Beef fillets with Olives and Tomato Sauce

It’s a quick and easy recipe and comes out tasty every time “Alla pizzaiola” literally means "pizza style" because of the tomato sauce and origano.

As for many Italian recipes you can find different variations , depending on family’s taste

Straccetti alla pizzaiola

4 beef fillets

200g tomato pulp

100g black olives

20g capers

4 anchovy fillets

Extra vergin olive oil

Oregano

Salt and Pepper

Chop the anchovy fillets ,the capers and the olives. Gently fry them in extravergin olive oil. Add the tomato pulp and cook at a moderate heat for approx. 15 minutes (add a few spoonfuls of warm water if this mixture becomes too thick).In the remaining oil gently fry the beef fillets on both sides. Add salt when they are cooked. Then add the tomato sauce and cook a little more. Serve immediately.

Suggestion: Instead of beef you can use turkey or chicken or pork.

Tuscan Week Menu

An idea for a Tuscan menu from Toscana Mia cooking classes last week


Apetizer/Starter  Antipasto

Black Olives Crostini  
Crostini alle Olive Nere

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2011/12/italian-black-olives-apetizer.html

First course Primo Pasta

Tuscan Spaghetti with  Garlic and Cherry Tomatoes  
                           Pici all' Aglione 

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2011/12/how-to-make-pici.html

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2011/12/cherry-tomatoes-garlic-sauce.html

Second Course  Secondo 
Balsamic Vinegar Scaloppine Scaloppine all' Aceto Balsamico

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2012/03/scaloppine-balsamic-for-poultry-day.html

Contorno
Beans Tuscan Way   Fagioli al Fiasco

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2009/01/cooking-cookery-typical-tuscan-cooking.html

Dessert  Dolce 
Panna Cotta with Chocolate and Safron Panna Cotta con Cioccolato e Zafferano

http://toscanamiacooking.blogspot.it/2009/10/panna-cotta-in-tuscany.html 

Black Olives crostini

Pici with Garlic and Cherry Tomatoes

Fagioli al Fiasco

Pici all' Aglione

balsamic Vinegar with Beans

Panna Cotta with chocolate

Panna Cotta with Safron and Chocolate

SCALOPPINE BALSAMIC for Poultry Day

Day of poultry and then Scaloppine with Balsamic Vinegar. A simple, delicious and unexpected flavor!

SCALOPPINE BALSAMIC

• 8 slices of turkey breast
• 60g butter
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• A few drops of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Lightly flour the turkey breast. Gently melt the butter in a pan, add the turkey and lightly brown on both sides. Season with salt and pepper. Add the balsamic vinegar and finish cooking them.

Serve with a few drops of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar. Tips: Instead of balsamic vinegar you can use lemon or Marsala wine. You can use turkey instead of beef or chicken. Oops, we’ve been using  Balsamic for so long and this time  we tried to purchase online and it worked well with Parmashop

They  sent us Vinegar  from Acetaia Paltrinieri  

Tuscan Pheasant

Our neighbor Silvia came with a pheasant, with feathers.
She asked  "Would you like you want to cook it?" I wanted to say "NO, no thanks" for no other reason that cleaning it is  a bit boring, but it was certainly fresh: a special gift!

 And then I cleaned and cooked it ! 

Very good, but if you want to try find this experience find  a place outside  not to have feathers all over.

Simple Tuscan Pheasant

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 1 pheasant  
•  200 g lean bacon 
• 1 branch of sage, 
• 1 sprig rosemary, 
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• black pepper and salt 
• a glass of white wine
• Olive oil 

Once you have properly cleaned the pheasant, stuff it  with chopped bacon, salt, pepper and fragrant herbs.

Coat the pheasant with the bacon and bind  it well .

Put now the pheasant in a roasting pan lightly greased with olive oil and let it bake for about 40 minutes at 180 degrees. During cooking, add a glass of wine.
When the bacon is pretty golden, remove the pheasant from the oven,  cut into four pieces and keep warm.

It ' s also nice to add potatoes   when the pheasant is half cooked   so they’ll that roast well in the pheasant flavour .

How to prepare Roasted Meat on the Stove

Searching for suggestions for an Italian Christmas meal , roasted meat cooked on the stove

Arrosto Farcito Alle Erbe  

900g best end of veal

6 slices  smoked pancetta

Sage , Rosemary,  Parsley 

1 onion

1 glass dry white wine

3 cloves of garlic

70g butter

Salt,pepper

    

Chop  sage,rosemary,parsley and garlic.

Place a slice of pancetta around the meat. Spread the slices with the very-finely chopped herbs and garlic. Brown the onion in the butter in a casserole. Bind the meat and place it in this. Brown the meat, season with salt and pepper and pour on the wine. Let the wine evaporate at a high temperature. Then cook the meat over a low flame for c. 1½ hours. As the meat is cooking, pour on a little warm water so that the sauce does not dry out. Once cooked, unbind the meat, slice it and serve.

Turkey Breast with milk

During our Italian Cooking Classes this year we’ve many times surprised our students with a turkey recipe :

Tacchino al latte

800 gr.turkey breast

30 gr. butter

3 spoons olive oil

3 spoons red wine vinegar

 1 l. milk

½ onion

1 carrot,

2 stalks of celery 

salt,pepper

Chop onion, carrot and celery.Melt the butter in a pan with some oil. Saute the vegetables. Put the turkey in the pan adding salt and pepper.

Brown it slightly on each side. Add the vinegar and let it evaporate.

Add the milk ,let it cook for 40 minutes at a moderate flame , turning the meat sometimes. 

Serve  the meat sliced , pouring the sauce on top.

Suggestion: use pork.

10 Scaloppine recipes : Pinkish Scaloppine

Today we want to suggest you a delicious recipe for scaloppine , a friend gave us this recipe last weekend :

Pinkish Scaloppine

5 slices  turkey breast 

Butter: 30 gr

flour   4 tbsp.

Milk  half  a glass 

Mascarpone 250 gr

Tomatoe puree 2  tbsp.

Extra vergin olive oil 4 tbsp

Vino rosato 1 glass 

Salt & Pepper

Pinkish scaloppine are a  delicious and light dish, fast to prepare  but with a surprising taste. 

It’s very important the meat is  of high quality .It’s possible to realize it with turkey, chicken and  veal.

Slice the breast and flour them on both sides. In  a pan let some butter melt and add some olive oil. Lay the scaloppine in the pan  and cook on both sides till they have  “got  a little bit of colour ” . 

Pour the wine in and let it evaporate. At the same  time dilute the tomato puree with  two spoons of water.

Add the tomato on top of the  scaloppini, adjust with salt and pepper. Add  the  milk   and then the mascarpone. Stir everything to let it melt perfectly. Thicken the gravy.

Serve the scaloppini  warm  with the  pinkish gravy on top.

Italian Chicken Soup

 
1 hen or chicken

1 carrot. 

1 red onion

1 stock of celery

2 potatoes

water

Chicken soup is made by bringing to a boil and then simmering hen or chicken  in water, with various vegetables and flavorings. The classic Italian chicken soup consists of a clear broth, often served with small pasta,small ravioli or tortellini. 

Chicken soup has also a reputation  for  colds and flus, and  is considered a classic comfort food. Traditionally, chicken soup is prepared using old hens too tough and stringy to be roasted or cooked for a short time.  Old hens are to be preferred ,when available, for soups even if this will take more time to cook
Cook the hen/chicken in abundant( at least 3 liters) water with a pinch of rock salt. Bring to a boil with high flame and then let it simmer. Let it cook for at least a couple of hours if it is a hen , otherwise an hour is usually enough, skimming it  regularly.

Wash and  slice the vegetables. Cook them in  another pot with 2 liters water and a pinch of salt for 40 minutes. When the hen/chicken is cooked ,take it out from the broth and cut in pieces to be served with  pickled, mayonnese ,or with the cooked vegetable or  sauté in a pan with  oil, sage, rosemary  and wine.

Filter the broth through a  canvas to get rid of all the possible fat. Mix the broth with the vegetable broth and let it cook for half an hour.

Now your broth is ready to be  served  with any kind of small soup pastas cooked in it for 10 minutes.

How to prepare Tuscan Stew Chicken

Today we want to suggest you a traditional peasant way of making chicken in Tuscany A very tasteful recipe ,and you may find yourself dipping bread in the gravy until you've finished every drop. In Italy we call it “fare scarpetta”

Pollo alla Toscana

1 chicken

30g dried mushrooms

500 ml tomatoe purèe

3 ladlefuls of stock

½ glass of white wine

4 spoonfuls olive oil

Salt, pepper

Soak the mushrooms in some lukewarm water for about 10 minutes. Peel the tomatoes and cut them into small pieces. Cut the chicken into pieces and place it in a  pan with oil, salt and pepper. Brown over a medium heat. As  soon as the chicken is golden, cover it with the wine, letting it evaporate over a high flame. Add the mushrooms and the purèe. Continue cooking  for about 50 minutes, adding the stock a little at a time.

Suggestion: the  mushrooms  can be substituted with 400g of green, red and yellow peppers.