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.

Tomatoes, Olives , Capers snd Basil Spaghetti Sauce

Puttanesca sauce is made from tomatoes, black olives, capers, anchovies,  garlic, and herbs, usually oregano and parsley but sometimes also basil.  It is an easy sauce, briefly cooked, or  no cooed and served cold in summertime It' s very fragrant and spicy.  The name derives from the Italian word "puttana" which means whore.  Why does we call it with this name?  There are multiple explanations.
Whatever its origins, Puttanesca is a tasty sauce.  There are many different recipes, most of them varying on the amounts of the ingredients.  Below there is the one we prefer

Salsa alla Puttanesca

150g black olives

150g green olives

500g peeled tomatoes

6 anchovies

1 spoonful  of capers

garlic

Salt  and pepper

Oregano

Olive oil

Chop  the garlic, olives, anchovies and cappers . Put them in a saucepan with oil and fry gently for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes, season to taste with salt , pepper and oregano. Simmer for a further 20 minutes. Cook the pasta an pour over the sauce, toss everything together and serve at once or put in the oven at 200° C for 10 minutes.

Suggestion: in summer you can use fresh tomatoes. Cut tomatoes and olives, anchovies and caper and place them in a bowl. Add the oil, mixing well. Cook the pasta and add immediately the sauce.  Put it in the refrigerator for a few hours

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

Tuscan Fresh Fennel with Olives

When out it’s hot this dish is so refreshing.Fennels are not so well known  even if they are very  fresh taste a and no calories

Insalata di Finocchi

4 fennels

1  handful green olives

1 clove garlic

parsley

origano

oil, 

vinegar, 

salt 

peperoncino 

Slice the fennels as finely as possible,mix them with the olives, then add a small chopped garlic clove ,a spoonful of parsley and some fresh origano.  Prepare  a  dressing  with oil , vinegar, salt a and a pinch of peperoncino. Season the fennels, stir and serve cold.

Lumaconi with Parmesan and Eggplants

The "lumaconi" are a main dish with Parmesan, unusual and very tasty. The main ingredients are eggplant and mozzarella that can be buffalo  or cow mozzarella.

Lumaconi  with Parmesan and Eggplants

For the pasta 

• Basil ,20 leaves
• Salt ,3 pinches
• Parmigiano Reggiano cheese ,120 gr
• Lumaconi Pasta 500 gr 
• Eggplant ,two medium 
• Mozzarella , 400 g
• Olive oil ,3-4 tablespoons

For the sauce

• Garlic ,2 cloves
• Salt ,3 pinches
• Tomatoes ,1200 g pulp
• Black Olives ,50 g 
• Olive oil ,4 tablespoons

Mince the garlic and slice the olives into rings . Fry garlic and olives in a pan .

Add the chopped tomatoes. Simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon .

Prepare the eggplant, cut them  rounds about 2 cm thick and then cut into cubes : fry in a pan . 
Once the cubes are fried, drain from the oil and put them  on a plate covered with absorbent paper .Dice mozzarella .

Cook the pasta in salted water, drain it  “al dente”. 

Fill  the lumaconi with some of the sauce and then  season with some . 

Sprinkle bottom of pan with oil and place a layer of pasta, continue with half of  the eggplant and  with the diced mozzarella ,   cut  the basil leaves in half with your fingers. 

Finish with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese . Continue with another layer of pasta to which you add all other ingredients and finish with the sauce .

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 160° C 

Grate  Parmesan cheese on the lumaconi  and serve immediately.

St. Lawrence's Night

To see St. Lawrence's "fiery tears," go outside after midnight, to a place as far away as possible from city lights Lie down on the grass and look up and toward the North, about halfway between the constellation Perseus - which will be very, very low on the horizon to the northeast -- and the point directly overhead. Scan the sky elsewhere, too, but this area will be the most likely place to see the meteors. If the sky is too cloudy or the Moon is too full for you to get a good view of the stars, you might not have any luck at all -- but there will always be next year to try again!
When you see a "shooting star," make a wish, as folklore says that wishes made when seeing such a star come true.

Spaghetti della Notte di San Lorenzo

St.Lawrence's Night Spaghetti

400gr Spagetti
1 Tomato
4 Anchovies
40gr Tuna
10 Black olives
Basil
Oil
Peperoncino
Add all the ingredients in a bowl. cook the spaghetti, pour it into the recipient and mix well, adding olive oil.

Easter Lunch in Tuscany 2

Today we talk about our Pasta recipe : we have decided for filled pasta cooked in the oven , all the family like it very much.

Conchiglioni Ripieni

300g large pasta shells(ca.40pcs.)

200g tuna fish in oil
200g mozzarella
500g tomato purée
50g green olives
100g grated parmigiano
40g capers
Oil

Salt and pepper

Boil the pasta and drain when it is 'al dente'. Chop the mozzarella, tuna, capers and green olives and mix them with the tomato purée. Season with oil, salt and pepper. Fill the pasta shells with this mixture and then place them in a greased ovenproof dish. Pour a little oil onto and sprinkle with the grated parmigiano. Place in the oven at 180°C for 20 minutes.