Pomodori con salsa tonnata

~ Alessandra ~ 1 Comment

A refreshing summer dish, fast and simple to prepare is tomatoes with tonnata sauce, a delicious tuna sauce. It is perfect for picnics and boating excursions, a dish that can be both a snack, an appetizer or a full meal.

Ingredients for a meal for four people:

From “Celery Charles & Pals”

4 Red Beefsteak or Heirloom tomatoes

14 ounces canned Tuna in oil

5/6 ounces of mayonnaise

10-15 capers, depending on size

4 anchovy fillets in oil

What to do:

Salsa Tonnata:

Drain the tuna, in a bowl mince it with a fork while mixing it with the mayo.

Drain and rinse the anchovies to take some of the salt away, then add them to the mix with the capers. (You can add or subtract capers and anchovies to achieve you desired taste.)

Blend everything together to obtain your tonnata sauce* (you decide how smooth or thick you prefer it).

________________________________________________________________

Wash, half the tomatoes. Remove the seeds and putt them aside in a bowl. Lay the washed tomatoes on a serving plate; mix your tonnata with the seeds previously put aside and fill the tomatoes with the blend. Garnish with a thin layer of mayo and a fresh basil leaf or a couple of capers. This dish can be enjoyed right away or it can be refrigerated for a bit before serving.

For a snack or appetizer just choose smaller tomatoes, like cherry or grape tomatoes.

*Tonnata can be used in a myriad of ways, adding it on vegetables, pasta, hard boiled eggs, meats (vitello tonnato), toasted bread, using it as a dip, and any other way that comes to mind.

Guns’ collection

~ Alessandra

Our little rascal was about a year old when I got pregnant again. My desire was to have a May girl, but there was a glitch: while in my family girls abound, in my husband’s family they seemed to have lost the mold and there had not been a girl, nowhere also within his extended family, in 73 years. When I was wondering what the new baby would be, I was always told, “A boy, what else?”

My thought was, “I will love him to death, but will keep going for the girl!” “You have been warned!”, I notified my husband, expecting he could actually do something about it. The poor man almost collapsed at the thought of the couple of male sport teams we were going to create in the quest for a girl who would never materialize. Then for minor reasons I had to have a couple of medical tests done, and while giving us the results the doc inadvertently hinted that I might be expecting a girl. (We have never wanted to know the sex of the baby we were expecting.)

When the notion of the possibility that the new baby was going to be a girl hit him, my husband asked me, “What do we do with a girl?” There’s no need for special skills, really?! My parents had four of us, and finally a boy (one, the third baby after my second sister and I, had died in infancy). I am the eldest of the bunch and, since I was seven, the one who did with my dad what he would have done with a boy, while his son was still a baby. Also, my second sister and I never played with dolls, unless you consider the times we played cowboy and Indian and we used our younger sisters’ (“the girls”) dolls as prisoners.

In the countryside at the age of 12 I was driving the farm’s old, bitten up Fiat 500, with a weird ignition and obviously a manual shift, on the paths bordering the fields. My father, who in his youth had raced cars and motorcycles, and had scars to show for it, was as proud as he was worried when at 20 I got a Kawasaki 400*. Girls can do it all!

Not too early to teach her, is it?

Interesting enough, the first comment that came out of my husband’s mouth, an Italian man who was soon probably going to be the father of a girl, was, “I will have to start my collection of guns!”

*My Kawasaki was great fun and I felt so cool driving it in Florence until during a summer, to avoid a truck coming towards me on a narrow dirt road while at the beach (picture shorts and a flimsy top), I flew into a thick thorny bush, coming out of it looking like a porcupine. Note to self: the truck might actually have been the better choice!

I hope you all enjoyed a festive July 4th!

Broccoli’n Bean Soup

~ Alessandra

There are soups that can be enjoyed the year around, since they are delicious whether cold, at room temperature, warm or hot. This is one of them, fast and easy to make, perfect for a cooler summer night.

Broccoli Bruno, from Celery Charles and Pals.

Ingredients for 3-4 cups:

2 broccoli heads, chopped

1 cup cannellini beans, drained

2 minced medium garlic cloves

1 shallot, also minced

2 1/2-3 cups of vegetable stock

1 tbsp of virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp freshly grounded pepper

2 tbsp of grated pecorino cheese

What to do:

Add the shallot and garlic to the oil warmed over medium heat.

When garlic is tanned, add broccoli and cook for about 1 minute.

Pour in the vegetable stock and pepper. Add the cannellini beans.

Cook until broccoli is tender.

Let cool down a bit, then pour everything into a blender.

Blend to the desired texture (kids will like a smoother soup better)

Sprinkle with the pecorino cheese.

Enjoy warm or at room temperature!

Zucchini ripieni, stuffed zucchinis.

~ Alessandra ~ 1 Comment

Here is the recipe for the zucchini ripieni my whole family loves. Also a great idea for a dish to bring to pot lucks! You will be invited again!

What is needed for 6 people:

6 medium zucchinis

7-8 ounces of ground veal, beef, or turkey

3,5 ounces of prosciutto cotto, baked ham, chopped

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1/2 clove of garlic, chopped

1 tbsp of chopped Italian parsley

bread crumbs

1 or 2 eggs depending on size

2/3 of a cup of tomato sauce

grated Parmesan cheese

extra virgin olive oil, best if first cold pressed

What to do:

Half the zucchinis along their longitude and extract the pulp with a tea-spoon, making sure not to break the shells and leaving 1/8 of an inch thickness.

Quickly parboil the emptied shell in salted boiling water, then drain them.

In a pan, brown the chopped parsley, onion and garlic with the raw,  grated zucchinis’ filling. 

Add the chopped meat and ham and cook for about 10 minutes.

Pour in a bowl and add some bread crumbs, the beaten egg/s and salt.

Knead all together to reach a soft mixture. If too dense, add a bit of milk.

Fill the zucchinis with the mixture and lay them on a baking tray greased with olive oil.

Spread the tomato sauce and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese over the zucchinis.

Put in a pre-heated oven for about 50-60 minutes, depending on the zucchinis’ size, at 350 degrees.

To know when to take the zucchinis out of the oven, insert a tooth pick into the mixture, if it comes out clean your meal is ready. Let it cool a bit and enjoy! Your kids will ask for more!

For added zest, substitute diced Tuscan or spicy salami (even more pizzazz!) to the baked ham. DELIZIOSO! Needless to say, this meal would be a winner on any table to celebrate the

Fourth of July! Have a joyous and safe one!

‘Ant jam’

~ Alessandra ~ 1 Comment

It is known that the sooner children are exposed to different languages the easier it is for them to learn to speak them effortlessly.

When our first born arrived my english was not the best, yet, and my Italian husband, raised in Italy by his American mother and having already lived in the US through college and a few years of work, seemed to have forgotten some of the correct Italian grammar, like the conjugation of some irregular verbs. No! No! NO! So we decided that he would speak English to the baby and I Italian. Little did we know, at 11 months the little fellow started to speak using both languages at the same time. When he wanted to be picked up he would say, “su-su-up!” raising his arms towards us; to be put back down he would squirm and voice, “giu’-giu’-down!” If he wanted to go back home we would hear, “casa-home“; to call our attention to something he would point and exclaim, “barca-boat!” or “cavallo-horse!“. We often wondered how messy it would be when he started to talk full sentences. To our enormous surprise words eventually fell into place in the right language, which was a big sigh of relief! Children are mysteriously clever from day one!

Those bruised legs say it all!
Not to speak of those eyes…

Anyway, our first little rascal was a might to be reckoned with, a firework of what seemed to be endless and fearless energy. When he wasn’t physically active his little brain was working full throttle (even more alarming!) and he would plunge into all kind of awkward situations. Once after looking for him for a while, my mom and I finally found him in a corner to the back of the house nobody went to; he was sitting on a low stone step fully concentrated on following with his index finger, and squashing, a line of ants on the ground. When asked what he was doing, with a proud smile he answered …”Ant jam!” (DAH!) We then realized that he was actually eating the little critters. Well ants, dirt, organic proteins and who knows what else… he wasn’t going to die.

Thankfully there was never a problem feeding our little fellow more orthodox food. One of the meals his nonna would prepare during the summer was zucchini ripieni, stuffed zucchini; a complete, simple and healthy meal that our busy chap happily devoured to refuel his growing body’s bottomless energy… SOB!

Onion, spinach and lemon scrambled eggs.

~ Alessandra ~ 2 Comments

Here is a recipe to prove that healthy can be simple, affordable, fast and delicious!

Ingredients for two people:

four or five eggs, depending on size

one small yellow onion, pealed and finely sliced

2 cups of baby spinach leaves, washed and minced

(you can also use left over steamed, boiled or sautéed spinach)

a 1/2 of a ripe lemon

one tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

In a frying pan, warm the oil up on medium fire and put the onion to tan.

Add the spinach, mixing it with the onion, and let wither until soft.

(If you are using left overs 1 cup will be enough. Just mix it with the onion and let it warm up a bit.)

Beat the eggs and pour into the pan, mixing them with the rest.

Add salt ad pepper to taste.

Cook, scrambling, until the desired density*.

Put into plates and, for added zest, squeeze the lemon on these delicious scrambled eggs.

This is a fast, complete meal, that provides both vitamins and proteins. ENJOY IT!

*Children might like it better if you blend the spinach and onion mix before adding to it the beaten eggs into the pan.

Breaking News:

As promised, sneak peeks of a few books, some completed others still works in progress, are now available. Browse away!

Will see you then!

‘Ai miei tempi!’ ‘Back in my day!’…

~ Alessandra

When my siblings and I were growing up in Italy a fat child was a rarity. Families eat healthy, homemade, local food, and thankfully neither the fast food industry nor the internet had taken over yet.

Times have changed, not necessarily for the best when it comes to certain aspects of life. Oh, my! Am I starting to sound like my grandmother? “Ai miei tempi!” (Back in my day!), she used to lament, and I would roll my eyes…

Today fast food seems to be the inexpensive answer to an overly worked household. It isn’t easy to break habits and to see that to eat healthy doesn’t have to be expensive, or require a lot of time. To buy at local farmers’ markets (and they are all over), for example, provides us with the freshest of foods with out the high costs of the big supermarket chains.

But back in my day children also were not sitting for hours in front of television, at the time the closest thing to today’s internet. First of all in Italy we just had a couple of channels that provided few programs addressed to children. In any case our mind was not geared to choose sitting down over playing, especially if we could do it outside.

We were eating healthy, but we also were eating a lot! Aside the main meals, in school we enjoyed home provided snacks at recess, and hefty, very nutritious merende (afternoon snacks) in the middle of the afternoon. How come we weren’t overweight? What we ate fueled the energy we continuously relied on for our active life.

Most of us were engaged in after school activities; swimming, playing tennis, basket ball or soccer, and ballet. It is interesting that when in higher grades our studies became more time-consuming and many of us had to interrupt or reduce our afternoon activities, many of us gained some weight because we continued to eat the amount of food we were eating when we were more active. So, it isn’t just eating the wrong food that causes overweight; sitting for hours in front of a computer, or attached to a cellular, or any other gadget, contributes to it enormously.

Admittedly, though, there are times when a cellular is a godsend! What can you say when, at the restaurant, at the table next to yours sits a family enjoying a peaceful dinner while a toddler plays games with one of the parents’ cellular? How does a toddler even know what to do with a cellular?! (OK, mine is just jealousy, since I am not exactly an authority when it comes to technology.) Trust me, I know what it was like to take a baby to a restaurant and try to have a semi-civilized dinner! After all our keys had disappeared under our table, we used to ask the waiter for spoons to entertain our first born; he would play with one for a blink of an eye, and then throw it to the floor. And we would ask for another. By the end of our meal with our keys and dignity there were heaps of spoons under our table. We didn’t dare showing up to the same restaurant twice! EVER!

Pasta salad.

~ Alessandra

The days spent playing outside were the happiest for the children; they were constantly on the move, challenging their energy to the fullest, which meant they needed to be fed nutritious meals to be able to continue to enjoy their often wild, carefree activities. Bruises were a badge of honor! I am obviously not speaking for their apprehensive grown ups.

At their nonna’s, tanned, strong, bruised, well fed happy children.

During the summer one of the favorite meals was pasta salad. Of course, what is more Italian than pasta? And what better way to feed fresh vegetables to young children than mixing them with pasta?! Pasta salad is commonly one of summer favorite dishes, and there are myriads of recipes for it. Below is an effort free recipe of the delicious pasta salad we and our kids grew up with and still enjoy; it is a treat that the whole family loves! I know I am repeating myself, but this too is an undisputed winner for any kind of summer entertaining; a great dish to show off at your next picnic or pot luck.

Ingredients:

about 3/4 cup of pasta corta (short pasta) per person: penne, penne rigate, farfalle, conchiglie or tri-color rotini (for a more colorful dish)

fresh mozzarella bocconcini or ciliegine, drained and cut in small cubes

cherry tomatoes, diced

peppers (yellow and red, for color, also diced)

a couple of chopped heads of Belgian endive

1/2 finely chopped, small red onion

a handful of pitted olives

fresh basil leaves (torn by hand)

extra virgin olive oil (best if first cold pressed)

grated Parmigiano cheese

salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

Cook the pasta al dente, according to the directions on the package.

drain it and gently rinse it with cold water to cool it.

Pour it in a large salad bowl.

Place all the other ingredients over the pasta and gently mix them with it.

Dress with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Cover and put in the refrigerator for a couple of ours.

Add some more olive oil, freshly grounded pepper, the torn basil leaves and sprinkle with the Parmigiano before serving.

For a heftier dish and bit more pizzaz, add small cubes of Italian salame or well drained canned tuna fish to the salad. OH, MY!

Put your chef hat on!

All the above ingredients are for our original, basic version of this mouthwatering dish; have fun experimenting! Try with other veggies: cooled down steamed broccoli, canned hearts of palm (drained and thinly sliced), a handful of fresh baby spinach leaves or arugula salad, canned baby peas (drained), canned corn (best if whole kernel, drained) to create your very own specialty!
Buon appetito!

Imagination, childhood’s precious play pal.

~ Alessandra ~ 1 Comment

Childhood [chahyld-hoo d] noun: That too short time of our life when we are, or should be, totally carefree enjoying ourself with the help of basic toys and, above all, our imagination!

When in the countryside of Tuscany my siblings and I spent our days outdoor playing with cousins and the neighbors’ children. All we had to enjoy ourselves with were our bikes, a few balls, plastic buckets, shovels and rakes. We didn’t know any better and had the times of our lives!

Then, during their summer vacations, my siblings and I took our children to the same little village in the countryside to visit their nonna, our mother. Our offsprings all lived in technologically advanced places: Switzerland, Honk Kong, Paris, New York. Although they were not given a cellular or gadgets until later they were, of course, of a generation that was used to deal with some form of technology from as early as kindergarten.

Every time the kids first arrived at nonna’s they initially sort of… deflated. There was just nature around them and a TV that showed 4 channels on a good day. We, parents, would keep hearing, “What do we do here?!” Given the lack of alternatives the kids enjoyed riding bikes, playing ball and the simple things we, parents, had played with at their age. Most importantly they were engaging their very fertile imagination to pepper their games!

They played soldiers with a bucket on their heads as an helmet and a plastic rake as a rifle. They played house claiming on trees’ tall trunks, or under the long branches of a majestic Blue Cedar, decorating their nests with pillows from some deck chairs and whatever else came to mind; never forgetting to bring some yummy treat or other with them. They played soccer and run relays on the meadow, and biked along the footpaths bordering the fields. Like we had done years ago, the kids had elaborated funerals for little birds that had fallen from their nests. After dinner they still had the energy to count and chase fireflies.

At the end of the summer, we were taking home healthy, strong, tan and, yes, often bruised but very happy children! Our kids, now teens or in their twenties, have often recalled those summer times at nonna’s as the most magical they have spent, ever!

Blue Atlas Cedar
Merenda on tree trunks.

Imagination is a beautiful gift to have and cultivate. Childhood is when we are free to let it run our play times, turning them into magical moments that uncover part of who we are and future enterprises already budding in out brains.

Today things are different, but children are still children only for a short time of their lives. There are beautiful parks near all of us, places where children can still unleash their imagination while playing with others, and where they can benefit their growing limbs by biking, playing traditional ball games or invented ones, chasing each other on a relay, or playing any other game their imagination inspires. The kids will thrive because of it and will be thankful for it later on, when real life takes over, and they will realize how lucky they were for living their childhood to the fullest.

Il Mostro Pauroso che Non Esisteva. (The Scary Monster that Wasn’t.)

~ Alessandra
Il Mostro Pauroso che non esisteva‘s full cover.

Today I will bend the rule a bit, and send a second morsel.

Il Mostro Pauroso che non Esisteva is actually the very first book I have written and illustrated. A friend of mine was about to become a grandmother; I wrote the story thinking about one of the most common young children’s fears, and gifted it to the young mom to be at her baby shower. I love the idea to help starting a new child’s library from the very beginning. Children will outgrow cute clothes and toys, the love of books will stay with them for ever!

Pages from Il Mostro Pauroso, the Italian version.

The Scary Monster title page.
From The Scary Monster that Wasn’t.