...alle cime di rapa or "broccoli rabe"

Let's comeback to the healthy diet and let's cook something at home!
This is a great recipes even for children who maybe don't like vegetables, because I think no one can resist to this dish.

This is a typical south italian recipe but I love it so much because the consistency of Orecchiette with the bitter taste of the vegetable enriched by the chili, the garlic and the nice taste of the anchovies... it's unique!

It's one of this pasta dishes that base all its taste on the real ingredients and the olive oil... No cheeses to combine the ingredients or to give the last touch. So healthy and fulfilling you can be sure a portion of this can just do good to yourself. I hope you will trust me!
 
The ingredients for 4 people are:

400gr Orecchiette Pastificio dei Campi
6 fillets of anchovies
2 garlic cloves Broccoli rape?(already clean) 600 g
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
and some chili and salt

Take the broccoli rabe already clean, remove the largest leaves or the hardest parts of the stem, taking precisely the more tender parts. Cut all into pieces, and wash them and [place them to boil for some minutes in some salty water.
 
In the meantime in a pan place some olive oil, the 2 garlic cloves, the pepper cut in little rings and with the chopped anchovies.
When the broccoli leaves are ready, drain them but keep aside the cooking water, to boil the orecchiette.
 
When the garlic is browned and the anchovies almost melted, add the turnip greens and let them take all the flavors for a few minutes. When also the orecchiette will be al dente, drain them and  add them to the pan.
Toss everything for some minutes and add some more oil or cooking water and then enjoy!

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To recover from the festivities

Are you  trying to comeback to a normal eating regime, after all you had during this month?
It's known that after all these days of food and drinks you will fell hungry often: doctors says it's useless to do a severe post Christmas detox diet. You will still be hungry and you won't loose so much weight, because the body will feel the need to keep energy and the fat accumulated.

The solution is to have regular and light meals that can keep you fulfilled for longer. Some days ago was even published an article about a Swedish study: Mediterranean diet gives longer life… and we are speaking about 2-3 years more! A diet that sees prevailing vegetables and carbohydrates ensures a long and healthy life, as it helps maintain a healthy weight and reduces the chances of developing cardiovascular disease.

So have a look at this vegetarian pasta: replacing cream with a light cheese like ricotta it’s my secret to have a lighter but tasty dish.

Ingredients for 2 persons:
- 200 gr Spaghetti Pastificio dei Campi
- 100 gr. raw spinach
- a handful of pine nuts
- 100 gr. of ricotta
- 50 gr of smoked cheese (the bavarian one is quite good on this pasta )
- olive oil - salt and pepper
- 1 clove of garlic

Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan. In another pan heat some oil and brown the clove of a garlic, add the spinach, some pepper and let cook a couple of minutes. In a bowl mix the ricotta with a spoon of hot water from the pasta, mix well.

Cook the pasta, drain and pour into the pan, add the pine nuts and ricotta with salt and toss it all. Grate some smoked cheese on top, mix a minute and serve it on a plate.

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The recipe chosen after the british cheese week

 
It's definitely autumn and almost Halloween and so have to be the season also for... pumpkins! I love them but I admit I cook them really rarely. Pumpkins are so sweet and tasty and they go so well with certain herbs that every recipe is a new discovery.
This time I decided to use the butternut squash and a special cheese I bought from the british cheese week!

I went in fact to Neal's Yard Dairy last week, the amazing cheese shop that you can see in these pictures. I was looking for the Kilree Goat's Cheese that won lots of prices this year, but I couldn’t find it so they gave me a  very interesting cheese to cook with: Berkeswell an unpasteurized sheep's milk cheese , creamy, with nutty flavor and a bit different from the average english cheeses as also Chrispople says on his blog.

  I then thought about pumpkins and  I found an interesting recipe with cream of pumpkins and salted pumpkins, rosemary, pumpkins seeds and pancetta... but then I also saw some streaky bacon and it was a deal.
 
This is the recipe for 3 people:
 
- 300 gr Pennoni Pastificio dei Campi

- a little butternut squash,

- 150gr of Berkswell cheese,

- onion

- rosemary

- some pumpkins seeds,

- olive oil,

- butter salt

- and streaky bacon .

Let’s start by the cream: in a sauce pan put some finely chopped onions and olive oil. Let the onions get goldish and then add the pumpkin pealed and cut in little cubes. Add some white wine and when evaporated, some salt and just water. At this point I also added some rosemary.
When the pumpkin was almost melted I added the cheese in little cubes too (leaving some of it a part) and I stirred until all became a cream. You can use even the blender if you want.

While the water for the pasta was boiling, in another pan I put the rest (1/3) of the pumpkin cut in julienne (little sticks) with a bit of butter, rosemary and pumpkin seeds.
I added some salt to the pumpkin and the streaky bacon… just amazing colors all together and the smell was great.
When the pasta was al dente I added the pasta to the pan with the cream of pumpkin and the rest. I toss it all on a low fire and then I served it with some more grated cheese on top, fresh rosemary and pumpkin seeds.
A nice way to welcome the autumn! I hope you will enjoy like we did!

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3 days of food, music and fun for a unique festival.

As the majority of you, this year I could not attend this beautiful event, La festa della Pasta, the Pasta Festival that took place in the Campagnia region last weekend. In these days I was craving and just waiting for some pictures from the event. I was curious to see  what happened in Gragnano during the celebration.

If I was thinking that the last Festival could have been hard to overcome, these pictures from this year just told me the contrary: there was food, there was an enormous amount of people, there was music, special shows, magic in the air and of course the best pasta in the world with its never ending tradition.

With the help of the government of the region and with the participation of the Slow Food organization, the party was at its best! It's always nice to see people working in the production of this precious food, their family and friends, sharing all this with the people in love with the good food and who appreciate this fundamental element of our culture.

Here some pictures that from the italian blogger Giovanna Esposito and from Alessandro Savarese for E-comunica. Thanks to both of you for your beautiful images that catch the real vibe of this great party.

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A great article on pasta, from the origins to the global and the English market.

On tuesday we were glad to see our Pastificio Dei Campi pasta on The Guardian "word of mouth" blog, named by Oliver Thring as the best pasta brand he ever tried.

The article in fact begins speaking about the latest news released by an Oxfam international research this year about the use of the pasta in the world and the fact that pasta is definetly the world's favorite food.

For sure a great result for something that has been invented and produced for years just in one little country like Italy. But is really like this and how this was possible? These are the questions the article wants to answer analyzing the origin of pasta, the steps in the history and its success during the years in Italy like abroad.

Do you know how much pasta the english consume every year? or do you know that especially the english children use to love it? And have you ever come across a student forum and their conversations about pasta and recipes?

Here are all the answers and some interesting and curious information about pasta.

Thanks again @OliverThring for the mention and let's hope to make the english discover and love the good italian pasta always more.

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The last Saturday of every month for all the food lovers

I hope you are not going away just yet, and I also hope that you are going to be free this Saturday, because we have been preparing a nice surprise for you all and we are sure you will love it.
 
Next Saturday, the 30th of July, there will be a new special market opening up in London and precisely in St John’s Wood, North West London.
From 10am till 5pm, you will have the chance to find fresh food, olive oils and vinegars, sauces and gourmet products used by the most famous restaurants in London, beer and wine tastings, cooking demo and even premium food for your pets. 

 
The market will be beside the popular Pub in 96 Clifton Hill and it will be held in conjunction with Food in the city , importers of gourmet and organic food from around the world: spicy sauces from Australia, pasta from Gragnano and fine chocolate from this sublime online larder that is a favorite of many top chefs!

The Clifton, famed for its food, fun atmosphere and of course great beverages have invited many of its suppliers to offer their great produce to visitors. So you'll soon be enjoying artisanal breads , the best of English and French cheeses plus chutneys and relishes, and a great variety of the finest products from Andreas fine fruit and vegetables.

Finally and with great pleasure we will have the honor to offer you some finest italian PGI pasta Pastificio dei Campi Spaghetti , from Gragnano with San Marzano tomatoes naturally seasoned by the crisp Italian sea air, and cooked by a really special guest !

Are you curious to know who will cook our great pasta? are you interested in taste the real Italian pasta with San Marzano tomatoes? You know where to go next Saturday then!

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What is on a daily menu of a Michelin Stars chef

An interesting recipe book is coming out today: it's “Taste of Home: 200 quick and easy recipes” written by the chef Angela Hartnett.

A protégé of  Gordon Ramsay she has won few Michelin stars for London’s Murano restaurant.
 
Famous for her Italian and Mediterranean cuisine coming from her roots (Italian grandparents), in this book she share with us some of her simple and straightforward recipies from her everyday life and her childhood. 

Nothing too long, too complicate, fussy or too expensive but simple dishes cooked by someone that knows a lot about food.
 
So I was curious to see her way to cook pasta, which recipes she could have included, what shape of pasta she could have chosen and if she has combined the original recipes with some special ingredient or flavour.

Here I found this Spaghetti with mussels in tomato sauce...and you can feel the sun from the south of Italy. No bad eh?

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 2kg mussels
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 thyme sprig
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• bunch of flatleaf parsley, stalks removed and leaves chopped
• 150ml white wine
• 350g dried spaghetti- Pastificio dei Campi to make the dish really south - Italian
• 250g basic tomato sauce for pasta
• pinch of dried chilli
• handful of chopped basil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Clean the mussels under cold running water, scrubbing the shells well and removing the hairy beards. Discard any mussels that are already open. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan, add the thyme and garlic and the stalks of the parsley. Add the mussels, then pour in the white wine. Cover the pan and cook until the mussels have opened. Discard any that don’t open. Remove the mussels from the pan and reserve the liquid. Take half the mussels out of their shells. bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the spaghetti and stir. Cook according to the packet instructions, until the pasta is al dente. Heat the rest of the olive oil in a large pan, add the tomato sauce and dried chilli and warmthe sauce through. Check the seasoning. Drain the spaghetti and put it back in the pan. Toss with the tomato sauce, basil, chopped parsley leaves and shelled mussels. Add the remaining mussels in their shells on top and serve immediately.

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