Italian Food Recipes

Small balls of aubergines can be served as an Italian appetizer, they are simple and fast to prepare and do you need only few Italian ingredients to prepare it: the main ingredient of this delicious Italian recipe is round aubergines that they are more sweet than the long ones, parsley and Parmesan. The preparation is simple because you should only make a puree of aubergines and mix it with the other ingredients, make small ball and fry them and so the appetizer is ready!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 – 6 people):
3 Round Aubergines
1 Egg
40 g of Parmesan
30 g of Parsley
1 Clove of garlic
Breadcrumbs
Oil for fry
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Sambuca di Sicilia bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Clean and peel the aubergines, cut them in squared pieces, place them in a pan with water and let them boil for about 15 minutes.


When they are ready drain them, place them in a bowl and with a fork squash them in order to obtain a puree of aubergines.


Let them cool and in them mean time prepare a chopped of parsley and garlic, add it to the puree of aubergines together with the Parmesan and the egg.


Mix all together and add if the mixture is to soft add some breadcrumbs, sprinkle with salt and black pepper

and with the hand make small balls with the mixture like these in the picture below.


Preheat enough oil in a pan, when it is hot fry in it the small balls of aubergines, cook them until the surface become slightly golden.


When they are ready leave them dry from the oil and serve. This is the result:


BUON APPETITO!

This is the typical side dish that my family prepares for the Christmas Eve. Baccala is cod preserved with salt. The recipe, presented below, describes a simple and fast way to cook a good dish. It is made of fillet of baccala cutted into big cubes and then fried. Baccala is served with boiled brocolli. Christmas Eve wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without baccala.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
800 g of Fillet of baccalà (dried salt-cured cod)
200 g of Flour
Extra virgin olive to fry
400 g of Brocolli

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
1 or 2 day before the Christmas Eve place the baccala to soak in water in order to eliminate the salt in excess. Now and then change the water.

Remove the peel of the fillets of baccala, and then cut them into big cubes.


Flour the cubes of baccala.

Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, place in it the cubes of baccala and fry them for about 10 – 15 minutes.

You can serve fried baccala with brocolli. Clean the brocolli and remove the leafs, then cut them into pieces and place them in a pan with some water and let them boil.

When water boils let the brocolli cook for about 10 minutes.
Place the baccalla in the middle of a platter and put around them the brocolli. Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

The traditional appetizer that my family prepares the Christmas Day is salumi based.
We use typical Italian salumi like ham of Parma, raw ham San Daniele, speck of Alto Adige and salame Milan and serve them on a cutting board.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
10 Slice of Milan Salame
10 Slice of Ham of Parma
10 Slice of Raw Ham San Daniele
10 Slice of Speck of Alto Adige

PREPARATIONE TIME: 10 minutes

WINE: Costa d’Amalfi (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Place 1 slice of each kind of cold cut on a cutting board and serve them.
BUON APPETITO!

In my family the menu of Christmas Eve is fish based. One of the side dishes that we prepare is made of tails of lobster dressed with lemon and oil. This recipe is very simple to prepare and very good to eat.


INGREDIENTS (for 10 people):
800 g of Tails of lobsters
1 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil
2 Lemon
Salt
Parsley

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the tail of lobsters in a pan with water and bring to boil.

When water boils, cook for 5 minutes and then drain the lobsters.

Let them cool and shell. Prepare a sauce made with the extra virgin olive oil, the juice of lemon, some salt and parsley. Place the tail of lobster on a platter and pour the sauce on them.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is another side dish that my family prepares for the Christmas Eve. Baccala is a kind of cod preserved with salt. This is a cold dish very simple to prepare, it is made of baccala, pickle olive, pickle yellow and red peppers.


INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
800 g of Baccala
180 g of Pickle olives
180 g of Pickle yellow and red peppers
Extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
1 or 2 day before the Christmas Eve place the baccala to soak in water in order to eliminate the salt in excess. Now and then change the water.

Remove the peel of the fillets of baccala,


and then cut them into big cubes. Place the cubes of baccala in a pan with water and let them boil for about 10 – 15 minutes.

Drain the baccala and let it cool. Then cut it in small pieces and place in it in a bowl. Cut the olives into washer and the peppers in fillet,

and add them to the pieces of baccala.

Mix all together and place them in a platter. Sprinkle with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and serve.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is another delicious pie!It is made of potatoes and sausage. You can replace sausage with bacon or ham, as you prefere! You can prepare it to go for a spicy picnic!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH

150 g of Flour
1 or 2 Eggs
50 g of Butter
2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING

8 Potatoes
125 ml of Milk
100 g of Pecorino Sardo (1 Slice) (cheese made from ewe’s milk)
150 g of Sausage
1 Egg
3 Tablesppons of extra virgin olive oil
30 g of Parmesan
Salt
Pepper


PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 45 minutes

DIFFICULTY: medium

WINE: Castel del Monte Chardonnay Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
To make the dough, put the flour on a clean surface into a mound, add 1 or 2 egg (depending on the consistency of the dough), the pieces of butter, the oil and the salt. Mix all together until you obtain a solid and smooth dough.

Place the dough on a floured board and roll out it 0,5 mm thick and then cover the bottom and the sides of the pie pan.
Preheat the oven to 180-200 °C.
Now prepare the filling. Wash, peel and cut the potatoes into quarters. Cook the potatoes in a pot of boiling, salted water until fork tender. Drain the potatoes, and put them through a potato masher and then back into the pot together with the egg.

Then add the milk, season with pepper and mix all together.

Put the pecorino sardo on a chopping board, cut it into cubes and add to potatopes.

Then heat the extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan, place in it the sausage and cook for about 10 minutes or until it becomes brown.

When it is ready, add it to the potatoes mixture and mix.

Put the mixture over the dough and sprinkle with some Parmesan.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown.
In the meanwhile prepare 1 egg hard-boiled. Then cut it into 2 halves and when the pie is ready put them over it.
Serve warm, or at room temperature.
Thhis is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is a delicious dish that can be your main course or you can eat it as an appetizer. You can serve it warm or at room temperature: it is the ideal dish for any moment, exspecially in the summer time!
This is only one kind of pie that you can prepare with vegetables: I really like them so I'll write some other tasty recipes in the next days!


INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH

150 g of Flour
1 or 2 Eggs
50 g of Butter
2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING

400 g of Spinach
250 g of Ricotta cheese made from cow's milk
15 g of Butter
2 Eggs
30 g of Parmesan
Salt


PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 45 minutes

DIFFICULTY: medium

WINE: Castel del Monte Chardonnay Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION

To make the dough, put the flour on a clean surface into a mound, add 1 or 2 eggs (depending on the consistency of the dough), the pieces of butter, the oil and the salt. Mix all together until you obtain a solid and smooth dough.

Place the dough on a floured board and roll out it 0,5 mm thick and then cover the bottom and the sides of the pie pan.
Preheat the oven to 180-200 °C.
Now prepare the filling. Wash the spinach and shake off excess water. Place it in a large pan with 2 glasses of water. Cover with a lid. Cook gently for about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and drain. Transfer the spinach to a chopping board and chop finely.


Place the chopped spinach in a pan; add the butter, season with some salt and cook again for about 5 minutes until the butter is melted.

Transfer the spinach in a bowl; add 1 egg, the ricotta cheese and the Parmesan. Mix all together until the mixture become smooth.

Put the mixture over the dough and sprinkle with some Parmesan.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown.

In the meanwhile prepare 1 egg hard-boiled. Then cut it into 2 halves and when the pie is ready put them over it.
Serve warm, or at room temperature.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

An unusual recipe for a fresh and tasty appetizer!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)

200 g of Lobsters
2 Pink grapefruits
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
100 g Salad (rocket or lettuce)
25 ml of White wine
Salt
Pepper
8 Sweet cherry tomatoes

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Fuga Chardonnay (White Wine)

DIFFICULTY: easy

PREPARATION
Wash dry and peel the lobsters. Squeeze 1 pink grapefruit and peel the other in order to obtain only the pulp. Wash and dry the salad and the tomatoes. In a pan heat the extra virgin olive oil, add the lobsters, season with salt and pepper and let them brown. Add the grapefruit juice, the pulp of 1/2 grapefruit and the white wine at the lobsters, let it reduce and simmer for about 10 minutes.

At the end of the cooking must remain a sort of sauce.
Place some salad, 2 - 3 pieces of pulp of grapefruit in a soup plate .

Add the lobsters and garnish with 2 sweet cherry tomatoes.
This is the result:
BUON APPETITO!