Lunch at Fornata and a quick stop in Melograno Deli

 
What does it means when daddy is at home? That excitement and positive vibe is in the air and everyone starts to organize lunches, dinners and coffees trying to meet him, while he is rushing and jumping from a place to another. You need to be quick if you want to reach him.
 
So in all this messaging, texting, chatting, being careful about scheduling and flight-trains departures, I was lucky enough to meet him in Fornata where we enjoyed a quick but great lunch with Niccolo from Foodinthecity too!

A part from the classic and well known starters made of Arancini with meat ragu' and Mozzarella in carrozza (delicious), we had directly from the artistic inspiration of the chef Douglas Santi this great pasta mista dish with courgettes, endive, anchovies, a sprinkle of chili (soo tasty) all combined by just a bit of fresh ricotta! Gorgeous! Then we couldn't miss one of the signature dish of the place the FORNATA hamburger: a delicious hamburger in a focaccia. It has all the taste of my childhood bread, the rosetta, that my mum used to give me with the meat, when I wasn't happy about the meal.  

And finally, to complete the feast, we had a slice of tiramisu... And I repeat a slice! Go and try it... I won't tell you anything more but you then will understand what I'm speaking about.
 
I didn't even had the time to finish the dessert that he was already gone for a quick hello to Dino at Melograno! 

Anything else you want to do in the last five minutes before your flight?

Torna presto!

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An amazing mix of flavors to enjoy this funny night

Do you fancy a nice cozy dish for Halloween? If you are going to give a party at home, or going out fancy dressed and full of make up or if you are just ready to wait the children at home for they sweets or tricks, why don't treat yourself with a nice Halloween pasta soup?
 
And if you are carving a pumpkin for your Halloween this is the perfect recipe for you!

For 3 people you will need few simple ingredients:

• 200gr lentils
• 150 gr of pumpking (I prefer butternut squash)
• 200 gr pasta Mista Corta Pastificio Dei Campi
• 1/2 carrot
• 1 celery
• 1/2 onion
• Oil, salt and rosemary

Start preparing a “soffritto” cutting finely the onion, the carot and the celery and fry them in a sauce pan with some olive oil. Then add the lentils (already soaked) and around a litre of water.  Here I added some fresh rosemary  and salt.

Let the lentils cook for some minutes and in the meantime peal the pumpking and cut it in little cubes. Add the pumpking to the rest and let everything cook other 10-20 minutes at least.

When you think it’s everything almost ready, add some more hot water and the pasta. Let it cook with the lentils and the pumpkin but check always the time.

If you didn’t add to much water, this will be evaporated leaving a dense soup after around 10 minutes, time for the pasta to be cooked too. If you want the soup less dense just add more water.

Now the pasta soup is  ready and you can serve it with some fresh rosemary and olive oil.

Enjoy your Halloween night!

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A new socially-oriented platform for creating, sharing and comparing lists of things.

Today are exactly five years since the first tweet was posted on Twitter. How many of us could have think in this massive success? From breaking news to celebrity tweets, to the bloggers, sportive and simple people interested in saying their own thoughts, Twitter grew up so much that, for a good number of people, is now totally part of their day by day life.

What about instead Listgeeks, a funny platform I just discovered today? Basically if you are one of this people that loves to do lists or just someone curious about the fab five of other people, you can’t miss this website www.Listgeeks.com

Listgeeks Introduction from listgeeks on Vimeo.

Still in beta, this platform could be a new interactive tool we won’t be able to avoid in the next years, but for the moment is interesting to see the charts created by other people, comparing those with yours and maybe looking also for some idea or suggestion. You can search by terms, like cities, beers, restaurant, hobbies and discover what the people have in their favorites. You can even find places to go, things to do, restaurants never tried before and … recipes of course.

This morning in fact I had a little tour and what do you think I search there in first instance? "Pasta" of course! The only lists coming up were about people’s favorite food: pizza, pasta, dumplings etc... Then looking for recipes I didn’t see anything , so I decided to create my own list with my favorite five recipes until now! I was thinking it could be good to keep them handy for when needed. So here they are. 

I hope you will enjoy the charts and my chart.

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Pasta e Patate: one of the cheapest and tastiest recipes ever

Considering the really rainy Saturday just passed and some cold days we still have ahead, I decided to cook what it could probably be the last pasta soup recipe of this season.
 
For the occasion, and in the Oscar's mood,  I decided to follow the recipe of one of the most famous Neapolitan actors of the past: Eduardo De Filippo. He was a very funny and intelligent man who acted in lots of famous play in Italy. He was an actor, playwright, screenwriter, author and poet  and he was so famous that in 1981, De Filippo was appointed life senator of the Italian Republic.

He also loved to cook and in the south traditional way of course, so when he died the wife wrote a book with all his recipes and tips: “Si cucine cumme vogli'i' (Cooked in the way I want).  
Curious to know a little bit more? Here is the delicious potatoes pasta soup I prepared yesterday. The ingredients for 5-6 people are:

- 500gr potatoes

- an onion

7-8 cherry tomatoes

-olive oil, salt, chili

- fresh parsley

- 300gr Pasta Mista, in this case Pastificio dei Campi
 

Put some oil in a pan with the onions and the cherry tomatoes in pieces. Let them cook a bit and then add salt, chili and the potatoes cut in little cubes.
 
Let it absorb the nice sauce and then add the water until cover all. Put down the fire a bit, cover with the tap and let it cook.
 
When the potatoes will soft (but not too much) add a bit more water and the pasta. The mix shape of the pasta will make a perfect mix with the potatoes in pieces and cooking it with the rest will create a nice and dense soup.
 
When ready,if you want it a bit less dense add some water, or just serve it in a plate with some Parmesan, fresh olive oil and some fresh chopped parsley! I’m sure you will love it.

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The oldest pasta recipe ever: from the romans to the present! 

As seen in the twitter tail i published here last week, the pasta and chickpeas soup is one of the most traditional and oldest recipe of our territory. Thanks to this simple pulse, so common in the southern countries and base of any of our cuisine, you can have an healthy and balanced meal, tasty and fulfilling.

After all this speaking about “ pasta & ceci “, from the tradition, until Identita' Golose, the Festival where Pastificio dei Campi was invited last week and where they served lots of soups, I couldn't resist anymore... I needed to cook it.

So yesterday I follow all the original steps, to let you know the real dish with all its full taste. Here are the ingredients for 4 people:

-       - 250gr of dried chickpeas

-       - 2-3 garlic cloves

-       - 2-3 spoon of chopped tomato sauce

-       - One carrot and celery if you like

-       - Extra virgin Olive oil

-       - Rosemary, salt, pepper, chili.

- and of course 350gr of pasta Mista Corta from Pastificio dei Campi (that’s the shape for the best combination with chickpeas)

In first place you will need to soak the chickpeas for 12 hours (leave it covered by water all night and then you will be able to cook them). Cut finely the carrot and the celery and place them in a pan with some olive oil. Let them cook a bit and add the garlic cloves and the rosemary. Drain the chickpeas and add them too to the pan.

Now cover everything with water and let it cook for about 2-3 hours, adding salt, some pepper and chili if you like it. Steer the soup and add more water when need it. To understand if the chickpeas are ready, try a bit of the soup and add salt or pepper if missing.

When they are almost done, add the tomato sauce, steer and let them cook for some more time. Then take half of the chickpeas and mash them and then mix them again to the soup. When everything is almost ready, add a bit more water and the pasta. You will let the pasta cook in the same soup, so that the starch released will give the dense and right consistency to the dish. If you want it a bit more liquid, just add some water and steer.

When the pasta is cooked, serve the dish with some extra virgin olive oil on top and a sparkle of fresh rosemary. The traditional recipe doesn’t say to add Parmesan to it to appreciate more all the different flavors already maximized by the oil.

I hope you will enjoy!

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The classic Borlotti beans soup with Mista Corta

You can call it detox food, hot meal or even comfort food, but there is nothing better than pasta soups in winter and for me Pasta & Fagioli is just the most traditional italian soup you can cook: easy, with just few simple genuine ingredients and really delicious.

This is part of our reach gastronomic history, and it's one of these dishes made in all the regions, from North to South. There are slightly different versions everywhere, but Pasta e Fagioli it's really a national dish, thanks also to the cheap nature of the ingredients and the high energy provided.

This is the way I made it following the advices and secrets of the master Giuseppe Di Martino and few other voices, (my mum included). I discovered for example that you can have a light version, a middle reach and a very reach one, of course my favorite and for me the most traditional.

Here the ingredients for 4 people:

400 gr dry Borlotti beans

250 gr Pasta Mista Corta from Gragnano, Pastificio dei Campi.

a bit of celery, chili, some garlic cloves finely chopped

olive oil, salt, pepper,

140 gr of pancetta

a sprinkle of parsley

The first thing to do it's to soak the beans overnight or for 12 hours at least. Then change the water and hot up in a pan some olive oil. Cut finely the celery, the chili and some garlic cloves (this is called "trito" in Italy), place them in the pan and let them fry (we call this "soffritto" instead). Once this is ready, add the pancetta cut in cubes or little pieces and then the Borlotti beans.

Add enough water to make them boil and stir from time to time. They will need around one hour, one hour and half. Add water when you see they need more to cook and at the end adjust the taste with some other salt if needed. When they will be almost ready, take the beans out and mash half of them.

In the meantime, in the same water, cook the pasta Mista Corta, that translated means "short mix". This pasta is in fact a combination of different little shapes and the tradition said this comes from the families' need to use the left-overs of the other pasta shapes. By the way the Mista Corta is just perfect for this recipe.

Here is the most important step of all the recipe:  when the pasta cooks in the same water where the beans have been cooked, the starch will be released and it will mix with the rest of the ingredients creating the characteristic thick and tasty soup.

When the pasta is almost ready, bring back the beans, stir and let everything cook for some minutes more. If the soup is too thick, add some more water and stir. Serve it hot with the sparkle of parsley and just a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. This will amplify the beans and pancetta taste in the soup, much more than some flakes of Parmesan. Trust me!

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