Pink Bell Peppers Sauce Pasta - Salsa Rosa di Peperoni

This sauce may do with any short type of pasta: fusilli, penne, tortiglioni, maccheroni.... I served "pipe" with the delicious sauce prepared with red bell pepper, tomato and cream.
One of the anvantages of this sauce that it adds some more vegetables to your diet even if you don't notice it....  




INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 2

160g short pasta
1 big red bell pepper
100ml tomato puree
100g thick cream
1pinch of sugar
salt
chilli
EVO oil


 
1. Roast red bell pepper in the oven, HERE you will find how to prepare it.


2. Bring water to boiling, salt it and cook pasta till "al dente". 

3. Meanwhile, blend peeled bell pepper into puree.

4. Pour some oil into a pan and add both bell pepper and tomato puree and 50ml of water, chilli to your taste, pinch of sugar and salt.
5. Cook the sauce over low heat for 5 minutes to reduce it a bit.

6. Add thick cream to the sauce and cook in for 5 more minutes over low heat till it gets thicker.

7. Drain pasta and add it to the sauce.



Serve the dish with some parsley chopped finely and added before serving.    

  

ENJOY !!! Buon Appetito!!! 

Guacamole - Avocado Dip

The origin of Guacamole is Mexican and the name comes from the Aztec word Ahuacamolli, from Ahuacatl (="avocado") + molli (="sauce"). 
According to the  traditional method of preparing Guacamole the use of a "molcajete" is expected. Molcajete is a typical Mexican mortar made from the lava stone used to prepare Guacamole and other sauces.
Smashing avocado with a fork is, let's say, a modern way of preparing this delicious dip.
   

INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 4

1 ripe avocado
1/2 lime juice
1/2 small onion
1 small garlic clove
1 medium tomato
fresh cilantro (coriander)
chilli
salt
EVO oil  


1. Choose a ripe avocado for this dish.
Note: A ripe avocado has green skin and it's quite soft while gently pressing over the skin. If it's not ripe enough, put avocado in a paper bag with an apple or a banana to get ripe faster... 

2. Cut avocado in halves and remove the seed.
Note: If it's difficult to remove the seed, make a sharp cut with a big knife over the seed and keep the knife blade framed inside, then twist the blade, in this manner you will easily remove the seed out. 

3. Peel avocado or just remove the pulp out of the skin with a spoon.

4. In a medium bowl, use a fork to mash the avocado pulp, but leave the pulp with some chunks: we don't need avocado to become a puree.
5. Squeeze some lime juice over the mashed avocado to protect it from darkening.  
 

6. Chop onion very finely.
7. Cut tomato in tiny cubes.
8. Chop fresh coriander leaves finely.

9. Squeeze a garlic clove with a garlic squeezer and add it to the mashed avocado.
10. Add onion, tomato and coriander to the mashed avocado and stir.

 

11. Add salt and chilli and stir again.  



12. Serve the dish accompanied with the tortilla chips.

       

¡Buen provecho!

Sausage with Tomato Sauce

Typical winter sauce for winter meals... and a perfect companion for Polenta. You will find the recipe of polenta HERE. 
If you have a nice loaf of fresh bread, be sure you will finish it all with this wonderful dish, dipping the bread slices into the thick tomato sauce...
 
INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 3

6 sausages
1/2 onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
600 ml tomato purèe
salt 
sugar 
EVO oil

1. Chop the vegetables and cook them in a frying pan with some olive oil.
 

2. Cut the skin of the sausages and peel it out.
3. Add the sausages to the vegetables and cook them together for a couple of minutes.

4. Add tomato purèe to the pan with the sausages. Add about a third of a glass of water to the sauce. It will let it cook for longer and the sauce will reach it's full taste.
5. Add a pinch of sugar to the sauce.
Note: In order to balance the acidity of tomato you need to add some sugar to the sauce. Every brand of tomato purèe will need different amount of sugar.
6. Add some salt to the sauce.
7. Keep cooking at a low heat for about 20 minutes. 
If the sauce gets too dry add a splash of water.

I served Sausages and Tomato sauce with polenta (corn flour porridge), you can find the recipe HERE.

Fettuccine Boscaiola

I was surfing in the net and saw sooooo many awful pseudo-italian recipes... Aghrrrrr.... Why do people abroad think that all the italian dishes contain CREAM? They don't.... we use more TOMATO!!!! 
In this dish I used fettuccine pasta, this name comes from "fettuccia", ribbon in italian. And the name of the dish comes from "bosco", forest, as the ingredients in part come from the forest... :-)

INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 2
  
160-200g fettuccine
50g pancetta / bacon
100g mushrooms
100g green peas 
1/2 onion 
250ml tomato purèe
black pepper
salt 
EVO oil
Parmigiano cheese 

1. Cut bacon in sticks and chop onion. Slice mushrooms.
2. Pour some oil to a frying pan and start cooking first mushrooms, then bacon and finally onion.
3. When the first ingredients are ready add green peas and just give a mix.
4. Add tomato purèe, couple of pinches of sugar and salt, and pepper. Add some spoons of water that you prepared for the pasta and cook the sauce till it thickens.
 5. Cook fettuccine al dente and add them to the sauce, mix carefully and serve with grated parmigiano on top.