Per una cena tra amiche – Brodetto alla Fanese

When two friends reunite around a huge pot of brodetto, it’s always a memorable evening…especially when both of them are craving fish and seafood.

I grew up eating brodetto, my mom’s favorite. The city of Fano in Italy and that particular region, being on the Adriatic Coast  is well known for their seafood dishes and brodetto is one of them. Brodo means broth so, brodetto being a diminutive, means small broth, the fish is not drowned in liquid nor in heavy tomato sauce, like some stews you can eat at some restaurants, there is enough broth to dip bread but it’s not soaking in it.

Brodetto is very famous in Marche region of Italy Usually for a traditional brodetto, you need at least 12 different kinds of fish and shell fish but mainly the kind you can only find in the Adriatic sea such as “triglie, “teste grosse”, “rospo”, “trofano”, etc… which I don’t know the equivalent in English. There was somehow a limitation of fish available so I somehow used fishes I could find but the brodetto ended up being quite delicious. You need extra fresh and top quality fish, that will make a big difference. The quality and ripeness of the tomatoes are also very important, so if you don’t have top ripe tomatoes, you can use imported can tomatoes such as San Marzano, but if they’re whole, you’ll need to crush them ino a purée.

I used balsamic vinegar, that’s why my broth is a little darker, nonetheless delicious, balsamic vinegar being a little sweet gave the broth a very distinct flavor. A clay pot is perfect to cook this type of dish, it allows all the flavors to infuse beautifully together.

For Italian speakers, you can read this website “L’Academia del brodetto” where they somehow explain the differences between brodetti made in different regions and listing the best restaurants serving brodetto, so in case you find yourself in Italy on the Adriatic Coast, you can go and try the best restaurants serving brodetto…of course if you are crazy about sea food like I am.

Ingredients for 4-6

• 1 large cod fillet
• 1 large sole fillet
• 1 lb mussels
• about 20 large shrimps
• 1/2 lb squid
• 12-16 crayfish (preferably whole)
• 12 large sea scallops
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 glass white vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar)
• 5 well ripe tomatoes, seedless, peeled and crushed in a purée
• 3 tbs parsley finely chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a clay pot preferably, heat olive oil, then add onion slices and let them cook slowly until they become soft and almost caramelized, add garlic and stir, cook for 5 minutes without burning the garlic. Add vinegar and let it reduce. Add parsley. Mix well – Add tomatoes and let the mixture reduce and thicken.

When the sauce has reduced, add squid cook for 5 minutes, then add fish, let it cook for 5 extra minutes, and add shell fish at the end. Adjust with salt and pepper. The mussels are cooked last, after adding mussels, cover with lid and remove from heat when the mussels have opened. Mix broth carefully. The fish needs to be cooked but not overcooked. The vinegar will prevent the fish from breaking apart.

Serve in deep dishes with slices of country bread.

Fish/Seafood

Pour faire vivre les traditions – Gâteau au chocolat de Metz

I doubt that anyone living in the US knows the city of Metz (pronounced Mess, even the majority of French people pronounce the “T” which is incorrect)…I know it because I went to school there and it’s located 50 km from Nancy where I grew up, and very close to the German border.

Basically, Metz and Nancy are rivals in almost everything, from their soccer team, to their opera house, to their architecture, their “green city” title, etc…They’re 50 kilometers apart and yet very different architecturally, each city is very unique, and has a different feel to it. The funny thing is that they hate each other, and Messins (people from Metz) and Nancéiens (people from Nancy) can argument that their city is much better than the other one with a violent passion.

In my opinion and without being biased, Nancy is brighter with its Art Nouveau, and École de Nancy style, Stanislas Square, Vielle ville (old town) etc…Now Metz has pretty architecture as well, very massive but more on the Germanic style, heavier, but very quaint and chic. One thing I love about Metz is their delicious specialty desserts, and this one is an example. Of course, growing up in Nancy I tend to defend my city. Is it wrong? Probably because Metz is somehow linked to memories about the time I was in business school which I hated, so I would on purpose miss the train in the morning, to go back home.

One day, I was researching on the internet the life our King Stanislas to somehow refresh my memory, and almost by miracle I found this wonderful blog called “Du Miel et Du Sel” a poetic cuisine and recipe blog, beautifully written by a talented food journalist and cookbook writer, Marie-Claire Frédéric. She also publishes recipes on Cuisine Actuelle magazines that are sold in the US as well. For the Francophone, her blog is a pure delight to read and her recipes simple, elegant or traditional but always incredibly delicious.

I wanted to feature this dessert that somehow intrigued me, not because it came from Metz, but because it looked so fluffy despite the absence of baking powder. Besides this is an ancient cake with no butter or oil, the fat comes from the cream so you won’t get a greasy heavy cake like our modern ones. This one is incredibly moist, so light and fluffy, you need to try it to believe it. I was doubtful first, but will make this cake again.

I have a friend from Germany coming for dinner tonight, so this gâteau au chocolat is perfect and might remind her of home too!

Merci Marie-Claire, le gâteau etait succulent!

Ingredients for 6-8 people

• 4.40 oz (or 125 g) dark chocolate, cut in small pieces or grated
• 4 eggs
• 5.20 oz (or 150 g) sugar
• 4.40 oz (or 125 g) flour
• 7.05 oz (or 200 g) crème fraîche (no heavy cream, it’s too liquid)
• powdered sugar for decoration

Preparation

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar for over 5 minutes until they triple volume. They need to become white and fluffy (like a Génoise technique).

Grate chocolate, I chopped finely chocolate chips so they will incorporate to the dough very well.

Add very carefully chocolate to the egg/sugar mixture, fold flour carefuly, then proceed with cream. You want to keep the mixture fluffy and light.

Butter a non-stick deep dish pan. Pour mixture and cook for about 40 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 370F.

Let it cool, remove from pan and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Desserts

Storie di pesto – Penne con pesto alle cime di rapa e gamberi

Lately, I have been too busy and hundred things to take care of, which in my world means no sleep and no time for anything including cooking and of course, deep under eye circles. Those cernes how we call them in French make me look like a zombie, it’s amazing how lack of sleep can make you look like ten years older. Even make up doesn’t seem to work. Quelle horreur!!

When I have no time to cook, pasta is always my favorite number one solution, and the one that comes into my mind. It’s fast, nutritious and delicious.  It certainly will not make my cernes go away, but at least, my other part of the body will feel rested and happy.

Pesto is a very versatile and can be made with many vegetables. Of course, the original pesto is from Liguria region and made with pine nuts, basil parmesan, olive oil and garlic. When I think of pesto, I think of Genoa, therefore of Cristoforo Colombo, our dear explorer who somehow “discovered” America. He might have not “discovered” anything but his statue is erected at Coit Tower in San Francisco. The first time my parents came visit, I had to take my dad see Cristoforo statue and the jail cell of Al Capone in Alcatraz and I could see my dad’s excitement, 12 years later he still talks about this.

This pesto has everything Pesto alla Genovese has except for cheese, then broccoli rabe is the main ingredient. I don’t like to mix cheese and shrimps in general in pasta dishes so I omitted the cheese because parmesan being quite strong and shrimps being quite strong too, the mixture of both can be too overwhelming. The broccoli rabe is not really cooked just boiled for 30 seconds so you get a beautiful greenish color and fragrant fresh flavor.

Ingredients for 4

• 11.28 oz (or 320 g) penne
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 bunch basil leaves
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 3 tbs sliced almond
• about 10 shrimps, deveined
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Boil 2 cups of water, when the water boil, add broccoli rabe and let cook for about 30 seconds, remove from stove and drain.

In a mixer proceed like you would for regular pesto, combining all ingredients together, and blend until a semi-thin consistency, not like a smooth paste.

Remove shells and devein shrimps. Cut them in 3 small pieces. Saute in olive oil until cooked.

Cook pasta al dente, drain and place in a mixing pasta bowl. Add pesto and shrimps, mix well and serve.

Pasta

La ricetta segreta di Nonna ‘Nita – Crescia di patate con verdura, e tante altre cose

My grandma used to make this crescia when we were kids (my cousins and I) since we were all living together as in a traditional Italian family, and we were just going crazy for it, it was called la crescia colle patate (in dialect it’s more like la crescia col patet). I remember her bending and in sweat, flipping the crescia back and forth on top of the grill on burning coals, she was already old but working so hard to make us happy. We had a fireplace in the attic we would use to grill meat, roast chestnuts, and grill crescia, when my grandma was in the mood for it. The wooden flavor would make anything taste wonderful.

Crescia is a word used in my parents region to call some types of focaccia or piadine, it’s basically a local word. Piadine are from Romagna region and are famous all over Italy, and of course in most of all in the neighboring regions of Romagna. They’re flat types of bread very thin and that are stuffed with various cheeses, greens such as spinach or kale, prosciutto, lonza or any other local product.

I don’t want to confuse you between a crescia and a piadina, but they’re two cousins, and if you ever end up in Romagna you might run into piadina and a meet a crescia if you arrive in Urbino, la città di Raffaello. In Romagna, piadina is a street food, and you can find many restaurants where they’re served with so many side dishes that you can stuff your own piadina with whatever you want.

Crescie on the other hand are usually grilled and originated in Marche and Umbria regions. There are different recipes for crescia, most of them do not have potatoes in the dough, but mainly flour, eggs, lard, water, salt and pepper. My grandma version has potatoes and no lard.

My grandma made this crescia with a potato base and made it a little thicker than regular piadina, and it was our treat. It is hard to translate something so typical and precise into another language, most of the time there is no translation for it because it does not exist anywhere else. I was trying to find some equivalent in English and could not find it.

When the crescia gets cold, it gets a little rubbery, so you need to eat it hot. The base is somehow a gnocchi dough base with a little more flour. Since I don’t have a fireplace, I cooked this in a skillet and it worked quite well.

I used dandelions in this recipe, my grandma used white cabbage, you can also use spinach or any green you like and any Italian cheese such as pecorino, or any sharp cheese. If you have a wood fire place where you can grill food, please try to make a crescia, it’s heavenly.

Ingredients for 6 crescie

• 4 large potatoes, boiled
• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 mozzarelle di bufala (or pecorino, etc…), sliced
• Prosciutto or any other cold cuts (optional)
• salt
• olive oil

For the greens

• 1 bunch dandelions or any other greens
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 rosemary sprig, roughly cut
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the greens

If using dandelions, previously cook in salted water for about 5-7 minutes, than drain, let it cool and squeeze excess water. Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic and rosemary, stir to get the flavors out without burning the garlic. Add the greens and saute for a while. Adjust with salt and pepper.

For the crescia

Boil potatoes in water until cooked allt he way through. Let them cool and peel.

In a bowl, mash potatoes into a thin purée, add egg and flour and mix to form a smooth and solid dough.

In a wooden working surface, divide the dough in 6 equal portions and roll each of them into a round flat circles about 3 mm thick.

Heat a large non stick pan or a grill, then cook crescia until both sides are golden brown, maybe a few minutes, depending on how think your dough is.

Remove from grill, drizzle with olive oil, coarse salt and stuff with greens, cheese and prosciutto.

Appetizers, Breads

La jalousie du saumon – Saumon à l’orange sur fenouil braisé

The salmon got a little jealous and was raving to be coated with a citrusy orange sauce too, because he thought that not only canard can be made “à l’orange”, he was the perfect candidate for the title too…and he was. On peut faire plein de choses avec des oranges!

The fennel at my local grocery store has been so round, and perfect looking that I could not resist and bought a lot of those beautiful bulbs. After the shrimp salad, now the salmon dish. You might think that fennel-orange and fish-fennel are two déjà vu combinations, it might be, but the secret here is the broth that makes this salmon a wonderful fragrant dish. Then when you love something, you can never get enough of it.

What I like about this dish is is the lightness of its fragrance, the salmon already has a strong flavor so I don’t like to add too many spices and powerful ingredients to a naturally strong ingredient, then I think it is confusing to your palate when you eat it, well mine gets very sensitive and does get confused easily if too many strong ingredients are combined. C’est la confusion totale! I served this with barley pilaf, whose little crunchy texture accompanied the whole dish very well.

I used some herbs to enhance the broth and that’s basically where the fragrance comes from. I was so happy I finally planted a bunch of herbs in the garden, so let’s hope the three semi-abandoned cats hanging outside the house won’t come and dig them, I am not too familiar with cats’ behavior but seems like they like to play with plants…and catch birds…and seriously have been scaring me a little due to their giant size and the way they are staring at me and my bird through the windows, I haven’t felt any love coming this way.

Ingredients for 2

For the fish and fennel

• 2 salmon fillets, skinless
• 1 fennel bulb, sliced thickly
• Juice of 1 orange + zests
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• flour for coating the fish
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the broth

• 1 leek, cut in chunks
• 1 carrot, cut in chunks
• 2 celeri sticks
• 1 onion, cut in quarters
• 1 tomato cut in quarters
• 2 bay leaves
• 6-7 basil leaves
• 1 tsp fish fumet
• 6 black peppercorns
• 2 cups water

Preparation

Start preparing the broth, by adding all ingredients together with 2 or more cups of water. Let it simmer for one hour, adding more water if necessary. At the end of cooking time, when broth has reduced, you need about 1.5 cups broth. Drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a pan, and add fennel. Let it cook at high heat until both sides are golden brown (about 5-7 minutes), add salt and pepper. Add crush garlic, stir for about 30 seconds, then add 2 ladles of broth. Reduce heat and let it cook all the way through (about 15-20 minutes).

Heat olive oil in a pan. Coat fish with flour and saute in oil. Let it brown on both sides, then add orange juice, 2 ladles of broth and wine. Let it reduce.

Fish/Seafood

Per il pranzo della domenica – Insalata di gamberi, rucola, finocchio e ceci

Happy Valentine’s day to everyone! Joyeuse St. Valentin!

Valentine’s day is not only the celebration of love but also of friendship, so I think everyone is concerned. It seems like the celebration goes back to antiquity in Greece where February was the month of love and fertility and when Zeus got married to Hera. Also during Roman times, this time of year, took place a celebration honoring Lupercus who was the God protector of fields and herds and February 14 was celebrated love and fertility. So we are perpetuating a very ancient celebration.

This Valentine’s day it’s muggy and grey and all you want to do is stay inside. After looking at what is going on on the the East Coast and the snow storms, I am thankful to have an overcast sky, and not be burried under the snow.  I used to have really terrible cabin fever when I lived in Boston and I am afraid I cannot handle extreme weather.

On Sunday morning, Valentine’s day or not, I like to get my croissants and pains au chocolat, it just happens occasionally but when it does, it’s a treat. So when you have that type of breakfast, lunches are usually on the light side.

I somehow love the combination and texture of this salad, the sweetness of chickpeas and fennel, the crunchiness of  the shrimps and the bitterness of arugula are blending harmoniously together…just like a happy couple. Valentine’s day for me is all about harmony, balance, and of course….love.

Ingredients for 2

• 1.5 cup arugula
• 12 large shrimps, peeled, deveined, and cut in half
• 150 g cooked chick peas
• 1/2 large fennel bulb, shaved
• 2 tbs red onions, finely chopped
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 garlic crushed
• orange champagne vinegar
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the salad, mix arugula, fennel, chick peas, red onion together. Saute shrimps in a little olive oil, add salt and pepper and let them cool.

For the vinaigrette, combine oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Add shrimps to the salad, add dressing and toss well. Grind some fresh black pepper and serve.

Fish/Seafood, Salads

Ne laissez jamais tomber!  – Baguette traditionnelle

After many unsuccessful attempts to make my beloved baguette, that led to frustrations, I finally managed to make some that made me quite happy. My mom makes bread in a blink of an eye and her bread always turns out delicious, without really any need for it, since they are surrounded by amazing boulangeries (bakeries). I figured being in a “non-baguette” land, I  needed to be able to make them, and there was no question about it. I was determined to try as many time as necessary, you cannot just stop at a few failures, can you?

I was determined to never give up trying even if it would take me months or years. I baked baguettes a few times with a starter (levain),  and quite unhappy with the results, the bread came out crunchy, then the crust would soften and become a little chewy (I hate chewy bread), and the inside was not airy enough, quite dense and that’s not a sign that the bread is right. I really don’t like heavy crumb, after a few bites, it feels you ate some iron. The taste was ok but not quite what I wanted and did not want to post something I thought was not right nor eat it.

After constant searching, and reading boulangers sites like this one www.boulangerie.org and with their amazing recipes that I will try soon, I found another wonderful blog dedicated to baking called Le Pétrin, so for those of you who read French, I strongly suggest it, if you are in a baking mood and interested in bread-making. The explanations are very clear and precise and her breads, patisseries, croissants, brioches are just amazing. I realized that good bread-making takes time and the process is long, so I am afraid you just cannot cut corners. It has to do with all the chemical reactions involved with the flour, water, and yeast…and there is no way you can just make bread in two hours, or at least baguette. What I like about this baguette is that the bottom part is very crunchy, very well cooked, almost burnt and hard with a very nutty taste, that you get in well cooked in some breads.

This mini baguette (20 cm) is made with a fermented dough made the night before, and mixed with a regular dough made the day you are actually baking the baguettes. It makes the crumb (the inside part of the bread) very light and fluffy. This quantity is for 4 mini baguettes (about 20 cm long).

There are so many recipes for baguettes, just because there are many kinds of baguettes, made with different techniques, flours, and so on, so this is one recipe among many others.

You’ll have some fermented dough left, you can keep it up to three days in the refrigerator or in the freezer for 3 months.

Ingredients for about 4 mini baguettes

For the fermented dough

• 5.20 oz (or 150) white flour
• 1/4 tsp dry yeast
• (0.008 0z) 2.5 g salt
• 6.1 fl oz (or 180-200 ml) water

For the dough

• 17.63 oz (or 500 g) flour
• 10. 65 fl oz (315 ml) water
• 0.14 oz (or 4 g) fresh beer yeast
• 4.4 oz (or 125 g) fermented dough
• 0.35 oz (or 10 g) salt
• 0.84 fl oz (or 25 ml) water

Preparation

For the fermented dough

In a mixing bowl, mix flour with yeast, then add water and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon, then start kneading the dough for about 5-10 minutes until it becomes smooth and rubbery. The dough needs to be a little sticky when touching it.

Start forming a bow, and place it in a container lightly oiled and allow the dough to be very slightly coated with the oil. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 hour.

Quickly knead the dough to let the gas come out, then place back in the bowl and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.

For the dough

Remove fermented dough and leave it at room temperature for one hour.

Take the quantity you need and place the rest in the refrigerator well wrapped.

Place flour in a mixing bowl with water and mix with a wooden spoon. Knead well until the dough becomes smooth but without too sticky. Cover the container and let it rest for one hour.

Mix fermented dough with the regular dough and add crumbled yeast, knead the dough. Add salt and water gradually and knead for 5 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Cover the container with a plastic warp, let it rest for 1h30 and after 30 min bring both ends toward the center.

Remove dough from container and lay on a floured working surface. Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Cover with a towel and let rest for 20 min.

Take each piece and form baguette and place on parchment, thin extremities. Leave about 4 inches in between each baguettes. Cover with a towel for one hour.

Pre-heat oven at 400F  and place a small container like a cup (something that will handle that heat) in the oven while it’s heating up. When ready to place baguettes in the oven. Add water to the container so that steam will form and close the door immediately.

Make 2 cuts with a wet razor blade on top of the baguettes, then place them in the oven. 30 seconds later spray water on the sides of the oven to humidify bread. Close oven door quickly and let it cook for about 20 minutes or until baguettes have a golden color. Leave the bread for 5 min after the oven is turned off.

Breads

Simple salade de salsifis

You probably don’t care about salsifis and there is nothing extraordinary about the recipe. It’s all about the salsifi. Sometimes I like to feature some unpopular vegetables like this one, it’s a root vegetable that people tend to forget like cardoon, so I thought to bring it back from the deads.

I have not had those for such a long time, I have been eating salsifis when I was a child, their consumption is quite common in France but nowadays even there people tend to forget them.

I have just seen some of those at the store today and it just reminded me that I had forgotten to post those while in France.

Basically, they are a long root and have a thick brown skin, their flesh is quite white and they taste like artichoke to me, but some people say it tastes more like oysters so that’s how they got their name from. Honestly I have seen no similarities between an oyster and a salsifi.

You would need to wear gloves when peeling it since its flesh tends to stain hands and the flesh and skin are quite sticky, somehow like a glue. So I’m sure you wondering then, why even bother. Well, there is a good reason to include salsifi in your diet, they contain a lot of minerals and vitamins and are a wonderful vegetable with low calories and lots of fibers, so I think we should re-introduce it in our diet. You can make gratins with them, quiches, I have aslo tasted them in stew and are quite delicious. When preparing them simply like this, you need top quality olive oil, and the juice of a fragrant lemon such as meyer lemons.

Ingredients

• one bunch of salsifis (maybe 10)
• 1.5 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of one lemon
• freshly ground pepper
• Fleur de sel
• Parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Preparation

Peel salsifis. Cook in boiling water for about 7 min, or until cooked but not mushy. Drain and sprinkle with vinaigrette, top with pepper and fleur de sel.

Side Dish, Vegan, Vegetables

Minestrone di verdura

Dachary Carey of The Peasant Chef, asked me if I would be interested in a guest post discussing healthy food, organic and local raised products and why I decided to be a chef. I thought that Peasant Chef was really in line with my values and beliefs and without hesitation accepted the invitation. I wanted to feature a traditional and very healthy dish that my mom used to make with our garden vegetables and Minestrone came to my mind. It’s a very hearty soup, with so many different types of vegetables and vitamins so a gold mine in a bowl. Recipe and article at Peasant Chef.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 large potato, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 leek, chopped
• 1 cup green chards, chopped
• 2 cups green beens, cut in 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup fresh peas (or frozen)
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 2 celeri sticks, diced
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seedless
• 1/2 cup dry cannellini beans (or 1 cup can organic cannellini beans)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs basil, chopped
• 2/3 cup Ditalini pasta (optional)
• 1.5 liters vegetable broth (slightly more)
• parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated
• salt and pepper

________________________________________________________________________________________

From Dachary Carey

The focus on healthy cooking and using fresh, local produce is important to us at Peasant Chef. It was in looking for other food lovers who share that focus that we came across Silvia’s website and blog. We love her concept as a personal chef who focuses on healthy, fresh cuisine, and her Italian and French background gives her an edge in creating tasty food that’s still a pleasure to look at and eat! That’s what caught our attention about Silvia’s blog – the beautiful pictures of her tasty food, and the passion that came through about cooking healthy foods with fresh ingredients.

Support local farms and be good to your body.
One of the great things about living in most parts of the United States is that there are local farms almost everywhere you go. While there are large tracts of land devoted to corporate farming, local farms haven’t vanished entirely, and are actually making a bit of a comeback. As people are getting more and more focused on healthy eating, sustainable farming practices and organic, pesticide-free ingredients, local farms are filling this niche.

By using produce and ingredients from local farms, you’re supporting the local farmers and simultaneously putting good things into your body. By using organic, pesticide-free foods, you’re not putting dangerous chemicals and hormones into your body. Not only is it good for the farmers, but it’s good for you – it’s a win-win!

Fresh ingredients just taste better.
One thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that fresh ingredients just taste better! If you look at the average packaged food at your grocery store, it’s loaded with artificial flavors and preservatives. The reason that companies need all that garbage is because the food isn’t fresh!

If you cook with fresh ingredients, you can tap into natural, fresh flavors. Fresh herbs and spices provide so much more flavor than dried versions, for example, that your mouth will be in for a real treat. And by cooking fresh foods instead of preparing packaged foods from the store, not only are you eating healthier, but you’ll even enjoy your food better!

Try it at home sometime. Make your own tomato sauce for pasta out of tomatoes, hamburger, onions, garlic and maybe even some green pepper. Add some salt and pepper, and maybe some herbs or oregano for extra flavor. It typically only takes 15-20 minutes to whip up a batch of fresh pasta sauce – it doesn’t have to take forever! Taste it, and you’ll realize what you’ve been missing by eating canned pasta sauce all those years – and you’ll never go back.

You are what you eat – literally!
Everyone has heard the phrase “you are what you eat,” but most people don’t realize exactly how literal that phrase truly is. If you eat unhealthy foods high in saturated fat all the time, your body will become saggy, listless and sluggish. On the other hand, if you eat healthy, fresh foods, you’ll have more energy and your immune system will perform better than it ever has!

Countries that eat a healthier diet have significantly lower rates of obesity, drastically reduced rates of heart disease and even live longer lives. The things you put in your body directly affect how your body performs, so give it good fuel and you’ll get a lot of healthy years out of it!

Keep eating healthy – and enjoy it!
Thanks, Silvia, for making a website focused on eating healthy, tasty foods! Hopefully you can help people realize that healthy food doesn’t have to lack flavor, and delicious food doesn’t have to be unhealthy.

Soups

Sempre così speciale – Il riso verde

Riso verde is a specialty I used to eat at our family restaurant in Italy, I haven’t eaten it anywhere else. My dad’s relatives have un’albergo-ristorante (an hotel and restaurant) Al Lago in San Lazzaro that also has a restaurant where they make wonderful specialties like this one.  All their pasta, tagliatelle, gnocchi, cannelloni, etc…are homemade, therefore many locals go there to celebrate special events such as weddings, baptims and have traditional “gargantuesques” meals. Last time I was there was for my cousin’s wedding but riso verde was not part of the menu to my big disappointment. You can also find some tourists during the summer in San Lazzaro, but being a small little town in Pesaro Province, and not as touristy as Rimini or some other bigger cities on the Adriatic Coast, the summers are usually not as invaded by tourists trying to indulge on local cuisine.

I have always loved this riso verde, basically it’s somehow a risotto, but they call it simply “riso” (rice). Usually as any other “primo” meaning first dish, it’s served by itself, and not as a side dish. To really appreciate it, you should really savor it on its own, and with nothing else to distract you from its wonderful taste and texture.

I was tempted to dress it up but then I resisted and I decided to leave it as it’s served at Al Lago. I added a little extra spinach, the original recipe has less spinach, and a little more cream, so has a lighter green color. You can adjust the spinach and cream quantity. I kept mine on the healthy side, but nothing prevents you from adding a little less spinach and a little cream. In Italy, they use Panna, which is a thick cream, heavy cream or crème fraîche can be substituted but it has a little more of a tangy flavor.

The trick here is to mash to spinach into a purée type of a texture so when you mix it with the risotto, you see no spinach particles. The green color of the spinach needs to be blended with the rice.

Also, I would not use a cooking wine but a nice dry white wine more like Vernaccia or some Northern Italian wines.

Ingredients for 2

• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 shallot, chopped
• 2 cups fresh spinach or 1/3 lb frozen
• 1 cup (to be adjusted) dry white wine
• 1 cup (to be adjusted) vegetable broth
• 2 tbs parmigiano reggiano
• 1 tbs heavy cream
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First start preparing the spinach. If using fresh spinach, wash them well, and boil in salted water for about 5-7 minutes. Drain well squeezing extra water, and chop them finely first, then with a little cream, place in a blender and reduce into a purée type of consistency. Set aside.

In a pot, heat olive oil, then add shallots. Let them brown then add rice. Stir rice to coat rice with the olive oil. Add gradually wine and broth and keep stirring.  Add spinach 10 minutes before rice has finished cooking. Add cream and continue stirring. At the end add parmigiano. Stir well all ingredients so that risotto has absorbed flavors. Serve hot.

Rice, Vegetarian - dairy