Italian Green Pistachio

For friends who requested a recipe not so typical Tuscan, but know we like to “go out of home” sometimes, we talk about  Pistachio.

In Italy pistachio coltivation has its  niche: the most famous pistachio are from Bronte and  Adrano ,on the slopes of Etna, protected by the DOP "Green Pistachio of Bronte." Pistachios  are used  peeled , often roasted and salted, but also in confectionery, ice cream, creams, drinks, for the production of cured meats (Mortadella  from Bologna, for example), or as a condiment for pasta and meat dishes.

Crostini di Pistacchio

50g peeled pistachio nuts
  walnuts  30 grams.
  4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper q.b.(as much as you like)
fresh basil - a bunch
40 g parmesan cheese.
1 clove of garlic
-
 In a mortar grind  pistachios, nuts, basil leaves, garlic. Add the grated Parmesan, a sprinkling of pepper and salt, then blend in the oil,  and stir  to obtain a uniform and consistent sauce.

This sauce is at its best used on bread, or  as a dressing for pasta or gnocchi.

This pesto  can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days, frozen or kept in a glass container as long as you add oil enough to cover it.

Pistachio Crostini

Easy Sauces for Potato Gnocchi

For the last days of cold weather-as Spring seems to be late this year-or for those who live " on the other side"( dedicated to Australian and New Zealand friends) here are two sauce recipes perfect for gnocchi. Actually they can be good with all pastas :

Salsa Burro e Salvia
150g butter

4 or 5 sage leaves

Salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan until it is brown and then add the sage leaves. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook the pasta and serve with this simple sauce.

Suggestion: 300 g tomato purée ½ white wine

Add the white wine and leave to evaporate. Add the tomato purée and cook for 15 minutes.

Salsa alle Noci

200 gr. walnuts

200 gr. cream

3 spoonfuls of milk

1 spoonful Parmigiano

a handful of the inside of the bread

1 glove Garlic

Salt

Olive oil

Put the walnuts in the mortar, add a clove of garlic and a pinch of salt. Begin to beat these ingredients with the pestle, crushing them against the sides of the mortar, gradually adding the cheese and the bread previously soaked in the milk. Then pour it into a pan, mix with the cream, mixing continuously, gradually add the oil, salt and pepper. Serve with the pasta.

Suggestion: Add some chopped chives

June: Time for Homemade Italian Nocino

It’s the end of June time to prepare your homemade Nocino. It’s sweet-bitter, thick and syrupy, with a dark color like a ink. In Italy there are a lot of recipes to prepare Nocino, every family has his secret in composition, time and handling. In Spilamberto a small town near Modena was founded a Association for Nocino, the members are all women and yearly they organize contest where is given a prize at the best Nocino of the year.Nocino is made with unripe walnuts, still soft in their green husks. The time to make nocino is June 24. Traditional Italians recommend the walnuts be

harvested on the night before San Giovanni, June 24 because in this days the nut-husk is rich of substance, but also because we consider this night magic especially for picking aromatic and medical herbs.
Nocino must serve at the end of the meal as a digestive It is something to be sipped in small amounts, from a tiny glass after meal, and this is how I enjoy it.
Perfect also on Panna Cotta
In the past, after to had filtered the Nocino, the nuts remained inside the bowl was infused again with white vine to obtain a special vermouth.



Nocino

30 unripened walnuts
1½l alcohol (95°)
750g sugar
2g cinnamon
10 cloves
400ml water
1 lemon
Cut the walnuts into 4 and infuse them with all the other ingredients in a 4½l glass bottle. Close tightly and keep it in a warm place (in the sun) for 40 days. Shake it every now and then. Then filter it and bottle it (taste it a few days beforehand and if it is too strong add some water).Suggestion: In Italy walnuts are gathered the night of the 24th of June.