Today Tuscan Tomato Bread Soup (Pappa col Pomodoro)!

Here’s for you a typical classic Tuscan dish “tomato bread soup”. Please never propose it in the wintertime, the freshness of ripe tomatoes and scented basil are essential for the successful outcome of this recipe ideal for hot summer days. Ingredients for 4 people: 250 g Tuscan -style white stale bread 600 g ripe tomatoes 4 cloves of garlic a stalk of fresh sage a nice bunch of basil extra virgin olive oil salt pepper 1 onion 1 carrot celery q.b. parsley q.b. water q.b. First of all prepare the tomato sauce. In a large pan sauté the 2 cloves of garlic gently in 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Join onion, carrot, celery and parsley previously cut. As soon as the lot turns golden, toss the peeled tomatoes and a nice bunch of basil, all roughly chopped. Bring to the boil for a moment then sieve the lot, add the water and boil in again with salt and pepper. Cut the bread with the 2 other cloves of garlic, put it in a clay pan on the flame with abundant extra virgin olive oil, the sage, a little pepper, salt and water. Try to chop the bread a little more meanwhile the water is boiling. Add water as soon as it dries up and go up until the bread is completely moistened and chopped. Join now 4 ½ cups or more of tomato sauce (the soup should be brightly red-coloured and the sauce abundant). Leave to simmer slowly for 1 hour or more until the bread is mashed in the sauce. The soup should prove fairly thick so add more water only if necessary.

ORGANIC STROWBERRIES DELICIOUS FRUITS OF MY GARDEN

Surely all of you know and love strawberries jam. It's delightful on toast, bread, and the ideal ingredient for special tarts. From May till October I prepare it with strawberries and lemons collected in my organic garden. All my family appreciate it and also my guests like it for breakfast.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients
1kg fresh strawberries hulled and washed
the juice and peel of a fresh organic lemon
1kg granulated sugar


Cut strawberries into big pieces and put them in a large bowl along with the lemon juice and peel - cut in the small pieces - and the sugar. Cover and put in the fridge for 12 hours.
Put the mixture into a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, skimming from time to time. Increase heat to high and bring it to a full roiling boil while stirring constantly for quite 10 minutes. Reduce heat and continue to boil it for 10 minutes. To control if the jam has the right consistency
test it by pouring a couple of drops of it into one plate, if done the jam should thicken almost immediately.
Finally, pour the hot jam into sterilized jars and close and place them upside down until fully cool down.

Mint, an extremely versatile herb

Mint is an important ingredient in health products and beauty, especially for hair and oily skin. It also complements dishes both sweet and savoury.
It has the ability to bring freshness to any dish you may prepare for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Mint tea is said to aid digestion. Use it fresh to make this delicious mint tea recipe. It’s incredibly easy to make.
You will need 1 oz (15-30 g) of fresh mint.
Put the leaves in a tea infuser. Heat 3 cups of water to boiling. Then pour the boiling water over the leaves and into the pot. Let fresh leaves steep for about 3-4 minutes.
Now, drink and enjoy the taste of a relaxing summer sunshine in a cup.

Sage, beautiful in the garden, good on the plate

Walking in my garden I admire the borders of sage and I pick a few leaves. Immediately an intense aroma is released into the air. Well, they will be perfect for seasoning ricotta and spinach Tuscan ravioli (gnudi) that I made this morning.

Ingredients:
4 ½ pounds spinach
16 oz ricotta
3 eggs
a little flour
4 oz butter
10 sage leaves
6 spoons of parmesancheese
nutmeg
salt

Wash and boil the spinach with a little water salting lightly. Drain, leave to cool and chop finely.
Put the trhee whole eggs into a bowl and mix them with the ricotta, a pinch of nutmeg and salt.
Add the parmesan cheese and the chopped spinach and blend well. With this mixture make little ovalshaped rissoles and flour them. Boil some lightly salted water and drop in a few the “gnudi” at a time. As soon as theyrise to the surface, take them out of the pan with a perforated spoon and put them on a wide serving dish. Season them with melted butter that had been previously heated to which were added the sage leaves and plenty of parmesan.

Aromatic herbs, what a valuable help in our cooking!

A lot of recipes include Basil. Its spicy smell is the main ingredient in traditional pesto sauce. Also add it fresh in your mozzarella and tomato salad, a little salt and extra virgin olive oil and…you will enjoy the taste of a simple delicious Italian dish.