RISOTTO ALLA PESCATORA
After 14 months I can’t believe this is going to be our last CookAlong 
It all started at the beginning of the lockdown to keep people connected and focused on something positive and uplifting. I remember the very first one I felt extremely nervous trying to set up my phone on top of a pile of books 
to keep it still while I was getting the few ingredients available in the shops at the time, will people watch? Is it going to work? So many questions?
Yes It worked 
The 2/3 people in the first class doubled up very quickly and more people were tuning in week after week.
I wasn’t just talking to my phone, I was talking to everyone behind my camera and I was pretending I could hear everyone interacting (well in my head “seeing” faces behind the camera was the best way to hold a 60 minute class talking away about recipes and food stories).
I did try to avoid dishes using “dangerous” vocabulary like sheets …. but the temptation was too strong I gave in a few times (I guess that was part of the show 
)
The truth is that the CookAlongs were supporting you as much as they supported me, they were the highlight of my week, something to look forward to and to get excited about.
As the lockdown was bringing more isolation and lack of connection, I loved getting ready to cook and to see everyone, family from overseas, family here, friends, neighbours, people that I didn’t even know that became virtual friends ….. every single weekend …. for the past 13 months
My dear friend Lesley was my number one supporter from the very beginning (from the start of my cookery journey when I was working as a volunteer for MrJO ).
Lesley was not just a lovely friend, she was also an Italian student and her love for Italy 
and Italian food was exceptionally profound 
Sadly she passed away 
before I got to see her again and give her a big hug 
I am/ we are going to miss her, I know she’ll be looking down with a big smile telling me how to chop the garlic 
or telling me off for my silly jokes I hope you can join me to celebrate her life 
Please if you cannot make the CookAlong can I ask if you could make a small donation to our just giving page in honour of Lesley and everyone else who has been touched by this dreadful illness 
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bring-nonna-back
Grazie di cuore ❤️
Ingredients:
Serving 4
500g mussels or clams ( can be fresh or frozen, need to be cleaned)
250g prawns 
( with shell or without), or any shellfish available
350g risotto ( arborio rice)
Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved 
1 litre vegetable stock
Garlic one clove, halved
1 small dried chilli 
or half of a small fresh chilli, chopped (without the seeds for less heat)
Handful parsley 
flat leaves
Olive oil, 2 tbs
Salt 
, 2tsp
A large non stick pan with lid
A chopping knife
A chopping board
Thank you for holding the horses 
and cooking with us 
Preparation:
Pour the oil in the pan and put on a medium heat, add the garlic and the chilli. Gently simmer.
Add the mussels (or calms) and cook until they are fully opened. Add the prawns (with or without the shell) and cook for 4/5 minutes with the lid on. Remove the mussels (clams), the prawns, the garlic, the chilli and some of the juice from the pan, and place inside a bowl to rest.
Add the tomatoes to the pan and simmer in a little juice. add the rice and stir it in. The rice will start roasting and it’s important that it doesn’t burn. Season with a teaspoon of salt. Have you stock ready and gradually add it in the pan, keep stirring the rice. Repeat until the rice doubles in size. Add the seafood and all the juice back in the pan, stir everything in, keep cooking on a low heat and let it rest with the lid on for another 4/5 minutes.
Sprinkle some finely chopped parsley 🌿 before serving, Pronto! ☺️
P.S. You can use calamari instead of prawns and you can add half glass of white wine whilst the rice is roasting.
ANTIPASTI NATALIZI
We love ANTIPASTI ( did you know? ANTI = before PASTI= meals )= Starters
Yes, we love Starters and Christmas is the time where creativity and fresh ingredients go together even more beautifully!
Nonna taught us that Less is More Always but I could not possibly just show one/two Starters ideas …..
PRONTI? Are you ready?
UOVA RIPIENE (Stuffed Eggs) MEAT-FREE
/OO-OH-VAH REE-PEA-EH-NEH/
3 Hard Boiled eggs
Tin of Tuna in water
3tbs Mayonnaise
1 pinch of salt
a few anchovies in olive oil
tsp of capers
6 cherry or plum tomatoes
Halve the eggs and gently scoop the yolk out.
Mix the yolk with the mayonnaise, the tuna and the salt until smooth.
Evenly fill the whites with the mix and decorate with the halved tomatoes (hat and nose), the anchovies (beard) and capers (eyes). Your eggs should resemble either a BABBO NATALE (Father Christmas) or a RENNA (Reindeer)
BRUSCHETTA DI RAPA (Beetroot Bruschetta) VEGETARIAN
/BROO-SKEH-TAH DEE RAH-PAH/
One small fresh baguette, thinly sliced
3/4 pickled beetroots, sliced
100g of goat cheese, sliced
handful of walnuts
balsamic glaze
honey
Place a small slice of goat cheese on the bread, add a slice of beetroot, drizzle some honey and place a walnut on top. Finish with a little drizzle of balsamic glaze
PROSCIUTTO E ASPARAGI (Parma ham and asparagus)
/PROH-SHOO-TOH EH AH-SPAH-RAH-JEE/
4/6 slices of Parma Ham
10/12 Asparagus, grilled and seasoned
1 large mozzarella, sliced
Lay a slice of Parma ham, place a slice of mozzarella and 2/3 asparagus. Roll the Parma ham and cut in half. Place your asparagus “trees” on a serving dish.
PERE E PROSCIUTTO (Ham and Pears 🍐)
/PEH-REH EH PROH-SHOO-TOH/
1 or 2 pears, sliced
2/4 slices of PROSCIUTTO COTTO, Cooked ham
1 mozzarella, sliced
toothpicks
Lay the Cooked Ham and place a slice mozzarella in the middle. Fold the ham four times like a little parcel, turn it over and cut the parcel in half. Place a couple of slices on top and secure with a toothpick.
BRUSCHETTA DI FICHI (Fig Bruschetta)
/BROO-SKEH-TAH DEE FEE-KEY/
One small fresh baguette
3/ figs, sliced with skin on
a handful of spinach leaves
balsamic glaze
Place a little drizzle of balsamic glaze on the bread, place a spinach leaf and a slice of fig on top. Drizzle a little glaze.
Pronti!!
Enjoy your ANTIPASTI and BUON NATALE A TUTTI 🙂
You can watch me make this recipe on my YouTube channel, hope you will like it and if you do, I hope you will share this dish with your friends 🙂
GRAZIE DI CUORE
Something is cooking this December
Something is cooking this December …. and both Nonna & I cannot wait to tell you all about it!
If you love our recipes please stay tuned because we are going to share more recipes and secrets with you
Here is a little taste 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78bCoTOmxAo
PASTA VACANZA
PASTA VACANZA
/VAH-CAN-TSAH/
Holiday Pasta ☀️
A recipe inspired to my summers as a child spent in beautiful Sardinia ☀️🌊
It’s instantly bringing back so many memories that I will treasure forever
This is a fresh and versatile dish that can be eaten hot or cold; ideal for packed lunch your whole family would absolutely LOVE it
Ingredients:
BASILICO 🌿 Basil, handful
AGLIO 🧄 Garlic, one clove
PASSATA 🥫Plain Tomato Passata, 200g
OLIO EXTRA VERGINE D’OLIVA 🌿 Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 6 tbs 🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄
SALE, Salt 🥄
200g POMODORI 🍅 tomatoes
Use a hand blender to blitz the tomatoes
- Chop the garlic 🧄 and the basil 🌿 very finely. Pour the olive oil in a large pan and put on a medium heat. Add the garlic 🧄 and basil 🌿 and gently simmer.
- Add the blitzed tomatoes, season and mix.
- Add the the passata and stir. Cook on a low heat with the lid on for 10 minutes.
- Bring 1.5 litre of water 💦 to a boil, add a tbs of coarse salt 🧂 and add the pasta into the water 💦.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain the pasta and mix it in with the sauce into a large serving dish.
Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese and enjoy
You can watch me make this recipe on my YouTube channel, hope you’ll enjoy and if you do, please share this dish with your friends 🙂
GRAZIE DI CUORE
BUON APPETITO!
RAVIOLI DI MAMMA
My favourite pasta dish EVER ! This is the dish that I would crave the most and the one that would make me feel at home
A wholesome, fresh and super tasty recipe and an ideal alternative to meat or ricotta ravioli. The potato filling makes the whole dish a perfect main course! This is a recipe that I learned from my Mamma and it took me a long time to “master” the fiddly dumping shape ( although I still don’t think I have completely mastered it)
As a child I loved making this delicious recipe and as well as kneading the dough I would help rolling the filling into small balls and ….. secretly eat them, I can still remember what they tasted like 🙂 …
In Italian we say:
FARE LA PASTA /FAH-REH LAH PASH-STAH/ = making pasta (verb + feminine noun)
IMPASTARE /EEM-PAH-STAH-REH/ = to knead, verb
PATATE /PAH-TAH-TEH/ = potatoes, feminine noun (plural)
MENTA / MEN – TAH/ = mint, feminine noun (singular)
POMODORO /POH-MOH-DO-ROH/ = tomato , masculine noun (singular)
Serving 6
Ingredients
For the Ravioli:
Plain Flour Tipo “00” 250g
Semolina 250g
White Potatoes 5/6 large
Mint, finely chopped 1 bunch
Spring Onions 2
Garlic Cloves 1 whole
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 4 tbsp
Water 1 glass
Salt, large pinch 1
Parmesan, grated 50g
For the Sauce:
Tomato Passata 2 bottles (680g per bottle)
White Onion, half, finely chopped
Basil, finely chopped 1bunch
Olive Oil, 2 tbsp
Salt, 1 pinch
Filling : Peel the potatoes and cut them in small chunks. Boil them until soft, put them into a large bowl and mash them until creamy and smooth.
In a small pan put the olive oil, the spring onion finely chopped and the garlic clove. Put it on the heat until simmering. Take the pan off the heat and the mint. Let the oil cool down.
Take the garlic out and pour the oil in the mash, add the grated parmesan and a pinch of salt. Stir it until soft and smooth. Add some more salt if needed.
Pasta: Place the flour and the semolina on a board or in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add some water and mix it together
Once it is all combined, knead until you have a silky, smooth, elastic dough. You are aiming to achieve a play dough texture.
If your dough is crumbly (too dry) add a teaspoon of water. If the dough sticks to your hands (too wet) add a little extra flour or semolina. Cover with cling film and rest for 30 minutes.
Take a tennis ball-sized amount of dough, squash it flat with your fingers, push it through the pasta roller on the widest setting. Fold into thirds, then repeat 3 times. Once you have a rough square shape, start working it through the machine, taking it down one setting at a time, until the thinnest setting.
You should end up with a long sheet of pasta about 8-10cm wide. Place this on a flat surface with flour underneath to stop it from sticking. Use a circular cutter (8/10 cm diameter) or a glass of the same size.
Gently press the mould in the pasta to form lots of round shapes. Place about a small ball of filling into each circle and very gently try closing each dumpling in the shape of drop. Please watch the video for the tutorial, hope it will be helpful 🙂
Make as many ravioli/dumplings as possible, using up all the filling and the dough.
In a large saucepan bring 1/1.5l water to the boil and add a table spoon of coarse salt. As the water is boiling gently place your ravioli into the water, 5 at the time. They will cook pretty quickly ( as soon as they floating you know they are cooked). Use a small colander to get the out and gently place them on a serving dish.
Sauce: In a large pan put the olive oil, the onion and some of the basil. Put it on the heat until simmering. Add the passata, a pinch of salt and cover with a lid, cook on a low heat for 10 minutes. Add the rest of the basil before serving.
Now pour the sauce on your ravioli , sprinkle some parmesan and enjoy !!!
BUON APPETITO !
PEPERONI RIPIENI – Stuffed Peppers
Hot or cold, same day or the next… you are going to LOVE this dish ❤️
This is what us Italians call:
“UN PIATTO COMPLETO” a complete dish ☺️ it’s complete as vegetables and meat are combined together but there’s also a veggie option for my vegetarian friends 🌱
Ingredients
(Serving 4/5 )
4/6 peppers ( yellow/red or orange)
500g beef mince
One boiled potato 🥔 (medium size)
2 garlic cloves , one garlic clove finely chopped; the other clove left whole
Handful of fresh Parsley 🌱
Bread crumbs ( handful)
One egg 🥚
Olive oil
Salt, tsp 🧂
Plain Tomato Passata 300g
Dried Oregano 🌿 , tsp
Parmesan or cheddar
Vegetarian option ( Swap mince for Rice)
150g Plain rice 🍚 (boiled)
Handful of cherry tomatoes (diced)
Basil 🌿, handful, chopped
1 garlic clove 🧄, halved
Cappers (optional)
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees
In a large bowl mix the mince with chopped garlic, chopped parsley, an egg and a handful of breadcrumbs. Add a tsp of salt 🧂and mix everything in.
Halve the peppers, take the seeds out and place the mince inside the peppers (starting with a tablespoon of mince first and keep filling the peppers until they are completely full). If you have some mince leftover you can make some meatballs and cook them in the sauce.
Place them on a tray and bake them for 20 minutes at 190 degrees
In a large pan add a couple of tbs of olive oil, add the oregano 🌿 and the whole garlic, put the pan on a medium heat. Add the passata 🍅, season with salt and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes.
Take the peppers out the oven, place them in the pan and keep cooking them in the pan, with the lid on.
Sprinkle some cheese and keep cooking until the cheese melts completely
Veggie option:
Boil 150g of rice.
Mix the tomatoes 🍅 ,capers, basil 🌿 and the rice together.
Fill the peppers and sprinkle some breadcrumbs ( breadcrumbs will avoid the rice to dry up once in the oven), drizzle with olive oil
Place the peppers on an oven tray and bake for 20 minutes at 190 degrees or until the peppers are softened
You can add some grilled asparagus or courgettes as a fresh side dish to go with it
Buon appetito ☺️
PASTA AL TONNO E POMODORINI
…. As simple as that ❤️ A few fresh ingredients for a quick pasta dish that your whole family will love ☺️
TONNO /TOH-NOH/ 🐟
POMODORINI /POH-MOH-DOH-REE-NEE/ 🍅
Or we should also say : Protein, Amino acid, omega 3 , vitamin C, antioxidants, potassium, vitamin K ❤️
How does it sound?
Ingredients
300g Short pasta (Penne, Farfalle,Fusilli)
1 tin of tuna
A punnet of cherry tomatoes 250g 🍅(halved or diced)
1 or 2 garlic cloves 🧄 (finely chopped)
1 handful of basil, chopped
salt
3/4 tbsp olive oil
Preparation
Boil some water (1 litre) for the pasta, don’t forget to add a tablespoon of coarse salt in the water. Put the pasta into the water and cook for 10/12 (following the cooking time on the packet but do not overcook it ).
Put the olive oil in a pan on a medium heat 🔥 and add the tomatoes 🍅 and the salt 🧂
Cook for a couple of minutes and add the garlic 🧄, stir and add the tuna (make sure it’s drained).
Keep stirring. Cook only for a few minutes (the tomatoes need to stay a bit crunchy). Turn the heat off. Sprinkle the basil 🌿
The pasta should be ready by now. Drain it and pour the sauce into the pasta. Mix it together 💪🏻Pronto!
You can add a handful of fresh cherry tomatoes 🍅 some olives or some diced mozzarella ❤️ Enjoy……………….even the next day!
Risotto agli Asparagi e Limone
Hands up who loves Risotto?
We doooooo!!! It’s that kind of comfort food, creamy, warm and full of goodness beautiful food that will take you back to Italy, … the best way I would describe it is it’s like receiving a hug on a plate 🙂 and who doesn’t need a hug right now?
You can use any of your favorite vegetables but today we are using ASPARAGI /AH-SPAH-RAH-JEE/ Asparagus (a great source of nutrients, including vitamins A, C and K), with the freshness of a lemon.
Are you ready? PRONTI?
Serving 4 people
Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
350g Arborio rice
500ml vegetable stock or 500ml hot water (1 gelatine type chicken cube to mix in the water)
white onion, half, finely chopped
50g butter
150g asparagus, sliced (tips left whole)
zest of one lemon ( do not grate the white pith which is bitter and should not be eaten)
2tbs extra virgin olive oil
handful of rest parsley, finely chopped
fresh parmesan, as much as you like!!!!!
Preparation
Place the butter in a non-stick pan and melt it on a low/medium heat, add the onion and simmer until golden , add the rice and stir it in. The rice will start roasting and it’s important that it doesn’t burn. Add the asparagus (just the stems, sliced) and mix them with the rice. Add half of the lemon zest and a pinch of salt, stir everything in. Have your stock ready and make sure it’s hot, alternatively melt the gelatine cube in the hot water and mix it thoroughly. Gradually add the stock in the pan and keep stirring the rice, repeat this until you have used all the stock. Add the tips of the asparagus and mix them in. The rice is starting to grow and absorbing all the liquid, add more stock if it looks too sticky or turn the heat up if it’s too wet, keep mixing it throughly. In a separate bowl mix the rest of the lemon zest, olive oil and the parsley and put it aside.
The rice will look creamy and will taste “al dente”.
Serve it with some fresh parmesan, shavings or grated and pour the olive oil, lemon and parsley dressing. Pronto!
P.S. Rice takes 14/15 minutes to cook, should you have used all of your stock and the rice feels still quite hard, I would recommend to add a little water but don’t over cook it! Never cook your rice for longer than 15 minutes !
Ali con i Peperoni e Bruschetta
So much flavour in a very simple dish made with a very few ingredients.
The secret? A very few ingredients 🙂
We love chicken POLLO /POH-LOH/ but we prefer to eat it on the bone and wings are one of the most flavourful part and fantastic for this delicious recipe.
PEPERONI /PEH-PEH-ROH-NEE/ not to be confused with PEPPERONI the sausage you put on pizza, except when you are in Italy of course, because if you ask for a Pepperoni pizza you’ll get a pizza with peppers on top. Yes! Peppers, beautiful peppers… red, yellow, orange!
So far we only have two ingredients: wings and peppers…..wait! that’s exactly what this dish is called!! The truth is that you don’t need to add anything else a part from 4 tablespoons of olive oil and a good pinch of salt.
To accompany the wings I would recommend a beautiful BRUSCHETTA AL POMODORO …. correctly pronounced /BROO-SKEH-TAH/
A little trick for you to master the best Italian pronunciation is remembering that the letters “C” and “H” together sound the opposite to English, CH = /K/ just like in the word CHIANTI (which I am sure you are familiar with)
So…are you ready? SIETE PRONTI?
🙂
Ingredients:
A packet of chicken wings (roughly 12 wings, halved as they will cook quicker)
3 peppers, red / yellow / orange (sliced quite chunky)
NOT green peppers
Olive oil, 4 tbs
Salt
One large non-stick pan with lid
A punnet of cherry tomatoes 🍅 (diced)
Garlic (finely chopped )
Fresh Basil 🌿 (finely chopped)
Bread ( baguette 🥖or any type of bread available 🍞)
Put a large non-stick pan on a medium heat, pour the olive oil in and add the wings. Add the salt, cover with the lid and cook for 10 minutes. Add the peppers and keep cooking for another 10 minutes, stirring every now and again. Add a little more salt if needed. Cook until the wings are golden and the peppers are soft.
In a bowl mix the tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil and salt. Let it marinade for 5 minutes before serving on slices of bread
BUON APPETITO, SONO SICURA CHE VI PIACERÀ 🙂
BringNonnaBack 