The key ingredient is black Kale or Cavolo Nero. In their absence also the Curly kale is good. This is a long cooking process. The more Ribollita cooks the more delicious it becomes. So it is even better the next day 🙂

Ingredients | 5-6 servings

• 600g/21oz chopped Kale
• 700g/24oz Cooked Cannellini/Navy beans (or white beans)
• 200g/7oz Savoy Cabbage
• 1 cup Tomato passata
• 2 Onions
• 2 Carrots
• 3 Celery sticks
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• 300g/10.5oz Stale Tuscan bread (or any bread of your choice)
• Sage & Rosemary & Garlic for aromatic oil
• Extra virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Preparation

– Cut the bread into small bits and put it aside.

– Prepare the Italian soffritto: sauté the chopped onion, celery & carrots.

– Add garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and stir fry for 10 minutes.

– Add the chopped cabbage and kale, stir fry for another 10 minutes.

– Pour a cup of tomato passata and mix all ingredients together.

– Pour 1.5 liters of boiling water and put the lid on. Cook for ⏳ 1.5 hour.

Meanwhile, make the aromatic oil:

– In a small pot, put the aromatic herbs of your choice, mine was: sage & rosemary, thyme and garlics.

– Pour in extra virgin olive oil (1/2 a cup).

– On very low heat simmer for 5-10 minutes. The garlic shouldn’t burn it becomes slightly brown. Put it aside. While resting the oil absorbs more aroma.

Adding the beans

– Mix 1 cup of water with half of the cooked white beans, blend to have a dense cream. Add it to the Ribollita.

(Optional) some chefs blend the whole Ribollita. Without overdoing, leaving some chunks of veggies but overall having a slightly creamy texture.

– Turn off the heat.

– Add other half of white beans and the chunks of bread. Mix all ingredients together.

– Wait so the rebollita cools down (20 minutes).

– Turn on the heat.

– If the Ribollita is too dry add 1 cup of boiling water. Simmer for ⏳ 10 minutes. (this is the last time). We are re-boiling the soup.

– Turn off the heat and pour half of the aromatic oil (save the other half for serving) and let it sit for 30 mins.

– While Ribollita is resting, it will absorb the aroma of oil and its flavors mature becoming incredibly delicious. Ribollita is served warm not hot.

Serve with toasted bread, in Tuscany they rub garlic to it, and serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top. ☺️

Notes

• During the long hours of cooking the kale’s flavor will prevail and creates an incredible umami in the soup
• Ribollita is more delicious the day after.
• Make sure you’ve got a big pot to have space for all ingredients, i miscalculated and had to change my pot to a bigger one while I was cooking this Ribollita 🙂 .

Buon appetito ☺️

The post Ribollita – soup of Tuscany with kale appeared first on Foodcraftz.

In this recipe, I opted for cooking them in the oven (coated in oil) but this will be a lighter version but not less delicious 😉 .

Ingredients | 3-4 servings

• 3-4 big Eggplants
• 3 cups Tomato puree (passata)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 mozzarella
• 60g/2oz Basil
• 100g/3.5oz Ground Parmesan Cheese
• Extra virgin Olive Oil to taste

Preparation

– Cut the eggplants into disks, sprinkle salt, place them in a sieve and wait for 1-2 hours so they lose their water and become soft.

– Cut the mozzarella in 1cm/0.3inch (if they are fresh) let them rest at room temperature. This way they will lose water.

– Make the marinara sauce: sauté garlic in olive oil, add tomato puree, salt, pepper and cook all together for 10 minutes.

– Turn off the heat and add chopped fresh basil.

– Back to eggplants: pour oil on them and make sure they are coated in oil completely. Put them in the preheated (on 180C°/360F°) and cook each side until their surface becomes golden. (both sides)

Time to Ensemble!

– Setup your working space and bring a casserole where we cook Parmigiana.

With this order, add layers until all ingredients are finished:

• 1- A layer of tomato sauce
• 2- Eggplants
• 3- Tomato sauce
• 4- Mozzarella (again)
• 5- Sprinkle of parmesan cheese

– The last layer should be a mix of marinara sauce and parmesan cheese on top.

Place casserole in the preheated oven (on the bottom side) at 190°C/ 374°F for ⏳ 40-50 mins

Notes

• Before serving wait 1 hour at least so the Parmigiana cools down. When it’s hot, it seems very humid and watery. All the juice will be re-absorbed when it’s cooling down.
• 36 months Parmesan Cheese gives a tastier flavor to the dish.
• The type of eggplant/aubergine used for this dish is called Italian eggplant. They are usually large and short in height with a dark purple color. Since we don’t peel them, better be organic.

Buon appetito!

The post Eggplant Parmesan no frying appeared first on Foodcraftz.

The pasta all’arrabbiata is ready in ⏳10 minutes and the type of pasta used for this is “penne” but that’s totally up to you. Better be short shaped pasta to get more sauce with every bite

Ingredients | 2 servings

• 300g/10oz peeled crushed tomatoes
• 250g/8.8oz penne pasta
• 1 clove of Garlic
• 1/2 tsp of Chilly (or 1tsp if you like it spicier)
• Extravirgin Olive Oil
• Ground Parmesan Cheese

Preparation

– Sauté the chopped garlic & chilly together in olive oil

– Add salt, and tomatoes

– Mix them on medium heat and after 10 minutes of cooking, the sauce is ready

Meanwhile, make the pasta.

– Add pasta to salted boiling water, following the instruction on the package remove them 3 minutes prior to the suggested cooking time and add them to the sauce.

– Finish the cooking of the pasta in the pot.

– Taste the salt before serving, turn off the heat and add parmesan cheese.

– Stir lively so it will melt in the sauce and makes the dish more creamy. In case the pasta is too dry add a bit of pasta water.

Serve the pasta all’arrabbiata with a bit of parmesan cheese on top and chopped fresh parsley

Notes

• The spiciness of pasta depends on the type of chilly you are using. In Italy, the chilies of the Calabria region are very famous. They have so many varieties from very hot to mild chilies.

Buon appetito. ☺️

The post Penne all’arrabbiata – spicy pasta appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Ingredients

• 400g/14.1oz of Milk
• 4 egg Yolks
• 20g/0.7oz Cornstarch
• 100g/3.5oz Sugar
• pinch of Salt
• pinch of Vanilla
• Lemon Peel

Preparation

– Put lemon peel in milk and heat, just at the simmering point. (don’t boil)

In a bowl add:

– Egg yolks, cornstarch, salt, vanilla & sugar. whisk till you have a creamy consistency.

– Pour in 1 ladle of the warm milk and mix. Be careful the milk shouldn’t be very hot because it can cook the eggs.

➡️ Meanwhile, put a wide bowl in the freezer. (which we’ll put the cream later)

– Pour back the mixture into the milk pot and set the stove on the medium heat.

– Mix it continuously with a spatula.

➡️ When the cream starts to get dense, it’s time to remove it from the heat.

– Pour the hot cream in freezing bowl & whisk lively.

According to the Italian pastry master Iginio Massari: this technique helps you to have a shiny custard.

– When the cream isn’t hot anymore ⏳Cover it with a foil, and put it in the fridge (3 hours)

When it’s completely cold, the Italian custard is ready.

It can be used as filling for bignè, croissants, mille-feuille or simply with berries ☺️

Enjoy!

The post Italian Custard – Crema Pasticcera appeared first on Foodcraftz.

The cream combines and balances perfectly the flavors that mostly released from the shrimps, and when the pasta goes in, it absorbs all that goodness from the pan. This dish cooks very quickly, the only hassle will be the preparation of each element.

Ingredients | 2 servings

• 160g/5.6oz Small Pink shrimps
• 230g/8oz chopped zucchini
• half cup cream
• 220g spaghetti pasta
• 5-6 Tigre Shrimps or any “big” shrimp of your choice
• fresh mint or basil leafs
• 2 clove of Garlic
• Extra virgin Olive Oil
• Ground Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and Black pepper
• Lime zest

Preparation

– Bring the salty pasta water to boil.

Meanwhile:

– Sauté the chopped zucchini with 1 clove of garlic until the zucchini become slightly soft.

– Add the small shrimps, salt, pepper and stir.

– (back to pasta) Add the pasta to the boiling salty water (stir occasionally, to avoid the pasta from sticking).

– Pour cream in the pan and keep stirring till it becomes slightly dense.

– Sautè just for 2 minutes in a different pan the tiger shrimps with garlic, salt & black pepper. We’ll serve them on top of pasta for each dish.

– Save 1 cup of pasta water.

– Remove pasta 2-3mins prior to its cooking time from the heat, and toss it in the cooking pan.

– Add chopped fresh mints (or basil) and finish cooking the pasta in the sauce for another 2 mins. Turn off the heat.

– Sprinkle parmesan cheese and mix lively it helps to create a creamy texture with the liquid (pasta water) in the pan

Serve the pasta with grilled tiger shrimps, lime zest on top.

Notes

• Instead of mint also the parsley is suitable with fish.
• This dish is comfort food in many Italian houses, with frozen shrimps and zucchini in the fridge you are ready to go.

Buon appetito! ☺️

The post Pasta with Shrimps and Zucchini appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Ingredients | 2 servings

• 200g/7oz Risotto Rice (Carnaroli or Arborio)
• 200g / 7oz fresh (or frozen) Asparagus
• 1/2 glass of White Wine
• 40g/1.4oz Ground Parmesan Cheese
• Vegetable or Meat Broth
• Half Onion
• 2 knobs of Butter
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation

Wash the asparagus and cut their woody bottoms for the broth.

– Making broth: Stir fry chopped onions, celery and carrot. Add the asparagus stems mix add 4 cups of water and simmer for 20 mins. The broth is ready for risotto.

– Save up to 4-5 asparagus tips and cut the rest into small pieces.

– Stir fry the tips in olive oil with a bit of salt. They will be used for the dish decoration.

Cooking Risotto:

– Sauté half of the grated onion with a knob of butter, salt, and pepper.

– Add the asparagus and stir.

– Add rice.

– Sauté for ⏳ 4-5 minutes on medium heat. So the rice toasted and the heat of the pan goes up.

– Pour wine to give the ingredients a thermic shock. This helps the rice to release more starch.

– Stir until the wine evaporates.

– Pour 2-3 ladle of broth (which is simmering beside the pan).

– Continue to stir so the broth is absorbed.

– Add another ladle of broth.

– Repeat this, for ⏳ 14-15 minutes to cook the rice. At this point, you’ll probably have a good al dente risotto.

➡️ if you’re not a fan of al dente: continue to cook until the rice become softer.

– In the end, the risotto should be slightly runny (add a bit of broth/boiling water if it’s too dense).

– Turn off the heat and add 2 knobs of butter & cheese all at once.

– Mix them lively, some chefs even waving the rice in the pan to “mix” them (they believe this way, “more air” goes inside the risotto!).

Now you have a silky & creamy risotto ready to be served.

Notes

• If your broth is finished earlier, use boiling water to complete the cooking.
• Never use the industrial broth, chop some veggies and toast them with a bit of olive oil on high heat, add boiling water after 15 minutes of simmering it’s ready. No additives, no preservatives perfect for your health.

Serve with grated cheese and stir-fried asparagus’s tips on top. If you like it spicy, some drops of chilly oil (peperoncino oil) gives a nice kick to it too.

Buon appetito! ☺️

The post Risotto with Asparagus appeared first on Foodcraftz.