Tomatoes alla Tiana

From Elisa Celli’s Italian Light Cooking, Prentice Hall, 1987.

I was planning to have a meal of vegetable side dishes. One was to be a warm potato salad with green olive dressing and the other was to be sautéed green beans with artichokes. I was looking for something bright and tasty that might accompany them. I settled for stuffed tomatoes.

I cut the tops off two large tomatoes and scooped out the insides, which were kept.

I now chopped half an eggplant into cubes and about an equal amount of button mushrooms finely. Two garlic cloves were chopped finely. All of these were fried in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Into the pan now went the scoopings from the tomatoes, a finely chopped onion, a handful of chopped parsley, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a pinch of dried thyme. These were sautéed for another 5 minutes and checked for seasoning. This mixture was packed into the tomatoes. A slice of cheddar cheese was placed over the top and the tomatoes went into a 180ªC oven for 15 minutes.

These turned out to be tastier than I thought they would. I always begin with a little doubt when stuffing vegetables but generally find the results worth the effort.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Frittata Fantasia

From Elisa Celli’s Italian Light Cooking, Elisa Celli, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.

I always enjoy a good frittata and thought I might try this rather simple one from Elisa Celli. However, added to the basic herb frittata were to be two sauces, I guess to make it ‘fantasia’. Before I begin I should add that I didn’t make two sauces; I settled for one.

I first made the Red Pepper and Tomato Sauce. I cut up half a red capsicum and fried it to soften it. I took it from the pan and added a chopped onion, a chopped garlic clove and 3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped. I cooked these until they had softened then returned the capsicum to the pan with a small sprinkle of Italian herb seasoning. A little more cooking and it seemed done to me. I added in a tablespoon of chopped parsley. The mixture then went into the blender to make a rough puree. When I tasted it, it needed a little more seasoning to bring it up some. I added salt and black pepper to taste but it still needed something else so I gave it a dash of red wine vinegar and I think it was ready.

In a bowl I beat 4 eggs with a good handful of chopped parsley, a smaller amount of chopped basil leaves, a pinch of Italian herb seasoning, a pinch of cayenne, and ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese. I chopped an onion and added it to a frying pan to sauté in a little butter. When it had softened I poured in the egg mixture. After a minute or two for the base to cook a little I took it off the stove and placed it under the grill. In a minute or two it had puffed up and browned. It was ready.

While it was served with the sauce I didn’t feel that the sauce added to the frittata. Perhaps I needed both sauces, so that it would have a pesto sauce and a tomato sauce. I enjoyed the frittata and it went well with the dish of peas as an accompanying vegetable.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Tomato and Beetroot Pizza

From Elisa Celli’s Italian Light Cooking, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.

Elisa Celli has three different recipes for pizza bases and none of them has yeast. I was interested to try one to see how they would turn out.

For the one I made I used one cup of plain flour with one-half cup of corn meal. The recipe actually called for whole-wheat flour and plain flour. I had no whole-wheat flour so made the changes. Two tablespoons of butter were now mixed into the flour and rubbed until like breadcrumbs. Cold water was now added bit by bit until the dough held together. It was kneaded a little, then formed into a ball, covered in cling wrap and refrigerated for about half an hour.

The dough was now divided into two pieces and rolled out to form two pizza bases. They went into a hot oven for about 10 minutes. They then came out to have their toppings added.

I had some tomato sauce left from a previous cooking burst so spread this on the base and then added sliced tomatoes, sliced cooked beetroot, Kalamata olives, red onion, mozzarella and chopped basil. A sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper and a dribble of olive oil and it went back into the oven for a few minutes more and it was ready.

As a pizza base this one turned out to be rather like a type of biscuit. It worked well as a base and was easily made. When you make your own pizzas the toppings always turn out to be much richer, thicker and tastier than the ones you buy.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Risotto Primavera Parmigiano

From Elisa Celli’s Italian Light Cooking, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.

This turned out to be a simply made risotto with plenty of vegetables.

I firstly prepared some vegetables: a zucchini chopped, some florets of broccoli, some eggplant chopped, a few spinach leaves and some green peas. It made about a cup and a half all told. Then a brown onion and two garlic cloves were chopped. The vegetables were added to a pan with olive oil and a large pinch of chilli flakes.

These were stirred over heat for a few minutes before adding a pinch of Italian herbs and a cup of Arborio rice.

In the usual manner then warm stock was added bit by bit as the rice cooked but, differently from usual, chopped tomatoes were added alternately with the water.

When the rice was cooked (about 20 minutes later) chopped parsley was added with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese and seasonings.

This was an easy to make risotto with loads of flavour. Though not an out of the ordinary dish it was certainly a satisfying one and one that could be quickly put together using any vegetables that were handy.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Pasta with Mushrooms, Peas and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

From Elisa Celli’s Italian Light Cooking, Elisa Celli, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.

I’m glad I picked this older book again from my bookshelf. I’m enjoying getting back into the solid recipes.

This particular pasta did have prosciutto in it but I decided just to leave it out as the ingredients sounded as though they would work equally well without the meat.

It was a quick meal to prepare. First dried porcini mushrooms had to be soaked. While they were doing their bit, the remainder of the ingredients were got ready. An onion was chopped. A cup of frozen peas was taken from the freezer to defrost. A half-cup of sun-dried tomatoes (the kind marinated in oil) were chopped. Three garlic cloves were crushed. A little Italian herb seasoning was added to the sun-dried tomatoes.

By the time all this was ready the mushrooms had had sufficient time so they were sliced.

A pot of salted water was put on to boil . When it was ready the pasta was added to cook. At the same time the sauce ingredients were added to a frying pan with some olive oil and sautéed to be ready when the pasta was.

When it was cooked the pasta was drained and added to the sauce in the frying pan with a little of the cooking liquid.

It was all blended and put into the serving plates with some Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

A satisfying and easy pasta dish. I particularly liked the flavour bites from the tomatoes and the texture that the peas added.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

As some of these books may be out of print if anyone would like a particular recipe, email me (alfcooksvege@ozemail.com.au) and I’ll send an abbreviated version. Of course, the whole book would be better; it’s loaded with other goodies.

Mozzarella Ischia (Hot Mozzarella with Basil, Tomatoes, Olives and Red Peppers

From Elisa Celli’s Italian Light Cooking, Elisa Celli, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.

This was little more than a salad plate that you carefully put together. However I was rather intrigued with the idea of hot mozzarella so I got to work and made the dish.

I have made other recipes, mostly pastas, from this particular book. They have usually been worth the effort but there have been large sections of the book that I’ve overlooked so I’ve taken it again from my cookery book shelf to delve into it once more.

Before I did much more with the salad I roasted the red capsicum. Roasted capsicum is one of my favourite salad ingredients. I just dislike the slimy task of skinning the roasted vegetable. It’s not difficult to do but just a little unpleasant. Once done, however, it was sliced into strips.

The dressing was made from tossing together balsamic vinegar, olive oil, crushed garlic, chopped parsley, some Italian herb seasoning and lemon juice. I added salt and pepper and then removed the garlic.

The mozzarella was placed in the oven for 5 minutes then placed on the serving plate. It had warmed through and started to melt a little.

The capsicum strips were placed across the mozzarella and the other ingredients arranged around it: chopped red onions, black olives, tomatoes sliced into sections and basil leaves. The dressing was then drizzled over.

It made an attractive-looking plate that was fun to nibble from. Heating the mozzarella made it a little easier to cut on the plate and it went really well with the capsicum strips.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

As some of these books may be out of print if anyone would like a particular recipe, email me (alfcooksvege@ozemail.com.au) and I’ll send an abbreviated version. Of course, the whole book would be better; it’s loaded with other goodies.

Minestrone alla Famiglia

Minestrone alla Famiglia

from Elisa Celli’s Italian Light Cooking, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.

There are many variations of minestrone. I have already written up one in my August blog. This particular one (Minestrone alla Famiglia) I do prefer to the one I made from Italian Food Safari. The big difference is that the one from Italian Food Safari has rice added whereas the one from Elisa Celli’s book uses pasta as the addition. The rice has a tendency to thicken over much whereas the pasta less so.

Elisa Celli's book has been a long while on my shelf and has had its fair share of usage. I have been generally well pleased with the results of my cooking from it.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

As some of these books may be out of print if anyone would like a particular recipe, email me (alfcooksvege@ozemail.com.au) and I’ll send an abbreviated version. Of course, the whole book would be better; it’s loaded with other goodies.