mercoledì 28 aprile 2010

Chilli with meat


  • 1 can of mexican beans
  • 500 g of ground beef ( minced meat)
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 minced middle sized onions
  • 1 mashed garlic clove
  • 1-2 fresh chilli pepper (make sure to remove the seeds!)
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1 tbsp Ariosto aglio e peperoncino
  • 400 gr (1 can) chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp tomato sauce
  • 425 ml water
  • 1 stock cube
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 chopped red pepper
***
    Pour 2 spoons of the oil in a saucepan, let it sizzle then add ¼ of the ground beef you have prepared; leave it in the saucepan to brown, then remove it and place it on a plate or another pan, and proceed with the remaining meat. The best thing to do is to brown ¼ of meat per time, in order to cook it equally.
    Now add the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and add the minced onions, mashed garlic and the fresh chilli peppers. Let it brown for some minutes ( about 3) mixing with a wooden spoon every now and then.
    Now add the flour and Ariosto aglio e peperoncino, stir for 3-4 minutes; add the beans, the chopped tomatoes and the meat you previously cooked, then tomato sauce, water and the stock cube. Stir til boil, add salt and pepper, add the fresh red chopped pepper, lid and let it cook for at least 2-3 hours on low heat stirring it about every 15 mins.


    giovedì 22 aprile 2010

    Ariosto seasonings & some tasty dishes!


    Dear followers and readers, today I want to introduce you to a very useful and tasty italian product, Ariosto Seasonings. The italian seasoning brand also launches a nice initiative, which can be found out on their website where you can find the email address of a very kind Mr. Lo Presti who will explain you how to take part in the initiative. All you have to do is hosting a logo of the brand on the sidebar of your blog, and post a recipe in which you use the products he will send you through the post. Just write him an email, he will answer quickly and fully!


    And now, let me show you some of the dishes I prepared using the products I received just the other day. I got some bags of different seasonings, 2 boxes of seasoning for potatoes and meat and a bag of bread. On the first picture, you can see bread crostini, a starter dish for which I used Ariosto Aglio e peperoncino seasoning...Easy to make, but very spicy & tasty!

    And now the potato chips, for which I used the Ariosto potato seasoning...needless to say that they are incredibly better with it!

    This last dish was the one my family liked the most! Chicken titbits with roasted potato. For the fried chicken I used Ariosto IMPAN, a great ready cooked bread; All you have to do is to dip the meat in milk and then roll it in the bread.The result is wonderful, brown, crispy, and tasty!
    For the roasted potatoes I used the same seasoning I used for the chips. To prepared this type of roasted potatoes, I first put them in a saucepan filled with cold water, let the water boil and then strain the potatoes. Place them in a casserole or a baking tin, pour on about 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, add some butter and of course, Ariosto seasoning for potatoes! Bake at 220°C, til they brown, and you will see what a great result you will have!

    I hope you liked the post of today, my aim was to let you know this great Italian brand and the opportunity I was given from this company to try their products doing a very little and simple thing like a post on my blog. Believe me, it is worth the try!
    Enjoy! And don't forget to give it a try!
    For more infos, visit the website that I linked above.


    lunedì 19 aprile 2010

    A brave dog..!

    I had a very busy weekend and I am sorry if I didn't manage to catch up all the nice posts of all my followers and readers, I will find anyway some free time to comment everyone today.
    As I was saying, Saturday was a very busy day, we received a call from the vet asking for one of our dogs for a blood transfusion for another poor little dog who had a cancer and had to be operated, and so needed blood.
    So we decided to help him and we took Hero to the vet...We were really fearing that something could go wrong, but fortunately Hero wonderfully overcame it and he's now feeling good again. We really hope that the dog he helped is feeling better too, and that he will manage to live many years more!
    But just wanted to show you how is Hero now, (they obviously had to cut his hairs), since on Saturday he was feeling sleepy and in a daze because he has been sedated with medicines.
    He had also some little prizes for his bravery....Gut dog!

    giovedì 15 aprile 2010

    Polenta!


    Polenta filled with taleggio cheese and topped with tomato sauce


     
    Don't you just love it with all that cheese???
    All you need is a box of ready-cooked cornmeal porridge (Italian Polenta!), some tomato sauce and cheese. Follow the instructions on the box (it is really easy!!!), pour it in a casserole, this will form the bottom layer. Now add the cheese and the tomato sauce and cover it with the second layer of the cornmeal porridge.
    Top with some more tomato sauce, cheese and warm it in the oven ( or grill it for about 5 minutes). Serve it warm, enjoy!

    lunedì 12 aprile 2010

    Italian monday- Pasta ceci patate e pancetta al rosmarino

    Weather outside is pretty warm, but evenings are still cold and they call for some comfort food before summer warm evenings arrive here. That's why I decided to post one of my -hopefully- last comfort dishes of this season! I prepared an italian dish called "Pasta ceci e patate" with a slight variation. I have added pancetta cubes to it and some rosemary to season it. Hope you like it!
    ***
    Il tempo è piuttosto gradevole, tuttavia di sera fa ancora un po' di freddo e si sente il bisogno di alcuni piatti caldi, almeno finchè le calde sere d'estate non saranno del tutto arrivate. E' questo il motivo per cui ho deciso di pubblicare uno dei miei ultimi ( si spera) piatti comfort della stagione! Ho preparato un piatto tipico italiano chiamato "Pasta ceci e patate", con una lieve variazione; ho infatti aggiunto cubetti di pancetta e qualche rametto di rosmarino per profumare ed insaporire. Spero che vi piaccia!

    Ingredients:
    • A can of chickpeas ( I used the dried ones and poured them in a bowl of water for 12 hours).
    • A middle sized potato
    • Some pancetta cubes
    • A sprig of rosmary
    • 3 tbsp of olive oil
    • salt&pepper
    • 1/2 onion
    • Pasta ( I used the one for soups)
    How to make it:
    1. Warm 3 tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan.
    2. Cut pancetta into cubes and some slices of onion.
    3. Put in the saucepan the slices of the onion and let it brown.
    4. Now add the pancetta cubes, and stir it, til it browns.
    5. Pour the chickpeas in, and stir for some minutes, then add a lot of water.
    6. Let it boil, low the heat and put a lid on the pan. Keep adding water in the case it evaporates.
    7. Now wash and peel the potato, cut it into big pieces, and put it in a bowl with some water.
    8. Add the potato about 20/30 mins before the chickpeas are ready.
    9. Add pasta some minutes before it is all ready - according to the cooking time of the pasta you are using- and cook it, stirring every now and then.
    10. Add salt & pepper, and a sprig of rosemary. 
    11. Serve warm and enjoy!



    sabato 10 aprile 2010

    Fish & Chips!

    Hi everyone!
    Yesterday I thought I could make fish and chips, as my daughters have been asking for it- they love it!
    And I went to look in the freezer and actually had all I needed! It turned out pretty well, also thanks to Sarson's Malt Vinegar :) Hope you like my fish and chips!


     
    Ingredients:
    (for the batter)
    • 3 eggs
    • flour
    • milk
    (I added some sesame seeds to the batter too, it was very good and tasty!)
    • 4 haddock fillets
    • some more flours
    • sunflower oil
    • 5 middle sized potatoes

    How to make it:
    1. Dry the fish fillets and lightly flour them.
    2. Warm the oil.
    3. Prepare the batter, until it becomes very dense. According to its consistency, add milk or flour.
    4. Dip the fish fillets in the batter.
    5. Fry them in deep oil.
    6. Dry them on blotting paper.
    7. Fry the potatoes in a separate pan -alternatively you can fry them before the fish.
    8. Dry them on blotting paper.
    9. Sprinkle on some malt vinegar and salt.
    10. Enjoy!

    Homemade Fish and Chips

    venerdì 2 aprile 2010

    Two lovely awards

    My wonderful friend Geri@Heart n Soul Cooking has sent me this lovely award, which I would like to pass to everyone as an Easter gift. For those of you who would like to pass it on to 7 people, following the award rules, here they are:



    1. Thank the person who gave you the AWARD.
    2. Paste the AWARD on your blog.
    3. Link the person who nominated you for the AWARD.
    4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself.
    5. Nominate 7 blogs or less for the AWARD.
    6. Post a link to the 7 bloggers you nominated. 
     
    7 interesting things about me:
    1. My biggest passion is cooking
    2. I love travelling.
    3. I love blogging and to leave and receive comments.
    4. I love taking care of my family, day by day.
    5. I love decorating the house for every special occasion during the year.
    6. I like my house to be always clean and tidy.
    7. I love to share my cooking with other people, and see them enjoying it.
    I also have something else to post, another award, which I didn't have the time to post before, from this lovely lady:  Pam@Midwest kitchen korner, who gave me this wonderful award:

    Thank you Geri and thank you Pam!!!! You are two great friends!

    Enjoy your awards dear blog friends,
    Love,
    Annalisa

    giovedì 1 aprile 2010

    Easter gifts...!

    Dear bloggers and readers,

    before I take a break for Easter holidays I would like to show you some Easter presents that I received from my daughter - so also our- German friend Yves.
    He's been really kind to give us this wonderful table centre. Doesn't it look so springy?


    But he also brought some delicious goodies from Germany and Finland, which are almost all gone! Let me show you...

    Milka Easter chocolate bunnies -delicious!

    Some more Milka chocolate and Fazer chocolate. Fazer is really one of the best milk chocolate I have ever tried!

    ...And this is my favourite one! Ritter with Yogurt, something incredibly delicious...Love the yogurt filling!

    And a German goodie to end this wonderful chocolate parade.
    Katzenzungen ( Cats' tongues) vollmilch schokolade ...wunderbar!
    They are delicious, especially for a small and sweet(!!!) break.

    ****
    Hope you enjoyed this post, I also want to wish everybody a Happy and joyful Easter, but this will probably take another post, with my best wishes to everyone on Blogland.
    Until later,