Pasta & Beans Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

-  200g of dried beans

-  from 1 to 3 teaspoons of salt

-  2 tablespoons of olive oil

-  1 finely chopped medium onion

-  1 finely chopped stick of celery

-  3 carrots, halved lengthways and sliced

-  2 medium potatoes cut into pieces

-  1-2  cloves of garlic

-  100g of short pasta

-   ground chilli (optional), extra virgin oil

Directions

Soak dried beans in cold water overnight.

Put the finely chopped onion, celery, and garlic into a saucepan with a little extra virgin olive oil and cook as gently as possible, with the lid on until all the vegetables are soft, but not brown.

Drain your beans well and rinse them in cold water, then add them to the pan and cover with water.  Add the salt and leave them  gently simmer for at least one hour or more, till they get soft.

Now take a couple of ladles of beans and put them aside.

With a  blender mash the vegetables and part of the beans so as to make a smooth thick cream to which you will now add the beans you had put aside. Season to taste with salt (if needed) and pepper. Add a short kind of pasta and add a little more boiling water, should your soup be too thick.

Before serving drizzle with extra olive oil.

EXTRA TIP

• If you are short of time you can use tinned beans.
• Try adding some chilly: it will taste great
• You can make the soup a day in advance, apart from pasta which must be cooked at the moment. It will taste even better!

Spaghetti with Prawns

 INGREDIENTS

(the amount of ingredients is for four diners)

 

·       - 320 grams  of  noodles  

  - 1/2 kilo  of   fresh Prawns 
 

·       - 500 grams  of  cherry tomatoes
 

·       - 1 chopped sprig  of  parsley 
 

·        - 3 cloves  of  garlic 

·        - Extra virgin olive oil 
 

·        - chilly
 

·        - salt  

PREPARATION

Wash the cherry tomatoes carefully and halve them .

Take the prawns and  wash them.

Put some oil in a large frying pan with the

garlic and heat them. After one minute add  the cherry tomatoes and stir for a few minutes .Then add the prawns. When they turn orange season with chilly  and a pinch of salt.
 

Meanwhile put a large pan of  salted water to boil. Once boiling, put the noodles into the water and cook them according to instructions on the packet . Remember to drain them very much al dente, since you will complete the cooking with the sauce. Scoop out a small cupful of  the pasta water and add it to the sauce together with 2 more tbsp of  extra virgin oil.

Tip the noodles into the prawns’ sauce  and if the sauce is a bit thick add a splash of  cooking water. Add the parsley and serve.

 

 

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Mushroom tagliatelle

Serves four

Ingredients for the tagliatelle:

  4 eggs; 400 grams of flour.

Ingredients for the mushroom gravy:

 90 grams of dried  mushrooms;

half an onion,

a clove of garlic and

some cooking cream

half a glass of white wine. 

Directions

Make the tagliatelle: put the flour in a” heap” (a volcano like shape) on the chopping board, then brake the eggs and put them in the middle of the volcano-heap hole. Then knead eggs and flour as shown (video). Tip: put some flour on your hands in order not to let the mixture stick on them, do the same for the chopping board. When the mixture looks very smooth like this (picture) put it between two bowls and let it rest for at least half an hour.

Now you have to stretch the dough to make it thin as shown (picture) with the rolling pin.

Later you have to roll it trying to get a rectangle as shown, then you have to cut it striped like in the picture. Take the stripes and unroll them like shown in the video. Finally twist them like “nests” as shown (picture) and wait until they dry. 

Make  the sauce: put the mushrooms in a bowl of water and soak them, it should take about  twenty minutes

 Meanwhile thinly slice an onion and put it in a frying pan with hot olive oil, add a clove of garlic but remember to take it out at the end. Take the mushrooms out of the bowl and squeeze them so that they lose the absorbed water but remember to keep that water. Put the mushrooms with the fried onion and cook on medium heat , after about  five minutes  blend with wine and wait until it evaporate.

Complete the cooking adding the mushroom’s water when the pan gets dry, season to tastewith salt and black pepper.

Cook the tagliatelle: fill a pot with water and put it on fire, when the water starts boiling add and  the noodles. After about five minutes noodles should be cooked, drain them well al dente  and toss them in the pan with the sauce.

To complete the dish you may put some cream, just enough to mesh the noodles with the sauce but remember that the less is the better,  stir for a couple of minutes and remove the garlic.

EXTRA TIPS

- Sprinkle with parsely

- Sprinkle with parmesan cheese

- if you can get fresh, wild mushrooms, your dish will be even better!

- If you are short of time you can buy pasta instead of making it.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Ingredients for 4: 400 gr of spaghetti,

                              150 gr of bacon,

                              2/3 eggs,

                              100 gr of Parmesan cheese,

                              2 spoon of extravirgin olive oil,

                              salt,

                                pepper

                              nutmeg..

 

 

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil, moderately salty, since the sauce is very  tasty. Meanwhile dice the bacon into small cubes, put it into a pan without adding oil and leave it on low to medium heat until the fat becomes translucent and slightly crisp, then remove from heat and let it cool slightly. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl then add the Parmesan cheese, pepper and nutmeg if you like it. Mix all the ingredients well with a whip, then add the bacon.

Boil  the pasta  and when it is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Immediately, toss the pasta in your bowl and stir quickly with the previously prepared sauce. Serve the spaghetti carbonara immediately and if necessary add more Parmesan cheese and pepper. (No more cooking now, otherwise you’ll scramble the eggs). If the sauce is too thick you can add a little of the cooking water you have kept aside.

 

 

Spaghetti with clams

Recipe: Spaghetti with clams.

(Clik the title to see us in "Spaghetti with clams videomake!")

Ingredients: (4 people)

- Clams 1 kg. (with the shell and shelled)

- Tomatoes 3, 4 fresh tomatoes

- Shallots 1 or 2 (if you can't find it, you can replace it with a leek or half onion)

- Parsley

- Spaghetti 400 gr.

Sauce Preparation:

- Wash the clams thoroughly

- Finely chop and fry the shallot.

- Add chopped tomatoes and a glass of wine with the onion. 
  Cook for 20 minutes.

- In a separate pan pour a tbsp of olive oil, with a crushed clove of garlic (better if you use extra virgin oil) and cook the clams on a medium heat.

-Cover with a lid and shake the pan from time to time.

The clams will open in, say, about five minutes. When they are all open you can turn off the fire

- Shell some of the clams and leave the others with their shell.

- First add the clams to the sauce and cook for some minutes, then add the shelled ones.

Spaghetti preparation:

- Cook your spaghetti in boiling salted water according to packet instructions.

- Drain the spaghetti al dente (i.e. not perfectly cooked.)

Put the spaghetti in a large pan with the sauce and cook on  a high heat and stir or toss  for a few minutes.

Sprinkle with  fresh parsley before serving.

EXTRA TIPS:

- If you like it, you can add a little bit of chilli.

- If you are short of time , leave all the clams with their shell. The dish will be still excellent!

 - Timing is essential. make sure your sauce is nearly ready when you cook spaghetti: pasta cannot wait in  the colander, or it will turn into a sticky indefinite mass .