Risotto with Zucchini and Speck

This Italian recipe of risotto combines the sweet taste of zucchini with the spicy taste of speck. The preparation of this risotto is very easy as you already learned from the recipes of the other Italian risotto that I already published. The secret in the preparation of risotto is to have a good vegetables broth and to stir continuously while you are adding the broth to not let the rice attach to the casserole and to better check the cooking of rice.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320g or 11,3 oz of Rice (type Arborio)
3 / 4 Onion
3 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
2 Zucchini
100g of Speck cut in small cubes
Half Glass of White wine
Vegetable broth (1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 potato, celery, coarse salt)

PREPARARATION TIME: 30 minutes (15 minutes with the pressure cooker)

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Alto Adige Pinot Bianco (WhiteWine)

PREPARATION
Start preparing the vegetable broth, clean and peel the carrot, the potato, the onion, and the celery, cut them in big pieces and place them in a potful, add half a liter of water and a bit of coarse salt and let it boil for about 30-40 minutes. If you don't have a lot of time the best thing to do in order to have the same result is to use the pressure cooker, with which you will need only 10-15 minutes.



When the broth is almost ready you can start with the preparation of risotto, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a casserole, mince the onion and cut the zucchini in small cubes, add the onion to the hot oil and let it brown.



Add the small cubes of speck, let them cook for a few minutes,



add the zucchini and let them cook for few minutes.



At this point add the rice and let it roast.



Add half glass of white wine, let it evaporate and start adding the broth,



little by little stirring continuously.



Let the rice cook for about 15-18 minutes, pay attention not to over cook it. Serve risotto warm.



BUON APPETITO!

Spatzle with Spinach Speck and Cream

Sometimes ago I show you the Italian recipes for the preparation of traditional Italian spatzle, a delicious first course diffuses in the northern part of Italy in particular in Val D’Aosta and Trentino Alto Adige. Here I’m going to show you another delicious Italian recipes for Spatzle and in particular green spaetzle made with spinach. This spaetzle are similar to gnocchi with small dimension and irregular shape, easy to prepare and the recipe presented below is simple made with flour, milk and the addition of spinach. Also in this case you will need to use the grater for spaetzle and the seasoning that I used is also made with speck and cream.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
380 g or 4 cups of Flour
2 Glasses or 1 cup of milk
200g or 7 oz of Spinach
200 ml or 1 cup of Cream
2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
50 g of Speck cut in small cubes
Raw salt

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 10 minutes

WINE: Alto Adige Pinot Bianco (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean, wash the spinach and let them boil for 5-8 minutes.



When they are cooked drain them, let them cool down and squeeze them in order to remove the excess of water. Blend the spinach. Let salted water boil for spaetzle. Place the flour and the milk in a bowl and mix all together in order to obtain a soften dough without lumps, like this shown in the picture below.





When the mixture is well creamy, add the spinach and mix all together.





Then prepare the seasoning: preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the cubes of speck and let them brown;





add the cream and let the sauce cook for about 5 – 10 minutes in order to reduce it.




Remember not to reduce the cream too much, in case this happens you can add a little bit of milk. When the water boils place the grater on the surface of the pan, pour slowly in its container the dough of spatzle and move the container back and forth in order to cut the dough in small irregular gnocchi with drops shape.





The spatzle are ready when they rise to the surface and this takes about 3 – 4 minutes.



Drain them and pour on them the sauce of speck and cream



Serve hot!



BUON APPETITO

Gnocchi Dumpling wih Radicchio

This is another Italian recipe for dumpling that we usually called in Italy Gnocchi. This type of dumplings are made with potatoes but their flavor is enriched by the addition of chestnut flour. The peculiarity of this Italian dumpling is the dressing made with Radicchio, Speck and a cheese like, Asiago cheese, if you like a sweet taste or Bitto cheese, if you like a more strong taste. The Italian cheese that I prefer to use in the dressing of this dumpling is Asiago cheese because its sweet taste makes a contrast with the a little bit bitter taste of Radicchio. The preparation of the dressing is easy you have just to cook the Radicchio, add the speck and then the cheese. Let the cheese melt but not dry it too much otherwise the sauce it will be not enough creamy for dumplings.


INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
1kg or 4 cups of Potatoes
150 g or 1+1/4 of cup of Flour
150 g or 1+1/4 of cup Chestnut Flour
1 or 2 Eggs
100 g of Speck
100 g of Cheese
300 g of Radicchio


PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Oltrepo Pavese (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start cooking the potatoes without peeling them, boiled them in no salted water until they are cooked more or less 20 minutes since the water boils; in order to be faster you can use the steamer cooker, in this case you will need only 10-12 minutes. When the potatoes are ready, let them cool a bit, peel them,



mash them and put them on a table.



Then add to the mashed potatoes the flour, the chestnut flour, the eggs and salt.



Mix all together and work until you will obtain a homogeneous dough.



Now divide the dough in parts and roll each one in order to obtain a sort of longs sausages thick as a finger. Pay attention to have always enough flour on the worktable in order to not attach the dough to it. Cut each long sausage in small pieces of 1 cm length. When you have all the pieces, you have to give them the shape of gnocchi: to do this, take a fork. Hold the fork with one hand and lean it to the work board, with the other hand take a piece of dough and with the index finger press rolling it on the fork: in this way you obtain gnocchi.



Sprinkle the gnocchi with flour and place them on a tray.



In the mean time let the salted water boil for gnocchi and start preparing the seasoning for gnocchi. Clean, wash the radicchio and cut it in stripes. Cut the speck in cubes or stripes and cut the cheese in cubes.



When everything is ready preheat the extra Virgin olive oil in a large pan, add the radicchio and cook it for about 10-15 minutes.



At this point add the speck and let it cook for 5-8 minutes.



At the end add the cheese and let it melt,



pay attention to not dry too much the sauce that comes from the cheese.




When the salted water boils add the gnocchi and when they rise to the surface, drain them.



Add the cooked gnocchi to the sauce. Serve them and if you like sprinkle with Parmesan.



BUON APPETITO!

Pasta with Speck and Leek

This Italian recipes is basically made with ingredient more suitable for autumn period, indeed in order to prepare it we need flour of chestnut, leek and speck but it’s one of the autumnal recipes that I also like to prepare for a summer fresh dinner because its taste is fresh and it is note an heavy meal. To obtain a delicious result you can use a typical Italian speck in particular that one coming from Trentino or Alto Adige in the northern part of Italy. It’s a delicious recipe that takes you only half an hour to prepare even if you have to make the pasta, that I called quadretti because it has the shape of small squares, by your hands. To prepare “quadretti” you have just to mix the flour, the chestnut’s flour, eggs and salt until you obtain an homogeneous dough, roll out the dough and cut in small squares: this take only 10 minutes. After this let the salted water boil and prepare the dressing: this will take other 10-15 minutes. The “quadretti” pasta need only few minutes to be cooked and recipe is ready.


INGREDIENTS (for 2 people):
2 Eggs
150g or 1 cup of Flour
150g or 1 cup of Chestnut Flour
1 Leek
50 g of half cup Speck in cubes
Extravirgin olive oil
Black Pepper
Salt

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Trentino Sauvignon (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Mix in a bowl the flour, the chestnut flour, the eggs and a little bit of salt.



Mix all the ingredients in order to obtain homogeneous dough. Let the dough stand for 10 minutes. Let the salted water boil for pasta. In the meantime start preparing the dressing: place the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, clean and wash the leek, cut it in thin slices, add it to the pan and let it brown



then add the cubes of speck and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.



Put a lot of flour on a table in order to not let the pastry attached to the surface. With the help of a rolling pin roll out the dough to obtain a thin square pastry like this shown in the picture below



and cut it in irregular square pieces.



When the water boils, add the pasta and after some minutes when it rise on the surface it is ready.



Drain the pasta, add it to the pan where is the dressing,



mix all together and serve hot.



BUON APPETITO!

Risotto with Speck and Pomegranate Juice

This Italian recipe of risotto is typical of the autumnal or winter period. When you have in your kitchen pomegranate and speck you can simply and quickly cooked a delicious risotto. You just need to squeeze the pomegranate in order to obtain the juice and toast the rice with the speck and red wine the result will be excellent. You can obtain a better result if you can cooked yourself also the broth that is very simple and fast to prepare, you just need to boil salted water with big pieces of carrot, potato, celery and onion.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320g or 2 cups of Rice (type Arborio)
3 / 4 Onion
3 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 - 2 Pomegranates
100g of or 1/2 cupSpeck cut in small cubes
Half Glass of Red wine
Parmesan
Vegetable broth (1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 potato, celery, coarse salt)

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes (15 minutes with the pressure cooker)

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Bardolino Novello Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start preparing the vegetable broth, clean and peel the carrot, the potato, the onion, and the celery, cut them in big pieces and place them in a potful, add half a liter of water and a bit of coarse salt



and let it boil for about 30-40 minutes.



If you don't have a lot of time the best thing to do in order to have the same result is to use the pressure cooker, with which you will need only 10-15 minutes. When the broth is almost ready you can start with the preparation of risotto, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a casserole, cut the onion in thin slices, add them to the hot oil and let them brown.



You can leave the onion in the casserole, if you like them, otherwise you can even remove them. Add the small cubes of speck, let them cook for a few minutes



and then add the rice and let it roast.



Add half glass of red wine, let it evaporate and start adding the broth, little by little stirring continuously.



Let the rice cook for about 15-18 minutes,



pay attention not to over cook it. When the rice is cooked, add the juice of pomegranate, stir.





Serve warm and sprinkle with Parmesan



BUON APPETITO!