The San Lorenzo olive cookies are sweet, but they are quite interesting even matched with some strong cheese, as a end to a light meal or as a meal on its own.
It may sound strange, but give it a go: you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Something very simple, just to celebrate the end of summer and the end of barbecue season (or maybe the beginning of it, as we hope for good weather in September)! Of course you can still grill your aubergines under the oven grill.
Serves 4 as a side dish
2 aubergines
Organic Pesto alla genovese
Cut the aubergines length wise in slice 0,5 cm thick. Criss cross the slice with a pointy knife. Spread a teaspoon of pesto on every slice and grill them until soft.
Serve hot, warm or cold.
Every time I come back from a vacation to France I’m deeply influenced by French cuisine for the next few month. Many tradition French dishes are really simple to make even in Italy, as they don’t involved too many ingredients impossible to find outside France (aka fresh foie gras or definitely good Normandy salted butter).
A favourite from ever, every time reminding me the first time I ever tried it, during a summer dinner, more then 12 years ago, is Ratatouille. It can be made in many ways and with many different ingredients. Traditionally every vegetable involved is fried separately before to be united all together. This version of mine is slightly lighter, as I haven’t fried all the ingredients, but just onions and garlic. I’ve used, instead of fresh tomatoes, the San Lorenzo hand peeled organic tomatoes, that are definitely better than the green house grow tomatoes you find in supermarkets: they are organic, hand ripped, fully ripe, fantastically genuine!
Serves 4 as a side dish
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
2 medium potatoes
1 yellow pepper
3 small courgettes
1 jar of San Lorenzo hand peeled organic tomatoes
Few basil leaves
Salt and pepper, freshly grinded
Prepare all the vegetables, keeping them separate. Pell and chop the onion, peel and crush the garlic. Pell and dice the potatoes. Wash and diced pepper and courgettes.
Stir fry onion and garlic in the oil. Add the potatoes, keeping steering. Crush the tomatoes and add them to the pan. Add the rest of the vegetables and give a good stir. Add some tear basil leaves, salt and pepper (ratatouille should be generously peppered). Cover and let it cook until the potatoes are tender. Add more pepper and basil leaves and serve hot, warm or cold.
Why always make a big pizza when you can make many mini pizzas??? Are versatile, mouth bite, perfect for parties!
For the dough:
1/4 cube of brewer’s yeast
1 pinch of sugar
250 g flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 spoonful of extra-virgin olive oil [GB]
125 ml warm water
Fresh cherry tomatoes
Mozzarella
Sun dried tomatoes in extra-virgin olive oil [GB]
To make the dough, dissolve the yeast in the warm water, add the sugar and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes, until it starts frothing on top. For dried yeast, follow the instructions on the pack. Add the flour, salt and oil, and mix until the dough is smooth and only slightly sticky (if it’s too wet, add more flour). Leave to rest and rise in a bowl greased with oil, covered with a damp cloth, in a warm place. Turn the oven on to 200°C.
Cut away from the dough enough to make mini pizzas, 10 centimetres large when laid down. Dress them with quartered tomatoes and some oil. Cook them for 10 mitues, then add the diced mozzarella and on top of it one sun dried tomatoes. Cook until the mozzarella is melted.
Serve hot or warm.
My mum has her old favourite recipes, and one of these is marinated aubergines, which me and my dad used to love. She usually does them with fried aubergines left over from a parmigiana. But following my good resolutions for the summer, instead of frying the aubergines, I grilled them, and threw in a courgette as well, for the fun of it.
2 aubergines, in slices 5 mm thick
1 courgette, cut lengthways, in slices 3 mm thick
3/4 San Lorenzo’s Mosto extra-virgin olive oil [GB]
1/4 Aceto balsamico di Modena Riserva San Lorenzo [GB]
1 clove of garlic cut into 4
A few basil leaves
Grill the vegetables.
In a bowl (or jar) emulsify the oil, vinegar, garlic and basil. Pour a little into an ovenproof dish, arrange the grilled vegetables in layers, and cover with the rest of the marinade.
Cover and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
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When courgette flowers are in season, I can’t help buying them and cooking them in every possible way! These, being so simple, will appeal to any palate!
Courgette flowers
San Lorenzo anchovy fillets with oregano (half per flower) [GB]
Mozzarella (1 slice in each flower)
For the batter (enough for about twenty large flowers)
80 g flour
1 cold egg
125 ml ice-cold beer
salt
To fry
San Lorenzo olive oil [GB]
Prepare the courgette flowers: remove the inner stars and rinse them quickly in cold water. Stuff them with half an anchovy fillet and a slice of mozzarella.
Prepare the batter: mix the flour with the salt, egg yolk and beer (if necessary, add well-chilled sparkling mineral water or more beer, the mixture should be runny but compact). To one side, beat the egg white until stiff and fold gently into the flour mixture.
Dip the flowers into the batter and toss into the boiling oil until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper, season and serve immediately.
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