Tag: variations

the basic recipe and the best variations – Italian Cuisine

We learn to prepare an excellent dish of our tradition that combines two ingredients in a perfect marriage of high nutritional value

Pasta and legumes are an ideal combination from a nutritional point of view, did you know? A good dish of pasta and chickpeas for example it is a source of energy because it is rich in fiber, protein and carbohydrates. It is also a simple dish that will pamper you, that makes you feel at home: those dishes that give you serenity.

Precooked or dried chickpeas

Obviously use precooked chickpeas time is decreasing of preparation of pasta and chickpeas.
We recommend in this case to choose them of excellent quality and possibly kept in glass.
Wash them very well before cooking them by passing them under running water until they release only clean water.
If instead you use dried chickpeas, remember that they must be soaked in plenty of water for 10 hours before being cooked, possibly inside one earthenware pot to preserve the flavor. To cook them cover them with cold water and flavor with rosemary, bay leaf and a clove of garlic and cook the chickpeas for an hour over medium-low heat. Use the pressure cooker to speed up cooking. Remember to add salt only at the end so as not to harden them.
To make them soft you can add in thekombu seaweed cooking water.

Liquid and creamy pasta and chickpeas?

It depends a little on your tastes and on the recipe of your tradition.
Pasta and chickpeas it certainly must not be soupy so if necessary add some vegetable broth during cooking to get the right consistency.
You can also make the dish tastier blend a part of the chickpeas and then add this cream almost at the end of cooking.

Pasta and chickpea recipe (Roman style)

The most known version is that of Roman pasta and chickpeas which we now explain to you how it is prepared.
First, fry a clove of garlic in extra virgin olive oil and flavor with a sprig of rosemary. Some like to add too anchovy.
Then add the chickpeas with a part of their cooking water, or with some vegetable broth if it is pre-cooked chickpeas. Chickpeas must be covered with plenty of liquid.
Bring everything to a boil and add the pasta, generally ditalini in the Roman version and tagliolini in the Tuscan version. Cook until the pasta is ready (about 8 minutes) and it has not released the right amount of starch. Let the dough and chickpeas rest for a few minutes and then serveon a string of extra virgin olive oil and chilli pepper, if you like it.
There is no need to add Parmesan.

Pasta and chickpeas: the variations cooked by our editorial staff

Sicilian pesto: recipe and variations – Italian Cuisine

The flavors of the Mediterranean and of Sicily enclosed in an irresistible condiment. Here's how to prepare Sicilian pesto in different versions

Not just Genoese. The Sicilian pesto is an equally valid alternative to the classic Ligurian pesto. The colors change and the flavors change, which immediately take us back to southern Italy: all thanks to the tomatoes, protagonists of the recipe together with almonds and to the ricotta cheese, which makes it even more enveloping and creamy. A Red pesto to prepare in just a few minutes to dress pasta, but also bruschetta and croutons.

Like most of the regional recipes, even Sicilian pesto is prepared in many different ways depending on the city, family or ingredients available. Let's try then one basic version and then we explore other possibilities: first of all, to do it more easily we use a mixer, but with a little patience you can also prepare it with pestle and mortar, obtaining a coarser result.

Sicilian pesto: the easy recipe

Ingredients

500 gr copper tomatoes
150 gr ricotta
140 g extra virgin olive oil
100 gr Parmigiano Reggiano
50 gr peeled almonds
1 bunch of basil
1 clove of garlic
salt
pepper

Method

toast almonds in a pan for 2-3 minutes over medium-low heat, so that they release their best aroma. To avoid burning them and make sure that toasting takes place on both sides, keep stirring.

Engrave i tomatoes at the top, creating a cross. Blanch them for a few moments in boiling water and let them cool: in this way you will be able to easily remove the peel, who will be away immediately.

Cut the tomatoes into small pieces and place them in the mixer together with the basil, at toasted almonds and allo clove of garlic, which you will already have private soul. Start a whisk, then add the parmesan, the ricotta cheese, theoil extra virgin olive oil and continue to blend until obtaining a homogeneous compound, adjusting salt and pepper to taste.

Sicilian pesto: variations

Starting from this base, you can change the recipe depending on your preferences. Let's see some small variations of Sicilian pesto, widespread in the various areas of the region.

First of all, almonds can be substituted partially or completely with Pine nuts or even with a part of pistachios. Depending on the taste, you can also use pecorino instead of parmesan.

Some versions of Sicilian pesto include i dry tomatoes and not fresh ones, guaranteeing an even more intense flavor. If you use those in oil, reduce the amount of oil and salt in the recipe, if you use dry ones instead not in oil, first let them rehydrate in water for about twenty minutes, drying them well before use.

There ricotta cheese can be of sheep you hate cow, fresh or seasoned, but there are also recipes that do not provide for its use, as in that of pesto alla Trapani.

TO Trapani, with this pesto a typical format of fresh pasta is seasoned busiate. You also use what you like best: it is so good that it will go well with all types of pasta!

Pita: recipe and variations – Italian Cuisine – Italian Cuisine

Pita is a typical Middle Eastern bread, famous in Greece, but not only. Here is how it is prepared

How many of you have spent or are spending holidays on a beautiful Greek island?
You will certainly have eaten one of the traditional dishes of this extraordinary land then, namely the gyros pita.
But how is this prepared? bread delicious, moist and slightly leavened? Here is the traditional recipe and some variations.

The pita recipe

Mix a glass of warm water with 10 g of sugar, 20 g of fresh brewer's yeast and let it rest for a few minutes.
Then add 25 g of extra virgin olive oil and 300 ml of water and stir again.
Sieved separately 500 g of 00 flour (or 250 of 00 flour and 250 of manitoba) and slowly add the liquid part. Complete with a pinch of salt and leave rest the dough for 2 hours covered with a cloth.
Then form small balls and mash them first with your hands and then with a rolling pin and cook them away from each other on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. 250 ° for 5 minutes.
You can also cook the pita in the pan, but with a lid.
The final result must be a well-cooked bread at the base and light on the surface.

variants

You can prepare pita also with the mother yeast if you want an even softer texture and greater lightness or with the bicarbonate instead of classic yeast.
If you want, try also to prepare it with other flours such as whole or cereal or rice or again, if you have problems with gluten intolerance, even with the gluten free flour.

Pita as bread

If you don't want to prepare the classic gyros with pita, you can simply use it instead of bread at the table. It is very good with dishes rich in seasonings because it is excellent for making the shoe with sauces and sauces of all kinds. Perfect with Greek and Middle Eastern dishes, it is also excellent with traditional Italian recipes.

How to make gyros pita

There is no street food more famous than this in Greece.
The gyros pita it is a pita stuffed, seasoned with sauce tzatziki with yogurt. Inside there is pork meat cooked on a large spit, as is used for kebabs, and then salad, tomatoes, cucumber and onion. For vegetarians there is a variant with feta instead of meat and with the addition of many other ingredients such as raw peppers and black olives. Some also stuff pita with i felafel and the chickpea sauce.

Tips for making home pita

Now all you have to do is prepare the pita at home and stuff it in many ways. As it is more crispy and leavened in the center, the pita can be filled directly into the air bubble. Pita can also have one Drier consistency if prepared without yeast and in this case it can be used as a piadina or as a container for salads.