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‘Pasta rice and cereals salads’ Category

  1. AAA fresh wanted – Venere rice salad, spring/summer collection

    July 3, 2012 by Giulietta

    Do you like the hot weather? Do you like summer? Well, I don't mind that, except when the heat is excessive and, for business or pleasure, I find myself in a kitchen, maybe with one (or more) oven turned on in it .. then in this period I ALWAYS crave for something that requires baking, but this indubitably a mental tare of mine (ipse dixit after baking, in the last three days, lasagna, pizza, appetisers, crème brulee, stuffed peaches and more … yes, I agree with what you're thinking but you're not saying: I do have some serious mental tare).

    Obviously I really crave for cool or cold things (I am stupid, but only to a certain point), but have you ever thought of this great, inevitable and cruel truth of life: the things that you like to eat cold, you definitely have to cook them, sooner or later. And there you have to suffer a hot temperature, isn't it?

    But come on, grit your teeth and cook (maybe in the evening, when the whether is cooler), so you'll have a fridge full of delicacies that can be enjoyed fresh, cool or cold.
    And, if you want an idea for a rice salad different from the usual one, this is for you, a real gem of the spring/summer collection, with Venere rice, shrimps, tuna, zucchini, fresh peas and asparagus with a squeeze of lime and tuna mayonnaise.

    Do you like it?! So what are you waiting for?!

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    Category First course, Pasta rice and cereals salads, Single course, Vegetables | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | 2 Comments

  2. Cous cous shapes with Genoese pesto, zucchini and pine nuts on Taleggio cheese sauce

    July 29, 2011 by Giulietta

    With this recipe, I broke all records for title length … in fact, I could only put a "Viendalmare" (in Eglish, literally, "Comesfromthesea": in Italian, it's a fake aristocratic and pompous surname, famous for the movie "Fantozzi") at the end of it, in loving memory of Fantozzi!

    But in this case I couldn't shorten anything, for the sake of completeness. And so, adding syllables and syllables, I came up with the long -but very complete -"Cous cous shapes with Genoese pesto, zucchini and pine nuts on Taleggio cheese sauce". If you have read so far, you've already done half the work: now it's all downhill.

    First of all, it must be said that this recipe is not mine (too many combination to be a figment of my simple mind), but it came from Giallo Zafferano (I made just ​​a few changes here and there); my mom discovered it and, even if I don't know what she was looking for, she fell in love with it … and so we got here. The singles procedures to make this cold cous cous are not complex, but you need a little time to prepare everything and assemble the dish: and, let's admit it, it looks -and tastes- great.

    The result is a dish of simple and full flavors, that match perfectly with each other: every single part of this dish could be eaten alone and be good, but the forkful that collects everything is the tastier.

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    Category Cheese, Cold dishes, Dried fruit, Earth first course, First course, Herbs, Pasta rice and cereals salads, Single course, Vegetables | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, | 8 Comments

  3. Mediterranean riz rouge de Camargue salad

    July 15, 2011 by Giulietta

    Ok, I admit it, I invented this recipe's name … but I invented the recipe, so I can claim the right to name it, or not? But I chose this name not by accident: both the rice and the ingredients I used for this recipe smelled like the Mediterranean, in my humble opinion, so why don't give the recipe the name of this sea and of this enclave of Countries that, somehow, contributed to its genesis?

    I was looking for a cold first course for one of my birthday parties (yes, I chose to make a cold dinner and, of course, the night I celebrated there were more or less 20° C… typical!) and I didn't want to make my classic rice salad, which is a bit banal …. so, starting from the beginning, ie rice, I made a replacement, and instead of "normal" rice I chose a more special, refined one, the riz rouge de Camargue, which is perfect for salads, 'cause it stays firm after cooking, and 'cause is very crisp.

    Reading here and there some information about this colorful and crisp rice, I read that one of the recommended combinations was with fish, so … why don't make a sea rice salad?! And so appeared shrimps and tuna/mackerel filets. But I had to put some vegetables (I love them) … and so I put some crispy celery, sauté zucchini and, for a real Mediterranean taste, sun-dried tomatoes and black olives -with their stone (I know that olives are not strictly vegetables, but grant me this unfair allocation). And yet something was missing … herbs, maybe Occitan ones … and so I added oregano, thyme and marjoram. Add some dressing (lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, a few tablespoons of dried tomato patè), et voila, you're done! This was more or less my thought process that, from the first choice (rice) led to the creation of a brand new rice salad, very tasty and crunchy, perfect for a dinner with friends (you can serve it in single portions, putting 3 or 4 tablespoons of rice salad in a pudding mold, and then turning it upside down, as you see in the first two pictures) or for a picnic (blessed be the Tupperwares) in good company.

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    Category Cold dishes, First course, Herbs, Pasta rice and cereals salads, Sea first course, Shellfishes, Single course, Vegetables | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,, | 12 Comments

  4. A summer Bento Box (aka “baracchino”) Italian-style

    May 26, 2011 by Giulietta

    Some of you may know that I can rightfully consider myself "the mess tin (in Italian "baracchino") magician"… this winter, in fact, when I was writing my thesis, to shorten my lunch break and be able to return quickly to my research, I brought lunch with me, instead of hunting for turkey-gorge sandwiches (in Piedmontese dialect that phrase sounds like 'ngusa pitu), as some unprepared friend of mine.

    Before that I always applied the art of the mess tin (it's much cooler to call it Bento box, Japanese-style -in reality, like many habits that comes from the Orient, behind this object and this custom hide some ritual unknown to our miserable mess tin) to summer meal, which for me often consists only of yogurt and muesli, at the most with the addition of biscuits and fruit (fresh or dried one). But this winter I had the need to carry around something light (otherwise I would have graduated in "applied sleep"), healthy and that could be eaten cold (I had no heat sources other than a radiator), I indulged myself in all sorts of steamed vegetables (then dressed) and salads.

    Unfortunately, my art of the mess tin was not so advanced, and occasionally I found myself with food, but no cutlery … I think that my skills (more like a super-power) to eat with steamed zucchini with a coffee scoop will pass into legend.

    Well, looking back at those months of crazy and desperate study, those lunch at the crazy-corner (a corner whose name fits perfectly) with my companions in misfortune are some of the most pleasant memories.

    This is to say that I am now fond of the mess tin and, since then, I have always enjoyed preparing it for myself or for others.

    I chose, in the path of a great contest, to propose a summer Bento Box Italian-style for this early taste of summer, containing a pasta salad dressed in green and, such as hunger-breaker, snack or dessert, a yogurt with muesli, cereals cookies and dried red cranberries (this is to remind my evergreen summer mess tin).


     

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    Category Earth first course, First course, Pasta, Pasta rice and cereals salads, Vegetables | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | 14 Comments