Italian Food Recipes

This Italian first course is prepared with asparagus and squaquerone, two traditional Italian ingredients that I use here in order to prepare delicious pasta based first course. The preparation of this Italian recipe is easy: the asparagus are simply cooked with some onion, water and sprinkle with salt and black pepper, I divide them in two parts and I reduce one of them in cream, I put the two parts together and I add to them the squaquerone, that is a traditional Italian cheese that comes from Emilia Romagna where it is usually use as the main Italian ingredient of Piadina.


INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320 g of Fusilli
200 g of Asparagus
100 g of Ham steak cut in squared pieces
300 g Squaquerone (an Italian fresh cheese)
1 / 2 Onion
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Torgiano Chardonnay Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for fusilli. Clean the asparagus removing the woody part of the stem and cut them in pieces. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, chop the onion and place it in the pan, let it brown

and then add the pieces of asparagus. Let the asparagus sauté for some minutes,


sprinkle with salt and black pepper then add some water and cook the asparagus for about 10 -15 minutes.

When the asparagus are cooked remove from the pan a half of them and mix them with the help of a mixer in order to obtain a sort of cream. Add to the asparagus in the pan the ham steak,


then add the cream of the asparagus and mix all together.


Add the squaquerone cheese and mix.


When the pasta is cooked pour on it the sauce of asparagus and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Osso Buco alla Milanese is an unusual Italian recipes of this period, unusual because they are a typical dish of the winter period indeed often ossi buchi are served accompanied with polenta. But this week the weather in Milan is cold and so I want to prepare the delicious ossi buchi alla Milanese. Their preparation is simple: it is important to flour the ossi buchi in order to obtain a sort of soup and then you can cook them together with peas, as in the recipe presented below, or with potatoes or as I said before served them with polenta. You can also add some tablespoons of tomato puree in order to obtain a more delicious soup. Buon Appetito!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
1 Chopped carrot
1 / 2 Chopped Onion
1 Chopped Celery
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
80 g of Flour
4 Ossibuchi
2 Tablespoons of Tomato puree
1 Glass of White wine
150 g of Peas
Salt
Black Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Make a chopped of carrot, onion and celery, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a large pan (which is able to contain the 4 ossibuchi) and then add the chopped of vegetables and let it brown for about 5 – 8 minutes paying attention to not burned it.


In the meantime cover completely the surface of the ossibuchi with flour, and boil in salted water the peas for about 5 minutes.


Add the ossibuchi in the pan and let them brown on the both surface, add the wine and let it evaporate.


When the wine is evaporated add the tomato puree, sprinkle with some salt and black pepper and add some water.

Let the meat cook for about 20 minutes, then add the peas and continue the cooking paying attention that there is always in the pain enough water to not attach the meat to the pan.

Continue the cooking for another 30 minutes and when ossibuchi result tender (if the fork easily enter in the meat it is ok) serve them hot with some peas as side dish.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is an Italian recipes prepare with another typical vegetables of the summer period: the broad beans. Broad beans are an Italian ingredient ideal to prepare many different type of Italian recipes, they can be served simply raw with a drizzle of oil, some black pepper, and the Italian cheese called Caciocavallo that has a spicy taste ideal with the sweet taste of broad beans, or they can be used for delicious side dish or first course. Here I prepare a delicious side dish simply with broad beans, eggs and cream. The preparation time of this recipe is a bit long because, if you use fresh broad beans, you have to clean them one by one, but the cooking time is very short. To reduce the time you can use broad beans already clean, the most important thing in order to obtain an excellent result is to use fresh broad beans.


INGREDIENTS (for 4 – 6 people):
500 g of Broad beans
60 g of Butter
2 Eggs
125 ml of Cream
PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Castel del Monte bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Prepare the broad beans in this way: remove them from the pod and then remove also the thin skin that covers each broad bean.

Preheat a pan with 30 g of butter, add in it the broad beans and let them cook for about 10 – 15 minutes.

The broad beans are tender legumes that for this reason they don’t need to be cooked for long time, indeed you can eat them also raw. In the meantime mix in a dish the eggs with the cream,

in another pan melt the rest off the butter,

add the mixture of eggs and cream, sprinkle with salt and pepper and let it cook for some minutes.

When the broad beans are ready place them in a platter, pour on them the mixture of eggs and cream and mix all together. You can serve this Italian recipe hot or slightly cold.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This Italian recipe is prepared with typical vegetables of the summer period: the asparagus. With them and crescenza, that is a kind of soft cheese typical of Lombardo, you can prepare delicious summer lasagna. The preparation of this Italian recipe is quite simple: you should to prepare a mixture of crumbled bread and walnuts, a mixture of milk, crescenza, Parmesan and béchamel, lasagna and the asparagus cut in thin slices lengthwise. When all these things are ready you should to make layers of them in a baking pan, bake for about 30 minutes and the lasagna is ready. In this recipe the soft consistency of the mixture of crescenza and béchamel is well accompanied with the crunchy consistency of the mixture of bread and walnuts. BUON APPETITO!


INGREDIENTS (for 4 - 6 people):
400 g of Asparagus
1 Roll
30 g of Walnuts
50 ml of Milk
400 g of Crescenza (kind of soft cheese typical of Lombardo)
40 g of Parmesan
350 g of Lasagne
500 ml of Béchamel

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Friuli Annia Pinot bianco (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water, with a drizzle of oil, boil for lasagne; the presence of oil in the water is necessary so the lasagne don’t stick between them.


When water boils add in it 10 lasagne at a time and cook them for 3 – 4 minutes, drain them with the help of a skimmer paying attention to not break them, and place them on a table in order to let them cool.


Then clean the asparagus and remove the hardest part of the stem, place them in high pan with water and after water boils cooked them for about 10 minutes. It is important that the asparagus remain in vertical position in the pan so that their head is out of water and cook with vapour.


When the asparagus are cooked drain them paying attention to not break their head, let them cool and cut them in thin slice lengthwise. In the meantime prepare the bread and the walnuts, crumble them and put them together in a bowl.


In another bowl mix together the milk, the crescenza and the Parmesan.

Now prepare the béchamel looking the instructions presented here, when the béchamel is ready, mix them with mixture of crescenza, and now begin to prepare the lasagna.

Pre heat the oven to 200°C. Cover with a sheet of baking paper a squared baking pan, place on it some mixture of béchamel and crescenza, a first layer of pasta, a layer of asparagus

and a little of the mixture of bread and walnuts, continue in this way until the pan is full.


Bake the pan for about 30 minutes and cook lasagna until the surface become golden. Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!