italian cooking made easy

Time: 1 hour. Level: Easy. In Italy we call this recipe: "verza stufata" but in Venice it's called: "verze sofegae" For 4 persons take: - 2 small cabbages and slice as small as you can. - Add 1 sliced onion. - 1 clove garlic. - Olive oil. - Salt and pepper. The ingredients are rather simple, but the end result depends all on how you cook the cabbage!. Cook on a very low flame for 1 hour and try not to add any water, or at least very, very little. In this way the "verze sofegae" becomes very "creamy",and melt on your tongue, just the way we like it in Venice!. Buon appetito! Peter.

  An easy way to prepare zucchini.                     Time: 30  min                     Level: easy. -Slice the zucchini as thin as you can. -Slice an onion. -Crush garlic. -Grease oven pan with olive oil.  Lay out sliced zucchini and add on top:  -Onion. -Garlic. -Grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese. -Salt and pepper. -Sesame seeds (optional, but very good)  Cook 30 min. or until golden brown in the   oven at 180° C. Buon Appetito!

Some wonderful presentations i wanted to share with you.

Time: 20 minutes Level: EASY Before...........   We used deep frozen scallops. Place on a plate and cover scallops with: - piece of butter - coffee spoon armagnac (or cognac or   brandy) - salt and pepper - bread crumbs - chopped parsley Cook 15 minutes in oven at 180° C. Voilà!! Buon appetito! After........

30 minutes. Autumn is on its way; let's prepare a tasty soup ! LEVEL: EASY TIME   : 30 MINUTES Ingredients: * 200 grms. lentils (can) * 500 grms. shrimps * 1 potatoe * 2 tbl. spoons mixed soup  vegetables * 1 liter stock *  some parsley * 1\2 teaspoon curry * 4 slices of bread * olive oil, salt and pepper HOW TO PREPARE: Rinse the lentils and let them drip. Peal the potatoe and cut into dice. Simmer the vegetables in olive oil then add the lentils and the potatoe. Add the stock and boil until all the ingredients are tender. When done put the whole thing in a blender and whisk to get an even soup. DON'T FORGET to leave apart 1 spoonful of lentils, because we need to add them afterwards. Return the soup into the pan and add curry, shrimps and the lentils. Let the whole thing cook for another 5 minutes and when done,  sprinkle with parsley. Serve with toasted bread. BUON APPETITO!

Level: medium Time: 40 minutes Ingredients for 4 persons: * 500 gr. tagliatelle * 200 gr. clam * 1 eggplant, 3 tomatoes * 1 pc. of garlic, some parsley and    some basil * olive oil * salt and pepper How to prepare: Cut the eggplant im small dice, sprinkle with salt and let them rest for about 30 minutes. Hereafter rinse them with water and dry them on a cloth or kitchen paper. Put the tomatoes in boiling water for about 3 minutes, after this cool them in cold water and peel them. Cut the tomatoes in small pieces and  mix them with a few spoons of olive oil, salt and chopped basil.  Fry the eggplant until golden brown and put them on kitchen paper to absorb the oil. Heat a pan with some olive oil, the garlic and half the parsley (chopped) and add the clam and cook a few minutes over high flame. Add the eggplant and the tomato and cook another 2 to 3 minutes.  Add pepper and more salt if needed.  Boil the tagliatelle and add to the vegetables and clam , together

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level: easy time: 15 minutes Ingredients for 4 persons: * 250 gr. mussels with  shell * 200 gr. clam * 16 big shrimps or tiger prawns * 10 cherry tomatoes * 1 pc. garlic * small pc. chili * 3 tbl spoons olive oil * salt , pepper and parsley * sliced bread How to prepare: Clean mussels and clam by leaving them 30 minutes under water, changing the water 2 or 3 times. Clean the shrimps or tiger prawns. Chop garlic and chili and simmer in frying pan with olive oil. Add clam and mussels and cook 2 minutes with high flame (cover with lid) Add tomatoes cut in half and shrimps, salt, pepper and parsley and cook another 3 minutes. Serve with bread.  Buon appetito !

534 grams!!!!!! It's summer, it's hot and our homegrown tomatoes are mature and ready to eat! Don't you feel like cooking dinner? Here is a good solution: Tomato, mozzarella, brie, cracker, olives, ham and artichokes. Buon appetito!  Good for your health. please read the insert on the right about cholesterol!

This is an exellent recipe for hot summer days, when you don't want to eat hot food. Boil or steam fresh salmon without skin. Always add a piece of lemon to the boiling water! When done, let the salmon cool down (one hour). In the meantime: - chop fresh parsley. - chop tomatoes in very small dices. - chop a tiny piece of fresh ginger. - chop one spring onion. - take a handful of capers. - mix everything with olive oil, salt and        pepper and leave to rest for one hour.  After one hour, cover the salmon with the mix and serve. Buon appetito!!!

  These are the ingredients: - For 2 persons:  - 200 grms. tagliatelle. - 12 to 18 prawns. - 1 zucchina sliced like this. - 1 small piece of garlic. - some chopped parsley. - chili. - salt. - curcuma. - 2 tbl. sp. butter. - 2 tbl. sp. olive oil.   Stir fry the zucchine and shrimps in hot butter, together with the garlic, the chili and a little salt, for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile cook the tagliatelle (about 5 minutes). When the zucchine and shrimps are done, add a little curcuma, for nice yellow coloring and add the parsley. When the tagliatelle are ready, add 2 spoons with the hot water you used for the tagliatelle and  mix everything and stir 1 minute over high flame: Ready!!! Total preparation time: 20 minutes. Buon Appetito!

Very High quality raw ham and various local cheeses. Beautifully composed Salad. Beer fried chicken. Raw meat (tartar) and vegetables composition.

Do you know this vegetable? I think that eggplant is known all over the world and every region on this planet has it's own recepies. I have never been a big fan of eggplant, until i tasted this recipe !! This is what we did: I sliced the eggplant. (as thin as possible) I put some olive oil on the bottom of an oven pan. I laid out the slices and covered with: -Thinly sliced onion -Sliced tomato -Garlic -A little chili -Origano -pars ley -Salt I covered once more with a little olive oil. I cooked in the oven at 180° C. for about 30 min. Garnish with fresh mint! Buon appetito

For this typical italian recipe, you can use any pork cut. I used loin, so i can serve the pork sliced, which looks good. I used: - 1 kg. pork - 1 liter milk - 1 pc. garlic (chopped) - 2 tbl. sp. olive oil - rosemary, bay leaf, a few sage leafs and   - mint leaf - pepper + salt What to do: Place the pork cut in a baking tin and add all the milk and the other ingredients. Cook at 180° C. until the meat is tender, depending on the type of cut, let's say at least 30 min. Turn the meat at least 2 times, to brown evenly. When done, cool the meat and slice. Cover with milk sauce, and serve.         The sauce shouldn't be to liquid, if so, cook apart to evaporate some more liquid. Buon Appetito!

You need: - 1 Cauliflower. - 1 glass of milk. - 200 grms. gorgonzola, roquefort or        other blue cheese. - 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds. - 1 white onion. - 1 teaspoon curry. - parsley. - salt and pepper. - 1 tbl. spoon olive oil. Slice the onion and cut the cauliflower into small pieces. Put all the ingredients in an oven pan and cook in the oven at 180° C. for 30 minutes, with oven fan on.  Delicious! Without oven fan cook 15 min. more. Buon Appetito.

Do you know this vegetable? Ironically speaking we could call Brussels sprouts a "children's nightmare". In countries like Holland or Germany they are usually steamed and served with a little nutmeg sprinkled on top. I would like to propose something a little more "Italian" : "Brussels sprouts with olive oil, garlic , origano and pistache." Clean the sprouts and cut them in half. Simmer in olive oil together with the garlic, a little chili, salt, origano and 10 pistache nuts for about 15 minutes,adding a little water if needed. Don't overcook, they are nice if they are still a bit crispy!!!

Today i prepared chicken legs in tomato sauce. for 2 persons; I fried 1/2 onion, 1 pc. garlic and some chili. After a few minutes added 2 tbl. spoons of red wine and cooked until evaporated. Then added 1/2 liter tomato passata plus a tbl. spoon of origano, 1 bay leaf, some rosemary and a little salt. Bring to boil and add chicken legs (4 to 6). Simmer for at least 45 minutes, until the sauce is not watery anymore, but dense. I served with rice, garnished with 1 tomato and we drank a glas of good cabernet wine from our Veneto region. Buon appetito!!

Pork tenderloin is a very good cut of meat, and less expensive than beef. There are many recipes: this is my latest creation, really delicious! I used a filet of 550 grams, I marinated with mustard, black pepper, a glass of prosecco, and slices of red onion, sliced thin. After about an hour of marinating,   I cooked the onions over low heat to create the sauce, adding a little water if needed. In another skillet, over high heat I   browned the pork on all sides.   Then I added the sauce, lowered the heat, covered, for 20 minutes. The meat must be pink inside; check before you serve. I usually add salt when the meat is done! Then cut in slices, cover with sauce, and rejoice ! peter

OOPS, I did it again!!! Once more i didn't have time to prepare a whole dinner, so i took everything i had available in my fridge; I started with a bed of rucola, but could be any other lettuce. In Italy we have canned beef called "Simmenthal", it's actually very good and low fat! Futher I added artichok, olives, (any kind will do), sliced tomato and some olive oil. Garnished with a little mayonese, pepper and some lime juice. Together with a slice of toasted bread it was an excellent and light summer meal. Buon appetito!!!

This is a wonderful recipe for a quick, healthy and tastful dish. We used green asparagus and steamed them 40 minutes, but if you are really in a rush, you can use the white canned ones. We used only the top part, so the softer part of the asparagus. The shrimps we use are deep frozen, so it takes only 5 minutes to boil them. you can use also the pre-boiled ones. Boiled eggs, that's an easy one. We used iceberg, but any lettuce will do. Garnish with a little mayonese and pepper. Buon Appetito!

For 4 persons you need: (Tagliolini are very thin spaghetti, if you cannot get them, use normal spaghetti.) -400 grms. chicken liver. -400 grms. tagliolini. -50 grms. butter. -10 sage leafs. - salt + parsley. How to prepare: Simmer the chicken liver together with the butter and the sage for about 15 minutes with closed lid. If needed add a little water. Cook the tagliolini al dente and don't rinse!! Add the tagliolini to the chicken liver and mix. Heat everything for about 2 minutes and serve. Garnish with parsley. VERY SIMPLE BUT VERY GOOD !! This is a Veneto Region country side traditional!! sage.

  PESCE PATATE E VERDURE (Sorry only in italian, please use google to translate) Questo non è un piatto italiano ma portoghese; me l’ha insegnata la mia amica Teresa, splendida ottantenne e ottima cuoca. Ci sono ovviamente tante varianti. Prendete una pentola larga e bassa. Tagliate sottili le patate, e appoggiatele sul fondo dopo aver messo un po’ d’olio. Le patate devono fare uno strato ma non sovrapporsi. Poi fate uno strato di cipolla sottile, una manciata di capperi, pezzettini di aglio, qualche oliva, sale e pepe. Poi un altro strato con del pesce senza spine; filetti e scampi sgusciati. La mia amica Teresa usa solo il baccalà, perché in Portogallo fanno così. Sopra mettete ancora olive capperi aglio e pomodoro tagliato sottile, sale e pepe. Infine coprire tutto con un altro strato di patate, e ancora cipolla   pomodoro origano sale pepe e abbondante olio d’oliva. Aggiungete mezzo bicchiere d’acqua e mezzo di vino bianco. Mettete a fuoco lento coperto finchè

It's time for vegetables again!! This is my personal recipe for cauliflower. You need: - 1 cauliflower - 1 onion. - 1 pc. garlic. - 2 tbl.sp. olive oil. - salt /pepper. - some fennel seeds. - some origano. - 10 capers. - 2 cups of water. Cut the cauliflower in very fine slices. Don't use the central part of the cauliflower, just the outside. (flower) Add sliced onion and all the other ingredients together in a pan with some olive oil and 2 cups of water and simmer on low fire for about 15 minutes, with closed lid.  Don't overcook because cauliflower is very good when it's still a little crispy!! Buon appetito!!  

Very, very good! You can use fish fillets, but it works wonderfully with a whole fish. Put some olive oil in an oven pan and cover the bottom of the pan with sliced raw potato. Place the fish on top of the potatoes and add salt, pepper, rosemary, garlic, 4 tblspoons. Olive oil, sliced onion, olives, sliced tomato and 10 capers. Close the whole thing with aluminium foil and bake in the oven at 180°Celsius for about 40 minutes. See also our “fish in foil” post. Buon Appetito!!!

For 4 persons you need: - 2 fish fillets about 300 grms. each. - 300 grms. shrimps or tiger prawns - 500 grms. shellfish. - salt and pepper. - 4 tbl. spoons olive oil - ½ glass of white wine - parsley. - 1 pc. chopped garlic Buy 2 different fish fillets, like 1 salmon and 1 tuna, or 1 cod and 1 shark, etc. Rinse and dry, put them in an oven pan with a little olive oil. Put shrimps or tiger prawns on top. On top of that add the shells, take the ones you like, mussels or any other available. before using them, take care to leave the shells in water for at least 2 hours and change water often. In this way there will be no sand inside the shells. Now add salt and pepper, garlic, 4 tablespoons olive oil, chopped parsley and half a glass of white wine. Cover with aluminium foil and cook in the oven for about 40 min. at 200°C. When all the shells are open, the whole thing is ready. Don’t eat the shells that didn’t open! Buon Appetito!

This is an easy one, and very,very tasty! (See our post " beet" from 12/03/2012) Potatoes and Beet. Preparation time: about 45 minutes. For  4 persons you need: - 3 chunks of beet or paksoy. (cut to pieces) - 3 big potatoes.( in small pieces) - 1 onion. (slices) - 1 pc. garlic. - 1 teacup olives. -  half a teacup olive oil. -  some origano - some chili pepper - some salt - 1 teacup of water. Pre - heat the oven to 180° Celsius.  Put half of the olive oil in a oven pan. Mix all the ingredients, except the water, and put everything in the pan. Add the other half of the oil evenly on top of the vegetables, and add a cup of water. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes, but take care to mix everything after about 15 minutes. Buon Appetito! 

IF YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT, IT'S REALLY  DELICIOUS AND VERY HEALTHY  FOOD !!!!!!      We used Dogfish. Of course you can use any fish, but dogfish has a mild taste and is very easy to digest.    Put the fish in a pan with cold water,not covering it completely with water. Add a piece of lemon , an onion, a piece of celery and a bay leaf.  Boil for about half an hour. Put the meat on a dish and garnish with olive oil, lemon or lime, chopped parsley or coriander, salt and pepper.  DELICIOUS !!!!

A very common veggie in Italy. It's like small broccoli, but we use some of the smaller leafs too. The taste is a little stronger than ordinary broccoli. The italian name is "cime di rapa" It's very good with pasta. Use the broccoli-like parts and the smaller leafs and cut into small pieces. For 4 persons:  simmer 1 onion, garlic, some chili and salt in olive oil. After 3 minutes add the veggie (1 handful per person) and let it simmer for at least 20 min. Add 4 pcs. anchovy at the end.(last 5 minutes of cooking time)  If you are  vegetarian you can use capers instead of anchovy. Boil the pasta and when done, add it to the turnip and stir 2 minutes over high flame. Buon appetito!

Good food, good price, nice people!

Do you know this vegetable? Its called beet .(barbabietola or beta vulgaris)  In Italy you can buy it in every supermarket. It has a very delicate taste and many restaurants serve it. You can also use "Paksoy" (Chinese cabbage). I usually prepare it like this: I cut it in small pieces.  Olive oil in a pan, add the vegetable, garlic, origano, salt and pepper. chili pepper optional. some water. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes, if needed add some water. You can add some olives too, or capers. Very good!

King Prawns and Rucola. For 1 person: - 8 king prawns - a handful of rucola - lemon slice - 2 small tomatoes - mayonese - 1 tbl. sp. olive oil - salt / pepper - lemon juice Boil the prawns for about 3 minutes. Clean them and place on top of the rucola. Mix olive oil, lemon luice, salt and pepper and garnish. Finish with lemon slice, tomato and mayonese. see picture. Buon Appetito!!

Fish Barbeque.... 15 minutes!!?? Would you like to do a fish barbeque, but you don't have a lot of experience? This is how we do it!!!! Buy a fish (about 1 kilo, ok for 2/4 persons). We used a mullet, but any fish wil do. Ask the fish vendor to clean it and cut it, so you can open the fish as if it were a book. In this way it's easier to cook, because it is tricky to prepare a whole fish in the barbeque. You risk it to burn on the outside, while it's still raw on the inside. Open the fish and cover  it with salt, pepper, lemon slices, rosemary, laurel leaf, garlic and origano. Cook it on a hot barbeque with the skin side down for about 10 minutes. At the end, turn it over and cook for another 2/3 minutes. DONE!!!