Vegetarian low-calorie yogurt cake

Gluttony  respect the four seasons and sweet tooth varies depending on climate. A gorgeous slice of hot strudel sided with an apple and cinnamon herbal tea is just perfect for the first winter cold but in the middle of a hot summer doesn't sound that tempting as a big bowl of hand-made gelato. Gelato cannot be the only choice for a gourmand, sometimes a refreshing cake might be the best option, especially if not too hig-proteine. And in this case the recipes of the contemprary anglosaxons tradition, that apparently have completely Mediterranean roots, probably Roman or Greek, are a good solution, with a variation of the cheesecake in low-calorie vegetarian version, the yogurt cake. Almost all the recipes I read use some meat or fish based ingredient, such as gelatin leaves (or fish-glue), but with a bit of imagination and some modification the result is a great fresh cake relatively low-calorie, delicious for the hot summer days. The cake doesn't require to be cooked but a long time for the preparation, so it's advisable to prepare it in the morning for the evening or a day before.

Light yogurt, white or flavoured with the fruit you prefer

Whipping crean or light spray whipping cream

About 2oo gr 7 oz of mixed biscuits, similar to Digestive (in Italy grancereale or sim. and oro saiwa or sim.)

Fresh fruit
Butter, about 1oo gr 3.5 oz

Honey, one spoon

Cake garnishing depending on the kind of fruit

Mince the biscuits to obtain a raugh chop, melt not completely the butter, mix it with the honey and pour it into the mince to obtain a dense kind of dough, spread out on a baking tray with the edges that can be opened, covered with baking paper. Press, cover with a film, a heavy object and refrigerate for at least two hours. Whip the cream with the yogurt paying attention not to curdle, or if using the light spray cream mix it with the yogurt to obtain a still and soft. The taste can vary, natural to flavour with cinnamon powder or cocoa or strawberry, peaches, raspberry, cherries or other fresh fruit, or light yogurt with fruit to combine with pieces of fresh fruit. Refrigerate for some hours before covering with the dough prepared earlier and refrigerate for at least two hours.
©2010.2020

Friggitelli bell peppers with juniper and pennyroyal

Bell peppers, especially the green ones, are really low-calorie and have a lots of vitamins and minerals. Actually they are a bit difficult to digest but Mediterranean cuisine found a variety of ways to make them more digestible, using a mix of herboristic knowledges and practices  rooted in the popular tradition and in the ancient sciences.  This is the recipe of 'friggitelli' pan fried with wild juniper and pennyroyal, tasty, not high-calorie and good also for the more delicate stomach.

Friggitelli bell peppers

Extra virgin PDO olive oil
White wine for cooking

Wild juniper

Pennyroyal

A small onion

Salt

Wash and dry the friggitelli, eliminate the seeds and the beginning of the stem chop in small rounds. Mince a small slice of onion, better if fresh. In a pan warm the oil with the onion mince and some juniper, add the friggitelli and the pennyroyal, salt, when softened add the white wine, saute for some minutes on high heat, then evaporate the alcohol, lower the heat and keep cooking. Perfect as a seasoning for passta, as a side dish, for cous cous, to flavour quinoa or the millet.

©2010.2020

Costata romanesco zucchini and new potatoes cake

Zucchini are a must of the hot season, in cubes, rounded, baked, in oil, filled. If you ever had  a kitchen garden you know that a dozen zucchini plant can fill the pots  for an entire season and the vegetable can be cooked in as many ways as you can think of. And you need a lot of imagination in cuisine during summer time. But what can you do when you haven't noticed that zucchini are growing a bit too much? Pickled in oil and vinegar is a great solution, when there's more than one as it's a very long process. Surely panfried is not an option, the skin is hard and they are mushy inside, not very tasty. Cooked in the oven are just delicious. Not alone but with big new potatoes easy to find in summer time, seasoned with a provinciali herbs mince.

Costata romanesco zucchini, big, one or two

Extra virgin PDO olive oil
New potatoes, big

Herbs provinciali freshly picked

Salt

Wash and dry the zucchini, peel, wash and dry the potatoes. With a kitchen knife finely chop (approx. as the rounded thin chips), the big zucchini, cutting out the most part of the 'soul' the internal spongy part with seeds. Finely chop the potatoes. Wash the provinciali herbs, savory, peppermint, pennyroyal, avoiding sage, rosemary, basil, parsley. Prepare a first layer of zucchini in a oiled baking tray, add the mince of herbs, then a layer of potatoes, salt, add, herbs, to obtain four or five layers. At the latter add oil, put in the warm oven at 220°C428°F for about one hour. 

Filled friggitelli

Italian summer is as beautiful as hot. Undoubtely the fresh dishes of Mediterranean cuisine help with the heat not forgetting the pleasure of food. The variations of the so many seasons products are really a lot, if you ever had a kitchen garden, you know for certain that at a certain moment you'll have the kitchen packed with two or three vegetable to cook or store with a bit of imagination. If eating zucchini and tomatoes every day can be tiring, Italian culinary creativity can create an almost infinite number of dishes with a few fresh and good ingredients. Let's start with the fritggitelli, small bell peppers easy to find in the kitchen gardens, shops and markets at this time of the year and with a vegetarian recipe good also for those who hate soia, tofu and seitan.

Fresh, sun ripened tomatoes
Extra virgin PDO olive oil

Friggitelli

Fresh peppermint

Fresh savory

Salt

Rind of lemon for garnishing

Wash and dry the friggitelli, cut an upper slice and clear the little seeds out leaving the beginning of the stem whole. On a side finely chop the tomatoes. Mince with the grater the upper part of the friggitelli with fresh peppermint and savory, mix with the tomatoes. Put the friggitelli filled with the mix on an oiled baking tray, put in the warm oven 430°F220°C and serve tepid garnished with tops od peppermint and ribbons of lemon rind.

©2010.2021

Fusilli ortolani

Summer is the perfect season for the preparation of light sauces, delicatessen from the kitchen garden and low-calorie dishes, especially not exxagerating with the quantity. Pasta with 'ortolani' sauces is an actual resource if going for a vegetarian diet keeping the flavours of good food.

Fusilli (De Cecco or similar)

Freshly picked zucchini

Tomatoes oxheart

Zucchine flowers picked very early in the morning

Fresh basil

Extra virgin PDO olive oil

Salt

Warm some oil, add zucchine chopped in triangles, lightly salt and cook at medium heat just the time to soften them, add the tomatoe chooped in cubes and salted, cook for a few minutes, add basil and the zucchini flowers roughly cut. Meanwhile cook the pasta in abundant salty water, drain, saute, garnish with basil flowers.

©2010.2021

Field mushrooms filled with seitan

Seitan is extremely similar to meat for stiffness and adaptability, clearly the taste is not like brawn, sausages or tenderloins but it has a taste and a good sense of satiety. Who starts a vegetarian diet, sooner or later, get to know this ingredient, ideal replacement for minced meat in the filled baked vegetables, tasty also simply grilled with some drops of seasoned extra virgin PDO olive oil and a salad as a side dish. To calm the anger feeling that is normal especially with the low-calorie vegetarian diet I found this recipe with the field mushrooms, that have a high sense of satiety and not a bad quantity of proteins.

Extra virgin PDO olive oil
Field mushrooms

Seitan ''

Salt

Provinciali herbs (sage, savory, thime)

Clean and dry the field mushrooms, taken the stick out and mince it with the provinciali herbs, oil, salt and seitan. Put the mix in the heads of mushrooms in an oiled baking tray, put in the warm oven 430°F220°C for about 20'.

©2010.2020

Spicy ribollita greengrocer's soup

The great variety of Italian cuisine derives partially from the idea that throwing food in the garbage, unless they got bad, is a shame. The food that, par excellence, never has to be thrown in the garbage is obviously fresh baked bread, that in Catholic liturgy symbolise nothing less than the body of Christ and even the smoking gun of his holiness with the miracle of the feeding the moltitude. One of the delicious ways to re-use stale baked bread is the ribollita soup, must of Ttuscan cuisine. Flipping through a cuisine book when I was not even a vegetarian I found this re-elaboration of the ribollita in greensgrocers version where the elements of gazpacho mix with the Tuscany traditions to create a perfect sinergy of flavours, to taste icy cold to refresh during a hot summer day or hot to get back to the right temperature after the first cold baths in wonderful seas or after relaxing walks on the mountains. Perfect for those who love spicy foods, not for the ones who smell the paprika also in the fresh tomato and basil 'sugo'.

Stale baked bread (best being the 'Tuscany type', not salted at all, crunchy and with at least 5cms of soft inside)

Costata romanesco zucchini freshly picked

Beefsteak tomatoes

Aubergines/eggplants
Bell peppers

Fresh basil and rosemary

Herbs

Onion

Chilli

Cucumbers from the kitchen garden 

Water

Potatoes

Extra virgin PDO olive oil
Rosemary seasoned salt

Warm some oil with a mince of onion and chilli, add the zucchini chopped in cubes, a bit of bell pepper finely sliced, a piece of aubergine cut in small cubes, salt with the rosemary seasoned salt and cook at medium heat the time to soften them, add the tomatoes chopped in cubes and the herbs, cook for some minutes, add the water and a small potatoe chopped in very small cubes, cook on medium heat for one or two hours. Meanwhile mince the bread, add it when the soup will be cooked, soften for at least 20' to create a cream, garnish with basil and rosemary flowers.

© 2007.2021

Rice and zucchini 'Lucyl style' timbale

Rice is a higly nutritive food, great ingredient for vegetarian diets, is used worldwide in a countless number of recipes. Main ingredient for risotto, timbales, salads, delicious filled vegetables is perfect in vegetarian diets for its adaptability, even if to keep fit it's important not to exagerate with seasoning and servings. Sided with legumes to enhance the protein supply for a spring main course, or, if you don't want to renounce to the taste of 'risotto', you can prepare e timbale to bake and serve tepid with grilled seitan and a fresh salad with seasons fresh fruit. The origin of the recipe has most probably its roots in one of the many ways to recycle the day before 'risotto', or to make some healthy home economics, basic principle of Italian cuisine creativity. The main ingredient being the traditional risotto, possibly with kitchen garden or at least season's and 0miles vegetables, to prepare with vegetable broth, extra virgin PDO olive oil and fresh ingredients. A good suggestion is to add some spice that combines well with cheese and savours the tofu, such as turmeric, ginger, mild curry, without covering the natural flavour of seasons vegetables. Variations are almost infinite and there's nothing else to do than freeing the imagination to invent new recipes.

Exttra virgin PDO olive oil
Parboiled or whole wheat rice

Breadcrumbs
Mix of hard and soft cheeses, sheep Fucino 'caciotta', trentingrana, mozzarella, etc,

Turmeric

Salt
Tofu (optional)

Provinciali herbs

MIld Curry

GInger

Onion 

Freshly picked zucchini
Vegetable broth

Egg 1 (optional)

Seeds for garnishing

Prepaare a traditional risotto browning the onion with te ginger and the provinciali herbs, stir the rice util translucent with the spices and cook adding vegetable broth. On a side prepare the cheeses mix to add to the cooked risotto with an egg. Put the mix in a oiled baking tray, cover with breadcrumbs and grated grana padano grattuggiato, eventually add seeds to garnish and bake in the warm oven (220°C) 20'. Serve tepid, perfect also if refrigerated.

©2010.2020

Savoury cake with juniper, rucola and walnuts

A good anglo-saxons habit is holiday or day before holidays tea-time, something similar to a happy 'merenda'. For these occasions combining treats and salty snacks is just perfect, ideals would be the milky 'paninetti' with salami and prosciutto or the tuna creams. Taboo food for vegetarian diet, that actually has interesting alternatives, more difficult but as tasty.

One of these is the salty cake with rocket salad, walnuts, and juniper to present with a fruity 'ciambellone'.

Extra virgin PDO olive oil
Wheat 400 gr

Egg  

Milk 1 hg
Red wine 1 hg
Salt
Provinciali herbs

Juniper
Walnuts

Rucola

Yeats
Turmeric
Aniseeds

Breadcrumbs and butter for the baking tray
Sesame and poppy seeds for garnishing

Mince the rocket salad, the walnuts , the provinciali herbs, the juniper and add the other ingredients, knead and leaven in a warm place or using the kneader. Put the mix in the oiled baking tray, sprinkle with poppy and sesame seeds and bake in warm oven (220°) till cooked, for at least 30'. Garnish with clover flowers and serve.

©2010.2020

Sabina, exploring ancient tastes maccheroni ccentonara

Sabina, a vast area North-East of Rome, is a territory that was able to, despite the actual difficulties, resist a wild urbanization without preserving its charachter, environment, views and eno-gastonomic traditions without becoming suburbia. Renowned in history for being the mother land of glorious Rome. Of the ancient Sabines people there are a few information, also because they mixed and integrated with the 'gens' of pre-Christian Rome. Many towns built well before the urbe was condita, were able to keep during the millennia habits and customs that can be found in the peculiarity of food and recipes. A few kilometres away from ancient Nomentum, in the heart of Mentana, nodal point for the creation of unified Italy, it is possible to find delicious local products, such as ciammella a cancellu and maccheroni centonara.

Extra virgin PDO olive oil
Maccheroni alla centonara 

Freshly picked tomatoes 

Basil

Onion

Sabine pitted olives

Chilli

Salt

Caciotta in cubes 

Accurately wash the tomatoes, prepare a dense juice with basil, salt and oil to be added just before serving. Brown a mince of onion, provinciali herbs anc chilli in extra virgin PDO olive oil, cook on high heat and add the pitted olives. Boil the maccheroni centonara in abundant salty hot water (as for pasta, make the water boil, salt, add the pasta when the water is boiling and cook for the  required cooking time) and saute wit the caciotta. Garnish with basil flowers and Sabine olives.

©2010.2021

Eggs, potatoes, provinciali herbs cake

Frittate, omelettes and eggs based timbales are definetely a good option to keep the right nutritious balance. Angong the most tasty recipes, the potatoes 'frittata', but if keeping an eye to calories fried food is not the best possible option. Getting inspiration from Spanish and Southamerican recipes I elaborated a recipe to bake or panfry with the 'oven pans' the ones with the lid.


Extra virgin PDO olive oil

Wheat
Eggs (1 per person plus 1 for the tray or the pan)
Potatoes
Milk
Salt
Provinciali herbs
Sesame and poppy seed

Prepare a mix wiith wheat, eggs and milk quite similar to the one for the crespelle, or the crepes. so dense and liquid. Julienne the potatoes, squeee and salt. Saute with the mince of herbs and extra virgin PDO oil for some minute, add the mix with the eggs and bake in warm oven (200°C) till cooked, or in the oven pan on medium low heat, if it doesn't cook well in the inner part, microwave, Garnish with sesame and poppy seeds

©2010.2020