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Zucchini pie

To make savoury pies you can use puff pastry or traditional pie dough, either home made or store bought. Today I paired zucchini with speck, but you can use a plethora of ingredients.

prep time 10 min     cook time 35-45 min
ingredients
  • 350g puff pastry
  • 500g zucchini, sliced or rounds
  • 100g speck (pancetta or bacon is fine), diced or in strips
  • 2 eggs
  • 100 ml milk (or heavy cream)
  • 30 grated Parmigiano
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1.  Preheat the oven to 180 C.

2.  Cook the zucchini in a pan with the oil for 5-6 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the speck.

3. Mix the eggs vigorously, add the milk and cheese and a dash of salt and pepper.

4. Roll out the puff pastry into a baking dish, previously covered with parchment paper, prick it with the prongs of a fork and add the zucchini filling.

5. Pour the egg mix on top and place in the oven until golden.

6. Check the time on your oven. Mine always requires more time than the recipes suggest.

Tip: you can replace the egg and milk mixture with 250g of ricotta.

BUON APPETITO!

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Italian frisella

Italian frisella is a quick and light lunch option, or a light dinner option too for that matter, if you are not in a mood to cook anything.  There are many options for the topping: tomatoes, tuna, anchovy, feta or other cheese or even grilled vegetables. My favorite ones are with tomatoes and tuna or tomatoes and feta with olives and capers thrown here and there.

prep time 10 minutes
ingredients for 1 frisella
  • 1 frisella
  • 80g tuna, broken into bits
  • 5-6 cherry tomatoes, chopped
  • 2-3 artichoke hearts in oil, quartered
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • a handful of capers
  • salt
  • dried oregano

1. Soak the frisella under a running cold water for 15 seconds and put in on a plate.

2. Drizzle with olive oil. Add the toppings with some salt, a little more olive oil and oregano.

BUON APPETITO!

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Quick tuna salad

One of my favourite light lunches in spring or summer time is a tuna salad. There are many ways to make it, I have two slightly different recipes.

prep time 15 min
ingredients for 2
  • 300 g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 160 g tuna
  • small cucumber, diced
  • handful of olives
  • a few basil leaves
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients, add salt and pepper.

variation:

leave out cucumber and use capers instead of olives.

You could easily add corn, carrots, pickled veggies, arugula, mixed greens or whatever floats your boat.

BUON APPETITO!

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Stuffed mushrooms

When I use the term mushrooms, I usually mean white button mushrooms, sometimes portobello mushrooms. This was my lunch but these are really good for appetizers too, just prepare one per person.

Prep time  5 min     Cook time 20 min
INGREDIENTS FOR 3 FAIRLY BIG MUSHROOM
  • 3 button mushrooms
  • 100g Philadelphia or other cream cheese
  • parsley
  • 1 garlic clove
  • grated parmesan
  • olive oil
  • salt, pepper

1. Wipe the mushrooms with a wet paper towel, cut the stem and slice off the very end. Chop the stems.

2. Put the garlic in a pan with oil and add the chopped stems. Add some salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes.

3. Blend the stems, the cream cheese and the parsley.

4. Stuff the mushrooms with the cream, sprinkle parmesan on top and put in a preaheated oven at 170 °C (340F) for 15 minutes until the parmesan is golden  brown.

BUON APPETITO!