Pasta with stracchino cheese and fresh tomatoes recipe

This is truly summer recipe! It's so quick too!
Stracchino is a type of Italian fresh cheese, typical of Lombardy, Piedmont, and Veneto, but you can easily find it in every supermarket. It's also known as Crescenza. The name 'Crescenza' is derived from the Italian word 'stracca', which means 'tired' in English. It is said that the cheese made from the milk of tired cows moving seasonally up and down the Alps, is rich in fats and more acidic in nature.
Crescenza is a very soft cheese with creamy, spreadable texture and no rind. It usually has a mild and delicate flavour. It spreads nicely on crackers, crostini or fresh bread.

You will need for two portions:

• 130-160 g of pasta (depending on your appetite)
• 200-300 gr of cherry tomatoes (better fresh from a local farmers market)
• 100 grams of cheese stracchino o crescenza
• 30g pecorino romano cheese (optional)
• 1/2 garlic clove (optional - personally I do not put it)
• 20 ml of olive oil
• salt

There are two variations of this recipe, both delicious. 

In the first put in a blender a cream of fresh tomatoes, add stracchino and everything else, including olive oil and make a cream. 

In the second rvariation put a half of tomatoes in a pot with a spoon of olive oi and stew a little. Other tomatoes use to make a cream as I wrote above then add to the pot.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions,  until the pasta is al dente. When pasta is ready, drain and mix it with the cream. 

Of course as always I used a wholegrain pasta, but you can use a normal one.

Wholegrain pasta with topinambur, zucchini e walnuts recipe

Uh, the name of this recipe is too long, but it's very simple to cook)) Actually, I used wholegrain farro pasta or emmer (farro dicocco), but it would be even longer to write it in the title)) In general, the you can choose pasta as you want.

You will need 2 servings

•  130-150 grams of pasta, depending on your appetite)
• 400g Jerusalem artichoke (topinambur)
• 200-250 g zucchini
• 1 medium onion
• 60 g of crushed walnuts
• 20 ml of olive oil
• 50g grated pecorino romano cheese
• salt

Jerusalem artichoke has many names - sunchoke, sunroot, earth apple, but in Italy we call it topinambur. For myself I have discovered it recently. I started to look for recipes and I tried different ones. I can say that this recipe is my own creation)) Ahead you will find another recipe of burgers made of Jerusalem artichokes and some vegetables, but I will write about it next time. The Taste is similar to artichokes and potatoes at the same time, very gentle. 

So, it is necessary to clean topinamburs -  peel the skin thoroughly, otherwise there will be undercooked pieces. Cut into medium pieces and put them to boil. It needs not less than half an hour too cook, pierce it with a fork from time to time. 
Lets prepare the cream - clean and finely chop the onion. Fry it on a low heat until soft. Zucchini should be cut into thin strips. Add them to the onion.

In a separate small pot fry the walnuts with olive oil and then add to the pot with zucchini and onions. When the topinambur is cooked, remove it with a slotted spoon and put pasta into the same cooking water. Topinambur you need to grind in a blender into cream and mix with zucchini, onions and walnuts.

Now you can turn off the fire under them and wait for the pasta.

Of course, you can boil pasta in a separate pot, it will be faster, but in topinambur cooking water pasta will be tastier) a little secret)

When pasta is al dente, drain,  and mix it with the cream. Sprinkle with the  pecorino romano before serving. 

Bon Appetit! 

Wholegrain pasta with broccoli and walnuts cream

I like traditions of Mediterranean cuisine, because there are used a lot of greens, vegetables, fresh salads and of course extra virgin olive oil)) Perhaps this is th reason that people live here almost 100 years, taking a coffee in a local bar in the morning, going to the hairdresser, taking a glass of red wine in the evening with friends (other old age people))) Tasty and healthy food from the field near the town directly to the table what can be better! 
Now, of course, young people are spoiled and use white flour instead of whole wheat. Previously, all the bread and pasta were made of whole wheat flour and white one was used only for making sweets for the holidays, it was very expensive. Now everyone eats a lot, whereas previously there was a fish day and a meat day and not everyone could afford it.

But I have moved away from the topic, and today I show you how to cook wholegrain pasta with cream of broccoli and walnuts. This is a very simple and quick recipe. You can try to cook this pasta for your the children))

You will need 2 portions:

• 300g of broccoli
• 70-80gr of wholegrain pasta
• 40g of chopped walnuts
• 1 small hot pepper, can be dry or fresh or in powder (optional)
• 20 ml of extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 50g of grated pecorino romano cheese
• salt and pepper

Break up the broccoli florets so the flowers are quite small. Put them to boil in salted water. 

When they are cooked, remove them from the water and leave it to boil pasta. Grind the broccoli with mixer, adding a bit of cooking water, pepper and olive oil.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions,  until the pasta is al dente. 

Meantime, chop garlic finely. Heat olive oil in a large pan, add garlic and fry for 1 minute, then add chopped walnuts (and hot pepper) and fry gently for 1 min. The final touch - add the cream of broccoli. If pasta is not ready, then turn off. Turn it on later before adding pasta.

When pasta is al dente, drain, leaving 1/2 cup of cooking water, and mix it with the broccoli cream. Gently stir on the heat for 1-2 minutes. Add pasta cooking water if necessary.

Sprinkle with the  pecorino romano before serving. IT's a really mandatory final touch!

As you can see, everything is very simple)

Italian pasta types

Some time ago I found this amazing image of pasta types in internet. I thought it’s interesting and will be great to post it on my blog.  You can download it here in large size. 

There are roughly 350 different shapes and varieties of pasta in Italy, even more counting regional differences. It comes in all shapes and sizes.  It is impossible to remember them all)) But all Italians know mostly used types of pasta and how to cook it and with which condiment. 

Some are great with sauce, others stand on their own, just asking to be drizzled with olive oil and eaten 'al dente'. Pasta shapes with holes or ridges like mostaccioli or radiatore are perfect for chunkier sauces. The tiniest shapes are often used in soups. Some shapes are large enough to be stuffed and baked. 

Pasta can be homemade or produced commercially and often is available in different flavors or colors, seasoned with vegetables and also with wine. But also there are a lot of regional artisan pasta producers and many people prefer to by their products, which can be dried or fresh one day made.  Lastly the producing of whole wheat, spelt or made from other cereals pasta is growing too.

Spaghetti and tagliatelle as my models

Last my photosession I used fresh made spaghetti and tagliatelle and other pasta as my models. What do you think about them ? Are they talented models ?

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Conchiglioni stuffed with ricotta, shrimps and zucchini

Once I bought the pasta in a store close to home and for big order received box with two huge conchiglioni. Conchiglione is the pasta in the form of shells, can be of different sizes, our were really giant. Such conchiglioni you can even eat one for two persons) 

In general, after searching on the internet and asking friends (oh yeah, Italians love to talk about food, men and women tak about recipes and restaurants), we chose a recipe by which never cooked. But I will tell you right now that it so delicious that we will cook it when we have guests. 

Ok, What you need:

• Conchiglioni (big ones - then one per person, medium - it can be two or even three, if you have a giant like in the photo - for two Conchiglioni all the ingredients have to be multiplied by two) 
• ricotta, about 200-250 grams 
• 200g of prawns 
• 1 medium zucchini 
• 1 clove of garlic 
• dry white wine 
• pinch of turmeric 
• olive oil, salt, pepper 
• cheese for sprinkling on top and bake in the oven (what you like, I took Parmigiano) 

So, to start, put the water in a large saucepan and when it boils put conchiglioni. They have to swim freely in the water. Boil them "al dente" - is very much !!! it is important because you have to put them then in the oven. Usually on the package you can find indicates (we boiled our conchiglioni 20 min)

Grate zucchini, chop peeled shrimps (leave one for each of the shells), clean the garlic. 

While the shell is cooking, fry the garlic and then remove it from the oil. 

Then add shrimps, after a minute pour a bit of wine. And a minute later put the zucchini, salt, pepper, and a couple of minuted you can turn off. If you poured a lot of oil (as my husband loves), then strain through a sieve into a bowl and let it cool. 

 Mix with ricotta. 

The remaining shrimps you should fry in olive oil for a minute, add a pinch of turmeric.

 Then take away shrimps and add a little of wine. Stew it for 1-2 minutes.

By this time, your shells have to be ready. Put them in a baking dish, pre-greased and Stuff. Sprinkle with cheese and bake in the oven at 200 degrees until golden crust.

Serve on a plate, first pouring the sauce with turmeric. Then put the shell and decorate it with the prawn. 

Bon Appetit)) 

Pasta with asparagus and speck

This is extremely tasty and easy to prepare recipe. I have to say, this recipe is not for the diet)) 

So, you'll need 

80-90 grams of pasta for one person (I took 180 grams of whole wheat pasta)
200g of asparagus 
100g italian speck (I took it thin sliced​​, but it is more convenient to take one thick slice, then you can sliver it) 
25-50 grams of cheese Grana Padano or Parmigiano 
small onion 
olive oil, salt, pepper 

So, put on fire two pots of water - one for pasta, one for asparagus. Clean and cut Asparagus, then boil it for 5 minutes about. Do not forget to salt thw water slightly. 

While the asparagus is boiling, chop the onion finely and fry till it became golden brown in olive oil. Then add about half or two thirds of asparagus from the pan. Fry is about 5 minutes. 

If you have purchased already grated cheese, it's good) I bought a piece and ground it in a blender. 

Add the asparagus with onions from the frying pan in the blender and a bit of water from the pan with asparagus and make the cream. 

Can be done, by the way, on the contrary - first boil a whole asparagus, then slice it. In this case, in the blender you will put thicker and stiffer bases and we leave gentle tops for second part of the sauce) 

Fry the speck. 

Speck can, of course, be replaced with the bacon, but it will probably be even more difficult to digest and heavy dish, because the bacon is more fat. It is possible in this case to drain oil from the frying pan abter frying the bacon. 

Now add the rest of the asparagus to the speck in the frying pan and fry a little. 

Put the sauce from the blender into the pan and mix everything. 

Cook pasta as it is written on the packaging. But of course we are preparing like all italians, "al dente" - that is when it gets stuck in the teeth a little. 

So, when the pasta is ready, "al dente", drain it and mix it with the sauce. Turn the fire off, leave for a minute and serve on a plate.

Pasta as a protagonist...

Again food photographies))
This time I was inspired by pasta, hope you like them))

You can Find my photos on Shutterstock, Fotolia and other stocks.

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)