Hi. It’s august, it’s time for ripe tomatoes.
They are ripe but firm, beautiful to see and tasty to eat.
But there are too many in our organic garden and so we are going to cook them to make our favourite sauce: tomato sauce.

We’re going to explain how to make pureed tomatoes.
Wash the tomatoes under cold running water,  quarter them and put in a pot. Quarter a couple of fresh young onions. Add some basil leaves and a little bunch of fresh chives, cut into 3-4 parts.
Then add half a glass of cold water and cook on a medium heat. The tomatoes will throw out their juice and so they will cook for about 15-20 minutes.
Switch off the gas and let the tomatoes cool. Then puree them with a food mill.
Look at the photo for the result.

Pureed tomatoes

This is the base for making a sauce, Italian – style. Pureed tomatoes can be used for cooking meatballs, for pizza or other recipes too. You can also fill some jars and sterilize them for about 30 minutes.
Pureed tomatoes are not the sauce for dressing pasta but the base to make the sauce!

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, we have started planning and making our organic garden before Michelle Obama and Queen Elisabeth astonished the world with their decision.
Before we had a lawn surrounded by some flowerbeds with a corner for acidophil plants, another for aromatic herbs and another one for perennial shrubs such as oleanders. But this year our lawn was growing  yellow, with difficulty. lt needs a radical treatment. “Let’s pull it up  and sow again!” – we thought at first. But the love of gerdening has make us change our mind. I (Loretta)  had a little garden some years ago and knew something about gardening. Carlo has never had a garden and no passion for gardening. But we both like organic foods.
So organic garden instead of a new lawn: it was the last decision. But … what a work! It was killing. Pulling up the lawn, preparing the ground, making the vegetablebeds, sowing, transplanting  … how many hours of hard work!
What a “beautiful” way to break our back!

But now … what a satisfaction! We have a garden beautiful to see (look at the photos) and with tasty organic food.

Now an example for explaining  what is the importance to have chemical free, vitamin filled, fresh, natural  foods to hand.  Have you ever think that the foods you buy from the supermarket may have been hanging around for days or even weeks before you buy them?
This morning we have picked a purple aubergine, a red bell pepper, a courgette, (zucchini),  a bunch of parsley, a couple of young fresh onions, some arugula leaves and two ripe  tomatoes. The perfect ingredients for pastasciutta, Italy-style: our lunch.
Put two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan together with  cubed aubergines, diced bell pepper and sliced courgette. Let all these ingredients fry lightly on a low heat, stirring often. Then add cubed tomatoes and parsley finely chopped together with onions and arugula. Cook for other 5 minutes stirring often and your sauce is ready!
Season to taste with salt and pepper, if you like. The sauce is so tasty that you give up the salt.  Cook 160 g (5 3/4 oz) of pasta al dente stage. Drain and dress with the sauce. This is the first course.
Then a seasonal salad made with lettuce, cubed melon and nasturtium. Yes, nasturtium: both leaves and flowers give a peppery flavour to the mixed greens. Dress with a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of aromatic vinegar, season to taste with salt and stir: it’s ready!  It tastes fantastic! All natural, low fat and healthy!
Both the recipes serves 2.
The last thing: all the kitchen waste are added to the compost. All is recycled, no garbage!

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

La locandiera is one of the best restaurants in Basilicata. Its address is:

Corso Umberto I 194, Bernalda (Basilicata), tel. 0835.543241

It’s a little restaurant but rich  in tasty food, affability and kidness of the owners.
Here you can taste the real cuisine of Basilicata, especially of Bernalda and Metapontum.
We had dinner in this restaurant few days ago and we could test various courses from appetizers to pasta and pork meat cooked with orange juice.
The owners offer you a lot of courses in little amount.    So we had the opportunity to eat vegetables cooked in different ways, a classical soup of Bernalda named crapiata, their pasta dressed with a lot of sauces and so on.

The Italian cuisine is great!
Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta