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Grow Your Own Cooking Accoutrements

Cooking can involve so many wonderful ingredients that produce fantastic smells and flavors. Different recipes call for various spices and herbs that you can find bottled at the local grocery store. To enhance those dishes, you may want to consider growing your own herbs and having the opportunity to pick the freshest of herbs and add them to your dish can make a big difference in taste and quality of the dish. Growing your own herbs enables you to pick what you need whenever you need it.

Herbs are not very difficult to maintain provided you have a enough space in a well-light area of your kitchen. Herbs do not require much space to grow and need about six hours worth of sunlight during the daylight hours. Depending on which herbs you use in your cooking, you will have a difference between those that are perennials, which means they grow year after year without needing to replant seeds and there are annuals, which means the plants last only one season and when they die off, new seeds must be planted to re-grow the herbs.

Some classic examples of perennial plants are mint, lavender, chives, tarragon, and thyme. Annual herb plants include dill, chamomile, parsley, cilantro, and basil. For the cooks who do not necessarily have a green thumb, it may be easier to purchase grown plants rather than starting from see. Some of the more common plants may prove to be difficult to grow directly from seed if you are not an experienced gardener. The choice of plants, which can be found at most nurseries or home improvement stores, is up to the chef and what herbs are most likely to be used in regular cooking.

For some ideas on which herbs you may want to cultivate in your own kitchen, here are some of the most common herbs used in recipes:

Sage

Sage is a perennial that comes in different varieties which affect the taste of the herb and the dishes to which sage is added. It can be used in breads, stuffing, and pork dishes. A variation known as pineapple sage is used for sweetening desserts.

Rosemary

Rosemary is a perennial and a member of the mint family. It is also one of the oldest herbs on record. Rosemary has been used for everything from a cooking ingredient to a healing agent that cures headaches. It is a strong herb that is most often added to chicken dishes, breads, and vegetable dishes. Rosemary plants can turn into a shrub after several years of growing.

Oregano

Oregano is a perennial that is most often used in tomato sauces, on pizzas, or to season meats. Oregano plants can grow up to two feet tall and makes an attractive addition to outdoor gardens.

Dill

Dill is an annual that is best known for making pickles. It can also be used with potatoes and in salmon dishes.

Parsley

Parsley is a biennial, meaning it can grow for two full seasons before needing to be replanted from seed. Parsley is most often used in a number of recipes including soups, salad dressings, sauces, and it is also used as a simple garnish for decoration.

Georgina White has developed ways to make great tasting food using healthier methods. She feels that it’s important to be kind to your body and provide it with plenty of healthy foodwhile letting the taste buds enjoy it too

Winning Recipes For Children’s Birthday Parties

You can treat the birthday party guests to tasty snacks! Most of these recipes can be altered to coordinate with the theme of your fiesta. Providing individual cupcakes for each guest is a great way to celebrate a child’s birthday party. The big cake can be complimented by little cupcakes that fit the theme of the birthday party.

Some favorite birthday party recipes are mice cupcakes, pizza rollups and banana boats. They are all quick and great snacks. These kids’ birthday party ideas will wow any birthday kid.

Mice Cupcakes

Makes 8 “mice”

Ingredients:

*1 pkg. Chocolate Cake mix

*8 scoops vanilla ice cream

*16 sandwich or mint cookies

*Small candies-red hots

*M&M’s candies or skittles

*1 pkg. shoestring licorice

Instructions:

1. Prepare cake mix according to package for cupcakes.

2. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

3. Bake until toothpick comes out clean

4. Cool completely and remove from pan

5. Top each cake with a scoop of ice cream

6. Decorate each cupcake to resemble a mouse

Use 2 mint cookies for the ears, use the candies for eyes nose

and mouth.

7. Cut and insert licorice for the whiskers.

8. Place cupcakes in the freezer for 1/2 hour before serving.

Looking for an awesome treat for a summer birthday party? Give Banana Boats a try. They are a great party treat, especially for summer birthday fun.

Ingredients:

*1 banana per child

*Ice cream

*Mini marshmallows and

*Chocolate chips

*Whip cream

Instructions:

1. Slit each banana open lengthwise.

2. Put ice cream, mini marshmallows and chocolate chips in the slit.

3. Add whip cream to the top

Enjoy!

Pizza Rolls

Everyone loves pizza rolls! They have the same awesome flavor of pizza but in a cool, convenient shape. The guests at your child’s birthday party are sure to love this great pizza roll recipe. Their parents will probably phone you the very next day pleading for the recipes because their little ones keep talking about it.

Ingredients:

*2 Tbsp. butter, melted

*1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning

*1/4 tsp. garlic powder

*1 can (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust

*1 cup 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese

*2 Tbsp. chopped onions (optional)

*1 pkg. Pepperoni slices

*1-1/2 cups marinara sauce

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400

Fly Fishing For Trout in Southeastern OK and Baked Trout Recipes to Celebrate Your Catch

I have some delicious baked trout recipes for you to try (read on!). Did you know that some of the country’s best rainbow and brown trout fishing is in Southeast Oklahoma, less than a gas tank away from Dallas/Fort Worth - the Metroplex?

Trout fishing is available year-round in McCurtain County (in Broken Bow, Oklahoma), and it is one of the most popular activities in the park. You will find deep mountain lakes surrounded by national forests and clear-running rivers. The area offers outstanding fly fishing (if you are a purest), as well as excellent river bank fishing with a spinning rod (I suggest using artificial salmon eggs or spinners if you are not a fly fisherman). Featured bodies of water in McCurtain County include Beaver’s Bend, the Mountain Fork River, and the Glover River.

McCurtain County is the perfect fishing destination for weekend getaways. For example, The Lower Mountain Fork River offers 14 miles of trout habitat. The lower Mountain Fork is a tailwaters fishery flowing out of Lake Broken Bow and includes a 3.8 mile Trophy section where boats and barbed hooks are banned. Fly fishermen will have good success using nymphs with the fish taking a black (occasionally red) zebra midges. You can also catch fish on soft hackles, San Juan worms, and of course, the olive wollie bugger.

Anglers on the Mountain Fork are celebrating the fourth consecutive year of the spawn of rainbow trout and the second year of documented reproduction of brown trout in the river. Not long ago, Jason Archie of Broken Bow caught a brown trout that not only surpassed the old record - it nearly doubled it with a catch weighing over 17 pounds, 4 ounces.

McCurtain County is an easy 2-to-4-hour drive from Dallas/Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Tyler, Little Rock and Shreveport.

Once you have caught your trout, try using it in one of these delicious baked trout recipes:

Recipe #1 - Simple Baked Trout Recipe:

This recipe was made available to us by find-a-seafood-recipe.com. It is very simple to prepare and cook, and it uses minimal ingredients.

Ingredients:

* 4 trout - 12-14 oz (350-400g) gutted and heads off (if you prefer)

* black pepper

* butter

* lemon juice

* chopped parsley

Preparation: Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Wash and dry the fish. Oil an ovenproof dish and lay in the fish. Sprinkle the parsley into the cavity of the fish and season with pepper and lemon juice, then dot with butter. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes until the fish is cooked through. (Note: if the fish bigger than 1 lb. (500g) each, then give them a little longer in the oven.)

The fish will be firm to the touch. Lift it carefully out of the dish with two spatulas, spoon the juices over it, and serve it with some boiled new potatoes and buttered vegetables or a crispy salad.

Recipe #2 - Baked Trout Romero:

This Italian dish comes to us courtesy of the delicious recipes available on fishingworks.com:

Ingredients:

* 3/4 cup Vigo Italian Style Bread Crumbs or regular bread crumbs

* 2 tablespoons garlic powder

* 1/2 cup grated Romano Cheese

* 1/3 cup lemon juice (or more as needed)

* 4 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

* 4 Trout Fillets (about 8 ounces each), rinsed, patted dry

* Parchment paper

Preparation: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, garlic powder, Romano cheese and enough lemon juice to form a paste.

Tear off a piece of parchment paper large enough for the trout to be enclosed loosely. Place a fillet on the parchment paper. Spread the paste evenly on top of the fillet. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of parsley. Fold the parchment to enclose the trout loosely. Tuck ends underneath, creating a sealed pocket. Repeat with remaining fillets. Place on a baking sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes or until the center of the fish is opaque. Serve in the parchment pocket.

The bread crumbs and cheese make the Baked Trout Romero a real treat.

If you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and are in the mood for some great trout fishing, try McCurtain County in Southeastern Oklahoma. It is less than a 3-hour drive from the Metroplex and yet seems like a world away. Then, bake it using one of these excellent baked trout recipes. Bon app

John Boos Butcher Blocks

The John Boos Company has been manufacturing hard maple butcher block products since 1887. The Boos products including butcher blocks, cutting boards and kitchen furniture are made to professional standards and are found in most restaurants, butcher shops and even the kitchen of the White House.

Boos, a blacksmith was asked by a butcher to make him a wooden block when he saw how the block had absorbed the shock of Boo’s hammer. That was the first of millions to be produced by the Boos Company. With nothing but the best, John Boos cutting boards offer an array in style from the simple butcher block maple wood cutting board right on up to kitchen furniture.

By the 1940s, butcher blocks were found in every restaurant, food store and butcher shop in America. Then came World War II, which was instrumental in changing the manufacturing philosophy of the management at John Boos and also the course of the business. The John Boos plant operated from a blacksmith shop until 1892 and then it moved across town, and began producing the Boos blocks, cutting boards and kitchen furniture as we know them now. Along the way they also become known as the Mercedes of wood cutting boards and butcher blocks.

End grain butcher blocks are built from short solid wood elements glued in such a way that only the end grain shows on both the top and bottom sides. As these elements are usually rectangular in shape, the whole board gets a mosaic or chess board pattern. End-grain butcher blocks are more durable, feature a harder surface than regular chopping blocks, and are easier on knife blades. The end-grain construction absorbs the knife between the fibers of the wood.

Made from only the highest quality American maple, the Boos Broadway Butchers Block offers charming country kitchen design alongside premium space and performance. Built to withstand the rigorous demands of a commercial kitchen, the thick end grain block, with ‘Varnique’ finish, provides a work surface that is extremely durable yet easy on knives and resistant to nicks and gouges. The maple butcher-block bench top is kiln dried, electronically glued, then cured, sanded smooth and finished with a penetrating mineral oil for protection.

John Boos expands the highly popular Cucina Rustica line of butcher block island work tables with two offerings featuring added shelf space. This distinctive line of butcher blocks and kitchen work tables is constructed using only the finest in hard rock maple and features a wide variety of sizes and configurations designed to meet the demanding needs of today’s chefs. Naturally beautiful and durable, the work surface is constructed in classic butcher-block style, with bonded squares of select end-grain Northern hard maple sawn horizontally, sanded smooth, and finished by hand. The butcher block’s resiliency and shock absorption protects knife edges while standing up to even the heaviest cleaver. The end grain gives a true butcher block nostalgia.

A past recipient of the Gold Medal for Excellence in Foodservice Equipment, The John Boos Company is a leading manufacturer of residential and commercial chopping blocks, cutting boards, butcher block counters and furniture, and stainless steel tables and countertops.

Maxx Johnson of VGS Golf Click for Butcher Block Tables. Click for more info on Restaurant Equipment.

Moroccan Recipes To Impress Your Dinner Party Guests.

If you really want to have a dinner party that will be the talk of the town, use go ahead and throw a Moroccan dinner party with Moroccan recipes. Moroccan recipes sound exotic and they are; but as recipes go, they are easy to make if you have the right ingredients and a Moroccan Tagine. Tagines are a type of clay pot with a lid that is used to cook Moroccan food.

Yes, Moroccan recipes seem to be exotic and very elaborate, but they are wonderfully easy to make and healthy as well. You can easily plan a Moroccan dinner party for your guests by finding some easy to make Moroccan recipes online and creating them in Tagines. You can have quite an impressive dinner party when you build it around Moroccan food.

Where to Find Moroccan Recipes

Years ago, you had to buy a Moroccan cookbook in order to learn how to make Moroccan recipes. Today, thanks to the internet, you can come up with hundreds of Moroccan recipes literally at your finger tips. Most of them are easy to make and are also very healthy. What’s more, the ingredients are readily available at most grocery stores. When you cook your Moroccan recipes in Tagines, you can not only keep the flavor and nutrients in to the vegetables, but you also will blend the spices and flavors together.

Using Tagines in Moroccan Recipes

Tagines do double duty when it comes to creating Moroccan recipes. They will not only cook the food quickly and allow the foods to retain their flavor, but they are also attractive to put on the table. You can put the Tagines on the table that contain the Moroccan recipes and have your dinner party served family style. Give everyone a plate and have serving spoons for the Moroccan recipes inside the Tagines and have them help themselves.

If you really want your dinner party to be authentic, you can impress your guests by adding some Moroccan decor to the party. Along with the Moroccan recipes, you can put in some fabrics and even table lamps that feature Moroccan decor.

Whipping up Moroccan Recipes

Moroccan food is not difficult to make, in fact, Moroccan cookie is rather easy. You can prepare your meals in the Tagines and then cook them for the appropriate time for the dinner party. For appetizers, be sure to serve some Moroccan olives, flat bread and cheese. You should also serve Moroccan mint tea for an after dinner drink. Moroccan mint tea is a tasty treat and is good both hot and cold.

Moroccan recipes are generally spicy and have a mild kick to them. You can purchase spices to make your Moroccan recipes in the local supermarket. Once you have the spices that you need to create the Moroccan recipes and are familiar with Moroccan cuisine, you will be able to whip up Moroccan food easily not only for dinner guests but your entire family.

Celebrate the foods of Northern Africa by having a Moroccan cuisine themed dinner party. Your guests will have a good time trying the delicious Moroccan food and you will have no problem trying to find the best Moroccan recipes right online. If you really want to make a statement for a dinner party, hold a Moroccan dinner party featuring Moroccan recipes.

Seomul Evans is a SEO Services Expert for leading The Moroccan Bazaar retailer and publishers of Moroccan Recipes.

Cooking Beef With the Crock Pot

When you think of having beef for dinner you probably see the little white smiling glove signaling another night with everyone’s quick fix dinner routine, or you see the golden arches everywhere before your eyes. If you’re a little more adventurous you might cook a steak or two every few months but anything outside of ground beef is usually beyond your reach, your style and the abilities of your cookbook and microwave to make happen without causing a huge disaster or creating a meal that no one wants to eat.

In reality, in doesn’t have to be this way. If you’re willing to venture out into the realm of something even easier than hamburgers and other ground beef entrees, there is a way to make a beef meal that seems less like it took five minutes and more like it came from a restaurant. Not ready to spend two hours over the stove or oven every night? Like I said, this method is actually easier than microwave meals.

Using a slow cooker, or crock pot, to make your dinners will not only open doors for you with the types of foods you’re able to cook but there are literally hundreds of beef crock pot recipes that require less than 15 minutes to prepare. You’re thinking that 15 minutes of prep usually leads to at least one hour spent over the stove. But with slow cookers, you simply prepare the meal in the morning, set the slow cooker and go about your daily business while the machine you left in the back of the cupboard for five years works magic with a different beef slow cooker recipe every time you want to cook beef for dinner.

Slow cookers can take care of all of your beef slow cooker recipes that cover every type of beef, from beef stew to steaks to beef ribs and even beef pot pies and other types of beef recipes you can find in your regular cook books—you can turn any recipe into a crock pot recipe, slow cooker cook books and all over the internet.

As if that’s not enough, with beef slow cooker recipes, you will never have to worry about dry, flavorless, tough to chew and tough to cut beef meals. Slow cookers do just that—cook your food slowly, so you don’t have to worry about extreme heats depleting the natural juices (or the natural nutritional value) of the foods you cook, especially when it comes to meats.

Additionally, making homemade meals with your slow cooker doesn’t just save your taste buds. It also saves your time. You can make enough food from a beef crock pot recipe, especially something like beef stew, for enough leftovers for the next day’s lunch. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that slow cookers always turn out better leftovers than double-microwave meals.

Remember, if beef is what’s for dinner, you don’t have to go the ground beef route. You can save time and your taste buds with your slow cooker.

Lisa Paterson is an avid home cook who loves to share her favorite recipes with the rest of us. Find all her best crock pot recipes at www.A-Crock-Cook.com. And be sure to try one of her beef crock pot recipes.

An Infrawave Oven Makes Holiday Meals Faster & Easier!

When Fall rolls around, most people start thinking about upcoming Holiday feasts including Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, treat yourself to an Infrawave oven and prepare the best meals your family has ever had in less time than ever before.

This will not compromise the taste of your recipes at all in fact many may ask what changes you made to improve on the already great taste. Having one of these products may even let all the cooks enjoy more of the holidays.

Cooking the family turkey may not be entirely possible in one of these products depending on the size, but there are a few sizes that will fit. Some families may cook their small turkeys, chickens, ducks or ham for their family feasts.

When preparing your meat dishes, it’s quite easy to convert your favorite recipes to cooking times with the Infrawave oven. You’ll be able to easily convert old family recipes to the super-fast Infrawave cooking times.

Side dishes prepare in the Infrawave can be prepared in record time as well? Once you cook your favorite recipe of sweet potatoes in one of these items you may not go back to the conventional oven. Purchasing this time saving product that cooks food evenly and gives it great taste will let you get every side dish cooked quicker than any holiday dinner has ever been cooked.

In fact when family and friends take a taste of dinner they will want to know how you out did yourself so quickly. You’ll have to decide whether or not to reveal your secret.

With your Infrawave oven meats and your favorite desserts become easy. You’ll have more time to spend with your family because your new Infrawave oven will prepare your food better than ever in less time as well.

Products that give us more time are important because we all value our time but when you find a product that does that and gives a great tasting dish you will use it over and over again.

Enjoy the holidays more than ever before you can start now and enjoy them clear through the New Year. Cooking your favorite recipes in this product may even allow it to cook more evenly than ever before. Not only will that time you would normally spend waiting on food to finish cooking not be wasted because cooking times are cut in half.

Clean up will be fast too, allowing you to spend more time with your guests. You”l save so much time, you’ll probably want to add another dish to the feast. Add an infrawave oven to your must have appliance list for every holiday.

An infrawave oven is the latest “must have” appliance for the modern kitchen. You’ll enjoy its time-saving features year round, not just at Holiday season. Dinners will be much faster and easier to make with your new appliance.

And food won’t have that “blandness” sometimes associated with food cooked in a microwave. You’ll get “microwave speed” without the drawbacks. Your food will be restaurant-quality in less time than ever before with your new infrawave oven.

Would you like to know more about the Infrawave oven? Visit http://Infrawave-Oven.org to get all the details and information you need to make a wise and informed decision.

5 Tasty Cabbage Soup Recipes

The variety of cabbage known today is well beyond the ten fingers of your hands. Use whichever is available to you and you can work magic in the kitchen. There are famous soup preparations that you can try at home. These variations can help you if you want delicious soups or if you are one of the followers the cabbage soup diet.

There are a number of benefits when you use the cabbage soup diet. Here are some of them:

- Weight loss

- Better vitamin intake

- Better digestion

- Stronger resistance to common ailments

- Younger skin

Whatever variety you choose, cabbage soup diet will do wonders for your body. One doesn’t need to be a cooking expert to prepare a very nice bowl of cabbage soup. Here are some exciting recipes to aid you in your diet:

1. Original Cabbage Soup

- 1 head cabbage

- 6 medium onions

- 6 green onions

- 6 carrots

- 2 bell peppers

- 3 large tomatoes

- 5 stalks celery

- 4 oz uncooked brown rice

- Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Slice the vegetables in small pieces. Put in a pot of cold water and bring to a boil. Let the mix simmer uncovered for around 10 minutes. Cover and adjust the heat to low. Let the soup simmer until the vegetables are soft enough. You can add the rice while the soup is simmering. Add salt and pepper to taste.

2. Refreshing Cabbage Soup

- 3 cups of chicken or beef broth

- 1 1/2 cups of green cabbage, finely shredded

- 1 tbsp of prepared mustard

- 1 tsp of sugar

- 2 cups of buttermilk

- 1 cucumber, finely diced

- 1 tbsp fresh dill, minced

- 2 tbsp fresh parsley

In a medium saucepan, heat the broth and add the cabbage. Let this simmer for around 10 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and mix in the mustard, dill, and sugar. Stir in the buttermilk and add the cucumber. Chill the soup for about 2.5 hours or depending on your refrigerator. Put some parsley to garnish the soup and enjoy the soup ice cold. A yummy soup on a hot summer day!

3.The Military Diet Cabbage Soup

- 1 large head of cabbage

- 1 large bunch of celery

- 2 bunches of green onion

- 1 large can of whole tomato

- 2 cans of chicken broth

- 3 large bell peppers

- Salt and pepper to taste

Military way is short and simple. Chop all the vegetables and add to a large pot of chicken broth. Add the whole tomatoes and cook with low fire for 15 minutes. Serve. Woohah!

4. Zucchini Cabbage Soup Recipe

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Fondant Cake Decorating Tips–Why Does Your Fondant Taste Terrible?

After you spend countless hours getting your cake to look perfect it can be a little disheartening when people seem to be afraid to eat your cake. Chances are, if you’re like most cake decorators, you want your cakes to look good and attract lots of attention. However, at the same time you also want them to taste good too!

Sometimes this can be a challenge when working with fondant but it doesn’t have to be impossible! With a little extra effort you can decorate a cake that both looks and tastes delicious.

The main benefit of fondant is that, unlike buttercream frosting, in a fairly short amount of time you can have a silky, perfect-looking cake.

In just a matter of minutes you can roll out your fondant, cover your cake, and smooth. You can also use fondant to create interesting shapes and figures for your cake that you wouldn’t be able to do with plain frosting.

Accomplishing the same thing with buttercream frosting can be nearly impossible, even for the most dedicated cake decorator. However, fondant doesn’t always taste as good as buttercream.

A general fondant cake decorating rule of thumb is not to buy store bought fondant. Especially if you want people to eat it! Unfortunately, most professional cake decorators agree that ready-made fondant doesn’t taste very good, especially the Wilton brand.

Store bought fondant is also fairly expensive, unlike homemade fondant which uses simple and inexpensive ingredients. However, the trade off will be your time. Homemade fondant may taste a lot better but will require some extra work in the kitchen.

If you’re in a hurry and still need to use store bought fondant, be sure to cover your cake with no more than 1/4 inch of fondant. You’ll also need a thin layer of frosting under the layer of fondant if you want it to stick to your cake. Make sure this additional layer of frosting tastes good and will be appealing to those who choose not to eat the top layer of fondant by peeling it off.

The best thing to do is make the fondant yourself at home. This will almost always taste better than what you can buy at the store. There are lots of recipes to try, although some may be better than others.

Many blogs on the Internet list simple fondant cake decorating recipes you can try at home. Marshmallow fondant seems to be very popular among cake decorating enthusiasts.

Remember that no matter what you do, some people may still refuse to eat your fondant. Try not to take it too personally. Most people don’t understand what fondant is or think that it’s inedible (like gumpaste).

Feel free to explain to them exactly how fondant is made and what it contains. If for some reason they still don’t like the fondant after tasting it, they can still enjoy your layer of buttercream frosting underneath.

You might need to experiment with a few different fondant cake decorating recipes until you find one that both you and your guests enjoy eating.

Make sure to visit my cake decorating tips blog for helpful advice and ideas on basic cake decorating, starting your own cake decorating business and much more!

Three Easy Pasta Recipes

When I get home and have short time to prepare lunch, the quickest dish is always pasta. You can easily have a complete meal in 10 minutes (plus the time to boil the water).

Pasta is a genuine food, that mostly of the times contain only water and wheat flour, being safe for people of all ages. The difference is how we dress it. But following the rules of Mediterranean Diet, that combines vegetables with carbohydrates, if the right quantity of fat (good fat) is used, it can really be considered a high quality meal for all ages.

The number of calories of a pasta dish (not considering the dressing) is around 300 kcal. Plus the dressing it makes a complete meal for about 600kcal, that matches perfectly with a balanced and healthy diet.

There are many industrialized dressings that may contain chemicals, but as seen along the following recipes, it is really easy and simple to cook a good and genuine meal with easy-to-find fresh ingredients.

Tasty Pasta with Tuna

This recipe is my children’s favorite one. It’s a complete meal as you have pasta (carbohydrates), extra virgin olive oil (good fat), grated parmesan and tuna (proteins).

You’ll need for 4 people:

400gr of pasta (500gr if you want a unique and complete dish)

3 cans of tuna with olive oil (I use the 160gr can)

5 anchovies fillets

4 pieces of garlic (chopped)

3 spoons of extra virgin olive oil

4 or 5 spoons of grated parmesan

1 lemon juice

How to do it:

Put the pasta into the boiling salted water and set your timer for the cooking time (part of the goodness of a pasta dish is its correct cook – a too much cooked pasta loses taste).

Then put the extra virgin olive oil inside a frying pan and add the chopped garlic, the minced anchovies fillets and soon after the tuna. Mix it all, add a small piece of peperoncino (optional) and right before turning the gas off, add the lemon juice.

When the pasta is done, drain it with a colander and put it back inside the pan. Add the tuna mix and the grated parmesan. Mix it all well and…it’s ready.

Tagliatelle Alfredo

I got this recipe from a waiter of Alfredo’s restaurant at Epcot Center, many years ago.

You’ll need (for 4 people):

400gr of tagliatelle(fresh fettuccine would be great)

250gr cream

120gr of a good quality grated parmesan

1 spoon of butter

How to do it:

After putting the pasta inside the boiling salted water (tip: add a thread of oil to the water. It avoids fresh pasta to attach one with another), take a pan and put the butter, the cream and the grated parmesan together. Take it to low gas and mix it until it gets hot, but not boiling.

When the pasta is done, drain it with a colander and add the warm cream and mix it all. It’s done.

Pasta with bottarga and cherry tomatoes

Here you need to have grated bottarga, but it worths the expense.

You’ll need (for 4 people):

400 gr of spaghetti

4 spoons of extra virgin olive oil

4 or 5 pieces of garlic, chopped

Minced parsley

500gr of cherry tomatoes

Grated bottarga

How to do it:

After putting the spaghetti into the boiling salted water, put the extra virgin olive oil inside a pan, add the chopped garlic and parsley and let it color a little. Then add the cherry tomatoes cut in halfs, mix it with the rest for a while and then turn off the gas.

When the pasta is done, add this mix adding the grated bottarga. Perfect with a glass of good white wine.

Enjoy!

Ana Maria da Costa. Economist, living in Italy since 1983 and proceeding the studies in Food and Wine culture. Her website All About Italian Food gives useful information about Italian food

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