Italian Kitchen Secrets: tomato

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4/07/2011

Sicilian pesto (Pesto alla siciliana).

As promised I'm here with a recipe.

This is a pesto recipe: I've already posted the genovese one, now it's time for "pesto alla siciliana"!

It's a lovely and tasty recipe, very quick and good for the summer season, you just need good cherry tomatoes and fresh ricotta cheese.

As often happens there are many version of this recipe: some don't include ricotta cheese, some use almonds instead of pine kernels son don't be surprised if you find the same recipe around with different ingredients.

4 servings:

1 garlic clove

a bunch of fresh basil

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup pine kernels

2/3 cup fresh ricotta cheese (cow or goat)

2 cups cherry tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

Open tomatoes in half and squeeze them to remove juice and seeds, put them into the mixer cup.

Add washed and dried basil leaves, pine kernels, oil, the garlic clove, Parmesan, ricotta cheese and oil.

Close the blender lid and mix for a while: you can choose pesto's thickness, if you like it creamy mix a little bit longer, if you prefer to taste pieces mix just few seconds.

Taste it and add salt and pepper, you can preserve it into a glass holder for about two days in refrigerator.

Cook the pasta you prefer, drain it and save a little cooking water, mix pasta with pesto and add water as needed to whisk well.

11/24/2009

Mozzarella shots ( Bicchierini di mozzarella)

Need a quick appetizer?

Do you want a nice "Italian style" entree?

This is what you need!

Take as many liquor glass (so, small and short) as the guests are, then you need:

mozzarella cheese (fresh, good, the one that if you cut you can see the milk dripping, not the plastic balls you find sometimes at supermarket)

a red and ripe tomato (more or less it depends on how many people you have to serve)

fresh basil leaves

extra-virgin olive oil

salt

PLEASE NOTE: this recipe is a lot better with "burrata" that is a special kind of mozzarella filled with milk cream and stripes of mozzarella itself.

It's a great cheese but I suppose it's not so easy to find abroad so I used mozzarella for this recipe.

If you find it anyway don't esitate: use burrata!

Crush the basil leaves with oil and a little salt untill you have a rough pesto alla genovese, put a coffee sppon of this pesto in each glass.

Now chop the mozzarella cheese in very tiny pieces, put them into the glasses, the same quantity in each, fill almost 'till the top.

Cut the tomato in very tiny cubes, season them with salt and oil, add a little spoon of them on top of mozzarella cheese.

Pay attention to put same quantity of the three ingredients in glasses, just to give all of them the same look.

Now you have a nice Italian flag appetizer, enjoy!

7/09/2009

Pasta salad with mozzarella cheese and tomatoes ( Pasta alla crudaiola con mozzarella e pomodori)

This is probably the easier recipe of cold/warm pasta you can find.

Often here in Italy pasta salads are filled with so many ingredients that they become real calories bombs and, according to my experience, abroad is the same if not worse.

The same with rice salads and I don't really like that mix of different tastes, so many that you can't almost understand what there's inside (and sometimes, when you use canned pasta salad mixture, is probably better...).

This dish instead is plain, simple, with few but good ingredients and you don't need a lot of time to prepare it.

For 4 serves you need:

1 pound short pasta: penne, rigatoni, tortiglioni, farfalle ( 1 pound for 4 is quite a large dish, you can use less pasta)

1 big mozzarella cheese (if you can find mozzarella made from buffalo's milk is even better)

extra-virgin olive oil

3 medium red and ripe tomatoes

5-6 fresh basil leaves, washed

salt and pepper how much you like

Cook pasta at least 2 hours before serving if you want it cold, half an hour before if you want it just warm.

In a big bowl put tomatoes and mozzarella cheese chopped in tiny cubes, add basil leaves, salt and pepper and a generous pour of oil.

Mix well, add cold or warm pasta, mix again.

Store in fridge if needed, mix again before serving.

You can add a garlic clove to preparation to give a stronger flavour.

6/26/2009

Tomato salad with greek yogurt ( Insalata di pomodori con yogurt greco)

I keep on going with summer and easy recipes, this one is so tasty according to me.

It remember me of my summers at university where I share an apartment not far from the sea with some Greek and English students: we had so much fun together, parties, tea times, plain dinners that became a fancy mix of food from our countries.

Now I start to become over-sentimental so let's go with the salad!

You can decide measures quite roughly, don't need weights :)

You need:

red and ripe tomatoes, I usually prefer San Marzano (the ones long and thin with less seeds that you can see in the picture)

fresh basil leaves

salt

pepper if you like

extra-virgin olive oil

a garlic clove if you like

greek yogurt, how much it depends on how many you are but I use roughly a big spoon of yogurt for each serve

Cut tomatoes in tiny cubes, put them in a bowl with their sauce, add salt, pepper, oil, garlic and the basil leaves well washed.

Mix well, add the greek yogurt, mix again and let rest in fridge for about a couple of hours mixing now and then.

Greek yogurt is really thick but mixed with oil and tomato sauce it will get dilute and your tomatoes will be covered with a tasty creamy sauce, quick and really healthy!

It's perfect with grilled meat or fish, with hamburgers or other dishes.

5/15/2009

Spelt salad with tomatoes, arugula, grated Parmesan and balsamic vinegar (Insalata di farro con pomodori, rucola, Grana e balsamico)

Today an easy and tasty recipe that fits the need of something fresh and light we have with the first really hot days of the year.

Spelt is a cereal, quite common in Italy, very used in some regions like Tuscany and Umbria.

It grows even in poor grounds, it's the less calorific cereal and contains about the 15 % in proteins.

For 2-3 persons you need:

7 oz. spelt

salt

extra-virgin olive oil

some red and ripe tomatoes (great the cherry ones)

a bunch of fresh arugula

3 spoons of freshly grated parmesan

3 spoons of good balsamic vinegar

Let the spelt soaking all night long, then cook it in salty water the time written on the packaging.

Drain it and let it get cold, meanwhile cut tomatoes in little cubes, if you have cherry tomatoes split them in 4 parts.

Put them in a bowl and add cold spelt, olive oil as much as needed, Parmesan and balsamic vinegar.

Mix very well then put on the serving dish.

You can spread it or put it into a big round-shaped cookie cutter to give it a most elegant presentation.

Put on top of spelt fresh arugula well washed then add another drizzle of oil and vinegar.

Isn't it tasty and nice?

Enjoy it!

2/11/2009

Roasted tomatoes (Pomodorini confit)

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!

12/24/2008

Bruschetta (Toasted garlic bread)

I think Bruschetta is one of the most famous Italian appetizer worldwide: it's simple, low cost, yummy, customizable.

Count about 2 slices per person, the bread must be sliced in thick pieces (approximately 3/8 inch ).

The oil is the king of the ingredients in this recipe so you absolutely need extra-virgin olive oil, a good one.

You also need salt and a garlic clove.

Preheat an oven, broiler, or toaster; grill the bread on both sides until golden brown.

Lightly rub the garlic on the surface of the bread.

Pour a thin stream of olive oil on the bread, and sprinkle with salt.

Serve hot or at least warm.

This is the basic bruschetta but surely not the only way to serve this kind of bread: on top you can add thin slices of pork lard (like Colonnata lard) and Rosemary, tomatoes chopped in tiny cubes with some basil leaves, sliced green olives, sundried tomatoes in slices, dried red pepper powder or slices and whatever else your fantasy and your taste decide.

9/08/2008

Meat broth ( Brodo di carne)

Meat broth is often used to cook risotto, to give flavour to roasts and dishes: I don't know if it is usually served as a soup abroad but it's how we mainly eat it in Italy.

If you use it for cooking no one will blame if you use canned broth (better the pownder one than the cubes, less chemical things in the first) but if you want to serve it with pasta (tortellini, angel hair or other tiny shapes) you have to prepare a good homemade meat broth.

It's easier than you can think: the longest part is the cooking but you don't need to take a lot of care of it while it's boiling...

You need ( I found the conversion in gallons and pounds, sooner or later I'll change even the meaures of the ingredients of past recipes):

a large stockpot

a gallon of water (more or less)

2 lb. of meat ( beef with a little fat, bones, hen) in big pieces

1 whole onion

2 whole carrots

2 celery sticks

1 whole tomato

1 tablespoon salt

You can add:

a little bunch of parsley

nutmeg freshly grated

2-3 cloves

To be honest I don't use these ingredients because they give broth a too spicy flavour that not always fits what I put in it.

Place the meat in the pot, add tomato, onion, carrots and celery then fill with water.

Add salt and bring the water to a boil.

Cook untill the meat is tender, for 2 lb. of meat you probably have to wait 2-2 1/2 hours, let it gently boil, not too strong or the water will evaporate too soon and too much.

When the meat is ready remove it from the pot (don't throw it, it can be eaten or used in other recipes: the meat from the broth boiling it's called "lesso").

Filter the broth through a fine strainer to clarify it and remove all the small particles. Let the broth cool at room temperature.

When the broth will be cold, the fat will solidify on the surface.

Remove most of the fat with a spoon, how much dipends on you: some people here love fat bubbles in the hot broth, my husband does, I don't (can you imagine the battle when I prepare it?^^ "Leave fat!", "No, it's too much!" and so on...).

Now the broth is ready: just cook in it what you prefer, if you don't use within two days you can preserve it in a bottle in your freezer on into ice forms if you need small portions.

4/14/2008

Vegetable pastries ( Fagottini con verdure)

4 serves, easy recipe, great results!

Ingredients:

1 carrot

1 courgette

1 little white onion

2 red and saucy tomatoes

extra virgin olive oil

salt

2-3 basil leaves

1 pack of pastry

Chop tomatoes in little cubes and put in a bowl with abundant oil, salt, basil leaves mix and let it rest in fridge for at least 2 hours.

Wash carrot, courgette, put them in the mixer to obtain a sort of purea, peel the onion and chop in tiny pieces.

Put the onion in a pan and fry gently with oil and salt, let it get gold then add purea.

Cook on low fire for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile open the pack of pastry, divide it in 4 squares; when the vegetable purea is read put in the centre of each square a big spoon of purea and close squares in the desired way.

Put in the oven for about 15 minutes, medium heat.

Serve them hot with cold tomato cubes and its sauce.

2/26/2008

The perfect tomato sauce (Sugo di pomodoro)

Let's start from the basics ;)

As many know tomato sauce is one of the most important thing in Italian cooking: it's perfect when plain with pasta, it's the base for amatriciana, ragu' alla bolognese and other worldwide famous dishes.

How to make the perfect sauce?

Of course the quality of the "sugo"can't be indipendent from the tomato quality.

According to me MUTTI sauce is the best on the Italian market, truly I don't know if it's avaliable abroad too.

For 3 persons I usually use half a bottle of sauce (350 gr.), you can anyway count about 100 gr. of souce/person.

Cover the bottom of a pot with olive oil (extra virgin olive oil, I always use that in my recipes if not specified) and add a garlic clove crushed gently with the side of a large knife.

Let the garlic get blonde (no black!! it's bitter!) then add a sprinkle of salt (how much only your taste can say;) ) then 2/3 leaves of fresh basil (yes you can use the dry one or the frozen chopped one but to have the best you must use the most fresh ingredients) and the sauce.

Lower the fire under the pot at minimum, mix once then let it cook for at least one hour.

Tomato sauce needs a long cook, it's not a well known detail.

of course pay attention not to burn it:)

The sauce is ready to use on pasta (spaghetti, penne, maccheroni) with a bit of fresh grated parmesan, or on a slice of good toasted bread, you can store the sauce into the fridge for 1-2 days.

GREEK TOUCH: at the end of the cooking, minutes before tourn off fire add some cubes of feta cheese and dissolve them in the sauce.

use it on pasta...

It's simply delicious!

Italian Kitchen Secrets

4/07/2011

Sicilian pesto (Pesto alla siciliana).

11/24/2009

Mozzarella shots ( Bicchierini di mozzarella)

7/09/2009

Pasta salad with mozzarella cheese and tomatoes ( Pasta alla crudaiola con mozzarella e pomodori)

6/26/2009

Tomato salad with greek yogurt ( Insalata di pomodori con yogurt greco)

5/15/2009

Spelt salad with tomatoes, arugula, grated Parmesan and balsamic vinegar (Insalata di farro con pomodori, rucola, Grana e balsamico)

2/11/2009

Roasted tomatoes (Pomodorini confit)

12/24/2008

Bruschetta (Toasted garlic bread)

9/08/2008

Meat broth ( Brodo di carne)

4/14/2008

Vegetable pastries ( Fagottini con verdure)

2/26/2008

The perfect tomato sauce (Sugo di pomodoro)

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