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I don’t know about you, but to me cooking has always had a social factor.

When I cook for people here in Italy I can spend hours in the kitchen doing things as complex as they can be. I can actually go through all the Italian courses — Primo piatto, secondo piatto, contorno, dolce, and I can bake my own bread to go along with it. But when I cook only for myself I tend to be more economic with the time I spend in kitchen. But, hey, I never meant to say I lower my food standards in any measure!

Since Anna is away and I’m by myself this week, in this post I’ll share a recipe that won’t take more than 10 minutes of your time and requires no skills at all, yet is the kind of food you find in fancy restaurants, and often at unjustified prices.

Got ten minutes to prepare today’s lunch? Let’s go then!

Penne Rigate alla Ricotta e Noci

The first thing to do, of course, is give the dish a fancy Italian name, like they do in restaurants. Penne Rigate alla Ricotta e Noci — so there you go. Penne are those small pipes of pasta and rigate means they are ridged on the surface.

This was my pasta of choice because I wanted the ricotta to be able to fill the penne and because of the rough surface it will adhere better on the outside as well, but you can use other varieties of penne, or fusili. Basically any short pasta.

Ingredients

• 200g (7 oz) of penne rigate, or your pasta of choice
• 150g (5 oz) of ricotta
• 30g (1 oz) of chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions

• Cook the pasta in lightly salted water according to instructions on the package
• When the penne are done, drain, and immediately put them back in the same empty pan
• Add the ricotta and the olive oil and mix them gently
• Add the walnuts
• Optionally, if you like a stronger taste, you can add a some strong cheese, like a small piece of gorgonzola or ground pecorino or parmesan.

This recipe serves two, but another great thing is that just as simply you can cook for yourself alone or you can cook for a dozen — you will only need a bigger pan.

I like to spend a couple of hours on the weekend preparing a few food basics that, once made, take the hard work out of cooking meals for the week ahead — a strategy I refer to as ‘weekend cooking for weekday eating’. In addition to curries and soups I invariably make some kind of tomato-based Mediterranean sauce for its sheer versatility.

Apart from a classic bolognese sauce or a piquant puttanesca sauce, one of our favorites is this rich sauce made with a medley of vibrant red ingredients including tomatoes, roasted red peppers, red onions, red wine, and red chili. I really enjoy the process of making up batches of this sauce, it brings out the Italian mama in me, especially when I put on Italian opera while I’m cooking.

Producing my own homemade sauce rather than buying the store-bought stuff in jars gives me a feeling of self-sufficiency, and it’s healthier and cheaper as well. Just knowing that I’ve got a supply of this delicious and nutritious sauce on hand fills me with a real sense of satisfaction. Over the past week we’ve had this sauce drizzled over grilled fish on a simple couscous salad, and then a couple of nights later tossed with rigatoni, broccoli and canned tuna as a quick pasta meal.

The sauce can be stored in the fridge, covered for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Robust red sauce

Serves 4 (or enough to make the following 2 meals, each serving 2 people)

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 red onions — diced
• 4 cloves garlic — finely chopped
• 28 oz (840g) canned tomatoes — chopped
• ½ cup red wine
• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
• ½ teaspoon dried red chili flakes
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 4 red bell peppers — deseeded and quartered

HEAT the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook the onions for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly. ADD the tomatoes, wine, rosemary, chili flakes, salt, pepper and sugar and bring to the boil. COVER, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 20 minutes. WHILE the sauce simmers, place the peppers (skin side up) under a hot broiler (griller) until the skin blackens all over, about 10 minutes. REMOVE and cover the charred peppers with a clean dishcloth or plastic wrap for 5 minutes to allow the steam to loosen the skins from the pepper flesh. PEEL off the blackened skin from the peppers and roughly cut the flesh into pieces then add to the sauce. PLACE the sauce into a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Grilled fish with robust red sauce and couscous salad

Serves 2

• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic — minced
• 2 x 6 oz (180g) firm white fish fillets
• 1 cup couscous
• 2 small zucchini — quartered lengthways and very thinly sliced into quarters
• 1¼ cups boiling chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 scallion (green part only) — thinly sliced on diagonal
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint
• 2 oz (60g) crumbled feta
• ½ portion of the Robust Red Sauce recipe — heated

MIX together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic in a bowl. POUR half the lemon/oil mixture over the fish fillets and marinate, covered, in the fridge for 1 hour. COMBINE the couscous and zucchini in a bowl, pour over the boiling stock, cover and allow to steam for 5 minutes. FLUFF the couscous with a fork and toss with the scallion, parsley and mint. DRIZZLE over the remaining lemon/oil mixture and the crumbled feta and toss well to combine. SET the couscous salad aside while the fish continues to marinate. HEAT a cast iron grill pan over a high heat until very hot. COOK the fish fillets in the pan for around 3 minutes each side until just cooked. SERVE each fillet on a bed of the couscous salad and spoon the heated robust red sauce over the top.

Variations: Grill chicken breast fillets instead of fish. Serve any leftover couscous salad tossed with strips of smoked salmon and cubed avocado (drizzled with lemon juice to prevent browning).

Rigatoni with robust red sauce, tuna and broccoli

Serves 2

• 8 oz (240g) dried rigatoni pasta
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• ½ portion of the Robust Red Sauce recipe — heated
• 6 oz (180g) canned tuna in olive oil — drained and broken into chunks
• Shaved or grated Parmesan cheese to serve

COOK the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water, adding the broccoli to the pot for the final 5 minutes of cooking. DRAIN the cooked pasta and broccoli, put the sauce in the bottom of the pot and top with the hot pasta, broccoli and tuna chunks. TOSS together gently to combine well and heat through. SERVE the pasta with a little shaved or grated Parmesan on top.

I’ve been seeing the telltale signs that winter is finally at an end…my fellow train commuters are swapping their heavy coats for raincoats, there are more hours of sunlight during the day, and the price of artichokes is (finally!) dropping at the grocer. Spring is definitely in the air!

My boyfriend Robert, who grew up in an Italian-American family, often reminisces about his late mother’s baked stuffed artichokes. Living in Rhode Island, we are fortunate to have access to good Italian markets, where we can find terrific pre-made artichokes at the deli counters. However, there is simply no comparison to a home cooked version made with love.

Since the artichokes at our local market have been so gorgeous (and finally affordable) recently, I had to pick up a few to experiment with. I decided to create my own recipe in tribute to this very Italian dish, but gave it an Asian twist—adding shiitake mushrooms and replacing the usual Italian bread crumbs with lighter Japanese panko.

Baked Stuffed Artichokes with Panko, Black Olives and Shiitake Mushrooms

Makes enough stuffing for 4 small artichokes or or 2 large artichokes (Artichokes can be comically huge these days.)

Ingredients:

• 4 small or 2 large artichokes
• 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 cup Japanese panko flakes
• 1-2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8-10 black olives (diced)
• 2-3 tablespoons re-hydrated shiitake mushrooms (chopped)
• Additional olive oil for brushing the artichokes/baking dish
• Lemon wedges for serving

Directions:

First, prepare the artichokes for stuffing: Slice about an inch off the top of each artichoke and snip the sharp tips of each leaf with scissors. Pull out the woody inner leaves from the center until the fuzzy “choke” covering the heart is revealed. Remove the fuzz with a small sharp knife or spoon. (I use a strawberry/tomato huller gadget that works really well.) Remove the stems of the artichokes, cutting them flush against the base so the artichokes are able to sit upright in a baking dish. Peel the stems with a vegetable peeler, removing the tough outer layer. (Note: Artichokes will brown quickly once they are cut—to prevent this, put out a large bowl of water with some lemon juice squeezed into it and keep the cut artichokes in the bowl until you have finished prepping all of them.)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the artichokes and peeled stems along with the salt and two tablespoons of lemon juice. Boil for about 30 minutes, or until the leaves are tender. While the artichokes are cooking, re-hydrate the shiitake mushrooms in a cup of warm water.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Remove the artichokes and stems from the water and place upside down on a paper towel lined plate to drain. Chop the cooked artichoke stems and shiitake mushrooms into small pieces (reserving a few mushroom slices for garnish). Combine the olive oil, panko flakes, minced garlic, ground pepper, diced olives, chopped mushrooms, and chopped stems in a mixing bowl. Place artichokes upright in lightly oiled baking dish. Spoon mixture into each hollowed out artichoke and brush all over with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, garnish with reserved mushroom, and serve with lemon wedges.

(Note: To make an Italian artichoke that is more like what Robert’s mother used to make…add a little extra oil to the stuffing, skip the shiitake mushrooms, and use seasoned Italian bread crumbs instead of the panko. And of course, don’t forget the love.)

Happy Spring!

I eat a lot of whole grains. For breakfast, I regularly have whole grain cereal such as oatmeal, muesli or bran flakes; or toasted whole grain bread with toppings (such as natural peanut butter, sliced cheese and tomato, or baked beans). A typical weekday lunch is a sandwich, stuffed pita, or wrap made with whole grain breads. When we make pizza at home, we’ll often use a large whole wheat pita as the crust. I also love bulgur (made from whole wheat) topped with stew, or in tabbouleh salad. And if I feel like a snack, I’ll often have some air-popped popcorn (popcorn is a whole grain) or a whole grain cracker.

But I’m certainly not a fan of all whole grain foods. I’ve tried brown rice several times, in several different ways, and each time I was thoroughly disappointed — not only with the flavor, but also with the texture. In comparison, white rice is light in texture and subtle in flavor. It embraces the flavors of the foods it’s paired with, whereas I find that brown rice does just the opposite and tends to overpower the taste of other food.

So I basically gave up on brown rice a long time ago. And I’m not the only one. White rice has been far more popular than brown rice throughout Asia and the Mediterranean for many generations. And no wonder — I couldn’t imagine sitting down to plateful of brown rice sushi, or eating brown rice paella or risotto either!

But what about all those naysayers who tell you that white rice is fattening and unhealthy? What a load of nonsense. The leanest, healthiest and longest-living peoples in the world eat white rice regularly. This makes it obvious that white rice is far from a dietary villain.

Indeed, research has found that for the last 30 years rice consumption in Japan has dropped by over 50 percent. (This is because many Japanese, particularly the younger generation, are embracing a Western-style diet.) Over the same period, guess what’s happened? Obesity rates have climbed steadily.

Now I’m not saying that the answer to a leaner healthier body is to rush out and grab a large sackful of white rice. But what I’m saying is that white rice, in all it’s wonderful varieties (including Italian arborio, Indian basmati, Thai jasmine, Spanish calasparra, Japanese koshihikari), can fit perfectly into a varied and balanced diet.

The key is to eat rice like people from Mediterranean and Asian cultures do: in moderate portions (yes, calories do count), and mixed with slowly-digesting foods like fish, beans, poultry, plant oils, and vegetables. This not only makes the rice taste a whole lot better, it also means that it’s digested at a slow and steady rate — so you won’t get blood sugar swings and rebound hunger.

The following risotto recipe — which contains a mix of arborio rice, chickpeas, vegetables and extra virgin olive oil — is a good example of what I mean.

Roasted Garlic, Pumpkin & Red Pepper Risotto with Spinach & Chickpeas

Serves 2 to 3

• 2 cups peeled and cubed pumpkin or winter squash (cut into 1/2-inch cubes)
• 1 red pepper — deseeded and cut into quarters
• 6 cloves garlic — left unpeeled
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 onion — finely chopped
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 10 kalamata olives — pitted and quartered
• 2 packed cups roughly chopped fresh spinach
• 1 cup canned chickpeas — rinsed well and drained
• 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

PREHEAT an oven to 450F/230C. PLACE the pumpkin, red pepper and garlic cloves in a baking dish and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil, the balsamic vinegar and rosemary until well coated. BAKE for 20 minutes. WHILE the vegetables cook, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. ADD the rice, stir to coat the grains in oil and cook for 1 minute. ADD the wine, stock, salt, black pepper, olives and spinach, stir to combine and bring to a boil. COVER with a lid, reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes without lifting the lid. REMOVE the red pepper and garlic from the baking dish. ADD the chickpeas to the baking dish with the pumpkin and return to the oven for 5 minutes. ROUGHLY chop the peppers. SQUEEZE the garlic pulp from the skins and stir into the risotto with the parmesan, lemon juice and remaining tablespoon of oil. STIR in the red pepper, pumpkin and chickpeas to combine.

I was in charge of making saffron rice to accompany the Indian fish curry we had for dinner the other night (if you look closely you’ll see it in the top right-hand corner of the photo). As it was cooking, the aroma of the saffron-infused basmati rice drifted through the kitchen and mingled with the fragrant cooking smells of the curry. What a harmony of smells that was!

We don’t always have saffron rice with our Indian curries; usually it’s just plain basmati rice — which is still beautiful. But occasionally it’s nice to jazz things up a bit, and also add a bit of color to the table.

Saffron is the pungent dried stigmas of the crocus sativus plant, and it’s the world’s most expensive spice by weight. Thankfully, you don’t need to use much to impart a wonderful flavor, vibrant color and delicate aroma to dishes such as paella, bouillabaisse, and of course saffron rice.

As usual we like to take the simple approach, and our version of saffron rice uses the bare minimum of ingredients but it still has maximum flavor and, thanks to the saffron, that perfect bright yellow color.

Simple Saffron Rice

Serves 2 as a side dish

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup basmati rice (rinsed in cold water, then drained)

BRING the water to a boil in a medium saucepan and stir in the saffron threads, butter and salt. ADD the rice and bring to the boil, cover, then reduce the heat to very low. SIMMER gently for 15 minutes without lifting the lid.

Here are some dishes that are an ideal match with saffron rice:

Fish, Spinach & Tomato Curry
South Indian Shrimp Curry
Lentil, Pea & Potato Curry
Dhal with Carrot & Cauliflower

The other night, Trudy and I dropped into our local supermarket to pick up a few staples, and while I was in the refrigerated section something really caught my eye. It was a flashy looking new brand of pesto.

Now, I’m a pesto lover from way back, but I’m usually pretty wary of pre-packaged pesto — simply because I’ve had some rather dismal tasting pre-packaged stuff in the past. But the packaging was so slick, and the contents looked so remarkably good that I at least had to look at the ingredient list to see whether it was made to the classic Genoese recipe. (The Italian city of Genoa is where pesto originates, by the way.)

I scanned the ingredients list, and wasn’t disappointed.

Basil. Check.
Garlic. Check.
Extra virgin olive oil. Check.
Parmesan. Check.
Pine nuts. Check.

And there weren’t any bizarre sounding additives or preservatives either — a definite bonus.

At this stage I was getting seriously tempted to just throw the pesto in the cart, but I knew that Trudy would need some convincing first. Like me, she’s very aware that pre-packaged pesto can be very hit or miss. But after showing her the authentic list of ingredients, and pointing out how incredibly tasty it looked, she agreed that it was at least worth giving a try.

Well, the pesto might have contained all the right ingredients and looked glorious, but when we got it home and tossed it through some pasta with shrimp and green beans, it tasted far from glorious. It had a slight vinegary undertone, and the consistency was way too dry (I think this was because they’d skimped on the extra virgin olive oil, and probably the pine nuts as well — both relatively expensive ingredients).

Anyway, the upshot of the evening was that we vowed never to buy pre-packaged pesto again, no matter how flashy the packaging! And besides, we have our own pesto recipe that we both really adore. Yes, it takes a little more work than pulling the top off a package of store-bought pesto, but not that much more.

We don’t take the time-consuming route and use a mortar and pestle to pound the pesto into a paste by hand. We’ve found that the results in a food processor or blender can be excellent, and we actually prefer the slightly more textural consistency of pesto made this way.

And speaking of consistency, we’re definitely not fans of pesto that’s either too oily or too dry. So we’ve found a great trick is to add a little water along with the other ingredients before processing. This gives the pesto a perfect consistency — moist, but not too oily. It also helps the blades process the other ingredients more easily into a paste.

We’ve also found that it’s a good idea not to go overboard with the garlic. Raw garlic is very pungent, and it can easily overwhelm the flavor of the other ingredients in the pesto. Of course, if you’re a bit of a garlic fiend, feel free to add more!

Pesto

Makes roughly 1 cup

• 1 cup tightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor or blender, combine the basil, Parmesan, pine nuts, garlic, water, salt, and pepper. While you process, slowly pour the olive oil into the mix until all the ingredients turn into a smooth paste (you may have to scrape the sides occasionally). Store in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Serving Ideas: Pesto has a myriad of uses, such as tossed with hot pasta, spread over bruschetta, used as a pizza sauce, stirred into soups just before serving, mixed with mayonnaise to dress salads and sandwiches, used as a filling for baked potatoes, or served as a dip with vegetable crudités.

Variations: Walnuts, pistachios, macadamias, almonds, or cashews can be substituted for the pine nuts.