Farinata (Chickpea flat bread)

Farinata of chickpea is a thin pie simply prepared with flour of chickpea, water, extra virgin olive oil, rosemary, salt and black pepper, its preparation and cooking is simple and fast. This is an Italian recipe traditional of Liguria, in particular of Genova, Savona and La Spezia. It can be used instead of bread but also as a main course indeed there are different types of Farinata: farinata with Stracchino that is a soft fresh cheese produced in Lombardy, farinata with sausage or farinata with artichokes. I ate farinata for the first time in La Spezia during my summer holyday last year and now that is summer I decide to try to prepare it at home. The preparation is simple and fast and the result is delicious.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
500 g of chickpea flour
1,5 L of water
5 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 branch of rosemary
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour and 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Golfo del Tigullio Bianco DOC (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the chickpea flour in a bowl, add little by little the water and stir in order to not make lumps.



Add the rosemary, some salt and the extra virgin olive oil,





mix all together and let the mixture stand for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Then cover the bottom of a large baking pan with a sheet of baking paper. Pour on it the mixture of chickpea making a thin layer of 1 cm of thickness



and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the surface of Farinata becomes slightly golden.



Serve it hot accompanied with some slices of ham and some salad.
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!

Artichokes and Parmesan

Here another delicious Italian recipes with artichokes, vegetables typical of this period and traditional of Liguria. I like much artichokes and some I try to prepare them in many different way: in this second course recipes artichokes are simply prepared with the addition of some breadcrumbs and Parmesan in flakes in order to give them a crunch consistency. Artichokes cooked in this way can be served as a delicious side dish but also as a complete second course.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
4 Artichokes
40 g of Parsley chopped
40 g of Parmesan in flakes
20 g of Breadcrumbs
1 Clove of garlic
1 Lemon
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 – 30 minutes

WINE: Garda Chardonnay (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Start cleaning the artichokes, remove the spines and the hard external leafs, remove from the stalks the hard part and cut the stalks and the artichokes in slices and place them in a bowl with water and lemon in order to not blacken them. When all the artichokes are ready, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the garlic and let it brown then remove it and add the artichokes.



Sprinkle with salt and black pepper, let them cook for about 5 minutes and add the chopped parsley.



Continue to cook for about 15 – 20 minutes and some minutes before the end of the cooking sprinkle over them some breadcrumbs and the Parmesan in flakes,



let them melt and serve hot.
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!

Ravioli with Artichokes

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 in Fricassee

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!

Easter Cake - Torta Pasqualina

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!

Trofie Pasta with Shrimps, Cherry Tomatoes and Rocket Salad

This Italian recipe is about a first course made with a type of pasta called Trofie that is traditional of Liguria in the northern part of Italy. This type of Italian pasta is ideal for any kind of sauce like tomato sauce or Genoese pesto: here I presented a delicious sauce made with shrimps, cherry tomatoes, rocket salad and rum. This Italian recipe is a fresh recipe simple to prepare that allow you to obtain a good result in few minutes.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320g of Trofie (a particular type of pasta)
1 Brunch of rocket salad
350g of Shrimps pre-cooked
4 Tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil
20 Cherry tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
1 Clove of
1 Glasses of rum

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Vermentino di Gallura Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat a pan with extra virgin olive oil, brown in it the clove of garlic and remove it when it is brown. Add shrimps,





before cleaned, cook for 10 minutes, add rum and let it evaporated, then add the cherry tomatoes, before cleaned and cut in half.



Now sprinkle with salt and pepper and 1 glass of water and continue to cook for about 10 minutes.



When cooking is completed, add rocket salad, before cleaned and cut, and continue for other some minutes the cooking.



In the meanwhile cook Trofie in salt-boiling water.



When Trofie are ready drain them and add them to the pan with sauce. Serve hot.
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!