This Apulian caponata is a version of this one of Sicily’s essential dishes. It is a vegetarian eggplant stew–more like a relish, really–made of eggplant, onions, bell pepper, celery and tomatoes with briny olives and capers.

There are variations of this tasty eggplant dish. Most of caponatas are spiked with vinegar or raisins.

This version was given to me by a dear friend who lives in Prato, but she owns her Apulian origins a fantastic touch with veggies. This ratatouille is baked, and much lighter then the original version with fried veggies.

The addition of Juniper berries and bay leaves to caponata confers it a very unusual taste which, surprisingly enough (usually these herbs are used in game or meat cooking), melts perfectly with this tasty deli.

It is best the next day, so try to make it ahead and store it in the fridge in a tight-lid mason jar. Bring it to room temperature before serving.

Prep Time: 20 mins | Cooking Time: 60 mins | Total Time: 1 hour + 20 mins minutes | Yield: Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients 

• 4 medium yellow onions
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 red bell peppers
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 large eggplant
• 125 ml (½ cup) EVO oil
• 10 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon Juniper berries
• Sea salt

Instructions

Cut the eggplant in chunks, sprinkle with salt and let drain in a colander.

Halve and de–seed the peppers, then roughly cut into large chunks. Do the same with potatoes and zucchini.

Heat oven to 180C/170C (350 F) fan.

Cover two shallow roasting pans with parchment paper, pour in the vegetables except the eggplant, and season with salt.

With a clean tea towel, squeeze the eggplant chunks and add them to the other vegetables.

Spoon two-thirds juniper berries, peppercorns and olive oil and bay leaves (roughly broken into two halves) into the vegetable mixture, toss together, then roast for 40 minutes.

While vegetables are baking, cut the onions in two halves and then into strips.

Put them in a bowl, season with salt and the remaining herbs and olive oil.

After the vegetables have cooked for 40’, add the onion, mix and let it cook for 20’, or until all the vegetables are soft.

Meat stock or broth (nowadays the distinction is quite blurred) is a very popular dish in Northern Italy. It is not only used for adding juices to roasted meats, stews and meat sauces during prolonged cooking, but it also creates wonderful dishes on its own. Northern Italy offers a wonderful variety of pastas created to be cooked and served in broth. There is a whole world of different stocks, made with vegetables, beef, chicken, or fumetto made with fish.

This is a family recipe, it includes hen and beef, and the Italian tradition provides many ways to reuse meats that have lost their juices in the stock.

In order to make a sumptuous stock, meats and vegetables are added to the stockpot when water is cold and left simmering for hours.

The traditional family recipes are very simple, you just need to use a very big stockpot, put the ingredients in it and cover with water. Then it must be put on the stove and left gently bubbling for a long period of time.

Now chefs have enhanced the recipe by cutting the onion into two halves and roasting it for few minutes in a non-stick pan. It adds a stronger flavour to the stock, as it extracts the essence of the vegetable.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 4 hours | Total Time: 4 hours and 20 minutes | Yield: Makes 2 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, peeled
• 1 medium carrot, peeled
• 1 celery stalk
• 2 medium potatoes
• 3 cherry tomatoes
• Half hen or 2-pounds chicken wings
• 1 to 1.5 kg (2.5 to 3.5 lbs) various beef cuts used for Italian braised meat like beef tongue, tail, shin bones with meat, marrow bones and bones with a little meat on them, such as oxtail, short ribs, or knuckle bones (cut in half by a butcher)
• Makes 2.5 litres/10.5 cups

Instructions

Place a large stockpot on the biggest burner. Fill with 4-5 litres/4.5 to 5.5 quarts of cold water (about two-thirds full) and add all the ingredients. Bring the water up to the simmering point.

Gently simmer the stock, covered, for 3-4 hours, or even longer if you have time, topping up with water if necessary. Skim the white foam that bubbles to the surface with a slotted spoon.

Strain stock using a fine-mesh sieve and discard bones and vegetables. Let the broth continue to cool until barely warm, then refrigerate in smaller containers overnight. Remove solidified fat from the top of the chilled stock.

Freeze it in ice cube trays and add it to your risotto, stews and roasts.

Dogs love the boiled carrots, and can be given some of the beef bones. The boiled beef is recycled as a stew, in a dish called lesso rifatto or francesina. I add the hen to vegetable soups, to improve the texture.

This way of roasting lamb is incredibly simple but involves some degree of organisation, since you need to calculate the time needed for marinating and cooking.

This a very traditional Tuscan recipe, celebrated in Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. In those days, preparation snd cooking times, and ingredient quantities were rarely indicated, so I am trying to give more precise indications.

This Arezzo style roasted lamb is usually cooked on the BBQ, and is frequently basted with the marinade: in Italy we use a rosemary sprig as a brush.

This recipe’s ideal side dish is an oven dish full of golden potatoes, roasted with olive oil, garlic and sage.

Cook them apart, not in the same baking dish as the lamb, since the sharpness of the vinegar would give the potatoes an acidic taste.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 1 hour + 10 minutes ( + 2 hours for marinading) | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

• 2.5 lb (1 kg) lamb shoulder
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 3 sage leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Sea salt

Instructions

Coarsely chop the herbs and add the olive oil and vinegar. Poke holes in the meat with a fork to absorb the marinade and let it sit for 2 hours.

Bake in a convection oven at 375° F (190° C) for an hour, turning and brushing it with the marinade (using a rosemary sprig).

Serve with sage and garlic roasted potatoes.

Paccheri is a new pasta shape particularly well suited for being stuffed. With truffle sauce, sausage, and porcini mushrooms, it is ideal for festive occasions. In winter, I always look for occasions to turn on the oven, and this recipe is perfect for holidays and meals with friends and family around a festive table.

It is a rich dish, and a bit time-consuming, but you can prepare the filling in a piping-bag and the sauce in advance, and compose the dish at the last moment.

Porcini mushrooms and white truffle are seasonal and are considered  the sovereigns of Italian cuisine.

Prep Time: 1 hour | Cooking Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour + 30 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

• ¾ lb. (300 g.) Paccheri pasta

Ingredients for the stuffing

• 13 oz. (400 g.) potatoes, boiled and mashed
• 6,5 oz. (180 g.) Italian sausage
• 1 big egg
• 1,5 oz. – 1/3 cup (50 g.) white truffle paste
• Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning

Ingredients for the sauce

• 1 + ½ tablespoons (20 g.) butter
• 3 tablespoons (20 g.) flour
• 1 cup (200 ml.) milk
• 3 oz. (100 g.) Porcini mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley, finely minced
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced
• For the final touch:
• Parmigiano Reggiano, a piece

Instructions

In a blender, combine the ingredients for the filling. Mince everything finely and pour them in a piping bag.

In a pot, make a béchamel melting the butter over low heat, combining the flour and salt and whisking with a fork as you add to prevent lumps. Add the milk a little at a time, whisking as you pour. Raise the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes to thicken, whisking to prevent and break up any lumps (eventually use an immersion blender).

In another small pot, combine olive oil, parsley and garlic and simmer for 1 minute over very low heat, then join the mushroom, cover with a lid and cook for 2 minutes.

Join half of the mushroom to the béchamel and mix with an immersion blender.

Pour the sauce on a serving dish that can be used in the oven.

In a pot with salted water, boil the pasta for 2/3 of the cooking time indicated on the box.

Drain pasta and sprinkle with a tablespoon of olive oil and mix. When it is tepid, stuff it with the filling and gently lay it on the sauce, vertically.

Arrange the remaining mushroom around pasta and grate chips of Parmigiano using a potato-peeler.

Bake it in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes at 400 F. (200 C).

The stuffing of this gnocchi is very similar to the one of Ascoli olives, a skilled mix of meats cooked in a soffritto, whose taste is made lighter by a touch of lemon zest. The only complicated phase is finding the procedure to fill the gnocchi; I think that using a piping bag makes the operation a lot easier.

It is quite hard not to find intriguing recipes in Italy: its regional cuisine is extremely rich and varied and, Marche region, not very known by mass tourism, offers us wonderful dishes with meat, vegetables, and fish.

In the near future, I am going to propose some Marche recipes: I learned to appreciate various dishes thanks to some sibling who introduced me to many treats. In addition, some trips in which I explored wonderful restaurants made me appreciate this region even more.

The scarce knowledge of the regional treasures contributed to maintaining an Italian atmosphere, not wretched by the mechanisms of great masses of tourists.

I have always been thinking that the real atmosphere of a country is much better seized in small towns, which tend to be more conservative and contribute to keeping the great Italian culinary tradition alive.

Now the region is living a new awakening, also as a reaction to the destructions caused by an earthquake, which stroke it in 2016: concerts like “Marche Rise Again” and new cycles of art exhibits propose a panoramic view of artistic treasures of the region, like, for instance, the cycle dedicated to Lorenzo Lotto.

Prep Time: 50 minutes | Cooking Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour + 30 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients for the stuffing

• 2,5 pounds (1 kg) white, russet or other starchy potatoes, steamed and peeled
• 2 cups (250 g.) pastry or “00” flour, plus more as needed
• 10 oz. (300 g.) mixed meats (chicken breast, pork, and veal)
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 carrot, finely minced
• 1 onion, finely minced
• 1 celery stalk, finely minced
• ½ glass of white wine
• ½ glass water
• ¼ organic lemon grated zest
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoons butter

Ingredients for the sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 14 oz.  (400 g.)  finely chopped tomato sauce
• Sea salt

Instructions for making the gnocchi

Heat butter and oil in a saucepan and sauté the vegetables in it. When they are cooked, add the meats roughly chopped. Cook the meats, adding water and wine. Stir the meats and, when the wine has evaporated, cover with a lid and make the meats simmer for half an hour. When it is cooked, take the meats, draining them from the cooking liquid, and put them in a mixer.

Filter the cooking liquid with a sieve, and put it aside. Ground the meats in the mixer, then add the yolks, the Parmigiano, the lemon zest, and the cooking liquid. Mix again. Move the stuffing to a piping bag.:

While the meat is cooking, steam the potatoes for the gnocchi.

For making gnocchi, follow the instructions in this recipe.

Divide the dough into parts bigger than usual, since it must contain the filling. Stuff the gnocchi and close the little balls by rolling them quickly between the palms of your hands.

Lay the gnocchi on a paper tray previously sprinkled with flour.

Instructions for making the sauce

In a non-sticking pan, sauté garlic cloves in oil and discard them when golden. Add the tomato and make it simmer for 10 minutes.

Cook the gnocchi in boiling salted water for few minutes, it can be drained when it floats and poured directly in the pan with the sauce. I suggest using a pastaiola or draining them in batches, using a slotted spoon.

Usually “potage” and “sea” contradict each other. This recipe is connected to “land” ingredients like potatoes, leeks, and a lot of fresh cream.

I created this recipe when trying to exalt Autumn vegetables, and trying to propose something healthy but extremely stimulating. I have always been inspired by French cuisine, but the recipe of the normal potage sounded really a bit too rich with all that cream. I decided to keep potatoes and leeks, add squash and a good fish stock and prawns, and I have to admit that it is very appreciated.

This encounter of fresh ingredients, poor in calories and rich in vitamins and fibers, is an excellent way to taste an unusual dish, light but full of taste.

In Italy, there are other dishes, mainly first courses, that enhance squash, like butternut squash gnocchi, the Ferrara squash ravioli, the Mantua ravioli. This vegetable is wonderful and versatile, rich in fibers, minerals and increases the sensation of fullness, helping a lot for the diets.

While in traditional Italian first courses squash is processed and squeezed, here the labor is extremely reduced; the addition of prawns and chili pepper balances the sweet note of squash and leeks.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Butternut squash is one of the many joys of the season: rain and cold temperatures are compensated by incredibly rich and comforting foods. It is another gift from the Americas, like potatoes.

Accompanied by a creamy Taleggio cheese sauce, this dish speaks about the valley crossed through the Po river, its fog, its chilly temperatures. In this discomforting weather, nevertheless, the inhabitants created a varied cuisine, sophisticated, that requires some manual skills but is a great source of satisfaction.

One of my personal favorites is this recipe of gnocchi: the great canonic recipe of gnocchi is enriched by the addition of Butternut squash. It is extremely versatile: the 00 flour can be easily replaced by the same quantity of gluten-free flour in order to create a dish which can be tasted by our celiac guests. It is important to underline that the temperature of potatoes and squash is fundamental: just tepid, not too hot, or it would require an excessive quantity of flour, nor too cold, or it would be very hard to knead. Still, for the egg intolerant or vegan tablemates, we can decide not to add the egg. We must be quite skilled, though, since the egg makes pasta easier to knead. (and of course, the Taleggio sauce should be replaced by a vegetables one.

This recipe, like many others, is a starting point for a journey in the pleasures of Autumn.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours | Yield: Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients for gnocchi

This is an extremely fresh way to be introduced to octopus. This salad is ideal to be served in a hot summer day, above all if you are back from the beach.

Italy has an incredibly wide range of fish and seafood, and as many recipes to cook them. Throughout the country, Octopus is a favourite dish. It is an extremely clever animal, but unfortunaly for it, its meat is extremely tasty, low in fats, but rich in good cholesterol, like prawns and other crustaceans.

I was introduced to the joys of octopus quite late – in my mid-20s – by some friends from Civitavecchia who came to visit with some of them, caught by their father. These cephalopods live in rocky coasts. Hailing from the sandy coast of the northern Adriatic coast, I had never seen it. In these past few decades, Italy has been discovering the cuisines of other regions, and it is common to see it in seafood restaurants all over Italy.

When the octopus is fresh, it is extremely tough. The new way to deal with the problem is provided with technology. (see recipe). The old way, that is quite grisly for my taste, has been turned into a touristic show in the old Harbour of Bari. It consists of pounding the octopus on the rocks for hours. Another technique consists of beating it with a stick until the color changes from red to white. Then it is washed in a basin on a tilting stool until it curls. For more info look here.

The freshness of arugula is very inviting in the heat of the Italian summer. This is, of course, a variation of the famous “pesto” par excellence”. Arugula is a great source of flavonoids that are believed to have antioxidant properties. It’s also an excellent source of vitamin K, B and a very good source of iron, magnesium and vitamin A. Not only it shares the beneficial effects on the health of other cruciferous vegetables, but it is also a very rustic plant that does not need too much water, and it is ideal for the ones who have no too much time to dedicate to their garden.

The choice of potato gnocchi implies a lower quantity of calories due to the nutritional qualities of potato. I always prefer, if possible, to make potato gnocchi myself (see recipe).

The Latins considered this plant as a powerful aphrodisiac, probably because of its peppery flavor, typical above all of the wild variety.

Potato gnocchi recipe is relatively recent in the Italian tradition, compared to the other ones.

Gnocchi is spread in all regions of Italy, and with all possible ingredients, depending on where it comes from: flour, corn, semolina, bread, chestnut flour, ricotta, or vegetables – from squash to spinach to classic potato.

The potato was discovered by chance by the conquistadores of Spain, who rode over the tubers in pursuit of the Inca leader, Atahualpa, and his riches. They almost literally “stumbled upon” this precious tuber in the first decades of 15^th century.

The story of the conquest by the humble potato of the rest of the world was slow and full of misunderstandings, particularly in Italy. Imported from Spain, it appeared in botanical gardens of Padua and Verona as a scientific “curiosity” in 1591 and 1608. In 1565, King Philip II had gifted the Vatican court with some sample of tubers which were mistaken for truffles, and of course, used improperly. This episode and some other related to food poisoning (potatoes can develop toxicity in certain conditions), prevented a fast growth of its popularity.

While other countries realized the nutritious potential and resiliency in conditions often hostile to the cultivation of cereals, in Italy, the extensive cultivation of potatoes appeared only in the second half of the 19^th century.  Probably the political divisions of Italy in so many small kingdoms prevented modern agricultural development.