Zia Tata’s kitchen

I still had some beautifully sweet, juicy, organic Sicilian oranges 🍊So today I will be making orange cake! It’s an easy and delicious crowd pleasing dessert, perfect as a treat with a cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 150g sugar
• 200 g butter ( I’ve used a light version of butter)
• 200g self-raising flour
• 2 oranges
• 2tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp of apricot jam.

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Place the sugar and the eggs in a bowl and beat with your mixer till light and fluffy. Sift the flour and add to the mixture in the bowl, a little at the time along with the softened butter, continue to mix until completely blended, add the zest and juice of 1 orange, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, stir until smooth. Now put the batter into a tin and bake for 35/40 minutes at 180 degrees. Make sure the cake is done before removing from the oven ( toothpick test) Prepare the glaze for the cake by heating up ( low heat ) some apricot jam with 2 tbsp of orange juice. Spoon and brush over the top of the cake and allow to cool completely before serving. Done ! buon appetito

For me “Ragù” means family, home, good feelings ! The only thing better than hovering the smell of ragù over a saucepan… is simply eating the pasta ! Every grandma, mother, father or household will cherish their own recipe. Mine is a very simple version of the original one.

Ingredients

• 400gr ground beef
• 1 carrot
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 glass of red wine
• 1beef stock cube
• 2 cans of peeled tomatoes
• Salt and pepper.

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Chop the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Put them in a pot with a splash of EVO. Add the beef ( breaking it up with a wooden spoon) then add the wine, allow the wine to simmer for 5 minutes before adding the cans of peeled tomatoes. Add the beef stock cube season with salt and pepper. Leave the sauce simmer for 5 to 6 hours. The smell of Ragù will invade your house! Enjoy. Buon appetito !

Homemade ravioli truly is rewarding! It makes me happy. If on top of that you have neighbours who call you to come and pick some cracking fresh spinach out of their garden ( or they put the bucket with fresh grown vegetables from their garden in front of your door) how spoiled can one be !

Ingredients

• For the pasta ( see this recipe )
  • 1 egg every 100g of flour
• For the filling
  • 200 g ricotta
  • 250 g spinach
  • 100 g butter
  • 40 g Parmesan
  • salt pepper
  • some nutmeg

You start making your own pasta, when that’s done we move on making our filling. Wash carefully your spinach, put into a large frying pan and place over a high heat, cook the spinach turning frequently for 3 to 5 minutes ( until it has wilted down, drain in a sieve ( pressing out as much liquid as possible). Now you finely chop the spinach and transfer in a bowl together with the ricotta and Parmesan. Season with nutmeg and pepper. Put the sage and butter in a large pan let simmer for 5 minutes, remove from the heat and leave to infuse. Once you have rolled your pasta trough the machine, lay a pasta sheet on your surface and with the help of a sac a poche ( you can use a zip lock bag ) add a dot of filling ( keep even distance ) on the bottom part of your pasta sheet, than fold over ( the empty part of the pasta sheet) to meet end to end. Take a ravioli cutter and roll to cut into squares. Press with your fingers around each ravioli to ensure they are sealed. Boil water in a large pot add salt when the water is at boiling point add the ravioli cook them for more or less 5 minutes, remove the raviolis with a slotted spoon and add into the pan of sage butter, stir gently, serve immediately don’t forget some grated Parmesan cheese. Done! Buon appetito !

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As Federico Fellini once said “ life is a combination of magic and pasta “. Making your own pasta is a pure delight! It does take some time but if you have a pasta machine (we have the old school Imperia one) the process is straight forward and the reward massive.

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• every 100 gr of 00 flour.

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Place the flour in a mound on a flat surface, make a well for the eggs add the eggs to the well, whisk the eggs with a fork gradually adding flour from the well, keep whisking until a shaggy dough comes together, knead for 10 / 15 minutes until the dough is smooth, form into a ball cover with plastic foil and let rest for 30 minutes. Cut a piece from the dough place it on a lightly floured surface, flatten the dough, set the pasta machine to the widest setting, run the dough trough and repeat. Roll the dough sheets trough the machine 5 to 6 times adjusting each time the machine to the next setting. ( on our machine we do not use the last setting it results to thin ) you can cut the dough sheets into your desired shapes. Done ! Buon appetito !

Creamy green vegetables and saffron pasta. The Italians don’t use cream very much in their kitchen ( mostly for desserts ). But in this recipe saffron and cream are a match made in heaven! The reason I love this pasta is that you can customize it easily with every vegetable that the season is offering you, using the seasonal vegetables is always better not only are they tastier, on top of that they are cheaper. The flavour of the saffron is what gives this dish most of is character, without overwhelming the vegetables, once the saffron turns the cream in that beautiful golden color, you know that you’re plate will look elegant and will be super tasty!

Ingredients

• 400 g of pasta ( any pasta will do I used mezze maniche)
• 2 sachets of saffron ( or 0,30 gr )
• 250 ml of heavy cream
• some white wine ( half a glass)
• a bundle of asparagus
• 2 zucchini
• 2 leeks
• 2 potatoes ( little)
• 2 legs of celery
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 10 runner beans
• fresh basil
• some salt,
• pepper
• EVO
• Some Parmesan.

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Wash, peel and chop all the vegetables. Heat some oil in a pan add the vegetables ( leave out the basil and the top part of the asparagus) season with salt and pepper, add the garlic and wine, let simmer, toss gently every 3- 4 minutes. When the vegetables are tender but still firm to the bite, insert the asparagus and slowly stir in the cream ( previously infused with the saffron) add the basil. Cook the pasta al dente, drain it and combine the pasta with the vegetables sauce, mix everything together and leave it for a minute so all the flavours can mellow together ! Enjoy buon appetito.

I love asparagus! It’s one of those vegetables that tastes like spring for me. So on the menu today… polenta with asparagus, parmigiano and fried eggs ! Lots of flavours on our plate !

Ingredients

• 1 bundle of asparagus
• 4 eggs
• 300 g polenta
• Parmesan grated
• Butter
• Salt and pepper

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For the polenta, bring water and salt to a boil, pour slowly the polenta into the boiling water whisking constantly until all the polenta is stirred in and there are no lumps, reduce the heat, cover and cook for 35/40 minutes, whisking every 5/10 minutes.

In the meanwhile that the polenta is cooking wash and snap the tough end off the asparagus. Today I prepared them it the steamer (15/20 minutes). Then in a large skillet, put the butter and fry the eggs ( 2 per person) until edges are crispy and yolks are still runny. Make some butter sauce ( you can use the butter from the eggs). Don’t forget to sprinkle your asparagus with the butter and parmigiano. Done! buon appetito

When our daughter comes home the first thing she asks me to prepare is “pasta alle vongole “red or white that’s the question! In other words with or without tomatoes? We normally have them without.

Ingredients

• spaghetti: 400g
• Clams: 1kg (for this recipe I used “lupini “, they are smaller but tastier than clams)
• Garlic: 2 cloves
• Red chilly pepper
• Half a glass of white wine
• Parsley
• EVO (Extra Vergine Oil)

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Put the clams in a bowl filed with cold water and leave them to flush out any impurities (changing the water several times). Doing so you will not have the unpleasant surprise of sand between your teeth ! Add the clams in a pan with the olive oil, garlic and red chili pepper. Turn up the heat and cover with a lit, add the wine and give the pan a shake every 20 seconds, the clams are ready when they’ve opened. Filter the white wine and clams sauce. When the spaghetti are cooked toss them in the filtered sauce add the clams and leave them for half a minute ( for the pasta to absorb all the flavours). Serve with a glass of cold white wine ! Done, buon appetito!

Today for luca’s birthday I prepared “ribbetjes alla Bie “. This recipe was passed to me by Bie, the mother of my best friend, who was a great cook and taught me a lot about the joys of cooking !

Ingredients

For 2 kg of ribs you need:

• 100 g of honey
• 150 g of shallot
• 25 g of garlic
• 80 g fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 12 tbsp soya sauce
• 3 tbsp sherry
• 1l of water
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tsp horseradish
• 2 tsp sambal oelek
• 1tsp of Tabasco.

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Put all the ingredients in a large pan, add the ribs and cook for 50 min ( with the lid on the pan ) than deglaze and caramelize the ribs. ( this will take 25 minutes) done enjoy ! Buon appetito!

Castagnaccio! This dessert owes his name and Taste to the chestnut. Simple but delicious !

Ingredients

• 40 g each pine and walnut
• 100 g raisins
• 4 tbsp sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 380 g cold water
• 2 tbsp of EVO.

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Toast the pine nuts in a non-stick pan. Soften the raisins for 15 minutes in a glass of lukewarm water. Sift the flour add the sugar and the pinch of salt, then add the liquids; the EVO and the cold water. Poor the water slowly, mix well to avoid lumps. Add half of the nuts and raisins. Poor into a well greased tin, finally add the rest of the nuts and raisins a few walnuts and needles of rosemary on the surface ,a dash of oil. Put in the oven at 180 gr for 35 min. Tip to know when the castagnaccio is ready ! When there are some cracks on the surface of the cake it’s time to take him out of the oven . Enjoy with a glass of vin Santo. Buon appetito!

Aeolian stuffed squid. I am so glad ( and my husband even more) that we discovered this little restaurant in the heart of the island of Vulcano where we tasted this stuffed squid for the first time. A wonderful explosion of flavours, fond memories of warm Sicilian evenings with a chilled glass of white wine.

Ingredients:

• 4 squid ( M/S).
• 2 eggs ( 1 boiled).
• 1 clove of garlic.
• 1 small onion.
• 1 glass of passito ( sweet Sicilian wine ).
• 2tbsp of raisins ( soaked in passito wine).
• 2 tbsp pine nuts.
• 2tbs parmigiano cheese.
• 3tbs breadcrumbs.
• 1tbsp fresh parsley.
• Some salt and pepper.

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Clean the squid, chop the tentacles. Warm a bit of oil in a frying pan, chop the onion and garlic add the tentacles and raisins cook for more or less 5 minutes ( until soft) when done chop everything together with the boiled egg, Parmesan, parsley salt and pepper. In an other pan toast the breadcrumbs and pine nuts, mix the tentacles and raisins together with the breadcrumbs and pine nuts add an egg and knead everything together. Fill the squid with the stuffing and close them with toothpicks. Put the squid in a pan with some butter and oil roast them on all sides deglaze with the passito wine, let them simmer for 20 minutes. Done ! This taste like holiday for me ! Buon appetito !