Risotto with potatoes

You need to try it to belive it. I know it sounds weird, but we make a lot of dishes in Italy with rice and vegetables... and we call them risotto.


Preparation time: 20-30 minutes.

1) Peel and cut in small cubes one potato per person.

2) Saute` one whole finely cut onion with olive oil in a pot.

3) When the onions start browning, add an inch of butter and 3 tablespoons of rice per person (2 people=6 tablespoons of rice).

4) Stir the rice until browning and then add hal cup of white wine. Stir the rice and let the wine evaporate.

5) Add the potatoes to the pot. Also add some rosemery.

6) Add a cup of water every 3 minutes and keep stirring the rice. The rice will need a total of 20 minutes of cooking. Add few fresh baby tomatoes and some basil for color.

7) After about 18 minutes, turn off the heat and let the rice rest in the pot. At this moment add some parmesan cheese and/or asiago cheese and stir it into the rice.

Add black pepper if you like

Buon appetito!

Spaghetti with fresh tomatoes sauce

It is almost summer time. That means that fresh tomatoes are in the right season and tasty.
Also, you can find fresh basil at the groceries. All the ingridients of a nice fresh spaghetti dish.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

1) Put water to boil in a pot and add 2 teaspoons of salt.

2) In a separate pan, sauté some onions and garlic in olive oil until browning. Add a bit of red hot pepper too.

3) Wash and cut fresh tomatoes

4) When you start cooking the spaghetti (5 minutes of cooking, see the time on the package), add the fresh cut tomatoes to the pan. Cook the tomatoes just for few minutes.

5) Drain the spaghetti and add them to the pan, stirring and smashing the fresh sauce onto them.

6) Dress with fresh basil and olive oil

Add parmesan cheese and black pepper if you like...

Buon appetito

Pasta with potatoes

This is a must. Pasta with potatoes. Good for the winter as well as for the summer time.

Ingredients: potatoes, onions ,olive oil, parmesan cheese and

of course pasta.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

1) Peel 2 potatoes per person. Cut them in 1 inch cubes.

2)Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a pot and saute some onions

3) Add 4 coups of water and the potatoes. Add also 1 fresh tomato, a carrot and some celery.I like to add also some basil. Cover the pot and let it cook for 10-15 min.

4) When the potatoes are soft enough, it is time to add the pasta (short pasta) to the pot. Often we use mixed pasta, which is made from the left over pasta (penne + broken spghetti + ditaloni + whatever short pasta you have left in your cabinet). Add enough water just to cover the pasta. Also at this point I like to add hot red pepper.

5) Stir until the pasta is cooked.

6) Add parmesan cheese. and black pepper.

Buon Appetito

Pasta with butter

You cannot believe it but butter tastes diffently in Italy. I think it is lighter here
in the US. However you can make a successful pasta with butter anywhere. What you need is butter, olive oil and parmesan cheese.
In Italy we use to eat it when we are stomach sick or we just want to eat lighter. My mom used to call it "pastina in bianco", that means "pasta in white sauce or pratically with no sauce".

Preparation time: 15 min


1) Put some water to boil in a pot and add 1 teaspoon of salt

2) Add short pasta (tubettini)
to the boiling water

3) Let it cook for 5 minutes

4) Drain the pasta
saving some of its cooking water

5) Add a quater of butter per person and stir in the pasta

6) Add a bunch of parmesan cheese and a teaspoon of olive oil.

Variations: very easy to make also as a side dish or adjusting the amount of water in the pasta you can make a sort of soupy pasta.

Buon Appetito!

Rice with asparagi (Asparagus risotto)

This is another risotto. So... you need Arborio rice, lot of Parmesan cheese and some white wine. Asparagi are really good for you and in season right now.

Preparation time: 15-20min

1) Cut fresh asparagi about 1 inch long. Add them to a food processor with some oilve oil and some water. Make a "green asparagi sauce" out of it.

2) Add olive oil, sliced onions, and the "asparagi sauce" to a pot.

3) Add 1-2 cups of white wine and the rice (3 tablespoons per person).

4) Add 3 cups of warm water and let it cook until the rice is done.

5) Add the half lemon juice and fresh parsley, a bunch of Parmesan cheese, black pepper.

Stir and serve it.

One of the secret of a good risotto is that you stir the rice very often while cooking, so it releases the starch and it taste better.

Buon appetito!

Pasta in Peppe's red sauce

A couple of days ago we had some of the pasta with the special Peppe's red sauce... I took a nice shot of it...

Check a couple of posts earlier for the recipe!

Pasta with garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

Garbanzo beans or chickpeas are very good for you. They are the main ingredient of hummus. You can make a sauce kinda like the hummus and add it to the pasta. Usually we use some short kind of pasta. You don't have it? No problem, what we do is to cut the spaghetti in 3 or 4 pieces... in this way we shorten them! :)

Preparation time: 15 min

1) Put 3 cups of water to boil in a pot

2) Add garlic, olive oil, red hot pepper, cut carrots and celery

3) Add the garbanzo beans to the pot (you can use a can of organic beans, otherwise make sure to rinse them very well before using)

4) Cut the long pasta (spaghetti or linguine or fettuccine)

5) Add the pasta in the pot and let cook for 5-10 min

When it is ready, the water will be almost completely evaporated.

You can then add some fresh parsley and black pepper...

Buon appetito!!

Rice with red sauce

Exactly it is rice with red sauce. Unthinkable for asian people... but a reality for many Italians.

Try to believe it!

Preparation time: 20 min (super-easy)

1)Boil water in a pot for the rice (Arborio rice). Add salt to the water.

2)Prepare a red tomato sauce: cut onions, olive oils in a pot for 5 min and then add a can of red tomato sauce. Add basil and a tiny bit of butter (optional).

3) Drain the rice using a pasta drainer.

4) Add red sauce on the top of the white rice.

Add basil, parmesan and black pepper as much as you like.

PS you can stir the sauce in the rice...

Buon appetito.

How to dress an italian salad

This is super-easy and a must-know. I figured out that here in the US people don't dress salads in the same way I always do. I don't use pre-made sauces. But instead I only use extra-virgin olive oil, salt and lemon or wine vinegar (red or white). Then I toss the salad and ...

Buon appetito!