bowl and let them cold in the mean time place a sheet of baking paper on the bottom of a baking pan of 20 – 24 cm of diameter. When the zucchini are cold add the Parmesan, the Tuscan Pecorino,


the eggs and the breadcrumbs,

mix all together and pour the mixture in the pan.


Sprinkle with some other breadcrumbs and small pieces of butter.


Bake until the surface becomes golden.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!