-Sharing great moments in life-

Tag: Italian

Rosa’s Potato Salad

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What if I tell you that a potato salad without mayonnaise, sour cream or boiled eggs can be THE BEST potato salad in the world? Well, here it goes. (The best part is, it is guilt-free indulgence!)

Ingredients:

  • 3 lb Golden, Russet or red potatoes. Boiled, peeled, and cubed.
  • 2 celery stalks, thinly diced
  • 1 large tomato, seed removed and sliced
  • half of a small red onion, thinly diced
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 tbsp Italian spice
  • 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
  • 2 tbsp parsley-garlic paste (options: If you don’t have this, substitute for 3 tbsp Italian parsley, and 3 cloves of minced garlic)
  • 1 tsp oregano (optional)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ground pepper to taste

Keep the potato aside, mix all other ingredients until combined. Add potato, toss gently and serve!

Notes:

  1. Fresh ingredients are key to this salad. But if you don’t have any fresh parsley, oregano at hand, dried herbs will do the trick.
  2. I will post the parsley-garlic paste recipe shortly. 🙂

Pizza Night

Pizza night is always a hit with the boys at home. Tonight we decide to recreate A’s favorite: prosciutto arugula, balsamic pizza.

A few short cuts are taken, since we had a full day of activities with the kiddos outdoor. We found the dough, prosciutto, sun dried tomato, and sliced bocconcini cheese at Misto’s Fine Food Shop, a hidden gem in the Westboro neighbourhood of Ottawa.

The dough was made and delivered to Ottawa daily. Since it was frozen, we thawed it on the counter, in a stainless bowl, rubbed with olive oil and plastic wrap on top to keep the moisture in while it thaws and rises slowly during the day.

This is the plain cheese pizza for the kids.

This is the adult version, topped with tomato sauce, sliced Bocconcini soft cheese, sun dried tomato and fresh basil leaves.

Baked @ 400C until golden (about 10 mins). Here is a photo of the excited pizza guardian:

Freshly out of the oven, top with prosciutto and fresh arugula leaves. Drip over a generous amount of aged Balsamic vinegar.

Decadant Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

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This is one of the most tested and loved recipes in our home. I have made hundreds of them over the past 10 years. My husband loves them frozen during any time of the day, and I love them dipped in a cup of strong espresso after a meal.

Ingredients

-1 cup hazelnut (toasted, husked, coarsely chopped)

-3 cups all purpose flour

-2/3 cup cocoa powder

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

-1 1/2 cup sugar

-3 large eggs (room temperature)

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheet with reusable baking parchment paper.

2. Whisk all the dry ingredients together (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt) and put aside.

3. Beat butter and sugar to blend, add eggs, vanilla and almond extract until blended.

4. Beat wet mixture (from Step 3) into dry mixture (from Step 1). Add hazelnut in the end and mix.

5. Divide the dough into 2.5 inch wide log. In a conventional oven, bake at 350 F for 40 minutes (For convection oven, adjust temperature to 300 F for 40 minutes).

6. Let it cool on the counter for 10 minutes. Cut into 1/2 inch slices.

7. Once cut, turn them on their side, and re-bake for an extra 15 minutes.

Baked Bruschetta

Franco’s Bruschetta Spread

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Nothing beats a warm, crispy piece of bread topped with Franco’s home-made bruschetta spread!

Hand-chopped roma tomatoes, sweet red onion, shredded mozzarella, Parmigiano reggiano and Romano cheese, mixed with home-made basil-garlic, sun-dried tomato and parsley paste. Topped with a splash of olive oil and kosher salt. This. Is. Simple. Luxury.

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