italian easy recipes : Garlic Bread

Garlic Bread

Ingredients

• Loaf of Italian bread or other bread such as french bread  
• 2 spoon butter (omit if you prefer) melted 
• 3-4 spoon extra virgin olive oil 
• 2 cloves minced garlic

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450F or broil.
2. Slice bread in length wise on its side so you have 2 long pieces of bread, the top and the bottom. (As if you were filleting the bread)
3. Melt the butter and mix with the olive oil and garlic. Mix well with spoon or fork.
4. Spread on the open side of the bread with a brush or spoon. Do your best to even it out but don't worry about it too much
5. Place bread face up on baking pan and place in oven.
6. Bake at 450 or at broil for about 5 minutes.
7. Keep checking bread until it is the right amount of crispness. Some people like it slightly toasted while others like it very toasted and browned. So judge for your own preference, but be careful to keep a close eye on the bread that it doesn't burn since it is at such a high temperature.
8. When finished, remove from oven and slice into desired thickness. 1 inch thickness is pretty typical, but do what you prefer.

     
      TIP #1: Prepare this recipe when you are not doing a ton of things at once because it is easy to forget about. And before you know it, you'll see the smoke coming from the oven and the fire alarm will sound. What? No of course this has never happened to me!
     
      TIP #2: To keep the bread warm after baking/toasting, wrap in tin foil and set aside until ready to serve.
     
      TIP 3#: To cut down on fat and calories, omit the butter. It will still taste amazing.
    

Easy Italian Recipes : Chickpea Salad

Chickpea Salad 

     Ingredients

• 2 14 oz. cans chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 6 scallions sliced
• 1 red onion chopped in small pieces
• 2 medium tomatoes - chopped
• 10-12 black olives (black or kalamata) chopped
• 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
• 5 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar (red is good too)
• salt and pepper to taste (optional)

     Instructions

1.      In a large bowl mix the chick peas, scallions, onion, tomatoes, olives and parsley.
2.     In a small bowl mix the olive oil and vinegar to make the dressing.
3.     Pour the dressing on the salad and mix well.
4.     Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

TIP #1: Use what you have on hand. For example, you will see in my video I only had red wine vinegar, so I used that instead of the white. You can omit the scallions, but they are nice flavor.

TIP #2: Use a mix of olives if you want, but I used plain black olives from a can and these worked fine.

TIP #3: If serving to people who are picky, don't mention it has chickpeas. Too many people think these are boring legumes, but espeically for those on a diet - it is a perfect recipe!

Easy Italian Recipes : Baked Pasta

 Baked Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 box Rigatoni or other short tube shape of pasta
• 32 oz. tomato/pasta sauce
• 15 oz. ricotta cheese (low fat is fine)
• 5 cloves garlic chopped
• Grated romano cheese (no specific quantity - but about 2 cups - use what you have)
• Large sauce pan of water for boiling
• pinch of salt (optional)
• 13x7 pan or 2 8x8 pan

Instructions

1.  Add a pinch of salt to the water and bring to a boil.
2. Add the pasta (I've used either rigatoni or mezzi rigatoni. Mezzi rigatoni means 1/2 size. )
3. Cook for just over 1/2 the normal time (About 7 minutes - depends on pasta type). You do not want the pasta to reach al dente because it will continue cooking in the oven.
4. Drain the pasta.
5. Put one scoop of pasta sauce on the bottom of the pan.
6. Add a layer of pasta (there will only be 2 layers).
7. Put a layer of sauce to sufficiently cover the pasta. The pasta will absorb the sauce.
8. Put a layer of the ricotta. I used about 3/4 of the cheese.
9. Mix all together.
10. Add rest of pasta, then sauce, then remainder of ricotta and the romano. (Make sure all edges are covered with sauce otherwise they will be dry.)
11. Mix all together again sprinkling the garlic around.
12. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 365 for 25-35 minutes. You can tell when it is done when the sauce in the pan is bubbling up from the bottom and the taste test says so!

TIP #1: Add meat if you want, but make sure it is already cooked

TIP #2:  Do not tell anyone how easy this is to make

TIP #3: Freeze what you do not eat and reheat in the oven or microwave for later