Italian Kitchen Secrets

Time for a new post!

It's sunday afternoon, my son is playing alone (miracle) with his Legos and I had the time to post this on my Italian blog La mora Romagnola, now I hope to have spare time enough to translate and post the recipe here too.

These rolls are easy and tasty, vegetarian (or vegan if you avoid feta cheese) and gluten free if you use GF breadcrumbs.

I loved them and I must admit I've eaten almost half before dinner. B)

4 servings:

3 big and long zucchini

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

3/4 cup feta cheese

zest from 1 organic lemon

5-6 mint leaves

extra-virgin olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Using a vegetable slicer slice zucchini the long side, you have to end with long and thin "ribbons" made of zucchini.

Put them on a soup bowl, cover with a dinner plate, put in a microwave and microwave 2-3 minutes at medium power.

In a mixer put breadcrumbs, feta, lemon zest, mint leaves, salt and pepper and oil enough to have a crumbled mixture.

Once zucchini ribbons are cold put them 3 in a row on the short side to make a longer ribbon, spread the mixture then roll carefully.

Fasten the roll with a toothpick.

Do the same with all the zucchini ribbons, put them on a baking pan, if you have spare mixture add it on top of the rolls then bake untill golden at 350°F (about 15 minutes).

You can serve them warm or cold, I'm sure you'll like them!

We are in season for eggplants, we love them and we often eat them.

These patties are easy, healthy and loved by children too: they can be served with tomato sauce but I prefer to eat them plain.

3 servings:

1 big round eggplant

1 cup breadcrumbs plus some to roll the patties in

3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 egg

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

1 garlic clove

5-6 basil leaves

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

Dice the eggplant and stirfry in a pan with olive oil and the garlic clove untill tender.

Add salt and pepper to taste, when it's cold put it in a blender with diced mozzarella, parmesan, basil leaves, breadcrumbs and egg.

Blend untill well combined, if the mix is too soft you can add some breadcrumbs.

Make small patties the size of a ping pong ball, roll them in the breadcrumbs and cook untill golden in olive oil.

I love them hot so the mozzarella form strings :D

For this easy and budget recipe you need tomatoes at their best: fresh, ripe and flavourful so maybe it's more a summer recipe but if you find some good plum or cherry tomatoes you can do it anyway.

You can use them on pasta, on bruschetta, into salads or just as tasty side dish from informal meals (they're great with grilled meat so bbq's are welcome^^) to formal ones (with tuna fish fillet, for istance).

You need:

15-20 good tomatoes

2 finely minced garlic cloves

1 spoon of sugar

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 275 F°, cut tomatoes in half, sprinkle with salt and put them on a dish with the skin up (they have to lose some water) for an hour.

Now put them with skin side down on a baking sheet and add garlic, pepper, more salt, sugar and oregano sprinkling, then drizzle with abundant oil.

Bake in the oven for about 2 hours or untill they're dried but still soft.

Serve hot, warm or cold: anyway is a good way for them!

It's time to speak about another herb: Rosemary.

Frequently used in Italy, well known abroad too; it is a resistant plant, it growns especially in Mediterranean zones but it's acclimated to colder places.

You can cultivate it in the garden or even on terraces or just out of the window in small pots.

From flowers you can obtain good honey, Rosemary is famous for its medical properties ( it's a good tonic and purifyier).

Rosemary is great on roasted potadoes, on red meats (especially on roasts), with some kind of fish, on bruschetta, on borlottis' or chickpeas' soup.

Yesterday evening I ate a good appetizer: on a thick slice of bread there was a spoon of grated cheese (Parmesan ), then a spoon of porcini mushrooms stirfried in a pan with butter, then a generous sprinkle of Rosemary needles: the "crostino" was crisped in the oven.

I don't love the marriage mushrooms/Rosemary but with Parmesan and good bread it's really an happy mix.

You can also prepare a plain bruschetta and add some Rosemary on top.

So tasty!

Soon I'll post the many variations I know to make crostini and bruschetta: they're a must as appetizer in my zone you could be sourprised because of the variety!

I had some suggestions about what to put in this blog.

Some ask me to learn more about typical Italian herbs and spices.

I'll start with basil: it's the king of all the herbs used in our dishes, I love it so much!

Basil has got so many varieties: little leaves - Ocimun minimum-(the most common here), big leaves (each leaf could be 10 cm!), violet basil (it's of a deep violet with pink flowers, it's a little bit spicy and good in salads).

It's quite easy to grow up: you can plant seeds in a pot around march-april, water often and keep it in a very sunny position: on july- august you'll have leaves enogh to be conserved in freezer all year long.

Basil doesn't like long cook: you have to use it fresh if you want his best, in hot preparation put leaves just a minute before serving.

It's the king of herbs so it's not ok to be mixed with others like rosemary or oreganon.

The most well-known recipe with basil is PESTO ALLA GENOVESE: it's fantastic but unluckly long to prepare, the ones you buy at supermarked usually have dried basil and many chemical flavours, nothing compared to the real one (recipe will come soon!).

Do you usually use basil only in tomato sauce?

Try it in a pasta fresh salad: cook pasta, drain it, let it get cold, then chop tomatoes and mozzarella cheese in tiny pieces, add extravirgin olive oil, fresh basil leaves and mix the pasta.

It's a great lunch or dinner douring the hottest day of summer!!

More recipes to come, now holidays are everyday nearer!! :)