Elegant everyday easy recipes

Original Italian name: Calamari in insalata alla genovese
Place of origin: Liguria, Northern Italy

Genoese squid salad is absolutely fabulous for summer, when french beans and new potatoes are at their best. This salad can be served as a first course or light lunch.
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Tagged as: First courses, Italian recipes, Northern Italy, Potato, Seafood, summer, Vegetables, Wine

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Jars of Italian mixed peppers preserved in olive oil are now a common sight in many supermarkets. However, freshly made pepper is always colourful and really tasty appetizer.

Roasted pepper is one of the famous Italian antipastis along with marinated aubergines, mushrooms or olives. Marinated pepper antipasto is perfect as a starter on its own or comes with some Italian salamis and other cold meals.
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Tagged as: Antipasti, Italian recipes, Southern Italy, Vegetable

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Place of origin: Tuscany, Central Italy

Vegetables play an important role in Tuscan cuisine. One of the famous dishes with vegetables in Tuscany is Ribollita. Ribollita means cooked for second time or reheated. The real secret about stews is they expose the best  of its taste on the second day after cooking and this tip works for Ribollita soup as well. In households in the Tuscan countryside the pan with the soup is kept on the stove for a long time. Until bacon and ham bones are not added to Ribollita, the soup is fully vegetarian style.

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Tagged as: Central Italy, First courses, Italian recipes, Primi, Soups, Vegetables, Zucchini

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Original Italian name: Asparagi alla Milanese
Place of origin: Lombardy, Northern Italy

Asparagus occupies a significant place in Lombard cuisine. The first tender shoots of eagerly awaited. Asparagus has excellent health-giving benefits. It is low in calories but rich in Vitamin A and B and in minerals. Asparagus sprouts taste best when fresh.

I like dishes with asparagus mainly because they have delicious taste and all of them are very simple to cook. Well, one of my favourite breakfast servings is fried eggs with asparagus.
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Tagged as: Asparagus, Cheese, Italian recipes, Northern Italy, Starters, Vegetables

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Original italian name: Fagiolini al Pomodoro

I have been away from the blog for a while but now getting back to track to share more new interesting italian recipes that I have been cooking during this time.

The salad with green beans and tomatoes is the real summer favourite. The main ingredients for this salad are riped tomatoes and French beans.

Let me share some tips to cook beans. Well, french beans need a little preparation for cooking. As they are grown without the string you simply top and tail them. When picking them to buy,  make sure that the beans snap easily – this is a good sign of freshness.

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Tagged as: Insalate, Italian recipes, Salad, Tomato, Vegetables, Wine

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Pasta  is the ingredient  that culminates the essence of Italian cooking. In Italy, pasta is an essential part of every meal and does not constitute a meal on its own. Il primo, as the pasta course is known, is eaten between the antipasto (appetizer) and il secondo (the main course). Sometimes small pasta shapes are served in soup. There are two basic types of pasta -dried (pasta secca) and fresh pasta (pasta fresca).

The combination of pasta and a tasty sauce is almost a science in itself. Every Italian cook usually has a personal selection of the best pasta dishes and tips to cook it. However, there are a few simple rules which people generally follow.

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Tagged as: How to, Ingredients, Pasta, Pasta sauce

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