Filled bell peppers

We should use season's fruit and vegetables as much as possible, but it's also true that bell peppers are one of the main ingredients of vegetarian diets, nourishing and low-calorie, ideal for all the occasions. In the holiday menus, can be a perfect solution for a delicious main course.

Bell peppers

Breadcrumbs (pangrattato)
Grated cheeses

Provinciali herbs and juniper

Tofu

Shoyu

Sesame seeds

(Garlic)

Extra virgin PDO olive oil
Salt

Prepare the evening before the so-called 'mollica condita', the breadcrumbs (pangrattato) with a mince of provinciali herbs, garlic if you like, grated cheeses, extra virgin PDO olive oil and refrigerate. Cut the todu in cubes and season with shoyu and sesame seeds, mix with the 'mollica condita.' Wash the bell peppers and cut them on the long side, fill with the mollica condita and the tofu, salt bake in warm oven 220°C for about 30'.

©2010.2021

Ricotta cheese and season's fruit cake

The sparkling lights and Christmas decorations blinks from the shops displays, from the 'piazzas' that would like to find again their functions of social places and from the confectioners already full of seasons sweets and inevitably you start thinking of what could be prepared for the holidays without lard, gelatin leaves (or fish glue) or other ingredients definetely not good for a vegetarian diet. Regional Italian recipes are obviously a great resource for 0miles delicacies. Romans and Pre-Romans recipes are not always the most simple thing to find, but it's always possible to use typical elements and seasons fruit for the holiday menus.

Shortcrust pastry (pasta frolla), one pack, if handmade, for a tart

Ricotta chees, abundant  (not less than 500gr)

Sugar

Butter and wheat for the baking tray

Yolk for the upper part of the cake
Season's fruit (such as pears or chestnuts)
Lemon grind

Spread the dough, handmade or ready, and in the latter case read the ingredients carefully. Mix the ricotta cheese with lemon grind and some sugar to sweeten, but not too much, spread the dough in a buttered baking tray (with wheat or without butter and only breadcrumbs as the pasta frolla has already quite a high quantity of butter), put the pears roughly sliced or the chestnuts boiled and peeled , pour the ricotta chees and cover with a layer of dough, brush with the yolk for the color, make some very few small holes with the fork on the upper layer and bake in warm oven (200°C) forc about  30'.

©2010.2021

 

Scrippelle ortolane, greengrocery scrippelle

Scrippelle, as written before, ,are the Teramo's version of French crêpes, probably invented even before the quick transalpine dish. One of the carachteristics of the Abruzzi's recipe is to be used also to elaborate the typical baked 'al forno' holiday dishes. Even if the Teramo recipes are generally with meat and fish, there are also vegetarian recipes or others that can be re-elaborated.

Water
Flour
Eggs
Bell peppers
Aubergines, Eggplants

Capers
Oregano
Salt

Extra virgin PDO olive oil
Potatoes
Carrots
Mild hot 'sugo' tomato sauce

Bechamel sauce
Basil
Onion
Juniper
Chilli pepper

Wine

Prepare a quite liquid batter with eggs, not cold water and flour,  stand for at least 20', warm a non  sticky not too big pan flat in the middle, oil with a napkin, pour with a dipper the batter, spreadinf with a wooden flat tool, flip when completely peeled off and cook the number of scrippelle needed. On a side wash  the bell peppers taking the seeds away, peel the potatoes and the carrots and chop in small cubes. Prepare a mild hot sugo and a not dense bechamel. Lightly brown the onion in the oil with the chilli pepper, the carrots and the juniper, put the aubergines in cubes and the bell peppers.  salt and cook on high heat, sprinkle with wine and evaporate the alcohol, add the potatoes in small cubes precedently salted in the dishcloth, capers and oregano, lower the flame, cover and cook. When ready pour the vegetables in the scrippelle and wrap, put in a baking tray till filling, cover with sugo, bechamel and eventually grated cheese. Bake in warm oven 220°C for about 30'. Garnish with basil flowers and oregano, serve hot.

©2010.2021

Orecchiette and broccoletti

Christmas holidays are an occasion to find again that deeply christian spirit of rejoining and social union and to celebrate what for believers is one of the fundamental moments of religious life, and is also an occasion to prepare delicious meals. Generally speaking menus are full of meat and fish based dishes, but in the Italian tradition there gorgeous recipes can be found to prepare great dinner and lunches. A gentle lady from Apulia told me this one from her region.

Fresh made orecchiette pasta

Broccoletti (or green broccoli)

Extra virgin PDO olive oil (possibly from Southern Italy)

Salt

Chilli
Bread

Accurately clean the broccoletti or wash the broccoli and chop in approx. 3x6cms 'flowers', boil abundant salted water, put the broccoletti and almost at the same time the orecchiette, or the broccoli, cook for a few minutes and then the orecchiette. On a side warm some oil with chilli, lightly brown till crunchy cubes of bread of about 1cm, drain the pasta with vegetables and saute in the pan with the oil. Pour in a bowl cover and let stay for a few minutes before serving.

©2011.2021

Pasta Norma

Holidays approaching, and the preparation of the main meals of the festivities becomes the leit-motiv, in Italy are usually meat or fish based, even if looking into the regional recipes there are delicious vegetarian recipes for holidays menus that put together the entire BelPaese with all its peculiarities. In the South we find obviously many dishes vegetables based that remind us of the warmth of the summer and of Mediterranean generosity, such as aubergines (eggplants) with a dish named after an opera composed by the Catanese Vincenzo Bellini. Apparently the playwriter and 'uomo di teatro' from the very same Sicilian city, Nino Martoglio, commented 'this is a Norma!' when he tasted the pasta.

Pasta

Aubergines (Eggplants)

Extravirgin PDO olive oil
Light 'sugo', tomato sauce, or tomatoes
Onion
Basil
Chilli
Sicilian Ricotta salata al forno cheese

Wash and slice the aubergines, salt them and let them stay covered with something heavy to squeeze away the bitterness, fry. On a side, prepare a silmple tomato sauce (sugo), lightly browning the onion and the chilli and adding chopped tomatoes, salt and basil. Mince the toomatoes in the grinder add the fried aubergines, when almost ready the basil. Boil the pasta in abundant salted water, strain and saute in the sugo, add abundant Sicilian ricotta salata al forno cheese, garnish with basil blossoms and serve.

©2010.2021

Fried vegetables 'al cartoccio'

In Italy you can't call it an holy day without the typical 'al cartoccio' fried food, vegetables, zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies. ascolane olive, fish and all that delicacies that can be prepared mainly with meat or fish. Fried food, 'frittura' in Italian, can be delicious also if prepared with battered vegetables of the Italian cuisine with some incursion in the Indian tradition. 

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Apple

Artichokes
Mushrooms
Peas

Potatoes
Curry

Wheat
Water
Oil for frying

Salt

Cinnamon

Caraway seeds or fresh coriander
Egg

Extra virgin PDO oil
Breadcrumbs (pangrattato)

Boil or steam cook broccoli and potatoes, cook the peas, accurately clean the artichokes and finely slice, peel and chop the apple. Prepare three types of batter: one with the egg to batter the arthichokes before rolling them in the wheat and fry in hot oil, one with tepid water dense for the broccoli and the samosa, another less dense for the apple. Batter the broccoli and deepfry in abundant hot oil, chop the potatoes in cubes, mix to the peas, season with curry, extra virgin PDO oil, caraway seeds or leaves of fresh coriander, batter in the egge and then in the dense batter, deepfry. For the apple, when ready sprinkle with cinnamon powder. Slice in triangles the field mushrooms, batter in the egg, roll in the breadcrumbs and deepfry. Serve in the tpical 'cartoccio' foil or garnish with thyme flowers and honey.

©2010.2021

Scrippelle with honey and tofu

'Scrippelle' are the Teramo version of the most well-known French crêpes and there are several disputes on the original version of the recipe, between who affirms that French copied an Italian recipe turining it into one of the national dishes and who affirms that the transalpine influence found its way into the proverbially stubborn, also eno-gastronomical, Abruzzi mentality. Whatever, actually crêpes are usually prepared with milk, while scrippelle's main ingredients are eggs, water and flour. The density of the dough and the way it's cooked slightly differ, even if scrippelle are traditionally used in the preparation of baked dishes quite typical of the Italian cuisine, such as cannelloni and pasta al forno with tomato 'sugo' sauce or ricotta cheese and vegetables, while crêpes entered the international cuisine. Starting here a debate on the all French ability to communicate the grandeur and on the proudly prideful modesty of Italian culture won't be a good idea, for the moment let's use the inputs coming from the two impressive eno-gasstronomic European traditions and culture to re-elaborate recipes suitable to the vegetarian diet. 

Water
Flour
Eggs
Tofu
Honey

Provinciali herbs

Prepare a quite liquid batter with eggs, tepid water and flour, stand for at least 20', warm a  nonstick, not too big and especially without bends in the centre, pan, oil a towel and scour, pour with the dipper the batter, spreading with a flat wooden tool,  flip and cook the other scrippelle. Warm  slightly the honey to soften and savour with provinciali herbs  (thyme, lemon balm, peppermint and pennroyal, etc.), thin slice tofu, put in the scrippelle, add the honey and wrap, spinkle with honey and garnish with provinciali herbs flower, serve warm.

©2010.2021

Lentil annd potatoes rissoles

Sometimes you don't feel and you have no time for cooking, and if cheese sided with fresh vegetables, 'panino' sandwiches or  pizza can sometimes be a solution for a quick supper, sometimes you feel like eating something more 'cooked', more savory. A good habit, if you don't always want ready meals, is to prepare, from time to time, rissoles to freeze and bake when needed. Especially if you have time, when cooking legumes, is advisable to cook them in abundance, to store and re-elaborate them in various ways.

Lentils with tomato sauce prepared with the preferred recipe

Potatoes

Breadcrumbs

(Egg)

Cook the lentils in tomato sauce with the preferred recipe, delicious if a bit hot and spicy. Boil 4 or 5 potatoes, peel and mash with the grinder. Mash with the grinder also two or three dippers of lentils for 3 or 4 potatoes. Mix, taste, eventually add one egg to thicken. Make some balls with the hands and roll in bread crumbs. Put them in the freezer on a tray with a leaf of baking paper, freeze and then put in a plastic bag. To cook, bake in warm oven (220°C) in a oiled baking tray for about 30'. Serve sided with some leafes of fresh salad, duchess potatoes or a sweet-and-sour sauce.

©2010.2021

Ricotta and spinach girandole with field mushrooms cream

Autumn and mushrooms are an absolut union. Together with the colour of the leafs, the walks in the mountains, the chilli air, a few other ingredients can evoke Autumn as food made with this ingredient that vegetarians got to know in its different variations. True is that field mushrooms can be found all year round and can be used for spring and summer recipes, not only winterly, but some creams apparently contain the luminescences and the tastes of the colouful season, this is the recipe of a delicacy tasted today.

Butter, not much

Milk

Flour

Field mushrooms, one tray

Egg pasta Girandole filled with ricotta cheese and spinach

Salt

Provinciali herbs

Extra virgin PDO olive oil

 

Clean the mushrooms, roughly chop, put in a pan at a low heat with salt a sprinkle of oil, cook till when there is much natural mushrooms broth, mince. On a side prepare a light bechamel  with some butter, a spoon of mushroom cream, flour, milk. Mix with the remaining mushrooms cream, lay the girandole in a baking tray coverd with baking paper, cover with abundant cream and bake in warm oven (220°C) for approx. 30'.

©2010.2021

Savoury cake with chicory and juniper

A treat ideal for breakfasts, snacks, tea time and out-of-town short trips.

Flour 800 gr.

White wine  200 gr.

Water 200 gr.

Juniper

Field Mushrooms

Chicory boiled

Freshly picked provinciali herbs

Rosemary salt

Extra virgin PDO olive oil

Small eggs 2

Honey a spoon

Yeast

Sugar for the yeast

Wash and roughly chop the mushrooms, wash and boil chicory, knead, leaven the dough, possibly not in the kneader as the wine ferments, bake in warm oven 220°C for about 30'

©2010.2021

Pear and chocolate roll

Cakes filled with fruit are definetely gorgious and a roll with pears and chocolate to warm the mouth during the first aurumn cold sided with a huge cup of hot chocolate is one of those pleasure in which  we can also indulge sometimes, obviously always without exagerating.

Puff pastry, one pack
Pears
Chocolate in squares
Cocoa powder

Chocolate custard (eggs, milk, sugar, cocoa)
Cinnamon

(Yolk for coloring the dough)

Spread the dough in a rectangular baking tray, prepare a chocolate custard. Peel and roughly or finely chop the pears depending if you prefer the 'jammy' consistence or not, add the cinnamon powder and the chocolate crushed in irregular pieces. Pour the pears in the custard and then in the central part of the dough, close the dough being careful of not creating holes, brush with the yolk to color and bake in warm oven (220°C) for about  30''. Before serving sprinkle with cocoa powder and eventually icing sugar.

©2010.2021

Chocolate and ricotta cheese cake

Tarts make our life more joyful, and chocolate is definetely one of the ingredients that make us happier, that's an absolute truth, at least for those who like to indulge in the pleasures of good eating and treat themselves from time to time with a gastronomic cuddle. Most of the cakes in the Italian traditional cuisine do not have lard or fish-glue gelatin leaves in the dough even if the main ingredients are often eggs and dairies, so not good for vegans but perfect for ovo-lacto vegetarians. Ricotta cheese cakes are actually one of those delicacies that delight our days, just remember not to eat them just out of the oven, or at least attempting not to eat them when they are too hot, and in finding the most fresh possible ingredients.

Shortcrust pastry (pasta frolla), one pack, if handmade, for a tart

Ricotta chees, abundant  (not less than 500gr)

Milk and dark chocolate in squares

Sugar

Butter and wheat for the baking tray

Yolk for the upper part of the cake

Spread the dough, handmade or ready, and in the latter case read the ingredients carefully. With a kitchen knife crush the chocolate in small irregular pieces and mix it with the ricotta cheese, add some sugar to sweeten, but not too much, spread the dough in a buttered baking tray (with wheat or without butter and only breadcrumbs as the pasta frolla has already quite a high quantity of butter) pour the ricotta cheese, cover with a layer of dough, brush with the yolk for the color, make some very few small holes with the fork on the upper layer and bake in warm oven (200°C) fork about  30'.

©2010.2021

Soup of Legumes and Cereals

A few things warm the heart and the body as a substantial soup of legumes and cereals, a recipe from the peasant tradition that combines, with the typical and wonderful Italian creativity, simple ingredients, such as the cupboard's left-overs and the kneading trough remnants to create unique high-calorie, high-proteine and definetely flavoursome dishes. Nowadays it's also easy to find ready to cook peasant's soups in the shops or in the markets that animate pop festivals in the Provincia.

Soup of legumes (different kind of beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas, etc.) and dried cereals from Central Italy

Extra virgin olive oil
Provinciali herbs
Rosemary salt
Chilli
Onion
Potatoes

Warm the oil with a slice of minced onion and very little chilli, add the mix of  legumes and cereals, after about one night pre-soaking, then washed and drained, stir with a wooden spoon, add salt and a mince of herbs provinciali, brown and add abundant water, add the potatoes chopped in cubes. Cover and cook for about three hours, till the legumes and the cereals are ready. Serve with croutons of bread and cheese or with a drizzle of oil.

©2010.2020

Pumpkin and Apple Strudel

In autumn the sun apparently wants to remind us that we live in the country with the highest concentration of Unesco sites worldwide. WIth its golden nuances the sun lights angles that we almost forgot, a monumen, a 'palazzo', a frieze or a decoration that we never noticed. Sunrays warm the heart and the body from winter coldish that apparently wants to lean out with thunder rains, sudden fogs and the gradual cooling. If it's not yet the time for huge cups of hot chocolate around the fireplace, it's true that we can start appreciating some cake with autumn flavours. Then we start experimenting with season's ingredients, possibly 0miles.

Puff pastry

Apples

Baked Pumpkin

Cinnamon

Liquorice

Cloves

Nutmeg

Red wine (Chianti or similar)

Extra virgin olive oil

Butter

Refined sugar

Honey

Warm butter and oil with spices, add the peeled apples chopped in cubes and the mashed pumkin pulp (see  the pancake of baked pumpkin), raise the flame and add red wine, evaporate the alcohool. Spread out the puff pastry dough in a baking tray covered with parchment paper, add the apple, pumpkin, spices, close the dough as for the strudel and bake in a warm oven (200°C/400°F) till cooked, approx. 30'.

©2010.2020

Pumpkin Broth

A rainy day in Italy can eventually block a city, and if you get the not that lucky chance to walk on the slushy slurry, with festively happy horns, enraged commuters, dismayed tourists and you can still savour the wonder of wet spuce leafs scent, well that means that you are on the right way for zen enlightment. If you are a normal person who, going back home wants simply to savour a good cup of hot soup that with its brilliance evocate a bit of joy, the pumpin broth is perfect for the season.

Pumpkin (2 slices approx.)

Garlic (very little)

Onion (very little)

Extra virgin olive oil (Sabino Nomentano or another as delicate)

Rosemary salt

Freshly picked provinciali herbs (thyme, rosemary, laurus, etc.)

Juniper,

Chilli

Water

(Milk)

Cook the pumking as in the pumpkin with provinciali herbs do not sprinkle with wine, but add abundant water and cook at medium heat for at least one hour or till the pumpkin is soft and the broth shrinked (it doesn't become dense). When it's almost cooked add milk to 'velvet' the soup. Add pasta, cereals, or thick slices of toasted Italian bread, or friselle, miso, tofu or mature cheeses.

©2010.2020

Pancake of Baked Pumpkin

That's the very same feeling of Christmas time, wheter you are a Christian or not, you are going to end up or bump in a traditional market. It's about the pleasure of the ritual that goes well beyond the religious meaning of the holiday: during those weeks of the year cooking pumpkins has exactly that ritual flavour, goes beyond the religious, commercial or secular feasts. That deep orange gives a feeling of happiness, just like if one could savour the colours of autums. Then let's cook some recipes with eggs, as for instance, a pancake of baked pumpkin.

Slices of pumpkin

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Eggs

Slice the pumpkin and bake it in a warm oven (200°C/400°F) on  parchment paper for the time needed, depending on freshness, kind of pumpkin, etc., you can understand it using a fork.  When cooked, peel it with the spoon, mash the pulp, warm the oil in the pan, add the mashed pumkin and  the scrambled eggs, cover and cook at a not high heat.

 

©2010.2020

Pumpkin and Gram flour

Pumpkin can be cooked in many ways, to create a completely different dish sometimes it's necessary only to add an ingredient, in a recipe that seems, in its simplicity, to be able to get the American ispired and the Arab cultures talking in a long distance dialogue. 

Pumpkin (2 slices approx.)
Gram flour (approx. 3 spoons)

Garlic (very little)

Onion (very little)

Extra virgin olive oil (Sabino-Nomentano or another as delicate)
Rosemary Salt
Freshly picked spices 'provinciali' (thyme, sage, rosemary, laurus, etc.)
White wine from the province of Rome or similar (approx. one glass)
Juniper
Chilli
Vegetable broth (approx. 2 dippers)

Same recipe as for the pumpkin with provincial herbs, chopping the pumpking in small cubes instead of medium-big cubes. When cooked and there's still a bit of sauce, mash to obtain a cream and add gram flour as needed, mix with a wooden spoon adding a dipper or two of vegetable stock, cook for some minutes to create a dense  but not stiff cream. Perfect as side dish or for pasta.

©2010.2020

Pumpkin with Provinciali Herbs * Basic Recipe

All Saint's Day, All Soul's Day, or Halloween. Whether you are inspired by the Catholic or American tradition, this time of the year is Pumpkin time. There are many cultivars, any of them with its peculiarity and characteristic. When buying a whole typical big-thick-skinned-pumpkin, one can decide to use it in dribs and drabs or to free the imagination and experiment special recipes, mixing ingredients and flavours from diverse regional Italian, Mediterranean, European and obviously American cuisines.

Pumpkin (2 slices approx.)

Garlic (very little)

Onion (very little)

Extra virgin olive oil (Sabino-Nomentano or another as delicate)
Rosemary Salt
Freshly picked spices 'provinciali' (thyme, sage, rosemary, laurus, etc.)
White wine from the province of Rome or similar
Juniper
Chilli

Warm at medium heat onion, garlic and chilli very finely chopped and the herbs provinciali roughly minced in the oil. Add the pumpkin peeled and roughly chopped in cubes, salt, cook for some minutes, raise the flame and sprinkle with the white wine, approximately one glass or as needed, evaporate the alcohool, cover and cook at a low heat to soften the pumpkin. Serve with not too ripe cheese, tofu seasoned with herbs provinciali and balsamic winegar or for a pasta.

©2010.2020

High-proteine quiche with aubergines

Once found the ready-to-cook  lard-free puff pastry, there are very well known in commerce, with quiche and 'pizza rustica' it's possible to free the imagination, transforming a traditional recipe in a all-in-one high-proteine and tasty course. Every season has its typical vegetables and using fruit and using in season fruits and vegetables is always the best choice both for the nutritives and for the flavour. One of the ingredients that evokes summer to my mind is the eggplant, probably because it is the base of many cuisines of Mare Nostrum. This is a  recipe for a high-protein quiche with this vegetable that recalls with its sweetness the Mediterranean weather.

 

Ready to cook puff pastry

Tofu, one box

One egg

Seitan

Field mushrooms

Mozzarella

Eggplants/Aubergines

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Onion

Carrots

Rosemary salt

Chilli

Rosemary

Potatoes

Oregano

Shoyu

Wash and chop the aubergines in cubes, warm the extra virgin olive oil in a pan with a bit of finely minced onion and a little chilli add the eggplants and Sicilian (or other Southern Italian) oregano, cook on middle heat and stir with a wooden spoon. On a side boil carrots in salty water with rosemary salt, or steam. Peel the potatoes and julienne them with the grater, squeeze the water out, salt and pan cook in warm oil with freshly picked rosemary for a few minutes. Clean the mushrooms, slice or roughly chop them. In a bowl mince tofu andd mozzarella, add the shoyu, the chopped seitan and while cooking, the potatoes, the carrots and the aubergines. To cream use an egg. Spread the puff pastry out in a rounded baking tray, pour the mix on the base, close the lateral edge and bake in the warm oven (220°C/400°F) for about 30'.

 

© 2007.2021

Quiche with tofu, seitan and oregano

Quiche, the French version of the Italian 'torta rustica', is a all-in-one course that gives the opportunity to combine a number of ingredients, there are  many variations and the result is always surprising. Quite easy to prepare, requires basic attentions to, for instance, the choice of the puff pastry.  Some ready to cook puff pastries in the refrigerator case or in the frozen food section have lard or other meat and fish based fats, so read the ingredients.

Ready to cook puff pastry

Tofu, one box

One egg

Seitan

Field mushrooms

Mozzarella

In oil aubergines/eggplants

Oregano

Shoyu

Spread out the puff pastry in a rounded baking pan, after eventually defreezing in case of frozen puff pastry. Clean the mushrooms and slice or roughly chop, mince the tofu in a bowl, add the shoyu and the minced mozzarella, chop some in oil aubergine and add  the egg to the mix to cream, and the Sicilian (or other Southern Italian) oregano, Pour in the puff pastry, close the edges and bake in the warm oven (220°C/400°F) for about 30'.

© 2007.2021

Holiday vegetarianism

Being vegetarians in a big city is already quite difficult, but it's true that the veggie choice,, when on holiday, sometimes can be considered a test for strenght of  will. Depending on the place you choose to relax and recreational moments that help us facing the year with renewed energy, you have to face a number of difficulties that sometimes make it complicated to keep a balance with vitamines, proteines and nourishing elements. Many pastries, cakes and baked goods, such as pizza, focaccia, piada, quite often use the lard, so it's always good to ask and read carefully the ingredient lists in the shops. In restaurants many recipes apparently vegetable based are actually cooked with pancetta, speck, bacon, lardo or 'savoured' with fish based sauces and, if the simple pasta with fresh tomato and basil or the typical grilled scamorza with grilled vegetables might be a good solution for one evening, surely they cannot be considered the basis of the holiday diet. Here some suggestions on how to survive to holidays without dismantling your faith in the possibility of a vegetarian diet. For a start, a bakery and a supermarket are everywhere to be found, so it is possible to buy easy to use canned legumes, fresh bread, cheese and in oil vegetables. Then it is always possible to find a pizzeria that prepare the focaccia without lard and also in the farest holiday resort it will be possible to find a place where it's possible to find eggs for breakfast. Holidays are also BBQ time, the company, that nice summer tradition impossible to skip and among Italian salsicce and fish, it'll be possible to find a small part of clean grill on which laying a summer vegetarian triumph.

©2010.2020

Gazpacho provinciale

Medditerranean cuisine is an inspiration for a number of recipes that fit a balanced and tasty vegetarian diet, perfect also for the hot summer season. One of those is the Spanish gazpacho, a cold soup of bell peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers, filling, refreshing and low-calorie. This version mixes the traditional recipe and the flavours of the Italian provincia, a bit more delicate compared to the Spanish ones. For this not-to-be-cooked recipe the freshness of the ingredients is essential.

Freshly picked sun ripened tomato 

Freshly picked bell peppers
Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Herbs provinciali (thyme, savory)
Extra virgin olive oil with chilli

Cucumber

Mill the bell peppers and the peeled cucumber to create a liquid cream, grind the tomatoes (with the grinder) to separate the seeds and the skin. On a side prepare a mince of herbs provinciali and regular and chilli spiced extra virgin olive oil. Mix all the ingredients, salt, refrigerate for at least one hour, serve with savory flowers.

 

©2010.2020

Cucumbers and yogurth salad

If you like the fresh flavour, cucumbers are a real resource for the vegetarian diet, with almost 0 calorie, no fear of gaining weight, depurate the organism and have a high concentration of certain vitamins such as K, C and B6. Perfect also for cosmetics are the main ingredient of tasty and refreshing Mediterranean recipes.

Freshly picked cucumbers
Greek or home-made yogurth
Salt
Extr virgin olive oil
Fresh peppermint
Fresh pennyroyal

Freshly crushed black, green and red pepper

Wash and chop the cucumbers in cubes, if from certified crop do not peel them to keep the K vitamine. In a bowl cream the yogurth, the minced peppermint and pennyroyal, PDO extravirgin olive oil, salt.  Add the cucumbers, stir  and sprinkle with pepper, settle in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and serve garnished with peppermint and pennyroyal tops.

©2010.2020

Aromatic cabbage

When starting a vegetarian diet, you start noticing the number of calories, and the satiety index (or fullness factor), to obtain a balaced diet not forgetting to keep fit. Cabbage is a low-calorie ingredient, just 20 Kcal/100gr, with a high sense of satiety. Delicious raw, it is possible to eat it in great quantities, even if often is savoured in the cooking process with fats that nullify the low-calorie element. A good advice is to use extra virgin olive oil instead of butter, preferring low-alcohol wines, trying to use as less as possible, savour with spices and herbs more than using vegetable stock cubes or other preparations.

Red or white cabbage

Fresh onion (very little)
Salt

Extra virgin DOP olive oil
White wine for the white cabbage and red low-alcohol for the red cabbage

Spices (cardamom, caraway seeds, ginger, curry, etc.)

 

Brown the minced fresh onion and  the tiny sliced ginger in oil, add the cabbage cut into strips, salt, cook untill winted, add the wine  and the spices, evaporate the alcohol, cover and cook at a low-heat. Instead of wine it is possible to use beer, possibly a diet beer, adding caraway seed instead of ginger.

©2010.2020

Salad of cereals and legumes with lemon and herbs 'provinciali'

Salads are a great resource in hot summer days or for a light but nutritious lunch during a long day, and can also be a good solution for quick supper, and a perfect choice at the restaurant to avoid the usual grilled vegetable and pasta with fresh tomato sauce easy to find almost everywhere in Italy. To keep a good protein balance, it is possible to prepare salads with eggs, cheese, or tofu, or eventually combine cereals and legumes as in this recipe that mix American and Mediterranean flavours.

Red kidney beans, boiled or canned
Maize, boiled or canned

Fresh tomatoes
Oranges

Home grown lemon grind
Salt
Herbs provinciali
Dried tomatoes

Chop the orange and some tomatoe in cubes, add the beans and the maize, mince the herbs, soften up the tomatoes and wash generously, then shred, grate the lemon grind, season with oil and salt, eventually add an apple chopped in cubes immediately before serving.

©2010.2020

Seitan and tofu stew with pears, cinnamon, savory and potatoes

Before turning vegetarian I elaborated a number of meat-based recipes that, with some imagination can be readjusted, replacing for instance a veal stew with seitan and tofu cubes. It won't taste the same, obviously, also because meat flavours the other ingredients pretty much, but it will still be savory, highlighting unexpected tastes. .

Seitan

Tofu

Potatoes

Fresh pears

Cinnamon

Shoyu

Sesame

Onion

Chilli spiced salt
Sparkling white wine 

Extra virgin  PDO olive oil
Fresh savory

Lightly warm a part of the finely chopped onion in oil, add the seitan stew and the tofu pre-seasoned in shoyu and sesame seeds in cubes,  brown, add the pears chopped in cubes, the savory  and the cinnamon, lower the flame, salt, raise the flame and add wine, evaporate the alcohool, lower the flame, add potatoes previously peeled and chopped in small cubes, salt with the chilli spiced salt, cover and cook on low heat stirring from time to time. When the potatoes are ready, raise the flame, add wine and other spices or serve garnished with pear slices and  savory branches.

©2010.2020

Lasagne ortolane bianche

Lasagne are one of the Italian traditional dishes that can, with some variation on the main meat based recipe, be adapted to the vegetarian diet. For vegans it is possible to prepare a sfoglia with semolina and water, even if it might be more difficult to prepare than the one with eggs. A summer version of this holiday Italian supper is the one with kitchen garden season vegetables and the almond cream, that is the same as the milk based one but with a much lower number of calorie and fatty acids, creating a nourishing and quite light dish. Ortolane in Italian is referred to the seasons vegetables that could be found in a well organised kitchen garden, bianco (white) or rosso (red) is referred to the tomato sauce, while white is with bechamel, cream and similar ingredients.

Sfoglia regular (6)

Zucchini
Bell peppers

Oregano

Almond cream

Butter

Onion

Chilli

Extra virgin DOP olive oil
Herbs 'provinciali' (savory, thyme) 
 

Light brown in a pan some onion and chilli, add the zucchine chopped in cubes, the bell peppers in tiny slices, cook at medium heat. On a side prepare the sfoglia, make it dry but not too much, parboil in hot salted water (for a few seconds, dip and out), oil a bakery pan and prepare a layer of sfoglia, add the bell peppers and the zucchini to the almond salty cream and, on the layer of pasta pour a layer of vegetables than alayer of sfoglia for 2 or 3 layers, the latter of sfoglia, almond salty cream and  some butter (or margarine for vegans).

©2010.2020

The 'sfoglia'

La Egg fresh pasta is the secret ingredient of many 'national' Italian dishes, from cappelletti to ravioli, from fettuccine to lasagne, the  pasta all'uovo è il segreto di molti piatti 'nazionali' della cucina italiana, dai cappelletti ai ravioli, dalle fettuccine alle lasagne, the 'sfoglia' (dough used to prepare egg pasta) is the main ingredient of holiday recipes and of traditional menus with some kind of fresh pasta on the table. There are as many possible variation of 'sfoglia' as the culinary tradition of eaach family, this is the one handed down for generations in my family and it's a good recipe to elaborate the basic 'sfoglia'. Clearly the dough, the quantity annd the quality of flour change depending on the weather, the humidity in the air and the size of eggs.

Eggs (approx. one egg per person)
Flour (as needed)

Make a well in the centre of the flour, break the eggs within the well, stir energically with a fork till incorporating all the flour, when the dough is tiffer than the dough for the white bread but still soft, work with the hands and a movement that starts from the wrist till obtaining a pat well thick and omogeneous. Slice it in 2cms slices, spread out with the rolling pin or preferably with the pasta maker to obtain a 'sfoglia' as thick as desired, in a pasta maker with bottons from 1 to 7, pass it 3 times in the 1, then 2 times in the 2,  then once in the others till 5 for malttagliati, pizzoccheri, sagnette, 6 for fettuccine, quadrucci, lasagne, filled pasta (ravioli, cappelletti, etc.), 7 with fine fettuccine and capellini.

©2010.2020

Lasagne parmigiane

Lasagne are a distinctive trait of Italian cuisine. If abroad we were not to be known as 'maccheroni' or 'pizza, mafia, mandolino' we would probably be nicknamed lasagne and fettuccine. Just think of a holiday, any Italian family has its typical traditional recipe handed down for generations with some variations that make any dish asbsolutely unique. My granny has at least three recipes, the classical, meat based, and two elaborated upon request: with mushrooms and with artichokes. When I was not a vegetarian I elaborated several recipes, from the one with shrimps to the one with porcini mushrooms and Italian 'salsiccia', or with radicchio and South Tyrol speck. Actually it's a versatile and can be cooked in many vegetarian variations, among which one that mix three traditional dishes, lasagne, aubergines parmigiane and the 'pasta alla norma' 

Cherry tomatoes
Sfoglia 5
Rounded aubergines/eggplants fried
Dried tomatoes

Onion

Fresh basil

Chilli
Salt

(Ricotta salata al forno)

(Mozzarella)

Extra virgin PDO olive oil

Prepare a light tomato sauce browning a mince of onion and chilli in oil, add the cherry tomatoes chopped in three or four, cook at high heat for a few minutes, when almost cooked, add fresh basil. On a side wash and slice (less than 1 cm) the aubergines, put on a tray, salt and cover with a heavy something (e.g. a pot full of water) for at least one hour, squeeze, dry on a cloth and deep fry in olive oil, dry on paper, rpughly chop and add to the sauce. On a side prepare the sfoglia or buy the ready to use in pasta shops and supermakets asking for the 'sfoglia grossa', not the thin one.  Oil a baking tray, pour the sauce, add pasta, then sauce. If using ricotta salata al forno and mozzarella, grate the ricotta, chop the mozzarella in cubes and add a layer of cheese. Then a layer of sfoglia, one of sauce, eventually one of cheese, for approx. 3, 5 layers of sfoglia, the latter being of sfoglia and a dipper of sauce and some fresh cherry tomatoes chopped in two, three, basil leafes and some piece of aubergine. Bake in the warm oven (400°F/200°C) for about 30'.

©2010.2020