Mangia Con Elena

  Italian Cannellini Bean (White Kidney Beans)and Tuna Salad IG: @mangia.con.elena Another classic quick Italian salad. This salad is traditionally made with just cannellini beans (white kidney beans) , tuna and onions but I like to add crunch to my salads by adding celery and making it even more nutritious by adding fresh tomatoes, peppers and parsley. I enjoy the tuna but I have members of my family that do not so I will add the tuna in later as a topping to my salad and everyone can add what protein or dairy that they like!  Add some crusty bread and finito! I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of beans growing up. I am pretty sure it’s because we ate them all the time and there was a period where we ate pasta è fagioli everyday ( It probably wasn’t everyday but in my mind it was). My parents grew their own beans and my mother would add day old bread and make it into ribollita as well (still can’t eat ribollita with bread). It was a tough time when my dad’s mining company went on

Classic Italian Tomato and Cucumber Summer Salad A classic summer Italian salad that is a staple at the nightly dinner table. This salad tastes better when given time to marinade on the counter allowing the ripe, juicy tomatoes to release their incredible flavour. It is easily transportable and therefore the perfect salad to bring along to a barbecue, picnic or gathering. A true Mediterranean classic and so healthy!  As with all of my recipes and in keeping with Italian way of cooking my measurements are just estimates and my spices are just recommendations. QB or Quanto Basta in my recipes means as much or as little as you would like and need. Cook by eye  👁(ad occhio) and let your taste buds be your guide.  Remember to season as you go along and build the flavours slowly. Taste test frequently to make sure it is to your liking and adjust if needed! Serve with lots of crusty bread so that you can soak up all the juices!!!! You can see this delicious salad being created in my reels on

  Summer Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes in a Creamy Goat Cheese Sauce IG: @mangia.con.elena I love everything about summer fresh produce and I get pretty excited when the fresh zucchini and other amazing vegetables make their way to the local markets! BUT  the best for me is when the tomatoes are at their prime!  I can not get enough of this delicious, versatile and amazing fruit and vegetable. Did you know that the tomato is both? Just makes it even more incredible. Memories of growing up eating tomatoes fresh off the vine and enjoying them a multitude of different ways in different dishes.  In the fall we would harvest them and spend a week making and preserving passata and tomatoes infused with fresh basil. The smell in my house was just heavenly.  I continue to make many dishes showcasing the amazing tomato and this is a really simple one that combines roasted tomatoes with creamy goat cheese, garlic, oregano and basil.  This pasta dish comes together in the time it takes to put the w

  Meat filled Cannelloni IG: @mangia.con.elena Pinterest: mangia con elena Cannelloni is one of our family's favourite dishes and a popular feature in my mother's kitchen. We like to call them "Mamma's famous cannelloni" because her reputation for fantastic cannelloni quickly grew in our neighbourhood. She eventually started making them for an Italian restaurant and for the local Italian Club. She also started a small business making trays of them for others. The grandkids and great-grandkids love them and it was always an assumption that we would be served a large tray of meat and cheese cannelloni on every special occasion or celebration. When we would make the trek up North to visit them or they would come here there was always a cooler full of bags of cannelloni. I made sure to make them last until their next visit. They can be a bit time consuming to make so I would recommend that you make a large amount and you can freeze them for later use. You can freeze t

Cime di Rape (Rapini) filled Calzone   IG: @mangia.con.elena Pinterest: mangiaconelena Growing up in our Italian household we ate a great deal of pizza. My mother would whip up pizza dough quickly and in no time there would be pizza on the table. Her toppings were not very fancy, a simple tomato and basil, potato and rosemary or salami and onions. Sometimes anchovies or roasted peppers. They were delicious. Her dough was thick and moist and the crust perfect.  She was known for her pizza. When my siblings and myself had people over she made pizza for us. When there was a special celebration there was always pizza on the table, cold or hot. The one pizza we all fought over was her filled pizzas with rapini. We never called them calzones. Calzones are a traditional pizza originating out of Naples and named after the Italian word for the leg of trousers or pants. In our region they are just called "Pizza ripiena con rapini" meaning rapini filled pizza. My  mother's version o

  Pasta with Tuna, Olives and Capers IG : @mangia.con.elena Pinterest: Mangia Con Elena Good Friday is just around the corner and with that comes many traditional foods to mark this significant event in the Catholic Liturgical Calendar.  Good Friday signifies the end of Lent, the crucifixion of Jesus and Easter Monday celebrates his resurrection.  On each Friday during the Lenten season many Catholics abstain from meat and traditionally eat fish. Good Friday in my childhood was a day of fast that would be broken at dinner with a meal consisting of fish. The dish my mother served frequently was spaghetti with tuna and olives in a rich and spicy tomato sauce. Along side the pasta there was usually a pinzimonio which is cut up vegetables, olives, cheese and other finger foods as well as pizza filled with rapini and a salad.  I have always loved my mother's pasta con tonno. I loved the smell of it and the taste is incredible. I know that it is not for everyone, however I would highly r

  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