Hi, this is the twenty fourth post about the art of cooking pasta.

This is the perfect period to describe you the most important sauces  we make in Italy with the artichokes.
In fact the artichokes can be found easily from March to May. In Italy we find them longer,  from October to May for the different cultivation method.

Artichoke anatomy

The artichokes are healthy food. They are rich in water, fiber and very low in fat, calories and carbo. The artichokes have also a lot of cynarin. Read more on this page.

People who must follow a healthy-eating plan should choose them in order to  lower cholesterol levels and control blood sugar. Somebody could think pasta isn’t the best choice for a diabetic diet but the amount of pasta in the recipe we are telling you today  is only 50 g (1 3/4 oz) per serving. Besides this pasta dish is a perfect one-plate meal.

In this recipe tagliatelle are tossed with a white sauce made with ricotta cheese and artichokes. So it’s the ideal sauce for people who can’t eat tomatoes or don’t like tomatoes. Read more about the recipe and healthy eating in this page.

If you’d like to learn how to clean the artichokes consult our “memebers-only area“.

Interested in all our entries? read this page!

Join to our community (We love you, Italy!) with Google Friend Connect!

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, this is the twenty third post about the art of cooking Italian pasta.

We hope you have tested the Italian menu ideas of the last posts. What about them? Do you like these Italian dinner recipes?

Today’s entry is dedicated to a plate a lot of people have asked  in the last years by email: chicken and broccoli pasta.

Chicken and broccoli penne

Mm … gnam, gnam! It tastes fantastic, it smells fantastic!
The sauce is made with chicken breast, cherry tomatoes and broccoli. In winter you aren’t be able to find cherry tomatoes but nowadays you can buy canned cherry tomatoes that are perfect for this dish.

This is one-plate meal. To finish well this meal choose good-quality fruit.

Enjoy this delicious  pasta dish! This is a recipe of ours. We modified an authentic Italian recipe that was too rich in calories and fat.
We used kamut pasta to make this recipe as you can see in the photo. We like kamut very much and think it’s a very healthy food.

To read  all our entries consult this page.

Join to our community (We love you, Italy!) with Google Friend Connect!

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, this is the twenty second post about Italian cooking.
In the last post we spoke you about an easy winter menu  composed by three courses all made with winter ingredients.

Today we’d like  to tell people who live south the Equator. Summer is going to finish but we think it is still possible to plan a  dinner party based on cold dishes. What about a real Italian menu, easy to do and full-flavoured?
Are you ready to cook according to the Italian-style? We answer: yes.
Have you learnt how to cook the Italian pasta? Yes. Are you able to boil eggs? Surely yes! Are you able to buy green and black olives and to season them? Of course! … and to grill bread slices?  … and to spoon ice-cream on the layers of a ready made sponge cake? yes, surely. Well, you are able to prepare what we are going to present you.

It is composed by: 1) starter    2)  main dish    3) dessert

1) Starter. We’d start with  “Bella Rosina” eggs, that is hard-boiled eggs garnished with their pureed yolks. A typical antipasto from Piedmont.

Bella Rosina eggs

We’d also add green & black olives, Italy-style.

Seasoned green and black olives

Mm ….. gnam, gnam … they are making us the mouth water!  Think of them served with raw ham slices and bruschetta.  If you want any idea to make real Italian bruschetta consult this page.
All these dishes are very quick and easy to do. Now the main dish.

2) Main dish. In summer the ideal pasta dish is pasta salad. We have a lot of recipes in our website but for this menu we suggest Caprese pasta salad, a full-flavoured, fresh dish! If you want to see other ideas consult the other pasta salads of ours.

Pasta salad, Caprese style

3) The dessert to close this fantastic but simple Italian menu: homemade ice-cream cake.

We’d like your comments about this Italian menu idea.

To read  all our entries consult this page.

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, this is the twenty first post about Italian cooking and entertaining.
It’s time to show you how to combine different recipes to prepare a real Italian dinner menu. Don’t worry: it isn’t difficult. Have you learnt how to cook the Italian pasta? are you able to find Italian salami  and to buy ready made short pastry? Then you can prepare this winter menu, Italy-style.

Are you ready? In Italy there are different ways to combine our recipes and to plan our menus as there are a lot of circumstances.
We begin from the simplest way we have to invite friends to a dinner party. A menu composed by three courses

1) Starter – 2) main dish – 3) dessert

We are in winter and so we show you a perfect winter dinner menu

1) You can start with a classic Italian antipasto

Classic Italian antipasto

We start a dinner party with friends in this way. Assorted salami, sliced and arranged in a serving plate. You can combine prosciutto, speck, salami … with quail eggs or artichokes in oil or crostini.

2) As main dish we suggest the last pasta recipe we spoke you about: cavatelli with broccoli and crab meat. We remember you can use other short pasta if you don’t find cavatelli.

Pasta tossed with broccoli and crab meat sauce

3) The last course: a fantastic orange tart! Oranges are healthy and tasty. Enjoy this recipe from Sicily!

Orange tart

We have modified the original recipe  that is too rich in sugar and butter. Mmm … gnam, gnam!
A shell made of short pastry filled with oranges slices and  pastry cream!
If you have no time to prepare the short pastry or aren’t able to make it you can buy frozen short pastry.

What about this delicious dinner party, Italian style? We’re waiting for your comments!

In the next days  we are going to publish a new dinner menu idea dedicated to friends who live south of the Equator. It’s still summer there, isn’t it?

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, this is the twentieth post about the authentic Italian recipes.
The last post was about “pasta e broccoli”.  Now it’s time to show you another recipe with more ingredients:
pasta with broccoli and crab meat. The recipe is easy-to-do and  very tasty. It’s an authentic recipe from Sicily, Italy.

Cavatelli with broccoli and crab meat

Choosing the right ingredients you’ll be able to astonish your guests.
We made this recipe with a particular kind of fresh pasta called cavatelli but you can use other short dry pasta shapes.
Cavatelli are made in the south of Italy and they are known with different names in Apulia, Calabria or Sicily. In Sicily they are called cavatiddi or gnocculi or gnocchitti.
If you prefer cavatelli you can buy them here or in other shop on line.

Tomorrow we are going to show you a simple  menu so you can put into practice our advice about the art of Italian cooking and, eventually, plan an Italian-style dinner party.

Consult the complete list of our entries!

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta