Pie with Red Cabbage

This pie with red cabbage is easy to prepare. The main ingredient is the red cabbage; in addition there are also the potatoes, the raw ham and the Asiago cheese. The potatoes combine very well with the red cabbage. The raw ham gives a more tasty flavour and with the use of the Asiago cheese you mix better the ingredients all together. The pastry that I used here it was home-made, simply prepared with flour, water and salt but if you don’t have a lot of time you can even use the flaky pastry ready for use. This pie can be thin or more thick according to the number of layers that you put inside, what I prepared here was a delicious thick pie.


INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people):
250 g or 1 cup of Flour
Water
Salt
Half of a red cabbage
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
3 Potatoes
150 g of raw ham in slices
200 g or 7 oz of Asiago cheese in pieces

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 – 40 minutes

WINE: Trentino Cabernet Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with the preparation of the red cabbage: use half of a red cabbage, cut it in thin slices and wash it.



When the red cabbage is clean, preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a large pan and add the red cabbage. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper and let the cabbage cook for at least 15-20 minutes.



Stir time by time in order to not the cabbage attach to the pan and cook covered with a lid. In the meantime peel and boil the potatoes, when they are cooked, let them cool down and cut in thin slices as shown in the picture below.



Now prepare the pastry: mix the flour with water and salt in order to obtain a homogeneous dough,



then roll it in 2 thin round disc that you will use for the bottom and the top of the pie. Cover the bottom of a baking pan with a sheet of baking paper, place on it one disc of pastry,



add a layer of raw ham,



a layer of red cabbage,



then the potatoes, the pieces of Asiago cheese



and the raw ham again.



Then if there is still place you can do other layers in the same way.
At the end cover with the second disc of pastry



and bake at 200 C or 392 F. You can serve this pie hot or also cold as you prefer more.
BUON APPETITO!

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!

Potatoes and Sausage Pie

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!

Pie of Spinach

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!