ITALIAN PORK CHOP

Entree - Gluten and lactose free

I found that pork chops here are quite tender and don't need too much liquid to cook in, in order to stay so. This said... I do love meat (pork chops in this case) cooked in pizzaiola style and I love using the sauce for pasta: it ends up being perfectly flavored!


3 pork chops, about 1/2" thick (at room temperature)
1 14-oz can of Italian peeled San Marzano tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 cup Italian strained tomatoes
2 tbsp Italian black olive spread
1/3 cup red wine (I used Merlot)
3 Italian anchovy fillets in olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp wild Italian oregano
2 tbsp Italian extra virgin olive oil
Italian sea salt

For an even cooking, have your meat at room temperature.

In a big saucepan put olive oil, anchovies and garlic. Sautee them for a couple of minutes (there will be a lot of sputtering ;-) ), then, add tomatoes, stir in olive spread and cook for another couple of minutes.

Season with salt, if needed, and sprinkle with oregano.

Add wine and, as soon as the sauce starts boiling, add the chops too. Lower to medium heat and cover with a lid. Flip chops once during cooking. The cooking time depends on how thick the chops are.

Serve immediately with the sauce.

This recipe serves 3

- This sauce is also perfect for pasta, especially if you have too much (and I make a point on having more than it's actually needed for the meat ;-) ).
- You can add Italian capers packed in salt and rinsed, if you like them. Add them to the sauce together with olive spread.
- You can substitute olive spread with Italian dried black olives and anchovy fillets with 1 tbsp of anchovy paste.
- It's lactose and gluten free.
- You can find the video here

THE REAL TUSCAN RIBOLLITA

Soup or Entree - Vegan/vegetarian - Lactose free - Can be gluten free (READ footnotes)

Almost 15 years ago, I married a Tuscan man! Everyone in town was raving about ribollita and, not only, I had never prepared it... I never ever ate it!! So I went to the local "fruttivendola", Franca, (grocer that sells mainly, if not only, fruits and vegetables) and asked her "the ingredients for ribollita": she would do the rest, and this recipe is exactly what she taught me! I love this dish, both warm and at room temperature. As its summer counterpart Panzanella, Ribollita too is a dish "created" by Tuscan peasants to utilize stale bread that could not be eaten or used in another way. The concept is to use whatever vegetables were available; it has been changed a little over the years and this is a fairly precise recipe. With this weather, ribollita is perfect! This is a dish prepared in two separate times.

2 14-oz jars/cans Italian cannellini beans, drained and rinsed.
2 bunches black Tuscan kale (you can find it as Dinosaur Kale, most of the times), cut in strips
2 bunches Swiss chard, cut in strips
2 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 fairly big onions, thinly sliced
1 Leek, thinly sliced (only the white part)
2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
2 Celery sticks, sliced
1/2 head Savoy (or green) cabbage, shredded
1 14-oz can Italian San Marzano peeled tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 Italian artisan bread (preferably 2-3 days old and dry)
Italian extra virgin olive oil
Italian sea salt


In a really big pot put all the vegetables, not the beans, and water at least to cover all of them.

Bring the soup to a boil then lower the heat and let it simmer for at least 2 hours, add beans, season with salt and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

At this point, add the bread and let it absorb all the liquid.

The day after, warm up the soup again, letting it simmer for about 30 minutes (ribollita means boiled twice), stirring and serve it drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Bread should look almost like a cream.

These quantities will make enough ribollita for 6-8

- Another way to serve this soup is layering bread, vegetables and olive oil. This way you can warm up the soup in the oven or freeze it, divided into portions, and warm up in the microwave.
- Only use a high quality Italian - Tuscan - Pugliese - Ciabatta bread! The other breads like French, sandwich (even if labeled as Italian), buns or similar are NOT suitable!
- Instead of water, you can use chicken or vegetable broth.
- I always make more than I need and freeze it. It makes a perfect office/school lunch .
- The use of parmigiano is actually not advised, so it won't cover all the other flavors.
- It's vegan/vegetarian (DON'T use chicken broth ;-) ), lactose free and can be gluten free, if you use GF bread.

ITALIAN BORLOTTI, POTATOES AND MORE SOUP

Soup - Complete meal - Lactose free - Can be Gluten free and vegetarian (READ footnotes)

I was chatting with my great friend Renata, in Wisconsin, and the subject was... guess what... FOOD! She told me about a potato soup she like to prepare and she loves. I decided to try it, but I wanted something more in the soup, so I made it into a complete meal as you can read here below. Her original recipe will be in the footnotes!!

200 gr. potatoes (3 small - about 7oz)
1 jar Italian borlotti drained and rinsed
150 gr peas, frozen (about 1 cup)
3 big carrots, peeled and diced
220 gr small Italian pasta, like elbows (about 1/2 lb)
1 small onion
3 bacon slices, center cut
3 sage leaves
10-12 rosemary leaves
10-12 savory leaves
1 liter chicken stock, at least (about 4 cups)
Italian extra virgin olive oil
Italian sea salt

Bring the stock to a boil.

Peel the potatoes, cook them in the stock and, when they are soft, remove with a slotted spoon. In the same pot, cook carrots and peas until desired softness, remove from the stock and keep the latter warm.

In the meantime, chop onion and the herbs together and cut bacon in thin strips. Press potatoes through a ricer and set aside.

In a large saucepan, warm 1 tbsp of olive oil, add the onion/herbs mixture and bacon; sautee until onion becomes translucent. Stir in the riced potatoes, borlotti beans, carrots and peas. Add a couple ladles of stock and let cook for a couple minutes, so all flavors combine.

Add pasta and more stock, enough to cover it by about 1/2". If your sauce thickens too much, add chicken stock a ladle at a time, like you would do with risotto; season with sea salt, if needed.

Constantly stir this soup, while pasta cooks, so it won't stick to the bottom.

Serve drizzled with a little Italian extra virgin olive oil.

This recipe serve 4

- Renata's actual recipe!! Chop onion, carrot and celery and sautee with bacon, add the potatoes, diced, salt (pay attention to bacon!!), rosemary and bay leaves; cover with chicken stock and cook until soft.
- If you want to make it gluten free, use Italian GF spaghetti (like the ones we carry) and break them in 1" long pieces. For a vegetarian version, avoid bacon and chicken stock.
- It's lactose free.

ITALIAN RICE AND RICOTTA FRITTERS

Dessert - Vegetarian - Can be gluten free (READ footnotes)

These fritters are usually prepared during carnival time but you can really make them whenever you prefer; an Italian friend gave me this recipe and that I changed it a little bit ;-) I made it several times, in order to get the best result.

220 gr. Italian Carnaroli rice (about 1 cup)

500 ml. milk (2 cups)

1 orange, grated zest and juice

1 lemon, grated zest

50 gr. sugar (about 1/4 cup)

100 gr. Italian 00 flour (about 1 cup)

1 egg

50 gr. ricotta cheese (about 1/3 cup)

1 tsp salt

Italian extra virgin olive oil to fry

In a saucepan pour milk and bring to a boil; add salt and rice and cook until liquid is almost completely absorbed (about 20-25 minutes). Set aside to cool.

Once it is at room temperature, add sugar, both grated zests, the squeezed orange juice, the egg and the ricotta cheese, then add flour until you obtain a dense batter; if it's too dry, add a few tbsp of milk, if it's too thin, add some more flour.

Place a deep skillet with oil over medium-high heat.

When the oil is ready, start frying: spoon the mixture into the oil and fry until golden on both sides. Line on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Serve cold or slightly warm, sprinkled with sugar (regular or confectioner's).

- I prefer to weigh ingredients and most of my recipes have weighed ingredients. I converted in cups, but it's an approximate measurement.

- When frying, don't put too much batter in the oil, or it will cool down too much. It's better to fry 5-6 fritters at a time.

- The amount of fritters this recipe will make, depends on how big you're making them.

- This recipe can be gluten free (use corn or potato starch or rice flour) but can't be lactose free. It is vegetarian.

ITALIAN PEPERONATA

Side dish or appetizer - Vegetarian/vegan, lactose and gluten free

Bell peppers are still very good, flavorful and everywhere. I had a few in the refrigerator, so I decided to make one of my favorite dishes: peperonata! You need few ingredients, but of very good quality, and it's very easy to prepare; I forgot to add the parsley, so you won't see it in the picture... Have fun!

3 big bell peppers (same colors or assorted ones - no green peppers)
1 big onion, cut in wedges
1 14-oz can Italian San Marzano tomatoes, pureed
1 tbsp capers, packed in salt and rinsed
2 tbsp Italian extra virgin olive oil
Italian sea salt
Fresh chopped parsley.


Wash bell pepper, halve them and remove seeds and inner white ribbings, then slice them.

In a large saucepan with lid, over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. When ready add onions and sautee a couple of minutes, then add bell peppers slices and stir. Sautee, on medium heat, for about 3-4 minutes.

Then add capers to the peppers and stir in tomatoes. Season with salt. Cover with lid and lower heat to low.

Cook about 25-30 minutes, or until pepper are soft.

Stir in chopped fresh parsley and serve immediately.

This recipe serves 4.

- If you don't rinse capers, wait until the end of cooking time to season with salt.
- You can add a few Italian dried black olives to your peperonata (when you add the capers): again, watch the content in salt...
- You may need a few tbsp of warm vegetable broth, if the peperonata is too thick.
- This recipe is gluten and lactose free, vegetarian and vegan.
- You can find a video for this recipe here