Recipes from an empty Italian fridge - Part 1

Too cold outside, too lazy to do grocery shopping but too hungry... 
What to cook when your fridge is completely empty: "L'arte di cucinare con niente... o quasi."  Tonight the first recipe, taught by my suocera (mother-in-law). 

Ingredients
garlic
parsley
peperoncino flakes
pasta
walnuts (also pecan, pistachio or pine nuts will do the trick)

Boil the spaghetti in salted water. In the meantime slice the garlic in thick slices, chop the flat leaved parsley and walnuts. In a large pan heat a good layer of olive oil over medium fire and saute the garlic, peperoncino and nuts. Add the drained pasta (al dente!). Stir fry the ingredients over high heat and add the chopped parsley. Stir well and dinner is ready. 

I dedicate this post to Walter my dear Roman friend. Grazie x la tua lezione! Spero di vederti presto.

Notte everybody

Minimal ingredients, maximum taste!

The fridge was empty but fortunately
our piccola cantina was full  tonight ; )

Summer nostalgia

With the inevitable approach of Fall, I've been longing for those delicious barbecues, endless walks under the mediterranean sun , my colourful summer kaftans and flip-flops... Summer please come back soon!

...what do you miss the most about summer?

Hanging out with
family & friends

Salsiccia from Anacapri's butcher Domenico and fresh fish from Crescenzo 
= amazing bbq

Summer = fresh lemons from the garden = homemade limoncello!

Cappuccini and cornetti at "Il Piccolo Bar"

A summer to remember

Bellissimi. I have little else to describe the past 3 months.

Beautiful weather (keep on shining please), fantastic swims (Jack finally learned to swim!), great bbq nights in our long-desired garden, loads of friends and family,  homemade sangria and rossini's and fun parties... some of the secrets to an amazing summer!

The craziest (read: most exhausting) party was definitely Jack's dinosaur birthday (post coming soon). Also the gala dinner  at the Canzone del Mare was a party to remember... Spectacular location, blue champagne, good food and great music. Thanks Ilaria.

"Say formaggio!"

A big band by the pool...

Just looooooove these...

When Francesco suggested me to order ravioli during my first stay in Capri I was like "Are you kidding me, I'm not going to eat boring tasteless ravioli!" Obviously not knowing what I was missing out on...  Was I glad that he insisted because they were absolutely AMAZING!!! Tender, fluffy clouds of delight. Definitely one of my favorite dishes in the world. 

Ravioli Capresi

Simple recipe, big mess. My kitchen (and I) looked kind of like the last scene of Scarface... 

A tip from the cook; make a lot and freeze them for later. I made 120 ravioli with 1 kg of all-purpose flour (and some more for dusting), 1 liter of  boiling water, 5 table spoons of olive oil extra vergine. For the filling you need 5 eggs, 700 grams of  Caciotta di Sorrento cheese (ricotta), 400 grams of grated Parmesan, fresh marjoram leaves, salt and pepper.

La pasta (the dough)

On a clean surface combine the flour, water and olive oil and stir the ingredients with a fork to combine into a big ball. 

Il ripieno (the filling)

Beat the eggs. Combine the Caciotta, Parmesan and the eggs. Stir well.  Add the finely chopped marjoram, a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir again.

Dust the work surface and a rolling pin. Take one third of the dough and roll it into a thin (3 mm) rectangle. Place rounded teaspoons of cheese filling on one half of the rolled dough. Make sure that they're 1,5 cm apart. Gently fold the other part of the dough over the cheese filling. Use a small round cutter mold to cut out the ravioli. If you don't have a ravioli cutter mold use a knife to make small rounds (note; ravioli capresi are NOT SQUARE!). In this case you have to seal them by pressing the edges down with your fingertips.  If you have an original italian stampo (mold) for ravioli capresi it's not necessary. Keep on cutting until there's no dough/filling left. 

I guess portions of  8 to 10 ravioli a person are perfect.  Just boil them in a large pot of salted water and take them out when they're floating. Serve them with a sauce of fresh pomodorini, olive oil, garlic, fresh basil leaves, oregano and peperoncino.

You'll love them!

P.S. If you're interested in a genuine capresi ravioli cutter send a mail to culinary@postcardsfromcapri.com

Delicious cheese filling...

1,2,3,4...

55,56,57... 58...

Jack my little kitchen aid to the rescue...

118, 119... 120 ravioli! We did it!

A proud cook.

Easy does it

Spaghetti alla puttanesca

This Neapolitan dish is easy to make and full of flavours. The secret to the perfect "spaghetti alla puttanesca" (literally "whore's spaghetti") lies in the patience of the cook. My brother-in-law is a very patient man… his puttanesca is THE BEST! I enjoyed it for the first time in their home in Milan on a rainy day...delicious and comforting. The ingredients are typical mediterranean: olive oil, garlic and capers. I’m a big fan of capers, so the Caprese capers picked and pickled by Nonna were a special treat. That reminds me of the day that my sister and I went caper picking ourselves at the ruins of Villa Jovis. It turned out to be a real adventure. Did you know that capers grow on steep rocks and walls, sometimes very difficult to reach? We didn't... Both of us not really cliffhanger type of girls...you can imagine what happened. We almost risked our lives for a total of 5 capers!  We had fun though...

Ingredients

A big splash of olive oil extra vergine

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced very thinly

grounded peperoncino, to taste

4 drained anchovy fillets cut in small pieces

1 pound of diced sweet tomatoes (pomodorini or tasty tom’s)

A handfull of drained capers

25 quality olives (we use the typical purple “gaeta” olives)

1 tablespoon of dried oregano

5 basil leafs, torn by hand

1 cup of freshly chopped parsley, preferably flat leaved

salt, to taste

1 pound spaghetti

Preparation

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute the garlic until golden, add peperoncino and the anchovies. Saute until the anchovies melts. Add the tomatoes and stir well. Bring the mixture to boil, reduce heat and leave to simmer over low heat. After 20 minutes add capers and olives, oregano and the fresh basil. Again, leave to simmer (don’t forget to stir every couple of minutes) until the sauce reduces and thickens. This process is neccesary to give the sauce its caracteristic sweet tomato flavour. Add a pinch of salt (to taste) and the chopped parsley. Stir, leave for 2 minutes and mix with the spaghetti. A perfect puttanesca!

Francesco swinging his 

magic wand