This is our last menu idea with cold and hot summer recipes made only with vegetables but with eggs and cheese too.
It is a classical dinner menu or lunch menu composed by a starter (filled aubergines), a first course (pasta salad with ring-shaped ingredients), a second course (bean burgers) and a typical summer dessert of  Sicily that is watermelon ice (gelo di melone).

Watermelon ice served in a cup

The image above shows a glass filled with watermelon ice, what a tasty dessert!

Enjoy this menu with your friends!

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, this is the fifty fifth post about the art of cooking Italian pasta.

Yesterday we picked up the last peas in our organic garden, very little but full of seasonal vegetables.
The question was: what’s the best recipe to appreciate these peas? We thought to prepare a tasty pasta dish for our Sunday lunch.
Mushroom-and-pea pappardelle. Read the recipe on our website, look at its butrition facts … It’s a low fat and low calorie pasta recipe. Ant it is tasty! Besides it’s a vegan recipe if made with vegan fettuccine.

Pappardelle with mushrooms and peas

Now the question is: is it only a recipe for this season when it’s easy to find fresh peas in the pod?

No. You can do  this tasty pasta dish all year making the changes we are going to suggest you.

In autumn. You can find easily fresh mushrooms but not fresh peas. Well, you can use frozen (200 g – 7 oz) or 1 400 g  (14 oz)  can peas.
If you use frozen peas,  flavor them together with fresh mushrooms in the olive oil and shallot. Keep on cooking following the recipe on our website and substituting the soaking water with  vegetable stock.
If you use canned peas, add them (well drained) a couple of minutes before switching off the gas.

All year. Use dried mushrooms and frozen or canned peas.

But remember: you have  the best with fresh, tender sweet fresh peas …

Interested in all our pasta recipes? Look at the complete list on this page

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, it’s time of peas, sweet and tender, typical of these months.
In Italy we are used to cook them in a lot of ways. For example they are the main ingredients of many soups.
Do you know risi & bisi? in other words rice and peas?

Rice and peas

You can’t imagine how many times we have seen this photo of ours on other sites!!!

Here’s the original recipe!

Ingredients / It serves 4

1, 0 kg (2.2 lb) fresh peas in the pods
200 g (7 oz) rice
1 carrot, peeled and cut into 3-4 pieces
2 onions
1 garlic clove
1 celery stalk
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
Butter
Grated Parmesan
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt

To shell, pinch off the ends and pull the string down on the inside of the pod and pop the peas out. Put the peas apart.
Wash the pods and put in a large pan together  with one onion, the carrot and celery. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Season to taste with salt, lower the heat and keep on cooking for about an hour.
Let the stock cool and strain. Put apart.
Fry lightly the second onion and garlic (chopped finely) in olive oil and butter. Add the peas, let them flavor for few minutes, cover with the stock and cook for about 15 minutes.
Then add the rice, stir, season to taste with salt and cover with hot stock. Let all cook on medium heat, stirring now and then, adding other stock when necessary. Cook according to the time written on the rice package.
Add the parsley and  a bit of butter  a minute before switching off the gas.
Serve at once. Accompany with grated Parmesan in a little bowl. So everyone will be able to sprinkle on his dish if he wants.
In another version bacon is used together with garlic and onions.

We prefer our version without butter and grated Parmesan, a real vegan recipe. It tastes fantastic! It’s low fat and calorie recipe.
Read step-by-step instructions for our pea-and-rice  soup.

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, today’s post is dedicated to a fantastic soup made with spring ingredients.
Do you know how tasty are artichokes, asparagus, fava beans, peas and meat cooked together?
Taste this soup as it is made in Tuscany at Lucca. Its name is Garmugia.
Here it is the recipe.

Garmugia, typical Tuscan soup of Lucca

You can still find artichokes easily and it’s the right time for asparagus, peas and fava beans.
In Italy we combine these vegetables in many ways to make pasta and rice sauce or soups. So there are a lot of recipes from the north to the south of Italy.

Besides it’s a typical Mediterranean recipe full of fibers. It’s a great choice for healthy eating .
We remember you Mediterranean diet is rich in vegetables and fruit and so it has  low-calorie and low-fat  but tasty recipes, very tasty as Garmugia.

We are waiting for your comments

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, Carlo and I want to share with you  two fantastic recipes we prepared last night for our dinner menu.

Artichoke egg casserole and anchovy-flavored fava beans.

Artichoke egg casserole

Taste this fantastic dish. For the best result you have to choose  fresh artichokes. So it is ideal for your dinner menus in this season, spring.

Fava bean salad

Another spring vegetable is fava beans. Enjoy this dish with our friends! It’s easy-to-do but tasty.

Serve a beer. Wine is not recommended for the presence of artichokes.

You can complete your meal with a fruity tart. Consult our dessert recipes to find what you prefer.

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta