Peppers and Potatoes Hot Salad

Here the preparation of a hot Italian salad with potatoes and peppers, yellow and red, to give a sunny color to your second course or appetizer. The preparation of this Italian side dish is easy and fast. You should use potatoes that are suitable to be roasted, generally the yellow potatoes are the good one, and red and yellow peppers. I love to present this side dish with a second course of meat like a good steak or also with cheese like a fresh mozzarella or a more tasty cheese like the Roman pecorino cheese.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):

2 Red peppers

1 Yellow pepper

3 Potatoes

3-4 Tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil

Salt

Black pepper

Rosemary

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Cabernet (Red wine)

PREPARATION

Clean and peel the potatoes, wash the red and yellow peppers and cut all of them in pieces.

Preheat the extravirgin olive oil in a large pan. Add the potatoes and the peppers and let them saute’ for few minutes.

Sprinkle with salt, black pepper and a little bit of rosemary.

Continue to cook on a low flame for about 20-25 minutes stirring time by time and paying attention to not let them attach to the pan. If necessary, add half a glass of water.

The potatoes and the yellow and red peppers they will be ready when they become golden. BUON APPETITO!

Risotto with Castelmagno Cheese

Castelmagno cheese is a cheese that comes from a small village called Castelmagno that is located in Piedmont in north part of Italy. Castelmagno cheese is a traditional cheese from cow but it can contain also milk from sheep or goat. This Italian food is often used in Piedmont for the preparation of gnocchi of potatoes with melted Castelmagno cheese on the top. It is a delicious Italian food that you can eat alone or with honey or jam. Here I decided to prepare a delicious risotto with Castelmagno cheese to be served with golden potatoes and walnuts. The preparation is simple a little bit more long because you have to boil the potatoes that if you cut in small cubes it will be faster. Castelmagno cheese is used in this recipe at the end when the rice is ready. You have just to add Castelmagno cheese to the rice, mix well and leave on the flame 1-2 minutes more, so that the rice takes the flavor of the cheese.

INGREDIENTS FOR BROTH:
1 Carrot
1 Potato
1 Onion
1 Celery
INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320 g or 2 cup of Rice
100 g or 1 cup of Castelmagno cheese
50 g or half a cup of Walnuts
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Half white onion
2 Potatoes
Hot pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

WINE: Nebbiolo d'Alba (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start preparing the vegetable broth, clean and peel the carrot, the potato, the onion, and the celery, cut them in big pieces and place them in a potful, add half a liter of water and a bit of coarse salt and let it boil for about 30-40 minutes.



If you don't have a lot of time the best thing to do in order to have the same result is to use the pressure cooker, with which you will need only 10-15 minutes.



While the broth is cooking prepare the potatoes. Clean and peel the potatoes, cut them in cubes and let them boil until they are cooked. You can check the cooking of the potatoes with a fork; if the fork enters in the potatoes they are ready.



When the vegetable broth and the potatoes are almost ready preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a casserole, chop the onion, add them to the oil and let it brown.



Then add the rice, let it toast for 2 minutes, add the white wine and let it evaporate. Now you can start adding time by time the vegetable broth and cook the rice for about 16-18 minutes stirring continuously, paying attention not to cook it too much, the rice should be firm at the end of the cooking.



In the meantime continue with the cooking of the potatoes. After draining the potatoes, preheat a pan, add in it the potatoes, sprinkle with a little bit of hot pepper and let them roast until they become golden.



Grate the Castelmagno cheese in big pieces as shown in the picture below.



When the rice is almost ready add the Castelmagno cheese and mix in order to let the Castelmagno melt.



When everything is well mix serve the risotto with the Castelmagno cheese and place on the top a bit of potatoes and the walnuts.



BUON APPETITO!

Sea Basses in Foil with Potatoes

This is the typical second course that my family prepare for the Christmas Eve. The recipe presented below is very simple and fast to prepare and good to eat. You can prepare this dish with sea bass or if you prefer with black sea bass and you can serve them with potatoes as presented in this recipe or also with brocolli.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
10 Sea basses
400 ml of extra virgin olive oil
200 g of Parsley
3 clove of Garlic
50 Small potatoes
50 g of Provolone (Italian cheese)
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 - 40 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Clean the sea basses, remove the scales and cut the tails.

Chop parsley and onion. In a dish put the extra virgin olive oil, add the chopped parsley and onion and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the sea basses over a sheet of foil paper, then with the help of a tablespoon pour the mixture inside and over the sea basses.

Close the fish in the sheet of foil paper and continue in this way for all the sea basses. When they are ready place them in a baking tin and bake for about 30 – 40 minutes.

In the mean time you can prepare the potatoes. Clean and peel the small potatoes, then cut them over the surface like a fan.

Place them in a baking tin, sprinkle them with a drizzle of oil, salt and pepper. Bake for about 10 – 15 minutes.

Now cut the provolone into thin slices, when the 10 – 15 minutes are elapsed, remove the potatoes from the oven and place over the surface of each potato a thin slice of provolone.

Re-bake for other 10 minutes. When the sea basses and the potatoes are ready place them in a platter and serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Monkfish with Potatoes

The monkfish is a strange fish that lives in the Mediterean sea. It has an ugly aspect and it looks like a frog or toad. Not only the aspect of the monkfish is strange, but also its meat. In fact it has a taste and a consistency similar to lobsters and crayfishes. One important characteristic of monkfish is the absence of bones. For this reason is appreciated also by people that don’t love fish and it is perfect for children. In Italy there are different recipes to cook monkfish and the following is one of the simplest.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)

1 Potato

400 g of Monkfish

100 g of Flour

3-4 Tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil

1 Glass of water

1 / 2 of Onion

1 / 2 Glass of White Wine

Parsley

Salt

Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Favorita delle Langhe (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Clean the monkfish, remove the skin and the big bone from the center. Then flour it on the both sides.

Clean the onion, chop and place it in a large pan with the extra virgin olive oil and brown it.

Add the monkfish and let it brown on the both side for 5-10 minutes.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Then clean, peel, cut the potato into slices, and add them to the monkfish.

Sprinkle again with some salt, pepper and parsley. Add the white wine and let it evaporate, then add the water and cook for about 20 minutes with cover until the potato is ready. Serve hot. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Potatoes and Sausage Pie

This is another delicious pie!It is made of potatoes and sausage. You can replace sausage with bacon or ham, as you prefere! You can prepare it to go for a spicy picnic!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH

150 g of Flour

1 or 2 Eggs

50 g of Butter

2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Salt  

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING

8 Potatoes

125 ml of Milk

100 g of Pecorino Sardo (1 Slice) (cheese made from ewe’s milk)

150 g of Sausage

1 Egg

3 Tablesppons of extra virgin olive oil

30 g of Parmesan

Salt

Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 45 minutes

WINE: Castel del Monte Chardonnay Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION

To make the dough, put the flour on a clean surface into a mound, add 1 or 2 egg (depending on the consistency of the dough), the pieces of butter, the oil and the salt. Mix all together until you obtain a solid and smooth dough.

Place the dough on a floured board and roll out it 0,5 mm thick and then cover the bottom and the sides of the pie pan. Preheat the oven to 180-200 °C. Now prepare the filling. Wash, peel and cut the potatoes into quarters. Cook the potatoes in a pot of boiling, salted water until fork tender. Drain the potatoes, and put them through a potato masher and then back into the pot together with the egg.

Then add the milk, season with pepper and mix all together.

Put the pecorino sardo on a chopping board, cut it into cubes and add to potatopes.

Then heat the extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan, place in it the sausage and cook for about 10 minutes or until it becomes brown.

When it is ready, add it to the potatoes mixture and mix.

Put the mixture over the dough and sprinkle with some Parmesan.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown. In the meanwhile prepare 1 egg hard-boiled. Then cut it into 2 halves and when the pie is ready put them over it. Serve warm, or at room temperature. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Stew of Veal with Potatoes

This is a classical dish: a main course made from stew of veal and potatoes!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
2 Sticks of celery
2 Carrots
1/2 of Onion
400 g of Stew of veal
2 Potatoes
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
25 ml of Wine
8 Leafs of sage

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME:35 minutes

WINE: Alto Adige Colli di Bolzano (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Wash, dry and peel the sticks of celery, the carrots and the onion . Chop

and put them in a pan with 3 tablesppons of extra virgin olive oil in order to brown them. Then add the stew of veal, sprinkle with salt and pepper and let the stew brown.

Add the wine and wait until wine is evaporated. Cook for about 5-8 minutes. Wash, dry and peel the potatoes, then cut them into pieces and add them to the stew together with 1 or 2 glasses of water. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Continue to cook for 20 minutes adding some water in order to obtain a sauce. Serve hot with 2 leafs of sage. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!