Italy Puglia cooking vacations and wine tours

It’s the day when Marika does not have to go to the hospital (for work! of course) so she can make all her delicious Italian recipes and dishes. She usually wakes up early, goes on a bike ride and then in a couple of hours she is able to arrange a 5-course meal for the traditional Italian Sunday meal we have with the whole family.

When we were young our Grandmother used to cook the Sunday meal. Until a few months ago it was our Mother’s turn. Now it’s Marika’s (but I also help!).

Since we were very young, our family has always had meatballs with tomato sauce on Sunday. I and Marika would wake up with the smell of those fantastic meatballs slowly cooking in the tomato sauce. I think the first Italian word I learnt to say was “polpette”.

I and Marika both learned cooking with our Grandmother. However, we all agree that Marika’s dishes taste exactly what our Nonna used to make. I really don’t know how she does! But it must be due to the fact that cooking is more than a passion for her….and passion and love are two ingredients who make the difference.

So today is Sunday….and Marika made these fantastic meatballs with tomato sauce. You may say: everybody in Italy makes meatballs on a Sunday or… everybody knows how to make them. But I can tell you that they are really worth a post on our blog. They were incredibly good. And in fact they were all gone pretty soon. This is our family’s recipe. 

Marika’s Sunday home-made meatballs

INGREDIENTS

1 lb minced beef meat
1 whole egg
3 1/2 oz parmigiano reggiano cheese
3 1/2 oz durum wheat breadcrumbs
milk (as necessary)
1/2 tsp sea salt
good pinch nutmeg
pinch black pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
6-7 fresh mint leaves
18 fl oz fresh tomato sauce with onion and basil

Before the preparation, there are a few secrets for this meatball recipe that our Grandmother taught us and we want to share with our readers.

First, at the butcher shop, make sure the piece of meat you choose is minced in front of you. Second, do not use powder breadcrumbs but use good quality stale bread. Third, moisten the bread with milk (not water).  Fourth add fresh herbs (parsley, mint or basil) as they give much more flavor. The last and most important thing, once you make the balls, let them rest (so they absorb all the flavors) for a few hours before cooking them in the tomato sauce. The “resting” part is key.

PREPARATION

Put the minced meat in a bowl. Then add the egg and grated parmigiano cheese and start mixing with your hands.

In another plate, moisten the durum wheat bread with milk. Slowly add the moisten bread to the meat while mixing. Finally, add the chopped parsley, sea salt, black pepper, a good pinch of nutmeg and the mint leaves in small pieces.

The mint leaves add freshness and make the difference!

After you mix all the ingredients together, make some little balls with your hands. Put them on a tray and let them rest for at least one hour.

As always, Marika adds her healthy twist to all our family recipes. Therefore, she does not fry her meatballs before cooking them in the tomato sauce.

On the side prepare a fresh tomato sauce with basil. Slowly add the meatballs to the tomato sauce and cook them for about 40 minute-1 hour at low flame with the lid. Do not forget to stir them if necessary.

As always, enjoy them with your friends and family.

Do you have any traditional food your family makes on Sunday? What is your meatball recipe?

I and Marika are so excited to be featured in the wonderful DVD The Culinary Institute of America and Nancy Harmon Jenkins made about the Food and Wine of Puglia Italy.

Watch the video on how we make orecchiette hand made pasta with tomato sauce with our nonna.

Hope to have you in Puglia to taste such wonderful food and wines!

It’s the 10th August (and by the way, it’s my birthday!) and in Puglia we are enjoying a wonderful summer. The weather is just perfect, sunny but not too hot. Our white sandy beaches are more and more popular. And Puglia has become one of the trendiest and top destinations in Italy for food and wine lovers.
If you are planning to visit Puglia and you just found our blog, you may find interesting reading some of our favorite posts:

About Puglia

• aperitif time: raw sea urchins!
• millenary olive trees
• how to order a meal
• delicious fresh figs
• fresh burrata
• where to have the best seafood
• best ice cream if you want to be local
• Altamura durum wheat bread
• food fairs 
• hiking in Porto Selvaggio

About Lecce

• Living the dolce vita: what you should not miss in Lecce!
• frisella bread
• The Pasticciotto Leccese
• hand made mozzarella
• best espresso

About Puglia food

• healthy and simple recipe with farro and black mussels
• Easter bread and focaccia
• traditional orecchiette with broccoli rabe
• red shrimps in sea salt crust
• durum wheat tagliatelle with mussels
• risotto with artichokes
• Lentils with orzo (barley)
• Ciceri and tria: tagliatelle with chick peas
• fava broad beans
• very healthy strawberry salad
• Christmas food traditions

About our family’s recipes

• making orecchiette pasta with our Grandmother
• Marika’s famous pear jam
• the secret Italian ingredient: Marika’s capers
• Our famous lemon granita
• Home made tomato sauce: our family way!
• Cutting salt by cooking with herbs

About our cooking classes and tours

• video of our cooking tours
• our cooking and wine tours calendar

About Puglia wines:

• Primitivo wine
• why Puglia wines are so good!

About Puglia’s slow lifestyle

• caprese salad or panini?
• Slow Mediterranean lifestyle in Lecce: it’s siesta time!

Puglia is the perfect place for those who love capers! We produce tons of capers. Apart from sweets, almost all recipes from the traditional cuisine of Puglia, require capers…from fish, to meat, vegetables and pasta. In Puglia, we certainly use more capers than garlic or other herbs.
Yesterday, I went to the market with a specific mission. I wanted to buy a caper plant and try producing capers….once more! I might have tried 20 times already….always with no success!
It’s really difficult to grow capers. They prefer to grow wild only where they decide to grow! They require just the right sun exposure, the right soil or rock, the perfect climate.
I always wondered how they can get to grow so well on top of the most dangerous sea cliffs…and not in my chalky garden with all my care and love!
When you drive along the Adriatic coast from Otranto down to Santa Maria di Leuca you will see lots of people with bags climbing the sea cliffs: they will be picking capers…and of course the best capers are the smallest ones, the most difficult to pick. May be that’s why they are the most expensive ones!
In the next months, I will keep you posted about what happens to this lovely caper plant!
Just to make sure I and Marika had enough capers for the summer, I also bought some freshly picked capers.
Of course, I and Marika like buying the smallest capers: they are so tasty compared to the big ones.


The recipe to prepare the fresh capers is the following:

1kg freshly picked capers (the smallest)
1kg sea salt
White wine vinegar (as necessary)

Wash the capers, put them in a jar and mix them with sea salt. Leave them with sea salt for at least 10 days.
We use salt to remove capers’ bitterness. Please consider that it is very important you use “sea” salt since it helps preserving the capers’ flavor and taste.
As you may already know, salt preserves food: therefore capers with salt can last for many months or years.
After the first 10 days, put them in another jar, add other sea salt and leave them for other 10 days.

Now they are ready to be eaten. Remove the sea salt, put them in a jar, cover them with white wine vinegar and close the jar with the lid.
Leave them with vinegar for about 5 days. After 5 days, remove the vinegar and cover them with other white wine vinegar. After 10 days, repeat this step once more. Leave them with vinegar for other 15 days, at least, before using them.

Agnolotti stuffed with ricotta and Parma ham.

INGREDIENTS
Agnolotti pasta:
(3 servings)
200 grams durum wheat flour (you can use all purpose flour)
2 eggs
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Stuffing and dressing:
150 grams Ricotta cheese
100 grams Parma ham
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
Sage leaves
100 grams grated Parmesan cheese (good quality)
a pinch of grated nutmeg

PREPARATION

Put the flour in a bowl with the two eggs and the extra virgin olive oil. Knead the dough until it gets very smooth.
Cut the dough in little balls and using the pasta machine, stretch out the dough in very thin sheets of pasta.

Cut the Parma ham in very small strips and mix it with the ricotta using a spoon.
Using a teaspoon, place some ricotta and Parma ham on the pasta sheet (in the middle), and fold it.

Cut the stuffed pasta using a pasta cutter and close it with your fingers.

It is important you cook these stuffed agnolotti right away. Boil the water in a pan adding a tbsp of extra virgin olive oil (so that they don’t stick). Add a tsp of sea salt and cook the pasta for 5 minutes.
Remove the pasta al dente and sauté in a saucepan with a few drops of olive oil and the sage leaves, for 2 minutes.
Serve adding the grated parmesan cheese and nutmeg.