HAMBURGER SURPRISE

Second course

7 oz sausages, not spicy nor flavored
7 oz ground beef
2 cans Borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
6 tbsp parmesan, grated
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1/2 cup broth, chicken or vegetable
salt, pepper (optional)

Blend the beans with broth until you obtain a smooth cream and put it in a bowl; add meats, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper and mix well to combine all ingredients.
Shape as hamburger patties and cook over high heat in a non-stick skillet or on the barbeque.
Serve as a regular hamburger or as a "steak" with french fries and or green salad (or any other vegetables you prefer).
If you have some left, you can freeze them separate and use them when you need.
You'll see that the beans give a different moist to the patties.

FALL PUMPKIN SOUP - ZUPPA DI ZUCCA AUTUNNALE

Soup - vegetarian

1 lb pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cans (14 oz) borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
4 oz garlic crostini
2 cloves garlic, whole
2 sage leaves
1 rosemary sprig
4 tbps grated parmesan (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle

Put potatoes, pumpkin, garlic, rosemary and sage in a medium saucepan over high heat, cover with water by about 3 inches and bring to a boil,add salt, reduce heat and simmer, covered with lid, for about 30 minutes.
In the mean time, blend beans with a bit of the pumpkin/potatoes cooking water until you obtain a smooth cream and set aside.
When potatoes and pumpkin are ready, drain them (saving the cooking water), remove rosemary and sage and blend them too, using only the cooking water necessary to blend.
If you don't like garlic, remove it before blending.
Arrange both purees in a saucepan mixing to combine, add some of the cooking water until to obtain your desired thickness.
Warm them up, seasoning with salt and pepper (or a few chilly pepper flakes).
Arrange crostini on the bottom of individual serving bowls, cover with soup, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and parmesan.
Serve immediately.

Probably, due to the quantity of the ingredients, you'll have soup left: freeze it for the future, when you want a soup and you don't have time to prepare it!
If you haven't used all the cooking water, freeze it too; you can use it later as a vegetable broth, or in any soup.
You can use chicken broth instead of water, but it wouldn't be vegetarian.
If you want, you can cook pasta or rice or farro but you need more water/broth and you'll have to stir it constantly because creamy soups stick on the bottom of pans.

ORANGE TART - CROSTATA ALL'ARANCIA

Dessert

For the dough:
11 oz 00 flour
5 1/2 oz sugar
3 1/2 oz butter, diced really cold
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
salt

For the cream:
2 oranges, zest and juice
5 oz sugar
3 oz butter
4 eggs
3 tbsp confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp hazelnuts, chopped

In a bowl mix flour, sugar a pinch of salt and baking powder; add butter and eggs; mix quickly to combine all ingredients but not too long otherwise the butter warms up and the crust will become hard.
Put the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes at least.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 350 and prepare the orange cream.
Melt the butter. In a bowl arrange eggs, orange zest and sugar and mix. Add the melted, cold butter to the mix together with orange juice. Mix well to combine.
Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it over a flour-dusted table, thick about 1/4".
Put dough disk in a pie-pan (buttered and dusted with flour or with parchment paper) and poke it with a fork.
Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts, cover with the orange cream and dust with confectioner's sugar.
Cook in the center rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes.
If there is some dough left you can either freeze it, in order to use it later, or roll it about same thickness and make cookies. Those have to be baked at same temperature but only about 10 minutes.

PEPPERS STUFFED WTH PASTA AND MOZZARELLA

Complete meal - vegetarian

3 red bell peppers
3 yellow bell peppers
10 1/2 oz of mozzarella, thinly sliced (in about 24 slices)
1/2 lb of orzo pasta (or other small one)
1 eggplant, diced
2 tomatoes, seeds removed and diced
4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
6 anchovy fillets, chopped (optional)
7 basil leaves, minced
4 sprigs parsley, minced
5 sprigs chive, finely chopped

Put a pot with water to a boil and preheat oven to 350.
In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, warm 1 tbsp of olive oil, add the eggplants and cook until tender and golden (about 10 minutes, depending on the size of the cubes).
When the water boils, add salt and pasta and cook for half of the cooking time, drain and place it in a bowl together with all other ingredients (except for the mozzarella), adjust with salt and pepper, drizzle with 2 tbsp of olive oil, mix to combine and set aside.
Cut the top off of each pepper and save it; remove the core and inner white ribbing and discard.
Arrange peppers on an ovensafe baking dish, brushed with the remaining olive oil, and fill each one halfway with pasta mixture.
Layer 2 slices of mozzarella and cover with the remaining mixture; finish with one more layer of mozzarella and put top back on.
Transfer the baking dish into the oven and cook for 40 minutes or until the cheese is melted and peppers are soft.
Serves 6 people.

You can use any kind of small pasta shape you like (tubetti, orzo...) or farro or rice, in which case you have to adjust the timing. You should cook them about 3/4 of their usual cooking time.

BABY SPINACH SALAD WITH PINENUTS

Side dish - vegetarian

2 bags of fresh baby spinach
4 tbsp of roasted pinenuts
1 red onion, thinly sliced
3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Arrange spinach, pinenuts and onion in a big bowl and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl prepare a balsamic vinaigrette: combine oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and beat with a fork or a whisk for a few moments in order to obtain a thicker seasoning.
Season the salad with the vinaigrette and serve immediately. Serves 4.

To better combine the pinenuts, you can roughly chop half of them and mix the chopped ones into the vinaigrette.

SEA BREAM (OR SEA BASS) COOKED IN SALT

Second course - vegetarian

8 cups coarse salt
1 whole Sea Bream about 2 - 2 1/2 lbs.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pepper (optional)

Heat oven at 475F.
Pour half salt in a baking dish, place fish on top and cover with the remaining salt.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Remove from ove, gently crack the crust and transfer the fish to a serving dish, brushing off all the salt.
Open the fish, remove the fishbone, drizzle with a good extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with pepper (if you want).
Serve it with roasted potatoes or toasted bread brushed with garlic (bruschetta-style) and a fresh green salad; in this way you'll have a complete meal.

If you carefully brush away the salt, the fish will result perfectly seasoned.

BUCATINI ALL'AMATRICIANA

(Bucatini Amatriciana style)
First course

1/2 lb Bucatini
2 oz pancetta, diced
2 big ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
2 tbsp pecorino romano, grated

Put a big pot (better taller than wider) with water to a boil.
In the meantime put a big non-stick skillet on high heat and saute the pancetta for about 2 minutes, than add wine and let the alcohol evaporate.
Add tomatoes, lower the heat to medium and cook for 5 more minutes.
When the water boils, add salt and pasta; cook for 8-10 minutes (depending on your taste but remember that "al dente" pasta is easier to digest than overcooked one).
Drain pasta and reserve a few tablespoons of the cooking water; toss the pasta in the skillet with the sauce and sautee for a couple minutes. If the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved cooking water.
Serve drizzled with grated pecorino romano.
This recipe serves 2 people.

Substitutions, in case you don't find the original ingredients

- 6 slices of thick, non-smoked bacon; just remember that it is fatter than pancetta so try to remove part of the fat before cooking it and drain part of the cooking one.
- 1/2 can of peeled tomatoes (diced) or crushed tomatoes
- Grated parmesan can work.

Theoretically, in Italy every sauce has its pasta shape but, in case you don't like it or you can't find it, you can use any shape you like.
This recipe has been created in Amatrice (hence the name) a town not too far away from Rome and calls for Guanciale (salted pork cheek), unfortunately not easy to found so you can use pancetta (or bacon in our case) without big problems.