Nonna's Homemade Focaccia Bread

Focaccia is one of the most common breads in the Italian culture. Many use Focaccia as sandwich bread, a side to a meal, or deliciously by itself. Although this homemade recipe is easily enjoyed by many, it's not the easiest to master. Nonna aka my chef mentor, allowed me to create a tutorial of her step-by-step Focaccia process. Her broken English may make it hard to follow ;) so I’ve added ingredients and side notes below.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Prepare a 13 inch round nonstick pan to bake Focaccia in.

Ingredients:

Dough

3 ¼ cups flour

1 ¼ tablespoon dry active yeast

1 tablespoon salt

1 table spoon extra virgin olive oil

350 ml or 1 ½ cup water

Topping

10 cherry tomatoes cut in halves

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Oregano



Focaccia Step 1 - Adding ingredients

Focaccia Step 2 - Mixing ingredients

Focaccia Step 3 - Let it rise for 1 hour

Once the dough has doubled in size, you can now add your toppings!

Focaccia Step 4 - Toppings

After Focaccia has risen for another hour, unwrap it and place it in the oven at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

Once Focaccia has cooled you can cut and serve it as pizza slices or in squares. Enjoy!

Thanks, Nonna!

Spaghetti with Tuna

Originating in Sicily, spaghetti with tuna has become a popular dish in the Italian culture. The recipe was created in Sicily because the region is known for tuna hunting. The large passage between the Atlantic and Mediterranean is known to bring over 600 pounds of fish at the end of spring.

Although spaghetti with tuna isn’t one of my favorite recipes, it still has extraordinary flavors. My mom usually makes this recipe during the summer because of its light sauce and refreshing taste.

Here is what you’ll need for this simple, authentic recipe.

1 pound of spaghetti

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

6 cloves chopped garlic cloves

2 tablespoons capers

1 (28-ounce) can whole, peeled tomatoes, chopped

1/2 chopped parsley

1 can rinsed and drained, white albacore tuna

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Cook pasta in large pot of rapidly boiling water until al dente or done to your liking.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Place olive oil and the garlic in a large sauté pan and turn heat to medium. Cook until the garlic is lightly golden. Add capers and tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes start to break down and become a sauce, about 8 minutes. Toss with cooked pasta. Add parsley and tuna and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Nonna’s Minestrone Soup

Like many Italian dishes, Minestrone was probably originally not a dish made for its own sake. The recipe varies widely across Italy and it’s assumed that one did not gather the ingredients of Minestrone with the intention of making it. Many people make Minestrone from left overs while others follow a specific recipe.

My Nonna’s (grandmother) Minestrone recipe is very special to me. Nonna learned this recipe from her mother making it nearly 150 years old! When my brother was a baby, my parents couldn’t get him to eat baby food. My Nonna decided she would puree her traditional Minestrone soup and feed it to him instead. My brother was smart; it was the only puree he would eat!

Here is what you’ll need for Nonna’s easy Minestrone soup!

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ of an onion

3 stalks of celery

3 carrots

7 small potatoes

1 cup frozen green beans

1 cup frozen peas

1 can of red kidney beans

1 can of chick peas

1 ½ teaspoons chicken or vegetable bouillon

½ cup tomato sauce

6 cups of water

Black pepper to taste

First, chop onion, celery, carrots and potatoes.

Sautee chopped vegetables in olive oil on medium heat.

Next, add water, tomato sauce, bouillon, and black pepper. Let simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

Then add peas, green beans, chickpeas, and kidney beans. Let soup simmer for 40 minutes.

Once soup is finished, serve into bowls and add grated parmesan cheese if desired. Enjoy!

Three Cheese Lasagna

Lasagna is a very popular recipe amongst all Italians. Although several towns make it differently, my mom usually makes her lasagna with ground meat, cheese, and tomato sauce. Being that I made this recipe on the first Friday of Lent, I decided to try and make it without the meat. I called it “Three Cheese Lasagna” and made it for about 20 people. With the help of my mom’s recipe, my lasagna was a big hit!
Here is my recipe for “Three Cheese Lasagna”- perfect for every Friday of Lent!

Serves about 6-8

¼ chopped onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 can tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste

½ cup water

salt and pepper to taste

1 packages Lasagna noodles

2lbs Ricotta cheese (divided)

1 8oz bag Mozzarella cheese (divided)

1 cup Parmesan cheese (divided)

2 eggs

 

First, sauté onions in olive oil on medium heat. Once onions are caramelized, poor in tomato sauce, tomato paste and water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let sauce cook for a half hour.

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl mix together Ricotta, eggs, salt, pepper, and a ladle full of sauce.

Once Ricotta mixture is ready and sauce is cool, begin layering. Line the bottom of an 8x16 pan with lasagna noodles. Next, add a ladle full of sauce to coat the noodles. Evenly add half of the Ricotta mixture over the sauce. Sprinkle ½ cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layer instructions once more.

Finish off the top layer of the lasagna with noodles, sauce and sprinkle Parmesan cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, uncover the pan and let it bake for another 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let the lasagna settle for about 10 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Italian Stuffed Green Peppers

I made my Mom’s stuffed green pepper recipe for my boyfriend last night. Although I tried to substitute a few ingredients to make it a bit healthier, (wheat bread, ground chicken, brown rice) he still loved them! The tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, garlic and Italian seasoning are what make this recipe a classic, traditional, Italian dish.

While the peppers are SO filling by themselves, my Mom usually serves them with diced, roasted potatoes and salad.

Here is what you’ll need…

 

6 green bell peppers

1 pound ground meat

2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce

½ cup Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

2 slices White bread

½ cup uncooked rice

1 large egg

1 teaspoon olive oil

First, preheat oven 375 degrees F. Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward.

 

Next, in a large bowl combine ground meat, 1 can tomato sauce, bread, egg, and rice. Once those are all mixed together add in ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. 

Then, spoon mixture into each pepper until pepper is full. Drizzle olive oil, 1 can tomato sauce, and the rest of the Parmesan cheese over the peppers.

Before final touches and baking...

Place aluminum foil tightly over baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees F for 1 hour. When finished, peppers should be tender.

Serve and enjoy!

Healthy Rapini Recipe

Rapini- also known by Americans as broccoli rabe (no relation to broccoli), is a well-known side dish amongst the southern region of Italy (Puglia, Basilicata, and Sicily). Rapini originates in the Mediterranean and China and is descended from a wild herb. It’s grown in the west coast of the United States, New Jersey, Quebec and Ontario. Aside from cooking it with pasta, rapini is one of the healthier foods made by Italians. It’s classified as a “super food” because it is packed with nutrients including, Vitamins A, C, and K, as well as Potassium, Calcium, and Iron. 
 

Rapini can be made as a simple side dish or with pasta. When serving it with pasta it is most famously paired with cavatelli (small, narrow pasta shells), orecchiette (small, disc shaped pasta), or tagliatelle (flat ribbons, similar in shape to fettuccine).

1 Bunch of Rapini

6 cups of Water

2 table spoons Salt

2 table spoons Olive Oil

When preparing the rapini, cut the ends off of the bunch. Then chop the bunch into four sections. Next, in a large pot bring six cups of water to a boil. Add salt to the water and place rapini into boiling water. Stir on occasion. Once stems are soft, strain and drizzle with olive oil.

When making rapini with pasta, simply boil the pasta in water. Once pasta is “al dente”, strain and add rapini with olive oil.

Serve and enjoy!

Pasta alla Vodka

Pasta alla Vodka is one of my favorite dishes my mom makes! Vodka really isn’t an Italian ingredient so it’s interesting to find out how the sauce was invented. According to foodtimeline.org, vodka sauce became popular in the 70s and 80s. Some believe the sauce originated in the homeland of Italy while others believe it originated in the states. Many stories have indicated that the dish was originally called Penne alla Russia because of the un-Italian ingredient of vodka. Although there are several stories out there as to who was the original creator of the sauce, many towns have created their own version to pass down for many generations.

Like many Italian children, I think my mom’s cooking is the best! Here is her delicious and simple recipe for Pasta alla Vodka.

½ of an onion

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 can crushed tomatoes

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 bay leaf

½ cup vodka or to taste

1 cup heavy whipping cream

½ lb. bow tie pasta (can sub for Rigatoni or Penne)

½ cup grated parmesan.

Chop onion and poor into a saucepan with olive oil. Sautee onions on medium heat until golden brown. Add and stir crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Add vodka to the sauce and occasionally stir for a half hour on medium to low heat.

In a separate pot bring four cups of water to a boil. Add pasta and stir occasionally until it is fully cooked but not overly soft…“al dente.” Drain pasta.

Add heavy whipping cream to the sauce while stirring, bringing it to a boil. Add sauce to pasta along with parmesan cheese.

Serve and enjoy!

Food Timeline: Food History & Vintage Recipes. Web. 20 Jan. 2012. <http://foodtimeline.org>.