Gnocchi With Tomatoes, Pancetta & Wilted Watercress

“We use just a touch of pancetta—cured Italian-style bacon—to balance the sweet tomatoes and peppery watercress. Make it a meal: A salad tossed with a red-wine vinaigrette completes dinner. We like the texture of ’shelf-stable’ prepared gnocchi found in the Italian section of most supermarkets, but frozen and fresh refrigerated gnocchi also work well here.” EatingWell, June 2007. — posted by DiScharf

Tuscan White Beans W/ Red Onion & Salami

From the book The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. This is a wonderful recipe for any time of year. Serve it as part of a buffet, a light lunch or dinner. It also travles well for a picnic. Leftovers can be pureed or mashed with some more olive oil to top bruschetta or dip with veggies.

The book (and I) suggest a light Chianti to go with this.

The recipe calls for Cacciatora salami, which is wonderful if you can get it, its my favorite, but any small, hard salami will do. The actual recipe calls for 1/2 or 2.5 oz salami. I’ve never measured, I use what I like. You can also use a can of olive oil packed tuna, drained and you have another classic salad.

For the beans the book says “They’re called corona, bianco di Spagna or bianco grande in Italian and soisson in French…An american organic pinto bean makes and excellent replacement.” I have used great northern as well. A good vidalia onion is a great sub for the red and I have also used green…
Cooking times are just a guess.
Have fun and enjoy! — posted by Ilysse

Riso Al Latte (Rice and Milk) With Strawberries

From Simply Tuscan by Pino Luongo. This is found in the sectioon of the book called Summer: Dinner for Children and their Friends. Other types of berries work in this as well or use a mixture. — posted by Ilysse

Scrambled eggs with ham and onions

I always try to have a prepared meal for my kids when they arrive home from school. A few days ago, I cooked paksiw na pata and all that was needed was to reheat it so that the kids could have an early dinner. But the house helper not only forgot to reheat the paksiw — she also forgot to cook rice. It takes about 20 minutes to cook rice. What was I going to do — make the kids wait that long? That would have meant 20 minutes of incessant whining about how hungry they were. So, I decided to make a quick snack for them — scrambled eggs with ham and onions flavored with lots of herbs.

Eggs are a staple in our kitchen. Very rarely will you catch us egg-less. I enjoyed breakfasts and afternoon snacks of fried eggs and bread when I was a kid; so did my husband. The strange this is that our daughters prefer their fried eggs differently. While most — myself included — prefer eggs cooked sunny side up with the yolk still runny, my 15-year-old daughter wants the yolk well done. My 13-year-old, on the other hand, does not eat eggs cooked sunny side up. She only eats them scrambled. But scrambled eggs, with nothing else, is too plain for her sister. So, we always try to find a middle ground. The day I cooked the scrambled eggs in the photo, that middle ground meant the inclusion of ham and sliced onions.