olive oil – BringNonnaBack

January 26, 2018February 13, 2021Uncategorized

Pesce in Padella Facile-Facile

Ahhhhh you are going to love this recipe!

It’s quick, easy, wholesome and full of the Mediterranean goodness that both my Mum and my Nonna always rave about, I can hear them say ” We are not on a diet, we eat a variety of foods and we make sure we use all the foods that are good for you: fruit, vegetables, fish, fats, proteins…… “.

My Nonna is 96 years old, her sisters are all between 80 and 85 years old, my Mamma is 70 years old, my great aunt is 98 years old and I even had a great uncle who lived till he was 104.

I can see now what they have been telling me all my life, it is definitely not a diet, it is a way of life that I am lucky enough to have experienced and I am going to treasure forever.

Thanks to what they taught me I am now teaching my children to enjoy food just like I did as a child, but not just my children need to know what type of food is good for their heart, what food prevent diabetes, obesity, dementia and other serious conditions.

So this recipe has got a little bit of everything, a subtle combination of white wine vinegar and tomatoes, garlic and bayleaf and a little bit of wine ( POCO VINO) …. all those flavours are going to make any fish dish extremely tasty.

It takes me back to my childhood in Sardinia, my beautiful island in the South of Italy, and somehow I hope with this dish I am taking you there too……

Serving 4 people

Ingredients

4 pieces of any type of white fish

handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

handful of bayleaf

1 garlic clove, peeled and halved

50ml of good quality white wine vinegar

50ml of red wine

50ml extra virgin olive oil

100ml tomato passata

pinch of salt

fresh basil

fullsizeoutput_51b9

Preparation

Put the oil, garlic and bayleaf in a large pan. Simmer and add the fish. Season the fish with salt. Cook on a medium heat for 3/4 minutes. Pour the wine in and let it blend in with the fish, add the passata and gently mix with a spoon. Pour in the white wine vinegar and cook on a low heat for another 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until they soften up. Sprinkle some fresh basil and season with more salt if needed. Pronto!!

Serve with some roast new potatoes and a mozzarella salad, your family will love it 🙂

February 5, 2017Uncategorized

LARAncini Facili

What do you do your your left overs rice? I make ARANCINI 🙂

Arancini are originally from Sicily, one of the islands in the Mediterranean. I come from Sardinia. What’s the link between the geographical reference with this dish? Well, I am taking a traditional Sicilian recipe to another level by following the same idea of rice balls covered in bread crumbs and fried but adding a little twist! I am a strong believer of No Food Waste, (my Nonna taught me well) and this dish is great if you have some left overs rice. What type of rice? Any rice, I tried with Risotto, boiled rice or even basmati rice. It always works ! #FoodRevolution #BringNonnaBack

This recipe is made with both mushroom risotto and boiled rice left overs.

Serving 2-4 people

Ingredients

250g rice left overs

150g bread crumbs ( I made my bread crumbs with some stale bread, pinch of salt and a handful of preferably fresh or dry rosemary)

1 large egg beaten

home made pesto ( I always make my own fresh pesto, I have my fresh herbs by my kitchen window, handy for all the emergencies!! Basil and Parsley are my favourite)

olive oil

salt

Preparation

Make up 6/8 medium size rice balls. Make a small hole with a skewer and fill with fresh pesto. Close the hole, dip the rice balls in the egg and cover them with the bread crumbs. Gently fry them in hot olive olive on a flat pan. Keep turning them until golden. Leave to rest on a paper towel, season with a pinch of salt and pepper if you wish….Pronto!!! Enjoy with some salad or dip them in pesto. They are great for pack lunches or snacks.

January 26, 2017March 15, 2018Uncategorized

Il mio CousCous

Servings: “2”
Time: 20mins
Print

Beautiful and fresh for lunch and dinner, this is perfect for packed lunch too and after a workout

Ingredients

-100g CousCous

-200ml hot water

-2 spring onions, finely sliced

-1 red or yellow pepper, finely sliced

-3/4 mushrooms, finely chopped

-1 tin of cannellini beans (optional)

-1 courgette, finely sliced

-Fresh chillies, sliced

-Salt

-Olive Oil, 3tbs

-Juice of 1 lemon

-Chopped fresh mint, handful

Directions

Tip couscous into a large bowl, pour over the hot water. Cover with a tea towel, then leave for 10 mins, until fluffy and all the water has been absorbed.
Meanwhile, put all the peppers, mushrooms, courgettes and spring onion in a pan with a little olive oil and simmer the vegetables until soft.
Rinse the cannellini beans and add them with the vegetables to the couscous, add a a few slices of chillies (depending how spicy you like it), dress with olive oil, salt and lemon juice and mix, then sprinkle over some fresh mint to serve.

Did you know that amongst all its incredible benefits couscous is not only my ultimate favourite food 💗but also a source of Selenium 🙌🏻which is a powerful anti-oxidant!!! It is an excellent side dish, great for salads, with fish and meat or simply with vegetables. It’s extremely versatile and you can add all your favourite ingredients!! Couscous reminds me of my Mediterranean sea, the nutty flavour brings me back to my childhood when my Mum used to cook our traditional “Fregola Sarda alle Vongole”, Giant Couscous with Clams…FAVOLOSA!!!! I make sure will be sharing with you my family’s recipe 🙂

Serving suggestions : place the couscous on a plate, slice 1 beef tomato, place it on the plate with some green olives, lettuce and one sliced avocado. Drizzle some olive oil and lemon juice…Pronto!!!

April 5, 2016April 5, 2016Uncategorized

Insalata di Patate

When I was invited to share my cookery skills at the Women’s Day event on the 8th March I was asked to make something easy, tasty and versatile.

My potato salad, “Insalata di Patate” is the dish that I chose and it’s also inspired to my #BringNonnaBack campaign. My Nan who is now 94 years old, has taught me that good food is made with simple ingredients, the fresher they are the better your dish is going to be. She is right and I realised that using a few simple ingredients is the secret of a balanced diet. On the 8th March whilst celebrating the milestones, the achievements and grand gestures of Women from around the World I had to celebrate the food philosophy of ONE of the two inspiring Women in my life (my Mum is the other Woman!!!)

Serving 8/10

You will need a pestle and mortar (an electric blender can be used instead), a chopping board, a chopping knife, a large serving bowl, a large saucepan, a lemon squeezer

Ingredients

1.5 kilos of new potatoes (preferably organic)

1 handful of fresh mint

1 handful of fresh basil

4 large lemons (unwaxed), zest and juice

2 medium cloves of garlic

fine salt, a good pinch

extra virgin olive oil, 6 large tablespoons

Preparation

In a large saucepan, pour 1/1.5l of water and put the potatoes in (you don’t need to peel or cut them but make sure you thoroughly wash them before). Bring the water to the boil, add a table spoon of salt and cook for 20 minutes or until soften.

Drain the potatoes and place the on a large serving bowl. Whilst the potatoes are cooling down, take all the basil and mint leaves (chop the stems off) and place the leaves into a pestle and mortar. Peel the garlic, put the garlic in with the leaves, add a pinch of salt and start pounding. You may need to add the leaves in batches if your mortar isn’t big enough Gradually add the lemon zest, lemon juice and the olive oil. Keep mashing and continue until the ingredients are combining together. Pound until you’ve reached the right texture. You should have an oozy consistency. Have a taste and if needed season with more salt. Mix in with the potatoes…Pronto! Buon Appetito!

December 30, 2015December 30, 2015Uncategorized

Bruschetta ai Funghi

BRUSCHETTA pronounced“ BROO-SKEH-TTAH” is not only a very popular Italian dish but it is also one of many Italian words that people mispronounce. With this recipe I combined some cookery skills along with language skills. As a language tutor I find that people learn quickly with practical examples and by referring to words that regularly pop out on a daily basis.

Here is a word that everybody would know though: CHIANTI and I am sure we all know how to say it! “KEY-AN-TEE” …. Just like that!

“CHI” and “CHE” always sound “KEY” and “KEH” therefore whenever we find words with these syllables we need to remember to pronounce them as there was a ‘K’ .
Have a go now with some other popular words:
MOSCHINO (brand) MÁCCHINA (car)
ORCHÉSTRA (orchestra) MÁSCHERA (mask)
MARCHE (a region) TACCHÍNO (turkey)
CHILO ( kilo) FORCHÉTTA (fork)

While we are all saying these words out loud we can make this very tasty recipe….and by now we should know exactly how to pronounce “Bruschetta” 🙂

Serving 4 people

Ingredients

300g closed up mushrooms, washed and chopped

1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, washed and finely chopped

300g double cream

2 garlic cloves , finely chopped

2 loaves of tiger bread or ciabatta

3 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Parmesan cheese, shavings

1 pinch of salt

Preparation

Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Add the mushrooms and cook for a 3/4 minutes.

Add the garlic and the parsley. Stir it and pour the cream in, add a pinch of salt and cook for 2 minutes at low heat.

Slice the bread and toast or grill it. Place the bread on a large serving plate.
Pour the sauce on the bread and add the parmesan shavings.…Pronto!!!

Buon Appetito!!!

March 30, 2015April 28, 2017Uncategorized

A Classic……PASTA with PESTO

So many different versions of Pesto, I know, but this classic Italian recipe is really really easy to make and extremely tasty. I would make enough to store it in the freezer ( an ice cube tray is ideal ) so it’s fresh every time I need it and my Nonna would say : FACCIAMO PROVVISTA ( Let’s stock up) … Of course it goes with Pasta (we love it with Tagliatelle!) but it’s that kind of sauce that would go with ANYTHING: fish, chicken, roasted vegetables, bruschetta, panini, mozzarella, green salad, fresh tomatoes, potatoes, even pizza! If you have a nut allergy you can miss the pine nuts out and perhaps add some grated parmesan cheese instead. If you want to make it a little bit more adventurous you can add a handful of rocket or for a spicy kick you can add some fresh chillies.

Serving 4 people

Ingredients

Basil, a good handful, you can’t ever have too much basil!

Parsley, handful half the size of the basil

Garlic, one small clove

a pinch of salt ( you can add a little more if you like 🙂

20g pine nuts

50ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil

300g Pasta (Tagliatelle or your favorite type of pasta)

Preparation

You can either put all of your ingredients into a blender and whisk it up until you get a smooth texture or as an authentic Italian recipe you should use a pestle&mortar. Pesto in Italian means bashed up and that is exactly what you would do with a pestle&mortar, you bash all the lovely ingredients together until you get a smooth texture and your arm starts aching from the strenuous movement while stirring 😉 It’s definitely a good workout too!

Although I said you need 50ml of olive oil you can always add a little more if you feel it looks too dry (just play it by ear).

In a saucepan bring some water to the boil, add a tbsp of salt and put your pasta in, follow the cooking time on the packet. Drain your pasta and mix your pesto in, stir it and add some grated parmesan for some extra flavour. Pronto!!!