Snacks and tapas

These beautiful round zucchini are perfect to be stuffed. You can use a classic gratin filling with breadcrumbs, egg and cheese, or making a version like this one, vegan and gluten-free, using almonds and teff.

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When I buy green leafy vegetables like beets, spinach or turnip tops, I wash them immediately and cook in boiling water to reduce their volume. This helps me to find them in the fridge ready for use. In this way I can quickly prepare a side dish by sautéing them in a pan with garlic and extra virgin olive oil, or use them to prepare green flans. In this recipe, I will fill a quiche.

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A simple and quick recipe to prepare: colorful and tasty, to serve as an appetizer. The encounter between chicory, a bit bitter, and sweet pumpkin on a slice of good homemade toasted bread. Here it is a nice bruschetta enriched with pecorino cheese and a few drops of extra old balsamic vinegar from Modena.

Enjoy your meal 😉

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Passatelli are a typical dish of two regions of Italy: Marche and Emilia Romagna; traditionally served in meat broth, we can also taste this recipe in different vegetarian versions, without broth, with the most varied seasonings: with vegetables, with truffles, with a cream of legumes or, as in this case, with baked mushrooms on tasty green spinach bechamel. This version has an extra feature: instead of wheat flour, it contains chestnut flour. I hope you like them 🙂

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The Jerusalem artichoke also known as German turnip, is a tuber that we can find at the market in the winter season: many are its properties (it has few calories, suitable for diabetics, easy to digest, if consumed raw, it keeps intact its vitamins and mineral salts content). Today I share this first simply recipe. With few ingredients you will obtain a tasty and special side dish: baked Jerusalem artichokes with hazelnuts and thyme pesto.

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Two dishes of different traditions meet together: linguine with pesto and sushi … what do you think, do you want to try?  I am attracted by harmony and beauty of all Japanese dishes. In any Japanese restaurant, dishes will always be served with great care and attention to beauty. This aspect interests me a lot, because as I said in one of the last posts, it is important to take care of aspects like beauty and harmony. Today I would like to combine two traditions: I was in Liguria and I was looking to a book specialized in Japanese cuisine; this is how “Mediterranean sushi” was born. The difficulty is quite high: you will need patience to learn how to make these rolls well … but if you like the idea, I hope you will be excited enough to try and try again until you will reach a good result. If I made it, you can make it. Enjoy the path 😉

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When the heat comes but it’s no time yet for holiday, we feel more and more the desire to travel and to see new places: those who are still at work can only use their imagination or, as I do in the kitchen, prepare ethnic dishes that makes us think about exotic countries 😉 This aubergine cream is inspired by the Baba Ghanoush, typical sauce of Middle Eastern regions, today revisited for you: the garlic is rubbed directly on bread, to flavor it, and, instead of mint, I’ve used a mixture of sage and thyme leaves, fresh from my small aromatic garden.

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It will also happen to you to find yourself in the kitchen with no idea of ​​what you’re going to prepare for dinner, and especially with an empty fridge and a few fresh raw materials available. Well today, I’ll give you a new recipe for a spicy chili, that needs only a few ingredients. A vegan version that with a white rice or a piadina, as in this case, allows you to obtain a unique and complete dish.  If you have no time you can use canned beans, while if you have more time you can proceed as described in this case starting with dry beans. Enjoy 😉

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Since I was married, me and my husband we’ve been visiting Liguria in different moments of the year: one of the typical dishes of this region that I like best and which I never give up is “farinata”, a delicious specialty made with chickpea flour. It is a simple gluten-free recipe, which you can decide to transform in many ways. Today we start with a “basic” version topped with oil, rosemary and salt, to serve as an entrée, before starting a meal.

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I have already told you that in some part of the year, I have the habit to follow a gluten-free diet: corn and rice cakes are quite gratifying, as substituted of bread… I like the crunchy noise they make when you bite them. But I’m always looking for new recipes, made with gluten-free flours. This is a nice alternative to rice and corn cakes: crispy quinoa crackers with mixed seeds 🙂

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