Italian Home Cooking

Home cooking, fundamentals, recipes, my experience, ideas for everyday cooking with good ingredients. The basics I learnt from my mom and dad, the classic dishes we used to eat often, the simple ones, the healthy ones. I am posting some basic videos and images, just to give you an idea of how the preparation can be done and I am describing how I do it. It is not necessarily the only way of cooking but it has a lot of love, passion, experience and positive feedback. To me cooking is even more enjoyable than eating. The time in the kitchen is the best time of my day. I use the same passion when I cook for my self, my family or my friends. It's love. It's not about quantity, it's about quality. It's about applying the right fundamentals, using selected ingredients, using the right temperatures and the right timings. It's love for food and its preparation.. and of course, imagination :)

[lucacooks]

Ingredients. Don’t go cheap. Buy quality, certified raw materials:)

I buy my beef mainly from Australia but South Africa, Argentina, Italy, Ireland are great quality too. I buy it fresh, I clean it myself, cut it in steaks and freeze them at -30 Degrees at home. There is obviously a cost saving by buying a big piece at a time

[lucacooks]

La salsiccia

Where I live there is no good fresh pork salsiccia, so I import it fresh from a small farm in italy near my house. I know where it comes from and I know it’s so fresh and pure that I can eat it raw and it’s the most delicious thing in the world, spread over a piece of warm bread. I also cook it, without any spice or oil. I dont make hole in it, I just put it in a pan and switch the fire on. Maybe just a little white wine to add some flavor and humidity to it. There is plenty of juice in it to cook it properly. I leave it rear

[lucacooks]

Making a little BBQ for a few friends. Ingredients are key and my supplier is great. We get meat from Australia, Ireland and Italy. Here we have Australian 1824 Fillet, a Tomahawk and Irish Lamb rack. I use real wood and, once the right temperature is right, I close the lid almost fully to make the heat rotate inside the BBQ itself. This way the meat will cook equally top and bottom. Will only flip it once, to color both sides

[lucacooks]

Tools! I started buying Global knives a few years ago without knowing much about them. I soon found out that they are made of relatively soft steel; they need often sharpening, they are flexible and so balanced. I use the G5 for my vegetables every day and I love it

[lucacooks]

No time for cooking and received some great Irish cheese to taste:) Made myself a simple cheese plate. No need for skills here!

[lucacooks]

Capesante Arrostite (Rosted Scallops)

This is a very simple and quick recipe. Possibly my favorite for the scallops

#1 Warm up a metal pan

#2 Remove the scallops from their shelves and wash them

#3 Lay the scallops onto the hot pan

#4 They will need around one or 2 minutes per side. Dont add oil

#5 Once colored on both sides, dress them with Extra Virgin Oilve Oil, fresh basil and salt

That’s it! Delicious:)

[lucacooks]

When I was a kid, I hated onions. Then, for some reasons I started liking them and now I love them. These are slowly cooked on an outdoor steel grill and they are constantly kept moistened by a mix of white wine and little of soy sauce. You can finish them with some sesame seeds before serving them. They need a bit of patience to cook them the right amount of time

[lucacooks]

My rabbit. I cook it either in a cast iron pot or in the oven. Both ways are delicious. Someone like it dry and crispy, someone like it wet. I like them both. Yummy

[lucacooks]

Little BBQ at the mountain house. Cooked on stone. Excellent stuff

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A small but important moment of preparation. The onion base for my prawns

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A new load of Takumi Wagyu has arrived. Time to clean it and make some marvelous steaks. Are they enough marbled?

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Some special appetizer with these freshly caught gamberoni in te mediterranean. Accurately cleaned and eaten raw with a glass of MOET. Top

[lucacooks]

Acciughe Marinate (marinated Anchovies)

Ingredients: fresh anchovies, Extra virgin oil, sun dried tomatoes, capers, pepper, lemon juice

1) The hardest part is the cleaning (see picture) Cut the head, cut the fish with a sharp knife under its belly, in order to open it and remove the bones and the spinal. Be delicate

2) Rinse all the fillets with cold water. Be delicate

3) Rest the fillets in a pan and cover it with lemon juice for an hour, till they become white

4) Remove the fillets from the pan, dry the from the lemon and rest them in a dry pan

5) Dress them with the olive oil, black pepper, sun dried tomatoes in pieces and capers

This recipe takes time, love and patience. Once it’s ready, you’ll love it

[lucacooks]

Salmone marinato nel limone

(Marinated Salmon in Lemon)

Ingredients: fresh salmon fillet, 2 lemons, extra virgin oil, pepper, cherry tomatoes, capers

1) Slice the salmon fillet in thin slices. Need a sharp knife

2) Rest the slices in a plate and cover it with lots of lemon juice.

3) Leave it there for an hour, till it becomes white

4) Dress it with extra virgin oil, pepper, sliced cherry tomatoes

Simple, healthy and sooooo good

[lucacooks]

Aragosta alla Catalana (Lobster Catalana)

Ingredients: Fresh Lobster Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Basil, Salt & Pepper, 1 Onion in slices, Peeled tomatoes in cubes, Lemon juice, rocket salad

1. Boil the fresh lobster for 15/20 minutes

2. Prepare a bed of rocket salad

3. Slice an onion and prepare cubes of peeled tomatoes. Add pepper and fresh basil. Put everything in a bowl as a salad

4. Once the lobster is cooked, remove it from its skin and slice it in medallions

5. Rest the medallions on the rocket salad

6. Cover it with the salad you prepared

7. Add a mix of extra virgin olive oil, pepper, lemon juice

Enjoy... it’s special

[lucacooks]

Tagliatelle all’uovo con sugo di Prosciutto di Parma

(egg tagliatelle with Parma Ham and Creme)

Category: main course (primo) - Pasta

Ingredients: Tagliatelle l’uovo (Cocco is my favorite) 400 gr, Parma Ham 200 gr, Parmigiano, Liquid creme, 1 Onion, Extra virgin oil, salt, pepper, Basil, chopped tomatoes, white wine

Preparation for 4 ppl:

1) Prepare the “soffritto”, mincing one onion very finely. Cook it at low fire for a while in the oil and half glass of white wine, till the onion is soft and yellow. Add pepper (see picture)

2) Add 2 cans of chopped tomatoes and mix all together, always at low/medium fire. Cook for at least 5/10 minutes, making sure it doesn’t burn

3) The tagliatelle will take 4 minutes, once put in boiling water, so your timing is important

4) With 2 minutes to go for the pasta to be ready, add the thin slices of Parma Ham and a coffe cup of Creme in the tomato sauce, mix all together

5) At “al dente” drain the pasta e pour it in the sauce pot. Mix it well

6) Add the basil for added aroma and serve it (see picture)

7) Dress it with freshly grated Parmigiano (see picture)

remember, ingredients are very important here:)

Hope you like it

[lucacooks]

Category: cold fast food at home; 

Open the fridge and no idea what to do?

Last night I made up a plate with what I found in the fridge

Ingredients:

Fresh mozzarella

Pealed tomatoes

Olives

Brie

Anchovies

Minced Basil

Olive oil

Salt

It was gooood:) Simple, fast, healthy