Is eat!…..and apart from some wonderful memories, this is the only part of my stay I can bring home!
Eating on the Amalfi Coast has to be one of life’s greatest joys. It is simple, full of flavour and totally harmonious with its magical surroundings. Warm summer days, al fresco dining and feeling totally relaxed at the same time while experiencing those magnificent flavours…. it is just blissful.
More than 100 mouth watering recipes from some of the Amalfi Coast’s best cooks and chefs – Amalfi Coast Recipes.
The everyday event of cooking and eating becomes something very special while visiting the Amalfi Coast. If you are lucky enough to have a kitchen, even a tiny one, see our villa and apartment rentals, then a chat with your local Amalfi Coast butcher or green grocer will offer numerous tips of what to cook and how to do it! But going armed with a few excellent local recipes will get you started!
Here is one of my most treasured vegetable mains from the Amalfi Coast…and no body does it better than Angela Giannullo. Before I even finished this book with all it’s chefs, interviews and detailed recipes …I had to rush home and cook this one. It is truly a masterpiece!
PEPERONI IMBOTTITI – STUFFED BELL PEPPERS.
Peperoni Imbottiti x 8 pers Antipasto
Stuffed Bell Peppers Angela Giannullo – Positano
I do love Bell Peppers in this area, they are sweeter than anywhere else in the world and this could be the reason the locals have so many ways to prepare them. Angela’s stuffed peppers are definitely at the top of the list! I’ve listed them here as an Antipasto, but seriously if they are big & juicy enough, then just one is a perfect vegetarian Secondo with not even room at the end of the meal for a spoon full of gelato!.
Ingredienti:
8 med red and/or yellow bell peppers. Whole and grilled on a hot plate (or baked in a hot oven) until the skin in burnt, so you can peel it away easily, but the flesh is still al dente.
250 gms of old bread white ciabatta bread)
1 egg
300 gm mozzarella
50 gm green olives without seed
50 gm black olives without seed
40 gm capers under salt rinse for 2 hours in water. Or from the jar without vinegar
White pepper
2 anchovies cut into small pieces
5 leaves of basil
1 glove garlic cut into small pieces
4 spns of EVOil
Bread crumbs to finish off
Metodo:
Wet bread in water, squeeze out water well and amalgamate with all ingredients cut into small cubes. Mix well together with one beaten egg.
Lay out each cooked bell pepper cut into four on a flat surface and cover very lightly with salt – there is no salt in the mixture due to the capers.
Put a decent amount of mixture onto of each pepper and roll up firmly but gently. You do need string or toothpicks to close them. in a porcelain baking dish, pack them in tightly with the round side up. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Cook at 170 in a fan forced oven for ½ hour. Eat hot, warm or cold…….they are unbelievably good!
To accompany these delicious Pepper rolls, you can add a light and crisp summer salad with an zingy tang to lighten the palette.
FENNEL AND ORANGE SALAD.
Finocchio e Anrancio al Insalata – 6 pers Contorno
Fennel and Orange wedge salad Rosaria Ferrara Positano
This is one of the cleanest and simplest flavoured salads I have eaten to accompany anything from fish to goat! Oranges from Praiano are well known for their juiciness and flavour (there are three of them imbedded on the town’s flag!) and the best time for this salad is around autumn when the oranges and fennel are coming into their own, this salad is a winner!
Ingredienti:
2 med fennels
3 med oranges
EVO to dress
Salt
Pepper
80 gms Pine nuts
Slice the fennel (on a mandolin if you have one) and the oranges finely and dress with pine nuts, EVO, salt and pepper and eat with joy!
And what is summer in Italy without a Stuffed Zucchini Flower? OR if you are feeling generous a nice big fat Pumpkin Flower…they look the same, you can just stuff in more filling!
ZUCCHINI FLOWERS AU GRATIN WITH BASIL SAUCE
Fiori di zucchine gratinati,salsa al basilico
Zucchini flowers au gratin with basil sauce x 6 pers Antipasto Tanina Vanacore Next 2 Rest. Positano
Zucchini flowers make one of the most delicate and enchanting antipasti during their season (which start at the beginning of May in the Northern Hemisphere and beginning October in the Southern Hemisphere), they are light and tantalizing. On the Amalfi Coast you will find all sizes from the small and delicate zucchini ones to the “jumbo” pumpkin flowers! And once they have been stuffed and property cooked they are a culinary delight. “Naturally they must be eaten immediately when out of the oven” says Tanina
Ingredienti:
30 medium size zucchini flowers.
1kg.ricotta
300gr.mozzarella chopped into small cubes of apx ½ cm
100gr. Grated parmesan cheese
8 basil leaves
50gr EVO
Pepper and salt
Metodo:
Sieve the ricotta cheese through a fine colander to eliminate any lumps or whip ricotta with a egg whip. Add the chopped mozzarella, grated parmesan cheese, basil leaves ripped into fine pieces, EVO, salt and pepper. Mix all ingredients until well homogenized and put into a pastry piping bag
Clean the zucchini flowers by cutting off all extra little green leaves at the base and remove the pestle in the middle. Delicately wash and patted dry them. Stuff each zucchini flower half full with the ricotta mix, make a twist at the end of the flower to close it well so the stuffing does now expand out while they are cooking.
Ingredienti for the sauce:
100 gm basil leaves
40 gm pine nuts
60 gm EVO
20 gm grated parmesan
20 gm grated pecorino
Rock salt
2 ox heart tomatoes cut into 1cm cubes and dressed with EVO, salt and basil
In an electric blender or mixer, mix the well washed and dried basil leaves; they must be dry or your sauce will oxidize and go black! Together with the pine nuts, oil and a pinch of rock salt. Just give the mixer very short bursts to blend all the ingredients, do not let it go for too long. This stage can also be done in a mortar and pestle if you have the technique and will power!
By hand add the two cheeses and put all in a container covered with EVO to avoid oxidization.
Place the zucchini flowers on a baking dish and cook in the over for 4-5 mins at 100 C. When they are ready to serve, plate up with finely diced and dressed tomato salad. and the basil sauce dribbled over the zucchini flowers only or on the side in a small dish.
This is one hell of a classy dish! Just like Tanina.
These hidden treasures & their recipes can be easily savoured up and down the pantries of the Amalfi Coast, whether they be in a fine dining restaurant, a seaside eatery or a mountain top vineyard degustations. Even if you are a passionate cook, take time during your vacation to experience these authentic and simple dishes prepared by local devoted chefs. We are happy to help you make the best bookings to suit your needs!
BUON APPETITO! & if you are a kitchen lover…..BUON DIVERTIMENTO!