Orecchiette con Rucola

A spring dish with the arugula and the traditional pasta from

the Region of Puglia 'Orecchiette'.

The mix of arugula,garlic,tomatoes and black olives is magic with orecchiette pasta.

Ingredients

1 pack of orecchiette pasta (18 ounces)

2 garlic cloves

10 ounces of aurugula

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

10 plum tomatoes

1/2 dried red chili

salt to taste

10 black olives

Cook arugula in salted boiling water for 5 minutes, drain it and set aside the same water to cook orecchiette.

In a big pan put olive oil the plum tomatoes divided in halves ,the red chili,the garlic, the black olives chopped and salt to taste. In the meanwhile cook orecchiette al dente in the same water you cooked arugula.Cook on low heat for 5 minutes, then add chopped arugula and cook for 5 minutes, then add cooked orrecchiette and let it cook for 2 minutes more.Serve hot adding more extra virgin olive oil to taste.

Italian Version - Versione Italiana

Ingredienti
500 gr. di orecchiette
2 spicchi di aglio
300 gr.di rucola
4 cucchiai di olio extra vergine di oliva
10 pomodorini rossi
1/2 peperoncino

Sale q.b.
10 olive nere

Pulite e lavate accuratamente la rucola. Lessatela in abbondante acqua salata per 5 minuti, scolatela bene e riutilizzate l'acqua per lessare le orecchiette. Mettete in una grande padella l'olio, i pomodorini tagliati a metà, il peperoncino,l'aglio e le olive tritate e insaporite con il sale.Dopo 5 minuti di cottura a fuoco lento, aggiungete la rucola e dopo altri 5 minuti le orecchiette scolate che nel frattempo avrete già cotte. Fate saltare in padella per qualche minuto per insaporire le orecchiette. Servite bollente aggiungendo olio crudo a secondo dei gusti.

Focaccia Pugliese

A traditional Focaccia from Puglia in the South of Italy , it's so popular there and in the city of Bari they use to eat it with mozzarella, burrata a typical mozzarella creamy or mortadella ,like a filled roll. I love it , because I love the flavour of oregano and garlic, and it's so soft because of the potatoes...

Ingredients
5 cups of all purpose flour
2 medium potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons of yeast active dry

10 plum tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
garlic, oregano, salt
Boil the potatoes until soft and peel them. Melt the brewer’s yeast in a cup with 1 cup of warm water. In a bowl put the potatoes and mash them. Add the yeast with the water .
Start kneeding adding the flour and 1-2 teaspoons of salt : when the dough doesn’t need any more flour (maybe you don't need all the flour or you need more , it depends on potatoes quality) , make a ball and put it on a dish towel sprinkled with flour. Let it rise covered in a warm place for two hours.
Bring oven to 475 F and grease a tin with olive oil , put int the tin the dough and spread it pressing slightly with the fingers.
Sprinkle with oregano and garlic finely chopped to taste , and put on the tomatoes crushed in halves, pressing slightly on the dough.
Sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil and salt to taste. Cook in the oven for 5 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 F and cook for 30 minutes more or till Focaccia is golden.Serve it hot!!

Versione Italiana - Italian version

La Focaccia tradizionale Pugliese , e' popolarissima e nella citta' di Bari usano mangiarla ripiena con mozzarella , burrata o mortadella. Mi piace perche' adoro l'aroma di origano ed aglio, e poi e' cosi' morbida grazie alle patate nell'impasto...

Ingredienti

500 gr. di farina
10 pomodorini ciliegini
2 patate medie
olio extra vergine di oliva
1 e 1/2 cucchiaino di lievito di birra secco
aglio, origano, sale

Lessate le patate e sbucciatele. Sciogliete il lievito in una tazza di acqua tiepida. Sulla spianatoia mettete un po' di farina e aggiungete le patate schiacciate. Aggiungete il lievito amalgamandolo alle patate ed alla farina.Aggiungete qualche presa di sale e cominciate ad impastare aggiungendo l'altra farina. Quando la pasta non richiede più farina fate una palla e mettetela a lievitare coperta in un posto tiepido per 2 ore. Accendete il forno a 240° quindi ungete una teglia con olio, stendete la pasta e aggiungerci ancora olio sopra e lo spalmate premendo leggermente con la punta delle dita. Spolverate con l'origano e disponete i pomodorini schiacciati a metà schiacciandoli un po' nell'impasto. Aggiungete ancora olio e sale ed infornate per cinque minuti poi abbassate la temperatura a 180° e continuate la cottura per un'altra mezz'oretta. A fine cottura la focaccia deve risultare molto dorata ed alta circa sei/sette cm. Servitela calda!!!

Grandma's Taralli - recipe

It's a sweet remembering, when I was a little child going to visit my grandma in Greci, always I brought back with me a big plastic bag full of this salty Taralli with a ring shape. They still make me think about my grandma. Eat them with some slice of salami and some piece of parmesan cheese and...obviously a glass of red wine.

Here the recipe :

TARALLI
Ingredients
10 cups of all-purpose flour
1/3 tsp of salt
1 cup of dry white wine
3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Work together the flour, the wine, the oil and the salt till you obtain an elastic and homogeneous dough.
Let it rest covered with a cloth for 20 minutes in a place not too cold.
In a big pot boil some water adding 1 tablespoon full of salt..
Make now taralli getting from the dough some small sticks 8-10 long like a finger and with the same diameter of a finger : close them on theirselves placing on the tops of the two ends and pressing them with a finger in order to seal them.
Take 10 at a time and put them in the boiling water and pull them again helping yourself with a skimmer as soon as they come on the surface.
Put them on a cloth, one next to the other, draining for a few minutes.
Grease a tin and put in it taralli without letting them touch on.
Put the tin in the oven(already switched on at 400º F) and let taralli cooking for 40 minutes
(they should became of a light brown).
If you want you can flavour them: you can add, during the kneding, one of these ingredients: seeds of fennel, sesame chilly pepper, oregano, scales of dry onion. One tablespoon of spices will be enough for this quantity of dough.