Tag: summer

Cannellini: summer recipes – Italian Cuisine

Steamed, in salads, passed, in a cold cream, or in purée, as a pairing with a crunchy octopus: all summer versions of cannellini beans

Small, white and nutritious: the cannellini beans they are an amazing food because they are rich in so many substances that are good for our health and because they are perfect to be enjoyed even cold, in these hot days where you want fresh and inviting dishes. Who has never tried them boiled in salads, with fresh sliced onions and tuna, sprinkled with a good Tuscan oil and a sprinkling of black pepper? Or smoothies in a cream with oil and some rosemary leaves? However you prepare them, they are an indispensable food for a healthy diet and moreover hypocaloric!

All the good cannellini beans

The cannellini beans they are a variety of small beans, originating in central Italy and especially in Tuscany: they are found in a light green pod and the seed is whitish, rounded at the ends. They are rich in proteins and vitamins (especially in group B), as well as carbohydrates and fiber. They also contain a good dose of lecithin, a substance that promotes the emulsion of fats, preventing their accumulation in the blood and thus reducing the cholesterol level. Always considered a good alternative to meat, because of the proteins contained, they actually constitute a complete and balanced dish.

White Bean Salad

Cannellini: how to prepare them

Their delicate flavor makes them perfect for many combinations, from vegetables to meat, even to fish. If you use them dry, you must leave them before cooking them soak for 24 hours, in a container with cold water. The longer it takes to soak, the less time it will take to cook it. In any case, consider that they will need an hour or more slow fire to be ready, while if you use them fresh, 30 minutes will be enough. Get a thick-bottomed pot better if made of earthenware, and a flame spreader. Put a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, cover them with water (let it be flush), add a bay leaf or some rosemary needles and cook them on a very gentle fire, stirring occasionally and skimming, if necessary. Be careful not to cook them too much, because otherwise they will flake. Remember to add only at the end the salt: if put first it hardens the skin and makes them more leathery. For last: always prefer dry ones to those preserved in tin. They are rich in flavor enhancers and preservatives that should not be taken.

Summer recipes with cannellini beans

Browse the tutorial to discover some more ideas to bring them to the table. Here are some instead recipe from our archive, to enjoy them to the fullest:

cn_recipe id = "38965"

Shrimp paste, summer queen – Italian Cuisine

Feel for fresh, delicate, sweet but full flavors at the same time. In the summer we are hunting for new tastes that know how to support us in the great fight in the heat, but at the same time know celebrate our desire to party, share and enjoy ourselves, even at the table. And one of the dishes that seem born to do this is just the pasta with shrimp, a great classic that lends itself to be served hot, warm, cold and enriched with many different ingredients. Here are some rules and tasty ideas to turn it into a summer dish.

Shrimp cooking

At the base of a successful pasta with shrimp, there is the right cooking of the prawns. Which must be quick and delicate to preserve its juice and softness. If you opt for boiling, it will take a couple of minutes in boiling water and, if you are preparing a cold dough, you will block the cooking in a bowl with cold water and ice.

Shrimp size

When we talk about shrimp we mean small shrimp that lend themselves to being cooked in very tasty sauces with the whole shell and the head or cooked quickly to enrich delicate first courses. In any case we treat these small crustaceans with care and we also use the shells and the heads to give more flavor to our dishes. If we choose large shrimp tails instead, we will have to take care to clean them carefully and serve them after a short cooking, perhaps on top of the pasta dish. If you love raw, you can complete each dish with a small portion of tartare.

The ingredients ok

To enhance our pasta with shrimp, we can focus on a group of ingredients that can enhance this combination. Yes with lemon, lime, mozzarella, burrata, almonds, sesame, rocket, cherry tomatoes and courgettes. But also to other ingredients from the sea like mussels, clams and squid.

In the gallery above, 20 pastas with delicious prawns.

Fresh and light desserts for the summer – Italian Cuisine

Do not give up taste without losing sight of the calories you can, with light desserts made of fruit, to satisfy the sweet tooth, without guilt

Do you always have to give up something sweet? Especially in the summer, with the costume test on the doorstep? In fact, this season could give us the opportunity to cheat more lightly, given the already more dietary meals we consume because of the heat and heat. There are so many proposals from light and fresh desserts able to satisfy the desire and at the same time of keep your weight under control. Ice creams and sorbets, mousses and jellies, all made with lots of fruit and low in calories, to regenerate the spirit, without guilt.

Light ice creams

The ice cream it is undoubtedly one of the most loved sweets by all, large and small. Very often you give up thinking about how many calories they hide behind a scoop of cream, but a little cunning is enough to be able to enjoy an ice cream cup without having to come up with exhausting gym sessions immediately afterwards. The secret is replace the fat part with something lighter: the yogurt with cream, for example. And, given that the yogurt is not mounted, to have volume, mount two egg whites. And then choose fruit flavors instead of creams. And take the fruit well ripe, so as to decrease the quantities of sugar needed.

desserts

Fruit mousse

Little time to prepare them, no baking, and an amazing result: they are fruit mousses, a sweet spoon which is always welcome, which is prepared by mixing pureed fruit, a syrup of water and sugar and gelatin. Also good without cream, for a delicate and low-calorie fine meal.

Greedy sorbets

The sorbets they are fresh and light desserts, which should normally be served between courses but are often offered as a meal. They are prepared with lots of fresh fruit (or aromatic herbs, such as mint) and a sugar syrup. They are passed in the ice cream maker, or, if you don't have it, in a bowl that you will keep in the freezer, remembering to break the compound with the prongs of a fork until you get the right consistency of your sorbet.

Gordon Ramsay Recipes