Zucchini and ricotta dumplings in spinach and blue cheese cream, with walnuts

For the dumplings:

Grate 4 zucchini, add 500g of ricotta, 2 tbsp of grated Parmigiano Reggiano, 2 eggs, salt and pepper to taste,  and enough breadcrumbs to make the mixture workable (about 2 tbsp) so that you can make about 25 golf ball-sized balls. Place the balls on an oven tray lined with baking paper and spray with a little oil. bake at 180C for about 20-25 minutes, or until they start to golden (turn over once if they seem to cook too much on the bottom). Cool down

For the sauce:

In a casserole place 4 frozen spinach portions with 250 ml of vegetables stock. Simmer until the spinach is defrosted, then add 300 ml of cream and 125 g of gorgonzola or blue cheese, cubed. Simmer and stir until the cheese has melted. 

Assemble:

Add the ricotta dumplings into the simmering sauce and stir gently, until the balls are well coated and simmer for 5 more minutes. Top with chopped parsley and walnut halves. Serve hot, with plenty of sauce.

  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

 

Zucchini with marigold vinegar and marigold fresh petals

 

This is a delicious starter or side dish. Cut the zucchini in thin long strips and pan fry with olive oil on both sides for just a minute (don't let them brown, they just need to soften). Chop plenty of Italian parsley and garlic with a pinch of salt and add to the zucchini, with a tbsp or two of marigold vinegar (recipe here). If you don't have marigold vinegar just use some white balsamic or white wine vinegar (but consider making marigold vinegar too!). Let the zucchini marinate for at least two hours, more if possible, then lay on a serving platter and sprinkle with fresh marigold petals. Serve at room temperature of chilled.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

(Alessandra's) Terrine of vegetables ‘in scapece’ - and sharing recipes for free on the internet

A friend told me that I should put my recipes on Instagram, in same ways she is right, I spend a lot of time on Insta (more than with blogger) but I don't want to give up my (numerous) blogs the Blogger blog, they are a great archive, a diary, and collected thousands of free recipes, which have been made and shared many times, and also a source of inspiration to a number of people in the food business. Of course many of these have also been 'copied' (without credits of permission) even by some 'sort of famous' food writers and chefs... but I don't mind, I blog to spread the gospel of good, fresh, simple vegetarian food, and it is working. If the the same recipes ideas reach people through AB instead of me just because AB is well know, I am happy for it! Plus in my job I give a lot of recipes away, or consult or write for others. Easy. 
But I admit that sometimes I raise my eyebrows if I see one of my recipes in a magazine (and without permission).  It may be lightly adapted in wording and newly photographed, but I still know, immediately that it was taken from one of my social media because I am well aware of which recipes are mine, down to what percentage, if part traditional of inspired by others. But mostly it tells me more about the people/companies who re-use these resources for their own gain, and to the fact that if you put something online then you should let it go! 

So I am not sure if I will find the time or energy to publish recipes on Instagram as well, I'll start with one of my most loved creations and see what's happens. After all if one of my recipes ends up in a magazine or someone else blog I usually find out because one of my readers tells me, which means that others notice it too, so best to share the best!

Like this one for example, which I first published on this blog 10 years ago with the name of Torta di Verdure in Scapece. Scapece is an Italian way of 'marinating' food, (like escabece in Spanish) but I know that this torta/terrine is my own. I shared it with an Italian food forum and went down very well (as well as it goes down at the table) and I made it many more times since so it is truly tasted. Then a few days ago a took a photo and decided that since it is such an amazing vegan recipe I should share on Insta and with an English name, terrine of vegetables ‘in scapece’. 

I truly do hope that chefs, and everyone else, start making it, it tastes soo good that it has to be shared! Someone may even re-publish it, I don't mind, and perhaps they will choose to add Alessandra's on the recipe? Or maybe a credit in the book? Or send me a box of chocolates and a thank you note :-). Who knows... 


Anyway, I copy and paste the recipe from Insta, try it!!

The best dish of the Holidays is this terrine of vegetables ‘in scapece’. It takes an afternoon to make and at least two days in the fridge after that, but it is AMAZING ❤️🧡💜💚 

Fry many (many many) eggplants, zucchini and coloured capsicums slices in olive oil. Place on kitchen paper and add salt as you work. Peel the capsicums after frying. Layer the slices in a terrine adding chopped Italian parsley and garlic, plus breadcrumbs, after each layer and spraying with some white balsamic vinegar. Press down as you assemble. Use lots if parsley and garlic! Don’t skip layers! Press down well before covering - add a weight on top if necessary. Refrigerate for at least two days before tipping out. Slice and serve 😋 #sharingmyrecipes#vegetarianvibes

Baby zucchini, zucchini flower and basil leaf beer tempura

This was so yum!!!! My zucchini plants now make only little zucchini, they must be tired. But baby zucchini are so delicious and special, and the flowers too, that I decided to make something scrumptious, like tempura. And also to add some big basil leaves: I love leaves in tempura, but I never tried Italian basil, it was amazing!!

For the batter I used a tempura flour mix and, instead of water, a chilled Peroni Leggera beer. Using cold beer produce a crispy tempura, plus you can drink beer while you are cooking :-).

Don't overtax the batter, make sure the oil is really hot, and cook the baby zucchini first, then the flowers and the basil leaves. sprinkle with salt and serve, with more beer!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta and basil

I have quite a few zucchini in the garden but not so many flowers yet, and I love fried zucchini flowers (you can find the step by step recipe here). So I decided to pick a few little zucchini with the flowers still attached and to stuff them. Clean the vegetables and flower, remove the stigma and the styles. Do not detach from the young zucchini. Mix a few tablespoons of ricotta with a pinch of salt, pepper, roughly broken basil leaves and a drop of olive oil. Stuff the flowers and twist the top to seal. Make a batter with egg, flour, a pinch of salt and thin with a little cold beer of water. Dip the zucchini and flowers in the batter to coat and then pan fry with olive oil, turning them so that they cook on all sides. They should be golden and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt and serve. Use the remaining batter to coat zucchini slices, or sage leaves (look here!) or anything you like.

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Plant based recipes for an Autumn evening

Brrrrr it is getting cold! Time to prepare some filling, comforting and easy dinners :-).

Greg gave us a long pumpkin from his garden, I love it as you just need to slice it and peel it and you have a nice pumpkin medallion!

Roasted pumpkin medallions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Slice, peel and place onto an oven tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt, smoked paprika, garlic and crushed cumin seeds. Roast until tender. Toast a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds the oven and sprinkle on the pumpkin medallions before serving.

In addition I had the last zucchini in the garden, not quite a marrow but quite big, so I sliced it and baked it too:

Baked zucchini

Wash and slice lengthwise, drizzle with olive oil and salt, bake. That all!

To serve I added some basmati and lentils

Lemon basmati and lentils

Wash and cook the basmati with a small pinch of salt, open a can of lentils, drain from the water and pour the lentils on top of the rice during the last five minutes of cooking. Turn off the heat, add two tbsp of lemon juice and stir.

And to top some instant hummus with almond dukka:

Instant hummus

Open a can of chickpeas, drain and keep half of its water. Blend the chickpeas, water, two peeled garlic cloves and the juice of half a lemon until smooth. Add salt to taste and a little olive oil.

Almond dukka

Toast half a cup of almond, a few sunflower and pumpkin seeds and 1 tsp of cumin seeds. Add a little rock salt, a pinch of paprika or the spice of your choice. Grind and use to top the Hummus.

Well, that was easy, the kids loved it and got eaten in no time!

And remember that May 15 is Food Revolution Day! Sign the petition here!

#FoodRevolutionDay

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Stuffed zucchini for vegans and for vegetarians - Zucchine ripiene

I have two zucchini plants in the garden, one yellow and one green. They produce a lot, the yellow three times more than the green (I don't know why) and we have been eating zucchini in 100 different ways: grilled, sautéed, fried and tempura, in soups, with pasta… fortunately they are very versatile!

Here I had a few big ones (sometimes I don't pick them for a day and they double overnight! But the important thing is that they don't get to the 'marrow' state - too big and bitter) so I decided to stuff them.

I cut them into two and scooped out the flesh. Then I baked the shells upside down with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil for 15 minutes. In the meantime I blended the zucchini flesh and then added chopped parsley and chives (about 1 tbsp), salt and pepper, a tbsp of olive oil and enough breadcrumbs to make a stuffing (add the breadcrumb one tbsp at the time so that you don't add too much). The zucchini were fresh from the garden and therefore they were very moist, so I needed more breadcrumbs, but if you buy them they may be a few days old and more dry, so less breadcrumbs are needed. I removed the zucchini from the oven, turned them up and filled them tightly with the stuffing. 

In the tray you can see also some zucchini slices, these where from 'regular' size zucchini, and I used them as side veggies.

Bake everything until the stuffing has a nice golden crust. If you are a Vegan you can enjoy them as they are, and if you are a vegetarian add cheese 5 minutes before removing them from the oven. The kids loved them, and they are so easy to make!

 Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Minestrone with the last veggies from the garden

My garden is now empty, except for some miniature leeks (a kind name for leeks that haven't grown) a few solitary small potatoes trapped in clay, and some mizuna. Pots still have herbs and some timid Alpine strawberries (incredible!), but for the rest... all gone! I save everything, even ugly carrots and watery yellow zucchini, and even the green tomatoes: in a minestrone soup all tastes good.

My favourite were the beans, it is just so much fun shelling them and look at the beautiful colours. Pity that they become all brown during cooking.

And here is the minestrone. No recipe, just wash, chop and boil, add salt to taste and extra virgin olive oil at the end. So tasty and healthy! Some of the photos are mine, but the prettiest are Arantxa's!

Photos and recipe by Alessandra Zecchini and Arantxa Zecchini Dowling ©

Fregola with zucchini and halloumi

Yesterday I had another record page views: 2,060. Funny, as I don't have much time to post these days. The most clicked post is always this one, with around 1000 hits each month, so I though that perhaps the word halloumi is a good one to have :-). Well, regardless of which post is more popular of not, thank you all for visiting!

Fregola with zucchini and halloumi

Ingredients:

2 zucchini

1 garlic clove

2 tbsp olive oil

1 block of halloumi cheese

1 cup fregola pasta

500 vegetable stock

chopped parsley

lemon to decorate

Wash the zucchini and cut into thick strips. Peel the garlic and cut into two pieces. Heat the olive oil and the add the garlic, zucchini and the block of halloumi. Sauté stirring constantly and turning the halloumi often. When the houllumi start to become golden remove from the pan and set aside. Add the fregola and stir with the zucchini until toasted. Add a little vegetable stock, lower the heat and cover. Stir from time to time, adding more stock when necessary, until cooked (about 20 minutes). Cut the halloumi into slices and place back over the fregola, then add chopped parsley and lemon slices. Serve hot. If you don't have fregola use Israeli cous cous or risoni pasta.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Easy Parmigiana with zucchini and eggplants, step by step

Slice the eggplants and 'sweat' with salt for at least an hour. Rinse and pat dry. Slice the zucchini into long strips, you can also sweat the zucchini for 20 minutes to take away any bitterness and make them soft, if you like. Step two will be to either fry the vegetable slices (with olive oil) or to grill/bake them. If you fry them they are tastier, but a bit greasy (remove excess oil with kitchen paper) and it does take time! If you decide to grill them or bake them just put them on a baking tray lined with kitchen paper, brush with olive oil and add a pinch of salt. Place under the grill or in fan oven at 180°C until they look cooked on one side, turn them over and cook them on the other side. The grill is quicker, the oven tends to dry them up, so when I turn them I also cover them with more baking paper so that they keep some 'steam'. I prefer the baking method but for special occasions I fry!! Once you have all your veggies ready start assembling them like this:

In a roasting pan make a first layer of fried/baked zucchini (don't need to grease the pan,
the zucchini have been cooked in oil.

Add a little passata (Italian tomato sauce).

Add a second layer of fried/baked eggplants.

Add some more passata.

Add more zucchini.

Add some more passata and top with mozzarella. Bake until the mozzarella melts.

Eat.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Champagne Zucchini and do you know this flower?

 First the flower: it is a shrub, quite prolific, I had it for years (it was in the garden when we bought the house 14 years ago) and I say shrub because it has never grown into a tree... so I guess that it will remain small (?). It seems to be evergreen and flowers now (Autumn in NZ). If you know what it is please let me know :-).

Champagne Zucchini

I made this a while ago but I didn't find the time to post it. I know that zucchini are not in season now, but many of you live in the Northern Hemisphere, so you may appreciate the idea. FYI I didn't buy Champagne especially to make this :-), I just had some leftover, and I didn't want to waste it.

Sauté the zucchini and a shallot with one tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt for a few minutes, then add the champagne (I had just over a glass).

Don't add water, between the champagne and the water from the zucchini you should have enough! Keep cooking and stir often until all liquid has absorbed and the zucchini are soft (about 20 minutes). Adjust with salt and pepper and finish with some fresh chopped parsley. I really liked it, and now I know what I will do if I ever get some leftover champagne again. Or any other bubbly :-).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

The Bake Club, Auckland

On Sunday I went to my first 'social' of the Bake Club. Frances was the host, Nicola and Ginny were there with their baking (the Bake Club is going through a Gluten Free stage now, it seems) and, possibly something unusual for a blogging club, the partners were there too.

Usually I see food bloggers meetings made up by ladies, often with kids, so having the blokes there made it seem quite different. It is also the only blogging club I know of in Auckland... in New Zealand actually. And I got my badge!!!!

I took a lot of photos with my little camera, but I cannot find the cable to download them! I can only post the photos I took at home...

We had to bring some baking, fortunately for me the day before I had the neighbours

for afternoon tea (we never see them because there are too many trees around), and I had some food ready.

The marzipan and calissons....

And then as a quick fix i just dipped some cake squares in melted chocolate and topped them with a raspberry.

To bake something savoury, and gluten free, I picked my very first zucchini from the garden.

Cooked them with olive oil, garlic and salt.

I cleaned and flatten the zucchini flowers,

And placed everything nicely in a baking pan lined with baking paper.

I whipped 6 eggs with a pinch of salt, pepper and a drop of olive oil until really foamy (thanks to my new kitchen aid!!!)

Poured it on top of the zucchini,

Baked at 160°C for ... 25 minutes? About that ... I got distracted. Anyway, it smelled ready so I took it out.

Flip it over and ecco pronta a gluten free baked frittata! Thank you for the great afternoon Frances :-)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

The good life, yellow capsicums and round zucchini

A little break from the 'writing a cookbook' posts. Writing a book doesn't stop you (or shouldn't stop you) doing other things too! And then I also have two children, other work to do, and while I am in Italy I should also try to help my Aunt Alice in the country. I am in the north of Veneto, and this is the view from my Aunt's house. (The view, not my Aunt's house!)

Aunt Alice needed help with cutting the grass and raking it. I even found this old hand-made rake, a bit heavy really, the newer ones are better, but I liked the look of it, it reminded me the rakes my Grandfather used to make.

Raking is hard work, the grass need to be turned so that it can dry in the sun, then transported to the barn (with a wheelbarrow, and the land is very steep too), but in the end I was glad for a a bit of exercise outdoors, and for my children to learn about traditional farm work.

There are also 5 new chicks, they are still in the cage with the hen, I thought that they could go out in the courtyard by now, but Auntie looks after several stray cats (at present she has 17) and the chicks are safer in the cage.

Here are some of Aunt Alice's cats. Yes, in Italy cats also eat pasta!

The other night a fox or a dog or another animal went into the hen house and killed all the chickens.

Only the hen and chicks in the cage were safe (so it was good that they were in the cage after all!). So sad, there were 5 chickens and a rooster... Alice never eats them, she keeps them for the eggs, and when they are old they die of old age and get buried. So it was a pity. Let's hope that the chicks are not all male now!!!!

No eggs this week, but we got payed for our farm labour with other produce: here some lovely organic apples...

...and blackberries.

Then we picked the last tomatoes, for salad and sauces.

onions

This zuccotto pumpkin is not ready yet, but I wanted to take a photo :-)

Not so many beans this year. The last ones are drying to be shelled,

The fresh (we call them teghe) are green and purple and lovely.

There are still a few white eggplants,

and the capsicums were huge this year! Here a photo when green...

.... And after a week of sun!

We cooked them like this:

Stewed Yellow Capsicums

Chop and onion, a carrot, a stalk of celery and 4 (huge) capsicums. Place in a pot with a little olive oil and sauté for a few minutes. Simmer on low, keeping the pot covered and stirring from time to time for about 40 minutes to one hour. The vegetables should have enough water and as long as you keep the heat very low you probably won't need to add water. I add the salt only halfway through the cooking. Usually we serve them with eggs, but as I told you before, we had no eggs... so we served this with chunky bread and cheese.

A part from capsicum Alice also has lots of zucchini flowers. For my favourite recipe, fried zucchini flowers, click here.

And then there are 'regular' zucchini, and round zucchini in Aunt Alice's garden. I like the round zucchini!

Here how the round zucchini look like sliced.

Lemon Sautéd Green and Round Zucchini

Slice the zucchini and cut the bigger slices into quarters. Sauté two peeled garlic cloves with a little olive oil, then add the zucchini, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. The round zucchini are softer and will mush a little, but they have a great taste. The round zucchini will 'almost' mush, but keep their shape and colour better (the round one turn yellow!). Add salt halfway through cooking. At the end add a tsp of fresh chopped Italian parsley and a few lemon slices (or the juice of half a lemon).

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©