Asparagus and taleggio risotto recipe

For quite a long time I didn’t write new Italian recipes here) Today I show one spring recipe - asparagus and taleggio cheese risotto. This recipe is from Northern Italian cuisine, in the south asparagus is used rarely and it is difficult to find, but I was lucky) Risotto itself isn't hard, but like any risotto,  it just needs constant attention 

Ingredients for 4 portions:

• 320 gr of rice - Arborio or Carnaroli - The type of rice used to make risotto is important. 
• 500 gr of asparagus spears (if it’s asparagus with thick skin and should be peeled - 700-800gr)
• One medium onion
• 40-50 gr of butter
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 
• 1/2 cup dry white wine 
• 150 gr of Taleggio cheese (if it’s impossible to find it, you can take a brie cheese or mix Gorgonzola with mascarpone)
• a couple of spoons of cream (optional)
• Salt and black pepper
• 500ml of vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup or less - grated Parmesan cheese 

So, first of all you have to prepare asparagus. I will explain you if you are new to asparagus. Line the asparagus up so the ends are even. Use a sharp knife to cut off the bottom inch. If you have thin and tender asparagus, you need to peel only the bottom part about 5-7 cm. Use a vegetable peeler or sharp paring knife to peel off the skin of each asparagus spear.  If, like me, you have thick-skinned asparagus cut off only tender ends, about 5-7 cm. The rest should be peeled. Cut it into slices.

Boil asparagus  in a large saucepan with 5 cups of salted water until just tender, about 10 minutes.

If you do not have a vegetable stock, it can be prepared quickly)) When the asparagus is cooked, simply put it in the same water some vegetables, which you have at home - I put the carrot, onion, celery and a couple of cherry tomatoes. The stock will be ready just when you need to add it to the rice. If you don’t have possibility to prepare the stock, then you can just use the water where you cooked asparagus.

I cook ends separately just to add them at the end)

When it is ready, chop the onion finely.  

Melt butter (leave a piece of butter, we will need it in the end) in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat and add some olive oil too. Add onion and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. 

Add rice and stir until golden, about 3 minutes (toasting the rice helps prevent it from becoming soggy).

Add wine and stir until absorbed, about 2 minutes. Do not forget to constantly stir the rice - this is the secret of good risotto. Now, I think, your stock is ready, but even if the vegetable is not cooked yet, you can already use the stock.  Add stock one or two ladles at a time, simmering until liquid is absorbed before each addition and stirring frequently. The rice will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to cook.
Now we need to prepare the asparagus cream. This step is optional,  just I like the cream more than just boiled asparagus. The cream I make in a blender, adding a couple of tablespoons of cream, for creamy consistency and puree until very smooth. Some ends I like to leave out just to decorate risotto in the plate)

About 10 minutes into the cooking add asparagus cream and continue cooking over low heat. Do not forget to stir and add the stock continuously. When the rice is almost ready, put the chopped pieces of taleggio cheese, a piece of butter and grated parmigiano.

At the last moment I add boiled ends ))

By the way, I do not salt risotto separately, because the stock is already salted, and cheese will make it taste more salty as well so it’s better to adjust salt   in the plate if necessary.
Another tip - Don’t over-cook it! Like pasta, rice should be slightly “al dente”. Tasting is the only way to really know!
By the way, on the photo risotto is not green because I cleaned asparagus legs.  If you have thin and tender asparagus, the your risotto will have light green color.
Buon Appetito!

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Italian seafood salad recipe

One of my favourite antipasto/ appetizer is Italian Seafood Salad. Sometimes I think the perfect supper would be just 3 or 4 amazing appetizers with a side of wonderful  whole whead bread.

Ingridients

• 1¼ cups (250 grams) cleaned calamari or squid or both 
• 1¼ cups (250 grams) cleaned octopus 
• 1½ cups (100 grams) mussels (without the shell)
• 1¾ cups (200 grams) small shrimp cleaned 
• 1 stalk celery chopped finely -optional
• ¼ cup (8 grams)  parsley chopped - optional
• ¼ cup (56 grams) extra vingin olive oil
• juice from ½ lemon
• salt and pepper

In a large pot of boiling water, boil for approximately 55-60 minutes the calamari, squid. In other pot put octopus, it requires a much longer cooking time, so if you choose to include it, you will need to add an additional hour or so to your preparation time. Remove them and boil mussels and shrimps for about 10 minutes. If you have mussels with shell - bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil in the same saucepan and toss in the mussels. Return to a boil, cover, and steam for 3 to 5 minutes, until they're all opened. (Discard any that remain unopened after 5 minutes.) Remove the mussels from the shells and discard the shells.

Drain all ingridients in the medium-sized bowl a second time just to remove excess liquid and let cool. 

After 30 minutes cut calamari, octopus and squid, put shrimps and mussels. 

Add chopped celery and parsley , olive oil and lemon juice. Gently mix to combine well.

Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours to let the flavours to mix well.

Before serving add extra virgin olive oil, pepper and salt if necessary,

Classical recipe we cook at home is without mussels. And from time to time we cook it without celery and parsley too just because we don't have them at home)

It's very important to have fery fresh ingridients and we never use frozen ingridients for this salad, freezing change the taste, be sure.

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Pasta with Red scorpionfish - italian recipe

Earlier I wrote a recipe for pasta with crabs. Today I will tell you how to cook my husband's favorite dish - pasta with Red scorpionfish. Here they are in the photo - red and dark - ugly, with spiny fins, but very tasty)) 

First you need a Red scorpionfish 500-800 for two portions. That is one big or two smaller fishes. In the store they have cleaned the fish: 

Then you need

• garlic, 
• 0.5kg of cherry tomatoes, 
• 300 ml of white wine, 
• olive oil, 
• pasta - tubettini (about 80-100g per person) - you can take a different pasta, such as spaghetti or paccheri. 

Then you need big deep pan, because we won't cook pasta separately but put it directly to sauce. So, fry the garlic until it became golden brown, then remove it from the oil. 

Put fish into a pan and cover it immediately, because there will be splash of oil. 

After 5 minutes,put the tomatoes cut in half 

5 minutes later, pour a little of wine into the pan. You can leave it open. 

Leave the fish to stew until it will be cooked.
And now we make other preparations. Take the rest of the wine and mix it with boiling water in a ratio of 1:2 (or 1:3). This method of cooking in wine gives the finished dish amazing taste. The main thing is not put too much wine and its quality should be good. Bad wine can spoil the whole taste of the dish. 

When the fish is cooked, remove it from the pan and collect all the bones, which remained in the pan. Add wine mixed with water and when it boils, add the pasta. Yes, we do not cook the spaghetti separately but in sauce, because they will absorb a full taste of the sauce, and you just can not break away until eat all))
Add a little of salt (quite a bit, because the sauce will be boiled down and salinity increase).

Yes, I left fish for a photo and removed it later) 

The time necessary to cook spaghetti read on the package. But of course we are preparing them by eye, or rather by taste - as the Italians say, "al dente", which means to the tooth. When spaghetti are ready they are not hard inside, but a little sink in teeth. Then while you put them on a plate and carry on the table, they will reach the desired condition, but will not be overcooked.

Before serving dish, sprinkle with chopped parsley. Parsley can also be added to the spaghetti for 3-5 minutes before finish to cook.

Buon appettito) 

Pasta with crabs - italian recipe

Today I'll show you how to cook one of my favourite recipes - pasta with crab. It can be crab or lobster or similar one)

To start, you need crabs, we had one and a half crabs, not very big, just enough for two persons.

Then you need garlic, chopped parsley, 150 grams of white wine, olive oil

spaghetti (about 100g per person) - you can take a different pasta, such as penne or rigatoni. Then you need a "Passata di Pomodoro" - about 500-600 gr.

Then you need big deep pan, because we won't cook pasta separately but put it directly to sauce with crabs.

So, fry the garlic until it became golden brown, then remove it from the oil. If you have a whole crabs, then cut them into several pieces. Put them into a pan and cover it immediately, because there will be splash of oil. After 5 minutes, heft the cover and pour the wine into the pan with the crabs. Another 2-3 minutes and you can pour passata into the pan. Leave it to stew. Boil down Passata a little, then add water to the pan (boiling water) and salt (quite a bit, because the sauce will be boiled down and salinity increase). When the water begins to boil, remove crabs from the pan and add spaghetti - that's why we took a large frying pan)) fit perfectly in her full-length spaghetti) You can put crabs back at the end of cooking before serving, so they will be hot. Or leave them outside - it's your choice, just leave them on the plate wait an hour, when you deal with them)

So we do not cook the spaghetti separately but in sauce, because they will absorb a full taste of the sauce, and you just can not break away until eat all))

The time necessary to cook spaghetti read on the package. But of course we are preparing them by eye, or rather by taste - as the Italians say, "al dente", which means to the tooth. When spaghetti are ready they are not hard inside, but a little sink in teeth. Then while you put them on a plate and carry on the table, they will reach the desired condition, but will not be overcooked.

Before serving dish, sprinkle with chopped parsley and / or pecorino cheese. Parsley can also be added to the spaghetti for 3-5 minutes before finish to cook.

Bon appetit) 

Risotto with zucchini flowers and saffron - Risotto con fiori di zucca

Today I wrote about new recipe. It's Risotto with zucchini flowers. A few days ago I gone at the local market to buy a piece of pumpkin. After I bought it I saw fresh zuvvhini flowers and decided not to miss opportuniti to make this risotto. The piece of pumpkin I left for other day. So, let's begin!

It's easy to make recipe and need about 20 min. 

You will need :

about 200 gr of zucchini flowers,

300 gr of rise

1 onion

1 l of vegetable broth (you can use also water)

a sachet of saffron

70 gr. grated Parmesan cheese

butter

pepper

50-70 ml of white vine

 Wash the zucchini flowers, dry them with a paper towel, remove the pistil. Thinly slice flowers:

 Cut the onion finely. Put butter in one sausepan and saute the onion.

 Add the zucchini flowers

After a few minutes add the rice and toast it, then pour white wine.

Start adding gradually the ladles of vegetable broth, as soon as you see that the water is absorbed. Melt the contents of a sachet of saffron to the pan and stir well, so that mix well with rice. Continue to add broth, until the rice will be cooked. Don't forgot to add salt and pepper.

Before serving add Parmesan cheese and let stand for 5 minutes.

Rana Pescatrice al forno - Monkfish in the oven

Rana Pescatrice or Coda di Rospo (in English Monkfish, or Goosefish) is one of the ugliest fish you'll find in Italian markets. But it has delicious white meat and it’s great to make a soup.

In this recipe Monkfish is used whole with head to make a flavor more intensive. 
It’s a simple but very delicious recipe and It’s great for some fest of if you have guests at home.

You will need:
Monkfish 
About 1 kg of Potatoes
0.5 kg of Tomatoes cherry
7-15 Olives
4-5 cloves of Garlic
2-3 tablespoons bread crumbs
5-6 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
A few basil leaves
Extra virgin Olive oil
Sale

I always buy Monkfish already scaled, so I don’t know how to scale it. If you don’t find whole Monkfish, but the tail ends it’s also OK.
Clean garlic and cut it in 2-3 pieces, cut tomatoes.
For the first clean and cut potatoes as shown. Mix well potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, olives, Olive oil and basil. Put a little of salt and pepper. I mix by hand so tomatoes make a little of sauce. Leave blend for half an hour. You can mix the blend from time to time.

At the time mix bread crumbs and grated parmesan. 

Put Monkfish in the form for the oven. I always use clayware form:

Put blend with potatoes around the fish. If the sauce is not enough – pour a little of water.

Dredge with mix of bread crumbs and grated parmesan

and put in the oven at 200º. Fish don’t need many time to cook so I try potatoes and when they are cooked and have a crust I determine that a time get out.

Clean fish before serve and put a piece with potatoes and sause in every plate. Or you can put portions in small caseroles and after other 5 minutes in oven bring them on the table.  You must admit that it most scenic))
Buono appetito!

Cozze gratinate - Mussels au gratin

Mussels au gratin  are one of the most classic summer recipes of south Italy. It's really simple and quick to prepare and have the perfect recipe for a tasty dinner with fish.

1 Kg of mussels (I recommend especially the variety called mussels of Taranto, small but very fragrant and tasty)
2 cloves of garlic 
1 bunch of parsley
4-5 tablespoons bread crumbs or better fresh white bread
Milk
2-3 tablespoons  of olive oil
5-6 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
1/2 glass of water mussel
pepper


Usually we ask to clean and open mussels in fish shop. But if you don’t have this possibility you should clean the mussels by removing the beard and scraping the outside. Then open them. For more easy opening place the mussels in a pan, cover with a lid and leave until the shells open not (1-3 minutes). You should not cook them – only open. Strain the cooking liquid and keep aside.
When the mussels are open, remove the empty half shells, put those with shellfish in a baking dish side by side each other.

If you use bread crumbs – mix it with grated parmesan. 
Mince the garlic and parsley and mix them with olive oil. 

Put over mussels then put bread crumbs with grated parmesan.

Pour a little of milk and cooking liquid (that mussels will not be dry but rich). 

You can also mix them before and then cover each mussel with a teaspoon of mixture to completely cover the fruit. Put again crumbs with grated parmesan. Then put pepper.


If you use fresh bread – take pulp of the bread, mix well it with milk, olive oil and cooking liquid. Then push pulp. Mix with minced garlic and parsley. Cover each mussel with a teaspoon of mixture to completely cover the fruit.  Then dredge with bread crumbs and grated parmesan. Put pepper.


We forgot to buy fresh bread so on my photos you see recipe with bread crumbs, but usually we make with fresh bread pulp.


Preheat your oven to 380-395 F (200 C) . I switch on for beginning all oven then only bottom part so mussels are cooked well but not burned from above. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. They must have a nice golden color.
If you can cook mussels in wood stove they will be so tasty that you never taste before!

Buon appetito!