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 ; )

Feeling christmasy already?

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

I thought I died and gone to heaven...

One of my favourite lunch places on the island is definitely Ristorante Il Riccio, a fishy h(e)aven for fish lovers. It's located in Anacapri, on the cliffs right next to the famous Grotta Azzurra (great to combine the two). Beautifully decorated, amazing views and the most incredible seafood. The perfect place to spend your sunday and  take a dip, enjoy a delicious lunch and relax on a sun bed and just dream away with a chilled falanghina... 

Thank god it's sunday today!

P.S. If you can't choose what to eat because you're worried you're going to miss something great, order one of their antipasti selections  and try them all!

P.P.S. Very important; Leave some room for their dolci. They have this room, which we like to call "the secret chamber", that is packed with amazing desserts. You can eat as much and as many as you want... Definitely heaven!

Daddy's day

Today, on 19 March Italians celebrate La Festa del Papà (Father's Day) and San Giuseppe, the saint of the Italian families. Here it's tradition to eat zeppole di San Giuseppe, fluffy fritters filled with pastry cream.  Love traditions but I regret having eaten 4 of those tonight... 

Auguri papà!!! 

Zeppole everywhere...

Yum, yummy, yummiest!

My favorite snacks are polpette di melanzane, the most amazing eggplant fritters. They taste so good that you can't stop eating! Especially the polpette of  beach club La Fontelina nearby the Faraglioni... I've heard they are Capri's yummiest. Anyway, this is my mother-in-law's recipe, equally yummy of course! 


Ingredients
1 kilo eggplant cut in pieces (4 large and long ones)
4 eggs
half cup freshly grated pecorino
half cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 finely chopped garlic clove
1 cup white bread crumbs
3 tablespoons fresh chopped (flat leaf) parsley
extra vergine olive oil also for frying
pepper
salt

Preparation

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the clean eggplant pieces and boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the eggplant is tender. Drain the pieces on a paper towel and squeeze out the excess liquid. Roughly chop the eggplant and put in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add 2 eggs, the cheese, garlic, parsley and 3/4 of the bread crumbs and mix until moist. Make sure the mixture isn't too liquid! Otherwise add more bread crumbs. Beat 2 eggs in a bowl. Add some extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Shape the eggplant mixture into small balls.  Roll each ball in the egg mixture and then in the bread crumbs. Let the polpette rest for 15 minutes before you fry them. Fill a large pan halfway with olive oil. Heat the oil over medium heat and fry the polpette until crisp and golden brown. Buonissime!!!!

Love at first bite...

My little chef

We had a nice laid-back weekend. The sun finally came out! Besides enjoying the great weather Jack and I baked this amazing torta caprese which we devoured in like 10 minutes. He really helped me out in the kitchen. Look how proud he is of his masterpiece...

The Russian revolution a piece of cake

Rumour has it that the story behind the well-known mouth-watering "Torta Caprese" has actually everything to do with Maxim Gorky, the Russian writer and revolutionary... at least this is what my mother-in-law told me. During his stay on the isle of Capri (1906-1913) he took on a local cook. Gorky ordered him to make a cake with butter, eggs, almonds and chocolate. Except for the name not a typical mediterranean torta. In fact a lemon cake would have been more appropriate. But that doesn't matter, that is history... the famous Torta Caprese was born. The same goes for the Russian revolution, they say. According to tradition it was in Capri where the revolution was planned... during a game of chess between Gorky and Lenin... Or maybe over a cappuccino and a piece of Torta Caprese? Food can be very inspiring...

Torta Caprese


Ingredients
400 gr chopped almonds
270 gr butter
350 gr sugar
7 eggs
200 gr dark chocolate


Preparation
Mix the butter and the sugar until creamy. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Add the egg yolks to the butter mixture (one at a time) and stir well. Melt the chocolate au bain-marie. Add the almonds and and the melted chocolate to the egg and butter mixture. Whip the egg whites and gently fold the mixtures together. Pour it  into a greased and floured cake tin and bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 160 °C. Cover with powdered sugar.

Buonissima with a scoop 
of vanilla ice cream... heaven!!!

Boozing up Christmas

Getting closer to Christmas everybody! And no other event has the ability to transform the way we drink. What would Christmas be without cocktails, punch and champagne?! My first natale in Capri I celebrated with my first Sgroppino...so deliciously creamy and boozy! Maybe a nice idea for Christmas dinner... the perfect palate cleanser between courses.

Salute!

Sgroppino

Ingredients for 4

2 glasses chilled Prosecco

1 glass chilled (lemon) vodka

400 gr lemon sorbet

4 champagne flutes

Preperation

Blend the lemon sorbet until creamy, ad the Prosecco and vodka and blend well. You can also use a shaker. Serve in chilled champagne flutes.

PS: Try the version with a splash of limoncello... also very tasty!

Enjoying my third 

Sgroppino (that night)

at Bar Tiberio