Octopus in tomato sauce with Vermicelli (Vermicelli al polipo in salsa di pomodoro)

There is a lot of wisdom enclosed in proverbs, even if they are just short little phrases, because they are the result of human experiences through the ages.
What have proverbs got to do with cooking recipes? Well, there is a Neapolitan proverb that says, “O’ purp se coce n’da l’acqua soje,” which literally means: “The octopus cooks in its own water.”
In fact, as you will see below, and the proverb advises, we need to be patient and allow ourselves "to mature as we cook. " This also means that, sooner or later, we will all figure out what we must do, because just as the octopus does, we slowly cook in the water of our own experiences.
Sometimes you just have to give up. Sometimes you have just to surrender to the idea that everything will work out in the end and trust that life, one way or another, will sort everything out.

Ingredients

• 15 oz (~ 400 g) octopus
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• A handful fresh parsley
• ½ cup white wine
• 27 oz (~ 750 g) tomato puree
• 15 oz (~ 400 g) vermicelli (or spaghetti, or linguine)
• Salt

Directions

To get a tender octopus it must be fresh, but you can accomplish the same outcome using frozen octopus, as long as you allow to thaw at room temperature for the time needed.

Wash the octopus and cut off the head making sure you remove the beak, then take away the tentacles and leave them whole, not sliced.

In a saucepan fry the garlic in extra virgin olive oil, remove them as they become golden brown.

Add the octopus and stir it vigorously to prevent from sticking to the pot until it releases its own liquid, then add a pinch of salt and a handful of parsley and cover it with a lid. Let it simmer in low heat until the liquid is almost evaporated, about 10-15 minutes (it depends on the octopus size), and add the white wine.

Allow it to reduce and add the tomato puree, stir a little and cover again. Let it simmer in medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Verify if the octopus s tender enough before turn off the heat.

Meanwhile cook the vermicelli, as usual, "al dente," in plenty of salted water for the time indicated in the package. Drain it, put them in the saucepan and pour in it the tomato sauce with octopus, stir and serve.

Remember to put at least two pieces of octopus in every plate.

Notice: do not add Parmesan cheese, as it does not get along well with octopus!

Enjoy!

Pesto "Linguine" pasta with potatoes and green beans (Linguine al pesto con patate e fagiolini)

by Bruna Conetta

Many Italian recipes do not have a clear origin, therefore they are contended among Italian regions, but that's not the case of pesto, it comes from the region of Liguria without any doubt. That's why saying "pesto" is like saying Genoa (the city) or Liguria (the region).

You can easily guess that pesto made in Genoa and surroundings, in which the real typical basil leaves of the areas are used, has an inimitable aroma and taste, but don't be afraid, you can make a good pesto using the fresh basil leaves that you will find in your area. 

Pesto is one of the most famous Italian sauces in the world, it is a cold sauce and the original recipe requires a marble mortar and a wooden pestle to mash all the ingredients together. But I think that even in Liguria only great-grandmothers still prepare pesto with the mortar, o maybe in some special events.

You can flavor the homemade pasta such as "Trofie" (typical of Liguria region), the packed pasta as spaghetti, and also gnocchi, which I recommend you to try, and not surprisingly, since it was my children's favorite!

Today, I will describe how to make the pesto in the food processor, and also how to make the pasta "linguine" with pesto, potatoes and green beans, because these vegetables combine very well together, and the outcome is delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 cup (~110 gr) fresh basil leaves 
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 
• 1/3 cup (~ 75 gr) freshly grated Parmesan cheese 
• 2 tbsp (~ 30 gr) pine nuts
• 4 cloves of garlic 
• 2 medium potatoes
• 7 on (~200 gr) green beans 
• 1 lb (~ 500 gr) linguine pasta
• Salt

Directions 

Pesto sauce

Wash the basil leaves and dry them in a cloth.

Peel and slice the garlic.

Combine the basil leaves, garlic, Parmesan, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts and a pinch of salt in the food processor and grind them to create a smooth sauce. 

Pesto "Linguine" pasta with potatoes and green beans

Peel the potatoes and dice them. 

Wash and dry the green beans, and cut off both ends.

It would be possible to cook the potatoes, the green beans and the linguine in the same pot at the same time, but it is preferable to cook them one by one because they have different cooking times. You can cook them in the same pot and in the same water, but separately, as follows:

Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender (about 5 minutes), then transfer the potatoes to a large bowl using a slotted spoon. 

Add the green beans in the same boiling water of the same pot and cook them until crisp-tender (about 3 minutes).

Transfer them to the same bowl of potatoes, using the slotted spoon. 

Cook the linguine pasta in the same boiling water of the same pot until “al dente”. Before draining reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid and whisk it into pesto.

Drain the linguine pasta and put it in the same bowl of potatoes and green beans, pour the pesto on it. Stir and serve.

If you like you can add some fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

Delicious!

Tiramisù

When my children were little they loved to invite all their friends at their birthday party even though we lived in a little apartment, which they filled with balloons, fun, and laughter.

At those events I used to make a birthday cake adding on top of it the lit candles to blow out. I also prepared little sandwiches, appetizers, snacks and the tiramisù. But in every birthday party I had the same problem, only few of the little guests ate the birthday cake while everybody wanted to eat the  tiramisù, which was never big enough to satisfy the sweet-tooth little army.

Thus, I experimented with making two tiramisù rather than traditional birthday cake, with candles on top. Great success! Everybody was happy and no more leftovers.

One of the tiramisù principal ingredients is the mascarpone cheese which is not suitable for dieting people, but I have a secret for you: you can use ricotta cheese instead of mascarpone cheese, it will be lighter in calories but not lighter in flavor. I promise you! 

Ingredients

• 14 Oz (~ 400 gr) “Savoiardi” lady fingers biscuit;
• 3 large eggs (they must be fresh and pasteurized because they will be uncooked);
• 10.6 oz (~300 gr) mascarpone cheese;
• 2 cups black espresso coffee;
• 1/4 rum, pisco or grappa (optional, but well-recommended);
• 3 tbsp sugar;
• 2.5 oz (~ 100 gr) powdered unsweetened cocoa;
• Salt.

Directions

You will need 3 bowls, 1 rectangular pan, a small sieve and an electric hand mixer. 

Make the black espresso coffee and pour it into a bowl. Add one shot of rum, or pisco, or grappa, and allow it to cool down. 

Separate egg yolks from egg white and put them in two separate bowls. 

Beat egg yolks with sugar until creamy white. In the same bowl add mascarpone cheese and beat until well blended. 

In another bowl, beat egg albumens with a pinch of salt until well frothy, then pour it into the bowl of mascarpone mixture and beat until well blended. Put it aside. 

Now, one at a time, quickly dip a “savoiardo” biscuit in the espresso coffee and immediately pull it out. One by one, put them across the bottom of the rectangular pan. 

Spoon a layer of the mixture cream across the layer of "savoiardi." Use 1/2 of the mascarpone mix. The layer should be about 3/8 in. (~1 cm.) thick. 

Put a tablespoon of cocoa into a small sieve, and with the help of a spoon, sift it on top of the mascarpone layer, making sure you cover the whole thing evenly. 

Dip another layer of “savoiardi” repeating the previous procedure, but place the biscuits in transversal way, as compared to the first layer. 

Spoon a second layer of mascarpone mixture across the second layer of “savoiardi,” and sift another layer of cocoa above it. 

Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours before serving. 

The tiramisù will taste quite good for several days if refrigerated, but it will not need to because it will eaten in the blink of an eye.

Bread Pudding (Budino di pane)

When I was a little girl I lived in Peru, and my grandmother, who was Italian, used to make bread pudding, which I loved and still love. 
The bread pudding is a very simple dessert which originally was made with the leftover bread, because before nothing was thrown away, all the leftovers were preserved and used to prepare a wide variety of dishes, and that is how usually new recipes were invented.

The bread pudding is one of my favorite desserts, and probably not only for its simplicity, but because the smells and flavors automatically transport my mind back in the past, and I can relive sweet moments of my childhood.

The bread is an international food, so is bread pudding. Indeed, if you take a look on Internet, many countries claim its paternity. Countries like Peru, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and of course European countries such as Italy, Spain, the Eastern European countries, etc., they all use bread as principal ingredient, but the secondary ingredients change a little from country to country.

Like I said, the base material is the leftover bread, but I will propose you a variant with plain breadcrumbs, because nowadays nobody keeps the bread of the day before, and because before old bread would become hard, but never moldy. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb (~500 gr) plain breadcrumbs
• 5 eggs
• 4 cups (~1 L) milk;
• 1 cup raisins;
• 1 cup sugar (1 ½ cup if you prefer brown sugar);
• 1/4 cup rum, or Pisco, or Grappa (or some sweetened water if you don’t like liquors);
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon;
• 1 tsp vanilla extract;
• Salt.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

In a bowl, soak the raisins in rum, or pisco, or grappa. If you do not like liquors you can soak them in sweetened water. Let it stand. 

In another bigger bowl, put the breadcrumbs and mix them with the milk, pour it slowly to avoid lumps. 

In another bowl, beat the eggs vigorously with a pinch of salt, and then add the sugar, the cinnamon and the vanilla extract. Beat it again. 

At this point mix the eggs and the bread together, and stir them until all the ingredients are well mixed. 

Put it in a base of a nonstick round baking dish. Drain the raisins and put them on top of the mixture and aloud them to sink a little. 

Bake it in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Aloud to cool it before serving. 

Delicious!

The "Caprese" Salad

The "Caprese" is so easy to prepare that you'll wonder why I inserted it in the blog. Indeed, it requires only three basic ingredients: tomato, mozzarella and basil. You can make the caprese salad whenever you find those ingredients, specially if they are seasonal and fresh.

But, if you are lucky enough to go to visit Sorrento Peninsula and the Amalfi Coast, and taste the Caprese salad on site, then you will taste the difference of savor and you will understand why I share the recipe with you. 

In that area there are tomatoes that you won't find anywhere else in the world, they are not perfectly round and they are not bright red, their shape is irregular and their color is soft pink and green. They are not suitable for making tomato sauce, but they are excellent in salads.

Also the mozzarella, that is called “fior di latte” (milk flower) or “treccia” (tress), is daily made in the traditional way by local dairies, and has a special flavor.

Furthermore, if you dress it with the extra virgin olive oil made in Sorrento, and go with the bread made by the local farms, be careful, because maybe you will decide to live there forever!

In fact, in 35 years that I have lived in Sorrento, whenever relatives and friends came to visit me in summer time, I was ready to prepare mouth-watering meals for them, but they warned me that they did not want anything else that the Caprese salad every day, untile the day they left. Thus, we ate Caprese every day, and my sense of guilt (for not having worked in the kitchen at all) disappeared immediately when all the guests were happy to enjoy the fresh salad made with local and genuine products. 

Ingredients

• 3 medium tomatoes, or two big tomatoes;
• 10 Oz (300 gr) mozzarella;
• a handful basil leaves;
• 2 tbp extra virgin olive oil;
• salt;
• oregano (optional). 

Directions

Cut the tomatoes and the mozzarella into slices, and put them in a big plate, then add the basil leaves, the extra virgin olive oil, salt and the oregano. 
Enjoy it! 

Meatballs (Polpette)

What can I say about meatballs? One thing is for sure, you'll never make enough of them whatever the quantity you decide to prepare, and everybody will ask you for more and more! Most of us just love meatballs, but only if they are made with very lean meat and strictly fresh and genuine products.

The preparation of meatballs is a little more elaborated than the dishes I have proposed to you over the past weeks, but believe me, it's worth the effort. You can cook them a day you have some free time, and then keep them in the refrigerator for a few days, because they hold well.

Ingredients

• 35 oz (~ 1 l) canned tomato puree;
• 1 lb (~ 500 g) lean ground beef;
• 5 eggs;
• 10 oz (~ 300 grams) breadcrumbs;
• 5 oz (~150 g) grated Parmesan cheese;
• Vegetable oil;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• A handful of parsley leaves;
• Salt;
• Pepper;
• Crushed Italian hot red pepper.

Directions

Pour the tomato puree in a pot, and add a pinch of salt and the extra virgin olive oil. Cook for about ten minutes stirring once in a while and turn off the heat. 

Meanwhile dice the garlic finely and cut the parsley and put aside. 

Beat the eggs very well and add a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, a pinch of crushed Italian red pepper, the garlic, the parsley and the grated Parmesan cheese, and beat again. 

Then add the lean ground beef and knead with your hands until the ingredients are well combined. At this point pour in the breadcrumbs like rain and continue kneading until all the ingredients are well combined again. 

Pick some mixture portions, one at a time, and shape them as if you were making snowballs, the size can be like a ping-pong ball or smaller. 

Fry the meatballs lightly in a pan in the vegetable oil, stir them regularly, and remove them from the heat when the crust is golden. Let them dry on a paper towel. 

Turn on the fire under the tomato sauce and add the meatballs. Allow them cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes stirring once in a while. 

Remove the meatballs from the tomato sauce. You can season pasta with the sauce, and put the meatballs above it. But you can also serve the meatballs alone with the sauce, with french fries, potato puree, or with salad. 

Let me know!

Eggplant Parmigiana (Parmigiana di Melanzane)

Many regions of Italy claim the paternity of the "Eggplant Parmigiana," but it is almost certain that the word "Parmigiana" is not due to the region of Parma, as in the case of Parmesan cheese, but rather to the Sicilian dialect word "parmiciana," which is the lath of shutters, and recalls the way that we put the eggplant when we make the "eggplant parmigiana."

Beyond the historical origins, "Eggplant Parmigiana" is definitively my favorite dish, but it has to be made as I show you below, because some recipes add eggs and breadcrumbs, then it becomes a heavy dish.

Ingredients

• 3 lb (~1.5 kg) Eggplant
• 35 Oz (~ 1 L) canned tomato puree;
• 1 lb (500 gr) Mozzarella cheese;
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• Handful basil leaves.
• 1 tbp extra virgin olive oil;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• Crushed Italian hot pepper (optional);
• Salt;
• Vegetable oil (for frying). 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Cut the eggplants into slices without peel them, and place them in a colander with salt in order to remove their bitterness for 30 minutes, then rinse them, press them, and fry them in plenty vegetable oil. When the eggplant is golden, drain them, and then dry them in paper towel.

Meanwhile, fry the garlic and the crushed Italian hot pepper in the extra virgin oil in a pot, remove the garlic when it is golden and add the tomato puree, let it cook for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

Dice the mozzarella in small cubes and put aside.

With a ladle pour some of the tomato sauce in the base of a rectangular baking dish, and above it put some eggplant slice, and above it put another ladle of tomato sauce and the sliced mozzarella, and sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese.

Repeat the process 3 times, or until you have used all of the slices of eggplant. Above all add the basil leaves. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving, you can eat it hot or cold.