The Sunny Kitchen - An Italian cook in Amsterdam

Another pasta??? Linguine with slightly hot tomato & tuna sauce

                                     

Yes, another pasta.
It seems like I'm eating only pasta, recently, and that's pretty much true. It's summer, I'm going out a lot in the evenings and I don't really feel like making complicated dishes, so a plate of pasta is always good, fast and easy.
Yesterday evening it was time for yet another classic, a pasta al sugo di pomodoro con tonno, peperoncino e olive nere.

I have cravings, from time to time. Like everybody else, methinks.
Sometimes it's chocolate, sometimes meat, sometimes a certain type of vegetable. A clear sign that my body needs specific nutrients, I guess.
Recently I have a real craving for canned tuna (preserved in oil, I usually find the one in water too flaky and dry) and so I'm using it in salads with tomato and chickpeas, in sandwiches with basil and self made mayonnaise and of course in pasta dishes like this one, which is easy to make and a classic year-round recipe.
I like it a bit hot - but not too hot - and so I add a couple of dried chili peppers (the tiny, very mean ones from southern Italy). The special note is given by a generous splash of red wine where you probably would expect white, and that gives the sauce a nice, sturdy and slightly unexpected twist, supported by the flavour of the small taggiasche olives used instead of normal black olives.
To make the preparation even faster I use passata di pomodoro (strained crushed tomatoes) instead of peeled tomatoes because this speeds up the whole cooking process a lot.
I like to eat this with long, thick pasta (linguine, bavette, spaghettoni) but short pasta is perfectly OK too.
The music today is from Fiorella Mannoia and Tiziano Ferro.

Oh, a little lingui-ne-stic note for some of my English speaking friends: the right spelling is linguinE and not linguini.  ;)

Linguine al sugo di pomodoro con tonno, peperoncino e olive nere

Serves 3-4

300 gr. linguine
500 gr. passata di pomodoro (strained crushed tomatoes)
1 medium-sized onion
1 clove of garlic
200 gr. canned tuna
2-3 dried chili peppers
1 handful of black olives
a big pinch of dried oregano
1/2 dl. red wine
olive oil extra vergine
sea salt

Chop the onion and fry it in olive oil with the crushed chili peppers until soft and golden brown.
Add the garlic clove, the passata di pomodoro, the dried oregano and the olives and let everything cook for at least 10 minutes.
Remove the garlic clove and add the tuna in little chunks and the red wine. Mix well and let the sauce cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Add some salt if necessary and mix with the pasta cooked very al dente.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
       

 

My favourite breakfast - Smoothie Nr. 4

Smoothies are my usual breakfast unless I'm in Italy. Funny how old habits like drinking cappuccino with a cornetto instead of having a healthy smoothie as I do here in Holland creep back on you when you return to your native country...

A thick mixture of fluidized fruit - and sometimes spices and herbs  - is definitely my idea of a perfect breakfast.
With a HUGE mug of strong Dutch coffee after about half an hour, though, I don't want to make it too healthy. ;)

After trying this, this and this, this morning it was time for this (see below). How many "this" can a sentence like this contain?

Mix some thick pear juice with one banana, a handful of blueberries, the juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange, 1 golden kiwi and a dash of ready-made blueberry syrup (I used the one they sell at Ikea, a bit on the sweet side but nice).
Give everything a vigorous shake in the blender and drink slurping it until the last drop as I did. 
Possibly accompanied by some good Italian music.

Insalata estiva di pasta ai gamberetti (Summer pasta salad with shrimp)

What do you do when you just made pasta with shrimp and zucchini and you cooked far too many shrimps? Well... you can use the extra shrimp for pasta salad the day after, for example.

Not just the regular pasta salad with regular pasta, though. For this recipe I used rice pasta which I really like to eat because of its special texture. It's quite different from the usual durum wheat stuff because it's slightly gluey but in a very pleasant way. In the past I used to take it with me every time I came back from Italy but now I can find it here in Amsterdam too, lucky me. :)

This is a summer salad because of the green beans and the ripe tomatoes (even though nowadays you can find both 364 days a year...). I used the little pomodori that here in Holland are sold with the dubious commercial name of San Mazzo - dubious because the Dutch clearly do NOT know what mazzo in Italian can mean (bum, bottom, a**), guess they wanted something that sounded like San Marzano, the original name of plum tomatoes, but had no intention of spending a few euros to ask a native speaker if there were any "hidden tricks" in the name they had chosen.
Just like Mitsubishi did, by the way, when they wanted to sell their Pajero in Spanish speaking countries and somebody made them notice that the name had negative associations. I guess that's what you deserve for being a cheap *BLEEP* and thinking you can do it all by yourself without asking a language professional. Believe me, as an ex translator and interpreter I know what I'm talking about and this is still a very sensitive issue for me. ;)

Back to the salad: the fresh note is given by the lime juice. Lots of it. I'm a big lime lover and I tend to overdo it so start with the juice of 1 lime, see if it's not too acid for you and then proceed with the second one  if you think you can handle the extra tartness.
The other very Italian taste in this salad besides that of the plum tomatoes is given by the Taggiasche olives from Liguria. They're little, dark purple olives with a very peculiar and unique flavour. Extremely yummy, I find, and if used with moderation - their taste is quite strong -  they add a very original note to your dishes.
I usually steam the green beans to keep them nice and al dente.
This salad is much nicer if made a lot in advance so all the flavours can combine properly.

Insalata estiva di pasta ai gamberetti

Serves 3-4

250 gr. short rice pasta (fusilli, penne etc)
200 gr. cooked shrimp
150 gr. steamed green beans
150 gr. plum tomatoes
a couple of spoons of taggiasche olives
juice of 2 limes
2 spring onions
1 big bunch of flat-leaf parsley
olive oil extra vergine
salt and black pepper

Cook the pasta very al dente in salted boiling water. Drain and rinse immediately under the tap with cold water. Set aside in a big bowl and mix with a little olive oil to avoid sticking.

Slice the spring onions, chop the tomatoes and cut the green beans in two. 
Finely chop a lot of flat-leaf parsley and add it to the pasta.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the pasta, season with salt and pepper and mix well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puglia in your plate: pasta alla crudaiola (with salted ricotta, fresh tomato and basil)

If there's ONE pasta dish I couldn't do without and that I find very, very addictive that's the crudaiola.
For me it's THE summer pasta and on top of all it represents the full, intense flavours of Puglia - the region where I grew up - at their very best.

It's the simplest thing to make, really. Well, if you can find ricotta salata, that is.
A few days ago I finished the last piece I brought with me from a recent trip to Bari and I'm still inconsolable. I just LOVE the cheese. I love it. No, better: I ADORE it. Period.
ADDED 23-8-2012: now I can find it here in Amsterdam too and I'm SO H A P P Y ! :)
It's a dry, salted ricotta cheese that can be grated over your pasta or used for all sorts of other recipes. It's usually made (with slightly different results, more or less salty, harder or softer) in several southern Italian regions, particularly in Sicily and Puglia, basically in those areas where sheep are kept since it's made with sheep's milk.
In Bari it's called ricotta marzotica and its name comes from the period of the year it's being made, around March-April ("marzo" in Italian means March) when there's an abundant production of milk, but since it's a ripened cheese you can luckily buy it all year long.
The crudaiola is my absolutely favourite summer pasta because it smells and tastes like summer: fresh, ripe and juicy tomatoes, sweet and intense basil and good raw extra vergine olive oil.
Crudaiola comes from crudo, raw, to indicate that most ingredients are raw.
That's why it's so easy to make.
Just chop some good tomatoes (I used small, sweet Cupido ones), shred some basil, grate the ricotta, drizzle with good olive oil and season with salt (go easy on it since the ricotta is already quite salty) and pepper. That's it. Some people add a hint of garlic but I think it's perfect just like this, no need to add any other flavours.
I usually exaggerate with the quantity of ricotta I use but by now you should know why.
Like for the previous recipe, crudaiola is usually made with short pasta.
Just don't ask me why and enjoy.

Pasta alla crudaiola

Serves 2

200 gr. short pasta (penne, tortiglioni etc)
250 gr. ripe tomatoes
a piece of ricotta marzotica or any other salted ricotta, at least 150 gr.
a little bunch of basil
good extra vergine olive oil
salt and black pepper

Cook the pasta very al dente in boiling salted water while preparing the other ingredients as indicated above and drain.

Mix chopped tomatoes, basil and grated cheese with a good drizzle of olive oil, season with salt and pepper if you like, add the hot pasta, toss and serve.

 

 

 

 

And yes...

...it's high time I got myself a better camera.
The wonderful new filming toy is already here, though... :)

 

An Italian classic: pasta with zucchini, shrimp and cream (zucchine, gamberetti e panna)

Definitely an Italian classic.
A bit démodé, if you like (soooo old fashioned), but still one of the classiest Italian comfort foods ever: pasta with courgette, shrimp and cream.
With a hint of basil, to celebrate the summer (and because basil goes so friggin' well with courgettes).
Delicate and yet tasty. To be eaten again, and again, and again...

Tips: choose a short pasta like tortiglioni, rigatoni or penne. According to the unwritten and unspoken "Italian pasta sauce rules" this sauce doesn't go well with long pasta...
And do not, I repeat, do NOT, use Parmesan cheese. Any Italian would punch you right in the face for doing something like that when pasta with fish or seafood is involved.
If you still decide to do it, at least make sure there's no Italians around.

Pasta con panna, zucchine e gamberetti

Serves 2

200 gr. short pasta
1 small onion
1 big courgette or 2-3 small ones
200 gr small shrimps (frozen is OK)
1 dl cooking cream
a bunch of fresh basil
olive oil extra vergine
salt and black pepper

Fry the finely chopped onion gently in olive oil until soft and golden brown.

Add the sliced courgette and let is cook until soft and slightly browned stirring regularly.
Add the cream and the defrosted shrimps and let everything cook for 2 minutes.
Add some fresh shredded basil leaves, season with some salt and mix everything well.

Cook the pasta very al dente in boiling salted water while making the sauce and drain.

Add the pasta to the sauce, toss gently and serve with a generous sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.