Oven-Baked Pasta with Eggplants and Mozzarella

This pasta is the perfect combination of Mediterranean ingredients: the spicy flavor of eggplants, together with the delicate taste of the mozzarella and the bold aroma of the oregano.

Here is the perfect recipe for your meatless Monday dinner. An healthy, tasty, nutritious, all-in-one pasta dish that is quick and simple.
This recipe can be prepared in advance, if you like. Just bake it in the oven before serving. It also makes great leftovers! Just make some extra and your kids' lunch is all ready for tomorrow.
This pasta will surprise you with its delicious Mediterranean ingredients: the spicy flavor of the eggplants, the delicate taste of the mozzarella, and the bold, pizza-like aroma of the oregano... and yes, cannot miss the garlic!
And here is something new that I'm trying out: a nutrition label for this recipe!


Great huh?! Please note: the actual calories and specific nutritional values can vary based on the brand or specific ingredient you use. For example, I was looking at the Trader Joe's fresh mozzarella I used: the sodium level on this is very low. But many other brands or non-fresh mozzarella is much higher. This label should anyways give you a good idea of calories and nutrients in this pasta.
So, what do you think?!? This is something I could possible add to all my recipes. Any feedback is greatly appreciate it.
And here is the recipe for you:
Ingredients: serving 4 people

• one medium eggplant
• 2 cups of crushed tomatoes (I used the San Marzano canned crushed tomatoes)
• 6 oz (170 gr) of fresh mozzarella
• extra virgin olive oil
• one garlic clove
• 4 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• salt to taste
• oregano... as much as you like!
• 12 oz of short pasta, like cellentani (the one I used), penne, fusilli...

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Directions:
Step 1: Cut the eggplant in small cubes. In a large skillet, with 4 tablespoons of olive oil cook the eggplant cubes over medium-high heat, until soft and golden. It should take no more than 10 minutes. Season with salt.

Step 2: While the eggplants are cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta when the water boils. To avoid overcooking it, please remove it at least 1 or 2 minutes before the time indicated on the box.
Step 3: In a separate saucepan, saute' the garlic crushed or minced, with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the crushed tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper if you like. Simmer for at least 10 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Step 3: Drain the pasta and quickly mix it with the tomato sauce, the eggplants, the mozzarella cut in small cubes, and the oregano.

Step 4: Place the pasta in an oven pan. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Step 5: Bake for about 10 minutes, so that the mozzarella will melt, and the top will get slightly golden and crunchy.

Buon Appetito!

Blueberry and Ricotta Cheese Bars

A delicious combination of soft cake, sweet blueberries, delicate ricotta cheese, with a lemony twist. 

I'd like to start this weekend with something sweet, fresh and summery!
These blueberry and ricotta bars are perfect! An easy, quick and wholesome dessert. Colorful and fun for the kids. A delicious combination of soft cake, sweet blueberries, delicate ricotta cheese, with a lemony twist.
I baked these bars for a barbecue/pool party at a friend's house. But they are also perfect for any occasion, from breakfast, to kids' morning snack or afternoon tea dessert. A huge crowd-pleaser!

Note: I have been asked about the design of this website. First of all, thank you all for the nice comments and positive feedbacks. And yes, I built it all by myself! I'm quite proud of it :-)
It is a free blogger account that, if interested, you can easily set up on blogger.com. Very user friendly! The template is Awesome Inc. with the blue/grey color scheme. Awesome, right?!?
I did customize many things though, including the font, some colors, template spacing and gadgets, including my new "connect with me" social media buttons. Please let me know if you have any other specific questions. I'm really happy to help you out!

Have a delicious weekend!

Ingredients: to make a 9 x 12 inches cake, cut in about 24 squares
For the bottom cake:                                                  Printable Recipe

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 3/4 stick of butter (soften)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• zest of one lemon
• 1/8 teaspoon (pinch) of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon of baking powder

For the filling:

• 1 lb of ricotta cheese 
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of flour 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• juice of one lemon 
• 2 cups of organic fresh blueberries 

Preparation time: 20 minutes to prepare, 50 minutes to bake and a few hours to chill

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix the sugar with the eggs until well blended. Blend in the butter (soften - at room temperature).

Step 2: Blend in the rest of the ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.

Step 3: Grease a  9 x 12 in baking pan with butter and flour. Pour the mixture in the pan, and flatten it as well as you can with a spoon.

                                             

                                             

Step 4: In another bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the filling with the exception of the blueberries, which we'll add at the end.

Step 5: Pour the mixture on top of the first layer of the cake. Flatten it. Sprinkle with the blueberries, and with your hand press them slightly into the mixture, so they won't roll around :-)

Step 6: Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. Cool and then refrigerate covered for a few hours or overnight.

                                              

Slice into bars and enjoy!

Risotto with Broccoli and Sausage

Dinner inspiration: ravishing and flavorful, creamy risotto with sausage and broccoli

This morning I finally (!!) had the time to go to Trader Joe's for my grocery shopping. My favorite location in West Los Angeles is the "new" store on Olympic. It's great! It has everything you need. It's big enough to go around accident-free with a cart. And the parking lot on top of the building is actually huge! The only problem is, whoever designed that rooftop space, was clearly not thinking that people would be moving around with heavy carts. It's sloped and quite dangerous. No matter where you park, your car is not on a flat surface!
So picture this: I open the trunk of my SUV, a soccer AND a basketball roll out in the middle of the lot. With my uncanny reflexes I quickly grab both balls ... letting go of my super full cart... which slowly rolls away from my car, in the middle of the parking lot, and extremely close to another parked car. With an unbelievably graceful jump I stop it with my foot before it crushes. Oh yes! Can you imagine it?!?
Now, I really want to know: whose mind is behind this parking lot?
I am positive this has happened before! Friends from LA, anybody else?!?
Going back to my groceries, I picked up sausages and broccoli - I love the TJ's bag of organic florets. So convenient! And here is what I made for dinner:


Ingredients: serving 4                                         Printable Recipe

• 6 oz of organic broccoli florets
• 2 sausages 
• half onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• half cup of fontina cheese, shredded
• half cup of Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 peperoncino (hot pepper) - optional (if sausage is mild)
• salt to taste
• 1.5 cups of arborio rice

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Directions:
Step 1: Saute' the chopped onion in the olive oil for about 3 minutes, until lightly golden.

Step 2: Stir in the sausages cut in pieces and without casing. Saute' for a few minutes breaking the sausage in smaller pieces with a wooden spoon.

Step 3: When the sausage is brownish, add the rice and the broccoli, and cook for about 1 minute. Stir.

Step 4: Add one cup of stock, and cook the rice, stirring occasionally and adding more stock (and/or water) if needed. The rice should be fully cooked in 18-20 minutes. Adjust with salt if needed.  It should be not too dry and not too runny at the end... just perfect :)

Step 5: When the rice is cooked al dente,  add the fontina, the Parmesan cheese and the butter. Mix well, cover the pot and let rest for 3-4 minutes. Your risotto will now be rich and creamy!

Serve immediately. Buon appetito!!

Quick and Easy, Crispy Calamari Steak

Crispy and tender, quick and easy fried calamari steak

Happy Monday! I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Mine was really great and relaxing!
Today is the last day of vacation before school (and all the usual craziness) starts tomorrow. And I'm NOT ready! My boys can't wait to start, so I guess at least they must be ready. And that's what's most important!
Today I want to show you how you can make a super easy dinner for one of these lazy, vacation days. This dish is perfect for all those times you are not in the mood for spending too much time in the kitchen. All you need is to buy the calamari, and the rest you probably already have in your pantry.
As I mentioned before, I love calamari! They are versatile, not expensive, and have a sweet and delicate taste that easily combines with many ingredients. The calamari that you find at the store, most likely, have been previously frozen, which makes them more tender. Also, mine were already tenderized. Perfect and delicious!
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients: serving 4

• 4 calamari steaks, total of about 1.25 lb
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup of plain bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 fresh lemon
• fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Directions:

Step 1: In a bowl or dish, beat the egg with salt and pepper. Soak the calamari steaks in the egg.

Step 2: Dip each steak in the bread crumb, pressing down so that it sticks to the egg, on both sides.

Step 3: In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, and cook the calamari about 4 minutes on each sides, until nicely golden.

Step 4: Sprinkle with salt, lemon juice and parsley.

Serve immediately over a fresh salad, or your favorite vegetable. 

Buon Appetito!

Almond Cookies - Pasticcini alle Mandorle

Simple, elegant, nutty and chewy almond cookies

Here is one of my favorite pasticcini  (fine Italian small pastries). These almond cookies are a classic that you find in most pasticcerie in Italy. Usually decorated with a whole almond, like I did, or a candied cherry. Either way, deliciously sweet!
These cookies are very easy to make and, I have to say, extremely easy to eat! Intensely nutty, perfectly chewy on the inside, slightly crisp on the outside. Try them and they may become your favorite pasticcini too!
And here is a picture of me enjoying an amazing day at the beach :-)

Ingredients: to make about 30 cookies                              Printable Recipe

• 3 cups (300 gr) of almond meal/flour
• 1.5 cups (270 gr) of sugar
• 1/4 of a teaspoon of almond extract
• 4 egg whites
• about 30 whole almonds to decorate

Preparation time: total 3.5 hours (30 minutes to prepare, 3 hours inactive)

Directions:
Step 1: In a large bowl, mix the sugar with the almond flour.

Step 2: Mixing with a spoon, add the almond extract and the egg whites, one at the time.

Step 3: Place the mixture into a piping bag and make round shapes on a silicone mat if you have it, or parchment paper over a baking sheet. Place one almond in the center of each cookie.

Step 4: Let the cookies sit for about 3 hours, or more (up to 12) outside the refrigerator. I placed mine into the turned-off oven.

Step 5: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). If  you placed the cookies in the oven to rest, like I did, take them out of the oven before preheating it! When the oven is nice and hot, bake the cookies for about 7-8 minutes. Check to make sure they don't burn.

Let them cool off ... and enjoy!