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!

The way to cut the aubergines gives the name to this delicious Italian second course indeed the word “fungitielli” comes from “funghi” that in Italian means mushrooms and the aubergines are cut with the shape of thin and long mushrooms. This is an easy recipe to prepare that you can serve as a second course or it can be also an ideal side dish accompanied with Italian cheese or meat. To obtain the best result: use round or long aubergines and cut them without remove the peel; the tomato sauce is better if it is tomato puree and use the right quantity of oregano to season the recipes in order to obtain the best flavor so for this reason taste the aubergines during the cooking.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
2 Aubergines of medium dimension
750 ml of Tomato sauce
Extra virgin olive oil for fry the aubergines
3 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil for the tomatoes
1 Clove of garlic
Salt
Oregano

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

WINE: Riviera Ligure di Ponente Vermentino DOC (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the extra virgin oil olive for fry in a pan. Clean the aubergines and cut them as thin and long “mushrooms” as shown in the picture below.


Place the aubergines in the hot oil and fry them.


In the meantime place in another pan the 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and the garlic and let them golden. Then add the tomato sauce, the salt, the oregano and let cook for about 15 minutes.

When the aubergines are fried let them drip over a sheet of cooking paper in order to remove the excess of oil, then add them to the tomato sauce

and continue to cook for other 10 – 15 minutes

so the sauce acquire the taste of aubergines. Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This recipe is a delicious Italian second course that can be ideal also for vegetarian people. It is made with round aubergines and Asiago cheese: the best result it is obtained if you use round and not long aubergines because they allow you to obtain large slices that you can cover with the Asiago cheese. In addition the ideal type of Asiago to use is the Asiago of medium ageing that melt easier and has a sweeter taste than that ageing. This Italian recipe can be use also for vegetables based appetizer.


INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
1 – 2 Round Aubergines
1 Egg
50 g of Breadcrumbs
30 g of Asiago (Italian Cheese) in slices
Coarse Salt
Extra virgin olive oil for fry

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Riviera Ligure di Ponente Vermentino Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Wash the aubergines and cut them in slices of 0.5 – 1 cm thick. Then place the slices of aubergines in a colander a sprinkle them with some salt in order to remove their excess of water, after 10 minutes squeeze them gently.

Preheat the oil in a pan. Now place in a dish the egg and beat it and in another dish the breadcrumbs. Put each slice in the dish with the beaten egg and cover them with the egg then put them in the dish with the breadcrumbs and cover them with it.

Fry the aubergines until they become golden,

when they are ready place them over a sheet of cooking paper in order to remove the oil in excess.

Cover the bottom of a baking pan with a sheet of baking paper, place over it the slices of the aubergines and place on it the slices of Asiago cheese and bake for about 10 minutes until the Asiago cheese become melted.

Serve them hot with the addition of tomatoes.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is a particular Italian recipe. It is simply made of mousse of aubergines and scamorza, but its taste is delicious. I use the pasta called Paccheri, it is a type of pasta typical of Naples and its shape is that of a large hollow tube. I use fresh and sweet aubergines in order to obtain a good first course. In particular what I prefer of this recipe is the pieces of scamorza over the aubergine that made a sort of spicy crust.


INGREDIENTS (for 6 people):
4 Large aubergines
400 g of Paccheri (type of pasta)
250 g of Scamorza (soft, stringy pear-shaped Italian cheese)
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
20 g of Parmesan
Salt
Pepper
Butter for the baking pan

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Riviera Ligure di Ponente Vermentino Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for Paccheri. When the water boils add the Paccheri


and cook it as indicated on the packaging. In the mean time clean, peel and cut in small cubes the aubergines. Preheat in a pan the extra virgin olive oil, then add the aubergines and let them cook for about 10-15 minutes or until they become slightly brown.

When they are ready, place them over a kitchen paper in order to eliminate the oil in excess. Now divide the aubergines in two parts, then liquidize one part in order to produce a sort of mousse


and use the other to garnish. Cut the scamorza in small pieces.


When the Paccheri are ready drain them and place them over a towel as shown in the picture below.


Preheat the oven to 180° C.
Now fill the paccheri with the mousse of aubergines and place them in a buttered baking pan and make a layer with the stuffed paccheri. Put over the layer of paccheri the other part of aubergine, the pieces of scamorza and the Parmesan.


Bake for 20 minutes until the surface become golden.


Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This recipe is for a first course made of pasta, aubergine and tomatoes.


INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)

1 Dark large aubergine
250 g of Sweet cherry tomatoes (ciliegino)
Some leafs of basil
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
160 g of Pasta (type mezze maniche)
Parmesan (Italian cheese Grana padano)

PREPARATION TIME : 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

DIFFICULTY: easy

WINE: Friuli Grave Tocai DOC (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean, peel and cut aubergine into cubes.

In a frying pan with some extra virgin olive oil cook the pieces of aubergine for 5 minutes.
Clean and cut tomato in half.

While pasta is cooking in salty boiling water; add tomatoes, salt and pepper to the aubergine and let the cooking complete, this should last 10 more minutes.
When pasta is ready (after almost 10 minutes of cooking), drain it, put it in the frying pan and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Compose the dishes and add some basil at the end.
This is the result:


BUON APPETITO!