Balsamic beef with rosa di Gorizia on a bed of lettuce

There is one dish that is very typical for the town where I come from and this is the chicory called rosa di Gorizia (rose of Gorizia). It's a vegetable with a long tradition and lots of work is hidden under those tender leafs that form a tiny rose, but the flavour is just something you need to try.

Our rosa di Gorizia it's been long forgotten and only some farmer families still ate it and produce it by themselves, but a few years ago some farmers stepped together and tryed to add some value to this amazing vegetable, that's now been very popular among the finest restaurants in the north-east region in Italy Friuli.

The special flavour of this radicchio is also coming from the long procedure before it comes from the land to the plates on our tables. There is a lot of work behind every rose of this radicchio. More about this lovely plant on this website, unfortunately only in italian: rosa di Gorizia. 

Ingredients:
300 gr beef meat
25-30 leafs of radicchio(rosa di Gorizia)
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
3 leafs of sage (salvia)
olive oil
water
salt
pepper
4 leafs of lettuce

Heat some olive oil in the pan with the sage, add the radicchio leafs. Stir for a minute, then add balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper and mix well until the vinegar evaporates. Add some water and continue to stir until it evaporates. Slowly add the beef meat, that you've previously cut into slices. Add just a few slices at time and cook them for a few minutes, then mix them with the radicchio. Continue until all the meat is ready, mix well and put everything on the top of 2 leafs of lettuce. (If you want, you can also use radicchio.)

Enjoy the meal.

Spicy garlic spaghetti

Today I came home from work "starving" (can't really use this word in our part of the world though) and I just wanted to eat as fast as I could. What is better than a really quick pasta? 

Ingredients:
spaghetti (80-100 gr per person)
salt (a tablespoon)
2 cloves of garlic
1 fresh chili
1 egg
some olive oil
pepper (a pinch)

Boil the water, add salt and cook the spaghetti. (Check on the box for the cooking time, all the types of pasta are way better if they're cooked "al dente".) Stir the chopped garlic and chili on some olive oil. Add the cooked pasta and crack an egg of the top. Mix well while it's still hot and put some pepper on the top. Serve and enjoy your really quick meal.
I was in such a hurry I didn't really bother about the pics.. Next time better! ;)