Pasta with scrimps, courgettes and zaffron (penne ai gamberi, zucchine e zafferano dell'Aquila)

The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine

I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm very sorry for the long absence....but here I am with a bunch of new Italian recipes. Here is the new, easy and tasty one: do you have some frozen scrimps and just one courgette? ... Add a little zaffron (in my case I have used the fantastic Italian zaffron from l'Aquila, Abruzzi) and voilà a nice complete meal!!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

250gr of short Italian pasta (penne, fusilli, farfalle)250gr frozen, or 350 of fresh, peeled and cleaned scrimps
1 medium courgette
1 medium onion
3-4 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil
few zaffron threads (or 1 small sachet of zaffron powder )
salt and pepper to taste
2lt of salted boiling water

Instructions:
- If possible take the frozen scrimps out of the freezer several hours before the use, or defrost in the microwave. If you are using fresh scrimps peel and clean them.
- Clean and cut the corgette in small pieces, finely cut the onions.

-Warm up a little water , place the zaffron threads in a small cup, add the warm water and let them soak few minutes. The water will get yellow. You do not need to do this if you use zaffron powder.

- Bring to a boil 2 liters of water, add 1and tbs of coarse salt.
- Pour the olive oil in a large pan on a medium heat, when ot add the onion, fry till onion gets transparent then add the courgette. Cook for a 5-6 minutes, stirring from time to time.
- In the meanwhile cook the pasta in the boiling water, following the cooking directions described in your pasta package. Attention: cook your pasta very "al dente" (it will cook few additional minutes in the sauce!!)

- Add the scrimps and the zaffron with his yellow water. Cook fro 3-4 additional minutes.
- Drain the pasta and pour it in the scrimps sauce pan, cook 3 additional minutes stirring well. add salt and pepper to taste.

Your pasta is ready! Serve warm with a sprinkle of finely cut parsley and a nice glass of Italian dry wine... buon appetito!

Comments

Neapolitan "Sfogliatella Frolla" (sfogliatella frolla napoletana)

The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine I miss Italy tremendously... so today I will propose you something very traditional from Naple: the Sfogliatella! Neapolitan most famous pastry:"Sfogliatella"comes in two styles: "riccia", with a crust of many crisp, papery layers, and "frolla", with a thicker pastry crust. The riccia's tender exterior (made with flour, water, and lard) consists of concentric squashed rings. The frolla shell (made with flour, sugar, and butter or lard) is like the best sweet piecrust. Both hold fillings of sweetened ricotta and cooked semolina flavored with vanilla, "millefiori" flavour and mixed candied fruits. I propose you the Sfogliatella frolla, much easier to make at home....but terrific as well as the Riccia! The filling is, anyway, always the same. Makes about 20 Sfogliatelle Ingredients for the pastry crust: 500gr Pastry flour 180gr

Croissants with apricot jam filling (cornetti alla marmellata di albicocche)

These croissants briochés with apricot jam filling are perfect for the traditional Italian breakfast: Cornetto e Cappuccino ! WOOOW I feel back in Italy already! Freshly baked they are delicious and the good baking smell will go all over your house...so what are you waiting to bake your own cornetti? The basic dough is the same of the French braided brioche Ingredients: 1French brioche dough see recipe here 1 cup of apricot jam 1 beaten egg for the glaze 1 tbs of milt for the glaze few tbs of pearl sugar for decoration Instructions: With a rolling pin start to roll out your brioche dough till you get a large circle. Try the get a perfect circle like the one above. Cut the circle in 16 triangles. Make a small cut at the base of the triangle. Fill with a teaspoon of jam. Roll the croissant starting from the large base. Roll all the croissants. Place them on an oven tray with parchment paper and make them rest for one hour. In the meanwhile p

Pastiera Napoletana, Neapolitan Easter Grain Pie

The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine The Pastiera is the most famous Neapolitan Easter traditional pastry. Prepared since centuries, in the region of Campania almost every family own his special Pastiera recipe. It's a pie crust with a filling of boiled grains (grano cotto), milk, ricotta, candied fruits (cedro, zucca e arancia candita), orange blossoms water (acqua di fiori d'arancio). The Pastiera is so famous to deserve its own website: www.pastiera.com, I have got Pastiera from the Italian bakeries since I was a child.... and now I've finally baked it myself, a few times, trying to get the good recipe.... finally I think I got it! This is my own Pstiera recipe: the crust is the one I use for crust pies in general, the traditional recipe uses lard I prefer to use butter, you can use what you like. The canned cooked grains are a must, you will normally find it in the italian grocery stores, as wel

My Italian Cuisine

Search This Blog