WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE PIZZA?

As you know, Italy is the country of Pizza!

Of course, you'd say, but...which one is your favourite one? Don't you know that you can have at home or in a restaurant so many kind of it?

Don't worry, I've just created a page where, periodically, I will add new and different variety of pizza for you, to be prepared about what to order in case of an italian holiday!

Where? Simply: on the right menu, or by CLICKING HERE!

Enjoy...

The "Swordfish Pie"....SUPER!

Last night I was watching the italian version of MASTERCHEF, and during the show Carlo Cracco and the crew showed a sea recipe....my wife looked at me and said "I love seafood, why don't you create something for me?"

I did it!

This is a simple fish pie: inside I put the swordfish cut into pieces on the lower level, then a mix of breadcrumbs and parsley, with a bit of grated lemon zest. The upper side is potatoes, but cut like petals (to do this I've simply used a peeler).

I cooked everything together, over @180° for 30 mintues. Nothing else is requested.

ALERT: when you prepare your pie do not forget about the little chimney in the very middle of the pie. This particular attention will help the humidity to go out from the pie and inside it will cook perfectly.

Another trick is to not leave spaces inside the pie: all ingredients need to be softly pressed together.

I served this pie with an octopus salad (a sort of carpaccio) with boiled potatoes and parsley.

Enjoy!

How to cook an italian pasta ("pastasciutta")

Non Recently I went to the cinema to see an italian movie called "Quo Vado". It's a funny one made by an italian actor, Checco Zalone.

In a scene he is in Norway (Bergen) having a dinner in an italian restaurant, and the owner explain, in a TOTALLY WRONG WAY, how to cook spaghetti.

This brought me to the conclusion that there is lot of confusion around the method to prepare an italian pasta.

Basically all you need is a pot, some water and salt: that's it. But....how?

First of all take care about water: for 500g of pasta 5L of water are enough, but not less (remembet that it will evaporate decreasing its volume)

Now, put it on fire and wait until it will boil, then add the salt (possibly coarse salt, what we call in italian "sale grosso", the one with big grains) and sit down another 5 minutes, the time that the water needs to boil again.

Did you add salt? Is it boiling? Perfect, now it's the time to add pasta.

You can choose your favourite size and format (penne, maccheroni, spaghetti, linguine, fusilli, bucatini) but following exactly these easy steps.

No salt? Wrong: you need to correct your pasta before adding seasoning...

Never wait for water boiling? Wrong: if the water is cold or not enough hot the risk is that your pasta will taste of...nothing!

There is another cooking method that consist in following the "risotto" steps, but being this harder and not so frequently used I will explain it later in a separate post.

#lovepasta

The Secret of...Risotto

How many times did you thought to prepare a real italian risotto?

"Risotto" is the italian word of the rice cooked through a particular method. Sometimes you tasted it boiled, but that's not what we call "risotto". The preparation of it for us is a real cult, nothing can be left to chance, there are rules to follow and ingredients to use, but the final outcome is guaranteed.

THE RICE

There are different quality of rice: personally my favourite one is the vialone nano quality. The size of the berry is smaller than others but if you respect the right minutes (15' in average) it will not overcook and will keep the originary consistency.

Don't worry, this is only my best choice: to prepare a typical italian risotto you can use also other kind of rice, like the following:

- Arborio (large berries, this is the most common rice used in Italy)
- Carnaroli (second best-choice for italians)
- Roma (long and rounded berries)
- Venere (China-style)

Please forget about "parboiled" quality, since this kind of berry request a different cooking method (and, in my humble opinion, it's really far from the result you'll obtain using a non-parboiled rice).

THE BROTH

Yeah, you need a good "brodo" (the italian word for the broth) to cook the risotto. I've seen, travelling around the world, so many self-made cookers use the normal water with salt......horrible! The broth need to be obtained from meat (or vegetables, no worries, it will be only lighter than the meat broth) and, during the preparation of the risotto, need to be "on fire", boiling while you start cooking it.

The perfect broth have to include:

- a piece of meat (cow bones too, it will help to taste better)
- a carrot
- a celery
- an onion

Just take a pot full of water, put everything inside and watch a football match: after 90 minutes you will see that the water will be turned into a wonderful beef broth!

THE GOD OF RISOTTO: "ALLA MILANESE"

You know which one to use, what to use to cook it, then....ready to know the perfect companion? Yes, it's yellow, it's tasty: the Saffron!

The history, unofficially, says that a few centuries ago some worker, sat on a high roof of the DUOMO DI MILANO, during the lunch break bumped a can full of a yellow dough (used for the domo outdoor) and it went down into the cooked boiled rice. At that time nobody wanted to waste money or food, therefore being the dough made with natural ingredients (saffron) they tasted it and....yeah, fantastic!

Maybe this is also the reason why the Yellow Risotto (with saffron) is also called "Risotto alla Milanese" (Milan Rice)..maybe not, maybe it's only a legend, anyway I can confirm the saffron and risotto is the perfect mix!

DO YOU LIKE "PIZZA MARGHERITA"?

PIZZA MARGHERITA: A FEW WORDS

Which is the most common italian word that you have in mind when you think at the italian food? I guess this is a really stupid question since the answer is pretty easy: PIZZA!

This wonderful “item” started to be known in our country in the X century, and then all around Italy (in Naples a bread with a very strange shape was called “pitta”, and then with the addition of tomatoes and mozzarella the “tt” was changed in “zz”, then “pizza”).

The original version of it, simple but tasty, is made as in the past: four, water and salt for the base, and later an addition of tomatoes with oil, cheese (mostly mozzarella) and origano.

Travelling around Europe I’ve seen that a few version include “pepperoni” on it (a sort of salami), but the italian style does not include it! Just to say…..

WHAT DO YOU NEED (4 people)?

In order to prepare a perfect pizza at home, first of all you need to have a standard oven that can easily reach 220c° (when you eat in restaurant usually this is cooked in a wooden oven that can reach a 300c° temperature, this is not easily replicable at home). Please note that for this recipe you cannot use a microwave oven (and, in general, you will never find microwaves tips and tricks on this blog).

Are you ready? Let’s go:

Flour – Type “0” (tender)...................1 Kg

Water (normal) ................... 600 gr

Brewer's yeast  ................... 7/10 gr

Olive Oil (quality “EVO”) ................... around 60 gr

Salt................... up to 20 gr

Tomato’s sauce ................... 600 gr

Mozzarella ................... 400 gr

Origan ................... a bit

HOW TO PREPARE

In a basin put all the flour and create a hole in the middle, then put inside the yeast. This part is very important since the volume that the  dough will reach will depend by the quality and the quantity of it, then try to be as much aligned as possible with the previous suggested weight.

Then add a bit of water (not all the quantity suggested, you’ll need the rest later) and start to knead all, mixing together with hands (or with a machine if you have) for at least 10 minutes. During this time the yeast’s property will start to be active and will perfectly combine with the flour.

Continue this procedure adding more and more water slowly; if you will see that, at some stage, the dough will be sticky feel free to add a bit of flour (otherwise the opposite, if the dough is too hard the add a bit more water), until you will reach an homogeneous base (give it the round shape).

As last part add the olive oil and complete this part, after another 2 minutes with your hands, covering the dough’s ball with a kitchen film, then leave it in the oven, that is OFF with only the light ON: the light power will contribute to keep a good temperature during this  the leavening phase, that will last between 2 and 3 hours.

After this period it’s better to spend another 5/10 minutes manipulating the dough and then covering it again and wait another 60 minutes: this is not mandatory but will contribute to have a really soft base for your pizza.

In the meantime prepare the tomato’s sauce mixing it with a big of olive oil, salt and origan: this is the perfect way to create the right taste on the dough before adding all the other elements. A nice leave of “basilico” somewhere on the mozzarella will let your pizza be more fragrant.

When the dought is ready (as previously described) put it into a baking tin (previously covered by oil, you can do this putting a bit olive oil inside and then spreading with your fingers) and add the tomato’s mixed sauce. Add the cheese (please, Mozzarella is da way!) and then spray a bit of origan over it: that’s all.

 Now you can decide your own what to add on it, but also leaving it as it is will be perfect (in Italy we call this version “Pizza Margherita”).

When your fantastic pizza is ready to be cooked, firstly you need to wait until your oven has reached a good temperature, at least 200c°: when ready, cook it for 18 minutes checking the colour of the mozzarella (when becomes colorful it means it’s ready).

If this is not your favourite one, then here you can find other varieties of this wonderful food!

Welcome in Italy!

Welcome to my (italian) kitchen!

That's a fact: I love cooking! What's strange? Simple: I work as a manager in a big italian company, mostly running startups, with a frequent travel-plan around Europe..... so what?

Simple:I'm married and have two wonderful daughters. When I got married I had to choice between "food envelopes" (or "lyophilized" as the best case) or nothing. My wife hate cooking, then I started to prepare something from zero.

Some simply pasta, a rice and pizza, the simplest goods that, anyway, deserves so much attention compared with the s**t that you can have as take-away-ready sandwiches (or worst, what about the fast-food? Horrible).

You know, you start with a step, then two steps, then four-in-a-row and you start to enjoy what you do in free time, until you start loving discover new recipes or, better, when you create your own thinking at the raw materials that, maybe, you can find in the very shourt perimeter of your town (I live in Gorgonzola, in the north of Italy....yeah, where the cheese was bornt, but this is another story, soon on this blog).

In the last years I loved to share on social networks my own creation, and every time the question was the same: "How did you do that? Instructions?".  On my socials I've a lot of italian friends as well a few european contacts (former colleagues, friends, and many others)....then the question is: instead of write another italian food-blog, what about creating an international virtual place where to discuss and share my own recipes and dishes?

So...here we go! Hope you'll find this place easy, comfortable but, more than that....useful and mostly appetizing!

Enjoy.