Bread with Lard and Honey

This is a very delicious Italian appetizer so easy to prepare that you would need only 10 minutes. You can even prepare this appetizer when you are back from work in the evening and you have only short time to cook something tasteful. The ingredients you need are only 3: bread, lard and honey. The bread that I prefer, to prepare this Italian appetizer, is the Altamura bread, but you can even use other types of bread, for example in Val d’Aosta this appetizer is usually prepared with black bread made of rye. The lard that you can use can be the Lard of Arnad in Val d’Aosta or the lard of Colonnata in Tuscany. The difference between the two types of lard is the different method of seasoning. The lard of Arnad is made in wood tank where it is flavoured with juniper, garlic, bay, nutmeg, sage, rosemary, clove, cinnamon and everything is covered with a brine of water and raw salt for at least 3 months. The lard of Colonnata is made in marble tank where it is flavoured with salt and aromatic herbs for at least 3 months. Last ingredient the honey of black locust; also in this case you can use the honey that you prefer.

INGREDIENTS:

1 or 2 slices of Altamura Bread for each person

1 Thin slice of lard for each slice of bread

Honey

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 10 minutes

WINE: Grechetto (White Wine)

PREPARATION

The preparation of this appetizer is very easy. Preheat the oven at 250 C or 482 F. Cut the bread in slices of 1 – 1,5 cm of thickness. Place them on a baking pan and bake for a few minutes.

Cut lard

in thin slices and put 1 slice for each slice of bread as shown in the picture below.

Re-bake for other 1-2 minutes or until the lard will melt. Then place the slices of bread on a dish and pour the honey on them.Serve the bread warm and crunchy.

BUON APPETITO!

Pie with Pepper, Zucchini, Aubergine and Carrots

Here another easy Italian recipe for pie that you can serve as an appetizer. This pie is mainly made with vegetables, in particular pepper, zucchini, aubergine and carrots, with the addition of Speck and Asiago cheese. The vegetables that I used for this Italian food are the vegetables that more often I have in my fridge so was very easy to decide how to use them. If you are vegetarian you can easy prepare this Italian recipe also for you not using the speck. If you don’t’ like the speck, you can change it with another Italian cold meat like, raw ham or cooked ham. The preparation is easy: you have just to clean, and cut the vegetables in long stripes, let them quickly cook in a large pan with some extra virgin olive oil and then put them on the surface of a flaky pastry with speck (if you like it) on the bottom and Asiago cheese on the top. This pie can be also a solution for children who don’t like vegetables so much.


INGREDIENTS (for 8-10 people):
Flaky pastry
1 Pepper
2 Zucchini
2 Carrots
1 Aubergine
Salt and Black pepper
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
200 g or 7,1 oz of Asiago cheese
5-6 thin slices of Speck

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Pinot Grigio (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with the preparation of the filling of the pie: clean the pepper, zucchini, carrots and aubergine. Cut them in long stripes. Preheat in a large pan the extra virgin olive oil, when it is hot add the vegetables, sprinkle with salt and black pepper and let them cook for about 10 -15 minutes.





The vegetables shouldn’t be completely cooked because you will finish to cook them in the oven. Preheat the oven at 200 degree (or 390 fahrenheit). In the meantime place a sheet of baking paper in the bottom of a round baking pan and put on it the flaky pastry. Make some hole with a fork on the surface of the flaky pastry



and bake for 3 – 5 minutes. Cut in squared pieces the Asiago cheese. After 3 – 5 minutes remover the flaky pastry from the oven and place on its bottom the slice of speck.



Add the vegetables



and the Asiago cheese on the surface.



Bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm or cold according to your taste.



BUONA APPETITO!

Pie of Zucchini

This is a very simple and fast Italian recipes that you can prepare when you come back later from your job and you haven’t any delicious recipes to eat. You need only some zucchini, a flaky pastry that you can easily found at the supermarket, cheese, in this case I used ricotta cheese from cow but if you don’t have this Italian cheese you can also use what you have at home better a soft Italian cheese like Stracchino or Asiago cheese, and salame that gives a salted taste to the pie of zucchini. If you like you can even add an egg. Just cook a little bit the zucchini, add all the other ingredient to them, and fill the pastry and bake. Easy, fast and a delicious Italian recipe is ready!


INGREDIENTS (for 6 people)
1 Round flaky pastry
1 / 2 Onion
6 Zucchini
250g or 2 cups of Ricotta cheese
8 Slices of Salame
40g or ½ cup of Parmesan
3-4 Tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 25 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30-40 minutes

WINE: Golfo del Tigullio Vermentino (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean and cut in thin slices the zucchini. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a large pan, cut the onion in thin slices then add them to the extra virgin olive oil and let them brown. Cook the zucchini on a low flame for about 15-20 minutes.



When the zucchini are ready put them in a bowl, add the ricotta cheese, the slices of salame, Parmesan, a bit of salt and pepper and mix all together. Better if the ricotta cheese is from cow.



Place a sheet of baking paper on the bottom of a baking-pan, place over it the pastry and makes some little holes on its surface with a fork.



Fill the pastry with the mixture of zucchini and ricotta cheese.



Bake at 180-200 degree for about 40 minutes until the surface becomes golden. Serve warm.



BUON APPETITO!

Small Pies with Ricotta and Spinach

This is an easy and good Italian recipe suitable as a delicious appetizer. You can prepare small pies filled with ricotta cheese and spinach personalized for each of your hosts. It is very simple to prepare them if you use a flaky pastry ready otherwise you will need much more time if you want to prepare a homemade flaky pastry. Also the personalization of the small pies is easy you only need a little bit of creative skill to make the decoration. At the end for the preparation of the filling you have only to boil the spinach, put the others ingredients all together, mix and fill the pastry with this mixture, only 15 minutes in the oven and the appetizer is ready to eat.

INGREDIENTS (for 7 - 9 people):
Flaky pastry
200g Ricotta cheese
200g of Spinach
1 Mozzarella cheese
1 Egg
Parmesan
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Valpolcèvera Rosato Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Roll out the flaky pastry with the help of rolling pin. Cut it with a cutter-shape or with a glass in order to obtain small piece of flaky pastry with a particular shape.



Clean the spinach and let them cook in a pan with salted water for about 10 – 15 minutes. Then drain them and let them cool. Put in a bowl the ricotta cheese, add the spinach, the egg, the Parmesan and the mozzarella cut before in small cubes.



Put the pieces of flaky pastry in a pan like this shown in the picture below,



make some small holes with a fork on the surface of the pastry and fill them with the mixture of spinach and ricotta cheese.
If you have some flaky pastry left over use it to make some decoration.



Preheat the oven at 180°C, bake the small pie in the oven for 15 minutes until the surface becomes slightly golden.
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!

Small Balls of Aubergines

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!

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!

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!