This is a very simple and cheap soup, but tastefull and vitaminic as well!

The quantities in the recipe are for 2. That's how I make it.

I start mincing a piece of celery stalk, half onion (or a small one) and a small carrot and then fry them very slowly in a casserole with olive oil (very slow for 20 minutes). Then I wash and cut 2 yellow pepper and one potato.

I add pepper and potato pieces to the frying vegetables and add some hot water, just to cover the ingredients. I let them cook for about 15 minutes, untill pepper and poteto are soft. When they are soft enough, I run it all through a sieve (but I do not throw the water away). So I get a soft cream, I put it in the casserole again, add salt  it (not too much please!) and let it cook for 10 minutes or more, untill it will get thicker (the liquid will evaporate).

Now it is ready. I serve it with grated parmesan and "extra vergine" olive oil on the surface!

Try it and then give me a feedback ;)

I did it for Christmas lunch this year. We were 10 adults and one child and these are the ingredients and quantities I used:

• 1Kg superfine flour
• 10 eggs
• 2 spoon olive oil
• a pinch of salt

I put the flour on the table and gave it the shape of a vulcan. I put the eggs inside (as in the photo above), added oil and salt, then started whisking slowly and let the eggs absorb the flour. When all the flour has been absorbed, I kneaded it for some minutes powerfully untill I got a smooth dough. Then I let it stand for 30 mnutes and finally splitted it in 4 parts and rolled it out from the middle with a rolling pin. I used flour to avoid sticking. I rolled it out in different directions with care, untill I got a 1 millimeter sheet. Then I rolled it into a tube and cut it in tagliatelle 1 cm large.
I prepared the tagliatelle the night (before to go to bed) and cooked them for lunch after about 12 hours.
I cooked them in salted boiling water and served them with meat ragu.

Onion soup belongs to the very famous french cuisine. But it is common in Italy as well and most Italians would say it is an italian recipe.

It is really tasteful and will be particularly appreciated in winter.

I use to do it this way. I cut the onions in very thin slices and let them cook with just some butter for at least 30 minutes, untill they are very smooth, but I have to pay attention not to let them burn.

Then I add some flour and some beef boullion (broth) , salt and pepper.  I let it boil for about 20 minutes.

In the meanwhile I toast some bread slices. Finally I will serve the onion soup in bouls with toasted bread slices and parmesan (you can have Swiss cheese if you prefer) as in the picture.

This is typical in middle Italy and you can eat it in some different ways, but the main ingredients are always the same: beans (canned beans) and pasta. This is very tasteful, easy to cook and cheap!

Here is the way I use to make it.

If you don't want to cook beans yourself, go ahead to next paragraph. To cook beans you have to put dried beans in a pot with water and let them soak for 8 hours before cooking ( let soak overnight). Then boil them for about 1 hour and a half adding garlig and sage. Add salt only at the end.

Now you will puree 2/3 of the beans in a food processor or blender. Put the puree and the beans in a pot, add some tomato paste, pepper and add water (you will cook pasta in it!). Taste and add salt if needed. Let it boil for 15 minutes and then add small shaped pasta. Let it cook for the time needed (about 10 minutes). Serve it with first quality Olive Oil. Enjoy!

This is not a very italian dessert, it is typical french ("Mousse au chocolat"), but what's important is that it is very tasteful and not difficult to prepare.
I did it according to a recipe that my friend Emanuelle from Besançon gave me.

First I let chocolate (400 gr for 8 persons) melt with butter (50 gr) and some coffee in a pot set over a larger pot of hot water.

I let it melt stirring it slowly untill I get a fluid smooth sauce.

Then I bring it away from the heat and after a while I add (8) egg yolks one after the other whithout stopping stirring and add 3 spoons of sugar as well.

At this point I beat the egg whites with a teaspoon of salt until I get a very dense foam.

At last, when the chocolate sauce is cold I add the egg whites foam to it, stirring it slowly from bottom to top. Then I pour this sauce in 8 small bowls and I cover each of them with  transparent film and put them in the refrigerator. They will be ready after 3 hours. Anyway I always use to prepare them the day before I want to eat them.

I have done this recipe as I am on a diet. This is good and light.
You have to wipe the mushrooms (field mushrooms or champignons) and cut them in little slices. Cook them in a wok, a large frying pan, with some garlic and add water while cooking. Add sweet marjoram, salt and pepper. Let the mushrooms cook for about 15 minutes.
Whash a bunch of rocket, cut it in pieces and add to the mushrooms. Let it cook for some more minutes.
After cooking the pasta firm (al dente), make it sauté with the mushrooms.
At last serve pasta with some parmesan silvers.

This is really typical in Italy. It is quick to prepare, very tasty and very nourishing. You can do it simply, all you need is:
- spaghetti
- eggs (1 per person)
- Parmesan cheese
- bacon
- salt and pepper

While water is boiling you will mix the egges with salt and pepper. Add to the egges Paremesan cheese and mix some more to have a fluid sauce.
Cut the bacon into tiny pieces and cook it or grill it without oil.
When  water is boiling add salt and spaghetti.
Don't cook the spaghetti too much, they must be "al dente" and be careful not to dry them. Saute them with the bacon and add the egg sauce. This is done and ready to serve.

"Scottadito" means finger burning, because this lamb cutlets are grilled and served hot, but you must use fingers instead of fork and knife to eat them. This is a typical recipe from Rome.
Take lamb cutlets which must be cut in single pieces and crusched. Dress them with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and leave them in this sause for about an hour before you cook them.
Then cook them on a vary hot grill on both sides.
Serve them hot with some spinach and lemon slice.

Pasta is the most famous italian food. It is not difficult to cook a pasta, but it is not easy to make a good one.
First of all, you cannot make a good pasta if you do not choose the best ingredients. Pasta needs to be of a good quality, tomato sauce needs to be made with ripe tomatoes and all vegetables or meat for the sauce need to be of a good quality if you want to make something good.
To cook this pasta with spinach you need to buy good pasta (penne in the picture), ripe red tomatoes and fresh spinach.
Wash tomatoes, put them for one minute in boiling water, then peel them and cut them to little pieces.
Wash spinach as well.
Boil some water (1 lt per 100gr pasta) with salt. Cook pasta and spinach together in the water.
In the meanwhile cooke the tomatoes with oliveoil, garlic, salt and pepper in a baking tin. Strain pasta and spinach and add them to the tomato sauce and sauté for a while. You can add parmesan, if you like it.

Mullet, triglia in italian, is a small but tasty fish, which is common in italy and is both fried or grilled or cooked in different ways.
An easy and tasty recipe is to grill them. Just make a sause with olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Put the fishes (which must be scaled and washed) in the sause for about 10 minutes, then grill them on both sides. Serve with lemon slices.

Scaloppine, in french escalope, are a cutlet of beef, not thicker then 0.2 inches which are cooked according to a common practice. Let's see how.
First of all each cutlet is dredged with flour, then cooked in hot olive oil or butter, for just 2 minutes (one minute per side).
Then there are many different recipes to prepare them, but in most cases a sauce is cooked and added to the meat.
A simple but tasty way to go on is to add salt and pepper, a little white wine and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, add some lemon juice and after one minute put the scaloppine on a dish.
Add some butter and some parsley into the baking tin and make a sauce, with which you will serve the scaloppine!