Italian Food Recipes

Small balls of aubergines can be served as an Italian appetizer, they are simple and fast to prepare and do you need only few Italian ingredients to prepare it: the main ingredient of this delicious Italian recipe is round aubergines that they are more sweet than the long ones, parsley and Parmesan. The preparation is simple because you should only make a puree of aubergines and mix it with the other ingredients, make small ball and fry them and so the appetizer is ready!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 – 6 people):
3 Round Aubergines
1 Egg
40 g of Parmesan
30 g of Parsley
1 Clove of garlic
Breadcrumbs
Oil for fry
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Sambuca di Sicilia bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Clean and peel the aubergines, cut them in squared pieces, place them in a pan with water and let them boil for about 15 minutes.


When they are ready drain them, place them in a bowl and with a fork squash them in order to obtain a puree of aubergines.


Let them cool and in them mean time prepare a chopped of parsley and garlic, add it to the puree of aubergines together with the Parmesan and the egg.


Mix all together and add if the mixture is to soft add some breadcrumbs, sprinkle with salt and black pepper

and with the hand make small balls with the mixture like these in the picture below.


Preheat enough oil in a pan, when it is hot fry in it the small balls of aubergines, cook them until the surface become slightly golden.


When they are ready leave them dry from the oil and serve. This is the result:


BUON APPETITO!

This is the typical side dish that my family prepares for the Christmas Eve. Baccala is cod preserved with salt. The recipe, presented below, describes a simple and fast way to cook a good dish. It is made of fillet of baccala cutted into big cubes and then fried. Baccala is served with boiled brocolli. Christmas Eve wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without baccala.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
800 g of Fillet of baccalà (dried salt-cured cod)
200 g of Flour
Extra virgin olive to fry
400 g of Brocolli

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
1 or 2 day before the Christmas Eve place the baccala to soak in water in order to eliminate the salt in excess. Now and then change the water.

Remove the peel of the fillets of baccala, and then cut them into big cubes.


Flour the cubes of baccala.

Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, place in it the cubes of baccala and fry them for about 10 – 15 minutes.

You can serve fried baccala with brocolli. Clean the brocolli and remove the leafs, then cut them into pieces and place them in a pan with some water and let them boil.

When water boils let the brocolli cook for about 10 minutes.
Place the baccalla in the middle of a platter and put around them the brocolli. Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

The traditional appetizer that my family prepares the Christmas Day is salumi based.
We use typical Italian salumi like ham of Parma, raw ham San Daniele, speck of Alto Adige and salame Milan and serve them on a cutting board.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
10 Slice of Milan Salame
10 Slice of Ham of Parma
10 Slice of Raw Ham San Daniele
10 Slice of Speck of Alto Adige

PREPARATIONE TIME: 10 minutes

WINE: Costa d’Amalfi (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Place 1 slice of each kind of cold cut on a cutting board and serve them.
BUON APPETITO!

In my family the menu of Christmas Eve is fish based. One of the side dishes that we prepare is made of tails of lobster dressed with lemon and oil. This recipe is very simple to prepare and very good to eat.


INGREDIENTS (for 10 people):
800 g of Tails of lobsters
1 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil
2 Lemon
Salt
Parsley

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the tail of lobsters in a pan with water and bring to boil.

When water boils, cook for 5 minutes and then drain the lobsters.

Let them cool and shell. Prepare a sauce made with the extra virgin olive oil, the juice of lemon, some salt and parsley. Place the tail of lobster on a platter and pour the sauce on them.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is another side dish that my family prepares for the Christmas Eve. Baccala is a kind of cod preserved with salt. This is a cold dish very simple to prepare, it is made of baccala, pickle olive, pickle yellow and red peppers.


INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
800 g of Baccala
180 g of Pickle olives
180 g of Pickle yellow and red peppers
Extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
1 or 2 day before the Christmas Eve place the baccala to soak in water in order to eliminate the salt in excess. Now and then change the water.

Remove the peel of the fillets of baccala,


and then cut them into big cubes. Place the cubes of baccala in a pan with water and let them boil for about 10 – 15 minutes.

Drain the baccala and let it cool. Then cut it in small pieces and place in it in a bowl. Cut the olives into washer and the peppers in fillet,

and add them to the pieces of baccala.

Mix all together and place them in a platter. Sprinkle with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and serve.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is another delicious pie!It is made of potatoes and sausage. You can replace sausage with bacon or ham, as you prefere! You can prepare it to go for a spicy picnic!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH

150 g of Flour
1 or 2 Eggs
50 g of Butter
2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING

8 Potatoes
125 ml of Milk
100 g of Pecorino Sardo (1 Slice) (cheese made from ewe’s milk)
150 g of Sausage
1 Egg
3 Tablesppons of extra virgin olive oil
30 g of Parmesan
Salt
Pepper


PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 45 minutes

DIFFICULTY: medium

WINE: Castel del Monte Chardonnay Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
To make the dough, put the flour on a clean surface into a mound, add 1 or 2 egg (depending on the consistency of the dough), the pieces of butter, the oil and the salt. Mix all together until you obtain a solid and smooth dough.

Place the dough on a floured board and roll out it 0,5 mm thick and then cover the bottom and the sides of the pie pan.
Preheat the oven to 180-200 °C.
Now prepare the filling. Wash, peel and cut the potatoes into quarters. Cook the potatoes in a pot of boiling, salted water until fork tender. Drain the potatoes, and put them through a potato masher and then back into the pot together with the egg.

Then add the milk, season with pepper and mix all together.

Put the pecorino sardo on a chopping board, cut it into cubes and add to potatopes.

Then heat the extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan, place in it the sausage and cook for about 10 minutes or until it becomes brown.

When it is ready, add it to the potatoes mixture and mix.

Put the mixture over the dough and sprinkle with some Parmesan.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown.
In the meanwhile prepare 1 egg hard-boiled. Then cut it into 2 halves and when the pie is ready put them over it.
Serve warm, or at room temperature.
Thhis is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is a delicious dish that can be your main course or you can eat it as an appetizer. You can serve it warm or at room temperature: it is the ideal dish for any moment, exspecially in the summer time!
This is only one kind of pie that you can prepare with vegetables: I really like them so I'll write some other tasty recipes in the next days!


INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH

150 g of Flour
1 or 2 Eggs
50 g of Butter
2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING

400 g of Spinach
250 g of Ricotta cheese made from cow's milk
15 g of Butter
2 Eggs
30 g of Parmesan
Salt


PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 45 minutes

DIFFICULTY: medium

WINE: Castel del Monte Chardonnay Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION

To make the dough, put the flour on a clean surface into a mound, add 1 or 2 eggs (depending on the consistency of the dough), the pieces of butter, the oil and the salt. Mix all together until you obtain a solid and smooth dough.

Place the dough on a floured board and roll out it 0,5 mm thick and then cover the bottom and the sides of the pie pan.
Preheat the oven to 180-200 °C.
Now prepare the filling. Wash the spinach and shake off excess water. Place it in a large pan with 2 glasses of water. Cover with a lid. Cook gently for about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and drain. Transfer the spinach to a chopping board and chop finely.


Place the chopped spinach in a pan; add the butter, season with some salt and cook again for about 5 minutes until the butter is melted.

Transfer the spinach in a bowl; add 1 egg, the ricotta cheese and the Parmesan. Mix all together until the mixture become smooth.

Put the mixture over the dough and sprinkle with some Parmesan.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown.

In the meanwhile prepare 1 egg hard-boiled. Then cut it into 2 halves and when the pie is ready put them over it.
Serve warm, or at room temperature.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

An unusual recipe for a fresh and tasty appetizer!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)

200 g of Lobsters
2 Pink grapefruits
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
100 g Salad (rocket or lettuce)
25 ml of White wine
Salt
Pepper
8 Sweet cherry tomatoes

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Fuga Chardonnay (White Wine)

DIFFICULTY: easy

PREPARATION
Wash dry and peel the lobsters. Squeeze 1 pink grapefruit and peel the other in order to obtain only the pulp. Wash and dry the salad and the tomatoes. In a pan heat the extra virgin olive oil, add the lobsters, season with salt and pepper and let them brown. Add the grapefruit juice, the pulp of 1/2 grapefruit and the white wine at the lobsters, let it reduce and simmer for about 10 minutes.

At the end of the cooking must remain a sort of sauce.
Place some salad, 2 - 3 pieces of pulp of grapefruit in a soup plate .

Add the lobsters and garnish with 2 sweet cherry tomatoes.
This is the result:
BUON APPETITO!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)

300 g of Flour
80 ml of water
200 g of Raw ham (Prosciutto Crudo) in thin slices (or Speck or Pork brawn (Coppa)) as you prefer
50 g of Rocket
Some salt

PREPARATION TIME: 5-8 minutes

COOKING TIME: 5-8 minutes

DIFFICULTY: easy

WINE: Pagadebit di Romagna (White Wine)

PREPARATION
In a bowl put the flour and the water.

Mix all until you obtain a solid dough. If neccesary add some flour or water.

Divide the dough in 4 parts and use a rolling-pin to roll out each part until you obtain a pastry very very thin (only 2-3 mm thick). Now sprinkle a pan with some salt, put in it the pastry and cook for 5-8 minutes until pastry is slightly golden.

In the meantime wash, dry and cut some rocket. Then put piada on a platter, put on its surface, still hot, some slices of raw ham and some rocket.
Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is an alternative way to cook peppers and a very spicy recipe! An easy recipe for a main course made of peppers and bread!









INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)

2 Peppers (yellow or red)
1/2 Pepper for the stuffing
100 g of Bread
10 g of Parsley
210 ml of Milk
25 g of Parmesan (Italian cheese)
1 Clove of garlic
1 Egg
Salt
Black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Some breadcrumbs

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

DIFFICULTY: easy

WINE: Pinot Grigio (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Wash, dry and cut each pepper into quarters, then sprinkle with some salt.

Chop the other half of pepper together with 1 clove of garlic and some parsley and put all in a bowl.

Dip the bread in some milk and break it into small pieces, then add it to the pepper mixture. Then add the Parmesan, the egg and some salt and black pepper and mix it all together.

If the stuffing has a runny consistency, add some breadcrumbs.

Preheat the oven to 200 ° C.
Use a teaspoon to fill the pepper quarters with the mixture.
Dampen a sheet of baking paper and put it on the bottom of a baking pan. Arrange the peppers on it. Dress with a drizzle of oil.


Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes until the surface of the stuffing turns golden.
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!

Some lovely sweet hearts for your Saint Valentine's day dinner!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH (for 2 people)

200 g of Flour
1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
20 g of Yeast
150 ml of Milk
Salt

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DRESSING ( for 2 persons)

4 Anchovys
100 g of Cheery sweet tomatoes
1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 Clove of garlic
Salt
Pepper
1/2 Red or yellow pepper
3-4 Small artichokes pickles

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour and 45 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

DIFFICULTY: medium

PREPARATION
Heat the oven to 200 °C.
Put the flour in a bowl.
Pour the milk in a cup and dissolve in it the yeast. When yeast is dissolved add the milk to the flour together with the extra virgin olive oil and some salt.

Now mix all together until you obtain a solid dough. If the dough is too soft add some flour and continue to mix.
Put the dough in another bowl, make a cross on its surface, cover with a napkin and let it rise for about an hour.

When the dough is rised, divide it into 8 small pieces and give them the shape of heart.
When all the hearts are ready put them in a bakin pan covered with a sheet of a baking paper.


Heat 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan.
Wash, peel and chop 1 clove of garlic. Add it to the oil and wait until it gets brown.
Wash and cut into pieces the cherry sweet tomatoes and add them to oil, season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.

When the sauce is ready put it on the surface of the hearts.
Wash 1/2 of red or yellow pepper, cut it into strips and put them on some hearts. Dress the other with some anchovy or some small artichokes pickles.


Bake for 15 minutes at 200 °C.
Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This recipe is for an appetizer made of navy beans (cannelllini), rocket salad and shrimps.

INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)

A can of navy beans (cannellini)
A bunch of rocket salad
100 g of Shrimps
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME : 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 5 minutes

DIFFICULTY: easy

WINE: Verdicchio Castelli di Jesi (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean and boil shrimps into water for 5 minutes. Drain them and wait until they get cool.

Clean, dry and cut some rocket salad.

Drain and clean beans.

In a bowl join the beans, the shrimps and the rocket salad. Dress with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt and of pepper.
And now the result:

BUON APPETTITO!

If you want to prepare something light, fast and, at the same time, tasteful, this is the ideal dish. This recipe is for an antipasto made of green apples, rocket salad, walnuts and parmigiano (Italian cheese).

INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)

1 Green apple
7-8 Walnuts
Flakes of Parmigiano (Italian cheese)
A bunch of rocket salad
Extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 10-15 minutes

DIFFICULTY: easy

WINE: Verdicchio (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Wash, peel and cut the apple in cubes.

Crack and chop the walnuts.

Clean, dry and cut some rocket salad.

Cut the Parmigiano in flakes.

Unify the apple pieces, the rocket salad and the walnuts in a bowl. Add the Parmigiano flakes and dress with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil.
Here you can see the result!


BUON APPETITO!