Sugo della nonna

Sugo della nonna

I'm back! Sorry it took a while, but had a really busy couple of months with our newborn son. This new recipe is a tribute to my grandmother. I grew up with this sauce, she made it every week. I remember the Sunday lunch with fresh made tagliatelle or gnocchi. Hmmm the memories.

My grandmother made this with tomato passata from a can. But last September i made some passata myself with fresh San Marzano tomatoes. Of course i'll be using the fresh passata.

So what do you need to make this sauce:

• 500 gr of veal stew
• 2 Italian sausages
• clove of garlic
• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 onion (stick 3 cloves in the onion)
• some dried chili
• 2 liters of passata
• olive oil
• small cube of bacon fat

Lets start making the sauce... First you take a big pot and put it on high heat. Put in a good amount of olive oil and bacon fat, your clove of garlic and your dried chili. Let this simmer for a minute until the oil is really hot (make sure you don't burn your garlic!). Now it's time to put in your meat. Depending on the size of your pot, you can do it all at once, or a few pieces of meat at a time.

When you see that your meat is nicely colored, you add your passata, carrots, celery and onion. Let this simmer for at least 2 hours, season it with peper and salt and your sauce is ready to be served!

What i really like with this sauce is some fresh made tagliatelle and a good glass of red wine... Enjoy!

Pasta al forno with broccoli and ricotta

Pasta al forno with broccoli and ricotta

All credits to my girlfriend for this recipe. A very simple and fast dish with very few ingredients:

• broccoli
• 200 gr coarsely chopped minced meat (i use the one used in Italian sausages)
• dried chilly flakes
• 250 gr ricotta
• a handfull of parmesan cheese
• 400 ml milk
• 200 gr pasta (we used maccaroni)

At first you need to start cooking your broccoli and your pasta. You take a big pot with water and put in your broccoli. When your water starts to cook, you'll have to wait a minute or two. Then you put in your pasta.

While your pasta and broccoli are cooking, you start roasting your meat with some olive oil. To spice it all up, you put in some chilly flakes (all depending on how hot you want it to be) and season with salt and pepper.

Now it's time to prepare the milk and ricotta. For this you'll need a measuring cup. So put your ricotta and milk in a measuring cup and mix it up until it's a homogeneous mass.

When your broccoli and pasta are ready (check cooking time of your pasta) you'll have to bring all ingredients together. Take an oven plate and first put in your pasta and broccoli. See that you distribute it evenly. When it's all in the oven plate it's time for the ricotta mixture. This also you'll need to distribute evenly among the pasta and broccoli. At the end you sprinkle it all with some parmesan cheese and season again with salt and pepper (if needed).

Put this all in a preheated oven of 180°C (356°F) for about 15 minutes and it's ready to eat!

If you like this dish, feel free to comment below and follow me on instagram.

Spaghetti broccoli, fast and simple!

Spaghetti broccoli, fast and simple!

Something you can make if you don't have the time to cook is spaghetti broccoli. In spite of the other recipes on my blog, this is not one of my grandmothers. It's a recipe that we got from my girlfriends grandmother.

It's a very simple dish. You just need a few ingredients:

• 2L broth (or 2L of water with 2 broth cubes)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• dried chilly flakes
• 1 bunch of broccoli
• 1 laurel leaf
• 125 gr bacon blocks (optional)
• Parmesan cheese

You start by cleaning your broccoli. Only use the florets of the broccoli. Put them in a big pot with your broth, chilly flakes, laurel leaf and garlic. Now bring it al to a boil. Once your broth is boiling you can add your spaghetti. The rest depends on the brand and type of spaghetti you use. We usually use spaghetti number 12 from "De Cecco". These will need about 12 minutes to cook. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper. The next part is optional but it gives an extra flavor to your dish. 

Let's prepare our bacon. Very simple... You take a pan, heat it and put your bacon in and season it with peper (i use salty bacon so no need to put salt on it). Leave it until your bacon is brown and crispy.

Now take a deep plate (like a soup plate) and put your spaghetti in it, fish out some broccoli florets and add your bacon. Finish it all with some broth and Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy this quick and easy pasta dish and don't forget to follow me on instagram!

Risotto with salsiccia and peas

Risotto with salsiccia and peas

Who can say no to a nice plate of risotto... I love it!!

The key to a nice risotto, is a good broth (see my post about brodo). The broth defines the taste and quality of your risotto. A bad broth gives a bad taste, it's that simple. You can always try using the broth cubes that you buy in your supermarket, but if you have the choice, choose wisely... You also don't need to put to many ingredients in your risotto, keep it simple.

So how do you start... Let's do, like the French say, our "mise en place". First of all, you'll need all the ingredients:

• 250 gr of minced pork meat (i use minced meat that they put in Italian sausages)
• rice, i use "Riso Gallo Arborio"
• dried chilly flakes
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• peas (i use frozen peas)
• olive oil
• butter
• parmesan cheese

Now, why do i use Italian sausages minced pork? The answer is pretty simple: It's grounded coarsely and seasoned and it also gives a better texture to the risotto.

Let's start making the risotto now. You take a low casserole and put some olive oil and butter in it. You heat it up until your butter is melted. Now it's time to put in your meat. Once the meat has colored, you can put your onion, garlic and chilly flakes in it. Let it stove until your onion is some what transparent. Now you can throw in your rice.

Leave the rice until it has absorbed all the butter and olive oil. Once it has, you can add your broth, just until you cover all your ingredients. The rice will now cook in your broth and absorb all the flavors from it. It will take about 15 minutes for your rice to be "al dente". Keep tasting it because you need to add your peas at the perfect moment. Your rice has to be almost ready.

When you've reached that point, you add your peas. Stir everything until you like the cooking time of your rice. Now before putting your risotto on a plate you'll have to add some parmesan cheese and some butter. Just enough to make your rice stick together and make it more creamier. Keep stirring until the cheese and butter have dissolved, and then it's ready to serve!!


Enjoy your risotto, don't forget to comment and visit my instagram!