Yellow Recipes

How is the weather in your country? Here is great very very very hot (too much these days) and I’m still in the city, one month from now I’ll be on holiday at my parents’ cottage can’t wait!! I’m very busy not at work but because I’m trying to move as soon as possible to south of Italy and so I’ve many things to do like job and house hunting that takes me more that 80% of my free time , I miss so much my daily blogs I really wish to fix things soon so I can come back soon to my “classic” life!! It’s a while that I don’t share my fav recipes with you , just 2 days ago I’ve tried another easy summer and yummy recipe from some friends , it’s a pizza with zucchini blossoms that are one of my fav veggie ever sweet and tasty!! Isn’t yellow such a beautiful color?? Love it and love to cook with yellow ingridients too, bright happy sunny , perfect for summer dishes.
Ok here’s the recipe , you need to make your fav focaccia or pizza base I make pizza or sometimes I buy ready “pizza bases” and then add my fav ingridients, here’s an easy “focaccia bread” recipe:

BASIC FOCACCIA
2 packages active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
2 teaspoons fine (table) salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt for topping

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water. Sprinkle with sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the olive oil, the flour and the fine salt and stir with a wooden spoon until a rough ball forms. Using a plastic pastry scraper or wooden spoon, scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add up to 1/2 cup flour to the work surface while kneading to prevent the dough from sticking.
Form dough into a ball, transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles in bulk, 1 to 1- 1/2 hours. For a more flavorful bread, make dough up to this point, punch it down, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Let the dough come to room temperature before shaping.
Pour the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil evenly into a half-sheet (11-by-17-inch) pan. Without punching it down, turn the dough out into the pan. Using your hands, press the dough evenly into the pan. If it is too elastic to spread without springing back, let it rest for 5 minutes. Cover the pan loosely with a dry kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven, and preheat to 450 degrees.
Dimple the dough by pressing your fingertips all the way into it at 1-inch intervals over the entire surface. Sprinkle it with the coarse salt.

Now it’s time to add your fav ingridients. I added fresh zucchini blossoms amd mozzarella, discard the pistils and rinse, then slice some mozzarella or other cheese that you prefer and place slices or dices on the focaccia base, pour some extra virgin olive oil and then add the blossoms, I don’t cut them but you can if you prefer, puor if you prefer some more extra virgin olice oil and if you like a little bit of black pepper.

Bake the focaccia until golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan. Cut it into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.

You can add to ricotta cheese instead of mozzarella and the focaccia will be more delicate and soft, my mum’s recipe is with ricotta and anchovies and of course zucchini blossoms. Here0s mine but the pic is very bad taken with my mobile http://twitpic.com/b8cwd

Another quick recipe with zucchini blossoms is to make spaghetti:

Ingridients for 4 servings

350gr spaghetti pasta
20-30 zucchini blossoms (remove always the pistils)
2-3 zucchini (crougettes)
white onion
parmiggiano cheese (parmesan)
salt pepper
1 cup of white wine
extra virgin olive oil


In a frypan add the oil and the chopped onion let it cook until it golden then add the sliced zucchini and the wine and let it cook for 8-10 minutes or until the zucchini are gold and well cooked. Boil water for the pasta and cook it but drain it “al dente” then add the pasta in the pan with zucchini add other oil and add the blossom and stir it for 5 minutes add some pepper the parmiggiano and serve it.
There’s another recipe that is the same but you can add shrimps too..not for vegetarian of course!!

There are so many good recipes with zucchini blossoms, we used to stuff and fry them , lots of variations, do you have any other recipes to share using zucchini blossoms?!

(Pics from flickr)

Recipes Bonanza

(flickr)

I’m hungry, I’m really starving now , it’s almost lunch time and I’m killing myself watching recipe sites and yummy food pics!! It’s a while that I don’t share a recipe with you so I’m posting some of my favourite recipes , they’re all easy to cook and perfect fot hot weather. Try them and let me know if you liked.


Parsley & Potatoes fresh salad

I love potatoes I could eat potatoes all the time, not only french fries of course, I love them boiled , grilled, baked , they’re so versatile and easy to cook, a perfect solution for quick recipes.
One of our way to cook potatoes is in salad, this recipe is Parsley & Potatoes fresh salad.
Ingridients 4 servings

1 kg patatoes (white)
Vinegar
Lots of parsley
Extra virgin olive oil
salt – pepper


Peel the potatoes and cut them in big pieces, put them in a steamer and let them cook for 15/20 minutes or if you prefer, boil them with the peel for 15/25 minutes and then peel and cut.
In a small jar mix 4 spoons of oil ,salt ,pepper and one spoon of vinegar , close the jar and shake it very well to mix all the ingridients. Let the potaoes cool then pour the sauce and the fresh cut pairsley, put in a fridge for 30/40 minutes before serving. You can cook this in the evening and eat for lunch and it’s a great dish to serve for picnic or summer parties. My mum sometimes add some canned tuna as a single meal, and you can add some boiled carrots.

Courgettes rolls with cheese

Another easy and quick recipe that I love very much, it takes 5 minutes to cook and taste so good!!
Ingridients 4 servings

500 gr courgettes
200-250 gr fresh goat cheese or ricotta (you can use soft spreadable cheese that you prefer)
Chives
Toasted bread
Salt and pepper

Wash the courgettes cut the top and bottom and slice them, not very thick (you need to roll a slice) grill the slices for few minutes , not too much and put them in a large plate and let them cool.
Mix in a bowl cheese, chives, pepper and a pinch of salt , if it’s too try add few drops of extra virgin oil; spread the mixture on the courgettes slices and stop the roll with a toothpick. Serve with chopped chives and some olive oil on the bread slices.

Zucchini frittata

This is the “must” dish for summer, my mum’s one is divine, she also cooks the “mini zucchini frittata” , so yummy and a great finger food!!
Ingridients 4 servings

300 gr crougettes (zucchine -try to find small ones , they cook better ans faster)
4 eggs
50-70 gr of grated parmesan cheese
1 spoon extra virgin olive oil
salt – pepper

wash and cut is “discs” the crougettes, fry in hot oil until they’re golden brown. Put them in a plate with absorbent paper to take off the excess of oil. In a bowl mix eggs parmesan a pinch of salt and pepper, sometimes I add a pinch of saffron too to give a nice yellow color. Add the crougettes to the eggs and stir a little bit then fry it in a large frypan with some hot olive oil , the oil must always be very hot. When the sides of the “frittata” are cooked and gold turn the frittata on the other side, you can use another plate to do it. When the frittana is well cooked let it cool on a plate, it’s better to serve it warm or if you want you can cut it in dices and serve it cold as appetizer or mix the dices in a salad.

Salame al cioccolato (chocolate salami)

In all my childhood parties the thing that I can always remember is the “salame al cioccolato”, every mum has her own recipe and it’s a classic of our cuisine and tradition. It’s a very easy “cake” that don’t need owen but only fridge. I love it , my recipe is:

Ingridients 4-6 servings

200-250 gr of “dry” cookies (don’t use butter cookies or digestive)
150-170 gr of butter
100 gr sugar
2 egg yolks
75-80 gr of powder cocoa
50gr of peeled almonds
2-3 spoons of rum


crumble the cookies , I prefer small pieces but you can crumble them in the size that you prefer, but don’t make a “powder” of cookies. Cut the almonds in small slices or dices. In a mix bowl add eggs yokes and half of sugar and whip until it become light yellow and it’s get soft, add the melted butter , cocoa, rum and the rest of sugar, stir and mix very well to get a smoth mixture.
Add the cookies and almonds and stir for a while.
In a aluminum foil put the mixture and give the shape of a salami, fridge it for 2-3 hours. Cut in slice for serving and don’t forget to put it back in fridge to keep it cold and hard.
Sometimes I love it with some whipped cream or a scone if icecream.

And to finish all nothing is better that Granita al Caffè (coffee granita)

Easy easy and taste soooo good!!
Ingredients 4 servings

150 gr sugar
4 cup of espresso
cream
icing sugar
extra dark chocolate for serving

in a pan add the sugar and half liter of water and boil for 3-5 minutes until it become a “syrup”
let it cool then add the coffee and stir. Add the mixture in a bowl put it in the freezer for 2-3 hours and stir every 20-30 minutes, until the mixture get frozen in “big coffee crystals”. You must mix and stir well to make a soft granita.
In a bowl whip the cream, if you want you can add the icing sugar to sweeten the cream. In 4 tall icecream or granita tumblers put the granita (it’s better to take away from the freezer the granita 2-3 minutes before not more or it will melt too much) add the wipped cream on top and some flakes of chocolate.
(pics buttalapasta.it)

This is my 99th post , stay tuned for the 100th celebration!!

(flickr)

Thank you

Hello everybody, I've been away for a while , well I've just been at home without phone, mobile , mails nothing I need to unplug myself from the rest of the world.This time the "slap" has been too hard for me and I can't react, at least not now. I want to THANK all of you for all the lovely, cute, sweet, nice, beautiful comments on my previous post, I've read all of them and you really helped me, so much love from people that I don't know is better that every kind of medicine, all your words mean so much for me and you made such an important thing for me: belive in other people..2 words can't express how much I'm grateful to all of you but again THANK YOU!!

This cake is a very easy to make and it taste divine, It's my favourite cake ever, I'm not a huge fan of cakes and sweets but I love the Torta Caprese, the original recipe is this one, but every family in Capri or Naples has it's own recipe with some variations, I prefer the original and simple one, without flour or liquors just with almonds and dark chocolate.

Ingredients:
350 gr. chopped almonds
350 gr. sugar
260 gr. butter (unsalted)
200 gr. dark chocolate
7 eggs
Icing sugar

In a mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar using a whip.
Add the egg yolks one by one, mixing well.
Add the almonds, the chocolate previously melted in a bain marie and, slowly fold in the stiffened egg whites.
Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured cake tin and cook in an oven at 160°C for 45 minutes until just firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out. Dust the surface with icing sugar before serving.

Quick Peach

Guess what??Im stucked at home with a "light" version of chickenpox..at 33 for the 2nd time!! Somebody out there really loves me, it seems that I can't spend 2 weeks without any issue but I've just realize WHO CARES?? shit happens so let's move on!!
This friday I'm going to have the first guest post that will be written by Monica of Ciao,Chessa!
you must check her blog, she'a a photographer from New York, I'm so excited about her post can't wait to read it!!
It's getting warmer everyday and I'm so tired of winter food so I'm searching in my mum's recipe books for something easy and quick to cook, I need fresh fruits (winter fruit is boring and not so tasty!!) , veggies and colors!! I've found this old recipe, it's very very easy and you need just 2 ingredients :yellow peaches and red wine.
There're many different version of this recipe, with sugar, cinnamon , wipped cream or other spices; we make it in the easier (but very good!!) way :

(4 servings)

1 bottle of red wine
4-6 yellow peaches

peel and slice the peaches, if you prefer to cut them in little pieces is good too, put the peaches in a bowl then add all the wine, put in fridge for at least 2 hours before serving. Serve it in large glasses if you prefer you can add ice..that's it!!
Some of the other version add sugar in the red wine, but I find it too sweet and you don't need to add extra calories!!

this is another very quick but very tasty recipe, Pasta Courgettes and Saffron:

as for the other recipe, this one too has many different version, we use the light and easy version without butter or cream.

(4 serving)

300 gr pasta (spaghetti or farfalle)
1 white onion
4-6 courgettes
1 envelope saffron powder
extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper
grated pecorino cheese
grated parmiggiano (parmesan) cheese


cut the onion in slices and fry it in a large fry pan with 3 spoon of extra virgin oil for 2 minutes, don't burn it, add the sliced courgettes, I cut them in small slice but you can cut them in dices too, let it fry until they're all golden brown. Cook the pasta, drain it and add it in the pan with courgettes, add the cheese and the saffron and stir for half minute until the cheese melts. Serve it with some grated cheese..enjoy!

Good News!!

I'm not sure if it's the 27th of April or the 27th of November, here it's very cold, the rain won't stop and the wind is so annoying, not the weather you expect in April, very sad and depressing..the perfect weather to stay at home in pijama with hot tea and cookies watching movies!! This is a quick post to announce you few news, I'd love to have as a regular feauture a guest blogger once a month, for May I'll have an amazing guest..I'm so excited but I'll tell you later something more!! So if you are interessed to be a guest blogger just send an email with your idea my email is :

carlotta@marsicano.com

My other idea is to feature an Etsy shop , once a month or more, to give a change for seller to have an extra spotlight here,for us to know new sellers and new amazing handmade pieces to buy! As for the guest post, if you have an Etsy shop and you want to be featured here send me an email, the same for you that know a nice shop that deserve more attention!!
My 3rd news is about food, I'm going to share with you some of our "family recipes" , and if you have a request about an Italian dish let me know and I'll give you our recipe. To start here's a very easy and quick recipe for a summer fresh pasta salad :Pasta Tricolore (tricolore is the name of our flag!)
(4 serving)
300 gr Pasta penne (small pasta)
10 Cherry Tomatoes
1 Mozzarella cheese (about gr.200)
6-8 leaves of Basil
extra virgin olive oil ,freash garlic and some black olives

Cock (don't overcook)and drain the pasta then put it in a bowl add a spoon of olive oil and mix, let the pasta cool for some minutes. Wash and cut the tomatoes along with the fresh garlic the basil and olives, mix them in the bowl with the pasta but be sure to take off the excess of liquid from tomatoes. Cut in small "dices" the Mozzarella and add it to the pasta, add more olive oil and mix, then put the salad in fridge for at least 1 hour before serving add some basil leaves..and Buon Appetito!!