Spelt Salad with Basil Pesto and Cherry Tomatoes

A fresh Italian salad for the hot summer, you need only few ingredients: spelt, basil pesto and fresh cherry tomatoes. The preparation of this Italian salad is easy and fast and you can also prepare it in advice and keep in the fridge. You can prepare it in the morning for the dinner or the night before for the next lunch, in this way the salad it will result more tasty and all the flavors will be good mixed.

INGREDIENTS ( for 4 people):

320 g of Spelt

3 Tablespoons of Basil Pesto

12-15 Fresh Cherry Tomatoes

Salt

PREPARATION TIME : 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Sangiovese (Red Wine)

PREPARATION

Boil the spelt for about 20 minutes in salted water.

 

Drain the spelt and let it cool down. If you want to eat it immediately you can put it in the fridge so it will cool down faster. In the mean time wash the cherry tomatoes and cut them in slice, keep one or two tomatoes  entire to use on the top of the salad. When the spelt is cold add the basil pesto

 

and the slice of the cherry tomatoes, mix all together. Serve cold with an entire cherry tomatoes on the top.

BUON APPETITO!

Soup of Spelt and Chickling

This is the Italian recipe of a delicious soup prepared with spelt and chickling. These 2 legumes are tipycal ingredient of Italian recipes coming from the center of Italy in particular from Umbria and Marche. The preparation of this recipe looks long but it's not, you just need to decide a day before if you want to taste this delicious soup so you can place the legumes covered with water in a bowl overnight and the following day, with the help of pressure cooker you will need only 40 minutes for its preparation.


INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
200 g or 1 cup of Spelt
200 g or 1 cup of Chickling
3-4 tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil
1 / 2 Onion
Small cubes of bread
Salt coarse
Pepper
Rosemary

PREPARATION TIME: the night before

COOKING TIME: 30 - 40 minutes

WINE: Montefalco di Sagrantino Passito Docg (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
The evening before the day you decide to prepare this delicious soup place the spelt and the chickling covered with water in a bowl. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in the pressure cooker, chop the onion and add it to the hot oil together with the rosemary, let them cook for a few minutes.



Then wash with fresh water the spelt and the chickling and add them to the casserole. Let them cook for a few minutes, add the white wine, let it evaporate



and cover with water, add coarse salt, close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook for about 25-30 minutes since the pressure cooker starts to whistle.



In the mean time you can cut the bread in small cubes and let them become crunchy in the oven for a few minutes.



At the end of the cooking, open the pressure cooker and check the cooking, if there is still too much water, cook the soup for a little bit of time until the water it will be reduced as shown in this picture. At this point you can serve the hot soup in a dish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and the cubes of bread on the top or if you like you can take half of the soup, blend it,



add it again to the rest of the soup, mix well and serve hot with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and the cubes of bread on the top.




BUON APPETITO!