Mangia Con Elena

  Orecchiette with Sausage and Rapini Orecchiette pasta originates from the Province of Puglia in Southern Italy and gets its name "little ears" from its shape. It is made of durum wheat and water. This classic dish of rapini (broccoli rabe) and pork sausage will fast become one of your favourites. Simple and delicious! If you can't find orecchiette you can certainly substitute another shaped pasta that will hold the sausage bits such as penne rigate, fusilli or rigatoni. As always with Italian recipes the suggested spice measurements are just estimates. You can omit if you don't like a particular spice. I always recommend starting with the suggested amount and then adjusting as you go along. This dish does have a bit of a kick with the chili flakes but how much you use depends on how spicy you want it and how potent your chili is!  I am sure you will love this!  Andiamo! Ingredients * QB is "quanto basta"- you decide when it is enough and let your taste bud

  Pasta e Fagioli With Borlotti Beans Pasta e Fagioli could very well be the national dish of Italy. It was born in the countryside and very much a true "cucina povera" dish. This flavourful soup was made out of necessity using simple, inexpensive ingredients that they harvested.  There is no official recipe for pasta e fagioli, but is present in every region of Italy with slight differences in the ingredients. We grew up on my mother's version of pasta e fagioli which she learned to make as a young girl. This classic romano style uses pancetta to flavour the broth and give it a salty, earthy flavour. She would add the ends of home made prosciutto so as not to throw them out or bits of home made pancetta. Nothing went to waste in our house. If meat was not available, we would eat it without and the version here is meatless.  Of course, the choice is up to you to add pancetta or not.  If you are going to add pancetta simply cut it into cubes and fry before adding the soffr

  Stuffed Peppers Stuffed peppers is an authentic and classic dish that can be made using a variety of ingredients. It is typically filled with a mixture of ground meat and rice but can easily be transformed into vegetarian by omitting the meat and adding grains and legumes. Honestly, anything goes with this dish. What does not change in this classic Italian dish is the seasonings and the addition of tomato sauce. My mother typically made this in the summertime when peppers were fresh from our garden. They were made with green peppers because that was what we grew but also cheaper and more available. The coloured peppers are a bit sweeter than green. It doesn't matter which coloured peppers you use, it is more of a personal preference. Traditionally, this classic dish is made with ground beef or ground pork and rice. I also enjoy making them with a bit of a spin substituting ground pork or beef with ground turkey or chicken and swapping rice for quinoa or barley. This recipe uses g

Ricotta and Spinach Gnocchi  If you are visiting this page then chances are you are a lover of gnocchi like me! Just like every other Italian dish, the way they are made varies from region to region. It is typically made with potatoes and flour but if you ask any Italian it's almost a guarantee that they will share a different recipe than the last. Some are adamant about adding eggs and others say no way. Some use semolina flour only and others use all purpose flour or double zero.  Each flour of course will result in a different consistency. I prefer my gnocchi with a bit of a chewy consistency. I love the pillowy soft ones and will gladly eat them but I most definitely prefer ones that don't melt in my mouth. Chefs and Italians everywhere will probably disagree with me and say that gnocchi should be pillowy and light and airy. Most definitely but being Italian, I believe that is entirely a personal choice (and I will gladly defend that!) 🤣  If you are new at making gnocchi t

  Vegetable Stock/Brodo di Verdure Growing up in Italian household soup was a big deal. We ate it regularly and even in the summers. The vegetables and ingredients would differ depending on the seasons. So naturally soup has become a big deal in our house as well. I make it frequently and it varies depending on what is in season and what is in the fridge. Soup is a great way to use up all those left over unused vegetables. But every good soup has to begin with a great base and that base is a rich and flavourful stock.  Vegetable stock is a great way use up all those odd and bits of vegetables. Don't throw away those stems and leaves and peels. Throw them in a freezer bag! I always have a bag full of veggies in the freezer.  I put in brocolli stems and leaves, cauliflower core, potato peels, carrot ends, leek tops, overly ripe tomatoes, zuchinni ends, celery leaves, parsley stocks and more. When celery and cabbage starts to get wilty, I throw it in. When the bag gets full I make a n

  Pasta All'Amatriciana Spicy tomato sauce with pancetta and onions A  LITTLE STORY The first time I had this wonderful pasta dish I was sitting in the tiny kitchen of my Zia Maria's home. She lives right in the core of beautiful Rome. It was my first visit to Rome. I had flown to Rome many times as a child but never stayed there. We were picked up by family and driven to my parent's hometown nestled in the valley of the stunning Lepini hills. We always went in the summer so my Zia and her family spent their summers in the village. We would stay with my father's parents in this tiny house at the bottom of a hill. I remember as a young child rushing out first thing in the morning to get the water from the barrels to wash ourselves. My Nonna would make the most delicious meals on her wood firepit . I can still smell the fresh chicken roasting on the fire. The rosemary and olive oil so pungent and earthy. I helped my Nonno kill that chicken (that was not pleasant!) but oh

Warm and Spicy Shakshuka   I first tasted Shakshuka about a year ago and I fell immediately in love with this warm, slightly spicy dish. It has become my go to dish when I am short on time. It takes very little prep time. Serve with a side salad and some naan bread and it is a great meal packed with protein and flavour! Shakshuka originated in Tunisia and is popular in the Middle East. There are many variations of Shakshuka and I have made this dish several ways. This is another one of those dishes that you can definitely make your own once you have the base down! Eggs are poached in a luscious sauce of tomatoes, garlic, cumin and smoked paprika. Spicy chilies or cayenne pepper can be added at your preference.  Here is how I make it. As always, measurements are guidelines only and let your taste buds be your guide. I realize that this is not an Italian dish, there is one similar in Italian called "L'uove in Purgatoria", eggs in hell! I will make a post on that another tim

  Arugula and Fennel Winter Salad I can't eat an Italian inspired salad without thinking of my dad.  Salads were a part of every dinner growing up. They were simple and served after the main course and not before as is customary in the North American culture.  In the summer months, when our garden was in full bloom, we had our pick of endive, radicchio, romaine, escarole and leaf lettuce.  My dad loved his garden. He would wake up early and put on his gardening hat and out he went. He would spend all day in the garden. It was his happy place and his refuge when life got tough. He did his best thinking out there. It is where you went if you needed to talk to him because in his garden he was at peace. He had buckets set up all amongst his vegetables so he could sit down and lovingly pick off pesty bugs, prune and water. He would watch them grow. He knew when there were beans missing (because we were known to  sneak in and eat right off the vines) and he knew exactly which plant need