Wholewheat farfalle with home-made pesto

Do you love pesto? I adore it! It's very easy to do at home and there are tons of different ways to do it. The important is to have basil, any kind of nuts and some kind of cheese that is similar to pecorino cheese.
The recipe I'm showing is with the ingredients I had at home, so it's not the original one, but still very tasty! 

Ingredients: 

60-70 basil leaf

40 gr parmesan cheese 

65 gr walnuts

1-2 cloves of garlic

salt

5 tblsp of olive oil

wholewheat pasta (approximately 90 gr per person)

 Wash the basil leafs and put them in the blender (it's better to do it manually, but if you don't have a lot of time, the blender should also work fine), add parmesan cheese, garlic and walnuts and start blending. When you have a thick paste, add salt and olive oil until you have a smooth paste. Your pesto is now ready! (You can also put it in the freezer: put it in a jar, cover with some olive oil and freeze. When you'll need it, it will take only 5 minutes to have it ready to use.)

Cook the pasta according to your taste (I prefer pasta al dente). Mix the pasta and 1 or 2 spoons of pesto well and serve still hot!

Another idea to serve pesto is as an appetizer. Use small bread slices and spread a teaspoon of pesto on the top. You can also scratch a clove of garlic on the bread before adding pesto, it will make it so much tastier.

Pasta omelette (frittata di pasta)

You never know how much pasta should you cook? You're never sure if you're too hungry and you put waay to much pasta in the pan? I have a recipe today that will help you to deal with all your leftover pasta. Because food is a blessing and we should not waste it! 

Ingredients:
leftover pasta (with any kind of sauce, I had some pasta with zucchini and tomato)
2 tblsp parmesan cheese
5 eggs
2 boiled potatoes
1 fresh chili (if you don't like spicy food, leave it)
olive oil
salt
pepper



Mash the boiled potatoes, add the eggs and mix well. Add the leftover pasta, cut the chili and add it with salt and pepper (according to your taste). Mix well (you should have something like the picture above).
Put some olive oil in a non stick pan and wait a few minutes until it becomes warm. Put the mixture in the pan and cook until it's crispy on one side. Then help yourself with the top of the pan to turn it over. Cook on the other side until it's crispy also there and serve still hot.

If you fell you don't have enough pasta to do it, add the vegetables you prefer. It's a great way to reuse the already cooked food and it's tasty as well! :)

Zucchini and peas risotto

Ingredients:
300 gr rice (roma)
4 small zucchini
1/2 onion
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 fresh chili
olive oil
salt
200 ml tomato sauce
oregano
basil
water (as needed)
parmesan cheese

Cut the onion and fry it on the olive oil. Add the cut chili, zucchini and peas. Mix from time to time and when the zucchini are a bit softer, add the rice and mix. Add the spices and the tomato. Mix well and add some water from time to time until it's ready (continue stirring in the meantime). Cook for approximately 15 minutes (but check the instructions on your pack of rice).
Serve hot with some parmesan cheese on the top.

Risotto with avocado

I used some avocado last night, when I did sushi maki with smoked tuna and avokado. With avocado I didn't use yesterday I did a nice risotto for lunch. It is really easy to make and it taste good. :)¸

Ingredients:

avocado (1)
rice (250 gr)
onion (1/2)
garlic (2 cloves)
olive oil
chili powder
salt
black pepper
nutmeg
parmesan cheese
clear vegetable soup (1 l approximately)

Cut the onion, garlic and avocado. Fry the onion and garlic with a pinch (or even less) of chili powder on olive oil until it's golden. Add the avocado cubes. Mix until they become soft and creamy. If the avocado isn't soft enough, cook it in water for some time than smash it. Add rice and mix. Add salt and black pepper. Cover with vegetable soup and mix from time to time. A few minutes before the rice is cooked, add some grated parmesan cheese and a bit of nutmeg. Some people may add a bit of butter, but I did without and it turned out really nice.

Rocket soup with parmesan cheese

I found this really nice recipe in a book I have bought a few years ago in Ljubljana: Juhe (Kuhinja izbranih okusov). I have tried it (and modified the recipe just a bit, as usually) and it was very nice.


Ingredients:
potato (1 big)
rocket (250 gr)
onion (1 small)
garlic (1 piece)
olive oil (1 spoon)
water (0,5 l)
knorr cube
cream ( 0,2 l)
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese (40 gr)


Cook the potato for about 25 minutes, then drain the water, peel the potato and cut it in small cubes. Clean the rocket and leave some leafs on the side for decoration. Cut the rest of the rocket in small pieces. Peel the onion and garlic and chop in small pieces. Fry them in a pan with a spoon of olive oil. Just before it becomes brown, add the water and the knorr cube, leave it on low heat until the cube melts. Add the cream and mix. Then add the potato cubes and the chopped rocket. Pass the soup through the strainer. Add salt and pepper. Put the soup in a plate, add some rocket leafs on the top and some grated parmesan cheese (it doesn't have to be really thin) and serve.