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Classic tomato bruschetta

Ah bruschetta, one of the best ways to enjoy the bounty of summer. Pronounced “brusketta”, this classic Italian appetizer is a perfect way to capture the flavors of garden ripened tomatoes, fresh basil and good olive oil. Use any flavorful, ripe tomato for this recipe. The key to good bruschetta are ripe sweet tomatoes which do not need to be blanched or peeled, good rustic bread and good extra virgin olive oil.

There’s usually no exact quantity of oil mentioned in any Italian bruschetta recipe, I checked 🙂 But let’s say 2 dl of good extra virgin olive oil to start with. Then about the bread. You get the best results with a good rustic bread, better yet if it’s from the day before. Baguette or toast are too soft even after grilling them, they just get soggy.

prep time 10 min + 30 min to marinate
ingredients
  • 500g ripe sweet tomatoes
  • 8-10 slices of rustic bread
  • handful of fresh basil
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • clove of garlic (optional)

1. Prepare first the tomatoes. Dice them, I prefer mine relatively big, but you can dice them very small if you like and put them in a bowl. Tear the basil into small pieces and add to the bowl. When chopped, the leaves turn dark, sometimes they even take on a black quality that’s not very pretty. Add salt, remember that tomatoes love salt, and then the oil. Stir well and let marinate at least 30 minutes. Taste.

2. Grill the slices of bread on both sides on the grill or in the oven. If you are in a pinch, you can toast them. Gasp! No oil needed to coat the bread before grilling them.

3. When the bread is ready, you can swipe the top side with a peeled garlic clove and sprinkle some salt and olive oil on it. That’s the simplest way to enjoy  bruschetta. You can also swipe the bread with garlic before adding the tomatoes.

4. Spoon the tomatoes on the grilled bread a few minutes before serving. I prefer letting the tomatoes sit on the bread for at least 10 minutes. I don’t mind if they get soaked a little. I think it’s more flavourful.

Tip: you can substitute rucola for basil

BUON APPETITO!

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Chimichurri

I first tried this fabulous Argentinian sauce many years ago in an Argentinian restaurant in Los Angeles. Mind blowing how this simple green sauce could make such a huge difference. Originally Argentinian but now known world wide chimichurri is not only for grilled meat but also good on roasted meat and vegetables, fish, bruschetta and even on cheese. Many non-authentic versions of this condiment can also be found. Versions which include fresh cilantro…and cumin…and lime or lemon juice. Most likely very delicious, but not considered authentic. And do not use a blender, also not considered authentic. Chimichurri has been a huge hit this summer amongst friends and family. 😉

prep time 10 min
ingredients
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2-3 Tbls red wine vinegar
  • 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
  • 2 small red chilies or chill flakes or peperoncino (to your taste)
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 level teaspoon coarse salt
  • black pepper to taste

Mix everything in a small bowl or jar. Taste and adjust to your liking. Ready to use right away but naturally tastes better after a couple of hours when the flavours have deepened. You can baste your grilled meat with chimichurri or spoon it over your meat. Excellent with any kind of grilled or barbecued meat, sausages and chorizo as well as on grilled or roasted veggies, bruschetta or even with some hard cheese.

BUON APPETITO!

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Greek stuffed tomatoes

Greek stuffed tomatoes, gemista, are similar to the Italian ones, mainly the Pomodori a riso alla romana, but there are some differences. And as with most recipes, there are variations based on the region and one’s grandmother 🙂 These healthy and juicy gemista are traditionally vegetarian but some use also ground beef or pork. Remember to use a good quality extra virgin olive oil which is key to a Greek ladera dish (prepared with oil).

prep time 20 min + 60 min for marinating    cook time 90 min
ingredients for 4
  • 4 large ripe tomatoes
  • 125g rice (for risotto)
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • handful of fresh dill
  • handful of fresh mint
  • 1 Tbls tomato paste
  • extra vergin olive oil
  • juice of one lemon
  • ground black pepper
  • dahs of ground cumin
  • sweet paprika
  • ground cayenne pepper or peperoncino
  • salt
  • dash of sugar
  • 1-2 potatoes
  • 300 ml water
  • 1 Tbls tomato paste
  • 1-2 Tbls olive oil
  • salt, pepper, dried oregano

1.  Wash and pat dry the tomatoes. Cut off the top part of all the tomatoes and put aside. With a pairing knife help loosen the tomato flesh, scoop it with a spoon and put in a bowl. Place the tomatoes in a baking dish where you have put some olive oil on the bottom. Choose a baking dish where the tomatoes fit snuggly.

2.  Blend the tomato flesh with an immersion blender in a fairly large bowl. Add the minced onion, chopped dill and mint, the lemon juice, tomato paste, the cumin, sweet paprika and cayenne pepper. Season with salt and pepper and add a generous drizzle of olive oil. Mix and add the rice. Let marinate at room temperature for about an hour.

3. Peel and cut the potatoes into rounds (or wedges or cubes), put in a bowl, add 300ml of water and tomato paste. Season with oil, dried oregano, salt and pepper.

4. Pre-heat oven at 190C.

5. Add now a dash of sugar to the tomatoes and also a dash of salt. Fill them with the rice mixture which has by now absorbed most of the liquid in the bowl. Cover tomatoes with the tomato tops.

6. Place the potato slices now on top and around the tomatoes. Pour the liquid in the pan, about half way. Bake at 190C for 45 minutes covered, then uncover and bake for additional 45 minutes. Check to see if some more liquid is needed.

BUON APPETITO!

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Savoury muffins

Make a batch of savoury muffins for a snack or an appetiser. They are also great for a light lunch or dinner with a bowl of salad. They are easy to make and you can use a plethora of vegetables and cheese or a combination of these.

prep time 10 min     cook time 25 min
ingredients for 12 muffins
  • 125 g butter
  • 2 eggs
  • dash of salt
  • 200 g plain yogurt ( or ricotta)
  • 150 g flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 50 g sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1 spring onion or a small onion
  • 100 g feta (or blue cheese)
  • 1 Tbls fresh thyme
  • 75 g grated cheese

1. Pre-heat oven at 200C and grease a muffin tin.

2. Melt the butter and let cool. Beat the eggs, salt and the yogurt lightly into the butter.

3. Mix the flour and baking powder and then add this to the batter with a spoon just until combined. Do not beat.

4. Drip the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes and mince them. Dice also the onion, crumble the feta and add all this to the batter.

5. Add the thyme (you can also use dried thyme) and half of the grated cheese.

6. Fill the muffin tin and add the remaining cheese.

7. Bake at 200C for 15-20 min until the muffins have a nice golden crust. Serve lightly cooled.

Tip: try chives, celery, carrots, zucchini, bell peppers, leek,  button mushrooms, baby spinach ( I had a few zucchini flowers that I tossed into the mix), different kinds of cheese, bacon, sausage or ham, fresh (or dried) herbs like oregano, basil, lemon thyme, marjoram.

Tip: these freeze well.

BUON APPETITO!

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Stuffed zucchini, bell peppers and eggplants

I love stuffed vegetables either filled with ground beef or ricotta or other vegetables. They are best eaten lightly cooled when the flavours have had time to set.

prep time 15 min     cook time 50 min
ingredients for 4
  • 2 eggplants
  • 2 zucchini
  • 2 bell peppers (red or yellow)
  • 500 g ground beef
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • salt and pepper
  • 200 g mozzarella (provola is ok too)
  • 4-5 Tbls bread crumbs
  • 3-4 Tbls grated Parmigiano
    1. Preheat oven to 180 C
    2. Wash and pat dry eggplants, zucchinis and peppers. Cut them in halves and empty the eggplants and zucchini of their flesh trying not to poke holes to the skin.

3. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place the vegetables on the tray. Cut the eggplant and zucchini halves just slightly and sprinkle some salt on all the vegetables.

4. Bake for 15 minutes.

5. In the meantime heat oil in a large pan and sauté the onion. Add the ground beef, season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Add the eggplant and zucchini flesh to the pan.

6. Cook for another 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool.

7. Add the mozzarella cut into cubes, 2-3 Tbls of bread crumbs and fill the eggplants, zucchini and peppers sprinkling some more breadcrumbs and grated Parmigiano on top.

8. Cook for abut 50 minutes and let them cool on the tray.

9. Serve with crusty bread and a nice glass of wine.

BUON APPETITO!

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Apple loaf cake

Easy peasy soft and moist apple yogurt cake coming up.

prep time 15 min     cook time 55 min
ingredients
  • 250 g flour
  • 250 g plain yogurt
  • 3 small or 2 big apples
  • 160 g sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 130 g melted butter
  • 16 g baking powder
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 Tbls cinnamon
    1. Pre heat oven to 180 C
    2. Grease and lightly flour a loaf pan. (10cm x 30cm)
    3. Beat the eggs and sugar until thick and fluffy. Add the zest, yogurt and  melted butter (cool) and beat for additional 2-3  minutes.
    4. Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and stir into the wet batter mixing just until combined.
    5. Peel 2 small apples (or 1,5 if you have big apples), slice them thinly or cut into small cubes and add to the batter.
    6. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and add one apple (or the half of the big one) thinly sliced on top of the batter. Sprinkle little bit of sugar and cinnamon on top.
    7. Bake for about 55 minutes at 180C or until the toothpick comes out clean. The yogurt and the apples make the cake very moist. You can garnish the loaf with some confectioner’s sugar.

BUON APPETITO!

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Pasta with pomodorini confit, anchovy and mozzarelline

In this recipe I’m using the pomodorini confit from my previous post.

prep time 5 min     cook time 10-12 min
ingredients for 4
  • 400 g orecchiette pasta (farfalle, penne, rigatoni)
  • 4 anchovy fillets in oil
  • 400 g pomodorini confit
  • 150 g baby mozzarella
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 2 Tbls of extra virgin olive oil
  • a few basil leaves

1.  Cook the pasta al dente.

    2. In the meantime heat the oil in a large pan and add the garlic clove and the anchovy fillets. Let cook until the anchovy “melts”, then remove the garlic. Add a ladle of cooking water.
    3. Drain the pasta 2 minutes before it’s cooking time, add to the pan and cook for 1-2 more minutes.
    4. Transfer to a serving bowl, add the pomodorini and the baby mozzarella (you can also use a mozzarella cut into cubes), toss and add the basil leaves on top.

 

    BUON APPETITO!
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Pomodorini confit (slow cooked cherry tomatoes)

These pomodorini confit, the slow cooked cherry tomatoes are used to accompany pasta dishes or to garnish many main courses. They can be offered also as an appetiser or a side dish or in panini or on bruschetta. You can also store them in the fridge in a glass jar, totally covered with extra virgin olive oil for about 2 weeks. Pomodorini confit are deliciously caramelized cherry tomatoes. The secret is to evaporate the water out of the tomatoes, without making them too dry. So you need to cook them at low temperature for 2 hrs.

prep time 10 min    cook time 90-120 min
ingredients for 1 normal size oven tray
  • 1 kg cherry tomatoes, or date or piccadilly or any kind of baby tomatoes as ripe as possible
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 Tbls sugar
  • fresh herbs like thyme, marjoram
  • oregano fresh or dried
  • 2-3 garlic cloves

1. Preheat the oven to 140°C (280°F). Set baking rack to middle position.

2. Wash the tomatoes,  pat dry and cut in half.

3. Place them cut side up onto a large baking tray, on top of parchment paper.

4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, the herbs and a little bit of sugar on top of each one. Add the garlic cloves here and there, no need to peel them.

5. Drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven. (don’t mind the glass jars underneath the tray, I was sterilising them)

6. Bake for 2 hrs. The time depends on your oven and the size of the tomatoes.

This is after 90 minutes in my oven.

This is how they look after 2 hrs in the oven. NOW they are ready.

BUON APPETITO!

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Penne pasta with asparagus and sausage

Delicate asparagus and strong savoury sausage is a perfect match. I recommend using Italian sausage but you may substitute it with turkey sausage ( I know, not the same thing). The dish is creamy without adding any cream. Yummy and healthy!

prep time 10 min     cook time 25 min
ingredients for 4
  • 400 g penne rigate (or rigatoni, farfalle, fusilli, tortiglioni)
  • 500 g asparagus
  • 300 g sausage, casing removed and crumbled
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • half a glass of white wine
  • 3-4 basil leaves
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

1. Separate the top part (head) of the asparagus from the stem (approximately 5 cm or 2 inches) and chop the stems discarding the hard white ends.

    2. Heat a few Tbls of oil in a large pan and sauté the onion until translucent. Add the crumbled sausage to the pan and cook for a few minutes. Add the wine and cook for 5-10 minutes. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.

3. Add the asparagus heads to the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Remove.

    4. Add a little bit of oil and pour the chopped asparagus stems to the pan. Add a glass of boiling water and cook the asparagus for 10 minutes. In the meantime start cooking your pasta.
    5. Blend the cooked asparagus until creamy adding a dash of salt and pepper, 1-2 Tbls of oil and the basil leaves.
    6. Tip the sausages and asparagus heads, setting aside 8-10 of them, in the pan, add the cooked pasta al dente, swirl and add the cream little by little at the end. I added it carefully to the plate. Otherwise it becomes all mixed and mushy.
    7. Plate and place 2-3 heads on top.
    BUON APPETITO!
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Cherry cake

This fluffy cherry cake is delicious. When in season look for  cherries that are bright dark red, shiny, plump, and quite firm and make sure there is no browning around the stems. Once we have the cherries, we need to remove the pits which is a tedious job but so worth it. Other than pitting the cherries, there’s nothing complicated in making this cake.

prep time 20 min     cook time 45-55 min

ingredients
  • 450 g cherries, pitted
  • 110 g flour
  • 70 g potato starch flour ( or corn starch)
  • 3 eggs
  • 150 g sugar + 2 Tbls
  • 80 g butter, melted or 75 ml oil (peanut, sunflower)
  • zest of one orange
  • 1 Tbls vanilla extract
  • 8 g baking powder
    1. Rinse, dry and pit the cherries and cut them in half.
    2. Pre heat oven to 180C.
    3. Butter and flour lightly a spring form pan, mine was 22cm,  and sprinkle 2 Tbls of sugar on the bottom and cover it with cherry halves.

    This is how it was explained in the original recipe and I followed it to a t. The end result was this, but I didn’t like it so I flipped the cake 🙂

4. Mix together the flour, potato starch and baking powder.

5. In another bowl beat the eggs, sugar, orange zest and vanilla until thick and light coloured. Pour the melted, cool butter beating with the mixer. Add the dry ingredients and beat lightly just so they are mixed.

6. Pour the batter into the baking pan on top of the cherries. Add the rest of the cherries on top. Some of them will sink into the batter.

7. Bake for 45-55 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I don’t know about you, put I prefer this to the “bottoms up” version. But hey, the taste is the same.

Tip: A common problem when adding a heavy fruit like cherries to a cake batter is that the fruit tends to sink to the bottom of the pan during baking. While this in no way affects the flavor of the cake, it does not allow us to appreciate the cherry’s full beauty. One way to avoid the sinking is to add the cherries on top of the batter like in this recipe, or mix a part of them in the batter and add the rest after the cake has baked about 15 minutes.

BUON APPETITO!