PARMIGIANA DI ZUCCHINE

This is the first more elaborate dish.
A Parmigiana can be made with zucchini, as in this recipe, or more traditionally with eggplants.
It is a rather filling dish, which is best appreciated if made ahead of time and then eaten cold or warmed up. It is well accompanied by a green salad and fresh bread.

If you decide to make it with eggplants, buy Italian eggplants. Alternatively, you can buy the commonly found humongous eggplants.- just beware that the larger they are, the more seeds you are going to find inside. Seeds are sour and ideally you don't want to eat them. This means you may have to discard part of the eggplant to avoid seeds. Hence, small eggplants are best.


Ingredients for 5 people:

8 medium sized zucchini (don't get the huge ones - too many seeds)
5 eggs
flour
grated parmesan cheese
diced mozzarella (I usually use the Galbani Brand that you can now find in the cheese section at most supermarkets)
3 cans of cherry tomatoes
olive oil
salt 
pepper
vegetable frying oil


Start by making the sauce:

In a medium size high pot, cover the bottom of the pot with olive oil. Warm up on medium low heath. (Don't let it become too hot or the tomatoes will make a mess on your stove). When warm, add the tomatoes and salt to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes start breaking up, on medium low heath.

Wash and dry the zucchini. Slice them length wise.

Beat eggs in a bowl. Add salt to taste.

Prepare some flour in a dish for dusting the zucchini.
Dust the sliced zucchini in the flour, one by one and set aside on a clean plate.

Pour vegetable oil in a frying pan or a  high skillet  ( you are going to deep fry).
When the oil is almost hot, start wetting the flour dusted zucchini in the eggs, again one by one.  Let drip well and carefully fry. Repeat the process until the pan is full.
Fry on both sides until golden. 
Remove and drip on paper towel to absorb excess oil.  

When all the zucchini are fried, alternate in an oven pan a layer of sauce, zucchini and sauce again (you don't need to entirely dip the zucchini in the sauce), sprinkle mozzarella, parmesan cheese, pepper and fresh basil. Add another layer of zucchini and sauce, and then mozzarella, grated cheese, pepper and basil until you end with zucchini covered by sauce.





Bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes. Let rest for at least one hour before eating.

PASTA ALLA CARBONARA

Ingredients for five people:

6 eggs at room temperature
olive oil

150 gr. pancetta finely diced
one medium size yellow onion, chopped
Grated Parmigiano cheese
salt
pepper
1/4 cup of heavy cream


In a skillet sautée onion and pancetta, on medium /low heat, until the onion becomes translucent and the pancetta is crispy.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil to cook the pasta. In a bowl, beat together eggs, heavy cream, some grated parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

When the water in the pot comes to a boil, cook pasta, according to package directions.

When cooked, drain and toss in the skillet with the onion and pancetta on medium heath. Add eggs and keep tossing until the eggs cook a bit (you don't want to leave them  too liquid).

Sprinkle with freshly grated cheese.
Serve immediately.

PASTA ALLA PUTTANESCA

The crucial ingredients for this easy pasta sauce are good quality olives and capers. The olives I prefer are the green Cerignola olives or black Gaeta olives from Italy. You can also mix them.  I prefer capers in salt and not in vinegar.
Most supermarkets now carry these items. Just refrain from using canned olives, please! It is just not the same.
The quality of tomatoes is also crucial. While in Italy I would opt to make this dish even with fresh cherry tomatoes, here the American tomatoes just don't yeald the same juices and flavors. Hence I use canned cherry tomatoes - from Italy of course.
But you can also try the fresh ones to see if how you may like it. You will probably need about 1 lb.

In regards to pasta brands: try to chose pasta made in Italy or at least Barilla (which is actually made in the US).

Ingredients needed for 5 people:

About 10 /12 olives - pit removed and chopped (not too small)
A handful of capers - previously rinsed and dried
1 clove of garlic
1 can of cherry tomatoes (diced tomatoes will do as well if that is all you can find)
Salt to taste
Olive oil
hot pepper flakes (optional)

1lb of your choice of pasta - usually spaghetti are the preferred shape, but penne will do too.


In a skillet sautée the garlic, slightly smashed, hot peppers flakes and the capers. Make sure the garlic does not burn.
Add the tomatoes and the olives. Simmer for about 10 minutes - until the cherry tomatoes break open. Flavor with salt - but keep in mind that the capers are already salty.

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and toss in with sauce. Immediately.

Usually no cheese on this dish but my children like it sometime with grated Pecorino Romano.

Enjoy!

Why PASTAttack

Benvenuti nel mio blog!

Welcome to my blog!  

The purpose of this blog is to provide humanity with simple and easy Italian, and more broadly Mediterranean cooking recipes. I am writing this primarily for my children: to leave them a culinary memory from mom, grandparents and great-grandparents in Italy, which I hope will turn into blessings to their little stomachs and to generations to come.

I also hope that friends, and friends of friends will avail themselves of these recipes to discover the joy that comes from cooking and tasting fresh ingredients ( at a moderate cost).

Most of my recipes will be typical of the Campania Region, in Italy, and more in particular of the city of Salerno and the Amalfi Coast.

I would love to invite my Italian friends to be guest bloggers and share their favorite recipe(s) from their native areas.  (Just email me if you would like to do that).

So, here we go!

Buon Appetito!

Typical Italian Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Shop on the island  of Capri

Briefly about me:

I am Carmen, mom of three wonderful children and wife to a wonderful husband, all with a healthy appetite. I am originally from Salerno, Italy, and have lived in the Boston area for about twenty years.
Cooking is a passion that runs deeply in our family: my brothers and  two cousins  are chefs and pastry chefs, here in Boston and in Salerno. Their creations are higly sophisticated. Mine are simple and down to earth but in full respect of our Southern Italian culinary rules and traditions.
My father was my guru. From him I have learned most of what I know. When I was in middle-school, he used to write down simple recipes for me to cook upon my return from school, before he would come home from work. He started me on salads and slowly worked my way up into quick and, most of all, creative pastas, second courses, and side dishes. From him I have also learned how to prepare fantastic fish dishes. 
My mother and grandmother are the more traditional cooks in the family and they have taught me the more elaborate dishes, like ragù, meat, parmigiane di melanzane e zucchini and more.
Hope you will enjoy what we eat!